Month: May 2021

A very successful financial professional is retired and still mentoring others and making money. He’s obviously good at what he does. He’d been outstanding in his career and continues to achieve things in retirement that most only aspire to.

Is there a secret to his success? Or at least a clue?

Although it is popular to ascribe success to one primary thing, there are usually several interacting factors. But for the person I write about now, consider that his secret might be this: he’s never had a website.

Not having a website isn’t what has created his continued success. Being so good, so well-known and so often referred to, he doesn’t need one.

A website doesn’t ultimately determine anyone’s success. But being able to stay busy and keep your business pipeline full without a website usually means one thing: you are so damn good at what you do that almost everybody knows it and those who don’t find out about you from those who do.

Keep the big picture in mind. How much more successful might this person might have been with a website? It doesn’t matter. My friend is as busy as he wants to be. He stays busy. He isn’t pursuing more clients because he doesn’t have time for them.

What about you? If you couldn’t have your website–or social media or mastermind or whatever now powers your marketing–how successful would you be? Marketing is important, but mastery is more important. Few ever become so good that they never have to sell themselves or their services, but a few achieve it. We’d all be better if we spent just a little more time at being really, really good and a little less time selling really, really hard.

Cal Newport wrote a book with a most instructive title: So Good They Can’t Ignore You. If you are getting plenty of business and loyalty without a website, that may be proof that you really are so good they can’t ignore you.

For a free assessment and information about The Classic Fred Factor online training and a unique opportunity to license the training, go to www.FredFactor.com.

Author: Mark Sanborn

Mark holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA) and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Cavett Award, the highest honor the NSA bestows on its members, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the speaking profession. In 2020, Global Gurus named Mark the #5 Leadership Authority in the world.

Continue reading

Are you committed to getting better, to waking up each day a little bit better in some area of your life than you were the day before?

Most say they want to get better, but few have a plan. That’s not an educated guess, but a fact based on research I did for my book, The Potential Principle. We found that 59% of leaders were “very committed” to getting better…but only 50% of them had a specific, updated plan.

A goal without a plan seems more like wishful thinking to me.

The real question of getting better isn’t “do you want to?” but “what are you doing about it?” For a deep dive into the why, the how and a process you can use, I refer you to The Potential Principle book. But what follows is a simple foundation to launch your improvement program.

Download the Potential Principle Handout

Here are 8 principles you can use to get better:

1. Anyone can become better. Few of us will ever be best at something. Best is really hard. Better is really easy. Becoming the best at anything is difficult. It usually takes tremendous effort and a long time. Better can happen in an instance. Any slight improvement will make you better. Ever heard the cliche, “Death by a thousand cuts”? Try “Better by lots of little improvements.”
2. Desire always precedes better. Your desire to get better must be coupled with your efforts to get better. Better can’t be imposed, borrowed or rented. You’ve got to want it and be willing to work for it.
3. Better is your responsibility. Others can help you get better, but they can’t do it for you.
4. You can improve anything in your life but not everything. Don’t try to improve everything.You won’t benefit by making everything in your life better, nor do you have time nor energy to do so. Go for significant improvements.
5. Better requires an object. Better at what? Be specific about what matters enough to improve (see above).Often improvement goals are too vague. Prioritize getting better at what matters most and what will make the biggest difference, and ideally identify metrics.
6. Better is never accidental. It takes intention and effort. You can swing a golf club a thousand times but if you aren’t paying attention, you won’t get better. You’ll just get tired.
7. Better needs a process. If desire precedes better a plan needs to follow. The primary reason people don’t get better is lack of a plan.
8. Better always beats best. Target the person or company at the top of their game. You don’t have to be twice as good as they are to displace them. All you need is to be a little better.

So now what? Knowing these principles is interesting, but implementing them is powerful. Here is a worksheet to help you get started:

In what area(s) do you want to get better? (the goal)

Why? (the motivation)

How? (the plan)

How much time and…

Continue reading

Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

If I told you that the fate of the world rested on your shoulders, how would you respond?

Would you take an action hero approach and confidently declare that you will handle it?

Would you shrink from the responsibility and pass it on to someone else?

Or would you simply shake your head, look me in the eye and say, “You’ve got the wrong person”?

The truth is, the fate of the world does rest on your shoulders. Your life is changing the world every day, whether you believe it or not.

If you choose to live positive values and be a good citizen of your community, you are changing the world for the better. If you choose to live negative values and take what you want from your community, then you are changing the world for the worse. No matter what you choose—to serve when needed, to give when asked, to ignore the pain of others, to take more than you give—every choice changes the world in some way.

There are four easy choices you can make daily that will change the world:

1. Choose to Value People—this is a decision to see each human being you come in contact with, be it in real life or in the digital world, as someone with value who needs that value affirmed in some way. It’s a choice to connect with people and begin breaking down walls of distrust.
2. Choose to Add Value to People—this is the decision to do something that helps another person in some way. It can be as extravagant as giving a gift or as simple as doing the dishes still piled in the sink, but it’s a choice to influence people through good deeds.
3. Choose to Live Positive Values—this is the decision to live a life that builds rather than destroys. It’s the choice to be honest when the cashier gives you too much change, the choice to let someone else get the credit at work, the choice to treat other people with courtesy and respect. It’s also one of the most attractive ways to live your life.
4. Choose to Share Positive Values—this is the decision to share with others the values that inspire and sustain your life. A life of positive values will inevitably lead someone to ask, “What’s your secret? How do you stay so positive, or generous, or kind?” And when they ask, you can choose to share with them the values that empower and enable you to live differently and make a difference.

That’s all it takes. You don’t have to be a superhero or a social media icon to influence people and make a difference in this world; you just have to have the courage to choose a life of values.

That’s the message of my new book, Change Your World, which will be in stores on January 26th. To launch the book, we’ve organized the first-ever Transformathon: a virtual marathon…

Continue reading