The James Hooper Business Builders Letter

The Source of Business Power
Welcome to 2011.  It has been a while since you heard from me as I have been absorbed in “testing”.

I love testing.  And it is a key part of our business success.  The insight for me is that it is the application of the lessons drawn from the tests that make the dough.

Over the last 20 or so years I have collected and tested a vast range of tools for business.  Once tested I have added them to my “toolbox”.  Then, as needed with my coaching clients I simply draw out the tools as needed, and help my clients apply them.

Not Knowing Enough Tactics Is Not Why People Go Broke (or fail to achieve)..

Recently it occurred to me that most people don’t go out of business as a result of not knowing enough ways to increase their business.  More often it is it is because they don’t apply (any) of the ones they already know – or they only apply them for a short time before jumping to the next “tactic”.

Are you wasting your power?

Doing absolutely nothing and trying to do absolutely everything – can have the same result.  And the second way is probably more exhausting.  Exhausting because you are always seeking and learning NEW and better tactics.  This is extra work. Then when you find the NEW tactic – there is the pain and time involved in learning the software or “doing” the training.

Then – after you get it work (or not) – time to discover the next tactic – leaving the tactic just learned to rust in the corner.

So- What is the antidote?

Well – you could go into any decent bookstore (or Amazon) – and surround yourself with a thousand books and continue with your exhausting “seeking” work.  Read, study, learn – consider, test.  Read some more, forget what the first guy said.  And repeat….

Or..

You are allowed to simply STOP.

4 Words of Power

Napoleon Hill told me once (in The Law of Success in 16 Lessons) that power is “organized knowledge intelligently applied”.  Just 4 words.

The second last word hid from me for a while.  How do you know if you are applying your organized knowledge ‘intelligently’?

Smack in the head?

The answer came to me like a sharp smack in the part of the head that just loves to “do” stuff and “get on with it”.  Are you ready for just 5 words that will alter your business and life strategies?

The answer is that ‘intelligently’ means “takes you toward your ideal”.  Again – “it takes you toward your ideal – whatever your ideal is.”

The Most Common Reason for Mediocrity

I believe the single most common reason that business owners do not fly past all goals is that they simply have not stopped and decided what “ideal” looks like for their business, how they get things done, and their personal life.

Or – put another way – most entrepreneurs have not achieved their major goals in life because they simply are not clear on what those goals [ideals] are.

Once you have listed your ideals – the power question is “Why have you not already got this?”.

The answers are the obstacles – the reasons you cannot get your goals right now.  We can now take these obstacles and what we must make happen and DEFINE them.

Then just convert the defined obstacles into OBJECTIVES.  Once you have listed your objectives – you then have a clear path to your IDEAL.

More Work AND Less Success?

If we do not define our ideals FIRST – we end up with a huge list of tasks that may take us somewhere – but probably not to our ideal.  And it will be hard to keep our motivations strong.  Knowing why we are doing things is the source of our continued power.

This is what I think Hill was talking about with “intelligently”.   It can be applied to all levels of goals.

Without choosing the ‘ideal’ outcome – we cannot apply specific effective strategies to overcome the appearance of that outcome – which means we use “generic” strategies and just “hope” that they magically give us our (secret) goals.

Shotgun or Minefield Without a Map?

Or we “shotgun” our generic strategies – doing massive amounts of action (‘work’) – most of which is not taking us to our goals – but some of it just might.

Summary of this long rant:

1.  If you want success, then  make yourself DECIDE what your ideal (in any area) looks like.   Write it down clearly.

2.  Ask yourself why you do not already have it, and what needs to be overcome to get it.  Write this all down.

3.  Convert these into objectives, stated positively.

There are more steps – but that is for the next letter.  Just doing these will change your life in minutes.

Final Questions:

Choosing not to define your ideals in each area of life that is important to you – is choosing to give up your power.

And when you look back on your life – will you have weaved a beautiful tapestry of precise achievement and fulfillment that defines what is most important to you?

Or will it be a grey, bland and mediocre effort where you played tunelessly because you refused to choose the notes that were best for you?

The New “Yellow Pages” for Lead Generation

If you have not being paying attention – you may not have noticed that in December Google changed the page format it uses to give search results.

Google is Massacring YP Searches…

In a nutshell – Google will now try and decide if you are wanting LOCAL search results.  Eg – if you put a geographical identifier into the search term – eg “Townsville” – Google will give you results that list businesses who are listed in their Google Places system for most of the first page.

You Must Get To Page One of Google For Each of Your Search Terms…

As over 96% of people NEVER go to the second page of Google results – every business looking for leads from the web needs to have a Places listing – and to have it optimised so that it appears on the first page of Places for each of the key search terms that a potential new customer might Google.

Add to this change the fact that uptake of smart phones and the spreading habit of “Googling” before reaching for the Yellow Pages – it means that the paper YP are increasingly only useful for doorstops and chair boosters for kids.  [This does not mean to stop using them – yet.  Well constructed YP campaigns are still VERY profitable.]

It just means that you have to get your Google Places “intelligently” optimised. Email me (james@seminar.com.au) if you would like me to have a quick look for you.

Right now I am testing the power of Youtube Channel construction for use in local internet marketing.  Early results are showing that correct use of Youtube can greatly assist in dominating the first page of Google and other search engines for both Local and Global search terms.

At this point video results rank more highly on US local searches than on Australian local searches.  But this is changing.

If you do not have a video component to your marketing plan – you are missing some easy business.