The Toll Men

Part I:
Do you have a goal to your financial success? Do you have a plan for reaching this goal? If you are like most people, you desire financial security and higher levels of financial success. The dream of financial freedom and a demonstration of business acumen are quite common as a precursor to reaching your ultimate vision, but how do you actually reach your objective? It all starts with a well conceived goal.

Have you ever worked on a major project like building a house, writing a book, creating a successful business venture, taking a extended trip, developing a larger community project or fund raiser, or created a large event (like a wedding, rock concert, class re-union, etc.)? Any of these projects can not reach success without a solid plan.

A “Dream” of wealth or financial success is different than a well thought through plan. Planning starts with goal setting. It requires that you spend the time necessary to gather information, outline the necessary steps to achieve the project, develop a workable timeline, acquire the resources, and take the steps to move down the path to your goal.

These are simple concepts. Why do so many people have dreams that are never fulfilled? What steps must you take to achieve your dreams? You can not plan without a viable goal. You can not succeed on a large, important goal without sustained action. You can not achieve success without commitment and focus. If you are not “driven,” can you accomplish your larger goals? Can learned attitudes or beliefs sabotage your success?

Part II:
Most people do not do the “work.” The work is goal setting, planning, gathering the necessary resources, and the focused follow through for their success. People want the benefits of financial success without committing to the real required work. Sometimes the required work includes the “work” on oneself to understand and then overcome ones own resistance to financial success. It is hard to attract money and financial success if you actually fear or loath wealth. Many people stand in their own way to achieving success. These people say that they want to succeed but do not believe that they will succeed. Many people who have not done the “work” will reach financial goals and then sabotage their long-term objectives because they are not really ready for success.

A necessary secret to success:
If you are serious about achieving your financial goals, you must get serious about dealing with your deep resistance to success.

You may require support and coaching. In some cases you may have to go further and get good therapy to get to the source of your negative attitudes or beliefs. If you have not reached your highest levels of productivity and success, then you may have to get “outside” perspective to overcome your barriers. If you think that you do not require extra support or coaching, and you want to make the same mistakes over and over, then do not make any changes. It will be more comfortable to do it the “old” way, but do not expect better results. If you really want to gain the success that you desire then it is time to “knuckle-down” and get to work. Be excited about the possibilities and as open as you can be to the new insights that will help to drive your success.

One resource for you to create some awareness about your possible sources of resistance and some new behaviors that you can adopt that will lead to financial success can be found in a book titled “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth” by T. Harv Eker. I learned a lot by reading this book. Eker claims that there are 17 behaviors that are common for financially successful people that can be missing in less successful people and by modeling these behaviors you can move more easily toward your financial goals. You may want to take action and review this type of information.

Along the way, remember to make time to take good care of yourself. Financial success means nothing if you have compromised your physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

L. John Mason, Ph.D. is the author of the best selling “Guide to Stress Reduction.” Since 1977, he has offered Executive Coaching and Training.

Please visit the Stress Education Center’s website at http://www.dstress.com for articles, free ezine signup, and learn about the new telecourses that are available. If you would like information or a targeted proposal for training or coaching, please contact us at (707) 795-2228.

If you are looking to promote your training or coaching career, please investigate the Professional Stress Management Training and Certification Program for a secondary source of income or as career path.

If you want to pick-up your ability then a higher class of sports product is going to be unquestionable one of the tennis items at the top of your listing. Still, just before purchasing a tennis racquet there are several factors that must be weighed-up. These include: the tennis rackets mass, balance, head diameter & a couple number other aspects. By means of identifying what advantages and disadvantages the numerous style of racquets can provide will help support you to consider a better conclusion at some point in the procurement course.

Power Level: Grab the latest Tennis Racquets at VTennis.co.uk

The strength supplied by the most modern tennis racquet changes hugely & all level brings remarkable success dependent on your unique method. The three available types of strength levels in a tennis racket comprise of; ?Power Racquets?, ?Tweener Rackets’ and ?Control Racquets?.

Power rackets supplies a hefty quantity of energy and is aimed for people to take shorter and relaxed tennis swings. Tweener tennis racquets are for tennis players who are looking for a balance between power and control & are then intended for tennis people that employ a medium to long swing speeds, & also take a standard to long cuts at the ball. These are excellent for kids who are moving to full length tennis racquets.

Last, but positively not least, control rackets are intended for tennis individuals that require extensive and rapid swings when they play. The foremost motivation for this is that control tennis rackets need the player to make the power. This form of tennis racquet should be avoided by young people unless they have the talent to get to grips with the further weight.

Have you ever listened to all of the different ways we humans regard the concept of time? It is definitely a reflection of age. And I guess that’s why I find it intriguing and amusing.

We’ve all heard the common complaints of time: in childhood we’re never old enough until we turn 21, because at these ages our dreams are built on “when I’m old enough, I’m going to…” after 21, we seem to be caught in a time-warp suggesting we will be forever young. In order to prove it, we are often apathetic in making major decisions, because we have “all the time in the world.”

