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

These Business Models Are Awesome. You have to Watch.

Tom's Shoes has a simple business model. For each pair of shoes they sell they give a pair of shoes to a child in need. Apparently this model is simple and effective enough that some other people had to copy it.

Let It Burn and Move On

I came across an article on Fox News' website which I think describes the best way to ride out this financial crises. Glenn Beck compared the current economic melt down to a forest fire. Here are a couple of quotes from his article. He can be a little harsh but sometimes the truth hurts.

"The government is acting just like those stupid environmentalists who don't understand that forest fires are natural and are actually good for the soil."

"Letting the greedy, the corrupt and the downright stupid fail will replenish the soil of capitalism and give us the chance to rebuild the right way."

I just can't understand how our government can act the way they do. Will they just let it burn? No they won't, they can't. I don't think that the majority of Americans even understand our economy or our financial system well enough to know what to do. Nor would they have the slightest idea on what caused this mess. They are too busy blaming political parties and other nonsense that really has little to do with the issues at hand. Fundamentally or system is flawed. But what are the politicians going to do. They can't let all of those innocent and and not so innocent people burn along with the forest? No they couldn't the people wouldn't stand for it. And elite of the world (who are behind the majority of the mess) won't let it burn either.

To me these bailouts seem nothing more than welfare for the rich. The even sadder part about it all is that those in power say that is all to protect "main street". I guess when you have the stupid corrupt greedy people with all the money running the show (or at least pulling the string for those running the show) what else could you expect.

Well you can complain all you want, point fingers at the government, and write angry hateful posts on your blog all day long, but will it really won't help much. It won't "change" anything. So what do we do personally on a micro level? Well for starters you steer clear of the philosophies and methodologies that got us in this mess. A debt based financial system truly is like a house of cards, a big bubble ready to burst, a house build on a really sandy beach on the edge of a cliff. Here is a list of things I believe we can do to help our personally situations. Because I don't think that we can make much change on the macro level...well not true if everyone did the stuff on this list then you might see some change.

• Avoid debt like the plague- The "need it now mentality" and "play now, pay later" way of living just won't cut it anymore.
• Eliminate the wasteful activities- So much of what we do and so much of what we buy is pointless. We don't need those thing.
• Be a steward over your own finances and belongings- It is important to take care of what you have been given along with what you have earned.
• Budget- Don't let spending get out of control. Just by evaluating what you spent you will see an improvement in your bottom line.
• Be a producer not a consumer- Create a personal surplus of trade. Export more value that you consume.
• Educate you self continually- Make yourself more valuable. Make yourself more capable.
• Be Prepared-Ya I am an Eagle Scout. Look ahead and try to see what is coming and adapt.
• Be positive-I am tire of all the doom and gloom. Yes it is bad, but it does no good to be negative.

In the comments below give me some more ideas that we all can do to improve our personal financial situation. Tell me what you think about mine list of ideas.


Here is a link to the full article by Glenn Beck
Controlled Burn: Treat Financial Crisis Like Forest Fire

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time!?

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You

Well I saw this book on a couple of other blogs that I read which sparked my interest that it might have some substance. Looking down the list I recognize several books and I have even read a few of them. I am hoping that this book won't be a let down. At the very least it will turn me on to some different books to read that I otherwise would have never thought of reading.


BOOKS IN THE 100 BEST...

Red-I have read it.
Green- I have heard of it.

1. Flow by Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi
2. Getting Things Done by David Allen
3. The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
4. How to Be a Star at Work by Robert E. Kelley
5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
6. How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
7. Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey B. Mackay
8. The Power of Intuition by Gary Klein
9. What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson
10. Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss/Theodore Geisel
11. Chasing Daylight by Eugene O’Kell
12. On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
13. The Leadership Moment by Michael Useem
14. The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
15. Leadership Is an Art by Max De Pree
16. The Radical Leap by Steve Farber
17. Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will by Tichy and Sherman
18. Leading Change by John P. Kotter
19. Questions of Character by Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr.
20. The Story Factor by Annette Simmons
21. Never Give In! Speeches by Winston Churchill
22. In Search of Excellence by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
23. Good to Great by Jim Collins
24. The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
25. Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew S. Grove
26. Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? by Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
27. Discovering the Soul of Service by Leonard Berry
28. Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
29. Competing for the Future by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad
30. Influence by Robert B. Cialdini, PhD
31. Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout
32. A New Brand World by Scott Bedbury with Stephen Fenichell
33. Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith
34. Zag by Marty Neumeier
35. Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
36. Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
37. How to Become a Rainmaker by Jeffrey J. Fox
38. Why We Buy by Paco Underhill
39. The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
40. Purple Cow by Seth Godin
41. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
42. Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan
43. Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman and Joe Knight
44. The Balanced Scorecard by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton
45. The Essential Drucker by Peter Drucker
46. Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming
47. Toyota Production System by Taiichi Ohno
48. Reengineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy
49. The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
50. The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham
51. First, Break all the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
52. Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald CliftonThe
53. Knowing-Doing Gap by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton
54. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
55. Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono
56. Titan by Ron Chernow
57. My Years with General Motors by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.
58. The HP Way by David Packard
59. Personal History by Katharine Graham
60. Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon
61. Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton with John Huey
62. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
63. The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
64. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
65. The Republic of Tea by Mel Ziegler, Patricia Ziegler, and Bill Rosenzweig
66. The Partnership Charter by David Gage
67. Growing a Business by Paul Hawken
68. Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
69. The Monk and the Riddle Randy Komisar with Kent Lineback
70. McDonald’s: Behind the Arches by John F. Love
71. American Steel by Richard Preston
72. The Force by David Dorsey
73. The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
74. When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein
75. Moneyball by Michael Lewis
76. Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie
77. The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman
78. Jump Start Your Business Brain by Doug Hall
79. A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger Von Oech
80. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
81. The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
82. The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy
83. Out of Control by Kevin Kelly
84. The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida
85. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
86. Driven by Paul R. Lawrence and Nitin Nohria
87. To Engineer is Human by Henry Petroski
88. The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
89. Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
90. The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins
91. Up the Organization by Robert Townsend
92. Beyond the Core by Chris Zook
93. Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
94. What the CEO Wants You to Know by Ram Charan
95. The Team Handbook by Peter Scholtes, Brian Joiner, and Barbara Streibel
96. A Business and Its Belief by Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
97. Lucky or Smart? by Bo Peabody
98. The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman
99. Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko
100. More Than You Know by Michael J. Mauboussin

In a comment below list any of these books you have read and tell what you think about them.

Seth Godin's take on Thriving in a Down Economy

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.