Maxspirit333's Blog

Know what you don’t know.

maxspirit333 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:37:21 +0000

Look, the thing is you don’t NEED to be able to do everything. That seems to be the most fundamental challenge my Entrepreneurial clients face. They think they NEED to be able to do everything and they think knowing everything about everything makes them better at what they do. But the truth is to best serve and grow your business; you need to learn how to delegate. Allow yourself the luxury of being an expert at what YOU do and attract the expertise of those who know what you don’t know! There is an old cliché, “The wise person knows they know nothing. Only the fool thinks he/she knows it all.” Or something like that.
For instance, when it comes to marketing accept the fact that you might not know everything. There is a lot that goes into the craft of marketing your business. There is a lot of nuance in the art of marketing and you can’t be expected to be an expert marketing person as that is a full time focus. As a matter of fact, if you aren’t a Marketing Professional by trade you probably don’t know what you need to know about marketing to be successful doing it. So, why is that a bad thing? Marketing professionals aren’t expert Widget makers either. In the case of raising a business from the ground up, it’s much like raising a child… “It takes a Village”.
Marketing your business takes a great amount of strategy coupled with a huge amount of tactical plans. Each strategic plan and tactical plan is specific to the particular business for which the plans are being written. And each plan is based on years of marketing experience to create the exactly perfect marketing plan for your specific business at this specific juncture in this development and your specific market share and client base. I think of Marketing as a scientific art of sorts.
So my point is to remind everyone who is an entrepreneur that you need to bring in appropriate experts for what you don’t know in order to succeed. I am sure you would agree there is nothing more frustrating than meeting someone who swears they can make a widget, when you know for a fact they have no idea what really goes into making widgets. Whether it’s a marketing person or an accounting person or a legal person… build to YOUR strengths and reach out to the strengths you NEED to borrow from others. In the end, your business will THRIVE for it.

Trust your Spidey Senses

maxspirit333 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:24:11 +0000

You know… it amazes me that so many people are completely not aware of their own bodies… I don’t mean from a vanity perspective. Geez, there is no shortage of vanity or insecurity about the way we LOOK in this society. I am talking about a different awareness. Being aware of when your body talks to you. We are given an incredible ability to “sense” things around us, but more often than not people are oblivious to their “Spidey Senses.

How many times have you said to yourself… “wow, I didn’t think (insert name here) was like that”. or “Gee, I didn’t expect (insert situation here) to happen”. Call them your Spidey senses, or intuition… I don’t care, but we all have them. People in life who are most successful, people who tend to surround themselves with good people and strong teams and who tend to “lead the pack” will all tell you they swear by their instincts… their intuition. Their Spidey Senses.

I see people every day walking the streets with their heads down. They avoid eye contact when interacting with people they don’t know. They dismiss people left and right and just power through their day avoiding any connection that isn’t familiar. It’s incredible to be me how we live INSIDE our own heads and then wonder why we “never saw it coming”. Or wonder how we “missed the boat”. Those BOATS are sailing in the eyes of the strangers you are afraid to connect with. The adventures of your life reside in the world around you that you so skillfully avoid or dismiss.

And lets not forget that tingle you get when someone is lying to you. How many times are you going to kick yourself for “NOT KNOWING” they were lying even though your BODY told you they were. The hair on your arms stood up… there was something “strange” about the way you felt… these signals are your instincts telling you to beware. Its real… they ARE lying to you. And no matter how skilled a liar they might be… the only reason they are able to get away with it and MAKE you believe they aren’t lying is because you refuse to listen to your body’s instincts. When you meet someone, personal or professional, trust your 1st impression. On the other hand… first you have to pull your head out of your (fill in the expletive here) and connect with that person so you can engage your instincts.

You have to stop thumping through your life without getting outside your own head. WAKE UP… Make eye contact… consider a stranger before you dismiss them… connect with people and engage your instincts!

TRUST YOUR SPIDEY SENSES.

What makes us relevant?

maxspirit333 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:36:05 +0000

There are so many people trying so hard to stay “in front of the crowd” They want, dare I say need, to stay a step ahead, to be a little better, a little smarter, a little faster… all in the name of the competitive edge. All in the name of success.

Okay, well, that seems fair enough. It’s not gonna be the guy who is twiddling his thumbs that gets the most business or the most attention. It’s gonna be the guy who goes the extra mile, climbs the extra mountain, or whatever annoying cliche you can insert into this point. That has been proven time and again… work harder, work smarter… be more successful.

So, if we all agree on this particular (cliche layden) premise, why then, during the times that are MOST critical… during the times when people are far more particular about where and how they spend their money, do so many successful companies simply STOP doing the things that keeps them RELEVANT? Why do smart people make really dumb decisions in the face of financial challenges?

Now is the time to be the MOST relevant. Now is the time to be the MOST available and the most necessary. When people are being MOST particular about where to spend their carefully guarded money… NOW is the time to reflect the most confidence, the most creditability and the most security.

Take a stand, dig your heels in, insert strong assertive cliche here! That is how you get the respect and attention you need. BE relevant to your customers… spend more time TEACHING them what they need to know so they see YOU as the expert. Spend more time HELPING them so they see you as the “go to guy”. Spend more time understanding exactly what they NEED and what they WANT and become that for them. And for goodness sake, spend more time promoting yourself and marketing yourself so people KNOW you are out there and KNOW you are doing well. Don’t shrink into the corner… stay front and center through this… STAY RELEVANT.