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Learn-to-Learn: How to Master Subjects In and Out of Order

7/7/2015

#2: Learn-to-Learn (Part 2 – Sequential and Global Learning Techniques)

Now that you know a few techniques that work for both Active and Reflective Learners, it’s time to learn the different techniques that best work for you if you’re a Sequential Learner and a Global Learner.

*Note – Techniques used by each style can work and be useful to the other styles. Just because one may statistically be better for one does not mean it won’t work for you. Try them all and experiment a little.

Sequential Learner Techniques

Most learning is structured around Sequential Learners. Because it is seen as the most logical way to learn by building upon a subject step by step, and mastering it little by little. This style of learning is very popular if you have every looked into How-To-Lists and other types of manuals.

1.      Find and Dissect the Fundamentals

Everything can be boiled down into simple building blocks.

Recipes can be broken down from amazing feasts to the basic ingredients of flour, eggs, salt, etc. Cars can be broken down from complex machinery to simple metal pieces all put together to build a something greater than the sum of its parts.

The key is to be able to hone your ability to dissect subjects and topics so that you can find the basics even from the most complex. As everything in life is simple, the only reason you can’t understand it is because someone doesn’t want you to as they would stop being the expert!

Here is how to break things down into their basic parts.

First: Observe it.

·         Everything is connected in one way or another.

Finding how something is connected is the most important part of dissecting it. You have to see how the parts work in conjunction to figure out how it works. Therefore, observe it to see how each part is connected to the others.

Second: Describe it.

·         Everything happens in a particular order.

Once you know how each piece is connected, it’s time to see the sequential order of how they work together. Although many things can work at the same time, the idea is to map out to see what causes what in a cause and effect manner.

Third: Discover The Why.

·         Everything has a purpose

Knowing why each part does in the grand scheme of things is important to understanding something as a whole, instead of just its individual segments. Figuring out what and why each piece operates and affects the others will allow you to see the pattern of something’s function.

2.     Write it out into your very own Sequential List/Outline.

Once you know how something works from top to bottom, it’s time to map it out in your own words as a Sequential List/Outline. You can do this my following writing out what you learned in “Dissecting the Fundamentals” in a easy to understand format such as a flow chart, an outline, How-To- List, Step-by-Step Manual with pictures, and more.

3.     Learn to Fill-in-the-Blanks

People who learn this way love having every step available but absolutely hate when steps are left out or if information is taught out of order. Which is why it is so important for someone who learns this way to know how to fill in the blanks if information is incomplete.

·         Ask a subject matter expert to fill in the blanks from a community forum, a mentor, a professor, a tutor, or any other place where people know the process of what you’re trying to learn. This is much easier than the next one.

·         Figure it out yourself through self-study. This will take longer as you have to find references that you need to cross check for validity. The easiest way to do this is to find YouTube videos of it being done or other media.

Global Learner Techniques

Global Learners like to see where they are going and figure out the details on their way there. Meaning the details come second to the Big Picture. Therefore, if you’re a Global Learner, always know where you’re going and remember the details will come in time.

1.       See the Big Picture Before You Research the Details

Global Learner’s love to be able to see the big picture clearly before they delve into any details. Because they like to see how everything they learn in the future will fit into it.

Which is why the first technique is to skim the material you’re trying to learn to get the general gist of how everything works together before trying to figure out the individual steps from one to another.

Once you have mastered the whole, you can finally learn how the individual details that make it up. This will help you learn by associating the small steps to the story of the big picture.

A great place to master this skill is here.

2.      Associate New Information to Old

Use what you already know to understand what you need to know now.

This technique is taking the idea of what you have learned in the past to describe new information and associate it to the old. This allows you to take the new information and input into a frame of mind that you already understand and eliminates a lot of the redundancy of learning.

For example, you know how to budget yourself. You know that the money that comes in has to exceed the money that goes out. This basic concept can be applied to many different situations such as trying to lose weight (more calories out, than calories in), economics (Supply outstripped by Demand, Prices go up), and many, many more.

This also means taking what you have learned about the subject and connecting it with new information. So you’re filling in the blanks of the whole picture with the details.

An example and very interesting read about how to Study without Studying.

3.      Take What You Learn to Other Subjects

This is the basis of becoming a General Systems Theorist. Find patterns in what you learn and take all new information and apply it to your learning frameworks. As all things when broken down resemble each other either chronologically, process wise, or methodically. A great place to start mastering your own framework is here.

I will be leaving for the next 2 weeks and will submit the next blog coming up at the end of July.

Best,

L. Thomas

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The Meta-Learning Series: Is This Your Style?

6/18/2015

18 Comments

Reflect upon what you learn and capsulize it.

