The 7 Best Time Management Books Out There

Time management is a vital skill that one must learn to get the most out of life. Learning this skill is relatively easy as long as you know what you want in life and have the drive and passion to achieve it. To complement an individual’s fast-paced lifestyle, here are some of the best management books to learn from.The 7 Best Management Books:
Getting Things Done by David Allen: David Allen, a management expert, introduces his methodology on how to get things done in his book, Getting Things Done. His philosophy on time management is explained plainly in this book and, in fact, most of the present management methodologies are based on his management style.
Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Management by Mark Forster: Mark Forster is a well-known author and lecturer in the field of management. His book, Do It Tomorrow, shows his alternative views on time management. In this book, readers will find the seven management principles that Forster has developed for effective time management. Both novices and experts will find something worth noting in this book.
The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard: Ken Blanchard is a popular author of many management books. The One Minute Manager is the first book in the One Minute series that Blanchard has published. This book is very brief and only highlights a few key concepts for effective time management.
Putting The One Minute Manager to Work by Ken Blanchard: This book is another Blanchard work that helps the readers of the One Minute Manager apply the ideas in real life. In this book, the readers will learn how to work well with their team in a lighthearted but effective manner.
Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard: The Leadership and the One Minute Manager is another installment in Ken Blanchard’s One Minute series. In the abovementioned books, Blanchard has stressed the importance of management and effective teamwork and monitoring system to become productive. In this book, Blanchard focuses on how to develop the leader in an individual to be a good manager. This book is a good accompaniment for the abovementioned Blanchard masterpieces.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey: For seasoned readers of books about time management, this book is a classic. Stephen Covey’s philosophical approach on time management helps the readers have a clear viewpoint in life to determine their personal goals and achieve it. This book is a perfect life coach as well as a management guide.
The Now Habit by Neil Fiore: Neil Fiore has finally discovered the antidote for procrastination. In his book, The Now Habit, he introduces several effective techniques to overcome procrastination. These techniques and systems make management easy and fun so readers will enjoy applying these lessons in real life.These books about management are only some of the best in the market today. Whether a mentor or a learner, one can learn something useful from these books.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Commercial Marketing – The Greatest Fishing Sport There Is

According to scientists, humans have been fishing for over 40,000 years – and they do not appear to be letting up anytime soon. When speaking of the lure (pun intended) of fishing, whether it takes the form of commercial, sporting, or recreational – fishing enthusiasts the world over describe the thrill of the “hunt,” and the euphoria of the “catch.”Interestingly, I have heard nearly the same terminology used in the business world to describe the ever constant cycle of finding and acquiring new customers. If truth be told, I calculate that there is more “fishing” occurring in global business than in all other forms of fishing combined. Moreover, if we can compare business to the sport of fishing, then commercial marketing is the discipline of fishing, and marketing collateral becomes the gear.While not intended to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject, this article will focus on six of the fundamental questions a company should ask before creating new pieces of collateral or creating a new marketing campaign. It will also look at some of the common marketing mistakes companies make as they attempt to land the “big” one.Choosing the Right Gear1. Who is Your Audience?The most important thing to know when buying your fishing gear is what type of fish you want to catch. Are you going after salt water, lake, or river fish? The equipment you will need is dependent upon the answer to that question.One of the largest mistakes I see companies make in their marketing collateral is that they often seem confused as to who their audience is. Your message should be clear and compelling. That is hard to do when you don’t know to whom you are marketing. Are they an end user, a business, a reseller, or perhaps a specifier? The type of collateral and the message it contains should always be a clear reflection of that answer.Some may state that it doesn’t really matter all that much – the product or service remains the same, right? Well, some may also say that a fishing pole is a fishing pole and it doesn’t really matter which type you use. Any professional fisher will tell you that this just isn’t the case. The actual story (your product or service) may remain the same, but how you tell that story and what form that story takes should depend completely on whom you are telling.I spent years working with and making presentations to both architects and engineers. While my central message remained the same, I had to tailor that message to my listener because both groups were interested in different things. The architects were interested in the aesthetics and more of the big picture features. The engineers were much more interested in the details and the mechanics of the product.While some types of collateral may cross over multiple groups, such as a brochure or video, you should try and create multiple versions of the same collateral piece to target the particular type of recipient to whom you are reaching out. If this is too expensive, then you should always tailor the message to your largest, most valuable audience.Learning How to Use Your Gear2. What is your Call-to-Action?There are a lot of different pieces of equipment used in fishing. Before going out to the stream or lake, you should have a clear understanding that every component has a different purpose and not mistake the use of one device for