LEGENDARY - s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com€¦ · LEGENDARY The Only Way To Guarantee Success In...

LEGENDARY The Only Way To Guarantee Success In Business Is To Be Number 1 In Your Market

By Quentin Pain

TheNumberOneClub.com

ISBN13: 9781517592615

LEGENDARY The Only Way To Guarantee Success In Business Is To Be Number 1 In Your Market © 2015/2016 Quentin Pain All rights reserved by the copyright holder including the rights to reproduce this book in any form whatsoever. All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. First Printed October 2015 First Revised Electronic Edition August 2016 Designed by Quentin Pain 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

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To Freedom Freedom is the only real human right. Freedom means having choice. If you value freedom but don't feel free, ask yourself why, then do everything you can to make it so.



How To Use This Book This book is short. There is no filler. I suggest you read it straight through once, noting anything that resonates with you. Those will be your Eureka moments that are swiftly lost to time if they are not recorded and no action is taken. If you want to get in touch with me: Email: [email protected] Twitter: @quentinpain LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quentinpain Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marketingbible


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Focus The ONLY way to guarantee success in business is to become number 1 in your market.

Make that your single objective and you will get what you want.

Every decision you ever make is 10x easier when weighed against this single objective.

Becoming number 1 in your market means understanding, respecting and caring for your customers more than anyone else.

When you focus on this one thing, your business will grow because your customers discover they need you more than you need them.

Your job is to cure their neediness. They are waiting. Will you show up?



Introduction In every barrel there is a bad apple. The bad apple will take down every other apple in the barrel. If you're in the barrel, it will take you down too.

It does this because being bad is the only thing it wants to do. That is its purpose. It is completely clear on its vision and mission.

If you're a good apple, you need to get out of the barrel now. And if you do, who knows, you might just take a few other good apples with you.

Let the bad apples rot on their own. That is what they want to do, so do them a favour and leave them to it.

There is a myth that the buddha said "when the student is ready, the teacher appears". However, there is a better version: "when the person is ready, the message makes sense".

This puts the emphasis on you and not the teacher. When a message makes sense it is because it fires a Eureka moment. That is the point at which change happens. And change is



what you need if you want something different to happen.

Eureka moments happen when everything aligns. When our 'hearts and minds' meet as one.

When I switched from starting businesses that sold products and services (6 of them from 1979 to 2013) to starting a business that helped people I learnt something about myself I had never fully taken on board.

Most of us think we know what we want in life: a great job, perfect partner, new house, new car, plenty of money, holidays, pension, and once we're on that path, we rest on our laurels and hope it will work out.

What we don't know is how our lives will bounce between fear, stress and on occasion, happiness. We are brought up with these things and so we never question them.

But we can and should. If life is a challenge, challenge it. And at the same time, adopt a zero tolerance to stress. This is easy to do if you will just accept it's possible.



This book is about growth.

It is based on the philosophy that being objective is the only way to be. The opposite is subjective. Subjective is opinion. Objective is real. Asking a focus group for an opinion is subjective. Selling a product to a customer is real. It is objective. Which would you rather have in your business?

What's your purpose? What do you really want? You will find it wrapped up in your beliefs. Your beliefs are your philosophy. Your philosophy includes your ethics. Your ethics can be found in this single question: how far are you prepared to go? That is reality.

Fear is your biggest block to success. How do you overcome it? By recognising and accepting it. If you felt any resistance or defence when you read this, that is your starting point. To be responsible for everything you do is the way to power.

We fail to do things almost always because we are frightened for one reason or another.

This book is based on my experience of life and those of my clients. Everyone I have ever known who also craved success suffered from



the same set of problems, and that was the catalyst for the book.

To be Legendary means pushing every boundary. To live life to its fullest. To explore everything. To accept your worst fears. To prove beyond any question what is possible.

It's your future. What do you want it to be? You have a choice. Choice is freedom.



1. Leverage Using leverage is the fastest way to grow a business. It is the last thing you will do in a long series of events covered in this book.

We start with it, because we need to keep the end in mind right from the beginning. The 'end' uses leverage as the fastest way to create our vision for the business. Vision is covered later in chapter 9 and is perhaps the most important part of this book.

We all have vision, though few choose to use it very often. Vision is the future. Part of figuring out the future (when it comes to business) is deciding if something can be leveraged.

When you have an audience leverage is possible. Leverage means influencing many. There are two models:

1. One to many. One person or event influencing a crowd.

2. One to one to many. One person or event influencing another who can influence a crowd.



If other people are regularly talking to the same audience you want to influence, then you have proof of the possibility of leverage.

Before you can do this you must understand who your audience is. A business without an audience is not a business.

Who are you trying to influence? Who is the end user of your product or service? This is the most fundamental question in business. A vision without an audience is no use to anybody except yourself.

Do you believe your audience will appear once you are ready to go? Do you believe in the hope that whatever you do will attract people?

Hope is fine when you wish it upon others, but a waste of your precious time and energy when used on yourself.

Hope is doing the national lottery. There is nothing wrong with that, it's just a different business model that fails for 99.999999...% of everyone eg. 1 in 14 million for the UK lottery.

There are 65.1 million people in the UK (2016). Of those approx. 41 million are of working age. Of those, 5.4 million run a business. That



means 1 in 8 working people in the UK run a business. According to ONS (UK Office of National Statistics) 50% of businesses survive for 4 years. 1 in 10 go out of business each year and 1 in 12 start up.

The point is simple. Your chances of starting a successful business are legions greater than your chances of winning the lottery. All you need to do is understand your audience and ensure they understand you. When this happens you get sustainable leverage. Hope is a useless business model.

Where are the influencers in your market?

Once you understand who your market is you can find the influencers. They are the people who are already talking to your audience. They are journalists, bloggers, associations and other companies. They may also be celebrities, TV and radio presenters, and VIPs.

And never forget the individual members of your audience. In every audience there are ambassadors and spokespeople. You will find them in forums on the internet and in group, club or association memberships.



All of these people have strong opinions. They are influencers and the fact that they are influencing people means their messages matter. They together with every member of your audience are your future. They hold the key to everything you want.

The best businesses are run on campaigns. A series of campaigns form a strategy. A strategy is how you grow a business. A good strategy reduces stress and allows a business to scale efficiently.

How many campaigns are you running right now? What campaigns have you got planned for the future?

Finding your top influencers is a campaign. How will you get it started? Why not make a list of every blog, forum, fan club, association, publication, journalist and competitor in your market. Then pick a single personality from the list and make it your campaign to find out everything about them.

If they fit, then you can get to know them personally. How will you do that? Think about how you would like to be approached yourself if someone were thinking of influencing you to



help them. What would they need to say or do for you to become your next best friend?

What could they offer you that would make it irresistible to talk with them. Everything we do in life uses persuasion of one sort or another. We are ultimately selfish beings despite our best efforts to hide it using altruism or philanthropy. It is in all of life's DNA to survive.

Suppose you could supply your influencer with enough good stuff to get them to want to not only use it, but to state the fact they are forever grateful to you? Suppose you could seriously help them to do their job in a way that didn't seem to be pushy or intrusive?

Do you think they would gladly accept your help? If not, why not? What else would you need to do to get that bond? That is your mission if you want to use leverage to maximise the potential of your business.

The major influencers in your business have already done the work you are now trying to do. They have built the audience for you. They are your potential new best friends.



2. Education Education teaches you facts and ideas. It also teaches how to find out more about facts and ideas. And it teaches what you can do with them.

Marketing teaches you about a product, service or company. It teaches how you can find out more about them, what you can do with them, and how they can deliver a brighter future.

Marketing is Education. Marketing is not Selling.

Let your audience do the selling. Let them sell it to themselves by reading or listening to your marketing.

Your marketing can educate them on the cost of things. It can educate them on the best solution for their problem. It can educate them on what not to do.

It can also educate them on what you do. It can educate them on how you do what you do in a different way (a way that is more beneficial to



them). It can educate them on how they can find out more about you and what you do.

When you start thinking in these terms, your business will start growing a lot faster. It will grow with less effort and less friction.