#2: Learn-to-Learn (Part 1 – Active and Reflective Learning Techniques)

After figuring out your learning-style last week, it’s time to learn the different techniques that work best for you.

*Note – Techniques used by each style can work and be useful to the other styles. Just because one may statistically be better for one does not mean it won’t work for you. Try them all and experiment a little.

Active Learner Techniques

If you are an active learner and you’re creating your own class or in a class that doesn’t meet your needs, then these are some specific techniques that work with your brain chemistry.

1.       Find a way to discuss the subject with others.

This could be anyone, but it is preferable to have someone who knows as much as you do and has an interest in the subject, or is a subject matter expert. This could be someone who studies it themselves or is a professional in the business. The key is to find someone who you can talk with who can expand what you’re studying as well as put it in a realistic perspective of how it works in practice.

A key provision of this strategy is finding a mentor who will consistently work with you to expand your knowledge as you learn the practice of what you’re trying to learn. Mentors are the most important and effective way to learn a subject and make it applicable to the real world. It should be utilized by all learning styles.

2.      Create a Problem Solving Activity

Look for ways you can apply your new knowledge. This entails looking how to use it in your everyday life or artificially creating a situation where you could use it. This could be doing an already created activity (From the Internet) or creating and running your own experiment to verify the information (Also from the Internet).

Good Example:

A good example of this is if you wanted to learn to trade stocks. You could actually trade stocks or you could use free web programs that give you fake money to trade on the real stock exchange so you can learn and test your own abilities and strategies.

3.      Use what you learn.

The final and best way to learn something is to actually do it. This entails going out and doing it. Go to a place where you can use your knowledge and practice what you learned.

Public Speaking = Toastmasters International Club

Engineering = Build a shed

Programming = Design a program that solves a problem you have

Business management = Start a Business

Etc. = etc.

Just do the hands-on work and you as an active learner will succeed.

Reflective Learner Techniques

If you are a reflective learner and you’re creating your own class or in a class that doesn’t meet your needs, then these are some specific techniques that work best with your mental inclinations.

1.       Figure out your optimal ratio of learning to breaking.

Reflective learners are notorious for having gestation periods where they need to take the information and let it develop and settle. These can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days.

The key here is to find out how long your gestation period is by experimenting with your own mind. Meaning you research the information and try to learn it. Then take a break to find out how long it takes to digest the information. You can find out your best combination of learning to digesting by choosing to learn something for a certain amount of time and then measuring how long it takes before you know it.

A Good Example:

Study for an hour. Break for an hour. See what you remember.

Repeat using 2 hours of study to 1 hour of breaking.

Repeat using any combination of times until you find your optimal learning to digesting ratio.

2.      Find a good place or activity that helps you learn and gestate.

Where do you learn most comfortable?

Is it at home? A coffee shop? Or library?

Where do gestate the best and retain the most information you learn?

Learn best by finding the place your most comfortable but not easily distracted.

3.      Think of possible questions or applications of what you learn as you learn.

While you think and gestate the information you learn, you need to make connections between what you learned to what you will learn by thinking up questions you have of what you did learn and what you hope to learn in the next bout of learning. This helps connect the information to your mind, storyboarding it.

Another technique is to think of ways you could apply this information to the real world and what you do on a regular basis. This will help cement the information to concrete examples.

4.      Write summaries (How-To Lists) of what you learn in your own words.

Having reflective traits myself, this blog is the epitome of this technique. Taking in new information, learning it, applying it to gain experience, and then finally writing a blog about it to show my understanding. This is the basis of what all reflective learners must do.

If we didn't cover your learning style this week. No worries. All will be covered in good time.

Next Week:

#2: Learn-to-Learn (Part 2 – Sequential and Global Learning Techniques)

See you then.

18 Comments

The Meta-Learning Series: Do you know your Learning-Style?

6/11/2015

19 Comments

#1: Figure-Out your learning style.

If no free class exists, it’s time to build your own.

But before you do, you have to know what your learning-style is.

Because if you don’t, you could be finding learning tools that are useless to you because you don’t learn in that particular way.

A good example is people who learn hands-on versus people who learn conceptually. People who learn conceptually like to use graphs, figures, maps, and other tools to learn a concept, and will tell hands-on people that that is the only way to learn. Whereas hands-on people like to see how something is done with the help of another person to show them what’s right. Finding out what type you are is important to your learning success and completing your own self-study.

To find out your learning style take these two questionnaires and combine them to see what styles best compliment you.

1.       The Vark Quiz – Short Form with quick summary of your learning-style

2.       Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire – Long Form with in-depth analysis of your learning style

After you take these quick questionnaires. You will find out if your learning-style is active or reflective, sensing or intuitive, visual or sensing, and sequential or global.

