Posts Tagged ‘success’

Only Three Feet From Gold

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Given the current economic roller coaster, does it feel like you are taking two steps backwards for every one step forward? Have you ever felt like quitting? Even though you knew you were on the right track?

Once a highly coveted and symbol of ultimate success, the job of CEO today has been tarnished in the public’s opinion by the news stories of corporate scandals and executive excess.

Napoleon Hill, wrote “Many successful people have found opportunities in failure and adversity that they could not recognize in more favorable circumstances.” It is through perseverance, and definiteness of purpose that the truly talented CEOs of today will identify those opportunities and reach even greater heights of success than ever imagined.

There are many people today who compare our current crisis to the Great Depression during the 20’s and 30’s that almost brought total collapse to our economic stability. Yet from the Great Depression emerged many of today’s greatest success stories. It was the leaders of that time who recognized the opportunities, seized them and reached unparalleled levels of success. Many of them credited reading the popular book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill as the tool that gave them the inspiration and courage to keep going and move on.

In was in 1908, when a young Napoleon Hill was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world, to embark on more than a twenty year journey studying the principles of success. His book, Think and Grow Rich, was originally published in 1937 and has since sold over 100 million copies around the world. It is widely recognized as the foremost treatise on success ever written. In researching and studying the book, Hill had the opportunity to interview the most successful titans of his time. In addition, he also interviewed people who had given up, people who had failed, in order to truly understand the elements of success in life.

Considered the grandfather of personal development and financial wisdom, Napoleon Hill was the first to coin such ageless principles as “Definiteness of Purpose,” “Pay Yourself First,” the benefits of a “Mastermind”, and even the “Law of Attraction,” which he wrote about as early as 1919.

Even though Think and Grow Rich continues to sell well today and continues to give hope and inspiration to its readers, Don Green, CEO of the Napoleon Hill Foundation recognized an opportunity to update its core principles with modern examples. Think and Grow Rich – Three Feet From Gold is the product of Don’s vision, a message of hope and motivation given life through the stories of successful companies and their leaders from today’s economic environment. You may not recognize their names, but you will recognize their companies or their major brands for they put their customers, their consumers, their employees and their companies before their personal quest for fame.

Steve Forbes’ endorsement of Three Feet From Gold says it all, “The perfect message of hope and inspiration during the current economic crisis.”

The title Three Feet From Gold, actually comes from the story of R. U. Darby told in the first chapter of the original Think and Grow Rich. A young man who went west during the Gold Rush, R. U Darby was determined to discover his fortune in gold. He staked his claim, and discovered high quality ore early in his quest. With investment from family and friends, he started mining his discovery with early successand then one day the gold simply ran out. After weeks of finding no more gold, R. U. Darby grew exceedingly more frustrated and finally gave up selling his mine and equipment to the junkman in town. He returned east totally defeated and broke.

The junkman who had nothing, on the other hand had been studying gold-mining for 20 years, and had been just waiting for this opportunity. He hired the right advisor, a gold mining engineer to study the mine and to advise him. The engineer told him that Darby had simply punched right through the vein of gold. All the junkman had to do was to go back to the beginning, to the place of the original discovery of gold, move three feet in the other direction and he would tap back into the vein. That is exactly what the junkman didand he discovered a great fortune in gold!

What happened to Darby? Well, he did hear about the junkman’s fortune and was quite upset. But he vowed to learn from his mistake and to never give up “three feet from gold” again. He went on to build a highly successful insurance business and began a new quest to teach others the importance of perseverance and never quitting.

It was this story of perseverance that led Don Green to commission Sharon Lechter and Greg S. Reid, to interview leaders from today’s business world and to ask them about their challenges. What had they done to persevere when failure loomed, to keep going when others would have given up? Armed with introductions from The Napoleon Hill Foundation, Sharon and Greg found themselves with the opportunity of a lifetime, the opportunity to update and to share the incredible impact of Hill’s work.

