The Right Way to Look to Your Future-Coming To Grips With "The Gap"

You can strive for perfection, but you'll always be dissatisfied because nothing turns out perfect. Or you can use this unique mindset, described by guest author Dan Sullivan today, to bring you greater happiness and satisfaction with your progress.
Craig Ballantyne
"Working for someone else gives you little chance to make a fortune. By owning your own business, you only have to be good to become wealthy." – Kekich Credo #25

By Dan Sullivan
Some people look toward the future and feel a rush of inspiration and excitement. Others look forward and feel guilty, anxious, dissatisfied, or paralyzed by perfectionism: They never feel like they've done quite enough or achieved everything they should have. These feelings drive them to be hard on themselves – and on others around them.
Even the most successful people can be demanding and critical of themselves. Why is that? The answer lies in the way the human brain works, which makes us all susceptible to a kind of negative self-evaluation I call "The Gap." It's often especially evident among people who have big ambitions, like entrepreneurs. In this article, we'll give you a handle on what The Gap is and show you how you can get out of The Gap once you recognize that you're in it.
Ideals, goals, and the actual.
Lets start by examining some structures that exist in all of our minds. As humans, we have the ability to conceive of perfection–the ideal–in any situation. An ideal is like the horizon: Even though you move in its direction, it always seems to be just as far away. Just like the horizon, ideals are mental constructs. Rather than relating to them as attainable, the best way to treat the ideal is as an infinite source of inspiration for creating goals.
Goals, on the other hand, are more concrete and measurable. Goals require that you look at where you actually are now, then set measurable objectives for where you'd like to be in the future. When you get to that point, you can look back and identify exactly how much progress you've made.
Definition of The Gap.
The Gap is the permanent distance between the ideal and the actual. When you're in The Gap, it's because you're measuring your progress against an ideal that is, by nature, unattainable, instead of looking back to where you started and comparing that to where you are now.
Achieving your goals gives you the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to celebrate. People fixated on ideals seldom find reasons to celebrate; they're too busy making demands of themselves to stop and acknowledge the progress they've made. They may feel that the constant pursuit of ideals keeps them in motion, but what they're missing out on is any enjoyment of their accomplishments and the opportunity to use these wins as a platform for increased confidence and capability.
Uses of ideals.
Ideals do serve a vital function. They can inspire us to create big goals, help us endure hard times, and lift us from our everyday perspective so we can glimpse the big picture. They're indispensable – as long as we recognize them for what they are.
In working with your future as a tool, use the ideal as a beacon to show you the direction, but be sure to honestly acknowledge where you are now and translate your ideals into workable, attainable goals.
Your get-out-of-The-Gap-free card.
If you find yourself feeling stuck, unable to take action, you might be in The Gap. The way to free yourself is to shift your focus from perfection to the progress you've already achieved.
Here's where your past is a valuable resource: Set aside some regular time for yourself, perhaps at the beginning of the week, and write down your 10 biggest achievements from the past week, along with what makes them significant to you.
You might be surprised at how much you've accomplished, and you'll be able to see what you can do next to continue this progress. Now is always the time to enjoy your success