Depending on your activity level, time will stay suspended in this lazy state before increasing in speed as we begin to seek our place in life. For some, marriage and family decrease personal time and increase family time. This is often compounded by the career chase, for a demanding job will narrow available time even further.

It is also at this point in life when the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, changes in personal philosophies will place time in a different perspective. It was at this juncture that I began visualizing my life as a gigantic whirlpool. In my minds eye it appeared that childhood existed on the outer edges of the pool where life was lazy and slow. As I aged, I found myself creeping inconspicuously towards the inner middle section and life began to fly by faster and faster.

This past year went by so fast that when New Years Eve arrived I still felt my calendar should indicate July or August.

As I viewed my parents during their early retirement years, I was sure that by having more time on their hands time would slow down, but they told me there never seemed to be have enough time to get everything done. I think the difference was our individual places in the life continuum.

Not long ago I heard an academic discussion which put forward the supposition that the impression of the passing of time had a lot to do with temperature. As children, our body temperature is warmer and time moves slowly. When we mature and reach adulthood our core temperatures drop and time seems to pass more quickly.

Similarly, time in warmer climates moves along lazily, like in Mexico for example, with the need for the afternoon siestas. But in cold, windy Chicago time flies by more quickly. Maybe this is one reason why people retire to warmer climates…and I always thought it was for the golf!

We all have been around a Type A personality who constantly checks their watch, calls-in for messages, and is always noting something in their Day-timer. When I am with these individuals my level of energy increases, or at the very least I notice I am just a little nervous. Time is suddenly in the forefront of all thought and activity.

Conversely, there is the occasion when you have a long weekend or vacation. At the beginning, you look forward to “all that time off.” Then, ironically, you fill it with so many activities only to see it “fly by in the blink of an eye.”

If time really is a creation of man, then it would hold true that time doesn’t exist outside of man. When viewed from this perspective, we should have no other concept than the moment we are in. Neither the past nor the future should mean very much because one is gone forever and one hasn’t arrived yet.

So what you do with your day really has nothing to do with how much time you have. Or does it? If conceptually, there’s always tomorrow, can that in and of itself bring life to a momentum which is unhurried, and thus, more pleasurable?

How can we as a society find a way to live happily without being so multi-tasked that we see burn-out in high school students? Where are we all rushing to and why the hurry? If, in fact, life were too short to begin with wouldn’t you think we’d find ways to slow down and enjoy it?

We are tugged daily by a barrage of advertising to purchase the next biggest, newest, fastest, thingamajig that will provide us with more time and unlimited joy, but soon we’re so bored and find the need to go do it again. Man, you get tired just thinking about it!

Many other cultures see we Americans as possessed with being in a “hurry”. They enjoy their days doing what they can, untouched by the western accomplishment mentality, no medically related illnesses like ulcers, migraine headaches or road rage.

Our medical establishment capitalizes on our rush to “Just Do It” or “Do the Dew” or “shop ’til you drop” and “party on dude!” with new drugs to relax, relieve tension and stress, but in the end we are doing this to ourselves; it’s a vicious circle. And the funny thing is, we continue to provide them with a never-ending supply of patients for their psychiatric couches and diagnostic probes.

In the end, does anyone really know what they did with their “life-time” or do the majority of us have just memory-flashes of the highs and lows of life? I think many of us are seeking to control just a small portion of our lives, and managing time seems as much out of reach as anything else.

As usual, I find myself with more questions than answers, I better hurry up and go back to school to figure it all out, right?

No matter how you look at it, it’s fun to ponder.

Keith E. Renninson is a motivational speaker and co-author of the popular parenting tool and illustrated storybook “Zooch the Pooch, My Best Friend”. Through the 1990’s with much self-examination, academic study, bicycle racing, and mountain climbing, he discovered a renewed zest of life, which included a love of metaphysics, philosophy, humor, and writing and speaking. As Keith says, “Some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue…it’s all in what you make of it.” Keith and his co-author Michael Conrad Kelley speak to teens and adults on “The Seven Simple Steps to a More Fulfilling Life.” Which focuses on how to build a Life Philosophy that works.

You can read more about “Zooch the Pooch” or contact Keith to speak at: http://www.zoochthepooch.com

So you’re stuck in a rut, bored with how your life is, and you can’t think of how to get through this period. Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So stop being insane…and try something new.

Now I’m not saying you totally change everything you do, and everything you’re about. I’m recommending you take baby steps, and change 1 thing a month. Try this: Start getting up an hour earlier every day for 30 days, so you can get used to getting up with enough time to do something extra in the mornings. After 30 days, if you find it’s not working for you or you’re too tired or whatever your excuse is, then fine, stop doing it. Next month, try something else new. Maybe you take up a new hobby, maybe you start listening to books on tape/CD/MP3 on the way to and from work, or maybe you cut out sweets for 30 days. Try something new and different for 30 days, next month try another thing new, then another, and another, and eventually you’ll have a whole bunch of new stuff you can say you at least tried, and I’ll bet you find a few things you want to keep doing, or that you want to share with your friends, family and others.