The best education is interactive. People don't like to be lectured to especially entrepreneurs. Remember school? People love to answer questions, and if it doesn't get nurtured out of them in their early home and school life, they love to ask them too.

The people who ask the most questions are the people who create the opportunities. Opportunities are created by people.And every opportunity represents someone's agenda. Make that agenda yours.

Be the person who creates the opportunities. Be the educator who cares about their audience and gives them what they want.

If they know you care, they will care back.

A good educator asks good questions. But what are those questions? Ask your audience. They know. They've been waiting their whole



life for someone to start asking the right questions.

Make a list of everything your audience really cares about in respect of how you help them. This is not about you though. It's about them. We'll come to you later (you matter more).

Your job as an educator includes the one to one to many leverage model covered earlier. There are 3 entities involved:

1. The audience (your prospects and customers)

2. The lever (your influencers) 3. The lever puller (you)

The lever you are pulling is connected to more educators. They are the people who directly influence your audience. They are the individuals, journalists, and bloggers in your market.

Your job is to educate them that you care deeply about their audience. So your job is to find out as much as you can about their audience and what they think their audience wants.



Only then can you deliver to them something that is valuable. Something that they can publish that will make them look great in the eyes of their audience.

This way, they will come back to you and want more of what you do (as an educator). And this opens the trust door ready for you to gently educate them further on how you can help them retain and also win an even bigger audience (the ultimate incentive).

At some point you will both spot an opportunity to work together on a joint venture. A joint venture in this sense can be something as simple as a profit share on one of your services or products (unlikely and usually unethical for journalists, but a very big deal for bloggers).

Your influencers will become your ambassadors and your advocates. Further opportunities are likely to open in the publishing world.

Start thinking about how you can fill that void. Perhaps you have an idea for a book that would suit the influencer's audience. Perhaps a compilation of all your articles. Perhaps the publication itself may make an offer to publish



it. Perhaps the influencer can contribute to your next book and be cited as a coauthor?

Many things can happen once you have educated your influencers. Just remember this can only happen after trust has been established. Always ask permission first ("have you thought about a joint venture? I have an idea, would you be interested in hearing it?"). They must say yes before you go on or the trust may be broken.

To deliver the best education you must know everything the audience knows. You must know what they already know, what they don't know, know what they are currently interested in, and have an idea of what they believe the future might look like (even though it is up to you to invent it).

The simplest way to find that out is to suggest ideas or topics whenever you get the opportunity to communicate with them. If this is via a blog, the answers may come in the comments they write to your questions and nudges. Listen carefully.

Listen for resistance. Listen for defensive replies. Write a list of every problem they tell you about. This can be used to seed your next



communication with them (maybe by podcast, webinar, seminar or article).

Objections are the holy grail of business. They are the golden nuggets without which you will never truly know your audience. Get every chance you can to communicate with them and make the most of it.

You cannot ask enough questions. They will be eager to reply if you keep the questions focused on them. At the start, in their minds, you don't mean a thing. It will be their decision whether or not they come to respect you. And if they don't, you lose.

The education you deliver tells your audience all about you. It positions you in their eyes in a certain way, and they will be quick to come to that decision. Think about yourself and fast you make up your mind about someone. They are no different. We're all human.

The better you educate the stronger the respect. The stronger the respect, the easier the sale.

Education is the ultimate presell. Get this right and when they turn up to buy all you need is a buy button. No selling is necessary. Just an



image, description, shopping cart and merchant account.

Get it wrong and your best ever sales letter will fail most of the time.

Education is a drip drip strategy. Every drip is another 'touch' you hope the prospect will see, hear or feel. Each drip may be a tip, a tactic, a suggestion, a reference, a pat on the back, a gift, or any number of other things useful and relevant to them. With all the noise around, you need as many as possible. Make sure your reservoir is full and your tap can take the strain.

Marketing educates your audience. It positions you, your company, and your product and reveals every possible reason why your audience should choose you above all others.

Without marketing there can be no long term business. It's by far the most important operation in any organisation. Educate, educate, educate. Always be thinking about education. What does your audience need to learn today? Go give it to them.



3. Giving Carl Jung declared that resistance persists. Resistance happens when you push, pull or take.

Why would you want to induce resistance in anyone? Who gains from that? Resistance is futile.

Yet resistance plays a major part in our lives every day. When did you last resist something? Can you even remember? Are you resisting this very question? It becomes embedded in us to the point of blindness.

When I point out someone's resistance, they usually deny it using defense instead. We truly hate it when we believe we are being criticised. Either way, when resistance strikes we always eventually find a less resistant path. This is because of the inordinate amount of energy it uses.

Resistance and defense is expensive and that cost increases exponentially until it is removed or reduced.



Can you imagine what it would feel like to remove all resistance and defense? Yes, it would cost you a whole bunch of values. But whose values are they anyway? How useful are those values?

Do you live by boundaries? Boundaries are just more values. Boundaries stop stuff from happening. They inhibit change. Have you checked your boundaries recently? Boundaries decrease energy, yet many believe the opposite.

Top salespeople understand values, boundaries, resistance, and defense. They understand influence. They break down barriers so effectively, they institute change in others. But if they fail in any way, buyers remorse follows, and a customer is lost. They drop back to mediocrity.

The greatest ever influencer is reciprocity according to psychologist Robert Cialdini. It's the tit for tat principle. There is perceived equal value on both sides (with a need, want, or desire present on both sides).

However, reciprocity can be invoked, especially if you really understand your



audience (be warned that you can also invoke negative reciprocity revenge!).

When we receive we feel obliged deep down to return the favour (provided we're not 'forced' to in which case we invoke resistance again).

Reciprocity is invoked by giving. Having a giving mindset will always get you further to your goal. It must do, otherwise the notion that reciprocity is the most powerful influencer is nonsense.

As always we come back to beliefs. What you believe will determine the action you take.

Assuming you believe this, it makes sense to give your education freely and unconditionally. Your reputation will grow rapidly and your audience will widen as more and more start sharing what you do (no one minds sharing good stuff that is given unconditionally).

The search engines will reward you strongly for your giving too. Google wants to deliver the best possible results or their audience will abandon them. Give the best possible stuff and let Google do its work.



When all we do is take we all end up with nothing as there is nothing left to give. And when we have nothing left to give only destruction follows.

The reverse is true when we give. The world flows freely. Economies flow. More people get more. In the act of reciprocity we happily accept gifts, and in turn we reciprocate back.

When you give, someone else receives. If you give 'work' someone will give 'money'. If you give a great deal. You will receive a great deal back. If you are always in a 'giving' mood, others will automatically mirror you.

Giving expands, taking retracts. Don't confuse taking with receiving receiving aids expansion. Accept reciprocity with gratitude and thankfulness.

When this happens, everyone becomes a giver. If all you think about is 'getting', you become a 'taker' (not a receiver). It cannot happen forever because it stops the flow of giving (eventually). Everyone takes till there's nothing left to take (or war breaks out and the spoils are redistributed).



Henry Ford decided to give his workers more pay more pay than anyone else in the motor industry (he doubled the average wage overnight). After 4 years he had the largest workforce in the US. And eventually he became the largest car manufacturer in the world.

For business purposes, the best thing you can ever give is value. Add more and more value to your products and customer service and you can start to charge whatever you need as you will be the top giver in your industry. People will recognise you as a giver and not a taker.

As a giver you become extremely valuable to the world and the world will reward you for it in many different ways.

Start the day by thinking how you can add value to what you offer the world. How can you help your customers get more of what they want, more often and in greater quantities?

If you care more than anyone else in your market for your customers, they will care more for you than anyone else in your market. This is how to lead your market and become the



person everyone wants to be associated with and deal with.



4. Engagement True engagement starts by listening. You cannot know anything about your audience if you don't first listen.

Listening means saying nothing until the person talking to you has finished (at least, at the start).

When you listen, you listen with the ears and the eyes. Your eyes subconsciously pick up every nuance of body language broadcast by the person (or audience) you're talking to..

Strong listeners listen to the words and the body language of their audience at the same time. They listen to how the words are said. The tone, the pitch, the inflection. Each part is mapped to the body language displayed.

