Building and Growing a Business- Stephen Pierce

I have been trying to learn about internet marketing and doing business online for a little while now. Believe me there is a lot of crap out there. But this guy, Stephen Pierce seems to be the real deal. There is some good solid advice here on improving your sales process and growing your business.

I made some notes as I listened to this rather lengthy video(well over and hour). I will post them below. I don't know how long this link will work, but I thought it was a very good presentation. I can appreciate good solid, grounded advice as apposed to a lot of the overly hyped and exaggerated stuff you will find.(especially in the world of internet marketing)

My notes:

The 7 Figure Code

Nothing moves without a sale

* markets
* customers
* processes
* infrastructure
* offers
* metrics


Sales Process- Value is created in the journey through the sales process

* Value is what people are willing to take action to get and willing to take action to keep.
* The sale process is the profit nervous system of your business


What does your sales process look like?
You have to understand what everyone goes through as they move through your sales process

7 steps to 7 Figure Sale Process

1. Set your sales goals
2. Map your sales process
3. Set objectives for key value points
4. Measure key value points
5. Identify critical vulnerabilities
6. Select your focus of effort
7. Decide on and Activate Main Effort

Vince Lombardy- If you are not keeping score you are just practicing. (metrics, numbers, accounting for business)

Don't do what you can't measure.

Only automate something that is already working (making you money)

If you try to be strong everywhere you will be strong nowhere.

Three things you need to have success in anything.

* Focus
* consistency
* patience

How to Increase Fuel Ecconmy by 1000% Only Changing Your Driving Habits

A while back I read an article on how a Ford Fusion Hybrid pedaled its way to 1,445 miles on a single tank. There is a lot people can do by simply changing the way they drive. I don't really know how to figure the exact savings or the reduction in environmental impact. However I can make up a figure that is surely to get some attention like.... 1000%! If I had to give a realistic estimate I would say that it is more like 1% or 2%. Those numbers might seem small but if every one did it...it adds up to a crap load of savings. There are other benefits to changing your driving habits. I took the list of suggestions from that article and noted the additional advantages to the fuel savings.

• Slowing down and maintaining even throttle pressure- You have to remember that the faster you go, the more air resistance there is and more energy is required to maintain that speed. Slower speeds would also mean safer driving and fewer fatalities on the road. At slower speed you have more time to react. Even throttle pressure would mean that the jerk that always speeds up just are you are about to pass would now be more concerned about saving gas with even throttle pressure than not pissing you off.
  
• Gradually accelerating and smoothly braking- Have you ever rode with a driver that slams on the accelerator and only lets off to slam down on the brake only for a moment then quick back on the gas? Not only is it annoying, it reaps havoc your neck and fuel consumption.
  
• Maintaining a safe distance between vehicles and anticipating traffic conditions- Just think how pleasant the roads would be if everyone did this one. Fewer wrecks and less middle finger usage. On the down side, it might be more difficult to read stupid vanity plates and lame bumper stickers.
  
• Coasting up to red lights and stop signs to avoid fuel waste and brake wear- Your brakes will last longer and so will your tires. People are in such a hurry these days they race to lights just to wait and then romp on the gas to beat the guy next to them off the line to cut in front. Driving would be a much more pleasant experience if we could all change the way we drive.
  
• Minimize use of heater and air conditioning to reduce the load on the engine- Ok this one kind of sucks. I don't know if I am willing to save a little gas for not sweating by butt off.
  
• Close windows at high speeds to reduce aerodynamic drag- Around town roll down the windows and turn off the AC and on the freeway roll 'em up and turn on the AC as needed.
  
• Applying the "Pulse and Glide" technique while maintaining the flow of traffic- Your "pulses" should be nice and smooth. Slowly on and slowly off, maintaining even throttle pressure.
  
• Minimize excessive engine workload by using the vehicle's kinetic forward motion to climb hills, and use downhill momentum to build speed- Using gravity to gain speed and forward motion to help you up hills you can save on gas.
  
• Avoiding bumps and potholes that can reduce momentum- This will also reduce wear on the suspension and your ear drums. The passengers will no long have anything to yell at you for.