The Magic of Repetition

By Robert Ringer
People who can never seem to grab the brass ring are often guilty of nothing more than overlooking the basics. By basics, I'm talking about fundamental skills and activities such as time management, reading, organization, and developing an accurate perception of reality ... the list goes on and on.
But perhaps the most consistently overlooked basic of all is an innocuous little item called "repetition." Repetition is how you become good at any sport, artistic endeavor, math, writing ... just about any activity one can think of. We've all heard, many times over, the truism that "practice makes perfect."
Repetition is how I became a certified Microsoft Word expert. In the late nineties, I spent a year and a half writing a Microsoft Word reference guide, a project that required my learning, then repeating, every conceivable Word function hundreds of times.
As a result of all that repetition, today I can perform most Word functions very quickly and without consciously thinking about it. My Word expertise is not because I'm a computer whiz, but because of the enormous amount of repetition I invested in the program.
It's the same with writing. I'd like to think I've improved a great deal as a writer over the past twenty-five years, and I attribute that improvement to having written millions of words during that period of time. In this regard, I often quote Mario Puzo, who summed it clearly nicely when he said, "Rewriting is the whole secret to writing."
An interesting paradox of repetition is that if you practice something slowly, you'll actually learn it more quickly. I can think of many instances in my life where this was obvious to me. One in particular that comes to mind is when I was in my teens. Though I wasn't a great athlete, I loved basketball and practiced it hours on end.
Like most right-handed kids, I couldn't shoot a left-handed lay-up worth beans. I was having a terrible time not only shooting the ball with my left hand, but also trying to figure out how to push off with my right foot. If you've played basketball, you know how awkward this maneuver can be.
I vividly recall practicing the correct technique hours on end in my backyard, where my dad had installed a basket for me. (This was long before the days of Huffy, so it was a big deal to have your own backboard and basket setup.) I would walk through my approach to the basket, literally thousands of times, making certain I ended up on my right foot just as I was about to lay the ball up with my left hand. Little by little, I increased my speed, until I finally was able to make left-handed lay-ups at full throttle.
As a result of having the technique ingrained in my head, I ultimately was able to make left-handed lay-ups in the heat of games, even if a defender was breathing down my neck. The reason I was able to perform under game conditions was because I didn't have to think about it. I had done all my thinking thousands of times in practice, which allowed my brain to go on autopilot once a game began.
I have since found that this same strategy produces results in just about any area of adult life. For example, any professional speaker will tell you that repetition is the key to becoming a good speaker. A professional speaker is well aware of the importance of practicing his lines slowly until they become indelibly stamped on his forebrain.
From time to time, every speaker comes across a sentence – or even a whole story – that causes his tongue and brain to become tangled. The best solution to this obstacle is to practice the material slowly – a hundred times or more, if necessary – until you get it right. Then, it's like riding a bicycle: You never forget it.
In practical terms, what all this means is that virtually anyone with average intelligence can become an expert at just about anything by employing repetition. It's one of those basics that are so essential to success, yet so often overlooked.
When all else fails, make sure that you're not forgetting the importance of repetition in your business– and personal-life strategies. More often than not, so-called overnight successes are really just people who have endlessly repeated the same actions – over a period of many years – usually very slowly in the early going and increasing their speed as they progress.
As advertising legend Claude Hopkins put it nearly one hundred years ago: "Genius is the art of taking pains."

How to Protect Yourself From Failure

By Craig Ballantyne
An alcoholic walks into a bar. An hour later, he's drunk. Two hours later, he stumbles home.
Um, alright, that wasn't a very good "guy walks into a bar joke", I'm sorry.
But it is an excellent, albeit extreme example of a point I want to make today.
If we have a bad habit, putting ourselves into an environment that promotes the bad habit is the first step in making the bad habit worse. Therefore, we need to identify not only the bad habits in our lives that we want to change, but also the environments we must avoid in order to foster this change.
The other night while driving from the big city to my home in the country, I was listening to an interview with Dan Kennedy. On the call he described how he structures his weekly errand's route so that he doesn't drive by a donut shop. For Dan, a diabetic, he's struggled with a lifelong "addiction" to donuts. So he makes the effort to remove himself from the environment that would support the addiction.
Likewise, almost every bad habit we have in our lives can be limited by removing ourselves from particular environments. For example, let's say that you have a problem with gossip. Every day at 10am you find yourself at the proverbial water cooler in your office with the same people having the same useless, negative conversations about other people.
What's part of the solution?
Avoiding the water cooler at 10am.
You see, most bad habits can be significantly reduced by avoiding the environment, yet often we think we can have the willpower to put ourselves in that environment and somehow resist the urge to give in to the bad behaviour.
Do you really think you can go to the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet at lunch while on your diet and just order a salad? That takes a strong-willed person, and really, that willpower is best left to fight against something else more important in your life. Instead of wasting the willpower on this environment, just keep yourself out of the offending environment altogether.
This also applies to the people and items you bring into your environment. For example, one of my friends, nutrition expert Brad Pilon, simply recommends a "no eating in the car" rule for his readers, and this simple little suggestion helps eliminate unwanted and unnecessary calories. After all, the majority of foods you can eat in your car are on the "do not eat" list from your diet.
When you control the environment, you remove the opportunity to fall back into a bad habit. Lead yourself not into temptation and you shall do no evil.
Of course, there will be times when you're thrown into an environment that is no good for you, and you'll need to develop coping strategies for those times as well. But that's another lesson for another day. Today, I simply want you to focus on two things.
First, identify the bad habits and where they most often occur. What people, places, and things contribute to your participation in activities that you want to remove from your life?
Second, identify solutions to these obstacles. For example, in the case of the water cooler gossip, avoid engaging these people in non-work related conversations. Avoid the water cooler at 10am.
I speak from experience. When I was young and foolish I would often meet my best friend in a bar on Saturday evenings. Needless to say this was not conducive to a Sunday full of relaxation and preparation for the week ahead.
In order to maintain our regular meetings and 30-year friendship, we both identified the offending environment and removed ourselves from it. Today we meet on Sunday afternoons (a day on which neither of us drink alcohol) in locations that don't lead us into temptation and our friendship is stronger than ever.
You don't have to lose relationships in order to better your life. You often just need to lose the offending environments that put you in harm's way.
Put yourself in a positive environment with positive people who provide you social support and you'll build better habits without draining your limited willpower.

