What are you really selling?

February 7th, 2010 by Wayne Davies No comments »

It’s a question everybody in business has to answer: What are you really selling?

This is one of those questions that isn’t easily answered. For example, I have a client that provides entertainers for corporate functions, private parties and wedding receptions. There are many different ways to describe their product…

  • Singing Waiters
  • Wedding reception entertainment
  • Corporate entertainment
  • Incognito artists
  • Operatic entertainment
  • Professional dancers

None of these terms adequately describe the awesome experience you get when they appear at your event. How on earth can a company like this adequately describe its product to somebody who happens to visit their website?

The key is to get at the heart of the emotional experience enjoyed by the people they’re performing to. In this case, the entertainers arrive at the event incognito. The performers are present during the course of the evening, disguised as waiters, security staff and so on.

At some point during the evening one of the performers will make him or herself known in a surprising way. For example, a waiter may grab the mike and claim that his mates have bet £100 that he isn’t brave enough to start singing in front of them. He will then proceed to sing very badly indeed.

Another performer taking the guise of the waiter’s boss will storm onto the stage and send the errant waiter off for punishment. He then proceeds to sing extremely well, immediately wowing the audience. Then the ‘bad’ singer returns and joins in, demonstrating his true talent. Everyone is laughing as they realise they’ve been had, and they’re now listening to a brilliant performance. But it doesn’t end there…

These entertainers are experts at involving the audience, and bringing them right into the performance. Their job is to get everyone up onto the dance-floor. I’ve watched them get every single person in the room out of their seats and dancing in less than a minute. It’s amazing to watch, and was the key to understanding what these guys offer their clients. I could see it on the faces of every guest in the room.

What Incognito Artists bring to an event is a guarantee that a client’s guests will experience the best party they’ve ever been to. What Incognito Artists do is get the party started. And make sure everybody wants to join in the fun.

This might seem obvious to a professional marketer, but it wasn’t to the company. They’re all performers, and from their perspective what they offer is a very special professional performance. This can be seen by examining their collection of videos. Every single frame is aimed at a singer or dancer, and you virtually never see the audience.

Yet the customer is going to be in the audience, and the best testimonial this company could possibly provide is the look on the faces of the people in the audiences at previous performances.

That’s one way to communicate an emotional experience without saying a word!

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World famous sales quotes

January 1st, 2010 by Wayne Davies No comments »

Remember, you only have to succeed the last time. Brian Tracy.

You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour. Jim Rohn.

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can. Willis Whitney.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Coach Darrel Royal.

The first step is to fill your life with a positive faith that will help you through anything. The second is to begin where you are. Norman Vincent Peale.

To give yourself the best possible chance of playing to your potential, you must prepare for every eventuality. That means practice. Steve Ballesteros.

If there were no problems, most of us would be unemployed. Zig Ziglar.

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it. Michelangelo.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great. Mark Twain.

Self pity is an acid which eats holes in happiness. Earl Nightingale.

Tough times never last, but tough people do. Dr. Robert Schuller.

My advice is to go into something and stay with it until you like it. You can’t like it until you obtain expertise in that work. And once you are an expert, it’s a pleasure. Milton Garland.

One man with courage makes a majority. Andrew Jackson.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. Dale Carnegie.

Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity. Lou Holtz.

Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment. Thomas Carlyle.

Kites rise highest against the wind-not with it. Sir Winston Churchill.

If at first you don’t succeed, think how many people you’ve made happy. Duane Black.

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey.

Work for the fun of it, and the money will arrive some day. Ronnie Milsap.

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Go ahead – jump in

December 28th, 2009 by Wayne Davies No comments »

The best thing about being human is that we’re all blessed with a large brain. Compared to almost every other species on earth, our brain is massive relative to our body size.

The worst thing about being human is that we’re all cursed with a large brain. Compared to almost every other species on earth, we spend an inordinate amount of time worrying.

And for the most part, we waste our time worrying about things that never happen.

What’s stopping you?

Starting your own Internet business is a fantastic thing to do. You’ll love it! So what’s stopping you?

If you’re like me, then it will probably boil down to a fear of the unknown. Will your business fail? Will anybody want to buy your product? What don’t you know that you need to know?

Will your friends laugh at you?