Told as a parable, Three Feet from Gold, shares the story of a young entrepreneur whose life is falling apart. He finds himself retracing Napoleon Hill’s steps after a serendipitous encounter with a powerful businessman who sees the young man’s potential and sets him on a challenging journey of personal, spiritual, and financial growth. Through this journey the young entrepreneur is mentored by more than 35 of today’s most successful leaders who have followed Napoleon Hill’s advice, including Dave Liniger, chairman and co-founder of Re/Max; John St. Augustine, producer of ‘Oprah and Friends’ Radio Programming; Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies; boxing champ Evander Holyfield; Symphony Orchestra conductor Jahja Ling; NASCAR President Mike Helton; just to name a few.

What unfolds in Three Feet from Gold is an invaluable equation for personal success based on advice from these incredible men and women. The Personal Success Equation is:

((Passion + Talent) x Association x Action) + Faith = Your Personal Success Equation

By combining your passion with your talent and then finding the right association you will position yourself for great success. However, to realize that success you must take decisive action and at all time have faith that you are on the right path.

They not only share how they applied this Success Equation in their own lives to achieve great success but more importantly, what they said to themselves when the chips were down. What kept them going when others would have given up. It is that moment in time, when you keep moving forward, that truly defines great success.

Their advice is sincere, generous and above all road tested by their own successful life stories.

Just a few of their golden nuggets that provide a road map for the successful CEOs of tomorrow are:

Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, Inc. said, “Focus on your people more than your profits.” And “stop overplanning.”

“A true leader will take others where they would not have gone by themselves,” was the advice of Drayton McLane, Jr. owner of the Houston Astros.

Debbie Fields said, “Good enough, never is.”

John St. Augustine said, “People need to replace their wishbone with a backbone.”

James Amos said, “The margin between success and failure is a very thin line. History is the past. Base decisions on the future.”

John Hope Bryant said, “Ten percent of your attitude is determined by what life hands you and ninety percent by how you choose to respond.”

And returning to the ageless wisdom of Napoleon Hill, “Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.”

Don’t quit, you are just three feet from gold!

Sharon Lechter can help you, step by step with your Finances

Skyrocket Your Business With Buzz!

Friday, March 12th, 2010

One of the fastest ways to expand the popularity of a business is through the utilization of a business strategy using publicity, branding and marketing. You want to create lots of buzz about you and your business. When you can successfully place your business and business’ offerings in front of a great deal of people, you will find that your profits instantly increase as a result. When you create a great publicity campaign, your products are reaching many people around the world who would otherwise be unaware of what your company has to offer. This is why, if you want to greatly enlarge the profits of your business, you should certainly take advantage of proven publicity tactics available to you today. Media outeach is good however, be sure to showcase your success on your website and in your marketing materials.

You may be wondering what techniques you could use to increase the consumer’s awareness of your company. One of the fastest ways to access an incredibly large audience is by using a press release. When you create a press release, you make it possible for the distribution of information about your company to reach many more people than you would be able to contact on your own. Press release enjoy lots of internet exposure now so creating and publishing a press release via a wire service can get your name out nicely. So when someone searches on your name or your topic, you just might come up on the first page of the search engine!

The primary reason why the press release form of publicity gets more attention than you can possibly estimate before you create one is mostly due to the fact that media companies that receive your press release are likely going to want to talk about the major current events occurring within your company.

Another great way to increase your company’s publicity is through the use of other written forms of communication. If you are running a small business, or you have employees who have a great deal of technical experience and knowledge in specific subject areas, you can be sure that media publications will be interested in what your company has to say.

When you present information to readers as a professional or expert, they will trust the information that you present to them, but more importantly they have more reason to trust your company after reading the article if you showcase your expertise well. You can generally gain recognition for your business as the media outlet usually identifies the contributors including name, credentials and the name of your company.