They listen to what the eyes are implying. The eyebrows. The forehead. The lips and the nostrils. They listen to the arms, legs, torso and neck (gulps). They especially listen to the feet and hands (and the direction and change of direction those limbs point to).

A good listener is a master observer.



And when the audience runs out of things to say, the best listener feeds them a question. A question that digs a little deeper into what the audience needs or where they need to be taken.

Some of the best listeners are doctors. They have no clue what's wrong with you when you walk into the surgery (your runny nose may be a red herring).

They are so busy they need something to defend them from their audience or they would be swiftly overwhelmed with nonsense talk and gossip. This causes resistance but also respect from their audience. It positions the doctor as sincere and honest. Can you be the doctor?

Doctors understand why questions must always be asked.

"Always Be Asking Questions" (ABAQ) if you want success in anything.

As children we were curious about life and we instinctively knew how to ask the right question (for us to learn fast). But as adults we become bored by questions from children, so we stifle



the child's progress. And another nonlistening adult is formed.

Doctors (and great entrepreneurs) have to unlearn this 'nurturing'.

Good doctors do not have a hidden agenda. They are there to do one thing. Find out what the problem is (precisely) and recommend a course of treatment to fix it.

Because it is very apparent through everything they do (including their body language) they earn trust and respect with complete strangers faster than anyone else. Their position is strengthened with every interaction. Persistent behaviour pays off.

Always be the doctor. Always be listening. Always be asking questions. Do these three things in any engagement and you will not go wrong.

Lawyers also ask great questions, but lawyers have hidden agendas. Don't be a lawyer.

Great engagers tell stories. They tell the right story at the right time. The right story is the one that holds the key to the solution the audience is seeking.



Stories tell of things that happened elsewhere, in another time. Perhaps involving other people and other places. Stories give permission to the audience to side with the hero or the villain, with the fortunate or the unfortunate, with the tall, the short or the ugly.

Stories allow third parties to intervene into the conversation. Third parties are always nonthreatening. Everyone has a choice when third parties are involved.

Third parties allow humans to demonstrate life without sounding selfrighteous, pushy, pully, or needy. Let the audience come to their own conclusion and they will trust and want to know more about you and your story.

They will want to know more about you especially if you let them tell you all about them first. The more they tell, the stronger they will feel they want to hear back from you until it becomes a deafening silence. A void they need (you) to fill.

We believe in the strong silent type because we are curious creatures and want to know why and how they are able to remain silent.



Reciprocity is strong in us. Even as doctors we need to reciprocate. That happens automatically when the time is right. Doctors know through years of practice and experience when the time is right.

The longer you practice being the doctor, the better you will become and the faster your business will grow.

There is active and passive persuasion. There is manipulation and direction. There is influence. The best of these is influence.

Influence is achieved through respect and trust. It is also achieved through likability. If you practice everything in Dale Carnegie's book "How To Win Friends And Influence People" you will always be marginally happier in life than those who don't know the protocols.

Good influence comes with great benefits.

Here is a list of the 6 pillars of influence:

1. Mutual Benefit. This is not about scratching each other's backs. This is pure reciprocity. The need for someone to repay a perceived debt of gratitude or favour. If you enter a conversation with



a hidden agenda, mutual benefit is likely to be broken by your manipulation unless you reveal your agenda first.

2. Future Benefit. What will happen in the future for your audience if they listen to and act on your advice? As with all persuasion, using the right third party stories moves the subject closer towards the path they need.

3. Emotional Benefit. How will your advice, service or product effect your audience emotionally? Ultimately all of us are seeking a better emotional experience in life. Will your product bring excitement to your audience? Will it bring happiness? Will it bring relief? How will it make them feel?

4. Physical Benefit. How will your audience benefit physically from your influence? Will it make them stronger? Will it make them fitter? Will it reduce stress and benefit their health?

5. Daily Benefit. How will what you do help your audience on a day to day basis? Can you show them how their daily lives will change once they have what you're selling? How best can you demonstrate



the impact what you do will have on them?

6. Third Party Benefit. Every person is surrounded by a circle of other people and like a ripple there are multiple circles of influence. How will your service indirectly benefit your audience's circles? And how will that then add more benefit to your audience? Will they be seen in a better light by their friends, family, peers, or work colleagues?

You should also consider the consequences faced by your audience if they do not listen to your advice, buy your product or take up your service.

If you have decided through extensive questioning that you can uniquely help them, then you owe it to them to make sure they understand what they may be missing if they don't take you up. But you must do this in a nonthreatening way if you are to have any influence at all.

And that is done as you know by stories. Real stories of real people and their experiences good and bad. Always ask the permission of your audience to tell your stories before telling



them. If you don't, your audience will believe they are being manipulated. If they say "no". Stop. Do not be tempted to continue with the story your whole soul is burning to tell them. Move on.

The ultimate persuasion comes from scarcity and urgency. But this only works if they are already mostly sold. And they will only be sold by themselves. Any other form of selling leaves a bad taste and repercussions down the line including a worsening reputation.

How important is your reputation? Your reputation is what others believe about you. Are you there for your audience or for yourself? Your future prosperity depends on your core beliefs. Be honest with yourself.

You will know if you are lying to yourself if you feel uneasy as you ponder any question. Examine your feelings well and be sure you know which feelings you prefer.

Every uneasy feeling comes from your thought. Your thought is often influenced and sometimes manipulated by others. But it is still your thought. And that thought may be a lie.



Whenever you feel uneasy, check your beliefs. Every engagement with your audience will produce an abundance of feelings. Be true to yourself and your feelings will be the ones you want.

Research your audience deeply before any encounter. The depth of that research is the depth of your respect for your audience. How much research do you normally do? Could you have done more in the past? If you fail to respect your audience, you cannot expect them to respect you. Research is your best preselling tactic.

Respect is deep admiration for someone's abilities, qualities or achievements. It is also deep regard for their feelings, wishes and rights.

Reduce your assumptions to the minimum by asking questions. Assumptions are the greatest cause of failure. They are also the quickest path to success, but run the greatest risk. How long have you got? How long do you need to attain whatever it is you want?

The shorter the time, the less the value and satisfaction you will get. If you value satisfaction you will start to understand the



value of time. There is only one time. How will you use it.

We speak about everything using words. Words are labels. As soon as we label something (a physical thing or a concept) we forge its definition in stone (in our minds). Sometimes we can be mistaken. Always dig deep into people's labels (especially your own).

Never assume you understand if there is the remotest chance of doubt. Never let your ego get in the way of the truth.

To truly engage, you must put yourself in your audience's shoes. You can only begin to have an understanding of their problems, needs, wants and aspirations if you first see the world through their eyes. What are they seeing? What are they feeling? What are they hearing?

When you put yourself in another's shoes, you will find new ways to see the world. This will give you insights you would never have otherwise got. Every insight is a new angle that you can use in your marketing. Angles are everything when it comes to engagement.

Being direct in your communications brings respect except if it breaks your audience's



values. Telling your audience they are wrong will zero your influence on that audience but it will increase your influence on another audience the audience you are not talking to. Are you talking to the right audience?

Never be attached to the outcome in any engagement. Your ideal outcome is your agenda. Not theirs. If you are precious about it, your expectations and ego will suffer greatly should it fail. The more attached you are to the outcome, the more likely it will fail.

Before any engagement, ensure you know the outcome you would like, then detach yourself from it. The more you understand your audience, the easier it will be for you to accept this.

Your goal is to understand that your audience needs you more than you need them and the right audience will move towards and favour you.

Your engagement must be 100% at all times. Humans know instinctively (and visually) the nanosecond you lose contact with them. The slightest distraction on your part is always noted, even if it's only in the subconscious.



If you're in a network meeting or other crowded place listening to someone, keep your eyes and focus on them. Do not be tempted to look at anything else. Noticing someone else in the room will also be noticed by the person you are communicating with. Nothing breaks rapport more quickly than your lack of attention.

People often accidentally (or deliberately) touch our hot buttons. You know immediately this has happened by your reactions. On the negative side, it takes the form of instant dislike, defensiveness or resistance.

Instant dislike is often terminal. Defensiveness or resistance means one or more of your boundaries have been crossed. Your boundaries are your values. Your values come from your beliefs, examine them carefully. Are they helping or hindering you?