The strange this is, when I really looked at what was stopping me, it came down to that last one. Will my friends laugh at me if it doesn’t work?

I remember sharing with one friend that I wanted to start an Internet business. He gave me a scornful look, and told me it was a stupid idea, because ‘nobody makes any real money off the Internet.’

That was 10 years ago. I quit my job within 6 months of starting my business, and am now working full time in business on the Internet. What’s more, I’ve traveled the world with this business. The entire operation is run out of a laptop, and I can literally pick up my business and go.

It’s a wonderful experience, and made possible only because I decided to jump in.

Looking good

Of course, it’s easy to look back now and see what a great idea it was to start my own Internet business. But back then, when I was just getting started, I was terrified.

Back in 1999, I remember sharing my fears and dreams with a more supportive friend. She suggested I take a good hard look at myself and find out what I was scared of. She hinted that I might find out it was something unexpected that was stopping me.

I took up her challenge, and yes, I really was surprised. When it came down to it, my fears about losing money and failing at business were completely overshadowed by a fear of how other people might think of me if I failed.

I realized that my fear came down to fear of how others would view me. I wanted to look good in their eyes, and was scared that I wouldn’t.

This was a fantastic discovery to make about myself, and I’ve since come to realize that I’m not the only one who is stopped by this fear.

Just do it

Maybe you’re also afraid to start your own business, in case you fall flat on your face in front of other people?

The best advice I can give you, is to stop thinking about it and jump in. One of my favorite sayings is ‘leap, and the net will appear.’

This is certainly backed up by my experiences. My first two attempts at business were miserable failures. My third was moderately successful, and allowed me to launch the fourth. It was the fourth idea that finally took off, and allowed me to quit my job.

Each of these ‘failures’ may have lead others to snicker behind my back. Frankly, I was too busy to notice. And by the time I quit my job, nobody was laughing any more.

The point is, don’t spend too much time thinking before you get started. I believe you’ll learn much more by jumping in, and learning as you go. Nothing beats experience when it comes to fine-tuning your business skills.

And you can’t get this kind of experience any other way.

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Weasel words, doubt and sales

December 28th, 2009 by Wayne Davies 2 comments »

Weasel words are mostly used by politicians and journalists. As a result, most of us treat weasel words with the same contempt we normally reserve for politicians.

There are 2 kinds of weasel words…

1. Words carefully designed to mean nothing
2. Words that leave room for doubt

Words carefully designed to mean nothing

An excellent example of the first variety of weasel words was uttered by former US President, Bill Clinton, on a tour of New Zealand in 1999. In one of his many speeches he uttered the immortal phrase…

Example 1:
We are building a bridge to the 21st Century

Let’s take a look at this sentence. A bridge is a physical entity that spans 2 points in space. It makes it possible to get from one point to the other.

How on earth do you build a bridge between 2 points in time?

The sentence in example 1 contains nothing but feel-good nonsense. It sounds good, but is designed merely to have unthinking people overlay their own interpretation and respond in agreement with rapturous applause.

Weasel words of this variety should not be used by people in business.

Your business is more important than anything a politician does. You create wealth and opportunity with your business, and it’s vital you don’t waste your time wallowing in this type of language.

Words that leave room for doubt

The second variety of weasel words are also used by politicians, but the best practitioners are product reviewers. For example…

Example 2:
This could well be the best computer game I’ve ever played

At first glance you might think this is glowing praise. And coming from a journalist, it’s probably as close as he or she will ever get to glowing praise.

The words ‘could well be’ introduce an element of doubt into the sentence. The writer is saying that he or she isn’t prepared to fully endorse the game.

It’s an idiotic thing to say, anyway. Isn’t the reviewer sure? Then why say the sentence in the first place? And please do note the doubts this type of wording raises.

It doesn’t really matter in a computer game review. It does matter when it comes to your advertising.

The following examples demonstrate the difference…

Example 3:
This is the best computer game I’ve ever played

Example 4:
This is the single best computer game I’ve ever played

Examples 3 and 4 show you how to strengthen an endorsement even further by adding a single word (the word single).

It’s vital that you eliminate both kinds of weasel words from your advertising.

Now you’ll look at specific weasel words, and see how to replace them with words that increase the power of your advertising.