There are many approaches that you can take if you wish to expand the popularity of your company and brand through the use of publicity. You can access publicity less expensively if you do the work yourself or within your company. When you don’t have to spend that much time on the publicity that you create, you can be sure that you may have more funds to create many different publicity campaigns. The more publicity campaigns you create, the more popular and well known your company will become in the long run.

Want to work with one of the top public relations firms in the USA? Find more information about public relations by visiting the Annie Jennings PR website. The website has special reports, free audio recordings and teleseminars to help you achieve impressive success in your business. You’ll love the results!

Drive Traffic To Your Website Using Internet Marketing Promotion

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Everyone that I know would love to have there site number one when researching. That takes a lot of hard work and dedication. I am going to show you how to push your website to the top with internet marketing promotion. It is not as hard as some people make it sound. There are basic things you can do that do not take much time to accomplish.

Advertising is the best thing you can do to get more business. There are several good classified websites where you place your ad. A good thing to do is to change your ad wording about once a month to keep it fresh. Chat groups or online forums that you are a member of are another free way of advertising. Most groups like this will let you create a signature line which you put you web link in and people click on that to go to your site.

Let us discuss link exchanges. This is simply where you ask the owner of another website to place your link in their directory, and in turn you place their link in your web directory. It is nice the products you sell coincide with the products that your link exchange owner sells. For example if she sells crayons and you sell coloring books these two site coincide with one another.

Create a newsletter in which your customers or visitors will fill out their email address and name. If you have an auto responder they will automatically be added to the email list and they receive your newsletter once a month. You should have at least one give away listed in the newsletter and this is also the place to write a short article about some interesting topic related to your business.

In order for your business name to get noticed you need to do something totally different. Check other business sites to see what they do to get traffic. It could be a give away or a money saving sale. Keep your website looking fresh by changing the colors or adding content. Introduce a new product as least once a month. Your customers will continue to come back just to see what products are new.

As a business owner you need to know the needs of your clients. By giving them freebies or throwing something extra in their order this tells them you care and you value their business. This is important to make sure you go the extra mile when dealing with your clients. They need a special incentive to come to your site and purchase something from you.

Findadditional information on how you can grow your business fast with effective business promotion methods. Enjoy outstanding outcomes with these easy steps to jumpstart a successful Internet marketing promotion publicity campaign!

How To Promote And Market Your Book

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

There are many book titles that you see on the shelves of bookstores and in libraries. They may have some of the best information, or tell the best stories that have ever been written. However, if the author was not marketed by a well known publisher or did not have the tools and ideas to show that book promotion and publicity market your book.

Hopefully, you chose a topic that has mass appeal. If you did, then there are numerous methods to employ to get you the exposure you need to start selling books. You will need to use the same creativity that was used in composing your book, to market it and to get publicity, so people can find it. Your most effective method will be to do some guerrilla marketing and take it to the streets, yourself. This may sound a little scary, but if done correctly, you will be amazed at the results.

Although the most passive marketing concept is using the Internet, if you are computer savvy, you can launch a blog or a website to promote your book. Getting people to find you then becomes the difficult task and optimizing search engines to promote any particular site can get expensive. If you know someone that can help you here, you can get some outstanding exposure and you are obviously marketing to a very large audience.

Depending on the topic, there will likely be a local radio station that covers a similar topic. They are always looking for interesting guests and topics that may make their listeners more interested. Listen to your local stations and find someone that is normally discussing a topic at least somewhat similar to what you written. Give them a call or send them an email with a biography of you and the book. You will likely hear back from them and you may be on your way. If the topic is more mainstream, use the same process to your local television stations. Again, with the plethora of local programming, you may be able to get a slot on a local morning show or again, a show discussing similar topics.