Either way, a defensive or resistant attitude is not helpful to yourself with the exception of one important rule. They indicate your values. They show you how and tell you why you sometimes find life difficult.

Listen to your defensive and resistant behaviour carefully and act fast to deflate them when they occur (it might help to see yourself



puffed up like a selfrighteous balloon when you have these feelings).

The only defense against aggressive verbal attack is to ask why the person attacking you believes whatever they have just said. Your job in this case (should you wish to accept it) is to get them to question their own behaviour.

Any reaction from you other than complete calmness will result in further attack. The person attacking is looking for attention. Be kind and give them that attention. The best attention you can give them is to listen (quietly).



5. New We all want new. New implies better.

Given the same product in identical packaging, the one with 'New' on the cover will always outsell the one without. We are wired that way. Our minds assume new is better.

CocaCola produced 'new' Coke in 1985 as a direct replacement to the original coke formula. It was branded 'the new taste of coke' in the hope of rekindling declining sales to Pepsi.

It took 3 months for the public to reject the new taste, and the original coke formula was brought back in as 'Classic' coke. However, the new coke was kept and rebranded as 'Coke II' (perhaps in the hope that it could still reclaim lost market share 2 Coke's vs 1 Pepsi).

Sales did recover, but 'new' coke was dropped completely 7 years later. The 'new' idea did rekindle the market (but not in the way it was expected to).

To be new, something only needs to change very slightly. The bigger the change the harder it is to sell. The largest changes are



revolutionary, and people don't like revolutionary (changing the taste of the world's biggest selling soda is revolutionary). We do want new, but not too new.

Go for 10% and you won't go too far wrong. Whatever your 10% is is up to you. Try it and see what happens.

Everything in our universe is in constant change. The changes are usually small and hard to detect. The larger changes stand out very clearly. Changing the name of an established brand. Completely reengineering an established product. These are revolutionary.

Stick to small changes and keep them rolling out to avoid stagnation and oblivion. Everything changes. It is nature. Nature is a good model.

Only do revolutionary if you can afford to lose it all. Revolutionary things are loved by early adopters, but there aren't too many of those, and they are very picky. If you do get them on board, you may make considerably more out of it, but the risks are staggeringly high.

Business only thrives when it is innovating. Research and development is the only way to



do this. If you're not innovating, you're dying. You can only go so long before you are replaced. That may be by a competitor (who has been researching and developing) or by a new kid on the block. There are always plenty of those.

In 1804 there were 1bn people on the planet. By 1927, 123 years later, it had doubled. In 1974 (47 years later) it had doubled again. 41 years later in 2015 it is 7+bn. There will always be new kids on the block.

Innovation requires energy. Energy requires work. Energy = Mass multiplied by the Speed of Light squared. You need a lot of work and speed to stay new. Know this and the business world is simpler to understand.

Making small changes to create new is the way to overcome the energy bottleneck. If you are the newest, your competitors will be the oldest. People want new. They want you.



6. Desire Desire is the future. We have needs, and they are the present. Anything we need, we need now. If we don't, it is not a need.

Wants are perceived needs of the future (you won't know if anything is a need until you really need it).

Desires are wants with strong emotional attachment. Elevating a want to a desire, and a desire to a need is the secret of marketing success. The future available today.

Everything we need in life is created by a problem (even good things like presents and holidays). Understanding your audience's key problems are the key to business success.

If you only know the need and not the problem, you do not understand your audience and you are at the mercy of those willing to dig deeper. Research is everything. Start all research with the question why?

Once you know the need and understand the generator of that need (the problem), you can take the next step of discovering how the need



can be turned into a want. We do this to start the process of attracting the people who do not yet need it.

Who wouldn't want something that would take care of all future problems today? That's one way of looking at how to turn a want into a need for those who don't yet have that need.

How can you bring that new need to your audience's attention? We build it into a desire.

To build a desire, you must understand emotion. Emotion drives everything we do (with the exception of automatic actions such as breathing). What emotions are your audience seeking? Write a list and order them by priority. If you find that difficult, research your audience more.

How can you connect the emotion your audience wants to the desire you want to create for them? What do you need to do to change someone's emotional state? What have you done previously? Without motive very little happens. Ask any detective.

Are the required motives connected with physical health (diet, sleep, fitness)? Are they connected with the mental (aspiration,



ambition, legacy, stress, excitement, happiness)? Are they connected with relationship (community, family, friends, peers, recognition)? Are they connected with wealth (money, property, empire)? Are they connected with spirituality (Religion, Zen, Gaia)?

Desire is about the future. The future is the gap between now and what we want. How large is that gap? Is it revolutionary (a step too far)? Or is it doable (achievable and measurable)?

If it's revolutionary, can it be broken down into smaller steps? Can each step be made desirable? Can each step be made into a product? Can you take your customers on a journey from where they are now to where they want to be (and beyond)?

Build desire until it becomes a need. A need is something that needs scratching now. How can you make desire into something that itches so strongly it becomes irresistible? How can you shine a light on the way to achieving that desire? How can you build a path and lead them along it?

Irresistible is the new New. What was the last thing you bought that you simply had to have at any cost? Why did you buy it? What journey



did you go on to discover you had an itch so bad you had no choice but to find the remedy?

Understand desire and you become a marketing guru.

A desire without a gap does not exist (you can find out more about the gap in chapter 11).

Let's talk about pain and pleasure. You cannot hold your hand for long over a flame. That is real pain and you will do everything you can to avoid it. Problems must be painful if a reaction is to happen. The motivation must be strong.

Turning the desire into a need is the only way to bring the future back to now. How do you plug that gap?

Here's one way it can be emphasized: ask what the consequences are of the problem? ask what would happen if the problem was not fixed? ask how bad can it could get if it were left until it was too late?

Make sure the consequences are realistic though. Think about the way not having the solution would affect your audience's health, wealth, and relationships. And then think about



how you could highlight how painful the consequences really are.

Expand by writing a list of all the problems your audience faces.

We love pleasure. We prefer pleasure to pain. However, whilst we will always move away from pain, we won't always move towards pleasure. How could we fix that?

Every negative has a positive. Everything that is happening is on a journey. A journey from A to B or A to Z. When you escape from pain it can only be towards pleasure. How can you make something less painful? Less painful to the point it becomes a pleasure. How can you turn a pain into a desire?

You can turn Lead into Gold (but it would cost about $1,000,000,000,000 an ounce to do so according to the 1951 Nobel Prize Winner Glenn Seaborg). You can also turn gold into lead using nuclear transmutation (it is easier and cheaper).

If you have 2 atoms of Hydrogen (number 1 on the periodic scale) and you crush them together, you produce an atom of Helium (number 2 on the periodic scale). Keep doing



this and you eventually get to Gold and a short while later, Lead.

Each 'crushing' takes energy. It happens at the speed of light. Each change is a Eureka moment. This is what we must do if we are to take our audience on the journey we know they need.

How will you create those crushing Eureka moments to enable your audience to achieve their desires?

What does your audience fear the most about their future? Write a list. Understanding your audience's fears is the only way to economically help them achieve their desires.

Like desire, a fear is about the future. It may be a real fear or it may be false. Either way, it's still a fear and it blocks progress. Eureka moments happen when these blocks are removed.

Fears are based (like everything else) on beliefs. To unblock someone you must help them change a belief. You can find someone's beliefs by discovering their fears. This is another journey worth taking.



When a fear is proved to be real, it turns into a problem. To find problems, look for frustrations. A frustration is of the 'now'. Write a list of your audience's top frustrations.

A frustration may be mental or physical. They are similar to objections: eg. "I can't do this" or "I can't find someone to do this". Once you see the frustration, you can highlight the problem. Once you highlight the problem, you can discover the need.

Once you discover the need, you can find the desire. Going from pain to pleasure and back again lets you highlight the consequences of the pain so your audience can see the need and do something about it sooner rather than later.

If the problem seems insurmountable (by your audience) you have a great place to begin your marketing. The strongest motivation comes from the worst pain combined with the greatest pleasure.



