If you are a career builder, it will pay you to bear in mind this quotation;

“Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.”
~Elmer G. Letterman

A pleasant disposition and a willing competency is key to winning the best jobs in any company, as Napoleon Hill confirms…

“The best job goes to the person who can get the job done without coming up with excuses or passing the buck” ~Napolean Hill

Political Astuteness is something that you may not learn in school; however, it plays a significant role in success in business;

“Man is by nature a political animal.” ~Aristotle

Taking Control

It’s important to keep in mind that you are responsible for your own career. Don’t expect the human resources department to plan your career. In fact, don’t expect anyone else to be concerned about it either.

Remember, companies are in business primarily to make money. Dress for success to draw a clear distinction between yourself and your colleagues. You should dress just a cut above your current level.

Above Everything, Have Integrity;

“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” ~Alan Simpson

You will find that the concentration of integrity increases the higher you go in an organization. Remember who you work for and always support your immediate superior and the Company.

It’s true that where your treasure is, your heart will be also. There will be ample opportunities on a daily basis to bash your employer. Resist those opportunities. Keep in mind that (1) you chose this company, (2) they pay you, and (3) you can leave if you want. The leaders of the company will not be impressed by your ability to complain.

Make your boss and your boss’s superior look good. As a practical matter, you are most likely working to take your boss’s job. Hopefully, your boss will be promoted, which will leave a vacancy. If your boss sings your praise indeed, you will most likely follow him up the ladder.

Who are the Leaders of the Company? Find out the background of the company executives. What career path did they take? Chances are, they will value those credentials above others. Take note of great people in the company and get connected to them. If possible, find a way to work for them. If not, establish a network with as many of them as possible. The best possibility is to ask one of them be your mentor. You will be surprised how many people will be interested in helping in this regard.

Learn the Rules

“Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.” ~Spanish Proverb

Watch what you write or say. Assume that anything you write or say will be read or heard by everyone in the company. E-mail makes it easy to respond emotionally. Before you respond to an irritating e-mail, take a minute to calm down, then write your response. If you have a tendency to send harsh messages, save a draft and review it sometime later to ensure the tone is business appropriate.

A corollary to this principle is Happy Hour – don’t go! There is a huge risk of saying something you shouldn’t say, getting out of control, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You should stay out of office politics. Don’t say anything bad about anyone, ever. It always goes around and kicks you in the butt!

Arrive early and leave late, but not too late. You want the reputation of a hard worker, but not one that can’t get their work done. This principle also applies to taking work home. Over the long-term, you want to have a life outside of work. Maintaining a work/life balance will keep you engaged in your job; therefore, more productive.

Always say, “Yes!” to a request from leadership. For your boss, there are ways to provide better solutions without damaging the relationship;

“Always do more than is required of you.” ~General Patton

Give people credit. Don’t take credit for yourself. This is important for a variety of reasons. First, you need people to help you get things done. Second, when people recognize people who work for you, you get the credit as well. Third, it’s the right thing to do.

When It Comes to Your Career;

1. You’re Responsible

2. Remember Who You Work For

3. Learn the Rules

As Bill Karnes put it;

“Eagles don’t flock; they fly alone. And eagles soar above the rest of their world. So, too, do people who start things, who lead groups or who otherwise set themselves apart from the crowd.”

To be one of these you must have integrity and character, so if you feel you lack any one, be sure to cultivate it immediately.

Sincerely,

P.S. Check out the related posts below if you’re just finding your career.

Related posts:

1. How To Discover Your Right Career Pathway
2. Aligning Your Career Pathway With Your Passion

Do you often run out of time?

Does time appear fluid, sometimes there is plenty, yet at others there just isn’t enough?

What effective time management can do for you, is to organize your tasks into the available time thus levelling out this apparent fluidity, giving you more control over your work-life balance of time.

As you have seen in the video, lost time is lost forever, it is the only commodity we cannot replace, so by investing in time management skills you will make the most of the time available to you.

Start a to-do list then identify your priorities, and what time to alot to each task.

It has been suggested that the average person has 300 hours of projects waiting to be completed at any one time, covering the workplace, home, education, relationships, and leisure activities.