If you live in a small town, you may need to take a short road trip. Find as many bookstores as you can and contact them. Explain the topic of your publication, why you have written it and how you think it will assist or interest readers. You will likely find several stores that will allow you to promote a book signing event. Most stores are interested in any ways to get customers to come in and with the proper marketing, in this process, you may get to do some live performances, in the form of a discussion group, to explain why they should buy your book. You will need fliers, posters and copies of the book, so get prepared and head out to the shops.

There are so many local radio shows that likely will have a potential slot for you, especially if their show covers any topics discussed in your book. They are easy to contact and are always interested in entertaining guests, as a way to gather more of the listening audience. Every television station and newspaper is looking for great local stories. Contact them, explain the who, what, when, where, why and how’s of your composition and you may find yourself sitting on the stage with a local television celebrity.

Please remember that these are public events. You will need to take some time to get prepared. The perception of the quality of your book will go hand in hand with your personality in promoting it. The better prepared you are to discuss the topic, the purpose, your motivation for writing it etc., the better it will be received.

Lastly, if you are not a gregarious person and find these suggestions a tad scary, you can resort to just using the Internet. You can start a blog or launch a website to promote you and the book, but this can be more costly, time consuming and still will not guarantee that people find you. Unless you have been published by a known publishing house, your personal contact will be the most successful to get your product into circulation. Just as when you composed your work of art, spend some quality time to promote it. You will find that personal contact will be a great way to get you selling copies, meeting the readers and earning money, while sharing your experiences.

Access more essential book promotion tips to help you market your book. Promoting books is easy once you know the publicity secrets of how to make your book a tremendous bestseller.

Publicity Tips To Land Major Media Attention

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

You can get publicity on yourself, your book and your business with a few simple tips. Publicity allows you to achieve the media placements of your dreams and with the right publicity know-how you’ll be able to break into top national TV shows, get booked on high listenership radio interviews with professional publicist technique and strategy.

First things first, before you begin to contact the media, create your press release and publicity tools. Have them ready as the media will ask you to send your materials right away if they have an interest in you. You will need a press release that outlines the information you will share for radio and TV, a media kits and a demo video especially for national TV. Be ready to send the info right away because if you delay, you will lose the advantage of having the interest of the media. Always present a professional image to the media and that means being prepared before you begin so you do not delay when the media wants to go to the next step.

It’s a good idea to build a set of goals for yourself. This way, you can target certain shows or media placements you would like to have in advance. Once you identify where you want to go, you can contact the outlets to be sure you are connecting with the right media people. When you identify your target contacts at your target media you can start the pitching process. Knowing the right people in the media who work in your area of expertise and pitching directly to them will save you a lot of time. Start small so you can learn the ropes and then go into the bigger markets or media placements. Starting small allows you to make a few learning mistakes without doing too much damage to your plan.

If newspapers and magazines are on your publicity goal list, start to follow these periodicals. Learn about the content and style and who writes in your expertise. Become familiar with what they have covered so you are pitching a fresh and “next level” article or story idea. When promoting your book or yourself, expect to make about 50 pitch calls before feeling comfortable with the content, style, language and tonality.

You never want to look like a beginner as the media can spot this and it is not in their best interests to book someone who is uncertain or not confident in their skills. Confidence shows. If you know you are good you will naturally speak with a strong voice and will not appear shy or unqualified. This takes time, so give yourself the time to learn these presentation skills. You don’t want to sound afraid when you pitch as this marks you as a amateur and the media will hesitate in working with you as you are untested. The media needs rock solid, experienced experts to comment on stories. Get media training to prepare you for the pitching process as this is a great way to learn the skill set you need fast to get you on your way.

Find additional tips on how to Find book publicity or publicity for your business. promoting books and promoting your business requires that you have a professional skill set. Enjoy the tremendous benefits of Findting publicity and the skills you need are simple to learn.

How To Promote Your Book

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Writing a book is a life-defining experience for a writer. It can be very difficult when the author realizes that their book has not defined anyone else’s life. This is especially true when you rely upon the book for your livelihood. You must get people to buy and read it. But how? What are the best author and book marketing tips?