that of another. Individuals often make this type of error. For example, job hunters often mistake the purpose of a resume as a tool to get a job. This is a complete fallacy. The purpose of a resume is to get an interview.Companies often make the same sort of blunders with their collateral. Just as a lure has a different use and objective than a hook, you should develop different kinds of collateral for all the various stages of the sale. Every brochure, ad, or campaign should have a clear and distinct purpose. Is the piece designed to get someone’s attention, build company credibility, provide product or service information, or perhaps a sales call Leave Behind? Sales personnel should also be trained on the various distinctions between the material and know when and where to use what.After you know what the objective of your marketing piece is, it becomes much easier to decide what your Call-to-Action should be. Once you have an individual’s attention, what do you want them to do after they have read, heard, or viewed your material? Do you ask for an appointment? Do you ask for an order? Don’t make them guess – tell them. Don’t get them all excited and then walk away. Every campaign or article should leave them with clear instructions on what they should do next. Perhaps you can’t compel a horse to drink once you’ve led it to water, but you would be remiss if you didn’t at least ask it to drink.Casting Your Line3. How Are You Delivering Your Message?Some novice fishers may wonder how far out they should cast their line; will the larger fish be further out or hidden in a hole closer to shore? In business, it is important to know how and where to deliver your message. The answer to this question largely depends on what your product or service is, and how large your business is.If your product or service is widely used, you may choose to cast your line way out there using global or national press releases, email blasts, and expansive social media campaigns. If your product or service is more of a niche market or industry vertical, you may have more success using a combination of internet, radio, television, email, or direct mailer campaigns that target a particular fishing hole such as specific geographical locations, companies, or individuals. For a standalone retailer, the hole may be as small as a particular town or even distinct neighborhoods. Market research goes a long way to identifying the holes that you should be fishing in.The size of your business is also important when considering how far you should cast your line. It is important to ensure that you can support your product or service in every location you market. You also need to be confident that your company can handle the amount of business you may generate. While it may seem like the whole point of the game is to bring in as much business as possible, you may not have the inside structural support and manufacturing to handle all of the sales. More than one company has collapsed in on itself because they did not have the infrastructure to handle their incoming sales volume. Your business, marketing, and sales should all grow together at a planned, even rate.Using the Right Lure4. What Sort of Impression Do You Want to Make?Different types of lures attract different types of fish. Using the wrong type of lure can make for a very long, fruitless fishing trip. Whether you like it or not, your marketing collateral can wordlessly make an impression that will either attract buyers or send them scurrying into the water’s depths.What sort of impression do you want to make on potential customers? First impressions are important and you need to know beforehand whether you want your product or service to be seen as dependable, fun, exciting, expensive, inexpensive, or whatever. Keep in mind that the images, colors, layout, music, and quality of materials you use will all tell a story – you just need to ensure that it is telling the right story.Besides the typical, “Hey, look at me over here” type of lures, another powerful lure your sales people should carry is the “credibility” lure. This sort of collateral can come in the form of case studies, images of past jobs, testimonials, etc. The use of these devices helps ensure the buyer that you can be trusted to deliver on what you are promising.One last thing to keep in mind, when it comes to marketing, the truth is not always as important to a buyer as their perceived truth. In other words, if it is true in their mind, there isn’t much you can do to change that. The more your marketing materials reflect the truth as they see it, the more success you’ll have. Now, I am not advocating false advertising or unethical practices. I am merely stating that you should use situations and terminology where with they are most familiar. For example, a widget may be called an “ABC Device” in the engineering world, but if your targeted clientele all think of this particular widget as an “XYZ Component,” then you should probably market it as an “XYZ Component” – regardless of what the engineers say. Yes, it may be semantics, but this can make a big difference as to whether someone will be attracted to your product or not.Using the Right Bait5. What Problem Do You Solve?Depending upon the type of fishing you’re doing, you may use cheese, worms, elaborate flies, or even smaller fish as bait. In marketing, it is important to make sure your intended clientele know which of their problems your product or service is going to solve.Too often in marketing, companies are scrupulous about listing all of their product’s incredible features, but then they rely on the potential customer to build the bridge in their own mind as to which of their problems that feature is going to solve. Your marketing materials should build that bridge for them. In other words, Product, Feature, Benefit; “Our product is ‘A,’ therefore you should enjoy ‘B.’”Along these same lines, it may not be enough to share with someone how your product has solved a similar problem in a different market – they want to know how your product is going to solve their problem in their market. This situation is where vertical specific marketing material is hugely beneficial.Hooking Your Fish6. Does It Evoke the Desired Emotion?We have all heard the saying that “People buy emotionally and defend their decisions logically”. Well, it’s true, and if your marketing doesn’t stir any emotion, most of those large fish are going to get away.If we are honest, we must admit