With each of these styles comes specific techniques that work best with that type of learner as well as others that work with all. That will be covered in later. Now let’s go over each style of learner and their strengths and weaknesses.

1st Spectrum of 4 that details how you like to learn.

Does this sound like YOU?

                Don’t like to be lectured?

                Hate being forced to sit there without any active participation?

Then you have active learner tendencies. Because active learners like learning to be participative and interesting. Which is why you will have a kid who can remember every stat and name of his favorite baseball team, but can’t will never remember anything about the state capitals. Because one is active and can be discussed with friends while the other is taught dryly with no entertainment value.

Or does this sound like you?

                Don’t like when other people talk during lectures? Or when you’re studying?

                Hate every time someone asks a question or slows down the class?

Then you have reflective tendencies. Being the opposite of active learners. You don’t want people to interrupt your process of listening, thinking, and digesting of information. Where an active learner wants to use the information immediately, a reflective learners wants to reflect upon the information and use it later.

2nd Spectrum of 4 that details how you like to learn.

Does this sound like you?

Like to memorize?

Learning facts and figures?

While using the techniques you have always used?

Not liking when things get outside your scope?

Then you’re a sensor. You like repetition, memorization, and well established methods, formulas, and procedures that work so you don’t have to think. You enjoy things that already work with no problems and issues that you can reuse again and again on old and new situations.

Or does this sound like you?

          Like challenging new problems?

          With the ability to think outside the box to find new solutions?

          Then you are an intuitive learner. You enjoy taking on new challenges and enjoy figuring them out, both their problems and solution. Even if either haven’t been figured out yet. Intuitive learners learn usually conceptually and theoretically.

3rd Spectrum of 4 that details how you like to learn.

Does this sound like you?

          Like to learn by actually seeing something done?

          Not told, but physically shown from A to Z?

Then you’re a visual learner. And the reality is. Most people are. Visual   learners learn by seeing How-To Videos, on-the-job training, and flowcharts, graphs, and other visuals that help implant images to memory.

Or does this sound like you?

          Do you learn by reading and writing?

          Without having to be shown how to do it, but told?

Then you are a verbal learner. Verbal learners are able to understand how to do things by reading how others did it or being told how they did, and independent from having to actually being shown how to do it. Entailing they are better at figuring out the minute details that may not be as explicit as seeing how it is done.

4th Spectrum of 4 that details how you like to learn.

Does this sound like you?

          Like to learn step-by-step? In a logical sequence?

          Each step building on the next until it all finally makes sense?

If you do, you are a sequential learner. This type of learner loves step-by-step processes and learns logically by learning the basics and fundamentals of a subject. Building upon the subject by stacking new information on top of each other until the whole picture is known.

Or does this sound like you?

Like to immerse yourself in the information?

Learning randomly until you have that “eureka” moment?

Then you are most likely a global learner. Someone who likes to learn everything about a subject, but in no particular order until one day it all clicks together and you master the subject. The major difference between the two is that sequential learners are able to use the information relatively immediately to take a test while it takes a global learner a certain period of time to let it conceptualize before they can effectively take a test on it. Because the information doesn’t make any sense to you until it clicks in your mind.

Conclusion

But like every spectrum, everyone has more and less the tendencies of each type. As many people display both. It just matters which way you lean more and knowing the best ways to take advantage of your own combination of learning styles to maximize your learning return to become a meta-learner.

For example:

An active/reflective learner may like to participate in group work to get feedback from others in the group, but want to do their own work alone and bring it to the group roughly completed.

A sensing/intuitive learner is someone who likes to use established-methods to figure out problems, but likes to change-it-up to see if the established method can be made better.

A visual/verbal learner may learn best by combining both words and pictures so they can read the steps as they see them being done. Helping them learn that much faster.

And finally, a sequential/global learner may be able to learn sequentially, but only if each presented topic is fully discussed without pieces missing.

Now check us out next week when we take what we have learned so far and use it to find the best learning techniques that will work for your particular learning-style.

Labeled…

#2: Learn-to-Learn: A Guide to Find the Best Techniques for Your Learning-Style.

Best,

L. Thomas

Reference for Learning Styles:

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm

19 Comments

The Meta-Learning Series: Do you know how to learn?

6/4/2015

16 Comments

Education is becoming very, very expensive.

Even worse, it is not actually teaching any viable job skills that the workplace wants.

As for most jobs you’re hired for; require on the job training and have nothing to do with the degree you have.

A good example is my friend, Mike. Mike got his degree in Geology.
After he graduated, do you know what his position was?
He became a software salesman. Selling software to small and large business.

This is why formal education is becoming less valuable. The only caveat to this is if the school has a great reputation that will get you somewhere, but then you’re just paying for the school’s brand and not the education.

Which is why self-study and building your very own classes is to the utmost importance in this day of age.

