As I write this it’s 1:57am January 1st 2010. Not really sure where I’m heading with this post but I felt compelled to write so here I am. 2010, like most new years, starts off with hope. Hope for a better year, hope for better money and better health. I’m no exception, I have big goals, I have big hopes, and I see big things in 2010 for my family and myself.

Sometimes we are too quick to write off the previous year, to shed it’s unwanted weight and boldly step into the new year telling ourselves that things will be different, that things will be better. While that may be true and I wish it for you, I mean that, you have to take a look at 2009 and think on what went right and what went wrong.

What went right for you in 2009? Not just in business but in your personal life as well, how were your relationships? How did you grow? Who influenced you to be better, who did you influence? Write them down. Write down what went right. Not only that write down how it made you feel.

Now write down what went wrong. Be as honest with yourself as possible and list everything that went wrong in 2009. Don’t just give what went wrong but how it went wrong and how it affected you. Be personal, don’t blame anybody else, you’re an adult and should take responsibility.

Now I want you to compare the two lists, what do you see? Is there a reoccurring theme? Which one is longer? Go back to list number one and add to it, make it at least as long as the second.

While one of these lists may seem negative they are both quite positive. Both lists are a series of lessons that you can choose to ignore or choose to learn from. I encourage you take the lessons learned  into 2010 and use them to shape your own future. Take charge in 2010, hit the ground running and always remember the lessons from 2009.

The Real Currency Of 2010 Will Be Relationships

The more positive, win-win relationships that you can create in 2010 the better off you will be and the more successful you will become. Social networking is a great way to connect with people and if used correctly will propel you into the upper stratospheres of success. Stop trying to get the most followers on Twitter or the most friends on Facebook, we all know that quantity doesn’t matter when it comes to relationships, it’s the quality that matters most.

Use social media to engage with the people in your market and in your field of business. Give more than you take and add value to peoples lives. Do this and you will start to see your influence grow, not just with your clients/patients/customers but with your friends, family and others in your industry.

Not trying to preach to anybody here, like I said in the beginning I had no idea where this post was going, but I do know one thing, I probably needed to hear this more than you did.

I wish you the best year of your life, so far, and it’s my desire that you obtain the level of success you’ve always dreamed about. Go forth and make it a reality!

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1. Social Media is all About the Relationship
2. Increasing Customer Retention With Social Media
3. If I Sold Cars Today – How Would I Do It Differently

Building Trust

Simple enough. I could end this blog post right here because the title says it all, ‘Trust is Earned, So Go Earn It!’ but I wont because I have plenty to say on the topic and besides I can’t leave too much white space just laying around now can I?

Merrium-Webster.com defines trust as: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.

Trust is a powerful word, it can make or break your business.

Again, over simplification but you get the idea. Always keep in mind that gaining trust isn’t easy while losing it is.

Below are the Top 10 Ways to Build Trust:

1. Follow Through- If you say your going to do something, do it. If your talking on the phone with a client and you tell them that as soon as you hang up you will email or fax over a brochure, get it done.
2. Be Truthful- Going beyond just building trust, being truthful is a best practice that you should ALWAYS be doing. Without trust you have no friends, without trust you have no business, be truthful with everything you do, with everything you say.
3. Be Consistent- Stop redefining who you are all the time, be consistent in your actions. People like consistency, we don’t like change.
4. Bring Value Beyond The Product- People aren’t just doing business with your product or service, they are doing business with you. Give the value of your time by going above what is expected, remember that your clients success is your success; make it known.
5. Be Sincere- Believe in what you do, do what you say and care for the people you work with.
6. Be Genuine and Give Praise- Say thank you and mean it. Give praise and mean it. Be real, show appreciation and praise others for their contributions.
7. Focus on Their Needs-  Stop thinking about what you want and need and start thinking about what THEY want and need. Put others first.
8. Take Blame- If its your fault, own up to it.
9. Fix Your Mistakes- We all make mistakes and we all know it. In business clients know that mistakes can and will happen but its HOW you handle the mistake that people will judge you on.
10. Be a Good Listener and Ask Question- Stop waiting for somebody else to stop talking just so you can throw your two cents in. Listen to what they have to say with your full attention and ask well though out questions, show that you are interested.

There will always be a time when your integrity will be questioned. Not that it’s true or holds any water but each one of us has our own perspective and no matter how hard we try to show people that we do have integrity others may not receive what we are putting out there the way that we intended it.

By following the Top 10 Ways to Build Trust you are assured of building a strong foundation of trust in yourself and in your business. If you want to weather the storm then be prepared for it when it hits.

