How often have you decided to launch a project and by the time you’ve got everything you think you need in place and ‘just so,’ the unproductive days have turned into months. In seeking perfection are we really nursing our fear of failure? And why does everything have to be perfect? Last January Mark and I were driving our son Elliot and his chum John to the airport to start their backpacking trip to New Zealand. Mark and I stared at the road ahead feigning nonchalance as they chatted through the contents of their backpacks… A pair of slippers – each 2 face flannels Hair straighteners 15 T shirts 2 pairs of jeans (please note it was the height of the New Zealand summer) 2 dress shirts – for evening dining (we had to ask) Elliot had also packed – a collage. Yes that’s right – disparate paper and material cuttings gummed onto a piece of card to produce a wall hanging without any practical backpacking use that I can bring to mind. They were, let me remind you, backpacking, and yet those items usually considered crucial to comfort and survival such as sleeping bags, pillows, towels, rain gear and shorts for instance, hadn’t made it onto the list. And that was the real crux of it. The List. If you make lists, how old were you when you decided that productivity demanded a list? Had our teenagers made a list? Absolutely not, but did that really matter? Just the act of compiling the list takes time and then you still need to gather the items on your list, no doubt with a special trip to the shops. Several trips if your list keeps growing in fits and starts. With a list you generally end up with EVERYTHING you can imagine ever needing. Which takes hours of planning and loads of cash. The alternative is Elliot and John’s trekking plan – get a bag and put stuff in it. I am witness to this taking around 5 minutes, and that included finding the bag. Anything vital which got left out was picked up as they traveled. But Elliot and John had everything necessary to execute the plan. The objective was trekking in New Zealand and the three vital ingredients were a visa, passport and flights. Job done. The remaining incidentals fell into place along the way. If Elliot and John had made a list – highly unlikely for two 18 year olds – it would have included costly items which appeared critical when considered from the comfort of the couch. The reality was they picked up a couple of sleeping bags and a pair of shorts each, and improvisation filled in the gaps. Some of you may think I’m missing the point and may be asking- what about the thrill of the planning? If the goal is to spend your time planning a venture, then fine. But if the goal is to achieve a tangible outcome then the planning must be conscious and proportionate. By conscious I mean that you understand when you are using the planning stage to avoid the actual implementation which is when you might finally discover that your dreams are not going to come true after all. But the boys did plan. They planned to go backpacking in New Zealand. They worked out that to make this happen they needed 3 things which they collected and then they got on the plane. I am not for one moment suggesting that you don’t use lists to plan your day, your project, your year or even your life. A well thought out list can keep you on track and make sure you don’t avoid those horrid jobs you really don’t fancy. Just be ready to call a halt when you have lists about lists and The List is now King. This week I learned a valuable lesson from my mentor Alan Forrest Smith about just getting a job done. Alan likes to keep Team Orange Beetle on its toes and so he set an exercise to get a massive task delivered in a jiffy. Literally no time for nit-picking over miniscule details. What did I learn? A simple equation.. The time needed to do the job is equal to…the period of time you first thought of – divided by three – plus 1 full day to neglect it completely – followed by less time than you ever thought possible to tweak it into perfection. Here’s to your productivity.