Up to

The phrase ‘up to’ occurs a lot in advertising. The following example shows a typical use…

Example 5:
Up to 50% off everything in store this week only

The phrase ‘up to’ has lost its power in advertising through over-use. You and I know that ‘up to 50% off’ includes the entire range of possible discounts from 1—50%!

Most of us will automatically assume that the item we’re likely to be interested in is one of the ones with the smallest discount.

The other problem with the phrase ‘up to,’ is that it describes an abstract concept. It’s left to the reader to apply the unspecific ‘up to 50% off’ to the specific item he or she actually wants.

That’s probably not going to happen. It’s far more powerful to list the items that you’ve discounted.

Make sure you contrast the original price against the discounted price. You inject more power by mentioning the specific amount saved. For example…

Example 6:
Huge savings on these items this week only…

  • 2-person UltraLite tent. Was $195. Now only $125. You save a whopping $70!
  • 4-season UltraLite down sleeping bag. Was $98. Now only $76. You save $22!

Naturally it works best when you list your biggest discount first, and your next biggest last.

Might or could

The word ‘might,’ when used to mean ‘maybe,’ immediately drains a sentence of its power. As shown in these examples…

Example 7:
This experience might change your life

Example 8:
This experience will change your life

Most of us wouldn’t cross the street for something that might change our lives, because we’re too busy to waste time on something that may or may not make a difference.

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How to get your creative juices flowing

December 26th, 2009 by Wayne Davies No comments »

Stuck in a rut? Need to come up with new ideas, but can’t? Maybe you simply need a break? Perhaps you need to introduce your mind to new things?

Whatever the cause of your rut, here are nine things you can do to get your creative juices flowing…

  1. Take a break
  2. Do something different
  3. Sleep on it
  4. Go for a walk (take a notebook)
  5. Read a random article on Wikipedia
  6. Tell a friend all about it
  7. Play the Creativity Challenge game
  8. Random word process
  9. Get a coffee and listen to Bach

Take a break

Sometimes I find I get more done in the 20 minutes following a break, than I achieved in the previous hour while hard at work.

Maybe your next creative block can be solved simply by taking a break?

Do something different

More serious creative blocks can be broken by introducing new things to your environment.

Do you always come home the same way? Then find a different route home. Do you always have the same thing for lunch? Try something different. And by different, I mean something you’ve never had before.

Introducing something new to your life not only boosts your creativity, it adds a little spice too.

Sleep on it

Your subconscious can be a powerful ally when it comes to creative breakthroughs. It’s not uncommon to go to bed completely flummoxed by a problem, only to wake up with the solution.

If you’ve been struggling with a new idea (or even the solution to a problem), put it aside and tell yourself you’ll have the solution by tomorrow.

You may wake up with the answer.

Go for a walk (take a notebook)

Take yourself right out of your workplace, and head outside for a nice long work. Assuming you’re healthy enough, plan to be away for at least 45 minutes.

Walk at your own pace, and have no particular agenda in mind. Let your mind wander where it will.

Oh yes, and take a notebook. It’s amazing how often an idea will pop into my mind while I’m out and about. And when it does, I immediately jot it down in a notebook, because I’ll have forgotten all about it by the time I get back to the office.

It’s useful to walk down streets you’ve never seen before, and to really explore your neighborhood. Naturally, you should stick to places (and times of day) where you feel safe.

Read a random article in Wikipedia

Are you stuck for ideas? Are you ready for a challenge? Then head over to Wikipedia and click the random article link.

No matter what the article it comes up with is about, set yourself the challenge of applying what you learn to your current problem. It doesn’t matter how silly the resulting ideas are. What matters is that you’re forcing your brain to think laterally.

Give yourself at least 15 minutes at this challenge, and then marvel at just how creative you are.

Even if you don’t come up with anything usable, your subconscious may well stumble onto something later in the day. The point is, you’re exercising your mind. You’re teaching it to step outside of it’s normal boundaries.

Tell a friend all about it

Stuck on something? Looking for an idea out of left-field, but find your brain is unwilling to help? Then maybe the answer lies in somebody else’s head.