While at first blush this post may not seam to be about social media, which is usually what I write about, but if  you look a little closer and you will see a formula for how to interact with the people in your social networks. Keep in mind that just because you aren’t sitting right there in front of the people on Facebook doesn’t mean they aren’t real.

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Related posts:

1. Increased Rapport and Building Trust
2. Social Media is all About the Relationship
3. What I learned From Ripping a Phone Book in Half

Take The High Road

In business and in life, always take the high road. Recently my partner and I were flamed on a blog post by somebody who spoke half truths and bended the truth to fit his own agenda. I wont mention who and I wont mention where because it does not matter, I have moved on.

I debated writing this post and almost didn’t but I thought it would allow you an opportunity to see how I conduct myself. After finding out about the post I pulled it up on my phone, read it and decided NOT to react right away. I have learned long ago that if you react right away when somebody does something against you, you will lose.

Instead of lashing out and getting my revenge I decided that it would be best if I just let it go. I did comment on the blog post but ignored his ramblings and gave some advice to another commenter.

Be Slow to Anger

Always keep your anger in check. It’s in our nature to want to defend ourselves when somebody lashes out against us but in some cases, most actually, you will do yourself more harm than good if you seek revenge. Keep in mind that this is the internet, everything is recorded for others to pull up in the future and the last thing you want is a potential client to come across words that were said in anger.

In my case the person who lashed out against me was a competitor and if a client were to come across what he said and how I reacted and based their decision with who to go with solely on who was more professional I feel that I would come out on top.

Never react hastily, always remember what image you are trying to convey, be slow to anger.

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. Proverbs 14:29

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Related posts:

1. Trust Is Earned, So Go Earn It!

Not Me! LOL

I don’t know, maybe it’s just the way my mind works but for some reason I am able to find marketing knowledge in just about everything I do, ripping a phone book in half with my bare hands was no different.

I’ve been trying it for years. Every 6 month or so I would pick up a phone book and after much heaving, ripping and twisting I’d having nothing to show for it except sore fingers and a bruised ego. Yesterday was no different, I picked up the Portland Oregon Metro Area Yellow Pages with the intention of ripping it in half but it just wasn’t happening.

I’m a big guy, I’ve always been strong (and Stubborn, my wife would say) and thought that I had enough strength to get it done, after all I’ve seen it done many times on TV. Were these “strong” men really that much stronger than me? After about 20 minutes of trying I put the phone book down, looking worse for the ware but still very much in one piece.

What was I doing wrong? Why couldn’t I rip the phone book in half, was I just not strong enough? That’s when Einsteins definition of insanity popped into my head, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So many times that’s how we run our businesses, online and off. We continue doing the same thing day in and day out expecting our revenue to sky rocket. “Today is the day!” We will tell ourselves, “That billboard/newspaper ad/PPC campaign is going to pay off!” Only to find that, yet again, our sales stay stagnant.

So what did I do different to finally rip that phone book in half? Easy, I quit relying on my strength so much and used my mind. No, I’m not some Jedi warrior! But I did think about it. I thought about my grip, I thought about the actual twisting motion I made while ripping. You see, the biggest issue with trying to rip a phone book in half is the number of pages it has. Of course its not too difficult to rip one page, two pages, or even 20 or 30 but when you try to rip a few thousand it becomes almost impossible.

I thought, what if I could rip 20 or so pages at a time, while ripping the whole phone book at once. That may be difficult to follow but I had a phone book in my hand at the time and if I folded it into a “V” at the top I could see that there was space between the pages. The problem then was the grip, how could I keep the space between the pages while ripping the book in half?

I found that if I put my thumbs on either side of the bend and pulled apart, instead of trying to rip, it came apart rather easy. I was pumped! My heart began to pound and with a grunt I pulled the book apart, tore off my shirt and pounded on my chest, “I am Man!!” I bellowed.

Okay, Okay, that last part didn’t happen but I felt so good! I conquered because I stopped relying on what wasn’t working and that was brute strength. I implore you to do the same thing with your business. Stop whatever it is you are doing right now and think.

When it came to ripping the phone book I asked myself what I would do differently if I didn’t have the strength to do it (which I didn’t) and I started thinking around the problem. I succeeded because I thought differently and because of it I conquered.

What problems are you having in your business? What if you take away everything you are doing now, take away everything that is out of your control and put it out of mind, along with all negative thoughts and just think about solutions. Don’t focus on the problem of falling profits, slow economy or shrinking market just think solutions, what can you come up with?

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Related posts:

1. Always Take the High Road
2. Trust Is Earned, So Go Earn It!