This is the mind map to end all mind maps. It’s so big that turning it into a PDF or a JPEG compromises the quality of it and, frankly, just looks crappy.

So that you can have the full enchilada, I’ve put the source file here for you to download. However, in order to view it, you’ll need a mind map program called, Xmind, which you can download for free here.

Enjoy. Please share. It’s how we help our friends think bigger about who they are and what they offer the world.

UPDATE:  If the file is zipped when you download it, try renaming it with the “.xmind” extension. (Hat tip to Peter for that one.)

You like almost every entrepreneur, service professional and small business owner have a big vision for how you will uniquely impact and transform your clients and marketplace. Sweet.

You want, no, NEED to be fully self-expressed. You need to know that the very essence of who you are has made the difference in a way that nobody else can. Exciting, right?

But there’s a problem.

The quest for self-expression often inadvertently leads to self-absorption. This is not intentional, of course, but can be so insidious that without realizing it, your dream and vision can turn into a nightmare of frustration, paralysis and crushed confidence. This is not a fun place to be.

How does this happen?

1. By trying too hard to be unique and independent, you lose focus of what others need and become isolated instead.
2. By thinking that the only way to be truly self-expressed, you must create 100% original intellectual property (i.e, your own system for solving your client’s particular problems). This is not easy and requires lots of time. Time you usually don’t have when you should be attracting more clients instead.
3. The struggle to create awareness with limited time and increased frustration perpetuates a vicious cycle of disappointment and poor results.

Be self-expressed AND booked solid!

Ready to break the cycle and realize just how groovy it is to have all of the ideal clients you want while being 100% YOU?

The formula is simple but it’s definitely not easy. It requires your focused dedication. Your dreams are worth that, aren’t they?

1. Embrace and leverage the power of a network. I’m not referring to the cheesy networking concept of “card pushing.” Instead, as we teach in Book Yourself Solid, identify the top 20 influential people in your market and connect with them. See what you can do for them and you might be amazed at the results. Also make a point to connect a lot more with your peers, the people you know you can probably help and who might help you too.
2. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Study, tap into and connect with what’s already out there and working. It’s much easier to develop your own intellectual property when you have the revenue to pay your bills. Obviously, you don’t want to rip off someone else’s work. There are great options like certifications, licensing and franchising that allow you to use an existing, successful system.
3. Develop your unique perspective and one-of-a-kind systems while you are building your business and increasing your revenue using, proven, successful systems and strategies.

If you follow these steps you really can be fully self-expressed while avoiding the gloomy place called self-absorption.

Others who are doing it!

As the Director of Coach Development for The Book Yourself Solid School of Coach Training, I get to interact, coach and work with some of the most amazing people around…the Book Yourself Solid Coaches in Training.

I would like to introduce you to some of our newly certified coaches! Each is uniquely expressing themselves as they bring their life experience and individual swagger to their Book Yourself Solid coaching business.

Chantal Debrosse  Chantal is passionate about helping highly motivated small business owners who are on the brink of overwhelm to gain clarity in order to get more ideal clients, more money, and more time.

Ana Melikian  Ana is founder of AMAZE Coaching, she works with coaches and consultants who have great ideas and services, but are overwhelmed with online marketing and technology. She assists them to get unstuck from the technology quicksand so they can get more clients and increase their income.

Tracy Burrows Tracy is passionate about helping service professionals get more clients. Every successful business must start with a rock solid foundation and Tracy uses the Book Yourself Solid marketing system to help her clients achieve this.

Hope Bockus Hope wants to see massage therapists utilize their talent while teaching them to get more clients than they can even handle.

Shawn Dill Shawn helps strong, philosophical chiropractors find success so that they can touch more lives, educate the sick about true health care and serve our profession by proving that chiropractors CAN make a tremendous living without selling out the principle.

Francine Graglia Francine helps service professionals get more clients…even if they cringe at the thought of marketing and selling.

Andrei Jablokow  Andrei is passionate about helping service professionals get more clients. When you’re done working with Andrei not only will you have a sustainable and repeatable marketing system that works, you will also enjoy marketing and selling.

Jim McNerney Jim helps Wellness Coaches to transform their businesses to peak health and themselves to being fully self-expressed. He will help you avoid the years of struggle and wheel spinning that he went through and achieve your booked solid business vision.