But please take note. There are some people who, when you tell them you’re looking for ideas and can’t seem to come up with anything, will start empathizing with you. You’re not looking for emotional support here! You’re looking to tap into the creative power of their mind (two heads being better than one).

If the person you’re talking to is empathizing, rather than helping, let them know you admire their abilities in this area, and would appreciate their help to find a solution.

Then shut up (something I find difficult), and let them talk. Give only positive feedback. If you don’t like an idea, tell them you’re really interested in it. And ask them to elaborate on it. The more you hate the idea, the more important it is that you do this.

This technique is especially useful, because it forces you to open your mind. Remember, you’re the one who is stuck for ideas here! That means you should regard yourself as unfit to judge an idea (yes, I know…easier said than done because you and I are the only people who have good ideas).

But if you do master the art of accepting any idea as valid, and show interest even in ideas you think are silly, it lets your friend know it’s safe to get really creative.

The other possibility is that your friend’s idea only seems ’silly’ because you don’t fully understand it. That’s why paying special attention to ‘bad’ ideas is such a good idea! You might uncover pure gold if you ask your friend to elaborate.

I can almost guarantee that in those situations where you simply can’t come up with an idea, the answer will lie in an area that you personally don’t like on first hearing about it.

Instead of shutting down this avenue of exploration, give your friend permission to explore it fully and see what happens.

Play the Creativity Challenge game

The Creativity Challenge website offers hundreds of different challenges designed to expand your creative ability.

Use it.

Random word process

Are you stuck for an idea? Do you have a dictionary? Then you have a potential solution.

Close your eyes, open the dictionary, and place your finger on a word at random.

Give yourself 15 minutes, and find different ways to apply the word to the situation. Don’t judge any idea or solution you come up with. Simply let your mind go free, and explore.

Get a coffee and listen to Bach

Maybe you do simply need a break, but aren’t willing to admit it.

In that case, make yourself a cup of coffee and listen to Bach. Or Mozart.

Music by either of these composers is thought to help improve creativity. And even if they don’t, you give your mind a welcome break and feed it some inspiring music.

If you don’t normally listen to classical music, then you should do this (introducing new things improves creativity). If you can’t stand classical music, then you should definitely do this.

Remember, the key to creativity is introducing your mind to new things.

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Say what you mean

December 24th, 2009 by Wayne Davies No comments »

I’m a fan of unintentional humor. I’ve previously listed a number of genuine road signs that demonstrated how easy it is to get things very wrong.

This article follows on from that one, with more unintentional humor and suggestions on how to avoid making the same mistake in your ad.

In two minds

Consider this sign, seen in tailors…

We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.

Yes, it’s funny. But this type of mistake is all too easy to make. The problem is, the author knows exactly what he or she means to say, and doesn’t take the time to consider other possible meanings for the sentence.

You really do need to be in two minds when you’re writing, and then proofing your ad. One mind should focus on what you’re saying, while the other concentrates on what your words actually mean.

Here’s another example to illustrate the point…

No matter what your topcoat is made of, this miracle spray will make it really repellent.

Typos

Take a careful look at this exultation…

Save regularly in our bank. You’ll never reget it.

Did you spot the typo? You’ll never “re get” your money. This is probably not the kind of message a bank wants to send to its customers!

Yet such a typo is incredibly hard to spot. How easily did you find it? How much harder would it have been if you’d written that sentence, given that your mind will automatically take in groups of words and correct them on a subconscious level.

This is why it pays to get someone else to proof-read your ad. Here’s another example, just because…

This is the model home for your future. It was panned by Better Homes and Gardens.

Thinking things through

Thinking things through before you actually sit down and write an ad is a good idea. Here’s what happens when a person doesn’t bother…

Stock up and save! Limit: one

I suspect this advertiser is working his or her way through a list of “power” phrases, and giving little thought to what the words in those phrases actually mean.

Take it from me, an ad isn’t powerful simply because it contains “power” words. An ad is only powerful when it clearly communicates the benefit on offer.

Red face, anybody

Some people find themselves insulted and outraged over things I find amusing, and vice versa. It’s in our nature to make a virtue out of anything we love, and a sin out of the things we don’t.

That’s why it pays to keep a special look out for a double entendre. Here’s an example…

Modular Sofas. Only $299 for rest or fore play.

