Today’s post is going to move a little more toward bettering yourself. I’m gonna talk about self-improvement. I know it sounds like one of those weird things that new age people in California do, after doing yoga and meditation. At least, that’s what I thought at first. I got turned onto the stuff about 10 years ago, and I can honestly say it’s changed my life. It’s really easy to do. Get yourself an audio program, put it on your ipod/mp3 player and listen to that everyday in your car on the way to work, or on a morning jog. Now the great thing about the audio programs is that there are so many out there, I guarantee if you look, you’ll find something interesting. The best program I’ve found is by Brian Tracy, and it’s called the Psychology of Achievement. In short, it goes over some very simple ways to make yourself a happier, more productive and more fulfilled person. There are also programs that talk about running a business, marketing, sleeping better, learning faster, or learning a new language. The important lesson that I learned was that by listening to self help/self improvement stuff was that it made me a better person all around. I started making more money, I was having more and better ideas, I found the woman of my dreams and married her. All because I accidentally found these programs and started listening to them on the way to work. What do you have to lose? is your life getting better listening to the latest song on the radio? Mine sure wasn’t.
To get you started, here’s some of my favorite “authors”:
Brian Tracy (I”ve listened to a lot of his stuff, loved everything).
David DeAngelo – this program introduced to me Brian Tracy, along with a lot of other ideas.
John Cummuta, Zig Ziggler, and many others. If you’re interested in exact titles in my libary, just respond to this post. I’ll be happy to share.
Happy Listening,
Mike
Category: Business
Learning to Market – baby steps
Well, my continuing adventure of trying to sell my first product is certainly no cake-walk. I really thought the hard part was designing a good product. Turns out, it’s a lot tougher to find customers than to build something. Right now, I’m working on my “Consumer Awareness Guide”. I got this tip from an audio program called Piranha Marketing. I’ll talk more about audio programs a different day. Anyway, the Consumer Awareness guide is basically a couple page educational document to give to prospective customers. In essence, it’s a document to convince someone they need my services without actually selling. Not as easy as it sounds. You have to start by figuring out a lot of mistakes that people make and explain those mistakes. Short story, by educating your potential customers, you build rapport and credibility. I’m trying to finish mine now. If you want a copy, please let me know. I’d be happy to send you one… =)
Picking a Product to Build and Sell
A few years ago, I came up with this great idea. Build a product that I could sell, so that I wouldn’t have to do traveling consulting every week. The idea behind it was simple. Build something one time, and sell it to a lot of companies. Then all I’d have to do is sit back and collect the profits, and then start making something new. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I’ll talk about the creation process some other time, but right now, I’ll focus on current events. I completed my product about 1 year ago, and I thought the hard work was over. However, what I didn’t take into account is just how much work (and potentially cash) it takes to get a product launched. Right now, all of my free time is spent coming up with ways to drum up some interest in Paper Street Enterprises. I thought it would be a no brainer, I’ve been doing SAP for going on 14 years, I’m really good at what I do, how could people not want to work with me. Well, it’s pretty easy, they don’t know me. I’ve spent all of my time designing the product, and very little of that time showing I’m an expert. Sure I can fall back on the companies I’ve consulted for, but as it turns out, most of them are no longer interested in the product I thought everyone would want. So… my take away from this, before you spend days, weeks, months or even years designing and developing something, make sure you have someone that wants to buy it from you. I thought Rapier would be the sort of thing that everyone would want, and they still might, but the fact is, no one asked for it. I made the make of assuming they wanted it or needed it. Going forward, I’m focusing on known items that people want. I start simple. Every time I hear a client say, “I wish SAP did this”, or “I can’t believe SAP doesn’t provide that”, I quickly add it to my list of development ideas, and move it to the top of the list. Why? because I know that at least one company is interested in using it (maybe not buying it, but you need to start somewhere). So learn from my mistake… make sure you have a market before you build a product. Good luck.