This may be one of the shortest articles you will ever read about leaving your job to become self employed in any professional or entrepreneurial capacity. It is also THE most important article you will ever read. Hands down. If you don’t get this stuff right, then none of the rest of it will matter because you will never be able to leave your job behind. NEVER. Which is silly because leaving your job is easy – once you know the right language. So here it is. Below is a list of words and phrases which, if you are in a job now, and by that I mean you have a boss and are paid for the period of time you are present – (who cares how much you earn), you will understand what most of them mean… Qualifications Interview CV Promotion Title Career Ladder Salary Asking for time off Have to book leave with work before you book your trip with the travel agents Explaining why you’re late Insolvency looms within 3 months of losing your job Filling in time until the day’s end Saying No Being told no Job Description Performance appraisal Bored Watching the clock till you can leave to go and do something fun Worried about redundancy Looking forward to pay day when the same amount of money lands in the bank account or wage packet Feeling proud when the boss recognises your good work You would not do this job if you weren’t paid There is no choice – you MUST Swap That Lot Up There – For This Lot Down Here… Passion Self belief Multiple income streams Passive income Time leveraging Risk Courage Exitement Optimism Fun Freedom Determination Power Self belief – it’s very important so it gets a second mention Vision Cutting out crap You’d do this for free – the wealth is only the byproduct and the money just a counter Stuff qualifications – common sense matters Gonna make something happen Imagine you are about to take up a new hobby, fishing would be a good example. You will have to learn to speak the language of fishy stuff, reels, hooks and lines before you can really join in. Getting to grips with the vocabulary of your new hobby is all part of the fun. How much time do you want to spend getting good at your hobby? You can choose a leisurely osmotic stroll to picking up the language, or a conscious decision to learn it all up front. Full body immersion. If you were moving to another country, would you wait until you got there and hope to pick up a few words as you go along? If you had any sense you’d probably get a few ‘learn the language CD’s and a phrase book before you left home so you can at least buy dinner when you get there. Leaving your job is the same principle. If you want to get away from PAYE and employment then you have to start thinking in the language of wealth, money and business. It’s your choice if you do this by creeping your way along or deciding to learn all the words and concepts you need up front. You’ve managed to get to the end of this article which hopefully means you’re still interested in breaking free and also understand that a millionaire entrepreneur uses a different vocabulary to your jobby words. If you have a joint venture proposal for an entrepreneur they won’t care about your qualifications so you need to shut up about them. They only care if you can deliver. Your common-sense, drive and savvy is what matters. Changing is easy and here’s a couple of ideas to help you on your way; find someone who’s already done what you want to do and copy them – autobiographies can be a fantastic way to get a silent mentor; subscribe to a financial magazine and get familiar and comfortable with the language; join business forums and be a passive observer until you’re comfortable joining in. If you go along to business breakfast clubs you are sure to find someone who’s done what you want to do and will just love to share their achievements and tell you all about how they did it. When you have the hot words to describe what you want, then your vision for your business future will surely follow and nothing will stop you from breaking through the glass barriers to passion, wealth and freedom. And here’s one final thought. Even if you have been employed by someone else for all of your working life, you are still the President of Corporation You. As President you decided who to work for, how long to stay there, how hard to work and how much you were going to earn. You’ve been in control all along. You just have to fire up the motor and change course.

Image you are in a sales meeting where you know the innermost feelings and personal priorities of your prospect? How would that improve your success rate? Well when you understand and communicate within someone’s values and beliefs you can improve the odds that they will become a client, colleague and comrade.

Turn Prospects Into Clients By Understanding, Respecting and Communicating Within
Personal Values And Beliefs

This concept can be stretched further. When we understand our own values and beliefs then we can have everything we truly want and accept that everything we have now stems from decisions made from within these values and beliefs.

Does this mean that if we could change our values and beliefs we could get a different or better result? Consider which of the following statements you can relate to….

â—† There is safety in ritual and the world is a magical mystical place

◆ You get frustrated with people who can’t make a decision about what they want

â—† It is important that everyone feels involved and participates equally

◆You don’t understand why everyone has to be happy before a decision can be reached.

◆ Do you get exasperated if someone won’t bend the rules to get a job done?

◆ Honor, responsibility and doing what’s right is the most important consideration

◆ You can’t understand why on earth someone would keep crystals or rabbits feet

◆ You hate it when people decide the rules don’t apply to them

â—† What really matters is being part of a community and feeling connected

â—† You take opportunities for your success, progress and compete to win

â—† Why would your work-mate stay in a job just to get their pension?

â—† You feel guilt and unworthiness

â—† Immediate payoffs, respect and looking good matter. Getting power is vital.

â—† The concept of duty means nothing to you

â—† You have feelings of inadequacy or not being good enough

â—† You fear rejection and/or being dominated

â—† You marvel at people who sacrifice everything for their family

â—† You are insecure and fear being alone

â—†Forget the retirement bonus and pension – you want it all NOW!

Perhaps only some of the above will really resonate with you, and others will leave you totally cold. That’s because they describe the feelings of different people with different values.

Can you imagine trying to sell a business proposal by highlighting the potential for massive financial profits to an individual who believed passionately in equality for all, a fair chance for the disadvantaged and connection to the wider community? What if you sold the same product but switched the focus to the community benefits and the opportunity to enrich the lives of others… the sought after ‘win:win’ solution becomes a reality every time.

Whether You Are Selling Yourself Or A Product, If You Bank On Luck
You Will Lose Out

If you are consistently failing to reach goals or hit the goal only to be left feeling empty and dissatisfied then a values conflict could be the cause and the solution.

Many NLP professionals believe our values decide how we spend our time and therefore what we achieve. If these values have been passively absorbed this means our important life decisions are informed by values soaked up from the parents, friends, relatives and institutions which influenced our childhood during the Imprint Period between birth and seven years.

Imagine being Richard Branson. Do you think his top value in life is likely to be akin to adventure, or more towards playing it safe and being secure? It just has to be adventure.