There are so many ways to make it great, if you’re willing to try 1 new thing a month.

Phil Gerbyshak leads a team as manager of an IT Help Desk in Milwaukee, WI, and finds that sharing his knowledge is a crucial component for in his success as a leader and as a person. Phil’s personal philosophy is paraphrased from Tim Sanders’ fantastic book Love is the Killer App: “Share your knowledge, your network, and your love. The rest will follow.” Check out his website at http://www.makeitgreat.org for more information about Phil and for other tips on how to make it great!

A while ago one of my clients approached me and mentioned that
they were experiencing a serious problem with customer
registrations (obtaining customer names and e-mail addresses),
on their web site. They still had a lot of traffic, but were
finding that the ratio between traffic and registrations had
been dropping steadily.

H’mm, click-thru conversion rate I immediately thought, being
the clever fellow I am. Or…, maybe product description?
Or…, benefits?

Now a little step back: The product this company sells is
very popular, especially within the higher middle income
bracket and above, in this country. The company decided to
also start selling this product on-line a year ago and the web
site immediately attracted considerable traffic from inception.
The subscription rate was never really a problem as everyone
wanted to know when new product ranges were to be released.
The Marketing Director was also always very careful to follow
the basic rules of internet marketing.

So what had gone wrong ?

Back to the present: I decided to have a quick look at the web
site before meeting with the Marketing Director. O, dear:
Horror upon horror. The company had gone and changed the copy
on the site.

I must say that I was very impressed with the great graphics
and graphic functionality on the web site. One could do
incredible displays with the product. And the technical
descriptions of the product - something to die for! For the
first time I now knew precisely what materials were used in
the manufacturing process, how long items spent in various
stages and that some material originated from space research.
Wow, to die for!!!

So what?

Where were the benefits?
What was in it for me as a customer?

Worse was still to come:

This web site was boring the heck out of me as a customer!

This web site was talking down to me!

Woe is me!
I felt terrible - like an idiot, after working my way through
the site (this talking down business really made me feel
stupid), but manfully prepared for my meeting with the
Marketing Director and sallied forth with my trusted colleagues
called What, Who When, Where, How and my trusted right hand Why.

During the meeting it transpired that due to a number of
technical queries the company received via the web site,
they decided to revamp the site. The new site was to be more
technically orientated to cater for the technical customers.

Aha, my trusted colleagues said. And what percentage of your
internet customer base is technically orientated. And what are
you actually wanting to sell - and to whom - and what do they
want. Turned out that the company did not actually know what
percentage of their customers wanted technical information.
It was not a huge amount of people though. Turned out the
company had not done any market research to determine this
change. Turned out that someone had had a bright idea and changes were made without any research. Turned out the company tried to tell customers what the customers should want and need. Turned out the company ignored their customer.

H’mm - what did the company and I learn from this… again.

Sell the benefits of the product to the customer. A customer lands on a site - the customer has certain needs, be it hidden or overt. You need to satisfy those needs. This first question a customer asks is: What is in it for me ! Does this satisfy my need(s). What benefits are there for me ?

What my client did was to show the customers how clever the persons in the company is. It is the worst one can do. It talks down to the customer - look how clever I am !!! Let’s talk about me, me, me and when you get tired of me, we’ll talk about myself and I. What about the customer ? Rather talk about the customer - how this would meet his or her needs. How this product would reward all the hard work, be a status symbol to show off, how this product would save time.

Something else: This web site was downright boring. It did not
talk to a person - in fact it was dead. It did not draw attention. Oh, attention - let me go down that track for a second. You want attention - you want a web site that talks to the customer. Ha - that means one has to constantly update content(copy) on a site. That is work that costs money.

Well, well, well, my colleagues say. Are you aware that the
typical web customer reads/surfs about 20 to 30 sites per day.
Are you aware that when a person is looking for something, they
scan through a site. Are you aware that if you do not catch
their attention with an attention grabbing headline you are going to lose them. Are you aware that you have between 10 and 20 seconds to grab their attention.

Your site must talk to your customer. Your site must grab the
attention of the customer and you have between 10 and 20 seconds to do that. And what about keeping the customer coming back. That is a topic for another time, I think.

Back to my client: We compromised on a site that follows the
principals I stated above, but also have a Technical area for
those that wanted it. We built the site again with new copy.

Copy that addressed the needs and wants of customers.

Copy that was written from a customer’s perspective.

Copy that sold benefits.

Copy that connected to customers as friends.

Copy that emphasized the “you” word and minimised the I/me words.

Copy that talked, connected and made the site talk.

And my client:

They are happy - their web site talks to their customers.

And the conversion rate:

Not going to tell you what it is, but it is high again and
higher than before - for the moment, my client loves me.

And what is in this for you, dear reader:

Just one thing: “Make your web site talk to your customer”

Leon Williams runs eBusWiz and is “Actively living his dream”. More articles can be found at: http://www.ebuswiz/blog

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