Peter Watz Peter shares his dynamic +20 year sales career reflecting pioneering experience and great performance in the computer and Internet industries. He remains on the cutting-edge, driving new business through key accounts and establishing strategic partnerships and dealer relationships to increase channel revenue. Peter lives in Sweden.

Sarah Thompson Sarah helps people start successful small businesses by writing their business plans and by helping them get more customers by using the Book Yourself Solid System. She has over fifteen years of experience in financial modeling, corporate finance, operations and human resource management of small and medium sized businesses.

Jamie McKean Jamie is a business coach, business mentor and business consultant, not afraid to get stuck in to get great results for clients who want to change but don’t know where to start. Also a published author who’s appeared on TV, but most proud of his beautiful daughters and very patient wife.

Congratulations on all of your hard work! You are well prepared to do big things helping others transform their lives and businesses. 

For the rest of you, who do you serve and what do you help them do? When you know that, you can choose to be fully self-expressed in your desire to, as Michael says, “Stand in the service of others, as you stand in the service of your destiny.” Go for it and go big!

In this video I walk you through how to set up a simple automated sales and admin process so that your customer is well served and super satisfied. It’ll also help you reduce waste and work less.

Resources used and introduced in the video:

Infusionsoft – all in one sales & marketing software
Xmind – brainstorming & mind mapping software

The Little-Known Secret of Big, Bold Personal Branding

You can’t buy it and you can’t download it. But it is one of the most crucial elements to building a successful brand.

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? That’s right—I’m talking about Confidence with a capital C.

Believing in your self isn’t just a cliché. It’s serious business.

Your results (or lack-thereof) are determined by what you believe to be your capacity for doing big things, as Michael would say.

I’ve struggled with self-confidence in my life. I tried to get the little voice in my head to tell me I could achieve my goals but all I could think of was , “What if the little voice in my head is an idiot?” As you might imagine, this had a big impact on my ability to actually achieve my goals. If that’s not a catch 22, I don’t know what is.

Waiting for Approval is Wasteful

My time was spent (and by spent I mean wasted) waiting for approval. I was putting my business on-hold while I waited for someone to show up and tell me my ideas were worthwhile.

I was afraid to put my message out there. I held myself back and as a result I was broke. Not just financially but also (and maybe more importantly) mentally.  Have you been there? Are you there now?

Until I kicked this little, insipid, senseless, seriously stupid voice to the curb, my business struggled.

Why is self-belief so important to your brand and business? It’s simple. If you have doubt, so will your customers.

Confidence is Contagious

Do you want to do business with someone that lacks confidence in themself and their services? That’s a rhetorical question, of course.

People can sense desperation and insecurities in a heart-beat. You have to be confident in what you do. You must honestly believe that you are the best option for your ideal client. As Michael says, you have to be able to declare, “The best thing for you would be me.” No one is going to respect your opinions if you can’t say that (or at least think it).

Is it hard to build your confidence? Sure, maybe sometimes. But this is YOUR LIFE we’re talking about? It is worth it to work on this? It’s imperative. To dodge doing so demonstrates a lack of integrity.

Moreover, if you have limiting beliefs and self doubt then you hold yourself back when it comes to promoting your products and services. Being timid isn’t going to put your brand atop of the food chain. When you lack confidence you lack the courage to try new and innovative ideas; ideas that can propel your business—and your life—forward.

People gravitate towards brands that stand for something. Someone they can get behind and support. Something they feel they are a part of. This is why you must have an unwavering belief in what you stand for and full confidence in how you express yourself. This is how you’ll make your name in the world.

Passion, like confidence, is contagious. When you express yourself in a passionate way people gravitate to you. Passion creates an emotional connection. Once people connect to your brand emotionally, you’ve got it made. This is why anything holding you back from delivering your message to the world should be eliminated immediately. There’s no room for self-doubt in business.

Cockiness vs. Confidence

Now, let me stress that there is a difference between confidence and cockiness. Confidence is sexy. Cockiness is a turn-off. Believing in the value you bring to the table is respectable whereas a foolish, hyperbolic grandiose sense of self is arrogant.

People are attracted to confidence. Believe in yourself and the value you bring to the table. If you don’t, then you’ll always play the game too small.

The world needs you to play big. You owe it to yourself and to those you can help.