How in hell do you start to prioritize these, especially when you would prefer to do the enjoyable parts first, and to leave the awkward tasks to last!

Well I’ll tell you…

…you have to trim the list by giving up some of the things that are not so important, then you sort the list so that the most urgent tasks go to the top and get done first, namely you have to prioritize.

The more ruthless you are, the more you will get done, and the more at ease you will feel.

Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle named after Vilfredo Pareto. It applies to many areas including demographics, mathematics and nature, but we are only interested in how it affects your efficiency right now.

Ok explanation coming up…

…if you have a to-do list of 10 items, 2 of those will be worth more than the remaining 8 items together. Put more clearly, 80-percent of your results will be produced by 20-percent of your things to do. It is these 20-percent of tasks we have to identify and move up to the top of the to-do list to improve your efficiency and success.

All tasks will fall into one of these four categories I will reveal to you today…

• Important and Urgent
• Not Important but Urgent
• Not Urgent but Important
• Not Urgent and not Important

The more urgency a task has, the higher up your list it goes. And the more important the task, the more time you alot to it.

An urgent task will be one that will have major consequences if it should not be done right away, therefore always analyze the negative effects of a task to determine it’s priority.

Important tasks are usually the ones that keep a well oiled machine running effeciently, they always need doing but they won’t cause the machine to break down, unless continually neglected.

The non-urgent and non-important tasks should be delegated or out-sourced as much as possible.

Please remember that you will only regain control of your work-life balance of time if you stop adding to your to-do list, so get rid of the clutter, banish the trivial, and start a to-do list, calendar, and organizer straight away.

Sincerely,

P.S. If you are in need of tackling your time management and improving your work life balance, you should take a look at my special free report Time Management Tactics to become efficiently successful.

Related posts:

1. Anger Management Techniques To Use In Stressful Situations
2. 7 Tips To Increase Your Productivity

When an individual is dealing with anger issues, usually their emotions evolve when put in stressful situations. If a difficult incident pops up, often their only way to cope with it is to put up their defensive side.

Becoming angry is probably easier than dealing with the circumstances. This is unfortunate since anger doesn’t solve anything. Once it subsides, the problem is still there.

There are anger management techniques which people can used when found in stressful situations.

If there is a friend or family member who is easy to talk to and understanding, it might be good to talk to them. When an individual becomes angry they are incapable of seeing the other side of the problem. Talking to someone may help them by sharing their side of the story. The friend or family member may be able to help them sort through their issues and make them look at the situation from the other side. This anger management technique may work well for some people.

Another great anger management technique is to write down thoughts and feelings during a fit of anger. The angry individual may feel as if nobody understands or cares about their problems. Sharing may only cause extra conflict. Lashing out will get them nowhere. Writing or journaling may help people with anger issues. Without anyone to talk back or object to what they have to say, it may be help to get their feelings off their chest.

Using writing as an anger management tool may also help in the future when trying to find the triggers which cause the angry outbursts. Being able to look back over the information written may provide the person with reasons for their anger through reading about similar incidents.

Taking a vacation, spending some alone time is another good anger management technique. Removing oneself from the environment which seems to frustrate and irritate them may be a wise idea. Being able to get away and reflect on their actions may help an individual to look at things differently. Given space and time may be positive for a person with anger issues.

Some people suggest prayer and meditation as anger management technique. Both of these suggestions involve very personal practices for an individual. Given a chance to pray and be alone with one’s thoughts is a good way to release tension and let the pressures of life wash away. Letting go of feelings of anger and negative thoughts would definitely make a positive change in a person’s life. Through prayer and meditation a person is able to dig deep into their minds and souls for answers to their problems and comfort for their broken spirits.

There are lots of anger management techniques which people can practice when the going gets tough. Tips such as breathe deeply, exercise, get more rest, get out in nature, find humor in the situation and play or listen to music. These are all recommended as anger management techniques for the person who finds themselves in stressful and confrontational situations.

Sincerely,

P.S. There are some great techniques and tips to be found at http://www.anger-management-techniques.org/ for help and advice.

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1. Time Management Skills To Defeat The Time Robbers

A successful life is what we all aspire to, but most of us fail to ever realize, right?