Procrastinate no longer.

Craig Ballantyne
"What may be done at any time will be done at no time." – Scottish Proverb...This week, I encourage you to take action on that "thing" that you have been meaning to do for so long. Get it done.

Focus On Clean-ups And Multiply Your Energy:
Transform your messes into progress and breakthroughs.

By Dan Sullivan
As you progress through life and your business grows, it's natural that some messes will accumulate in your life. We define a "mess" as an obligation you're not committed to. You can remember this as "M = O – C," or "Mess equals Obligation minus Commitment."
Common messes entrepreneurs experience are legal issues, financial concerns, and problems that arise out of the complexity of running an evolving business. As messes build up over the years, they can start to block your progress and bog you down in minutiae.
When you leave a situation in a mess, a part of your brain stays with it. That bit of mental energy isn't able to contribute to solving other problems or creating new opportunities. With each clean-up you do, a portion of your brain is set free again.
The clean-up two-step.
The process for cleaning up a mess involves two steps. The first is to face it. Until you've looked at the messes in your life head-on, acknowledging and identifying what they are, you can't begin to clean them up.
The second step is to deal with it. Messes are often the result of guilt, justification, and avoidance, so a little action goes a long way toward dealing with them. Complexity and negative emotion then turn into a new sense of simplicity and confidence.
The Monday morning invasion.
Your office can be a constant source of messes. For instance, you might not even use your desk drawers anymore. Many people's drawers turn into time capsules and their closets become museums, while the bulk of their work sits on their desk. If you have piles of paper to get past just to reach your chair, Monday morning might feel more like storming the beaches.
A mess in your physical space goes beyond mere untidiness. There's nothing inherently wrong with a cluttered or haphazard workspace (no matter what a compulsive organizer might say!). What really matters is whether your space contributes to your ability to think, communicate, and act, or if it gets in the way.
There are many solutions for getting your space set up so it helps you do your best work. One strategy I recommend to my clients is "The No-Office Solution": Instead of having a space where "stuff" can pile up, work off-site or use a temporary space in the office. When you're finished, a team member takes your stuff away, so there's nowhere for more of it to accumulate while you're out of the office.
At first, many people think they couldn't possibly do this. Those who try it, though, find that it provides a huge boost in confidence. Being faced each day with stacks of stuff can keep you from recognizing the progress you've made. The No-Office Solution™ focuses your attention on active tasks and projects that you can deal with one by one.
Doing deals with the world.
Many people get into messes when they work outside their area of expertise. When there's something you know you have to do, but you don't enjoy doing it and don't do it well, it's easy to put it off until it becomes a problem. While it's up to you to say what needs to be cleaned up in your life, you're not necessarily the person to have to do the clean-up. You can get anything accomplished in the world as long as you're not always the person who has to do it!
Delegation is a key strategy for cleaning up a situation and preventing it from becoming an issue again. The power of delegation lies in the way it extends your abilities. By surrendering a task to someone with a talent and passion in that area, you make sure it'll be handled now and into the future, and you also open up the opportunity to have it handled well.
Wondering what to delegate?
There are a few key things in life you do really well and that give you energy. Then there's everything else. Some of these other activities are things you're simply not good at. These "incompetent activities" can be very frustrating, and are dangerously easy to ignore because you dislike them so much. There are other activities you're competent at, but you don't add anything special to the way you do them; anyone could get the same result as you. Then there are things you do exceptionally well, but aren't passionate about. You might enjoy the attention or the results these excellent activities get you, but they don't really ignite your passion.
These three types of activities–incompetent, competent, or excellent–are good candidates for delegation, starting with incompetent activities. In these areas, you might find that your energy drops after the novelty wears off, and you have trouble finding the motivation to complete projects. Someone else, however, might have the energy to finish the job, or to add a new element that makes it interesting for you again. They might enjoy tasks that you don't, and have a different perspective or abilities to bring to them.
The trick is to draw a circle around those few activities you're great at, then make deals with the world to take care of everything outside that circle. In doing this, you multiply your abilities and preserve your energy for those activities that distinguish you from everyone else.
Releasing potential energy.
The initial thought of doing clean-ups may not excite you–after all, aren't these things you were avoiding in the first place? But think of how good you'll feel once they're done. With every mess you clean up, you'll transform a source of guilt, frustration, and suffering into a source of confidence, energy, and progress. This releases an enormous amount of energy, freeing you up to shift your attention from dealing with little problems to the much more rewarding business of creating the future you want to see.