Take a moment to leave a reply that helps others increase their confidence. Maybe you have a story about becoming more confident over the years? Or maybe you can share some of your fears and doubts along with your desire to strengthen your resolve and secure your sense of self?

If you could be a superhero, which one would you choose and why?

Now, it’s not an obligatory question, but up until now anybody who has been accepted into the Alliance has always answered with a well thought-out reply.

Guess who is the most popular superhero among entrepreneurs? 

It’s not Superman, although a few people have mentioned him. They like the flying, mainly, and the laser-vision, and the spandex, I guess.

Some of the woman have opted for Wonder Woman, but that’s indicative of a lack of female superhero role-models more than anything else.

Most entrepreneurs that join me in my year-long mastermind program choose one superhero above all others.

That superhero?

Batman.

Seriously. I crunched the numbers and the Caped Crusader came out on top. Hands down. No competition.

Here’s why:

• He has no special powers. (He does, however, have a cool outfit.)

• Instead of super powers, he makes use of his intellect, mental capacity, fearlessness and acute sense of social justice. He needs to create solutions to let him do his job to the best of his ability.

• But he knows he can’t do it alone, so he has a team he counts on for everything. They’ve got his back. They send him information and look after the stuff he’s too busy to deal with himself. (I.e. Commissioner James Gordon, Alfred, Robin, and a host of other superhero types including but not limited to, Batgirl, Elongated Man, The Huntress, and Ace the Bat-Hound.

• He develops and uses proprietary technology to enable him to do his job quickly and effectively. (Batmobile, Batsuit, etc.)

• And, finally, when he’s not out battling the bad-guys, he’s the uber-successful entrepreneur, Bruce Wayne, a man of many resources who spends large parts of his wealth and time on philanthropic missions.

How about that for the ideal entrepreneurial profile?

I’m meeting with my own personal superheroes in the bat-cave next week for one of our Alliance gatherings.

If you need a Commissioner Gordon, a Robin, an Alfred, and a Batgirl to cover your back, you’ve got it. Click here to join us.

So, tell me… who’s your favorite superhero and why? 

Maybe one logo might be more curvy than another. Maybe one uses a slightly different font. Or, maybe one is a lighter shade of blue than the others.

If they’re good enough I say with a smile, “Close your eyes, point at the paper, pick one, and get on with getting clients.”

Their response is usually about how they’ve been working on them for months and have been paying a designer a lot of money and that they want it to be perfect.

Of course they do. They want to be original, unique, distinct, and professional and they want their logo to represent those qualities.

But, when you’re a service professional like an attorney, financial planner, chiropractor, consultant, or coach, your logo doesn’t mean all that much. (Designers, please don’t hate me yet. Your faith will be restored in a minute.)

Can you tell me what my logo looks like?

Think… think harder…

You can’t. That’s because I don’t have one.

I have very specific style guides for all my products, books, etc. I LOVE design. I think it matters big time (Designers, you matter, big time!). But design and logos aren’t necessarily the same thing. Here’s a new look I created for my Alliance Mentoring Program. Simple, clean, stylish, and professional (at least, in my opinion) sans fancy logo. Sure, there’s a little thing in the upper left hand corner but it just has my initials on it. It’s good enough.

When you’re a service business owner, people are buying you and the results you can deliver.

If you can design a logo that is truly remarkable and gets people talking about you, then by all means, do so. But, if you’d rather spend your time selling your services, don’t waste your time on logos. I’d rather see you create a video that is remarkable or a teleclass that gets people talking or an always have something to invite people to event that is the hottest thing in town.

On the other hand, if you’re building a business that you plan on franchising or if you’re trying to start the next big clothing brand, music label, computer company, or charitable organization, then it might be a different story. Your logo might does really matter.

You decide how to best use your time, however.

Successful entrepreneurs are generally very good at allocating resources to get the best return on investment. Time is one of the most valuable resources you have. What’s the best use of it? Doing logos or doing marketing?

Update #1: Please remember to consider the context of my comments about logos and to whom I’m speaking — THOSE WHO ARE STALLING. It seems that some of those that are pushing back think I don’t think design/branding matters. As I said, IT MATTERS BIG TIME.

