Want To Be A Tiger? Work Like A Dog!

Tiger Woods is in town.  He’ll be taking his annual stroll through my backyard this week.  I live in Grand Blanc, MI and on Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club where the Buick Open is played.

He has the smoothest, most powerful stroke of any player I have ever seen.  The calm he exhibits must come from Buddhist lessons taught to him by his mother.  He approaches each and every shot like it is his last and like there wasn’t another just a few minutes before.  But, we know all this.  We see it on
television every week.  What you may not know is what is shown on television is just a tidbit of what Tiger does during a tournament week.  And, what he does can only be described as Work!  With the capital ‘W’!

During tournament week the course gets buzzing well before the sun comes up.  There are fairways and greens to be mowed, sand traps to be raked and a hundred other things to be taken care of before the crowd starts to gather.  But golf course attendants do this work.

If you look over at the driving range, or the practice green, you’ll see golf pros doing their work.  And, always, Tiger Woods Working on his game.

It doesn’t matter that he just won the British Open.  It doesn’t matter that he has the smoothest, most powerful stroke.  It doesn’t matter that he makes more money than the guy swinging a club next to him.  It doesn’t matter that he will draw an estimated 70,000 more people to the tournament than if he didn’t show up.

What matters is the Work!

Before his round, after his round.  Rain or shine.  Putting in the Work to be the most successful golfer in the history of the game. As you might be able to tell, I admire the man.  He is, in every sense of the word, a true professional.

Most business people I encounter could learn a thing or two from Tiger.  They could work on their business instead of treating their business like they are always on the course.  If attracting an extra 70,000 prospects, in a week, to your game was the result, would you do the work?

It’s fashionable for people to tout how easy it can be to grow a business.  The “programs, secrets and systems” are all over the internet.  I strongly disagree.  I’ll take my cues from Tiger

If you want to be a Tiger, work like a dog!

So, What Have I Done Lately?

Just came across a post over at one of my favorite blogs, Landing The Deal, that describes a business that will put 95% of all other businesses to shame.

Kids Roar is a company that sells cool stuff for kids.  I purchased the Paint and Play Horses for my daughter since her entire bedroom is horse themed and she rides and cares for her own horse.  Perfect. 

But, that isn’t the point here. 

The point is the entrepreneur that started this company is, drumroll please, 8 years old! Alexandra McDaniel is going to be a 10 year business veteran by the time she graduates from High School.

Take a look at all of the things that are done right there.  She speaks publicly.  She has a blog.  She has personality.  She targets a specific demographic niche.  She is an open book about the business.  She has cool products.  She has an e-mail newsletter.  She pays her bills.  She learns and APPLIES business principles.  She uses the media for exposure.

I could go on and on but click over to her site and take a look. 

It will make you ask yourself, “So, what have I done lately?”

Attention Authors!

Brad Jensen, author of The Miracle That I Offer: Connecting To Your Spiritual Self that I wrote about in the previous post, has put together a little tutorial on the project.

If you want to learn how to do your own publishing, click over and take a look at Brad’s tutorial titled, “My First Amazon/Booksurge Self-Publishing Project"

Judging a Book by Its Cover

A long time web friend of mine recently started publishing his writing through Booksurge.  Booksurge is a Print-on-Demand publisher owned by Amazon.

I ordered “The Miracle That I Offer” on Tuesday night at around 9:00pm from Amazon.  It shipped on Wednesday afternoon by 5:00pm.  Less than 24 hours and its on the way to me!  So, that raises the question of, “Why does any publisher print a bunch of books and stock them in a warehouse?” Publishers are playing a whole new game and I wonder how many of the big guys even know it.

By now you’re probably asking yourself how this ties in with “judging a book by its cover.”

Well, I was reading Bob Bly’s blog today and he asked a question about which of two is the best title for a book that is going to be published soon.  My first thought was, why?

With the print-on-demand capabilities of Booksurge there’s no reason to guess.  Advertise a whole list of titles and let the reader buy the title that suits them!  As any direct marketer knows, one will eventually be the clear winner and that will be the final answer to Bob’s question.

And that’s really “judging a book by its cover.”

Can I give you a discount?

I’ve been spending way too much money lately.  A new roof on my house, gutter helmets to keep the leaves out, new tires on one of the vehicles, new soccer uniforms for the boys, new English riding gear for one of my daughters and a new digital video camera.  While I say I’ve been spending too much money, my brain works in a funny way when thinking about it.  I would actually spend more money on any one of these if the salespeople (I use that description loosely) weren’t so adamant on lowering their prices.

There are other things that are more important to me, and I’m sure many others.

1. When can I get it?
2. What kind of quality is the product in relation to other products in the category?
3. Will you be here after the sale if I have any questions or problems?
4. How about a warranty?
5. Do you know of any special benefits or features I don’t have the experience to ask about?
6. What do other people like me think about your product?
7. How does it make my life easier?

It seems that whenever I want to spend money I have to answer my own questions by doing the research.

Does anyone sell anymore?