As the truth is, no one will educate you unless it directly benefits them. Big Education will only do it if they can sap cash or student loans out of you. Branded Education will only let you in if they think you are “worthy” or have a rich parent who can add a wing to the school. And Private Schools want your first-born child as payment while teaching information that is just not useful for work. While also not having the reputation to get you anywhere because hiring managers stigmatize it and refuse to acknowledge it as a legitimate source of education.

That is why self-education is more important as the most successful people I know, from millionaires, CEOs, and entrepreneurs are not “formally educated”, but instead self-studied by reading books that told them how to be successful and then going out and doing it in real life, not the academic world.

That is why today I am bringing you the META-LEARNING SERIES, which will teach you the set-up on how to learn any subject on your own by building a customized class that uses your learning-style and schedule.

Step #0: Make sure that a free class doesn’t already exist

For this step, research the internet or library to find out if someone already created a practical class for the subject you want to learn.

A good example of this is when I wanted to learn how to type. Instead of taking a paid class, buying a book, or even practicing; I researched the internet to find a free website that teaches you how to type; taking you from a beginner to an expert.

After finding this website, I set my schedule of learning to an hour a day (2-3 lessons on the site) and practiced over and over. In just a few short weeks, I was typing like a computer hacker and increased my words per minute by 500%.

All because I did a little research before I moved forward.

If you’re interested in learning more about places to get free classes and education, here are 2 websites that have compiled 100’s of websites that may cover what you’re interested in knowing using class formats, videos, lectures, and even free e-books.

1. Formal FREE University Education

2. Informal Courses with Course Building Blocks

Check us out next week for...

STEP #1: How to Figure Out Your Learning-Style.

16 Comments

Know How to Make the Perfect Post Card?

5/28/2015

53 Comments

Do you use direct mail?

Did you know that post cards are the up and coming way to reach clients?

Because of the inexpensiveness of mailing post cards and the way people respond to direct them, it is time to invest in them especially if you’re a local small business owner and professional.

This includes if you’re a lawyer, doctor, realtor, carpet cleaner, contractor, and more.

Postcard Uses

Postcards are best used as marketing to promote sales, store events, or special occasions at your small business. Keep your message short, your offer sweet, and use eye-catching images that make the card attractive.

What to Keep in Mind when Building One

There are a million things that one can do with a Post Card to make it successful, but like building airplanes, some were never meant to fly. Therefore, these are the things you have to keep in mind.

First…

Hone your Targeting

–        Target a neighborhood based on your ideal client

–        Make a yearlong campaign to this mailing list

–        Use Trigger Words to hit their heartstrings and make it personal

*Note –Rent a direct mail list from sites like hoovers.com, avention.com and infousa.com if you haven’t been able to build your own or use the Post Office’s EDDM Program.

Second…

Use one eye-catching graphic and a Nine-Word headline to grab attention and lead to your content

Third…

Make a Juicy Offer that they can’t refuse.

Such as…

–        Free E-Book that they would want to read

–        First Two Consultations Free

–        Waived Fees

–        Discounts

–        Coupons

*Note – Don’t forget to put the value saved in parenthesis to emphasize what they could be missing. ($99 value)

Ensure you create scarcity by having an expiration date.

–        Example - For One Time Only – Sale Ends 06/01/2015

Fourth…

Developing the content is important

–        Have enough relevant information so that it’s clear what the product or service is

–        Include information on how to respond. This is where you need to get creative

–        For better response ask a question, and bury the answer toward the end of the other side so they are enthralled in wanting the read the entire postcard.

*Note – The most effective direct-mail postcard mailers don’t attempt to sell prospects straight from the postcard. Rather, they compel your readers to take the next step in the purchasing process.

Fifth…

Design the card

–        Make the Post Card Bigger than normal to attract attention

–        Watch your justification - Justifying the left margins helps readers find the beginning of your copy. But if it is centered or justified on both sides, it becomes harder to read.

*Note – Get Creative. Do things to grab attention and never let go. For example, Flip-flop side A and B. Where A is reserved for your photo and headline, while side B contains the pitch along with the stamp and address. Do it to keep your prospects engaged.

Sixth…

Tracking the card

–        Link recipients to a landing page that is specific to the card.

–        Have a postcard specific promo code.

–        Or follow the red-lined link…

Seventh...

Trial Run

–        Run your card by your editor or a few people you know to ensure it gets the desired results

–        Follow the eyes, this is a good technique to see how the post card directs the eyes of someone who receives it. If they follow it through, great, if it has parts that cause the person to lose interest, you have a problem on your hands.

53 Comments

How Do The Most Successful People Create Billion Dollar Companies?

5/14/2015

5 Comments

They Bring People into Their World.

Questions.