Update #2: Take, for example, a few of my successful colleagues:

Brain Clark is Copyblogger
Scott Stratten is Unmarketing
Les Mckeown is Predicable Success
Pam Slim is Escape From Cubicle Nation
Michael Gerber is The E-Myth

Notice how they have all done a great job of branding an idea along with their name.

However, I can’t, for the life of me, picture a logo that accompanies the idea. In this case, it’s the name that matters and the person behind it.

Update #3: The Sharing icons below will let you share the post but they stopped counting the shares for some reason (in case you were wondering).

That differentiator is what you sell.

The most successful coaches in the industry sell their services bound up in comprehensive, proprietary intellectual property. The rest sell general “coaching.” There’s a big difference between selling general coaching services and selling a very specific system that produces a very specific result for a very specific client.

Book Yourself Solid is that kind of system. It’s why I’ve been so successful.

If you don’t have a system like that to offer potential clients, what do you have that they’d be compelled to buy?

You ARE compelling on your own. That’s for sure. But, is it enough to have a never-ending stream of new clients clamoring for your services? Maybe…but usually not.

Here are three solutions. Choose which is right for you and you’ll see an immediate change in your client-flow and as a result—your cash-flow.

SOLUTION ONE

Create your own extensive, comprehensive intellectual property that makes a major statement in your industry.

This is what I have done with Book Yourself Solid and it’s one of the main reasons I have been so successful.

Dale Carnegie’s leadership and public speaking coaching business all stemmed from his seminal work, How To Win Friends and Influence People. Without this crucial piece of intellectual property, his hugely successful training company wouldn’t have got anywhere near the amount of traction it has.

Ken Blanchard is another example from the same industry. On the back of the success of his short book, The One Minute Manager, he now runs a worldwide coaching and training company.

But you don’t need to have an international best-selling book to get these results; we can look at other examples.

Who is the world’s most successful sleep coach for babies and toddlers? You might not know the answer to that, but Kim West dominates the industry based on her proprietary Good Night, Sleep Tight solution.

Bikram Choudhory is another example. He created a copyrighted, proprietary yoga system based on existing principles and became a huge commercial success in the health & wellness industry.

Admittedly, this approach isn’t for everybody, but if it IS for you, then you’re backing a winner.

Here’s a potential downside: it will probably take you years. If successful, these will be years very well spent.

Ultimately the market-place will decide if the intellectual property you create is actually worth paying for, but in the meantime, let’s see if you are, at heart, an intellectual property creator, or if your true calling is to be a coach.

Written Exercise:

• Right now, take a pen and paper and jot down a title for a four-part program.

• Within that program, create seven unique components for each part, each one addressing an urgent and compelling need for your target market and delivering a single big result for your audience.

• Each of the 28 steps should contain new insights and actionable content. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel at this stage – most skilled intellectual property developers are adept at repurposing (but not stealing) existing content – but your result should be brand new to the marketplace.

• Once you’ve done that, can you formulate, on no fewer than, say, two pages, a comprehensive year-long marketing campaign to get people into your programs based on this intellectual property? You’ll first have to design the format, delivery, pricing and structure of these programs.

It’s a lot of work, huh? But don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t come naturally. Whilst content creation is something that can be learned, it isn’t necessarily going to be the best use of your time and resources.

Many of my Book Yourself Solid Coaches, for example, are fantastic at the coaching and consulting side of things, but haven’t the inclination or skill-set or desire to go about creating proprietary intellectual property. Instead, they use mine.

Decide if this course of action is for you. If it is, then run with it. As I said before, the market will ultimately decide if it wants to pay for the fruits of your labor.

But if you don’t try, you’ll never find out.

SOLUTION TWO

This solution allows you to use other people’s intellectual property. You can’t, of course, do this by stealing it (but I know I don’t have to tell you that).

Coaching franchises exist that will give you the tools and marketing materials you need to sell their products to your audience.

In buying into a coaching franchise, you’ll be given the opportunity to use materials previously developed by somebody else, and sell them to your own clients under that original brand name.

In return for a lump-sum payment and an on-going monthly fee, plus a percentage of your sales, you’ll be given the right to sell the franchisor’s materials to individuals or companies within a defined geographic area.

There are several opportunities like this available, ranging from sales training schools to marketing programs and entire top-down business coaching.

The franchisors — and this differs from organization to organization — should be keen to make sure that you have the necessary tools to sell their products and programs. After all, the more money you make, the more money they make.