7. Action We are all taking action all the time. Some of it is conscious, much of it is not. Sleeping is action too. Without sleep everything you do will get progressively worse. The action you take when you sleep is to recharge your batteries. You need power if you want to influence more of the world.

One of the worst questions ever said to me was: what happens when you do nothing?. It was said to inspire some kind of guilt in me. It worked. I started documenting everything I was doing to prove I was doing something.

And it reduced (useful) productivity in an instant. Part of my work was now documenting my work. No one ever checked my detailed records. It was a pointless exercise.

It used negativity to get results, so it's not surprising that the results turned out to be negative.

Have compassion for the people who use these types of leverage. They cannot help themselves. We are all the result of our nurturing. The stronger the nurturing, the more



likely we are to react. And reactions are the result of other people's will.

It is action (and not reaction) that is so important. Here's a better question that could have been asked of me: "what actions are you taking today that will help you get what you want?"

This is positive and nonthreatening (threats always produce resistance). We have a choice how we treat people:

a. Negatively with threats b. Positively with encouragement

How would others prefer to be treated given a choice?

What happens if we choose to be one way with some people and another way with others? What does that say about our beliefs and direction in life? This is another contradiction most of us have. Contradictions cause destruction. There is good action, bad action, and reaction.

Is it possible to be positive all the time? And if so, is it good? What's the cost of being



negative? Is it useful? These questions need exploring if you want to uncover your truth.

A bad apple will take down a whole barrel of apples. A bad apple only has one goal. To be bad. It is single minded in its attitude and action.

If you want to be the good apple, get out of the barrel. You may just find that the other good apples follow you. Let's leave the bad apples to themselves.

Great leaders take action. When they do react, it is mostly only to actions they originally started (or to those they had no control over).

Great leaders have a vision of the future. It is that vision that leads them to the actions they take. People notice these actions because they created opportunities. And if they like the look of the opportunities, they follow them.

The best leaders understand this. It is always about the vision. And if the vision is not your vision, then it is someone else's and now that someone else is leading instead.

When you take action it will be based on your past experience. The past experience of the



reactions you made. In our early childhood we were desperate to take action. We hadn't been taught compromise. There was simply us and the world. Our vision was not muddied or corrupted by others. Now it's time to take back your vision.

Your vision should be 'seeable'. If you cannot see your future, then you have little chance of making it happen the way you want. Without a vision, your actions will be wasted. Can you see the way ahead? If not, what's in the way?

The key to action is a clear vision. A clear vision is knowing what you want. To know what you want, you must be able to 'see' it in your mind's eye.

1. What shape is your vision? 2. What colour is it? 3. Where is it? 4. What does it smell like? 5. What does it taste like? 6. What emotions does it evoke in you? 7. What does it do to those around you? 8. What does it do to the universe? (this is

not altruism, it is understanding cause and effect)



The more detail you can describe the easier it is to know the actions you need to take to complete the journey.

The best way to complete a journey is to use a map. A map shows a multitude of starting and ending points and every possible way to connect those points.

Is your map clear. Have you found the starting point? Do you know the ending point? Do you know which path to follow to get there?

Can you see any roadblocks? What actions do you need to take to overcome the roadblocks?

Is there a better path with less roadblocks? Great navigators do the research to discover the best path to take. Are you willing to put in the work? If not, why? Are you on your path?

We often find ourselves taking urgent action. Some people call this "putting out fires". Do you spend more time putting out fires than lighting them? Who starts the fires in your industry? Have you got the spark? Can you hire someone who has?

To build your map, you need to identify all the players. They all have a role. How do they



connect together. Who are the actors on your stage? Make a list of everyone and everything that matters in your industry.

There are multiple minor journeys happening on your map. Identify the players who are participating in each journey and add their route to your map.

Some of these journeys will be 'buying decision' journeys. Some will be 'process decision' journeys (eg. "how do we get the phone to ring" and "what do we do when the phone rings?").

Action is how we complete the journey. Directed action is how we get there in the most efficient and pleasing way. Directed action is also how we get there our way.

The downside is that we sometimes believe it will remove the fun. The more we know about our future and how to get there, the less glamorous it may seem. This is because we love surprises (it's the reason the lottery continues to do well it's back to hope again).

Gifts of any sort get most of us excited. Even the clatter of the letterbox in the morning can make our heart race. We can become OCD



about checking the mail (and the email, and Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram, and the Bank, and So on…)

Be assured that the surprises will still come when you take directed action, only they will be more substantial. Like all surprises, they may not all be good, but that's life.

Humans need security. They need stability. They also need change. Change is the only way to grow. The journey of your future on the map you create with the players you need represents the changes you need to get what you want.

Any other way won't do if you have a burning desire for something. Your burning desire fuels your action. A burning desire is a desire that is converted from the future to the now. How can you develop your burning desire?

It comes from your vision. Your vision is how the future is brought into reality. Into the present. Into the now. Now is all that matters. You can only do things in the now. Tomorrow is tomorrow. Why would you want to wait?

Can you think back to when you were a kid and you were absolutely desperate for something?



Maybe a toy for Christmas? Maybe some shoes or clothes you would die for. Before you got them, can you remember how you felt? What you saw? Could you see yourself careering around on your new bike? Could you see the places it would take you, if only you could get it?

With that kind of vision and desire, you don't even need accountability. You instinctively know how to badger and coerce, over and over, until the gatekeepers give in. Somehow we lose that sense of urgency when we think about our futures as adults.

So here are some things you can do to help you create your future now.

1. Make your vision as solid as you can. Write it down so clearly, that anyone can picture it. Draw a representation if you like, or put together a series of photos or other graphics.

2. Write a list of all the actions you take every day (don't miss a single thing). Use speed writing to make the list. Set a timer for 20 minutes and write nonstop (write anything at all, even 'blah blah blah' just keep writing until your mind



accepts the inevitable and gets into gear). Use the journeys you have made in the past to list your actions. What do you do as soon as you wake? What do you do next? And so on until you go to bed. Repeat for as many days (good and bad) as you can remember.

3. Sort the list in order of importance. What do you do that helps you get to your vision? What do you do that hinders your progress?

4. Add anything you've missed out that you know you need to do to get to your vision.

5. Make a new list of only the most important items that get you to your vision.

6. Create your day from the new list. 7. Keep the number of tasks per day to the

absolute minimum. Sixty to ninety minutes of focused work per day will get you further than 8 hours of unfocused work.

8. Example: It's possible to write 1,000 words in sixty minutes. If you did this for around 3 months, you would have your book done. And you will have only worked 100 hours (that's less than three



works of normal work). And think of all that free time you would have! How much stress would disappear? How much more fun could you have?

9. If your task involves sitting at your desk, set a timer and play music of your choice (no adverts). The music will inspire your subconscious. It will distract all other distractions. Your productivity will increase massively and it will be of better quality. This entire book was written in 40 minute daily bursts. Every time I came back I was inspired to continue. Every time the timer finished I desperately wanted to carry on writing, but I stopped, knowing full well that I would burn out early if I continued for hours (like I used to do).

There are many objections to taking action. The most common is time. But it's the feeblest of excuses. We will always make the time if it's something we want to do. Ask yourself honestly what is stopping you.

You may find it is complexity. The task is just too big for the one step you need to take next. We took many many tiny steps to get to the moon. But we got there. When something is



too difficult, break it down. Set a timer. Stop when it goes off. Keep to a single task and keep it simple.

The only thing stopping you from getting what you want is action. Action takes time. Time is our most precious commodity. When you're doing the right thing, time becomes irrelevant (because, what else would you be doing with it?).

Do you keep a daily journal of your life? This will keep you focused on your path. It will also come in useful in the future should you ever wish to tell others about your success (or indeed to go back and see just how far you've come).

Write your journal every day and make sure you add your list of major tasks for the next day at the end of each entry. I write mine last thing at night so the next day's tasks are already on my mind when I awake.

It took me a year to make it a habit (it may be different for you). Once it became a habit I started REALLY enjoying writing. I look forward to it every day.



If you want a day off, make sure you write that as a task in your journal. Then you won't feel guilty when you spend the day having a truly great time doing 'nothing'.