Can you imagine Richard Branson saying – ‘We won’t be able to do that because it’s not in the rules’. I doubt it.

How about ‘I can’t leave my job now because I’ll be getting my pension in ten years’. Never!

Did Mother Teresa devote her life to the sick in Calcutta’s slums because her top values were having fun and making money? No. Perhaps you can imagine what her values might have been.

Even if you’re fulfilled in your life, you may be surprised at what pops our when you try this short exercise to find your driving values…

Ask yourself this question and then brainstorm your answers.

What’s Most Important To Me In Life? Is it peace, wealth, happiness, achievement?

Before you stop writing you must push yourself through two blank spots – where you think you’ve reached the end – but you haven’t. After this take a few minutes to rank them in the order of most important for you.

When I first did this exercise – this is what popped out at the top of my values list of in their priority order…SECURITY. Right down the bottom of the pile was ‘happiness’. What was missing was ‘Fun’ and ‘Wealth.’ At that time I had spent 20 years in local government, always with the nagging fear of redundancy and 20 years in an unfulfilling but secure relationship. I was in a boring, safe and unrewarding job and relationship.

But ‘security’ was my Father’s value, borne from his worries about feeding the family with an unpredictable theatrical career. I just absorbed it osmosis like and let it follow me around for the next thirty years influencing my most important decisions. As soon as I understood what my brain was up to I was able to make the change.

Now I’m in a fantastic relationship, free of waged employment, horribly insecure and blissfully fulfilled. Plus

Today before I do anything I always ask – will it be fun?

Have fun

Sian Murphy

Can men write copy that appeals to women?
Well, if you’re a man you will read this headline completely differently to a woman. Let me take you back to the 1950’s when there were three things a lady should not do.

1. She should not smoke in public
2. She should not wear long pants, unless under an overcoat
3. She should not colour her hair

It was into this environment that Clairol first introduced their revolutionary “Miss Clairol Hair Colour Bath”. Previously hair colouring was mainly restricted to prostitutes. It was also quite a complicated procedure taking a few hours to complete.

The aim of this product was not only to make hair colouring more mainstream. It also made it possible for women to easily colour their hair themselves… at home…in just 20 minutes! 

So how should they market such a new concept?
This was almost too revolutionary to sell. Within 6 months of introduction the number of women visiting salons for hair colouring increased by more than 500%!

Women still didn’t believe this was possible to do themselves in their own home. In fact it took three years before “Good Housekeeping” magazine would accept ads for this amazing new product.

The person chosen to head the campaign was one Shirley Polykoff. She understood emotions and also understood that you can be very naughty…as long as you are first seen to be nice!

She chose to go with the naughty headline accompanied by a nice picture. Her first thoughts were, Does She…Or Doesn’t She? Only Her Mother Knows For Sure. She didn’t want to upset the salons too much so she changed “mother” to “hairdresser”.

Men automatically assumed the answer to the question to be sexual. 
Life magazine were in fact reluctant to run the ad until a survey showed that women were not filling in the ellipsis the same way as men!

So successful was the Clairol campaign it skyrocketed sales by 413 percent in six years and influenced 50% of adult women to colour their hair. Very clever when you consider, once someone has coloured their hair they have to keep doing it…hair grows and roots show!

Would this campaign have been as successful if a man had been in charge?
Well without sounding sexist…I doubt it! Men just can’t think the same way as women.

So if your target market is female…you need a woman.

Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter

http://www.mapcopywriting.com
anne@mapcopywriting.com
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979

Please feel free to use this article. All I ask in return is that you include the above signature and URL.

How often have you decided to launch a project and by the time you’ve got everything you think you need in place and ‘just so,’ the unproductive days have turned into months. In seeking perfection are we really nursing our fear of failure?

And why does everything have to be perfect?

Last January Mark and I were driving our son Elliot and his chum John to the airport to start their backpacking trip to New Zealand. Mark and I stared at the road ahead feigning nonchalance as they chatted through the contents of their backpacks…

A pair of slippers – each

2 face flannels

Hair straighteners

15 T shirts

2 pairs of jeans (please note it was the height of the New Zealand summer)

2 dress shirts – for evening dining (we had to ask)

Elliot had also packed – a collage. Yes that’s right – disparate paper and material cuttings gummed onto a piece of card to produce a wall hanging without any practical backpacking use which I can behold.

They were, let me remind you, backpacking, and yet those items usually considered crucial to comfort and survival such as sleeping bags, pillows, towels, rain gear and shorts for instance, hadn’t made it onto the list. And that was the real crux of it. The List.

