LO, MONEY IS PLENTIFUL FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND THE SIMPLE RULES OF ITS ACQUISITION.
The rules are as follows:
Michael E. Gerber is an entrepreneur, business guru and the bestselling author of five books, including his latest, E-Myth Mastery.
Gerber’s awesome metaphor of the mountain hits especially close to home for entrepreneurs. “Nobody ever climbs the mountain and returns to the valley,” he declares. It’s hard to get to the top of the mountain, see the view, relish how that sense of accomplishment feels, then forget it all. Once you’ve lived on the mountain there’s no possible way of going back to anything else, as you know that nothing else will make you happy.
We were born to climb, all 6 billion people on this planet. However, the majority of us get settled in the valley and never leave. We warn our children about the mountain because people go there and they don’t come back.
Of course, we all know that the mountain is a metaphor, an expression of understanding one concept in terms of another concept. It’s about awakening the entrepreneur within you. The mountain versus the valley is about one’s willingness to participate in life’s climb. As business people we face this climb every day. How you climb and for some, if you climb at all, will determine your outcome.
Gerber challenges us to come to the mountain where crazy people live. Join us on this crazy journey to the top of the mountain! We promise you you’ll never return to the valley.
Taken from How The Best Get Better by Dan Sullivan.
All human beings spend their following lives in the following zones of activity: incompetence, competence, excellence and unique ability. The success or failure of an individual’s life depends upon how much time that person spends in each of these zones. Unsuccessful people spend most of their lives in the zone of Incompetence. Successful individuals spend most of their lives in the zones of competence and excellence. And geniuses—those who achieve extraordinary results during their lives—spend almost all of their lives in the zone of unique ability.
There are different forms of genius. When most people hear the word genius, they think of IQ—which measure genius in logical reasoning. However, there are many other forms of genius that are not measured by IQ: spatial, musical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, improvisational, and others. In the 21st century, one of the most powerful forms of genius will be entrepreneurial genius—the ability to create value in the form of new products and services. All forms of genius depend upon the total focus of products and services. Anyone who identifies his or her zone of Unique Ability, and then spends ten years of concentrated effort within that zone, will begin to think, communicate, and perform in ways that other people see as genius.
Unfortunate childhood lessons must be overcome. Many individuals are never able to identity their zone of unique ability, let alone concentrate on it, because they are trapped by childhood training. They learned that the secret to success in life is to work on your weakness. Unfortunately, focusing on one’s weaknesses usually leads to a preoccupation with mediocre behavior, performance, and results. Focusing on one’s weaknesses leads to a constant struggle with oneself throughout life—accompanied by a sense of deficiency, failure and guilt. In this lifelong pursuit to remedy weaknesses, most individuals completely neglect their inherent areas of Unique Ability. As a result, their lives are filled with a sense of frustration, wasted potential, and missed opportunity.
Focus on uniqueness; delegate everything else. The best entrepreneurs in the world have discovered that the key to success is to focus totally on areas where you exhibit Incompetence, competence, or even excellence. Delegate this work to those who have a unique ability in those areas. Unique ability activities are those that we absolutely love doing, that give us more energy than they consume, and that continue to produce greater levels of skill and better results in relation to the amount of time we invest. When we are in our unique ability zone, we experience constant growth, increasing confidence, and an ability to innovate solutions. Additionally, we experience a sense of simplicity, clarity, and serenity, which deeps in relation to the amount of time we spend in the zone.
Leading with your unique ability leads to genius teamwork. The unique ability encourages and forces us to delegate everything else in our lives to individuals who have strengths where we have weaknesses. In this process, the unique talents of other individuals are brought to the forefront—and those individuals are encouraged to go through the same process of delegation. What gradually develops is not only teamwork, but unique ability teamwork in which each individual is able to spend the major part of his or her lifetime creating value for others using their unique ability.
If you want to experience real growth with your business, you must become the Master of the Moment. What exactly does that mean? Who is the Master of the Moment? In a nutshell, the Master of the Moment is the business who is standing there the moment a consumer decides to make a purchase. To explain this is better, let’s look at three basic marketing principles you should already know:
People Buy When They Are Ready To Buy
People don’t take the time to stop and buy because when the opportunity arises they don’t need it. (Or at least they don’t think they do). In other words they don’t buy because they’re not ready to buy.
Let’s experiment with this marketing philosophy for just a minute. Think of the last nig purchase you made either professionally or personally. To make this exercise effective, think of a product or service you paid at least a $1,000 for.