What would you pay to erase that unintentional “e,” had this been your ad in a highly conservative part of the world?

Mind you, sometimes you have to ask yourself whether or not the humor really was unintended…

Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.

And that’s the problem you face. Your reader doesn’t know whether or not you intended to be humorous. If your unintended humor causes offense, you may well lose several sales.

Going out with a bang

Here are a several more examples of unintended humor for your enjoyment.

Sheer stockings. Designed for fancy dress, but so serviceable that lots of women wear nothing else.

Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first!

Our bikinis are exciting. They are simply the tops!

Tired of cleaning yourself? Let me do it.

Auto Repair Service. Free pickup and delivery. Try us once, you’ll never go anywhere again.

Ladies and gentlemen, now you can have a bikini for a ridiculous figure.

For Rent: 6-room hated apartment.

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Pssst….want to make more sales?

December 24th, 2009 by Wayne Davies No comments »

Getting somebody to buy your product is a challenge. And when your sales medium is nothing more than words on a web page, it’s even harder still.

When you ask somebody to buy, you’re asking him or her to…

  • Believe the claims you make for your product
  • Hand over money to a complete stranger
  • Trust that you’ll deliver the product

As you might expect, most people are a little reluctant to do that right off the bat. Every one of us has been in this situation, haven’t we. We like the product, but we’re afraid to buy because we still have unanswered doubts.

In this article, you’ll find out how to combat doubt and discover new ways to boost your sales.

Familiarity

They say “familiarity breeds contempt.” Not in sales, it doesn’t. At least, not if you’re an honest trader.

The better you get to know somebody, the less doubt you experience. Of course, you may discover a person is untrustworthy, and so avoid them. For the purposes of this article, we’re talking about your sales page, so it’s safe to assume that finding ways to give your prospects more contact with you is a good thing.

Your goal must be to give people a reason to return to your site often. There are two reasons for this…

  1. You want them to get used to dealing with you (reduce doubt)
  2. You want more chances to make a sale

The question is, how do you get people to return often? Here are some ideas for you to consider…

  • Start an ezine and give-away free subscriptions
  • Start a members-only area
  • Start a Blog and publish original content daily
  • Compile a weekly Digest of your Blog and invite readers to subscribe
  • Publish plenty of useful content on your website

Start an ezine

Your ezine should pick a subject, and specialize in it. If your site covers several different topics, create an ezine for each one. That way, you pick up highly focused subscribers. This will be invaluable to you when…

  • You need to advertise a product to your subscribers
  • You want to sell advertising to others

The main advantage of your ezine (from your perspective), is that you now have a way of attracting your subscribers back to your site.

TIP #1: Publish your ezine weekly, and mail the subscriber list at the same time on the same day each week.

TIP #2: Publish your ezine articles on your website. The ezine should simply describe the article in a paragraph, and link back to it on your site. This achieves two aims…

  1. It gets people back to your site
  2. It increases the amount of actual content on your site. If you link to these articles from within the site itself, your search engine ranking will start to improve

Don’t load up your ezine with ads. Your subscribers want content, so give it to them. This will ultimately deliver many more sales than a mailing that contains nothing but ads.

Start a members-only area

Do you have certain content that you don’t want to simply give away to anyone that visits your site? Then why not start a members-only area?

In other words, get visitors to register with you before they get access to the members-only part of your site. Make this registration free, and require that the person verify their email address. This is a great way to build a mailing list.

You should then mail all your members once per week, with a summary of everything you’ve added to the members-only area over the last week. Link to each new item in your email.

Start a Blog

A Blog can take many different forms. For example…

  • A forum for publishing information
  • A personal record
  • A way for a group of people to publish information

This Blog (the one you’re reading right now) allows anybody to submit articles, but doesn’t guarantee publication. Other Blogs will publish every submission.

How you run your own Blog comes down to what you want to achieve. If you’re interested in building a large amount of information quickly, then you might want to open it up to everybody.

If you’re more interested in quality (a good idea), it’s best to first read a submission and reserve the right to edit it to suit your format.

Publish plenty of useful content

The web is awash with sites that do nothing more than link to other sites. Human beings don’t tend to find these sites all that interesting.

Neither do the major search-engines, which typically assign a low ranking to link-sites.