In the comments let me know what you think. Are willing to change the way you drive for a little fuel savings and a safer ride?

The Value of Time

Most likely your boss pays you an hourly wage or salary per year. You are providing your employer with your time in exchange he/she gives you a nice fat paycheck. You give your boss your time and he gives you money in return. If you think about it, time is the only commodity that anyone has to offer. It is also the only thing that can be used to create something of value. You can give someone a product or service, however I would argue that it is impossible to have them without using some of your time.

Why do some receive more money for their time? Its simple they choose to make their time more valuable. The activities that we chose to fill our time with determine the price per unit of time. Just like with any other commodity value correlates with its usefulness. Gold can be made into jewelry, oil can be used for energy, cows are delicious to eat and so on.

You have to fill your time with useful tasks if you want more compensation for your time. Educating yourself increases your ability to accomplish more in a given period of time. Education also enables you do preform work that very few others can. The more you fill your head with valuable information the more desirable your time becomes. Is there really anyone out there willing to pay a lot of money for someone's time because he has "mad Halo 3 skills." I certainly hope not that would be pretty lame if they did. But you will find that someone who can preform open heart surgery can demand a high price for their time. Those that need some of his precious time will pay that high price.

I guess the message that I am trying to convey is that we are all given a finite amount of time on this earth. We all have the choice and freedom to do as we please with this precious time. If we don't see the value of this limited resource then no one else will either. If you personally don't have any problem wasting your time then it is most likely its not worth much. Making the decision to eliminate the waste in you life and using that time towards value adding activities can be quite rewarding.

ACTION ITEM: If there is anyone out there that actually took the time to read this post then please take the time to leave a comment on something that you or others can change to increase the value of time. Whether it is eliminating a certain wasteful activity or changing to something more productive. I think that this would be a good use of your time.

Family Finance Tools

I was recently looking on a investing website and noticed as I was browsing around that there was a family finance section. There was only about 6 articles it was sad to see that that 2 were about prenups and one was about your finances during a divorce. Why do these topics seem to be such a big part of family financial education? I have heard before that money is one of the biggest things that cause marital problems, but I have never really thought that working to secure our finances would be a vital part on me and Sylvia's relationship.

As the head of my household I have felt the need to secure our finances more firmly as we move into 2009. Thankfully my beautiful wife has made this an easy transition she has been clipping coupons, shopping for deals on the things we need, and cooking meals everyday. Looking at the numbers this month we have done a good job of reducing our expenses. I am sure a lot of others are taking similar actions.

I am a system kinda of guy. I like to have everything running like a finely tune watch. I don't mind getting things set up if system is fairly easy to maintain. I had a friend recommend some online tools for personal or family finances that I think are pretty sweet for guys like me.

Mint.com is a personal finance web application that can aggregate banking information from all you accounts (including investments i.e. 401k) and automatically categorize your transactions. Sometimes it will not put everything in the right category but you can change the category, label, and setup "rules" so that your regular transactions always import under the right category. You are able to easily see all of your liabilities and net worth.

One of the cool features allows you to compare your spending to the regional or nation averages in that category. It will also show you a pie chart of your expenses over a given period of time. This makes it really easy to see where you money is going. You can click on each section of the pie and it will create another pie chart of only that category divided into vendors. After a few months a data collecting you are able to see some trends in your spending habits and make the appropriate adjustments for financial freedom.

My friend also recommended signing up for an account with ING Direct which is an online bank. It free and the interest rates are a bit higher than average, but thing that I like about it is you are able to setup automatic withdraws from one of your "brick and morter" banks. This makes it very easy to pay yourself first and save your money automatically. You don't have to think about it every time you get paid. You just sit back and watch your savings grow.

In order to have an ING account you have to have a another bank account with a traditional financial center. I don't really think that this is a disadvantage because your ING account be comes your savings not your checking. What I mean is that it is separate and for some reason if it is not part of the funds that I use day to day then I am not tempted to use it.

Another thing that I like about the ING Saving it that you can setup as many accounts as you want and call them whatever. I made one call "boat". I've got a very small amount going into that account automatically, so someday I will be able to waste my money on something totally impractical.