Okay, why did you make your purchase? Did you do it because someone followed you around and practically forced you to buy? (If the answer is yes, be sure to give me a call because I have something to sell you, too!)
Did you buy because the deal was just too good to pass up? Did you buy because you had a bunch of extra cash lying around?
Probably not. Most likely you bought only after the thought of this product or service entered your head. Maybe your neighbor or friend made a purchase that you admired. You probably imagined yourself getting the same product or service. Then…you started paying attention to how often you saw this product or service. You might have looked it up online. You probably discussed it with friends and family. And finally, once your thoughts were consumed with making a purchase, you acted.
In other words, it was a slow process that led you to your decision to buy. (Unless of course you’re an impulse buyer. And if that’s the case…I’ve got all kinds of things for sale!)
But for most people purchases are the result of a natural progression. People don’t wake up one morning and think, “Oh gosh, I think I’ll buy an expensive product or service today.” The benefit of letting our minds wrap around an idea first is that, as a consumer, you make better, more informed decisions.
Now as a small business owner, this can’t possibly work to your advantage, right? You need people to buy, and you need them to buy now. Which is why most businesses focus solely on the “hot” prospects.
But just because a prospect doesn’t buy at this precise moment doesn’t mean it’s a loss for you and your company. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. Because people take their time making up their minds to buy, you’re in a position of competitive power.
I’ll show you how in a minute, but first let’s move on to the next marketing philosophy.
People Like to Buy But They Don’t Like to Be Sold To
Obviously people like buying things. We wouldn’t have much of an economy if they didn’t. but you know how irritating it is to be “forced” into a sale.
There’s a reason car dealerships have a bad reputation. When salespeople are working on commission, they need a sale and they need it now. And they will do everything they legally can to make the sale.
But what does that do to your customers and prospects? Those who are “pushed” into a sale might buy now, but more than likely they will not become a repeat buyer. They’re going to feel tricked and a little bit ridiculous for becoming your “victim.”
Well, if you were only concerned about the here and now, employing pushy sales tactics might work for you. But you’re not. Your goal is to GROW your business. And in order to do that you must get the most value you can out of all your customers and prospects. You can’t run the risk of alienating those that buy from you. Which, of course, leads to:
And you, as the small business owner, don’t have time to deal with issues like these.
Let people buy on their own terms. Help them come to their buying decision. Don’t force them into it. Every purchase should be a happy one. In a moment, I’ll show you how that can be. But let’s address the last marketing principle before we move on.
People Buy From Those They Like and Trust
There was one specific example in the Robert Jenkins story that demonstrated the importance of relationships. Plain and simple, we enjoy buying from pleasant, personable people. I have often heard of purchases being made simply because the prospect liked the salesperson. It may not be a wise decision. They may have no intention of making a purchase, but they do it because they connected with someone.
Never underestimate the value of building sold relationships. It is your relationships that drive sales and repeat sales and help you grow your business.
How The Best Get Better is an evolving focusing system of concepts and strategies that will enable any entrepreneurially-minded individual to acquire the capabilities—and achieve the results—of the very best entrepreneurs.
As we face the changes of a new world order in business, we realize that not only is it important to break through the ceiling of complexity but it is absolutely necessary for the survival of our business.
Breaking through the level of complexity will lead to increased productivity, opportunities and business. So what is the ceiling of complexity? How do we explain it best?
All the growth in a person’s life occurs in stages. Within each stage, the individual comes to a point where it is not possible to base further growth upon his or her existing knowledge and skills: The individual has reached a Ceiling of Complexity. Sometimes this ceiling is permanent, which is why many people fail to grow beyond a particular stage of development.
A new state of simplicity is required. No further progress is possible because the existing stage of growth is filled with the complexity of experience—the messes, stuff, details, complications, conflicts, and contradictions that come from doing things a certain way for a long time. One thing immediately becomes clear: Working harder and longer in the existing stage no longer works; in fact, it becomes counterproductive.
A new set of concepts and strategies is needed to achieve a new state of simplicity. It is this new simplicity of thinking, communicating and performing that enables an individual to break through the ceiling. When we choose the future over the past, we enter a new stage of individual growth. We break through the ceiling.
The ceiling of complexity is a fact of life for everyone, everywhere. Individuals, groups, organizations, industries, and countries all run into the ceiling of complexity. Global society is running into ceilings—overpopulation, starvation, pollution, terrorism. All current stages of growth in all areas of human activity eventually coalesce into new ceilings.
Learning how to break through the ceiling of complexity, therefore, is perhaps the most important life skill that any individual can develop.
Taken from How The Best Get Better by Dan Sullivan.
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