Have you ever been sucked into another world?

Feeling it was so real, you escape the confines of this reality to feel like you were there?

Breathing it? Living it?

Escapism.

Statements.

This process and how you feel is what I like to call “Going to the Circus”.

Because whenever I went to the circus as a child. I would feel like I had wandered into an entire other world. The sights, the sounds, the smells. The five senses flayed alive to let me leave my old world behind. And grasp this new one wholeheartedly, even for just the day.

And the man who would help transport me there was the Ringleader.

The rhythmic rhyme of his voice and the way he caricatured the world I was entering, brought me full circle into the circus.

The Point

Now why is this important in your business?

Because albeit the circus is a bit off the cuff, it is still a business. And a successful one if the Ringleader can bring people into his world. As I would visit the circus again and again to get that feeling of escapism back. The feeling of “Going to the Circus”.

And if you think it isn’t that important, ENTIRE BUSINESSES are built upon this process of “Taking People to the Circus”, the oldest example would be the oral tradition of telling stories, having plays, or going to the opera. It has evolved since then into electronic forms such as movies, video games, and coming up virtual reality. As well as physical favorites such as concerts, live shows, and more. If anything these are limiting the true nature of “Going to the Circus” as any time people leave the thoughts of their reality and see themselves in another world can suffice.

People buy into these examples because they want "The EXPERIENCE". The experience of "going to the circus". Which is one of the 3 basic principles of why people buy.

The 3 Principals of Why People Buy

Needs – People need food, oil, water, and shelter. (Smartphones are currently debatable.)
Wants – People want to stylish clothes, nice cars, and big houses (All things to emphasize who they are.)
Experiences – People don’t want things. People want the experience those things bring. They want to have experiences so they can tell stories and when they die, have no regrets about who they were.

Point of Reflection.

Now you have to ask yourself.

Are you only appealing to people’s needs?

Needs that anyone can fulfill?

Or are you doing a bit better and going for their wants?

Their fickle wants that can change at a moment’s notice and leave you out of business?

Or are you creating an unforgettable experience that SURPASSES WANTS AND NEEDS and makes people want to be a part of your world?

Which is it?

The How-To.

But how do you take people there? How do you bring people into your world as a business?

The process is much more like a drama class than a business class. All of which will be revealed… here.

What was the last unforgettable experience that you paid for?

Share in the comments.

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Shadow Cows' Top 3 Marketing Techniques of the Week

5/7/2015

10 Comments

Don't fade away like the rest of the herd.

Its been ages since our last romp with techniques of the week so lets get crackin'.

This is my 8th Edition of “Techniques of the Week” which is an ode to simple writing and marketing techniques that can be used immediately with measurable results in the Before, During, and After of your sales process.

This time, we are twisting things up by having The During First, The After Second, and The Before last.

Now let’s be off this long and winding, forever dwindling, well-lit, un-furnished, parallel with trees and rocks, perpendicular to the Oregon Trail, tangent with the Emerald City, running under the Pacific Ocean, and back-around road.

The During

This technique to get more people to know who you are, your business, and actually showoff your service is called the workshop.

What exactly is a workshop, mind you?

A workshop is getting a group of people together to experience your product, service, or knowledge of your business. It can be paid or free depending on the type of prospects you want to attract. As free may give you more prospects, but paid will give you more qualified buyers as they are already proven they have no problem paying and continuing to use your product and service.

The main goal however is to attract, capture, and maintain a healthy number of lifetime new customers.

How does it work?

1.       Identify what you want to sell (Ensure you only give them a taste so they are left wanting more)

a.       Product – a physical product like acne cream

b.      Service – a physical service like a massage or repair

c.       Information – a teaser that gives people great information that entices them the buy the entire Infoproduct, like a book, class, seminar, etc..

2.       Identify how you want to sell it

a.       Give out free samples of what you do and ask for a follow-up

b.      Teach them how to do some of it themselves to see it work, but emphasize they still need the work of a professional

c.       Give out free information that they can use to see if it’s something they want

d.      Educate them on who you are, what you do, and your company goals

3.       Create the Event

a.       Build an outline of how you want to present your workshop

b.      This is theater so you will need to find what atmosphere you want to create

i.      Hype, Excitement, and eagerness to buy

ii.      Chilled, Laid-back, and a place they want to come back to relax

iii.      A place to have fun and let loose

iv.      A place to be entertained

v.      And many many more.

4.       Market it

a.       Find out where your target market hangs out and post ads to entice them to show up

5.       Have it

a.       Do your workshop and ensure you get all the numbers to see how successful it was.

