Bruce Turkel's Blog
Putting the UNITY in COMMUNITY.
It's time to celebrate putting the unity in community. And so, on Tuesday, December 13 at one PM EST, we're going to host a reunion. Everyone who's joined us over the past couple years and found the tools, guidance, resources, encouragement and relationships they needed to pursue their goals is invited to get together and tell us all all about it.
Living for the Weekend – The 3Ps
I hate to preach, but if we're just living for the weekend, we're living for less than a third of our lives. I'm not one to spout that old-hackneyed saying “if you make a living doing something you love, you'll never work a day in your life.” But I do think there's an answer. Part of it is called The 3Ps. The other part was inscribed by the ancient Greeks on the Temple of Apollo almost 2,500 years ago…
Are You Answering the Question Nobody's Asking?
Branding is about understanding and presenting a clearly defined position. It's about clarity. It's about knowing yourself and your client and understanding where you can best solve their problems and meet their needs. It's about being careful not to be answering the question nobody's asking.
That clarity is critical to focus entrepreneurial energy, secure investment, motivate and retain employees, and successfully deliver concepts to the market.
Knowledge is Power. Really?
Knowledge is power, but if that knowledge is based on bad information, how powerful can it be? Sadly, bad information is available everywhere you look – popular culture, politicians, social media, and “MFTP.” People who we believe have our best interests at heart and would only share good information don't always live up to our expectations. By improving the quality of the information you use to make decisions, can you make better decisions. And by making better decisions, you can make a better business, better relationships, better investments, and a better life.
The Power of Referrals.
Marketer Dean Jackson says this about the power of referrals: “a referral serves the referrer as much as it serves as the beneficiary.” He calls that feeling “the social reward of referring.”
Here are a few proven ways to generate referrals and recognize their graciousness and generosity.
Repetition and Learning.
Neuropsychology proves that repetition and learning is the simple secret to success. And it's so easy to do it's almost hard to believe.
What Time Is It Really?
…Ali rolled her eyes so hard I'm surprised she didn't keel over. “Dad…” she said slowly with a world-weariness that belied her age, “…have you ever done a jr. high school science project… with you?” Once again my daughter reminded me that our actions have consequences, whether we think anyone is watching us or not.
Actions Have Consequences
…Ali rolled her eyes so hard I'm surprised she didn't keel over. “Dad…” she said slowly with a world-weariness that belied her age, “…have you ever done a jr. high school science project… with you?” Once again my daughter reminded me that our actions have consequences, whether we think anyone is watching us or not.
Using Your Best Gifts at Their Highest Value.
Are you a people-person or more comfortable one-on-one? Are you a speaker or does that notion terrify you? Can you write? Can you fight? Can you lead? Some people are natural motivators, natural leaders, others simply are not. Those talents are gifts, and they are parceled out unequally at birth.
Using your best gifts is, in a way, like being your true self.
It just plain feels good and makes you more effective and happier.
The great key to happiness in life is using your best gifts at the highest end you can.
How to Overcome Sales Objections.
It's difficult to really understand lost opportunity cost. After all, how do you know what you missed out on if you don't do it?
Choices are like that. Just like Robert Frost's Road Less Traveled, will you be kicking yourself for not trying everything possible to GET MORE of what you want?
More out of life? More out of business? More out of EVERYTHING? Especially if it only costs a few hours per week?
How to do Things Better
Unlike the improvements you'll make writing, speaking, or playing an instrument by experiencing great art, you're not going to become a stronger weightlifter by watching other people pick up heavy loads any more than you'll become a faster runner by watching other sprinters zoom around the track.
Because at some point, if you want to do things better, you have to get up off the couch and do the work.
Turning Your Powers into Your Superpowers
Lightning is often what happens when storms merge. Suddenly the sky goes from a darkening gray to gates-of-hell black. The barometric pressure plunges so quickly you can feel the temperature drop and the sky is lit up by terrifyingly bright bolts of lightning, followed by raucous booms of thunder.
Of course, this post isn't really about boating or the weather. Instead, the storms in my story serve as metaphors.
In this case, they represent your skills and talents.
Just like when the pleasant rain showers on the horizon collide and become life-threatening electrical storms, combining your abilities also makes each one of them more and more potent and more and more powerful. And properly applied, this combination proves the old adage that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Except in this case, the whole is you. And you're stronger, more capable, and more powerful because of that collision.
Four Things That Matter.
The things your clients and customers care about can be narrowed down to four things that matter. Four things that your customers care about right now. Knowing these types of simple, yet profoundly powerful things can change your business. And your life.
Why Instant Gratification Matters to You.
Today's consumer grew up with the instant response and reward of videos games, the instant gratification of flash frozen prepared foods heated in microwaves, and a 24/7/365 communication device glowing greedily in their pocket. Tomorrow's marketer is going to have to figure out how to successfully service people who live the lyrics to the Queen song: “I want it all and I want it now.”
Do You Want More Business or More Bobness?
Do you want more business? Face it, you're already damn good at what you do. Working to be better at it is always a good idea but not necessarily what's going to help you get more business, more opportunities, more clients, more money, or whatever more you're hoping to get. Refining and promoting what makes you special to your audiences is where you'll find more business. Here's how…
Customer Loyalty Versus Customer Satisfaction.
When I last ran CEOnly, our Strategic Roundtable for business owners, entrepreneurs, and folks in the C-Suite, everyone who completed the program told me how much they enjoyed it and how much they benefitted from our time together. And of course I enjoyed hearing their kind words. But when I opened the enrollment for our new group, what I was most taken by were not simply the kind things people said, but that a few of the participants wrote back immediately with almost identical words: “Count me in!”
If you'd like to know what all the excitement is about, just click on https://ceonly.me and watch a quick, 3-minute video. And if you are interested, please do it quickly. Because as long as our alumni keep coming back for more, I'm going to enjoy the effects of their allegiance. After all, customer loyalty is priceless.
How to Make Everything Better
Want to know how to make everything better? Remember these five simple words: The Gallery Makes the Art. Want to know how and why that is? Read on…
The Value of Repurposing.
What opportunities are you wasting because you haven't innovated new ways to repurpose old things or ideas? What potentially valuable talents, skillsets, relationships, abilities, assets, inventories, patents, trademarks, or other attributes have you let lay fallow because they no longer appear relevant?
To do this, we simply need to look at old things in new ways – putting original function and associations out of our minds and instead asking ourselves, “what COULD this be and what COULD I do with it?”
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