The top 7 (good and bad) business lessons I learned in 2007

Despite my successes this past year, many of my greatest lessons stemmed from my non-business life, and my failures in one area or another.

> My greatest successes this year?

The Wild West Wealth Summit was my biggest highlight of 2007, with over 125 people from all over the world in attendance.

Buying a boat (something I have always wanted) and spending 3 weeks on the water with my wife, Kari, and my twin daughters, Hailey and Katrina.

> My biggest failure?

Losing the weight I wanted. I religiously go to my Tae Kwon Do workouts 3 days a week – but that wasn’t enough to me this year.

 
CURSES to age and a slowing metabolism!

 
Nearing the end of 2007, that start to change quickly – but that is for another time.

 
As we start a brand new year, I hope you are setting newer, bigger, more grandiose goals for yourself. I also hope that some of the things that have happened to me over the past year can inspire you for making this year a great one. 

1) Surround yourself with other successful people.  From the coaches and mentors you take on (which you MUST) – to the people in your circle of friends. You must always be looking for those who can support you in your dreams, yet give you down-to-earth, street-smart business and personal advice. If you are hiring a coach for 2008, which I recommend you do, make SURE you get ample amounts of 1-on-1 time with them.  I tried a couple different coaches through 2007 and the best fit I found is one where I get multiple 1-on-1 meetings a month with them by phone. THAT is what makes the difference – not a single group phone call a month, like many of them offer.

2) Forget about listening to the “Negative Nellies” in your life. These are the friends, family members, or business associates that take great pride in cutting your great ideas into itty-bitty little pieces. They always think their opinion is the only right one. And they are always wrong. Do whatever you need to do to distance yourself from these people – if, for some reason, you have no choice but to be around them, find an entertaining way to talk to yourself while they go about their endless droning about how stupid you are for trying to be successful, or creative. Last, it feels REAL GOOD to prove them wrong – a worthy goal in and of itself.

3) Do not try and be everything to everyone.  I turned down a lot of work this year. And it felt good. Earlier in 2007 I decided to limit how much of my time was available to others, and have put a big dent in the amount of hours I write, coach or consult with others. My rates went up substantially as well. For 2008, you really need to consider who you really want to work with – and then repackage what you offer, and for how much, so that you are getting only the types of clients you feel the best working with.

4) Technology does NOT make our lives all that much easier – or productive. Email without management tools becomes a burden. Cell phones with all the nice tools become a crutch, and are debatable in the actually productivity gains claimed. Facebook and Myspace type sites are still questionable. Despite some of the claims I have heard of the incredible business advantages to these networks – I would need to see some pretty solid proof that the immense amount of time going into the management of this is worth it.

5) When building and designing a business to be sold in the near future, make sure you plan for an EASY exit strategy. My father-in-law sold his drilling mud company this year to an Australian firm – and has had a real tough time in the transition. Bob is a successful entrepreneur who has built this company up from nothing into a multi-million dollar a year business – so asking him to become an employee of a multi-national conglomerate is not something to be taken lightly. It taught me a very valuable lesson to plan an exit strategy so that you are not in the same spot at a time when you just want to move on. Plan for the exit to be as simple and seamless as possible, without you having to be the brains behind the business for years after it sells.

6) Hire slow – fire fast. Some great advice I had heard from Dan Kennedy, which I ignored at the beginning of the year.  Cost me money and too much stress. Now I am much more careful with the people I hire, and at the first sign of ignoring the pre-determined rules, they are gone.  Simple advice – but very worthy of inclusion into your hiring, your joint venture partners, any business associates or partners you are thinking of brining on.

7) Read – LOTS.  I averaged at least one book a week – many weeks 3 or 4.  The most successful entrepreneurs in the world are voracious readers – and there are soooooo many great books to read, and learn from.  One of my best, and most recent reads: Sex, Money, Kiss by Gene Simmons – AWESOME BOOK.  I had always loved KISS, but didn’t know much about Gene, other than what I saw on his Family Jewels reality show.  Now HE is a true genius and master entrepreneur. If you are looking for some serious lessons on building a mega empire, like he has, read this book. Next week I will send you an article I wrote specifically about this book (plus, at the Dan Kennedy Superconference this year, I will be getting my photo with Gene – wooo hooo!)

 
I want to wish you a very Happy New Year!

 
And I do look forward to hearing about your goals for the year. 

 
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In fact, send me your biggest goals for the year – along with an action plan on how you will get there. I will take all the most well-thought-out plans and pick 3 winners.

Each winner of this contest will get a BIG GIFT BASKET to start off the year (including (a) a brand new copy of my Marketing and Promotional Calendar – http://www.MarketingReminder.com – (b) a copy of the best selling book I am in – Getting Rich in Information Marketing by Dan Kennedy and Robert Skrob and (c) 2 months free of my Creative Marketing Tips Paid Newsletter – http://www.UniqueMarketingTips.com

 
I look forward to seeing your submissions – please send to troy@smallbusinesscopywriter.com

Have a great New Years!

Troy

 

PS: If you are seriously considering a business and marketing coach for 2008 – make sure you have a look at the program I run  - - The Million Dollar Blueprint Coaching and Mastermind program – http://www.MillionDollarBlueprints.com

 

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One coaching client grew her spa by 34% in the FIRST MONTH in the program!