The most successful coaching franchises have a strict Red Velvet Rope Policy in place, which means they put a barrier to entry in place to ensure that only the most committed coaches become franchisees.

This barrier is usually financial. The two leading business-coaching franchises will not let you become a franchisee unless you are prepared to make an initial investment of the better part of $100,000.

That means that only those who have the means apply.

The advantages of this system are that you have the materials already created for you. Some of them will even allow you to rent a virtual office assistant to answer the phone on your behalf.

This is a viable solution for many new coaches out there who feel comfortable within a more corporate structure. With monthly financial reporting to head-office, the accountability factor is high.

Also, in order to succeed you’ll have to reach for the skies with your pricing, as the continued cost to remain a franchisee are usually considerable.

SOLUTION THREE

The third solution is to license the use of somebody else’s proven intellectual property. This is different to the franchise model, as it is often against a one-time investment and you will have the right to re-fashion and repurpose the material as you see fit.

Sometimes, you can even put your own name to the material, mix it up with your own ideas and intellectual property and rebrand it as something that you can legitimately call your own.

All of my Book Yourself Solid coaches, for example, have a full legal license to use all of the material that I have put together over the last decade, including course structure, marketing material and even promotional graphics. This is in return for a one-off investment and a period of intensive personal training with me.

I’m fully aware of my bias to this solution because it’s the one I offer. I do so because I think it’s most profitable for the coach (and the fastest way to get in the game). Another advantage of this method is the advantage of transferred credibility.

Surgeons, musicians, hypnotherapists, athletes and life-coaches boost their credibility by making reference to their mentors. If you’re looking for an NLP trainer, you’ll be reassured to know that your trainer has studied personally under Richard Bandler. If you’re looking for a chess teacher, then a student of Kasparov is almost as good as Kasparov himself.

So it is with Book Yourself Solid coaching. Teaching a system that is proven to work and that is internationally respected will confer the benefit of recognition and credibility to your own practice, even if you’re just starting out.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

So there you have it, the single biggest difference between very successful coaches, and coaches that are just getting by: intellectual property.

You mustn’t forget this as you forge ahead with your career as a coach. It should be the cornerstone of the services that you offer and the brand that you create for yourself.

If you’re just starting out, or you’re already a coach without recognizable IP, it’s never too late to start.

Choose one of those three options above:

• Create your own IP
• Become a franchisee

or

• License proven material

And don’t stop until you hit the top!

I’m always looking to speak with good, motivated and passionate coaches about joining my team as a Certified Book Yourself Solid Coach. To find out more about that, click the link below:

Book Yourself Solid Coach Training – more details

In the meantime, stay safe, stay strong and think

Promises are, to some extent, uncomfortable because you have to keep them. Sure, sometimes they can be and may need to be renegotiated. But, ultimately, when you promise and commit, someone is counting on you. Someone is, maybe many someones are, expecting you to deliver something.

People are counting on you.

When you say you’ll do something, then you will. You won’t just try to make good on your word, you will fulfill what you have undertaken. Possibly more. Too many people avoid making promises in the first place, fearing the accountability, preferring to hide under a cloak of diminished expectations. How often have you heard (or said) the words, “I can’t promise you that I’ll do it, but I’ll try.” Why would we want to live in the half-light, of such a soft engagement with others and the world?

Take your Pulse… Answer the following truthfully:

At present, when I am asked to or consider making commitments I feel…

Still, developing outstanding habits of commitment making and fulfilling doesn’t ensure breakdown won’t occur—it will. How do you handle it? Are you comfortable with the discomfort that comes along with making commitments, with doing big things in the world? If not, it’s time to get comfortable with discomfort (if the shoe pinches, it fits).

Control is an illusion.

When you are thinking small, you crave preordained outcomes. You want to know what’s going to happen before you begin. Control is an illusion. The need to know how, where, and what prevents all progress.

The twin demons of failure and rejection are mental illusions, the standard bearers of “excusitis.” They sap your will. They suck away your energy. Pressures exist. Deal with it.

To do big things in the world is dangerous and vital. Avoid control. Seek challenge. The more uncomfortable you are, the more challenged you are. Only then will you see the true liberation of breaking free from what you fear.

Every time you find an answer, you find a conflict with that answer.