6.       Follow-up

a.       Ensure all of your new qualified prospects become life-time customers

Workshops – Hold a “How to” workshop to bolster your network profile and land new clients

The After

Some products don’t have much value when they are sold. And the only real way to make a living on them is to service them afterwards. Which is why it is important to include it in your marketing. Because if your business model runs on this concept, you could find yourself wanting as your customer doesn’t know that you service your products. And instead of paying to get it fixed, they instead throw it away and buy a new one from a competitor. Leaving you out a customer.

Therefore you have to emphasize The Service After The Sale. You have to let your customer know that you have servicing of the product in place and it is readily available if they have trouble.

·         This could be a Servicing Card that is comes with the product and tells them how to get service, have a discount offer on it so they keep it, and finally thanking them for their business.

·         Or actually have the Call for Service Phone # right on the product. So if it breaks or malfunctions. They know who to call.

This is very important to maintain your customer relationship when it is in its most dire straits. As the moment your product breaks, is the moment where your customer is most at risk for abandoning your product forever.

The Service After Sale – Sell a product that needs service afterwards and make a living off servicing

The Before

The key to marketing is to know your prospect before you even meet them. You need to understand how they tick. What makes them zig and what makes them zag. A great blog post that goes over all the feelings and motivations that go into psychological triggers is here. Once you understand their behavior and personality, you can guide their emotions and actions through psychological triggers.

                So how do psychological triggers work?

All of us have been affected by what is around us. These influences can come from anywhere, but usually are passed down from our families and the surrounding community around us. And we are susceptible to these influences, especially during childhood. Which is why it is important to know where someone comes from as the individual will very well have the same beliefs and values as the community that raised them.

                And those beliefs and values are what is important to using psychological triggers. As one trigger will affect one person one way and another in another way.

                For example:

                A good psychological trigger is the American Flag.

If you use the American Flag on a piece of copy, it triggers the person reading it to start thinking of America and how proud they are to be an American. Or it could trigger resentment as the person may not feel happy about nationalism. All depends on your audience.

Which brings us back to what a psychological trigger is. It is a word, phrase, sound, or symbol that elicits a certain feeling from the audience. It could be persuasive like FREE or BENEFIT or entertaining like a video of Grumpy Cat or the iconic MGM Studio Lion. It simply sets the tone and mood of what happens next.

How to use them?

1.       Outline what you’re writing or acting out.

2.       Tag each section of the piece with the feeling you want the audience to feel as they read or watch.

3.       Find psychological triggers to put in each section to elicit those emotions from the audience to set the tone and mood for the journey you’re going to take them on.

Psychological Triggers – Use a symbol, word, or item to instill a undeniable thought, feel, or emotion from your client

And there you have it.

Three ways to get people so hyped about your products they will cause mass mayhem through the streets. All for a simple product and service.

So how do you get people hyped up for your business?

Let us know in the comments.

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In your 20's? You need to think about Retirement.

4/23/2015

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9 Ways to Come out Ahead in Retirement.

Retirement? Resmirement.

I hear this all the time from associates, coworkers, and even elders.

But why?

Why do fewer than half of Americans calculate how much they need to save for retirement?

Why in 2012, did 30 percent of workers with access to a defined contribution plan (such as a 401(k) plan) did not participate?

When:

According to the latest National Retirement Risk Index from the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College. That 53 percent of households risk falling more than 10 percent short of the retirement income to maintain their standard of living.

And:

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 40 percent of retirees are at risk of running out of money for even their daily needs. To include out-of-pocket spending on health care or long-term care.

Then why are so many people saying “Retirement. Resmirement.”?

When so many people are not making ends meet when they get older.

It just doesn’t make any sense. And it definitely doesn’t make any sense for you either.

Which is why you need to start saving today with these 9 Ways to Come out Ahead in Retirement.

1.      START SAVING. KEEP SAVING. AS IF YOU’RE LIFE DEPENDED ON IT.

Because it does. Your life when you’re older is on the line, and if you aren’t saving, you can see a considerable drop your quality of life.

Which is why you need to turn saving into a rewarding habit.

The best way to do it:

1.       Start small – save a little bit each day, even if it is only the amount of a cup of coffee each day (3 dollars a day).

2.       Increase the amount – every month put in more and as much as you’re comfortable with.

3.       Save sooner rather than later - the more time your money has to grow, the much larger it becomes. Just think of exponential growth, as compound interest compounds. It very much becomes so much more than what you put in originally. As much as thousands and thousands.

2. Know how much you will need to retire on to maintain your lifestyle or even improve it

Most experts say that you will need at least 70 percent of your preretirement income – or if you make less, 90 percent or more – to live the way you do now when you stop working.

Which means take charge of your financial future, you’re the captain of your destiny.