If you make lists, how old were you when you decided that productivity demanded a list?

Had our teenagers made a list? Absolutely not, but did that really matter. Just the act of compiling the list takes time and then you need to gather the items on your list, probably with a special trip to the shops. Several trips if your list keeps growing in fits and starts. With a list you generally end up with EVERYTHING you can imagine ever needing. Which takes hours of planning and loads of cash.

The alternative is Elliot and John’s trecking plan – get a bag and put stuff in it. I am witness to this taking around 5 minutes, and that included finding the bag. Anything vital which got left out was picked up as they traveled. But Elliot and John had everything necessary to execute the plan. The objective was trecking in New Zealand and the three vital ingredients were a visa, passport and flights. Job done. The remaining incidentals fell into place along the way.

If Elliot and John had made a list – highly unlikely for two 18 year olds – it would have included costly items which appeared critical when considered from the comfort of the couch. The reality was they picked up a couple of sleeping bags and a pair of shorts each and improvisation filled in the gaps.

Some of you may think I’m missing the point and may be asking- what about the thrill of the planning? If the goal is to spend your time planning for a venture, then fine. But if the goal is to achieve a tangible outcome then the planning must be conscious and proportionate. By conscious I mean that you understand when you are using the planning stage to avoid the actual implementation which is when you might finally discover that your dreams are not going to come true after all. But the boys did plan. They planned to go backpacking in New Zealand. They worked out that to make this happen they needed 3 things which they collected and then they got on the plane.

I am not for one moment suggesting that you don’t use lists to plan your day, your project, your year or even your life. A well thought out list can keep you on track and make sure you don’t avoid those horrid jobs you really don’t fancy. Just be ready to call a halt when you have lists about lists and The List is now King.

This week I learned a valuable lesson from Alan Forrest Smith about just getting a job done. Alan likes to keep his team on its toes and so he set an exercise to get a massive task delivered in a jiffy. Literally no time for nit-picking over miniscule details. What did I learn? A simple equation..

The time needed to do the job is equal to…the period of time you first thought of – divided by three – plus 1 full day to neglect it completely – followed by less time than you ever thought possible to tweek it into perfection.

Here’s to your productivity.

Sian

Sian Murphy

—————–

100% Results Writer

sian@sianmurphycopywriter
www.sianmurphycopywriter.com

When the performance gurus talk about riding out the highs and the lows of business, what they mean is that when business is swinging, you act cool, and when it goes wrong – you still act cool.

It is not wrong to celebrate success, but if you are still partying a week after you land the big order, what has happened meanwhile?

If you respond to a fantastic result with hysterical glee, will you plunge into the depths of despair when you lose a sale?

To win in the long term your emotional keel must be steady and without the yawing highs and lows. You may find the key to this skill rather surprising.

Do you know someone who sulks? Some people can sulk for years. At first this may not seem particularly valuable, however, conisider this – the prolonged sulker has developed a strategy of sustaining one emotional state for a very long time.

What if they could do this with a different emotion? Well they can if they mimic how they sulk and transfer it to something more productive, such as confidence or motivation.

The secret strategies behind every behaviour are a party compendium pack of the following components

*visual by creating and seeing pictures in your imagination
*auditory
*feelings
*listening to self talk
*smells and tastes

To elicit your strategy for a particular behavoiur, such as buying, sleeping, or insomnia, just run through your process and plot through each step.

Imagine Steve who has an excellent sulking strategy which goes like this…

Three years ago Steve’s brother Bob went to a works party instead of Steve’s birthday bash. Each morning since then Steve,

*has made a picture in his head of Bob enjoying himself at the works party

*he says to himself “How could Bob do that to me, he obviously prefers his work mates to his own brother.”

*then gets a nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach and his throat gets tight as all the familiar feelings flood back

Steve runs this strategy every morning and can keep the sulk going all day, regardless of anything else which could brighten his mood.

But Steve could also use this strategy to conjur up a winning state of mind as a salesman by:

*making a picture of himself sat in his office as a signed contract for a 100 fleet cars slides across the desk towards him

*saying to himself- ‘WOW I NAILED it, I’m brilliant at sales. What a FANTASTIC deal!

*feeling the exiting rush of adrenalin as all the familiar feelings flood back

If he ran this strategy every morning, Steve could spend his days electrified with anticipation as he chalks up the triumphs.

What would it mean to you to spend every day like Steve?

Sian
——————–
Sian Murphy
100% Results Writer

sian@sianmurphycopywriter.com
0800 0086464
07515 951345

 

How Can We Save You Today? … Proximo Salvationists!

