If you didn’t know already… I have an ebook, Diaries of a Madman coming out in preview form for my newsletter subscribers. I’m releasing it here before it goes up for sale, because I want your feedback. What do you think of the mock up of the cover?

Had a lot of my subscribers ask me why the title, Diaries of a Madman? I choose that title because a lot of people think entrepreneurs are crazy when they first get started in business. They tell them they are nuts and it will never work. It happens to the best of us, even from our closest friends and family. Perhaps we are a little crazy to imagine something different. We see better worlds with new ideas and concepts. To everyone else we are madmen in a sense. I’m pretty proud of that. So I just decided to run with it, hence Diaries of a Madman.

Let me know your thoughts! If you aren’t on the newsletter, get on it so you can get an advance preview copy when it gets released next month! (Sign up at the bottom of this screen. Make sure you confirm your email, or you won’t be added to the preview list!)

You must take ownership of your passion.

Remember that feeling you got when you were a kid on Christmas eve? You could barely sleep, so excited about the next day. That’s how you should feel about your work. If you aren’t there yet, then you are probably in the wrong field and deep down will always long for something more. I think that we all should love what we do so much that we can’t wait to get out of bed and start working on it. We shouldn’t live a life where we are dreading the morning or going to work.

Opportunity doesn’t wait for you to act, it’s ready now for someone to take hold of it and run. If you wait around, it will move on to someone else. When I was 19, I had an idea for a job website company. Basically, it was youtube mixed with monster.com, mixed with advice on how to get the job you want. On this website, you would be able to search for any job you wanted, and find video interviews, articles and more from experts that already have that job. They would give advice on how to get started, what their experiences were, things to watch out for, what qualifications you needed, and how to get hired etc. It gave you insiders information right there on the internet. Picture having an internship that taught you everything you needed to know, packaged in a nice box with a big fat red bow on top of it, all for a small fee. I saw a much needed opportunity and failed to act on it though (In fact, I let a $20-30,000 a year college career education “expert” give me advice on why I shouldn’t do it).

7 years later… I look back to see that within the last year, a huge company just funded and launched something similar. Damnit, cue knife straight to my heart. I Shoulda, I woulda and I coulda… but I didn’t. My idea was 7 years before another company had the same one and acted. I saw a huge opportunity and didn’t pull the cord. Because of my failure to act, opportunity moved to someone else that was actually ready to run with it.

Opportunity is all around us and there for those with the strength to step up and take ACTION. The world is yours, so take it. Don’t lets fears or doubts make you wait. Waiting rarely accomplishes much. It leaves you no better than you were the day before. You’ll look back and regret not moving forward on it.

I also wanted to talk about another reason you should safegaurd your knowledge: creating competition. Sometimes people will see your success, and want to duplicate it for themselves. They will come off as a friend, in an attempt to take what you have inside that head of yours. To see what they can pry out of you. In my line of work, often people want to tap into my brain. They know I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars and years of time researching and testing tactics or products to find the best. Many try to see what they can get out of me for free. You must be careful not to give too much of your ideas and knowledge away… especially for free. Once you give away the farm, you lose your value and they will take your ideas, use it for themselves and forget you ever helped them. I’ve had to learn that the hard way. When I first started, I would give away too much. Pretty quickly I created competition for myself. You give man a fire, and he’ll burn everything down. I found out that if you create a titan, they will forget they were once merely human with you.

I am a pretty open book to most, but I rarely ever give out my best secrets and knowledge. I will hold back what I know. I may throw out some gems to them to help, but I keep the best locked away inside my head for my business and for my personal clients that hire me.

Never show anyone. They’ll beg you and they’ll flatter you for the secret, but as soon as you give it up… you’ll be nothing to them. – The Prestige

“Orville Wright never needed a pilots license.” – Gordan McKenzie

I think it’s interesting how people think they need qualifications to start their big idea. I have met tons of friends that want to start a business, but they think they need to go get a fancy MBA before they can move forward. When I first started my business, I had $50 in my pocket (which I spent on brochures and incorporation), no official college degree and a dream for something better (thank God for Bekah who fed me!). I was simply armed with my brain and not much else. If you look at most big business founders, you will also find the same to be true. They don’t have the qualifications, traditional education or permission for their ideas. They lack what the world thinks they need. They simply have desire and drive. They don’t need permission. They don’t need that fancy MBA. They don’t need approval for their ideas. They just start and move forward. Stop seeking permission for your ideas and just get started.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

“You are either politicking or producing, but you can’t be doing both.”

Gossip or politics doesn’t get you any closer to your goals. Most of the time it keeps you from taking action and doing any real work. If you look at most true producers and achievers, they simply don’t have time, nor the desire to be apart of it. They are to busy creating value and taking steps towards advancement to care about whose dating who, or “showing” everyone how successful they are.

There are a lot of organizations where people get so caught up in the water-cooler gossip that they never produce any results in the process. They may be “in the know” or part of the “in” crowd, but usually no real production occurs from it. If you want to go after your goals, you must produce and leave the gossiping to the others that don’t really want success. What kind of a return does the drama between Sue and Charles produce? How closer to your goals does running around keeping up appearances get you? What money is made from gossip or politics?

You can either be politicking or producing, but you can’t be doing both. Me… I’d rather have the results.

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There was one thing that stood out to me. I noticed a secret stealth marketing tool by Coke that was brilliant (whether it was intentional or not). Just about everyone was taking pictures. Everyone was taking pictures with stands, logos and mascots of Coke. These pictures are all tiny advertisements for Coke. Social networking websites like Facebook, Myspace, or Flickr all offer free picture uploading. What do you think these people are going to do with all those digital camera pictures from their trip to the museum? They are going to upload them to the internet for their friends and family to see. See what I mean? I uploaded them to my blog. Now they are here for you guys to see!

Here’s an idea for your business: Find creative methods to get people to take pictures with your company. Perhaps you could put up a cool background that they could feel like a celebrity on the red carpet, or bring out a mascot or someone famous in your industry. Maybe you could go a step further and hire a photographer to take pictures and put your logo and website on the bottom. It could help spread your brand through social media like facebook, myspace and flickr.

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I watched amused as several groups of people tried to exit out the door while debating whether or not it was an exit. In your marketing, never assume that they can figure it out on their own. The more difficult your process, the more it will be misinterpreted and will lead to more problems. If it is difficult to navigate on your website, they won’t make a purchase. If you have to go through a process, they will go elsewhere that’s easier. Try to make it easy as can be on your customer. If you can do little things to make the process simple, DO IT. Don’t let it take an act of congress to buy from you. Government entities are perfect examples of this. Ever notice how they make it so blooming hard to buy from them? You have to have certain papers to make a purchase (that you can never find or forgot at home) and it literally takes hours just to accomplish simple tasks like getting a license plate. They might as well make it to where you need a sample of blood just to pay for car registration. Secret shop your business and see how easy it is to make a purchase from your business. See what it feels like yourself. Note the hang ups and where it can be made easier. Today’s customer won’t buy where it’s difficult or confusing. Your customer needs to trust you are the right person to spend their money with. They can buy the same product from someone else in minutes. So make it easy on them.

What can you do right now in your marketing to make it easier on your customer?

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