That’s why I put together some time-tested and proven tips and strategies designed to give you a big boost in growing your business.  I think you’ll find a lot of value from the quick-read ideas presented in “Profit-Rich Marketing: Proven Strategies to Help You Grow Your Business,” which are designed for easy implementation.

The practical marketing approach and proven strategies will help you to:

• Create the Marketing Mindset
• Create Explosive Growth in Your Business
• Utilize Marketing Secrets of the Masters
• Measure Marketing Success
• Design Profit-Rich Marketing Materials
• Write Copy Like the Pros
• Build Your Online Money Machine
• Drive Targeted Traffic
• Use Blog Marketing to Build Your Business
• Monetize Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

Get more details on my “Profit-Rich Marketing: Proven Strategies to Help You Grow Your Business” and leave us a comment to let us know some of the ways you’d like to improve your business.

If you’re a goal-setter and a planner, you’ve already made great progress on your list of New Year’s Resolutions.  If you’re like most people, you may create the goal list, but struggle with the strategy and action steps to reach them.

A friend of mine recently released a book titled “Clarity.”  Written by Bob Bohlen, a man who’s achieved so much success in his life; it makes you wonder if there are super humans living among us.  Bob doesn’t claim to have extraordinary abilities; he’s simply found a plan that works, and he works that plan every day.

His book is a 30-day foolproof guide to getting what you want from life.  Like the rest of us, you probably have several books promising to do the same, collecting dust on a shelf.   This book will change your life and get you results, if you follow Bob’s simple Life Lessons.  But don’t take my word for it, get your copy from his website at www.Rbohlen.com

I’d also love to hear about the hardest lesson you’ve learned about growing your business.  What have you done that did or didn’t work? Leave your comments below:

I’ve been a cyclist for many years.  As a CAT 3 cyclist, I’ve logged thousands of hours, mostly from show and go training rides, where people show up at a specific location and go for a pack bike ride.

The unique thing about cycling in a pack is that the speed of the pack is always determined by the leaders.  The rest do their part in the pace line or just suck wheel, which means they stay at the back and draft, saving up to 30% of their energy.  In a race, it makes total sense to conserve your energy to sprint for the finish line. In business, however, drafting (or coasting) leads to bankruptcy.

Are you drafting or leading in your business or career?

Are you someone who looks for short-cuts and the easy way out, or are you committed to improving your personal and professional life?  Don’t get me wrong, process improvements and efficiency aren’t what I call short cuts. Those are positive improvements.  What I’m referring to is personal accountability.   There’s a saying, “The true character of a person cannot be measured by what they say, but by what they do when nobody is looking.”   How true.

As 2010 comes to an end and you plan your new year, ask yourself the tough questions related to what you want to change and what you’re willing to do to achieve those outcomes.   Are you going to be a leader and be in control of the pace or draft, expecting others to pick up the load for you?

What prompted this blog post was a conversation I had with a friend of mine, Rory Vaden.  Rory is a keynote speaker who’s brand is focused around the concept of “Taking the Stairs.”  In short, his message is about self-discipline and what it takes daily to re-commit to our dreams and goals.  It includes three main areas… Focus, Sacrifice, and Action, with a metaphor between escalator mentality vs. stair mentality.  The point is that you have to improve your self-discipline and actions if you really want to reach your goals.

Now as simply profound as that may be… society conditions us to do the exact opposite.  Fast food, instant gratification, maxing out credit, entitlement mentality, and lack of consciousness have all contributed to create the disaster facing our economy.   

As a business leader, finding and retaining great employees has been a challenge.  Especially with the generation gap between GEN X/Y and Millennials.  I don’t understand the “everyone gets a trophy” concept.  How can you create and inspire great leadership when no one is accountable?  If you have employees who are drafting, it’s time to encourage them to lead or free them up for new opportunities.

Time to get off my soap box.

I want you to think about 2010 and the progress you made or didn’t make this year.  Did you get what you wanted? Did you achieve prosperity and your dreams… or at least some of them?  If not, why?  What are you waiting for?  How much time do you think you have left on this planet?  Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to anyone so quit drafting, pull out of the pack, and become a leader for your own personal and professional success.

How do you improve your self-discipline and actions to reach your goals?  Leave your comments below.

So what does this have to do with marketing and making more money? Plenty. Often clients will tell me that a certain form of marketing, say direct-mail postcards, doesn’t work for them. It’s not the marketing method that doesn’t work, it’s the application of the method combined with a benefit message to a target market. Their expectations and beliefs can influence the results. They focus on their preconceived beliefs.

People see what they want to see.

Don’t believe me? Just check out this short video clip about awareness.

In marketing it’s your job to communicate the value of your products and services. To do that effectively and profitably requires 100% belief and the ability to help your prospects focus on what you want them to see. It’s the same with web design, print design and copywriting. Over the past 25 years I’ve worked with many talented graphic designers. In each case or project, I have to help guide them not to lose the message in the creative design. The message is my focus, the design is their focus. It’s a delicate balance, and when we get it right, everybody wins — including the client and the prospects.

What about you? Did you see the dancing bear in the video?

I missed it the first time since I was focused on counting the number of passes the team in white was making. The awareness video was about awareness for cyclists, but it also is a good example that when you focus your attention, you block out other options. That’s a powerful concept that when applied positively to your marketing and sales will help you increase your results.

If you focus on creating positive results, track your efforts and make the proper adjustments you’re guaranteed to improve. The same goes for negativity. Focus on your problems, weaknesses, or limitations, and they expand.

Prosperity consciousness can be developed. As a gift and thank you for reading my blog, you can download a free prosperity book from Randy Gage. It’s called “Accept Your Abundance ” and it’s free.

Action Items:

1. Watch the video on awareness in this blog posting

2. Download and read the FREE book: Accept Your Abundance” by Randy Gage

3. Subscribe to the e-zine and RSS feed in the right column

4. Post your comments

I’d love to hear what you think. It’s easy, just enter them below. Thank you.