Things that matter in a JOB apart from Salary

The ability to motivate employees is one of the greatest skills an entrepreneur can possess. Two years ago, I realized I didn’t have this skill. So I hired a CEO who did.
Josh had 12 years in the corporate world, which included running a major department at Comcast. I knew he was seasoned, but I was still skeptical at first. We were going through some tough growing pains, and I thought that a lack of cash would make it extremely difficult to improve the company morale.
I was wrong.
With his help and the help of the great team leaders he put in place, Josh not only rebuilt the culture, but also created a passionate, hard-working team that is as committed to growing and improving the company as I am.
Here are nine things I learned from him:

1. Be generous with praise. Everyone wants it and it’s one of the easiest things to give. Plus, praise from the CEO goes a lot farther than you might think. Praise every improvement that you see your team members make. Once you’re comfortable delivering praise one-on-one to an employee, try praising them in front of others.  
2. Get rid of the managers. Projects without project managers? That doesn’t seem right! Try it. Removing the project lead or supervisor and empowering your staff to work together as a team rather then everyone reporting to one individual can do wonders. Think about it. What’s worse than letting your supervisor down? Letting your team down! Allowing people to work together as a team, on an equal level with their co-workers, will often produce better projects faster. People will come in early, stay late, and devote more of their energy to solving problems.  
3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. “I’d like you to do it this way” turns into “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?”  
4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you’re looking for a de-motivator, this is it. Try an indirect approach to get people to improve, learn from their mistakes, and fix them. Ask, “Was that the best way to approach the problem? Why not? Have any ideas on what you could have done differently?” Then you’re having a conversation and talking through solutions, not pointing a finger.  
5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers’ strengths and let them know that because of their excellence, you want them to be the example for others. You’ll set the bar high and they’ll be motivated to live up to their reputation as a leader.  
6. Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them. Don’t make an announcement that you’re establishing a new policy. Literally walk up to one of your employees, and invite them to lunch with you. It’s an easy way to remind them that you notice and appreciate their work.  
7. Give recognition and small rewards. These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what she has accomplished. Run contests or internal games and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don’t break the bank can work too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques. 
8. Throw company parties. Doing things as a group can go a long way. Have a company picnic. Organize birthday parties. Hold a happy hour. Don’t just wait until the holidays to do a company activity; organize events throughout the year to remind your staff that you’re all in it together. 
9. Share the rewards—and the pain. When your company does well, celebrate. This is the best time to let everyone know that you’re thankful for their hard work. Go out of your way to show how far you will go when people help your company succeed. If there are disappointments, share those too. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent.

Stop Being A Wall Flower!!!