I have often heard the quote by Christopher Morley…

“There is only one success…to spend your life in your own way”

…and it’s too true.

Most of us become stuck in a so called ‘normal life’, a life that comprises a mundane routine of repetitive tasks that re-endorse the normal life, every day, and every week.

A routine full of tasks that suck – equals a life that sucks wouldn’t you agree?

Tasks like…

• Rising at insanely early hours 5 days per week, 50 weeks per year

• Keeping up a boring job with pay so low you have to bend over to pick it up

• Driving bumper to bumper or catching a jammed bus/train full of BO and bugs

• Being nice to a boss who takes the credit for your hard work

• Working a 70 hour week so you see too little of the family

…why do we put up with it?

Well I’ll tell you.

Because it is all we know, it’s how we have been brought up, it’s how our parents lived, and because of this…it’s our doom to follow suit.

Believe me, I know what it’s like.

I was with the same company for 26 years before I decided to do something. Strange how we cling to what we know, it’s like a comfort blanket.

It wasn’t like an event happened where I decided I had had enough. It was just time for a change.

Not a new job, going through the same routine except with a different set of bosses, in another place – not appealing.

No, I had a complete change in my perspective on life. I decided that I would be my own boss and take control of my life.

It wasn’t until much later that I discovered I had gone through, what Bob Proctor calls, a paradigm shift.

I can’t say I even knew what a paradigm was? It sounded like it belonged to quantum physics to me!

It wasn’t like being hit around the head with a wet fish, a flash in the dark, or anything like that.

The shift came as a result of years of thinking there has to be more to life than this!

And there is. I have to tell you folks, that we get hoodwinked from an early age into falling into line with what society expects, then bingo, before we know it we’ve taken up the mundane routine.

Bang – there’s no going back.

Except there is. You would be wrong to think that change is impossible. Frightening yes, impossible NO!

Anyone can have a paradigm shift like me. To change your pattern of thought all you have to do initially, is to open up your mind to the possibility that there might be a better way.

Then you have to take action. Find and assimilate as much knowledge as you can find about…

• Different ways of thinking, and using your thoughts to create a vision for the future that you approve of

• How to build up your self esteem

• How to draw up a plan of achievable goals

• The importance of taking regular action to tick off the goals so you move perceptibly towards your future vision

• How to eliminate negetivity in your life until you are surrounded by a group of supportive friends and family

It took me years to act, and then it only came about by accident and good luck.

It still amazes me today how I found the courage to actually change my life – because I hadn’t made any preparations at all.

I might never have made the shift and that, I now know, would have been a tragedy!

I am reminded of a famous quote,

“There is only one failure, and that is not to have tried at all.”

Think on those words and you will realize that, you cannot fail.

So if you feel like a salmon – always going upstream against the current, then start making preparations towards your own paradigm shift. Once you start thinking differently you will find it easy to swim away from the rat race.

Fear the ‘normal life’ by all means, but you should not fear the future, because the future is where hope lives with all it’s endless possibilities.

Sincerely,

P.S. Unlike me, you have the opportunity to make the much needed preparations for a successful future, because I have identifed for you that change is possible, and I have also identified the tools and training you need to gain the mindset that leads to a successful life. Keep probing…

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1. 3 Secrets To Realizing Your Dream Life

Wouldn’t anyone exchange a mediocre life for one of happiness, great relationships, and wealth?

Of course you would, and you know what? Anyone can do it!

“Opportunity never knocks. It appears, flickering, like faulty neon at a nondescript fork in the road.” ~ Roy H. Williams

I will let you into a secret I discovered 6 years ago now.

To exchange one life for another takes nothing less than a total change to your outlook on life. What the guru’s call a Paradigm Shift.

You see, where you are today is a sum total of all the choices you made in the past, and if you continue to make the same choices, guess what? You’ll end up with the same life.

That’s right… nothing will change!

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” ~Dale Carnegie

The #1 secret to changing your lifestyle is to forget the past, leave the future to itself, and focus on today.

Because ‘today is the first day of the rest of your life’ as the old saying goes.

