"Helping Your Business Fly"
Issue 9
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. FLIGHT LINES: "Begin today, and watch for opportunities"
2. WING TIPS: Business article: "Positive Relationships"
3. FEATURE ARTICLE: "The 3 Elements of Super Successes"
4. ALTER EAGLE: Yahoo...search and search again
5. EAGLE'S TALON: Paint Shop Pro 7 for graphics
6. EYE OF THE EAGLE: Forward, backward, heavy or not?
7. CONTACT THE FLYER: Send questions, comments and articles
1) ======= Flight Lines =======
[Observations on business and life]
The beginning is the most important part of the work.
-- Plato
Ability is nothing without opportunity.
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
2) ======= Wing Tips =======
[A variety of business helps and tips]
Positive Relationships Are The Key To Business Success
© 2001 By Craig Valine
In business, it's easy to burn bridges with people. By
"burning bridges" I mean, destroy relationships with your
customers, clients, employees, vendors, etc.
It's one of the biggest mistakes I see businesses make. And
quite frankly, it's a stupid mistake. It's so stupid, I'm
willing to admit I was the reigning champ of burning
bridges with my clients and friends...and it cost me dearly.
There was a time in my life when:
* I wouldn't return phone calls
* I wouldn't follow-up with a referral from a client
* I'd miss an appointment and not call to apologize
* I wouldn't pay my vendors on time
* I'd squable over a few dollars, or
* I'd act apathetic from a good deed from another
Isn't that stupid? Of course it is. And, I'm not-so-happy
to say that I am NOT the only person who does this. Many
of my own clients don't even realize how damaging it is
to their own business, their reputations, and their
credibility.
I AM happy to say, however, that I've mended my ways. The
primary reason I got my act together was because a teacher
of mine gave me a proverbial 'slap-in-the-face' and said,
"your business is about relationships and you are detroying
all of them."
I really took that to heart. I do understand that it's
important to cultivate, maintain and nurture relationships
with the people we do business with - not to burn bridges.
My business (marketing coaching) relies completely on my
reputation, credibility, and the rapport I build and keep
with my clients. If I burn bridges with my clients, I burn
a little bit of myself along the way.
Positive relationships are the key to success in business.
What if we've already burned bridges with the people we've
done business with in the past? Is it too late to make
peace?
Or, how do we prevent burning bridges with the people we're
doing business with now? Below are a few strategies that I
use to prevent burning bridges and to nurture positive
relationships with my clients:
* Always treat your customers like dear and valued friends.
Do the nice things for them that you'd do for your best
friend or a family member.
* If your customer has a problem, rectify it as soon as
possible. Communicate with them always. Let them know
exactly how you intend to handle the problem, and when
you'll be in contact with them next.
* Always try to conduct yourself nobly and professionally
in the end, as well as in the beginning of a relationship
with your customer.
* If the business/customer relationship doesn't work out,
attempt to salvage whatever good and goodwill are still
left in the relationship. Just because it didn't work out
with them, doesn't mean they wouldn't refer others to you...
as long as you treat them with respect.
* Despite any differences of opinion, work hard to be honest
and positive. Always be noble, respectful and genuine.
The message is simple: People understand that things go wrong.
They understand that you forget. They understand that you get
busy. They understand that you and your product or service may
be imperfect. All they want is to feel like you respect them,
you care about them, and that you'll do whatever it takes to
help them.
If you've burned bridges in the past, it's not too late to
start re-building them now. Positive relationships are the
key to success in business, and it starts with YOU, now. -cv
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Craig Valine is the publisher of
The AwfulMarketing Alert Newsletter, "Where you learn
GOOD marketing strategies by looking at the
mistakes of others"
To subscribe his free newsletter, go to:
AwfulMarketing Alert Newsletter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3) ======= Feature Article =======
The 3 Elements of Super Successes
© 2001 by Wes Blaylock
There are 3 elements that all successful people have
in common. These 3 elements basically determine
why most people fail, and only a few really succeed.