To some extent, having social anxiety is normal.  There are some
cases where fear is a natural reaction during certain contexts.
For instance, it's ok to feel a little giddy if you're at a
prospective employer's office for a job and you're waiting for your
turn to be called.  Or maybe there was a time when you were jittery
because you had to speak or perform in front of a large crowd.
For scenarios like those, it's common for the average person to
feel a bit nervous from the anticipation.  But what if the most
ordinary of interactions terrified you?
You've got a bigger challenge ahead of you if you're unnecessarily
wound up from simply talking to strangers in ordinary situations.
If the thought of chatting with the barista at your local coffee
shop makes you want to shy away, then you have to do something
about it.
You'll need a way to deal with this unusual amount of anxiety if
you want to have a better dating life.  If it's difficult for you
to make small talk during "low pressure" situations, you'll
definitely have a harder time holding a full conversation during an
emotionally-charged event such as a date.
There are individuals who went through a phase of bashfulness in
their lives (such as childhood or adolescence), but eventually
outgrew it.  Then there are people that had no problems with
shyness in the past, but experience social anxiety later on.
You see, fearfully reacting to a given situation is NOT who you are
as a person, but simply a BEHAVIOR that you can learn to OVERCOME.
Being shy isn't part of your personality; you're just having
trouble dealing with self-consciousness when made to face people
you don't know.
Besides, sometimes it's actually OK to hold back and evaluate an
unfamiliar situation before diving in.  In some circumstances,
you'll need to have a good feel of the social boundaries before
saying or doing something.
Otherwise, you could risk offending the people around you or end up
embarrassing yourself.
However, there are unusual cases where a woman avoids interaction
in ANY situation in her life.  For these girls, they'd rather not
talk to anyone because their shyness has become a "security
blanket" to protect them from committing a social blunder.
In short, this habitual anxiety can develop into a sort of crutch
to help someone get by.  The problem is that you'll always pass up
the different opportunities and eventually regret not having
accomplished much.
Here's another nasty side effect of shyness: it can actually AFFECT
OTHERS, even if they're naturally outspoken!
If a cute guy started a conversation with you and all you did was
give him a bunch of "go away" signals, he'll feel uncomfortable -
or worse, rejected!  It's pretty funny to think that you DO want
him to talk to you, yet you're simultaneously terrified by the very
possibility.
On a larger scale, a lack of reception or responsiveness causes
people to see you as snobbish, when in reality you'd make a great
friend (or girlfriend for that matter).  It's tough for a reserved
person to want company since they LACK the social SKILLS to have
it.
So, just because you're shy doesn't mean you don't want to have
more friends or a quality man in your life.  Therefore, it's
crucial to take the steps in ridding yourself of this excessive
shyness because it could be affecting the general quality of your
life.
If you truly WANT to address this issue, you'll have to PROMISE to
yourself that you'll do what's needed to pull this off.  I'll walk
you through some very effective ways to eventually lose your sense
of fear in social situations.
# 1: Acknowledge your fear
Sounds simple enough, right?  Well, it is.  Nonetheless, it's still
very important to ADMIT to yourself that you do have a problem with
social anxiety.
How could you begin to deal with your social anxiety if you can't
even bring yourself to face truth in the first place?  As such,
owning up to your shortcomings is the first step towards
self-improvement.
It doesn't make you less of a woman to acknowledge these things.
All you're really doing is facing a problem, just like everybody
else does.
Speaking of everybody, don't forget about the human tendency to
fear the unknown.  It's pretty normal to feel some form of anxiety
if you're thrust into unfamiliar territory.
While the level of fear varies among different people, anyone
treading on new ground will inevitably experience a measure of
uncertainty, whether they like it or not.  So don't think you're
defective in some way - you're simply coming to terms with an issue
and finding the strength to deal with it.
#2: Baby steps are better than big ones
Don't try getting into the thick of a large social occasion (like a
party) without any preparation.  This sort of "shock therapy" won't
cure you of your anxiety!
Remember that you still need to work on your social skills before
moving on to the big leagues.  If you rush too far ahead, you could
just be getting into an awkward situation when you run out of
things to say or freeze up during a conversation.
A better approach is to start off small and go from there.  I
suggest you begin your "training" with minor things like chatting