Therefore Plan ahead by:

1.       Establishing how you want to live when you retire

2.       Seeing how much money you need to live that way

3.       The best ways to invest your retirement to meet those needs such as real estate, stocks/bonds, and businesses

3. Contribute to your Employer’s Retirement Savings Plan

Employed with an employer who offers a retirement savings plan, such as a 401(k) plan?

Sign up immediately and contribute all you can. As it is one the best vehicles to retire through as it lowers your taxes, your employer might price match your contributions , and you can put your savings on autopilot as you can usually have a percent automatically deducted.This is important as the interest compounds and it usually is taxed considerable less than other alternatives.

Therefore:

1.       Signup

2.       Set-up how your 401(k) is invested

3.       Find out how much your employer price matches

4.       Contribute

4. Find out if your Employer has a Pension Plan

Find out if your employer has a traditional pension plan. See how you qualify and how it works so you can find the best way to get the most out of it.

This includes:

1.       Seeing how much the benefit is worth

2.       How does it affect the pension if you transfer jobs

3.       See what other benefits your entitled to

5. Consider Basic Investment Principles

Learning to save is learning to invest. Because all your retirement accounts have to be invested into something once you contribute to them. This can include real estate, stocks/bonds, and businesses.

Which is why it’s important to know how to invest it or inflation and taxes will eat away your retirement and savings.

Therefore:

1.       Know how your savings or pension plan is invested. Learn about your plan's investment options and ask questions

2.       Diversify your retirement by putting your savings in different types of investments

3.       Continue to monitor your investment mix and change it over time depending on a number of factors such as your age, goals, and financial circumstances

6. No matter what happens. DON’T TOUCH your retirement savings

If you touch your retirement now, you will lose principal and interest, as well as tax benefits, and even have to pay withdrawal penalties. That means even if you change jobs. Leave your savings invested in your current retirement plan, or roll them over to an IRA or your new employer's plan. Just don’t take them out.

7. Ask your employer to start a plan

If your employer doesn't have a retirement plan, it may be time for them to start one. So suggest a number of the retirement saving plan options available. This can include even a simplified plan that can help both you and your employer.

Such as:

1.       Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP IRA)

2.       Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE IRA)

3.       Self-Employed 401(k) plan

4.       401(k) plan (better for larger companies given setup costs, administration, fiduciary responsibilities, etc.)

8. Put money into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA)

Once you have exhausted your 401(k) and other investment vehicles. It’s time to set up an IRA which you can put up to $5,500 a year into for even more tax advantages. If you are older than 50 you can contribute even more.

They work much like a 401(k) but have 2 different options. – A traditional IRA or a Roth IRA.

The major difference is in their tax treatment of your contributions and withdrawals.

For example:

Traditional IRAs

·         Anyone with earned income, who is younger than 70 ½, can contribute to a traditional IRA

·         Traditional IRA contributions are tax deductible on all tax returns for the year you make the contribution, but withdrawals in retirement still taxed as ordinary income with the appropriate tax rate

·         You are required to take minimum distributions at age 70 1/2

·         Traditional IRAs lower your taxable income in the contribution year

o   Meaning: your adjusted gross income is lowered to help qualify you for other tax incentives you wouldn’t normally get, such as child tax credits or the student loan interest deductions

Roth IRAs:

·         Roth IRAs have income-eligibility restrictions

·         They provide no tax break for contributions, but earnings and withdrawals are generally tax-free

·         There are no mandated withdrawals during the owner’s lifetime

·         Roth contributions (but not earnings) can be withdrawn penalty- and tax-free any time, even before age 59 ½

9. Ask Questions

Even though these 9 tips gives you a push in the right direction, it is time to get even more information. Because what is available to you, what types of risks you are comfortable, and you’re financial goals is different to everyone.

Therefore:

·         Talk to your employer, your bank, your union, or a financial adviser

·         Ask questions and make sure you understand the answers

·         Get practical advice and act now

·         Learn and make choices that fit your goals

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PRODUCE THE PRODUCT OR BECOME THE PRODUCT!

4/9/2015

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PRODUCE THE PRODUCT OR BECOME THE PRODUCT!

What does this mean?

It’s the real answer to one of the most asked questions by any young person.

What should I do to be successful?

Well you need to…

Produce the Product

This means creating a great service, product, or idea that can be sold to consumers or investors.

So how do you produce the product?

Well you need to do three things.

First,

Identify the problems and hassles that a person or industry has.

Second,

            Find a way to solve that problem.

Remember that you don’t always have to develop the solution, but can instead just fashion a great idea that can be sold to others and built from there with your time and their money.

Third,

            Market it.

No matter how great your idea is. If it doesn’t resonate with the people you’re selling to. It will never find wind beneath its wings and take off.

Or …

Become the Product

This means enhancing yourself to become a self-made person who is amiable, interesting, and irresistible.

Becoming the product is usually 10x harder than producing the product.