Giving yourself permission to take time off is the best thing you can do to remove negative emotions associated with procrastination or laziness. It's your life and you have the choice of directing it.

If you're looking for a way to organise your projects, I recommend Trello. It's free and very simple. I've tried many different organisers and project management tools both paid and free, and every time I return to Trello.

Trello uses just 3 elements: Boards, Lists and Cards.

Each board can contain as many lists as you need. Each list can contain as many cards as you need. You record your Tasks on Cards. And you group your cards into Lists. Your lists are grouped into Boards.

I use a board for each project I'm involved with. I have one overall board that covers my major goal.



For each project board I have lists titled:

1. To Do 2. Doing (keep to 3 tasks maximum here) 3. Done

For some projects I need a few more lists (eg. a 'Waiting On' list to remind me to follow up with people). I make sure I never have more than 3 Cards (tasks) in my Doing list. I make sure they are ordered by importance (to get me closer to my goal).

The Done list is only there so I can see a history of the past (which gives me satisfaction and reward when I feel like seeing what I have accomplished).

There are 3 types of action we take in life. Note that some people may have different definitions for these words. It doesn't matter:

1. Unconscious. When we drive, it is mostly unconscious. We stop at a red light. We go when it turns green. We get up when the alarm goes off. We get to work on time. We obey instructions from our boss. We go home. We get old. We retire. We die. It is all reaction.



2. Subconscious. Our emotions step in and offer us a choice. Do we agree to do something or don't we. This sets up dilemmas. A dilemma is a choice of two. Do you go one way or another? Dilemmas are better than no choice, but not by much.

3. Conscious. We actively choose what to do. This is our target. What can you do to become more conscious? The answer is to question everything. The more questions you ask, the more choice you will have.

To take conscious action is to be directed by yourself. There is nothing better. Of all the socalled human rights, this is the only one that matters. When you take conscious action, you take 100% responsibility. You retain your power. This is what you want.



8. Relevance When something is relevant, it is relevant because of its 'oneness'. If we need a ticket for a train, being offered a bus ticket to the same destination is not relevant. It presents a dilemma (and dilemmas are distractions).

We cannot multitask (other than with our automatic functions such as breathing). Though sometimes it feels like we are. Some of us even believe it. The truth is, we're dividing our conscious time between the multiple tasks we are doing.

That division may be nanoseconds, hence the appearance of multitasking, but it's still not multitasking, and more importantly, it's inefficient. Here's why…

Whenever you (try to) do more than one thing at the same time, you dilute the effort you're making to each thing. Will diluting your effort help you achieve more? If you think so, carry on doing it. However...

Doing just the one thing at any one time will help you get what you want more easily because you will achieve success more often.



No dilution. And success breeds success. This is why use of a timer keeps us focused (and stops us early enough before we get bored).

The great thing about doing one thing is that it makes it far easier to measure its relevance. Whatever you do, always ask yourself if it's relevant. When it is, it means you are making the absolute best use of your time.

The fours things that stop you achieving success are:

1. Overwhelm 2. Procrastination 3. Time 4. Accountability

We overcome the first three of these when we concentrate on doing the one thing. Let's break it down. Overwhelm comes from too many tasks. You cannot become overwhelmed when you're doing one thing provided it is doable.

If it isn't obviously doable, procrastination can step in. It usually shows up when the step is too big (that is, it's too difficult to see or do).

When we're doing the one relevant thing, we have no excuse. Time becomes irrelevant. If



you're doing the most relevant thing you could ever be doing, then time doesn't matter. Make this a deeply held belief if you want to succeed. It will save your life.

If you decide that something else is more relevant, do that instead. Nothing is more important than doing the right (relevant) thing.

Sometimes two or more relevant things come along at the same time. Pick one. They both have the same relevance, so it doesn't matter which. If you don't, overwhelm steps in fast followed by procrastination.

Relevance means alignment. If you don't have your tasks and goals aligned to the one relevant vision, you will go off course. You will not complete your journey. Part of you will want to go one way, and another part of you another way.

It creates a contradiction. This is why contradictions are destructive. They split you in two. Your right brain imagines a world one way and your left brain pokes holes in it.

Your right brain is your creative side. It is part of what sets you apart from everything else on



the planet. It lets you imagine and so create your vision.

Your left brain is logical and reasonable. It loves stability. It doesn't like surprises. It has very high expectations. It is your chittychatty monkey.

Everything it does is based on your beliefs. Your philosophy. It contains your values. Values such as how far you are prepared to go to get what you want. These are your ethics. You will be surprised how far you are prepared to go to meet your desires, and you need to start thinking deeply about it if you are truly to understand yourself and get what you want.

Do you believe that you can go through life without surprises? The less surprised you are about life and what happens in the world around you, the more open you are to it. You can only be surprised when you make comparisons. Without a comparison there is no surprise.

Our entire life is made by comparing things. That is what judgment is all about. Are you more successful than your competitors? Are you more successful than the people you love?



Are you more successful than your friends? Are you more successful than your enemies?

The only question that matters is your own success. Not comparisons. No one gives a damn about comparisons unless it comes out in their favour. It creates negativity. But we are programmed to measure. It helps us survive.

What can you do to reduce measurement to only what is required? Alignment is the key. Alignment with relevance. Alignment with your vision. Alignment with your mission. Total body and spirit alignment with the one thing you want to be, do, or have.

To be relevant requires focus. Focus on your vision. Focus brings clarity. You need total clarity to see the way ahead. How clear are you right now on your vision, mission, and path?

What do you need to do to bring your vision into focus? On a camera you adjust the lens. Where's your lens? What is it focussed on? How do you adjust it? What can you do to clear it if it's a little blurry? Can you get a better lens? (do you actually need a better lens?).



When everything you do is relevant it brings responsibility into focus. Responsibility is your ultimate tool. How much responsibility do you have (or take) right now?

What is your mission? Your mission is your responsibility. Your mission is a statement of your path and its specific outcomes.

Your vision is what all those outcomes look like when you reach the end. Be clear about your vision and your mission. The clearer you are the more aligned you will be. And the more aligned you are the more relevant you are.

If you're not relevant you're irrelevant. What do you really want?



9. You There is only you. You matter more than you could possibly know. Without you, there is no business. No money. No one (like you) to look after your family. No friends. No connection. Without you, nothing happens.

Without you there is no world (because you cannot experience it). Who you are can be found in your philosophy. The more time you spend on you the better you understand your values, passions, motives and yourself.

This inner work is the only work you will ever use to get to know yourself properly. Will knowing yourself better be useful to you? Will it help your interactions with others? Will it help you plan your future? To get to know yourself is a choice.

Everything that isn't 'natural' in this world is made by humans. Everything is invented. Give yourself permission to invent whatever you want. There are no rules to stop you other than those invented by others and accepted by you and your own moral code.



The world is your world. It is there for you. Whatever you do in this world affects everything else in it, use your power with care. We are a clumsy race. That is our burden. But you don't need to be clumsy, not if you can start to direct and influence your future.

To do this you need to visualise it. Your vision changes the world as soon as you start. Do it now.

Every time you get stuck, remember it is your old self (yesterday's model) that is stopping you. Our stories are almost always of the past. The past is gone, don't let it interfere with your vision if it is not relevant.

Invent new stories to help yourself go forward towards your future. The best way to invent new stories is to live them. Be the story you want to be. An invention is something you create. It is not a pipedream. A pipedream is a pipedream. Be your story.

Everyone is on some path. They are all unique. When you feel strong emotions, remember they are coming from you not your fellow human beings. You are the generator of your



emotions. They are your responsibility. They are yours to control if you so choose.

When you get emotionally stuck with others, use your number 1 tool of self control: compassion. Nothing can withstand compassion. It is our most powerful defense.

Use compassion whenever your emotional buttons are pressed. It will save you from disaster over and over again (and will benefit those you are compassionate for).

Create triggers that fire whenever a strong emotion occurs. This can only be done with practice. Proactively listen for emotional feelings. Listen for aggression. Listen for sadness. Listen for happiness (never ignore happiness). Listen for empathy (so you can improve it even more).

Your triggers give you permission to become the observer. To step back from any situation and to watch your reactions. No one wants stress. Powerful negative emotions are stressful. You can control them only when you observe them. Develop zero tolerance to stress.