up the bank clerk or the good-looking fellow at the grocery line.
Look around you - life is full of opportunities for you to initiate
a casual conversation with total strangers.  It may not seem like a
big deal, but in fact, it's tremendously helpful in overcoming your
shyness.
(Just be mindful of good timing - you wouldn't be making good
rapport if you walked up behind someone in a dark alley just to ask
them what time it was!)
Just the other day, I watched an online video made by a guy who did
it as a sort of a social experiment.  His goal was to approach and
start a conversation with at least twenty different people in a
shopping mall.
So he had a friend film him as he walked up to various strangers
and stated talking to them.  At the end of the shoot, he explained
how LIBERATING it was to free himself of the fear of interacting
with so many people.
While I don't really recommend you to do that yourself, it does say
something about the value of developing IMMUNITY to social anxiety.
So the next time you get the chance to talk to someone you might
never see again, TAKE IT.  If that feels like taking a huge step
for you, then it probably is.
What's important is that you're taking it anyway.  Besides, there
are fringe benefits to be had as well.
Bonding with someone through talking can actually make your day a
little better.  The act of having of a conversation is in fact a
pleasurable activity, so get out there and start chatting!
#2:  Align yourself with outgoing folks
One of the other problems related to shyness is that such an
attitude only begets even more shyness.  Like I said earlier, your
aversion towards conversation can make others uncomfortable, thus
causing them to be shy in the process.
So, another good solution is by hanging around people who have no
problems with shyness.  Their outgoing nature is actually
contagious.  It's just a matter of allowing them to "infect" you
with their positive energy.
Make an effort to be open to such people whenever they're nearby.
Whether it's the bubbly co-worker who sits next you at the office
or the equally effervescent attendant waiting tables at your
favorite restaurant, make sure to be receptive when they start
talking to you.
On another note, you can learn a lot from their easy and
free-flowing style of communication.  You essentially have a better
shot at being better at something by observing the folks who are
good at it.
Pay attention to their body language: notice their big gestures,
uncrossed arms and great posture.  All of these things are the mark
of an approachable person who's great at putting others at ease, so
make mental notes!
#3: Build up your conversation game
Now, there are several aspects to getting this right.  First of
all, you can make better conversation by having something RELEVANT
to talk about.
That's why you need to raise your awareness of the world around
you.  Check out the web, your morning paper or listen to the news
on the radio on the way to work to get a better grasp of what's
going on.
Being up-to-date on culture is a great way to establish some common
ground to start on with a stranger.  Furthermore, read up on stuff
that interests you.
It doesn't have to be deeply philosophical stuff - unless you
happen to be into that, which is just as cool.  The point is to
have something interesting to say so that you can use it as a
springboard for a conversation.
Here's another tip: think of great anecdotes that you can insert
into your chat.  As much as possible, it should be a funny story
about the time when you got into a bit of a jam but turned out
fine.
The beauty of this is that it implies you have social value since
you had it in you to deal with a problem.  Furthermore, recounting
it in a humorous way doesn't make it sound like you're bragging;
also, jokes put the other person at ease.
Oh, avoid being self-centered as well.  People like it when you're
genuinely interested in what they have to say.  Have an open ear
and ask related questions as a follow-up to their input.
For instance, if THEY told you a funny story, try asking with a
smile, "Well, how'd that work out?"  Responses like these really
help get the conversation in high gear.
Lastly, a good conversationalist is excellent at rephrasing another
person's thoughts in their own words.  Let's say the person you're
talking to tells you about their love of traveling.
You can say, "That's really cool, I know where you're coming from.
Just last week, my friends and I went to the other town to attend a
concert.  I just love the feeling of packing my stuff and hitting
the road to go off somewhere, don't you?"
Bingo!  You've now taken what they value and REFLECTED it by
echoing their own sentiments back to them.  That just creates GOOD
VIBES all around, trust me!
To wrap things up, I have to tell you that being a more sociable
woman is the key to getting that date.  A good set of social skills
helps greatly in drawing quality guys instead of repelling them.
And if you want to guarantee you don't drive him away with your
fears and insecurities, it's time to deal to your self confidence
once and for all

