1. Answers. Overrated. Questions are all that matter. Here’s why: Questions advance sales. Questions change relationships. Questions contain energy. What’s more, questions are bridges, catapults and fuel. They create buy-in, earn respect, invite dialogue and transform organizations. When was the last time your precious answers did all that for you??

2. Balance. It’s for ballerinas. Besides, you can be off balance and still be on purpose. That’s called alignment, and it beats balance any day. Your challenge is to figure out what your life looks like when the integrity of its foundation is in tact. Are you on a path that aligns your actions to your values?

3. Dabbling. Go all out or go home. Be dedicated or be eliminated. Throw yourself wholeheartedly into the game. That’s what it takes to win. And if you don’t want to make this a business, don’t bother. Are you willing to go pro?

4. Formulas. They’re non-updatable, unshakable and inelastic. They’re inflexible, choreographed, canned, insincere, inauthentic and preplanned. They’re often resisted, debated and creates defensiveness. And their rigid, rote learning limits people’s possibilities and stifles their creativity.

Practices, on the other hand, work. They come in the form of simple, doable and human actions. They insinuate instead of impose. They’re adaptable and apply to various situations and people in their own unique way. They’re also easily digested, self-evident, non-threatening and encourage people’s creativity. Which of the two are YOU using?

5. How. How is dangerous. How is a dream destroyer. How is the difference between an Idea Guy and an Execution Guy. And the problem is, too many people are at war with HOW when they should be in love with WHY.

Look: You don’t have to know what you’re doing. You don’t have to know where you’re going. You don’t have to know how you’re going to get there. You just need to move – and you need to know WHY you’re moving. Because if you focus on the WHAT, the HOW will eventually appear. Are you stopped by not knowing how?

6. Knowledge. Anybody can bring it to the table. The real question is: Have you taken action upon your knowledge? That’s the difference between knowing and doing. That’s the difference between information and insight. Experience. Application. Execution. Actionability. Do you just offer expertise and information, or can you deliver REAL insight?

7. Resume. A thing of the past. If you want to persuade potential employers, prospects and customers to hire you, remember this: Your resume is most effective when someone OTHER than you writes it.

So, your resume is your Google ranking. Your comments section on your blog. The testimonial page on your website. Your resume is what people are saying about and after your name. Don’t you think that if someone wants to hire you, she’s going to validate your credibility from multiple sources?

8. Satisfaction. Proves nothing. Even “loyalty” isn’t all that powerful anymore. What you need is customer insistence. Absolutely gotta-have-it factor. Absolute gotta-work-with-this-guy factor. You need people slam their fist down on the boardroom table and say, “We need to hire THIS guy!” Are your customers satisfied, loyal or insistent?

9. You. I don’t know if you got the memo, but YOU are overrated. It’s nothing personal. I’m sure you’re a very smart, cool person. But nobody cares about you. They care about them. They care about money, sex and happiness. And the minute you start to embrace that reality, the minute your world will change forever. It’s amazing how far a little humility will go. Have you gotten over yourself yet?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How much money are you losing by having a weak entrepreneurial vocabulary?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “99 Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Ask,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

DON’T allow people to make you feel bad for being awesome.
DO personally amputate anyone who doesn’t believe in or support you.
And surround yourself with people who love and inspire you.
Who could you call at 2 AM?

DON’T be so interested in creating a work of art.
DO be interesting in becoming a work of art yourself.
And just know that it’s never truly finished.
What did you create today?

DON’T be selfish with your knowledge.
DO share your expertise generously so people recognize it, become addicted to it and eventually depend on you for it.
And the world will open up to you.
What did you teach today?

DON’T be the most unique.
DO work the hardest at your uniqueness, know it well, amplify it, commit to it and stay consistent with it.
And the market will reward your handsomely.
What value are you prepared to deliver to others so that they will voluntarily give you their money?

DON’T feel the need to justify yourself to, waste your time on, or become upset if, you piss off people who don’t know how to value you yet.
DO the thing that makes people watch you with breathless interest.
And that select pool of individuals will be all the support you need.
To whom are you a rockstar?

DON’T feel the need to tell people everything you know to convince them.
DO regularly put yourself in front of economic buyers so when they DO feel the need, you’re the trusted advisor they think of first.
And that will be all the marketing you’ll ever need to do.
Do you have marketshare or mindshare?

DON’T just sit in bed mulling over things.
DO get up and go think on paper.
And your ideas will be executed significantly sooner.
How much money have you lost because you didn’t feel like writing your ideas down?

DON’T live your life in boxes.
DO realize you don’t need anybody’s box.
And you will be set free.
Do you pick the box that says, “Other”?

