Problems Don’t Age Well

 

       Like many people who read this newsletter I enjoy wine.  The wine I enjoy has aged for a while and that time spent aging adds to the bouquet of the wine and enhances the taste.  While I don’t pretend to understand the mechanism I can tell you that I like the result and encourage winemakers when I have the chance.  Problems are different in that they don’t age well.
When I had my private practice I knew that certain people had certain problems that defined them as a person.  Removal of the problem meant nothing more than they had to go find or invent another problem to further define them.  The Entrepreneurs I work with are quite different in that they don’t need to find issues, rather the issues find them.  While this is not helpful it is the nature of the beast.  The entrepreneurs that rise to the top deal with these problems in an on point manner as soon as they arise.
There are 2 ways to deal with a problem and only you get to decide which route you take.  If you can declare that a problem is a non-issue and walk away from it you are doing well.  If you have a problem that you cannot walk away from your best response is to overwhelm the issue and go at the problem from several different angles at the same time.  The longer a problem is allowed to exist the harder it is to solve.
In cage fighting the goal is to get the opponent on the ground as rapidly as possible and go for the submission.  In football you want to strike for the end zone as fast as possible and then score and score often.  In business you must figure out what the actual problem is, confront it and put it to rest.  Move fast, be focused, get help, don’t change the subject and act like you are killing an ant with an assault rifle.  Solve your problem with everything you have and then move on.
What is the problem you have to solve today?  You have to solve it for either you or someone else and leaving it unsolved brings an unacceptable cost and angst.  Overwhelm the issue and get to the other side.
I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of and what to eliminate and help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

Now/Today Is The Right Time!

 

Now is the only time you have and urgency matters.  Now is the only time that is and now matters.  The perfect time to do anything will never come along and waiting for that moment is a fools game.   In fact, when is the perfect time to:

  • Get married
  • Have a child
  • Have another child
  • Go to school
  • Quit a job
  • Buy a house
  • Retire
  • Un-Retire
       There’s no perfect time to do any of these and there’s nothing other than a perfect time to do these.  The time you do it is the perfect time because that is when you did it.  No other reason need exist.  This time is the time.  Acting now is at the very least the most powerful and self affirming thing that you can do.  Investing in you and your success is the best decision you can make now.  Most everyone waits for the right moment to do something and then never bother to define what the right moment looks like in detail.  Nursing homes are full of people waiting for the exact right moment to do something.  What do you need to solve today?  You have to solve it for either you or someone else and leaving it unsolved brings an unacceptable cost and angst.  Overwhelm the issue and get to the other side.
In the words of Werner Erhard “Most people wait for
the decisive moment, whereas people of power are
decisive in the moment!”
     I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of and what to eliminate and help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

What Is A Used Book Really Worth?

 

Earlier this week I took 78 books from my personal library to the local used book store in the hopes that someone else can put them to good use.  This is not a consignment store, rather a store where they sell books at a discount and you never know what you will find there.  I donate my books there and I love this place!
As I was making several trips from my car to the store to bring the books in the woman working the counter wondered out loud how great it would be if I could have the money I spent for these books back in cash.  My initial response was Yes that would be great and after reflecting for about 2 nano-seconds I reversed my initial opinion and told her I would decline the cash in hand for the knowledge in my brain.  All of us have the opportunity to learn in different ways and those ways change as we mature.  I am a dinosaur in that I still read hardcover books and I even read the occasional Kindle book.  I know others that attend window university and learn while behind the wheel of their car or learn from video based productions.  No matter how you learn school will never be out for the professional.
I am down to about 1000 books in my personal library and not too long ago that number was closer to 3000.  I know people who have audio libraries every bit that large and others that have large video libraries as well.  The key is the not the size of the library but using the material and handing it off to others so they might learn.  I am often surprised to see who wants to learn and at times saddened by those unwilling to do so.  Learning and applying information is critical and in the words of Frank Zappa “It’s not getting any smarter out there!”
       What have you read or listened to recently, what did you get out of that and would you recommend it to someone else?  I want to share your information because we are all in this together!  Shoot me an e-mail by clicking below and everyone will get the benefit of what you learned.
I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of, what to eliminate and then help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