that a portion of that excitement is generated by a sales person, but not every company is fishing with live bait; some rely almost entirely on their marketing materials. Even if you do employ sales people, why should they have to do all the work? They should have professional tools at their disposal to assist them in their efforts.One of the pitfalls I see many companies fall into (especially those with technical products) is their marketing materials only show the product. There is a place for this in some pieces such as specification sheets, but people have to understand that most individuals are not moved to emotion by an image of an inanimate object. Your marketing materials should include people either a) Needing your product or service, or b) Enjoying the benefits of your product or service.What if a potential buyer is unable to make a decision at the time of the sales presentation, or perhaps they are not the only decision maker? Your sales professional’s presentation may have generated all the needed emotion for the potential buyer to want to say “yes,” but if they are unable to move forward immediately, you cannot expect that emotion to remain indefinitely. They will settle back down and start thinking about all the reasons why they shouldn’t buy. Alternatively, they will talk to the other decision maker, and because they are not as skilled a presenter or as knowledgeable about the product as your sales person, they will not be able to generate the same level of emotion in their counterpart as they initially experienced themselves and they will decide to pass. This reaction is the reason it is so important to have a good Leave Behind, a video or brochure that can remind the potential buyer of all of the important highlights of the sales presentation. This material will allow them to get excited all over again while remembering all of the relevant facts when sharing the information with others.To conclude this section, just remember – If they feel nothing, they buy nothing.Packing Up and Heading Home With Your CatchConclusion and SummaryOnce again, this article was not meant to be an in-depth discussion on all the salient points of commercial marketing and marketing collateral. Instead, it was designed to focus on some of the fundamental questions a company should ask before creating a new piece of collateral or creating a new marketing campaign. Those questions are:1. Who is Your Audience?2. What is your Call-to-Action?3. How Are You Delivering Your Message?4. What Sort of Impression Do You Want to Make?5. What Problem Do You Solve?6. Does It Evoke the Desired Emotion?Like fishing, commercial marketing can be very challenging. It can also be an exhilarating and rewarding sport. I wish all those who read this article – Sunny Days, and Good Fishing!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Home Based Business: The Mindset Story

You are searching the internet for the right home based business that will make you much money, your head is buzzing with excitement, you feel like this will be your answer to all your problems. You will be able to buy that car or house you have always dreamed about, but most of all you will have money in your pocket and plenty of it. That’s positive mindset.So why do you feel like that? It’s a great feeling I know. Well, when you start reading these home based business websites sales copy or even the emails that you received, it all seems so simple to do. The promise of making mega dollars a month, the promise of someone will show you how it’s all done once you join their business opportunity. What can go wrong? It’s all being offered to you on a plate, all you have to do is pay a signing on fee and the money will start to roll in. Your head is full of things that you will be able to do once it all starts working you have no doubt this is it.Now that you have joined your home based business opportunity, you have received a welcoming email explaining what you should do next and how to get going. You log into your back office of your new business and start reading the start up procedures, you are told to watch the training videos and take notes. You are still feeling great but not as good as you were when you were searching for your new home based business. Your mindset is starting to fade a little, but you are still positive.It’s been a month since you started your new home based business and you are starting to get confused with what to do next. Your head is all over the place, what’s happening is you are now going into information overload, you have been reading and watching so many videos on how to build you home business, and now you are not sure what to do next. Your mindset is now changing from positive to neutral, but you still keep going.It’s now 3 months on since starting your home based business, to date you have not made one penny from your business, you have been spending money on joining other sites that make claims that you will need their product to help grow your business, so what gone wrong? your mindset is falling off now to negative, you start to think you have made a very big mistake in joining this home based business.Most people when joining a home based business opportunity don’t do any research into the opportunity, they automatically believe it’s that simple to make a living online. Then when they realize it’s not what they thought, they start to go down hill, and one of the first things they say is I have been scammed. So now they have gone from being totally positive to totally negative, there mindset has fallen.The people that succeed in their home based business are the one’s that research first, then get some form of coaching or training, that will give them the basics of how to run any business, they find a good sponsor, someone who has a good reputation, one who is always ready to help and point them in the right direction. These people keep that positive mindset and normally go on to be very successful.Conclusion: To keep that positive mindset, before you jump into any business be it online or offline, do your research first, find out what is required of you, will you have to invest anymore money in your business? Take your time, don’t rush, then research what form of coaching or training is required for your home based business. I am sure that if you take your time and don’t rush into things you will have all the success you desire with your home based business.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off