If your goal is to get people coming back to your site, you’re going to want to find a way to publish new content.

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Sweeping out your storefront

December 24th, 2009 by Wayne Davies No comments »

When you’re shopping, do you notice if the store is messy? Do you avoid stores that aren’t clean? Or are cluttered with mess?

Chances are, you do notice a messy storefront, and this affects the likelihood that you’ll buy something from them.

A tidy site

As in the physical world, so it is on the net. Your customers are looking at your website, the exact same way you might view a storefront.

If it’s messy, your clients are less likely to call in. And far less likely to buy.

Keeping a tidy site is important. By tidy, I mean an uncluttered site that is easy to look at, up-to-date, loads quickly, and has a consistent interface.

Easy to look at

Here are my tips for ensuring your page is easy to look at…

  • Go for a conservative look and feel. Funky may be fun, but not if it’s hard to read
  • Limit your use of colors. Choose a color-scheme of 3-4 colors, and stick to it.
  • Limit your use of fonts. Choose a font-scheme of 1-2 fonts, and stick to it. Use bold-face, underline and italics to convey something specific, rather than willy-nilly (e.g. italics for the name of a publication).
  • Use your color-scheme and fonts consistently, so visitors learn to associate particular fonts and colors with particular functions (e.g. blue is always a link)
  • Use tables or style-sheets to create a design template for your site. Each page will conform to this template, making it easier for people to find their way around
  • Use the same navigation bar on each page, so people always know where to look to visit another page on your site
  • Use Google’s free site search utility. This gives visitors a way to find things on your site using a state-of-the-art search tool
  • Keep graphics small, and optimize them for web display. Limit the number of graphics to reduce download time
  • Limit the number of animated graphics and Flash objects on any page that contains a lot of content (unless the animation is the content). Animation is distracting, so should be avoided on pages you want people to read

keep it up-to-date

Remove links to old pages that no longer exist, and pages with information that no longer applies. Update old pages that contain out-of-date information.

Add new content from time-to-time. I suggest you add at least one new page per week, and put a link to that new page on your homepage.

This makes the site more interesting to both human visitors, and search-engine spiders.

Make sure it loads quickly

These days, most people have fast Internet connections. This means we don’t have to be as concerned about download times as we used to.

Even so, any page that attempts to make a sale should download immediately. Some factors that affect download speeds are outside of your control, but the page content isn’t.

Remove as many graphics and Flash objects as you can from your sales page. Keep the design of the page simple, and remove anything not specifically required to make the sale.

If you’re using HTML tables, and have a lot of information on your sales page, make sure the first few paragraphs appear in their own table. This will ensure the first few paragraphs appear instantly, and your visitor can start reading.

Consistent interface

Every website has an interface, which consists of those parts of the site that help a visitor find their way around.

The best favor you can do for your visitors, is to have a consistent interface.

Ideally, your interface will be exactly the same on every page.

It will look the same. It will have the same options. And it will work in the exact same way.

Your visitors will work out how to use the interface far more quickly, if it’s the same on every page. And they’ll always be able to find their way back to your home page.

Sweeping out your website

Keeping your website clean and tidy is an easy thing to do. I personally like to tweak my site every day. I invest a few minutes in cleaning up, and keeping things fresh.

These few minutes cost me nothing, but contribute greatly to my site.

I recommend you do the same.

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Ownership: Your access to power

December 16th, 2009 by Wayne Davies No comments »

As soon as you take full ownership of the problems in your life, you become a powerful man or woman. Full ownership means you accept responsibility for everything that happens to you, whether it’s your fault or not.

I’m not saying that you accept the blame for something you didn’t do. I’m saying that, to become powerful, you must accept responsibility as if you were the cause.

Victim culture

This is a hard concept to grasp, because we’re raised to think of ourselves as victims.

It’s in the interests of government agencies, and law firms, to encourage this mentality. The victim mentality is even taught in school! Unfortunately, several generations of Americans (as well as citizens of many other countries) have been rendered almost helpless.

The victim culture is, I believe, designed to keep us helpless. Its function is to make us increasingly dependent on government agencies. In such a society, the individual slowly becomes less and less able to act powerfully in his or her own best interests.