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“34.7% increase in business in the first 30 days”

 

Working with

Troy

has been very helpful in growing my business. Just in the first month of his coaching program, I was able to grow my spa revenues by over 34%.  I can’t wait to see what happens in future months!

 

Thanks

Troy

.

 

Louisa Yap

Balmoral Spa, Singapore

 
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Tamra saw a 400% increase in income working with me….

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Troy;

I just wanted to Thank you for everything that you have done for me so far with helping me grow my business. You are truly Awesome!!!!

I would highly recommend Troy as a business coach or to anyone who needs help with their marketing for their business, as a result My Income has Quadrupled. You too can do what I did.

That was one of the best decisions I ever made he has shown me even more ways of increasing my business.  How would you like to take your business to the next level and above.
You too CAN MAKE THIS REALITY!

Call Troy TODAY! and sign up to his next summit in Calgary and then read what else Troy has to offer.

This is the kind of program that can GROW YOUR BUSINESS MUCH FASTER.

Don't miss out. Call Troy today at 403-259-4566

Regards, Tamra Baxter - Paragon Performance Training

The difference between those who get it and those who don’t

Straight out of the mouth of someone who DIDN’T get it….

“This doesn’t apply to MY business!:

Seen and heard it all over again today during a day long seminar I was at in

Vancouver

. Hosted by Brandon Roe, with Doug White as the main speaker for the day.

 
Doug is an absolute genius for marketing.. What’s really exciting is that Doug is the few marketers to step up to the plate with $5 Billion worth of proof to back him up. In the past 35 years, Doug has mastered marketing using untraditional technique.

 
Having done blockbuster campaigns for large Fortune 50 type clients, right down to smaller retail type companies... his experience is diverse and his knowledge unprecedented. 

 
Doug finally has decided to step out from behind the desk and start sharing his vast storehouse of marketing experience with other like-minded direct marketers. 

 
Now, his experience is in the Canadian marketplace – but his ideas are universal in their application. What I loved the most about his day-long seminar? The fact it breaks many of the so-called ‘rules’ of direct marketing. From using 3^rd class bulk mail, even to unaddressed business class mail (in

Canada

, this is what it is called, in the

US

there is no real comparison). 

 
He shared with us the results of his 7,000+ tests – he shared with us actual copies of his promotions – and he shared with us millions of dollars worth of ideas (in the right hands they are worth that, and more).

 
Despite all of this, there was a guy in the audience who left at mid-day. He said it didn’t apply to him – “not my kind of thing” he said. I wonder how someone can be that stupid or blind (both suited him). Doug showed a marketing campaign he had done for a guy in the EXACT same industry (real estate) – that made him millions of dollars in commissions... yet to the guy in the seminar today... it wouldn’t work. 

 
How is it that something can work for person A, someone in real estate, someone who made millions of dollars from that campaign... yet, person B is so clueless that they can’t see past their blinders and get it that the exact same type of campaign would have replicable results to what person A saw. 

 
They are about to throw away millions of dollars in commissions – because of their stubbornness to open their mind to new ideas (new to them, anyhow).

 
So this guy walks out, and goes back to the way he has always done things, and will get the same kind of results he has always gotten.

 
Less than 5% of realtors in

Canada

make a liveable income, I am willing to bet a thousand bucks right now that he falls into the 95% of people who can’t afford to eat or live. Why? 

 
Because he is so inflexible to actually try something new.

 
Something that could have made him a millionaire... will remain a black spot on his not-so-large of a brain. He will always be the guy that spouts off how “direct marketing doesn’t work for realtors” – and completely forget about the fact it made millions for person A. He will continue to find excuses why he can’t afford to eat – or live... “the market is down, bad leads, other realtors are cutting their commissions... etc. The excuses will never end. 

 
My entire point to this article today is to hopefully break you out of any year-end slumber you may be feeling. As the year winds down, you should be seriously asking yourself what you will do differently this year to make 2008 better than 2007. What new ideas will you implement? What new types of marketing will you try? What advice will you try out – that you had previously discounted?

 
2008 can be the year you break all of your own sales records – if you open your mind to new opportunities and new ideas. There has never been a better time than right now to try new things. And people are more receptive than ever to companies who market themselves differently.

 
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If you want to try new marketing ideas this year – and you are willing to think like a millionaire marketer – have a look at my year end special I have prepared for you. I guarantee you this - - visit http://www.marketingreminder.com  right now – get your copy reserved – take part in the teleseminar series starting in January – and you WILL earn a lot more than this year and you will make 2008 the year you want it to be. 

 
When I first showed the package at my Wild West Wealth Christmas party – I could SEE the light bulbs popping on throughout the room. Finally, people saw a simple plan to market themselves differently and effectively in 2008. And I back it with a $5,000 guarantee – one that extends to you as well.

 
So, if you are tired of the same old same old type of marketing – run to http://www.marketingreminder.com to get moving now. The site describes it all – and is backed by a $5,000 guarantee. Don’t be another “Person B” too oblivious to the million dollar marketing potential in front of you - - the marketing reminders program will hand you the results you want.

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Troy

PS: The 2008 Marketing and Promotional Calendar is unlike anything else you have ever seen before. Complete with thousands of unusual ideas for promotions you can use to grow your business… to complete 1-2-3 templates you can copy and steal from me… to an actual blueprint you can follow to take advantage of the best time of year (starting in January) to grow your business right now.  Get you copy now, find out more at http://www.marketingreminder.com