Now, to change your complete outlook on life is no mean feat, I can tell you from bitter experience, but man, the rewards are worth it.

The journey you are about to undertake will not be easy, and is littered with pitfalls, but if you want your dream life, then you do not have a choice other than to take it, take a hold on your life now, and change.

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom,”  ~ Anais Nin

Why must I change you may ask? Change is inevitable, there is nothing so certain than change, it is a great constant of the universe. And there is no need to be afraid of it for in change lies your future.

You may be skeptical, you may also be wondering ‘change to what’, well I will tell you.

The #2 secret to obtaining your dream life, is knowing why to change, how to change, and where you need to be at the end of the journey.

Visualize being in possession of your dream life, hold on to it, imagine you are already there, this vision is where you will be at the end of your journey. This vision is the key to changing your paradigm for when combined with emotion it will sink into the subconscious mind where the paradigm is held.

You will encounter resistance both from within, and from family and friends because they will not understand your need. You must resist to succeed.

With everyone telling you to just accept your lot in life and to make the best of things, to play it safe, how can you find your way to personal growth and development?

The #3 secret to your dream life lies in allowing yourself to change. Conquering fear with strength and endurance.

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” ~ Helen Keller

There is much more I wish to show you to help you realize your dream life, but I am sure these three simple secrets will embolden you to start your journey. They are the key to a successful beginning.

Sincerely,

P.S. To help you realize your dream life I have written a special report entitled
Unlocking The Puzzle To A Dream Life which you can obtain by following the link. It is packed full of content and exercises to help you get started. Enjoy!

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1. Why You Should Not Fear The Future
2. Do You Need To Take The Life Test?
3. Do You Know What Really Matters – The Answer Is Simple

Ok, here we go with part 2 of my copywriting series in which, you will discover how to write a sales letter that will boost your conversion rate and sky rocket your sales.

“Always Plan Your Sales Letter To Tell A Kick Ass Story”

Plan your sales letter with this basic layout…

• Headline
• Body
  • Empathy
  • Product or Service Benefits
  • Price Justifications
  • Imagines
• Closing
  • Three P.S.s

Within this basic layout you should tell a story…people love stories so give them one. It should be compelling, punchy, and be able to paint a picture in your prospect’s mind.

As John Carlton says, “invent a personality, make up a hero, or interview yourself.”

The headline is the most important component of your copy, if you don’t believe me, take it from David Ogilvy who said, “On the average, 5 times as many people read the headline as read the body copy…”

Therefore you must arouse the interest of your prospect in the headline to have them read further. To do this use Gary Bencivenga’s formula, I = B+C…

Interest = Benefit + Curiosity

…the absence of either one equals a flawed and weakened headline.

Offer a secret to raise curiosity and include your best benefit to overcome the prospect’s boredom and scepticism.

In the body copy start with empathy, but to do this part well you must research your niche so you can understand and answer all of the following…

• what makes sense for this market
• what would people hope to overcome
• what would they hope to gain
• what do they desire
• what are their needs, concerns, and objections

Set a hook by repeating the secret revealed in the headline, but don’t talk about it again until further down the page.

* * * *

Follow empathy with the benefits of your product or service that will change the life of your prospect’s. Answer all their desires, needs, concerns, and objections. Build their excitement, then follow with urgency.

* * * *

Follow the benefits with your price justification that shows your prospect’s what a mouth watering irresistible offer this is.

Build on the urgency you started earlier, set a time limit after which the price goes up. Restrict the numbers that are allowed to sign up, exclusivity is great because no one wants to be left out.

Include unique bonuses that compliment your main product or service to sweeten the deal. Put your prospect’s mind at rest with a guarantee that safeguards their interests.

* * * *

After the price justification include a whole section of sentences where you place yourself in your prospect’s shoes, imagining what it would be like benefiting from the product or service on offer, for example…

“Imagine what it would be like to have prospects clamouring
to join your site like a herd of stampeding Wildebeest”

Now is the time for the closing statement where you will ask for the sale. Present reasons why a prospect must act now. What will happen should the prospect delay, i.e., how things will stay the same, and how no benefits will come to them whom do not act today.