How to Use OPC to Make Money Fast

By Craig Ballantyne
Here’s the situation. You want to be an entrepreneur and to start a new business because you know that this is the fastest way to building wealth. You even have a good idea, but how on earth do you get customers when starting from scratch?
Well, the correct answers are rarely the ones you want to hear. Other guru’s like to tell you that you can make millions overnight with no effort, but that’s not what you’ll get here. Instead, we’ll give you the unadulterated truth. But it’s the truth that shall make you wealthy.
Today you’re going to discover the power of OPC. It’s a little acronym that describes the fastest way for building a business, whether it’s Internet-based or one that resides on Main Street in your hometown. The rule of OPC holds true for all new opportunities, as do the strategies for getting OPC.
To give you an example of the power of OPC, let’s take a look at my bookshelf. It’s packed with many investing books and newsletters from many different companies. I haven’t just bought from one specific author or organization. Does that give you a hint about what OPC is and how it applies to your business?
And as I mentioned, the OPC strategy works just as well in ‘real-world’ businesses as it does online. After all, why do you think the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker were such good friends?
You see, you need to be ‘partners’ with other businesses who serve the same marketplace as you, and yes, this might even mean teaming up with your competition, because nothing can boost your business faster than OPC – Other People’s Customers.
Earlier I mentioned my friend Joel. He’s the guy who made both his 1st sale and his 1000th sale on the same day. How did he accomplish that? With other people’s customers, of course. Joel did something called an online product launch. By leveraging his contacts and goodwill, Joel was able to persuade other business owners to recommend his products to their customers. He did this by incentivizing these business owners with a large commission on each sale and bonuses for hitting certain sales levels.
That’s the basic premise of online affiliate marketing. If you send me your customers, I’ll pay you and make it worth your while. (In fact, that’s what Joel and I did in our recent 247FatLoss.com product launch, and you’ll get a full review of the launch on December 1st when the new issue of Financial Independence Monthly is delivered to subscribers.)
That’s the most important strategy in using the OPC system. No matter if you have a real-world business or an online business, you must make it worthwhile for your business partners to share their customer list with you.
In Joel’s situation, he ran a product launch and gave his affiliates 75% commission on each sale that his business partners sent his way. That allowed him to buy customers while still making money. When you set-up your online business, you should do the same. (Full disclosure: We do this for affiliates of our Financial Independence Monthly program, too.)
Give as much money in affiliate commissions as you can afford to give. I even give away 100% commission to affiliates on front-end offers during my annual membership drive in my Turbulence Training business. This makes affiliates stand up and take notice and participate in your promotions. When you can pay someone a lot of money for their customers, they’re much happier to share them with you.
But again, this works off the Internet as well. Let’s say for example that you have a store that sells flooring. Your best ‘advertisers’ could be stores that sell appliances, blinds, and all other products related to renovations. You should also be working out deals with contractors so that they send their customers to you.
It doesn’t matter what type of business you have (or want to start). The fastest way to grow your customer list is to get other people’s customers to become your customers too. Here are the simple steps you need to take to get the ball rolling.
1.     Identify your partners. Build up goodwill with these partners by helping them first. Leverage your goodwill when you request their help.
2.     Incentivize your partners through extra commissions and contests. For example, if a business partner sends you X number of sales each month, give them a cash bonus.
3.     Continually remind your partners to promote your business and resell them on participating. Create done-for-them marketing materials and referral scripts that automates this process for them.
Selling partners on promoting your business is extremely important. I can’t emphasize it enough. You need to focus on selling them and delivering customer service to your business partners almost as much as you do to your end-user customers.
But make sure you have a proven sales system in place before you start selling business partners on referring their customers to you. If you ask for referrals prematurely, before you are ready to serve those customers properly, you’ll end up hurting their business and yours.
There is little else that can damage a relationship more than over-promising and under-delivering. You’ve got one shot with a product launch and you can’t be caught firing blanks. As my business partner, Matt Smith, likes to remind me, “You’ve spent a lot of time building up this goodwill, you don’t want to waste it on a trivial matter.”
Take the OPC lessons seriously, and start applying them to your business today. I wish I could tell you that just ‘being the best darn little shop on main street’ (or best little website on the Internet) was enough to keep a business alive and profitable, but that’s just not the politically correct truth. You need become a master salesperson to acquire both customers on your own and OPC, too.