Everybody wants to be saved.

Saved from the tax man.

Saved from your landlord.

Saved from credit cards.

Saved from their jobs.

Saved from life itself.

The bad news is … you are going to die at some point, we all are.
So being saved from everything and anything never changes the outcome of life.

However… we can control, change and mold our weekly, daily, hourly life.

This is a sad little story but not unusual.

Sandra is looking for the perfect business opportunity. She has just ordered the absolutely perfect solution from a franchise magazine.

It hit all of her switches.

Easy (no brain required).

Cash (loads of it).

Freedom (so much time 24 hours a day will be too long).

A month passes and her new business arrives. How exciting.

Sandra rushes to open her box. She pulls out everything at the speed of a child opening a new present from his favourite uncle.
Sandra lays everything out in front of her.

The 473 page, step-by-step manual.

The digitally created set of 12 DVDs.

The 6 CDs that can be listened to in the car, on her iPod and walking the dog.

And a toll free hotline that is 24/7.

Sandra has booked another day off work to go over everything.

First she begins with the manual. She opens the table of contents and looks for a chapter that will interest her right away. She finds it and reads it. The chapter is called…
" The Seventeen Steps To Your First Million Dollars" …
Perfect, just what a "proximo Salvationist" needs.

Half way through the chapter she doesn’t quite get it so she reads another chapter. The same happens again, she doesn’t quite understand so she moves into another chapter.

Until she decides to try a DVD.

The presenter is great. He talks about how he now makes over 5 million a year, drives to his office in a Lamborghini car whilst booking his next holiday in his cell phone. That’s the life Sandra wants.

At DVD 3 the trainer starts to go over all of his systems. Actually they are not as simple as she expected. She begins to feel confused.

Sandra tries DVD4 but soon gets bored so decided to try and make a start from the manual. At page 19 she gets stuck so she remembers this is where that 24/7 support comes in handy.

She rings and gets put on hold… for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes and longer. She puts down the phone and tells herself she will try again later. It’s now late. She has been going through this stuff for nearly 10 hours now. Sandra goes to bed.
It’s the next morning.

Sandra walks downstairs from her sleepy night and has to step over all of the empty boxes, manuals, DVDS, CDS and more.

She is in a rush. Its 6-30 am and has to get ready to take the 90 minute drive thorough rush hour into the office where she works for another crazy day working her guts out.

The day is over, Sandra gets home from the office at 7-45pm and feels like a train wreck. The boxes of stuff frustrate her so she decides just for tonight to pack them and put them into the spare room.

When she opens the spare room door guess what?
She stands, looks, stare with her brain saying to her…
"Sandra what the hell are you doing?"

Why?

Because Sandra put her new course in top of the last 21 course she has paid for on her credit cards.

Sandra feels ashamed deep inside and slowly closes the door like someone sneaking away in the night.

Sandra never opens the door again until she buys another new course promising her salvation from life itself.

This is the case of the "Proximo Salvationist"
I want salvation, you want salvation, everyone wants saving from something. It’s a human fact!

But can the solution really be found in a box of easy to follow, press one button, ready to go, never work again solutions?
If you had a business is that what you want?

Do you want it so easy that you can laze around on a beach whilst  you make stack of money and actually walk away from your office to enjoy your life?

Well here’s the thing that your new-life saviors never tell you… it can take, blood, sweat, tears, time, energy and endless hard work to make it happen.

It’s rarely if never quick.

I have never seen a single click of a mouse solution in my life for success.

I have never seen anyone that has paid good money on a credit card instantly gain salvation from anything by making millions overnight… NEVER!

And frankly … I doubt it’ll happen to you!

So can you gain your own salvation?

Yes of course you can but it depends what you want saving from?
Only you know that question.

Sandra wanted saving from her long hours. Yet she was not willing to put in the long hours as an investment to find out how to do that. I see hundreds of people doing the very same as Sandra.

So do you know what you want saved from?

Do you understand the simple steps it’ll take to save you?

Are you willing to invest the time and energy into being saved?

Are you willing to take control, take charge of your own life?

It really is up to you.
Proximo Salvationists want a solution overnight, this hour, this minute. It won’t happen.

Sadly proximo Salvationist has predators out there looking, waiting to devour them and steal their cash for their own gain.

Does this email sound like you?

Does it sound familiar?

This could be a wake up all for you?

I hope so.

You are your own salvation.

Address your life, your business, your outcome yourself. Take control and stop the rot of being a proximo Salvationist!

Please … Let me know what you think.