2-2 working with yourself: Tip, A practice of Priming

How to use priming to make yourself read faster? And be aware I am not talking about reading poets or novels; I am talking about reading as in learning, studying, searching for something. There are two ways:

1-       Purpose setting;

-          Define clearly why you are opening that book in the first place

-          Set your mind that you are not going to read all the pages

2-     Previewing

-          Prepare yourself to look only for what you need

-           Skip what you already know, don't waste time

-          Use the index to go for what you need. Indexes are made for that 

2-2 working with yourself: Tip, The Urgent/Important Matrix

Urgent/Important Matrix

-          Box number One

-          House On Fire

-          Lots of stress and corticosteroids in your blood

-          Bad on the long run, exhausting and  indicator of bad organization

-          When tasks are here, know that they moved from box two to here because something is wrong!

-          When a lot of tasks are here … something is wrong … Fix it!

-          Box number Two 

-          The Real Schedule

-          Critical stuff

-          That's the only box where everything need to be

-          Sort from the most important to the least important then get yourself busy

-          Box number Three

-          Distractions

-          The most deceiving son-of-a-bitch box

-          That's where your day disappear and you don't know why

-          Most of tasks in BOX.1 should be here, you just get deceived by the urgency and put them there instead of here

-          Once you discover one, get rid of it immediately … that would be hard on you at first, but you will get used to it and you WILL thank me later

-          Box number Four

-          Don't Do It

-          The most stupid things are here

-          One you read this, you have no excuse of keeping this box there 

1-5 finance: Tip, Slow sufficiency or fast fund?

Many naïve entrepreneurs think it is all about creating a good business, get a venture capital and then be rich and happy, ignoring that they have A LOT to pay back in return. That will lead to the devastating consequences of not being able to pay the investors back

The core of any successful business is reaching the point of sufficiency. Sufficiency will free you from any real obligations, from the feeling of obligation, even from being obligated to follow your customers' wishes and needs and just have that psychological stress that you are not doing what the people really want   

1-5 finance: Tip, Top 3 reasons why startup businesses die

In order:

1-     Never make it to the sufficiency point. Your business keeps bleeding money with no compensation

-          Indicator: not knowing/setting the breakeven point

2-     Running out of purchasing power. Have no liquid assets when you need them is a KO to your business

3-     Continuous unresolved disputes between business founders, especially regarding the financial issues. So choose your partners wisely 

1-5 finance: Tip, Target monthly income equation

Target monthly income desirable= overhead "fixed costs" + variable costs + profit margin targeted '"the compensation for your money and effort"   

1-5 finance: Tip, What people value the most

Two things:

1-     Things that give them the most value

2-     Things that they pay the most for (they feel very important and professional and worth paying for, even if it is just bullshit. Think of the strange paintings that people pay millions of dollars for !!!)

1-3 sales: Tip, The common ground

Of course the goal of any deal is to reach a common ground so that the deal is a win-win situation

But sometimes the deal or some parts of it just must be win-lose situations, like:

-         Your company has to cut your salary the half, or fire you

-         A certain term has to be a yes/no without a chance to get compromise things

In these conditions you have to fight for this in every way possible, and be well prepared to win this through the 1^st 2 dimensions of negotiation (setup and structure)

But don't over-negotiate stuff to the point that makes you a real pain in the ass. If things may come to this point, consider using a buffer then 

1-3 sales: Tip, Selling techniques

Two main types I am going to talk about:

1-    The fast, swift, aggressive selling technique

-         Doesn't work well anymore

-         They tend to do more harm than use

-         Salesmen try to market and close the deal in one session

-         For businesses where you meet people once and you will never see them again

-         Trust level gained = 0% Customers feel that you don't listen to them. And you've never tried to

-         All salesmen do here is talk talk talk.

-         Customers feel being sold to

-         Salesmen mainly sell personality here

2-    The slow relationship technique

-         Way better technique

-         Mainly focus on building trust with the customers

-         Salesmen first focus is not closing the deal, but building good slow trustful sincere relation with their customers

-         Takes time, but pays sooooo good on the long run

-         All salesmen do here is just listening to their customers, know what they want.

-         And then they have many options and protocols and try to target them with a conversation that the offer is just what they have been looking for all their lives

-         Customer feel that they take the decision on their own

-         Salesmen mainly sell information here

  I think it is pretty damn obvious which one to go for. People just don’t like being sold to, and the feeling that they are being scammed. And it is just to hard to make a transaction without building enough trust between you/your product and the customers

Choosing the swift aggressive type will make you face

-         Last moment opinion changes

-         Second guesses before and after the deal

-         More complaints and doubtful questions after the purchase 

1-3 sales: Tip, Salesmen types

There are two types of salesmen:

1-    Salesmen who sell personality:

-         They depend on being soo friendly and open.

-         They just make people soooo comfortable around them   

2-    Sales men who sell information:  

-         They are just information mines

-         They make customers feel that they know exactly they want

-         They make the customers feel that they are making decisions on their own

It is a great thing to be both of them. But you have to just be adequate on the personality side

Being super at the info side make people just trust you to an incredible point …. And over the time they will make you their trustful source of information, they just won't be able to ignore your opinion in what you know 

1-1 value creation: Tip, I am wired, and successful

 The best conditions anyone can think of in starting a business that the business would be something 

-          Everyone need

-          An evergreen business

-          No one is willing to do it

-          With high demand rate

-          Optional: dull, boring, sad, dirty

If you find yourself interested enough in a business that have these conditions, then you are unique, wired and will be as successful as hell (I know, this doesn't have any logical meaning  :)

Think a funeral organizing, trash collecting, water plants, fertilizers, cleaning services … etc.

Mainly anything that people can't live (or die  :) without

And I know I know, everyone was imagining Apple and Google, but that would not be a very smart choice considering the crowdedness we live in nowadays 

1-1 value creation: Tip, watch and learn

A very important tip: the best two ways to learn from your competitor are to:

-          Buy from him: live the whole experience, notice everything from their selling strategy to the after-sell customer service

-          Work for them for some time, notice how they manage things, see how the inner, hidden gears are working together

Here is some advice:

-          Search for their pros and cons

-          How close they are to get to your new add-value

-          How developed they are

-          How they work together, organize, report to each other

-          How can you compete with them safely

-          What they lack, what their customers are complaining about

-          And don't forget to write down everything