Lastly include 3 post scripts that re-iterate the empathy, benefits, and imagine points with a final statement on how unique a special offer this is.

* * * *

In my next installment, I will set out for you the correct environment and time philosophy to boost your productivity and success in your direct marketing copywriting career.

Sincerely,

P.S. Remember, in the art of persuasion “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor” ~ Aristotle. Check out copybloggers Copywriting 101 series for a free 10-step copywriting tutorial.

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2. Your Prospect Follow Up Call Success…
3. Multiply Your Fortunes With Multiple Streams Of Income

Web copywriting is a difficult art to master, yet it is at the center of all we bloggers do. We have to some how paint our message across the screen, but at the same time, try to keep the attention of our audience.

So in the spirit of blogger cooperation, I thought I would share my tips for the planning processes I use to write a compelling post.

“Before you even start writing you have to ask yourself these 10 questions…”

Always decide your strategy to get across your main message, which will put your audience in the picture you are going to paint for them. Learn every thing you can about your chosen topic, then plan your writing before you even think of going to your blog dashboard.
Planning is the key to an ordered and defined post. You want your writing to flow whilst explaining your topic to your audience.

What point of view, story, or product are you selling. Think, what is my target audience, what are their woes, what do they need to hear, and how will I be able to inform them. Incorporate proof and believability into your copy.

Decide what is my attention grabbing headline. It’s a fact that many people decide whether to read a post based on the headline alone. This is your calling card, your one chance to capture your target audience.
This is where you give your audience a reason to open your post. It doesn’t matter if your message has something of real value to share if your post is never opened! It therefore follows that your headline is the most important component of your post.

The structure of your post is also important. Don’t even think about writing until you have planned your opening statement, the body of your post, and your closing call to action. After the headline, someone who scan reads will next look at the P.S. and closing section.
They will then skim the whole post for the sub-headers and bolded text, so make sure these tell an abbreviated version of your story.

Here’s an acronym about article structuring I have borrowed from the greatest living copywriter, Gary Bencivenga…

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

…remember AIDA when you are planning.

Look through the other end of the telescope, know what your audience desires and aim to give it to them. This is the essence of good copywriting. Your audience will ask themselves, ‘is this of interest’, and ‘is it believable’.

Keep asking yourself ‘is my story believable’. What proof do I have to back up my story, this is where your earlier deep research into the topic pays off. You must be able to balance your claims with proof.
Remember that a believable promise to the right audience is the way to get your message across.

Focus on your audience, not yourself. Remember that people in general are motivated by their own self interest, so focusing on yourself will soon turn them off your post. Focus instead on their interests, remember the telescope.

Answer all questions and overcome all objections. This is how you make your copy believable and irresistible. If it’s a sale you are after, then by paying attention to this and re-iterating in your P.S. section, you will make your sale.

What you say is more important than how you say it. Good content will always win over good grammar. It doesn’t matter that you may not be qualified in language so long as you make your post interesting and emotive.
If you can raise your audiences emotions you will sell your story.

Start a swipe file. Every time you come across a killer headline, a compelling call to action, or any interesting phrase, copy and paste it into a swipe file. The only way to learn is to copy the masters who are already writing great copy.
So, whenever you need an amazing headline or a killer close, you go to your “swipe file” to find a hot piece of copy that’s already been proven to work, then re-model it to suit your topic and style.

If you found these tips of some interest, you will find my next instalment cranks it up a little. By speaking in generalities like this, I have attempted to appeal to a larger audience. You can use these tips in any kind of writing, be that personal, informative, instructional, or sales copy.

My next instalment will focus on sales copy, and how to write that killer sales page. This should appeal to anyone just starting out in the online marketing world. I hope to show you that it isn’t as scary a place as you may think.

Sincerely,

P.S. It has occurred to me that some of you may be thinking it will take you ages to build up a comprehensive swipe file. You could follow the proven greats like Gary Bencivenga and Gary Halbert, but it would still take some time to build up a decent file.
The alternative is to cheat a little and to gain access to a ready-made file that includes all the great copy from the past. You can have the same instant swipe file I use by following the link. It’s great value for money and saves a whole heap of time.

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