You have the power to create negative emotions in others. You also have the power to create positive emotions in others. Given a choice, which would you prefer to do? Which would be of most benefit to you? Which would be of most benefit to the world you live in? It's your world.

Every other human is a unique person living in their own version of the world. They see things differently. As your empathy improves, so you get deeper insights into their world. In business, these insights are the difference between success and failure.

You matter because you are capable of feeling. Feeling is what emotions bring to us. They cannot happen without others. Whatever you do affects others. It affects the way they feel. And whatever they do affects you.

Being the observer of yourself is how you learn to understand yourself. It is how your inner work starts and continues. Understand there is no end to inner work. You will never achieve total understanding because you are always evolving.

Never blame others, other things, or other situations. It is a waste of your energy and a



denial of your responsibility. When you blame you give away your power. You need every gram of your power to do the things you need to do. To be the best self you can be.

Every time you feel the need to blame, set a trigger that reminds you to look at the positive side of the situation. This empowers you instead of draining you. This trains your brain to look for the best in any circumstance. What would you rather be looking for?

Never complain. What's the point? You give away more power. You believe you are helping someone with their responsibility. What you are really doing is revealing your values. This is a useful way to understand more of yourself and recover from the blame/complain syndrome.

You may like to experiment with a blame/complain day to begin the process of revealing the real you. It will be stressful and debilitating (especially to others), so you may like to internalise and journal it instead of revealing yourself to everyone at this stage.

We are all needy at certain points in our lives. Our needs reflect our values. Set triggers to



understand your needs. What drives them? They will help you see what drives others.

Look out for needy people (and remember the most successful business people are out there looking for you too if you display neediness). The most needy need our help. They need us. It's not the other way round.

We teach ourselves to ignore (and sometimes despise) very needy people. Yet these are the people most in pain. They are the people most looking for a solution to cure their pain. Who are the needy people in your market? Who can you best serve?

Whoever it is will make you even more important than you already are. Are you ready for that increased importance? For that recognition?

All it takes is courage. And courage is another invention. You can choose to have it or not. If you choose to have it, you become unstoppable.

Do you choose courage? You will if you start to understand just how much you matter.



10. Yes Yes is my favourite word. 'No' closes the box. 'Yes' opens it. The only way you will know what's in the box is if you open it. What's in your box? Are you open or closed for business? What's in your prospective customers boxes? Grab some courage and go find out.

Not everyone is willing to reveal themselves, yet they all desperately want to talk about themselves (even the strong silent types).

How best to get a yes? Ask questions. Ask open, nonjudgmental, nonthreatening questions. To do that you need to remove all expectation (of yourself). You need to be unattached to any outcome. You need to have no agenda other than pure curiosity.

As revealed earlier, the simplest way to achieve that is to be the doctor. The trusted good doctor who cares about the people they come into contact with.

It is often said in business that you must learn to say 'No'. This happens when you are successful. You become noticed and followed.



People with their own agendas want a piece of your action.

Here's an idea: give them what they want. They will spread the word and you will become even more successful. You will learn the limits of your generosity (which is mostly your time).

There is 'no' and there is 'no'. When you are on your path you will know the difference and you will have no problem deciding your priority.

Think deeply about how you can turn any 'no' into a 'yes'. Tell the person (who is asking you for an instant decision) that you will respond later if you cannot say 'yes' in a constructive way (most people are in a hurry but they don't know why).

Don't misunderstand. I do say 'no'. Here's an example: "Yes, I see what you want, but I am unable to fulfill/do/comply/become/eat/give it".

All answers can start with a 'yes' even when it means 'no'. If you want to frustrate, humiliate or make someone feel inadequate, start your answer with a 'no'. The only exception I know of is when they are asking for your opinion ("If it were my choice, it would be a no").



If you find yourself saying 'no' (or you often disagree with someone) ask yourself what the consequences might be if you were to say 'yes' (or agree by seeing their point of view). How would that affect you and the person you were having the conversation with?

Would that open the discussion to allow further exploration? Would that exploration be useful?

What's the worst that could happen (and if it did, would it still be worth doing)?

What's the best that could happen (and if it did, would it still be worth doing)?

The biggest distractions in our lives are other people's agendas. Random events and accidents also fall into this category. Knowing your path will help you understand what matters and what you can and should say 'yes' to, as well as how to say 'no' without remorse or hurt on any side.

Be the person who opens boxes, not the one who closes them. People love to be with open people. It gives them permission to be open themselves. Open people have more fun. I am



the yes person, would you like some help with that?



11. Opportunity Opportunities are spotted and created by humans. You can be the one creating them, or the one reacting to them, but the best opportunities are the ones you create.

The world has more opportunities than you could ever possibly imagine. It is packed full of them. They will never disappear as long as there are humans out there.

You can find opportunities in every aspect of life. Never, ever, be worried or concerned about a lack of opportunity.

The most compelling thing about opportunities are the hope they bring. Hope is a big driver for most people. If you can deliver hope to others and fulfil it, you become legendary. Remember that hope is for others, not you. You are the one creating and fulfilling it.

Hope is about potential. Potential is the measurement of a gap. Gaps exist everywhere, right down to the molecular. There are gaps between every object on the planet.



There is a gap between every unfulfilled idea and its outcome. There is a gap between every need and desire. As long as gaps exist, there is the potential to fill them.

Look for the biggest gaps if you want to create the largest opportunities. Look for the smallest gaps if you want quick wins.

When you create opportunities, you give others the chance to take them. You are giving hope to the world. And when others take up your opportunities you both prosper. This also opens further opportunities.

Ask questions and you reveal new opportunities. And with every answer comes more questions. More questions expose more gaps. More gaps means more potential. More potential means more opportunity.

If you truly want to be successful, look for the gaps and create and publicise the opportunity. This is the act of creativity. Knowing how to be creative is knowing how to innovate. A business without innovation is a dead business.

To find gaps, you need a map (see chapter 7). Maps are used to get us from A to B. The gap



is the distance from A to B. The wider the distance the more the potential. Without a map you won't know what the gap is and you won't be able to measure the potential.

If you get stuck, think about the journey your map is being created for. Think about what happens first on that journey. Then think about what happens next.

You can practice your map making skills by reflecting on your past and going through your own journeys in life. What sparked off some episode? Then what happened? Write down a list of all the objects and interactions.

Once you have every object (and there will be lots of them) you can start to create new journeys for your prospects and customers using any of the elements you identified and joining them together using direction lines on your piece of paper.

Our lives are stories. Stories start somewhere and end somewhere. Every story can be mapped. The trick is to plan the future as though it were a story and then map it out so you can see how to take someone on the journey that will best serve them.



When these journeys have been mapped out, you will see all the gaps and how big they are, and from that you will be able to create the opportunities your prospects and customers so deserve.

Remember they need you. You create the opportunities they want. Don't let your competitors beat you to it. Let the opportunities begin. Where's the gap?



12. Unattached Here's the crazy thing about life. The more attached to something we become, the more rigid we become. The more rigid we become the less open we become. The less open we become the less interesting our lives are (especially to others).

Do you want a less interesting life?

Everything is in a constant state of change. Everything. Even inanimate objects are in a state of change. That state is one of decay. Life moves forwards regardless.

New species arrive. Old species die out. We will all be replaced sooner or later. How can you use the time you have? Can you afford to be attached to anything that is not doing you some good?

We feel depressed when we are not doing stuff. Many of us live for our retirement. We believe that only then can we live the life we want a stress free life full of fun and happiness perhaps? The perfect day every day?



The reality is that the perfect day every day can become a nightmare. If you write down what your perfect day would look like and you write it with solid detail, when you come to live it, you will find it is too rigid.

The flexibility is in the journey, not the end. The dream keeps you on the journey. New dreams replace old ones.

All this comes from understanding what it means to be unattached to the outcomes you set for yourself.

Being unattached means lowering your expectations to the minimum. You know what you want, you set it as the goal to work towards, and then you do the work with no expectation of what the consequences of failure (or the future) may be.

