ZEN AND THE ART OF PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS (part 1)

I recall the punchline for my college graduation commencement speech that went "don't fear failure... avoid it at all costs!"   When you look into the eyes of a seasoned business owner, you may find a trail of tears and exhaustion from having tried many things and failed.  Those eyes have seen what having their ass handed to them is all about - more than once.

Failure is exhausting and debilitating - but, if you harness it right, (learn the right lessons from it) it can be completely empowering.  "If you fall the right way, the 'getting up' could leverage you far higher than the horse you fell from..." (a quote from Sin City). 

THE REAL FOCUS
When you're in the promoting phase of your business, it is imperative that you NOT look back and think about money.  Forget about what you've already spent- or what you hope to make.  Being too money-minded turns cowards out of investors and losers out of contestants.  This doesn't mean to be go-for-broke foolish; you certainly need a budgetary margin to work with.  But oftentimes, the biggest mistake that most owners make is chickening out mid-flight a campaign when they don't get any immediate response.

True risk-taking is SMART INVESTING; do your due diligence, intuitive research, planning, market studies and scheduling, then focus on giving it all you've got right after a LAUNCH.  Focus on getting to the finish line and think about what else you can do to get there faster and with the least amount of casualty.

CHANNEL YOUR ROAD TO "STARDOM"
Everyone has at one point competed for something and won.  Where it is human nature to doubt oneself, channeling prior successes is food for risk-taking, innovation and determination. The road to business success is all about obstacles.  Conditioning yourself for the long haul means arming yourself with the proper understanding to endure what lies ahead. 

As a promoter of others, I often use the term "building a rock star" humorously, but the feeling and intent of shooting for the stars is genuinely what's behind the hard work.   I am very fortunate to know what it's like to be under the spotlight of a concert stage with a few thousand people watching me play.  It's a thrill like no other and if you've ever experienced anything even remotely similar to that, channel it into your business model because all the lessons and motivations are all there!

So start by channeling your previous successes by asking yourself "how did that come to happen?"  What did it take to get there?  Then transform those answers into your business stream and you may find that (point for point) the steps are identical!   You start with a DREAM, then PRACTICE, then, if you believe, be OBSESSED.  Next, over time, you grow to find your community where you connect with others who share in those beliefs-- that's the social maturity.  This community is the support system that moves you to learn and grow in your field at a faster pace.  You then grow technically, take more chances, flop and 'try again' (repeat this step if necessary), then after a while, you finally succeed.  This success becomes the game-changer that heightens your level of commitment to keep going and to pursue the next stage of your competition.

Business is the same.  

MARKETING MENU
There's a different marketing plan for everyone.  Promoters design a plan ranging from conservative to adventurous- depending on your budget and objectives. Some are about SEO and BRANDING while others are more about PR (publicity) and reputation.  Then there's ADVERTISING, DIRECT MAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA, TRADE SHOWS ... and the list goes on.  Very few promoters will stress this fact but each effort carries a variable amount of risk and provides ZERO guarantees.  They do, however carry their own track record of potential success depending on longevity, budget- and luck. 

SELECTING THE PATH- AND THE RIGHT AGENT

At this point, there are as many options for promoting as there are roads that lead to a dead end. Kick-start programs as well as 2.0 pushers (the ones who promise to take you to the next level)  will sell you on a bag of beans if you have a check to sign.  Hence, choose wisely and do your homework!

Over the years, I have learned some vital lessons when it comes to planning, direction and campaign designs for a client. As a promoter myself, I have come to live by some core beliefs to keep me at the right side of business:

- Develop a thorough and highly detailed plan
- Conduct major homework on the client's needs, their environment and their objectives
- Track progress regularly and keep client abreast of all significant moves
- Don't be afraid to submit negative reports as long as you have an alternative solution to steer the program back to its course
- Always be innovative
- Keep the faith, stay the course, steer and navigate and look for opportunities as they arise

(End of part 1)

This blog is brought to you by imworx.com.  Copyright (C) 2014- Image Unlimited Inc. All Rights Reserved.   Written by: Lennard M. Gettz, MBA and Luis Ferrer.

"SMARTER BARTER"- THE RE-TRENDING FORM OF CURRENCY

Without getting into a history lesson, BARTER has come around (again) as a highly enjoyable, efficient and popular way to break into a new exchange relationship and trade goods, services and resources without the use of greenbacks.   Friendships have also founded bartering in the form of "favors" to eliminate that whole sticky money exchange.  Bartering is everywhere that two people seek to fill needs.  So many industries use bartering and partial-bartering to leverage acquisitions as a means to a great end- and if you explore it correctly, EVERYTHING IS BARTER-ABLE!

WHY BARTER
- To remove spending $$, barter gets you more for your business (or personal life)
- A great extension of your acquiring power
- By bartering, you can afford to think outside of your business plan to fulfill needs to grow your business (ie. acquire a better website that's normally out of your budget in exchange for your specialty service)
- A powerful way to promote yourself to the community without advertising + a great relationship builder (exchange based on trust and communication)


BARTER AS AN ICE BREAKER
Though not everyone is into the idea, your breaking the ice with someone to approach bartering may open a whole new channel of business just by introducing your concept.  More and more businesses are subscribing to this form of trade as a form of "partnering" with other resource groups where seeking out and connecting with another business in this level may become a highly lucrative and financially fulfilling experience for you and your marketing.

GETTING TO KNOW through LET'S MAKE A DEAL
There is no better way to "audition" a vendor than to try them out yourself.  But because we have grown skiddish to explore vendor services without referral or reference, the business community trends on counting on YELP (unreliable and often corrupt opinions) and other review sites for gospel.  Old school doctrine says that "the best way to build a real opinion about someone is to know them yourself!" Through barter, you have a first-hand way of learning about that person or company as the direct receiving end.  Barter encourages more communication between the two parties in order to get to the right deal.  If all goes well, what you get out of it is a new trusted ally, a vendor and a trading partner.

COMMON TRADE
If you go into the home page of Craigslist, you'll see a large barter community trading everything from copper wire for hair services to office cleaning for dental insurance.  If I have something, chances are, someone out there has something I need and is willing to barter for it.  National leaders themselves barter all the time.  With the diminishing power of greenbacks + the rising national debt, governments are resorting to the barter system to acquire resources, services and labor.

BUILDING THE RIGHT BARTER RELATIONSHIP
With today's information access, it doesn't take long to learn about whom you are doing trade with.  So finding out who's got the right goods and who's got the public credentials to exchange with is a process just like any other shopping experience.  But a successful barter means knowing your products/services value for exchange + getting an idea what you are willing to give up to get "that" thing.  In the end, bartering means two (or more) parties getting something they never thought they could afford- and creating a bridge on top of that is always a plus!











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