I am not going to lie, these elements aren't the easiest
to exude in your business. They require dedication along
with blood, sweat and tears.
1. Discipline
Success is built on this element and successful people
know this. Being disciplined enough to become successful
is a level that most people do not reach.
Discipline is about doing things that you need to do,
whether you want to or not. Most people achieve this
element by getting up everyday to go to work.
They don't necessarily like it, but they know that
they have to go to work just to put food on the table.
The problem lies when people switch from work, to
their own Internet business. Discipline begins to lack.
They no longer have to wake up at 6 a.m. and work
for 8 hours straight.
Working for yourself makes it too easy to slack off.
You have no mean boss over your shoulder yelling
"Get Back To Work!!".
Are you lacking discipline in your internet business?
2. Consistency
Consistency goes hand in hand with discipline, and again,
lacks in most people.
Let me ask you this, have you ever quit promoting an
affiliate program, or opportunity because it didn't produce
immediate profits?
Consistency is a hard element to control mainly because
it becomes hard to keep doing something that doesn't show
results. It gets mentally tiring and discouraging, but successful
people march on and all will tell you that your hard work
will pay off.
Lack of this element is why weight loss pills sell so well. Everybody
knows that you can lose weight by eating the right diet (discipline)
and exercising long enough to show results (consistency).
But most would rather pay the $30 per month to pop a pill once
or twice a day. It is unhealthy sure, but they do not have
the control to go the healthy route, so they slack off and
pop a pill instead.
It is a quick fix syndrome that plagues most people. Why do
you think the lottery is so big? Everybody knows that your
chances of winning are next to none, but every week, millions
upon millions of people go buy their tickets.
Super successes are not casual, they are not sloppy,
and they are not lucky. They're disciplined, consistent,
and they have the right mindset.
3. The Successful Mindset
Do you have a burning desire to become successful? I mean
a REAL burning desire to become successful. Last night I
was up late watching TV and came across this infomercial.
It was one of those lame real estate infomercials, but one
of the success stories made a pretty good point. It was
2 a.m. so I was half asleep, but he said something along
these lines:
"Once you are at the point to where you just cannot stand
being poor anymore, to where you absolutely have to do
something to change the way you live, buy this course."
Now obviously it was a ploy to sell the infomercial product,
but it got me thinking to some sales training that I went
through a few years ago that holds a lot of truth, which
is this:
How comfortable are you?
How comfortable are you with your lifestyle now? You see,
most people are too comfortable with their current income
to do what it takes to become successful.
There is no desire to work hard and put your whole heart into
something because you are too comfortable with where you
are in life and change is frightening.
Successful people always have that force behind them that
drives them to become better tomorrow than they are today!
Do you have that force, that mindset? Master the above
3 elements and you can become successful!
See you at the bank,
Wes Blaylock
++++++++++++++++
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4) ======= Alter Eagle =======
[Products and services that we recommend]
Probably the most widely recognized directory on the Internet,
"Yahoo" is a must in your business and marketing arsenal.
With everything from local weather for any area you choose,
news of the day, and listings of just about anything you can
imagine, Yahoo is a great place to start when you need to find
something fast.
And with so much effort devoted to keeping Yahoo up to date,
it's a great place to "take the pulse" of current Internet
business trends.
And if you can't find exactly what you are searching for, you
can always search for other search engines and directories.
Visit: Yahoo for more info.
5) ======= Eagle's Talon =======
[Tools to help you "get a grip" on things]
Paint Shop Pro 7
Paint Shop Pro offers an easy, affordable way to achieve
professional results!
Retouch, repair, and edit photos with photo enhancement.
Create and optimize Web graphics with built-in Web tools.
Design cool animations with Animation Shop 3, included free.
Easily add custom images to your graphics projects.
Save time with grids, guides, alignment, and grouping tools.
Expand your creativity with over 75 special effects.
Share photos electronically with friends and family via e-mail,
Web sites, and photo-sharing sites.
We use and recommend Paint Shop Pro for website and other
image creation and editing. Easy to use and very powerful!
For more information, visit: Paint Shop Pro