There is no failure, only death. Everything we do we learn from. It is our experience that counts and doing whatever it takes to get something done is worth infinitely more than not doing it at all.

If your motivation for the outcome of any activity is money, and you become attached to the money, you will lose sight of the reason for



the outcome. Money on its own is a tool. You need a reason to want it. It's that reason you must find if it's money you want. That's all that matters.

A doctor is not attached to the outcome when you walk through the door. They are there to offer their best advice based on the circumstances. It is your decision whether to take that advice.

Remember this when you next have a sales negotiation. The choice to use your services is your customers. What can you do to help them make the right choice? What if you were them? What would your expectations be then? Can you see the gap?

Ensuring your customers expectations are greater than yours is the key. If you truly have the answer, there is no better way to serve than building expectation and fulfilling it. You must live up to and excel their expectations if you want them to make the right decision to choose you (assuming you are the right choice).



Expectations are emotional. They reveal our values. When they are not met we can go right off the rails. We can become highly irrational.

When you lower your expectations and become unattached to the outcome, your prospective customers know it immediately and trust you. They know you care (because you have taken the time to talk to and explain everything to them) and they know you will respect their decision whatever it may be (because you have no expectation of even a decision).

This does not mean you don't want one. Of course you do. You will have done your research. You will have asked every possible question relating to their needs and how that matches what you do. And when you've done that, you wait. There is no hurry.

When they're ready they will make a choice. They will ask you for more details. Eventually, if they're still interested they will ask you how much whatever you're selling will cost them.

Never ever ever tell them how it works or what it costs until they ask. It must be their decision



to ask at all times. If their need is strong enough they will ask.

That is why you must always find out what your prospect does and needs before they ask about you. And why you must be so very clear on what it is you do when they do ask.

When people see, feel and know you are truly unattached to the outcome, they will feel safe to recommend you to their network of friends, colleagues and peers.

Your reputation will become stronger the more you practice everything in this little book.

And when it's done you will become the you you always strove for. You will do it with less stress, you will do it with ease, and perhaps you will have even more fun.



If you found this book useful, I'd love to connect with you and find out more about what you do and why you are (or want to be) number 1 in your market.

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @quentinpain LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quentinpain Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marketingbible If you would like a little help getting to number one, join me at TheNumberOneClub.com


mailto:[email protected]

https://twitter.com/quentinpain

https://www.linkedin.com/in/quentinpain

https://www.facebook.com/marketingbible



APPENDIX 1

The Drivers Of Purpose Behind everything we do and don't do is our philosophy. Our philosophy is our beliefs.

What we believe defines our purpose. Is that true? If so, why?

But first, if it's not true, then what does?

a) Fate. Is it externally driven? internally driven? Who cares. It just happens and it's unstoppable. That's fate. Fate says give up now. Surrender to the universe. Is it your choice? No it isn't. That's fate. Right!

b) Emotion. Emotions are reactions to events. Most of them start from an external source (some don't, such as dreams). Emotional reactions are a dilemma. There are usually two options to any emotional reaction: 1) go along with it, 2) ignore it. It's better than fate but not by much.

c) Will. This is conscious purpose. This is the opposite of fate. This is "who I want to be



begins right now". Will enables change. Change enables freedom. Being free is the only way you can grow mentally, physically and emotionally. It is your choice.

Since 95% (this is an arbitrary unresearched number but think about it) of what we do is habit (ie. mostly automatic), we must get more conscious if we want control over our lives.

The more we practice this control, the more likely it is to become habitual, and in the process we change ourselves for the better.

What is willpower based on? If you 'will' something to happen, why? Did you 'will' yourself to start your business simply because you could? Or was it for another reason?

If it was, for example, because you decided you didn't want to work for anyone else ever again, then was a belief involved that made you say 'yes' to starting it? Was the driver external? (for example, you couldn't stand the boss for one day longer).

Whatever the reason, at some point you figured out what you could do to make it happen. And in order to do that, you needed to



believe it was possible. And so with that belief, a purpose (starting your business) happened.

Alternatively, you could simply have decided one day you wanted to start a business. Either way, no action would have happened if you hadn't believed at some level it could work.

Let's jump back to fate again. Was your decision fate? Do you believe the universe had a plan for you all along? If so, this is simply another example of a belief. You believe in fate. Your purpose was driven by a belief (it really doesn't matter whether you call it fate or something else).

If you accept that and go along with it, then you give away your responsibility. You give away your power.

The point is, your philosophy about life is either:

a) The universe (or according to the dictionary some supernatural power) has complete control

b) You have complete control

c) A mixture of the two



Whatever you choose, it's all a belief. And because of your belief, your purpose is defined. Either you have responsibility for your life or you don't. The irony is, you get to choose!



APPENDIX 2

Cause and Effect What makes us do things? Passion. So where did your passion come from? And what started that passion? Perhaps some external event? in which case who and how was the event broadcast, and how did you end up listening to it?

However it happened, if you want to inspire someone else to get on board with you, you need to do something similar. Business is always two way, yet we often only look at it from our point of view.

But back to your passion. What do you believe about it? Why do you believe it's worth pursuing? Your beliefs are what will drive the passion forward. If you believe something good will happen, it will spur you on. If you don't, you become lethargic, despondent and ultimately, depressed.

It's your choice. You can be the CAUSE of your life or you can choose to let others be the cause. You can choose to follow their lead.



Their agenda. You can take them up on their opportunities. Or you can reverse it. You can take the power and control the agenda. You can become the leader and create the opportunities.

If you are in any doubt. Go back to your passion and ask yourself why again? Keep asking why until you get deep into the real reason. In all probability it will be due to the feeling you get when you are doing the thing you most want to do. The thing that really motivates the emotion you most want to feel.

When you're in that state, how long does it last? When do you need your next fix? The answers you get to these questions, when applied to what you do in business, will give you an insight in how to retain your customers. And retaining customers is the only sustainable way to build and grow a long term business. Be the cause and reap the effects.



APPENDIX 3

Why Is My Business Failing? If you're business is not working the way you want it to, the following may provide some insight.

Have you got the contact details of all your customers? If you are an affiliate (selling other people's goods on commission), what can you do to get their details (there is always a way, even if you can only implement it for new customers)?

What did you do in the last 24 hours for your business? What did it (or will it) achieve?

What were you doing last week?, last month?, last quarter? How did any of that activity help your business? What did you learn? Did you record it?

Can you describe your ideal customer in detail? If you were to write them a letter right



now, making an irresistible offer, what would it say?

Write the letter. Do it now. Did you find it easy to write? Is it good enough to send? And if you did, what makes it so irresistible?

Could you improve the offer? What could you add to it without increasing the price? What would make it a nobrainer?

If you struggled to write the letter, what would you need to do to make it easier to write? What would you need to add to make it irresistible? And what could you add to make it a nobrainer?

What would you write to follow up the letter if it succeeded? What would you write if it didn't? And what would you write after that? And after that? Customer retention is more important to your bottom line than customer attraction because it costs less.

Are you currently running a campaign for your business? And if you are, what is its purpose (hint: was it customer attraction, customer conversion, or customer retention)?



When are you running your next campaign? When did you run your last campaign? Did they achieve their objectives? How did you measure them? What did you discover from the measurement that you could improve next time?

Is your business profitable? If it is, is it scalable? If it is, what (or who) can you use to leverage it for faster growth?

Is your business an asset? Does it have a sustainable revenue model (eg. regular, contracted, periodic charges)? If so, for how long is it sustainable? If not, what can you do to make it sustainable?

Can the business operate without you being present all the time? If not, what can you do to make that possible?

Businesses only make money when they fix problems customers need fixing. What is the key problem your business solves? What other key problems does it solve? Is your message clear about this?

If a complete stranger visited your website or shop right now, would they know within a few seconds what you did? Would they know why



they might need you? Could they contact you right now (or enter their details somewhere) so you could serve them now or at a later date?

Can you clearly and briefly answer the questions:

1. Why you? 2. Why this? 3. Why now?

Do you need your customers or do they need you? What can you do to get them to need you? What can you do to make them realise you are the only one they need?

Answer all these questions and you have a chance. If you fail on any of them, you have little to no chance. This is one reason businesses fail.



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