Thought Assault…

 

Voltaire, was a French writer and public activist who played a singular role in defining the eighteenth-century movement called the Enlightenment. At the center of his work was a new conception of philosophy and the philosopher that in several crucial respects influenced the modern concept of each.  One of my favorite quotes from Voltaire is “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”  This is true of every issue humans have both personal and professional.
Thinking is also the hardest work we ever do and that is the reason so few people ever bother to do it.  So many other things are easier!  Counselors and coaches are a great help because we are not emotionally involved in the problems we hear about.  The lack of emotional involvement means that we never hear that inner voice that tells them to do the easy or comfortable activity. The process is helped along by asking the following question and then listening and acting on the answer you get.  “what if this was someone else’s problem?  What would I advise them to do?”  The follow up to that question is “What are 10 ways I could solve this problem?”  Don’t quit until you have written those 10 ways down and have taken action on at least 1 of them.
I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of, what to eliminate and then help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

What Should You Stop Doing To Get What You Want?

As a coach I am often asked “what do I need to do to accomplish” whatever the goal of the day is.  It ranges from how to make more money to how to have better relationships with my spouse.  The saddest aspect of these questions are that they often come down to what you should stop doing to accomplish what you want.

Making more money may require better work, more marketing or even asking for a referral.  Making more money requires someone to stop complaining, stop watching so much television, stop blaming everyone else and the commitment to stop what isn’t serving you.

Having a better relationship with your spouse requires you to care more, do more and appreciate them more.  Most everyone I have talked to will improve their relationship with their spouse if they stop complaining, stop Facebook and stop finding fault.  As Colin Powell says “Don’t just do something, stand there!”

Almost everyone is doing something they need to stop. It’s easy to identify that in someone else,  the growth is to identify what to stop in your own behavior.

Copy and paste this into a browser for a humorous example of how to stop stopping https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bob+newhart+stop+it  .  What should you stop to go faster and get more done?

My name is Steven Clauson and I work with professionals who don’t have a back door when things get tough. If you want to stop the actions that are slowing you down then call me at 916-230-0176 or leave me a message at steve@stevenclauson.com

Americans Want More Spending And Lower Taxes.

A survey recently conducted by the research team NORC at the University of Chicago showed that Americans want more government spending and they also want lower taxes. The same survey showed that support for spending more tax dollars on health care has dropped dramatically! Could anything be less surprising? Who else wants more for less?

This is the customer we are working with. They want more, more, more and are willing to do precious little to get it. These are some of your competitors in business today as well. And I thought they knew better.

I met someone last week in a profession where sales skills matter. They have never invested in a sales class and never even listened to a sales training tape. They were doing ok until 2008 when there was a particularly nasty recession as you may recall. Most people I know weathered it with ease while some just fell apart. This man fell apart and wants to put his business back together. He wants to hit the “Easy” button and solve his problems. No customer list, no testimonials, never visited his business Yelp Account and while he gets a few calls from Angie’s list and has no earthly idea why. In short, he doesn’t have a business… he has a job and that explains the panic mode.

His solution requires some old fashioned roll up your sleeves and get focused work. He says he is ready to get that done. For the sake of him and his family I hope he is being honest with himself.

Success is seldom bestowed on anyone who wants more while giving less, and when it does happen its’ typically a short term win. No one wants short term by the way!

The early indications are positive. His next 24 years will contain a level of focus the last 24 lacked. Time will tell what happens next. As the player said in Jerry Maguire… “Show Me The Money!” his base is saying “Show Me Why I Am Using You”. When we move from a job into a business we show them why. Everyone needs to focus on showing them why!