This is because you have to change yourself.

And changing yourself can become one of the hardest experiences of your life.

Because you have to take a good hard look at yourself, decide what is wrong with your behavior and actions that cause you to not be amiable, interesting, and irresistible.

Now how do you do that?

The best ways are to:

#1: Become interesting.

To become interesting, be well read, cultured, have amazing experiences, and become a great story teller.

To be well read:

·         Read books on philosophy, science, and other deep-esque material.

To be cultured:

·         Get out of the house and see the world, be it another country, city, or exotic location

To have amazing experiences:

·         We sadly only live once. Therefore it is imperative to experience while you still can. Be it be new people, learning new skills, or anything. Just get out of your comfort zone.

o   I personally do speaking and have tried my hand at stand-up.

And finally become a great storyteller:

·         The other 3 feed into this last one because if you have no stories to tell and nothing interesting to say because you have no foundation by being well-read, cultured, and full of great experiences.

·         So become a great story teller as the most successful people tell great stories and takes everyone else on the ride

#2: Become amiable.

Nobody enjoys someone who is mean and unlikable. And the only ones who are able to be successful without being amiable are usually those who produce the product and don’t become the product. Of course there are exceptions, but usually they were amiable before they were powerful enough to become whoever they wanted.

                        Therefore you have to be amiable and likable.

Well how do you do that:

·         Treat People as People.

o   They are not means to an ends.

·         Become a Provider

o   Whenever someone needs something, be sure to be there to provide. Be it supplies, services, or just a helping hand.

·         Maintain Good Relationships

o   If you treat people like people and become a provider it is much easier to maintain relationships, even when you disagree. Because they value you beyond one disagreement.

#3: Become irresistible.

Here is the fun one. Everyone wants to know how to become irresistible. The keys to this is to have a fun personality and be charming.

But just how do you do that?

·         Have a Fun Personality

o   Be humorous

o   Be confident

§ “Fake it til you make it." This means pretending that you're full of confidence even if you feel shy or nervous inside.

·         Be Charming

o   Smile a lot.

§ Smiling is an essential part to appear more attractive

o   Make eye contact.

§ Making and holding eye contact is essential to effective communication between people.

§ It says that you are listening and interested in what they have to say.

o   Be a good conversationalist.

§ Ask lots of questions

§ Say the other person’s name as much as possible in the conversation

§ Find some common ground

o   And always leave people wanting more.

§ Be so entertaining that they can’t wait to meet with you again.

And there you have it.

You now know how to produce the product or become the product.

These are the 2 best ways to be successful. You can pick one and go with it. Or do both. It all depends on where your talents lie.

So now the real question?

What are YOU going to do?

Produce the Product or Become the Product?

Enjoyed this week’s blog?

Then it’s time to hear about Joe.

Joe is our Everyman, and learn how he became the Champion.

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The Down and Dirty of Press Releases

4/2/2015

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Press Releases could be the most important part of your advertising life.

As publicity is the good side of advertising.

All because your being verified by a third party.

And to take advantage of this wonderful way to stand out, you have to keep these questions in mind.

1. Is there anything "new" in my story?

2. Is there anything unusual or unexpected about it?

3. Would this be of interest to anyone outside my business?

4. Will anyone actually care?

The key is to be realistic.

Now let’s get to the good stuff.

The Down and Dirty of Press Releases

The Optimal Length - about 300 to 400 words (the length of a short news item).

·         3 or 4 short paragraphs and a few quotes.

The Headline

·         Should be an eye-catching and genuine headline that contains the important keywords of your release.

The Opening

·         Start the release with the date and location, as well a lead sentence that concisely summarizes the release and where you think it might fit in the publication you're pitching to. While answering the "Five W's": Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

o   Ensure it is no more than around 15-20 words

The Body

·         In the Body, use as many concrete facts as you can, and avoid embellishment. Use sub-headings and bullet points to make information easy to digest, particularly if you're including figures or statistics.

The Ending

·         Include your company's contact information at the bottom. Provide access to more information.

·         End with "###" to signal the end of the release.

The Edit

·         Remember to revise the press release so that it is lean, clear, and to-the-point.

The Tips

·         Paste your press release into the Email as well as a busy journalist may not bother to an open an attachment

·         In the email you send, create a conversation –

o   For example-

§ I have an idea about this restaurant I know well" and "I think it'd be a good idea, but I'd like to hear what you think."

·         Quotes should be used to provide insight and opinion and sound like a real person said them.

·         Another trick is to imagine your story is going to be covered on a TV or radio program. A presenter generally has around 5-6 seconds to introduce each item.

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In your 20's? You need to think about Retirement.

PRODUCE THE PRODUCT OR BECOME THE PRODUCT!

The Down and Dirty of Press Releases

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