In the context of The Online Marketing Blog, victim thinking keeps us unsuccessful. It leaves us unable to act in the face of problems that crop up everyday in a business situation. The victim mentality is incompatible with your success in business on the Internet. Here’s an example of how this kind of thinking makes it impossible for a person to succeed…

It’s not my fault I’m fat

An excellent example of the victim culture can be seen in the actions of a New Yorker who took legal action against four popular fast-food restaurants. He says they mislead him about the nutritional quality of the food they serve.

As a result of what he describes as ‘their negligence,’ he has suffered several heart attacks, has diabetes, and other weight related health problems.

The man in question is grossly overweight, and may die years earlier than would otherwise be the case. In my opinion, it’s entirely his own fault. The decision to eat more food than his body needed was entirely his own. Nobody forced him to eat the majority of his meals at fast food restaurants.

Yet this man is not willing to accept responsibility for his own actions, even though he may soon die as a result of his own choices. This man will not admit that the problem lies with him, and as a result his quality of life has suffered terribly.

His inability to take responsibility for the predicament he finds himself in is the reason why this man is not able to make the life changes he needs to make to survive. He needs to wake up, and fast! This man is facing the ultimate fact of life—that it ends. Even in the face of death, this man is unwilling to accept the blame for his own actions.

This man is not unique in America today. Even corporations have gotten in on the act (and it is an act). Consider the despicable actions of the companies that whined and complained about Microsoft, running off to tell tales to the Department of Justice. They’re like a bunch of little kids, throwing a tantrum just as soon as reality doesn’t immediately deliver whatever it is they want this minute.

No responsibility = no power

Personal power is the natural result of a willingness to take responsibility for one’s own life. Without a willingness to fully own one’s circumstances, and to be responsible for them, a person cannot be powerful in their own life.

The man I mentioned above has blamed four corporations for his obesity and lack of health. He admits no culpability of his own. As a result, he is powerless to do anything about his obesity.

He is powerless, because he must rely on disinterested 3rd parties to do the work for him. But it’s not possible to force a person to lose weight and eat a balanced diet.

The man is a fool. His sniveling approach to life, and the blame he readily assigns to others for his poor state of health, are beneath contempt. He is like a spoiled child, quick to blame everyone but himself for the inevitable result of the eating choices he made. Unfortunately, this spoiled child has an equally disgusting lawyer who was all too ready to suck undeserved funds out of 4 successful corporations.

With great responsibility comes…

Imagine how different this man’s life would be if he woke up to himself, admitted that it was his own choice to eat too much fast-food, and so decided to stop doing so. He would lose weight, and the health problems that go with it. In around 10 months, this man would have completely revolutionized his life.

His lack of power in this problem comes directly from his own unwillingness to recognize that he is the source of his problem. Until he does so, a solution to his problem will elude him. In fact, his current approach requires that he remain overweight and unhealthy. The basis of his legal action requires that he continue to endanger his life.

Isn’t that crazy?

There’s an old cliche that states ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ This saying works in reverse too. With great responsibility comes great power.

The more ownership you take over the events in your life, the more power you’ll wield over the circumstances in which you find yourself. There’s little point trying to ascribe blame, even if you’re justified in doing so. Blaming some 3rd party won’t solve the problem. The solution lies in the actions you take. It lies in your ownership of the problem.

NOTE: I’m not saying that you shouldn’t initiate legal action if it’s required to resolve a matter that can’t be resolved some other way. For example, a neighbor who damages your property, but won’t pay for the repairs, has forced your hand. You’re going to have to initiate legal action to get your money back.

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Success Tips from History’s Greatest

December 8th, 2009 by Wayne Davies No comments »

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. If you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were. David Rockefeller

A man is only as happy as he makes up his mind to be. Abraham Lincoln

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Thomas A. Edison

People fail forward to success. Mary Kay Ash

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. Albert Einstein

You always pass failure on the way to success. Mickey Rooney

To follow, without halt, one aim: There’s the secret of success. Anna Pavlova

The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication. Cecil B. DeMille

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. Abraham Lincoln

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Henry David Thoreau

There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way. Christopher Morley

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. Sir Winston Churchill

I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time. Herbert Bayard Swope

Eighty percent of success is showing up. Woody Allen

Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal. Mike Ditka

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