Funnily enough, many authors are making money by writing books about how to promote books. These may or may not have all of the answers, but they certainly have the right ideas. They advertise online. For just a few dollars for a web page (or maybe a free web page, when you can find it) you can get numerous Google hits. Use the new technology we have. Make YouTube videos, advertise on Facebook, do anything to ensure people hear about you.

You may actually be in a better situation financially if you live in a small town instead of a big city. Someone from a small town getting a book published is big news in that area. Residents will rush out to see what their neighbor was able to create. Local media and papers will focus stories on you, which is always excellent and free advertising. In a big city, no one would care. You must use every single chance you get in order to get your name out there.

That said, keep a little mystery around you and be very aware of your own appearance. You are selling both your book and yourself. If you are dumpy or trashy looking, do not speak articulately, tell dumb jokes, or reveal everything about your book during an interview, who is going to want to buy your novel?

Be professional, be courteous, be humble, and make your audience wonder a little. Remember that if you are in a rural area, people will say, “I remember that person from high school!” or “That’s So-and-So’s child!” They will want to see what you have accomplished because there is a definite history there.

You cannot be shy when it comes to advertising. Do absolutely anything you can (without making a negative impression of yourself). Do commercials, be in local magazines, even put up fliers yourself. You must be a business person. Sign autographs at a local book store. Make deals with companies who promote you and give them a cut of books they help you sell. You goal is to climb to the next tier of celebrity and then the next, as selling your book is your livelihood.

Discover more essential strategy on how to use book marketing principles to Discover lots of publicity. Experience the outstanding fun and success of a professional media campaign that focuses on promoting books. You can achieve your goals when you know the right strategy to use.

Get Your Competitive Edge By Creating Thought Leader Status For Yourself

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Add lots of buzz to your business, your reputation and your standing in your industry by becoming a socially relevant expert. It’s not hard to do this and once you do, you’ll get high quality attention and attract new clients. Begin by following the major internet news sites and spot the stories that pertain to your area of expertise. Choose to follow these stories as they develop so you can have a history of knowledge on the story. Start to form opinions about these news stories based on your own expertise and knowledge.

The perfect format for becoming a socially relevant expert is to create a blog. It’s formal enough so that you will give it your best shot but not intimidating so you don’t do it at all. Get started forming an opinion about the news in your area of expertise and write your reaction and commentary about the issues on your blog. You will get the chance to learn how to form and opinion and express your opinion in short sentences that are known in the publicity and media industry as sound bites. Keep your content fresh, relevant and based in the news of the day. The media wants to stay next level and cutting edge in their reporting so keep your commentary on what is happening right now.

Blog everyday! That’s right. It’s not hard and not time consuming. Blogging everyday will you build up the expertise you need to be cutting edge so you can offer insight and commentary based on your history of knowledge about the topic. Success is about keep you finger on the cutting edge of society. What is the news in your industry, what are the challenges and what are they talking about? You want to know these answers!

Stay current and stay cutting edge. This is what being socially relevant is all about. Don’t worry, after several weeks of blogging you will soon get the hang of it and be able to create insightful commentary very quickly as you will have a history of knowledge at hand as well as some practice writing in shorter, more concise sentences and thoughts. The more you know about your industry and its challenges and the more answers you have to help your industry the more in demand your services will be.

Don’t forget its all about staying fresh, cutting edge and original. The more you blog the more you will be able to create strong and solid original material because your commentary will be based in your rich history of knowledge following the unfolding of a story or news event. As you create meaningful commentary for your audience you will realize your tremendous talent and appreciate your experience. Understanding that you can help solve problems and that your input is important and meaningful will give you confidence and propel your career to all new levels of success.

Get more strategy on getting publicity? Experience outstanding success now so you can advance to all new levels of success. author marketing is key and expert marketing is critical. So enjoy publicity now!