DON’T get fancy and try to appeal to everyone.
DO be courageous enough to go with something simple and focused.
And your message will have the best chance of getting through and sticking TO people.
Does your marketing pass the 5th Grader Test?

DON’T spend any extra time trying to impress yourself.
DO make a conscious effort to inspire and wow the masses.
And incidentally, you WILL be impressed.
Whom have you made gasp this week?

DON’T obsess over the need for approval from anyone other than yourself.
DO learn to affirm yourself by applauding internally.
And you’ll get standing ovations every time.
Are you your own #1 fan?

DON’T recreate what’s always been recreated.
DO produce something people have a yearning for.
And you will capture the world’s imagination.
Do you bring a new lens or just regurgitate recycled wisdom?

DON’T apologize for the one thing you are that consistently wows people.
DO give your audience permission to be taken over by your performance.
And they will stand in line and pay higher prices than they know they should.
How often do people see you, being you, in your element, doing what you do?

DON’T compete.
DO create.
And you’ll redirect your energy into something you can win at, every time.
What did you create today?

DON’T spend most of your time planning.
DO spend most of your time building.
And action will become the engine that drives your credibility.
Do you really need to attend another mastermind meeting?

DON’T be stopped by not knowing how.
DO flirt with impatience, ambiguity, irrationality and insanity.
And you’ll discover that logic is overrated.
How much money are you losing by waiting until you know what you’re doing?

DON’T become so absorbed in the limitations of your condition that you don’t explore the creative possibilities of the situation.
DO move in the direction that helps you build your usefulness.
And in so doing, you will be performing an act of worship.
Why were you designed to cure?

DON’T fill up your time with mindless efforts to prove yourself.
DO fill up your time with mindful efforts to improve yourself.
And every day, part of you will get stronger; and part of your life will get better.
How did you add value to yourself today?

DON’T be limited by the thoughts others have tried to set in motion for you.
DO ignore the would-be deflectors of your one true dream.
And plunge forward into the vortex of swift, focused action.
Whose life are you living, really?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What are your entrepreneurial do’s a don’ts?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “65 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I Started My Company,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!

1. Decide how impatient you can afford to be. Being impatient might be the smartest decision your company could ever make. My first suggestion is to write the following two words on a sticky note: Just Go. That’s it. Just go.

Be willing to look bad on the road to immortality. Plunge forward plan-less. And stop allowing the need for perfection to preventing you from doing, being and having what you want. Take action on your new idea swiftly. Find out what ONE step you could take NOW to start moving forward to your ideal future. How much money is being (too) patient costing you?

2. Document as you develop. Writing makes everything you do easier and better. Not to mention, if you don’t write it down, it never happened. Whether it’s an idea, a process or a mind map for your next project, keeping records of your creative initiatives always serves you well.

First, it enables you to repeat your process. Secondly, it helps you improve your process. And lastly, it assists you in teaching your process, either to coworkers or customers. What did you write today?

3. Decide what it will take to become a proven entity. That might mean a stronger web presence. That might mean a more robust networking plan. That might mean securing a spot as a regular contributor to an online publication read by your perfect clients.

That might mean getting up an hour earlier every morning to write, accumulate enough content to blog five times a week and slowly expand your thought leadership platform. Just remember: Your strategy for sticking yourself out there needs to be as remarkable as WHAT you’re sticking out there. To whom do you need to become a proven entity to?

4. Help customers visualize the end result. The benefit of the benefit of the benefit. Not a rental car – getting the hell out of the airport. Not a Happy Meal – shutting the damn kids up. Not a deep tissue massage – an escape from your stressful world.

The secret behind this principle is to visually represent this end result to the customer. Take Pizza Hut, for example. Do you think their website is just a bunch of pictures of pies? No way. You see images of families at home, sitting around the dinner table, laughing, sharing and relaxing. The pizza is just a prop. What are you the answer to?

5. Make sure you don’t lose your entrepreneurial edge. Return to your roots. Uncover your beginnings. Ask yourself these questions:

*Why did you get into business in the first place?
*What would you do if you were starting your business all over again right now?
*What injustice did you set out to fight when you first started your business?

If you can’t answer those questions, either execute a plan for recovering your edge or be smart and quit. How much of your entrepreneurial edge have you lost since you started?

6. Offer less. Choice saturation paralyzes people into inaction. Even the simple act of choosing caused mental fatigue. What’s more, the longer customers they take, the less they buy.

Thus: Complexity generates contemplation, and contemplation kills sales. Because a confused mind never buys. What if you gave people ZERO choice to eliminate customer frustration remove the threat of rejection?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How are you elevating your entrepreneurial edge?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “65 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I Started My Company,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.
Always about approachability.

Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!