When you seek to control something, it’s because you fear the unknown, the out of control. What you fear is reality, because ultimately it can never be controlled. The reality of reality is this: Every time you find an answer, so, too, you find a conflict with that answer. The closer you come to the core of a matter, of yourself even, the more you realize the contradictions in the world and in your own nature.

As you hone your commitment to fulfillment you will:

1. Improve and act on your intuition, which is your highest intelligence and derives from your place of truth. This is to up the visibility of your purpose, what you stand for. Such candor in turn will make you more accountable and increase the number of situations that make you uncomfortable. Ouch.
2. Improve your promises. When you think big, you promise to deliver a remarkable outcome. The pressure is on. Uncomfortable pressure. Ouch.
3. Take more risks, a lot more. It takes daring to invest in yourself and others, but it will bring you to that place of great discomfort faster, that place where you can accomplish big things. It’s too easy to live with the daily, small, inertial discomforts of avoiding your fears. Risk induces activity. Activity disperses fear and inertia. As a Japanese proverb says, “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

Candor, promises, risks; at first it’s like a giant shot of wasabi—all that accountability, all that visibility. It’s going to sear your nostrils with every breath and make your scalp sweat—all the better (and if you have a head cold, presto, it will be gone, too). Once you’re thinking big, you will call like-minded people to action.

Rock the boat. Maybe it sinks. But maybe it doesn’t.

A video about my mentoring program, The Alliance, has been shared a lot, despite very little promotion on my part.

Here’s a breakdown of why it works.

There are five key points to making your stuff shareable. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a video, a blog post, a sales page, or an e-book; these principles apply.

1. Give people something to talk about.

There’s this (wrong) idea being bandied about that the only way to get a reaction is to be controversial.

Certainly, that can work, but if you’re not in the business of picking fights in order to provoke a reaction, try being remarkable instead. According to my friend, Seth, that means people are able to remark on what you’ve done. It doesn’t mean that you have to paint the Sistine Chapel. But you do need to make something that is really marketable.

The first seven seconds of the video fit the bill and got people talking.

Admittedly, it pokes a little fun at some of the all-too-common Internet marketing techniques, but it’s done with tongue firmly in cheek and in the best of spirits. You can hardly call it controversial.

Instead, it’s what’s called a “pattern interrupt.”  You make the viewer (or reader) think they’re getting one thing, and then, with a sudden change of direction, you make them laugh, think or feel different then expected. It disarms them.

Which brings me neatly to point two.

2. Make people feel comfortable.

People are going to share the stuff they like, stuff that makes them feel good. Nobody wants to share a cold or flu virus, and nobody wants to share something that makes them feel queasy.

I put a lot of care and attention into getting the tone of this video just right. Everything from the visuals, to the timbre of my voice, to the background music (or lack of it) was designed to put the viewer at ease.

If you can put your audience at ease, then they’ll be receptive and open to sharing your message with their network.

3. Respect your audience.

How many times have you visited a sales page and left feeling a little dirty, a little taken-advantage of?

One of your biggest bugbears, if you’re like most of the people I polled on this, is visiting a web page with a video that doesn’t let you pause, play, rewind or fast forward.

By providing my audience with full control over how the video plays I’m saying, “I respect you.”

If you feel dirty watching it, you won’t forward it. Conversely, if you feel respected, you’re likely to forward it to people you respect.

4. Be unconventional by being yourself.

According to popular wisdom, because attention span has never been shorter, if you’re trying to sell somebody something, you have to hit them between the eyes with loud headlines, catchy bullet points, flashing colors and loud noises.

The video I made to promote the Alliance doesn’t do any of that (expect for the bit at the beginning to point out what you’re not going to see).

It runs 23 minutes and 23 seconds (yes, exactly) and the viewing stats are excellent with many, many people watching it all the way through. Most of the video is just me as me, addressing the camera. There’s no fancy lighting tricks, no kittens falling off tables and no laughing babies.

And you know what? People are watching it and sharing it.

If I’d listened to all the “gurus” and followed their advice, you’d see a very different video out there. You would have seen a video that didn’t represent me, my brand, and what I stand for.

I’ve always been a little skeptical of my industry with all its hype and anti-intellectualism.  Don’t get me wrong, I admire many of its leaders and you know how much I love and respect the people I serve.

Nonetheless, I do my best to be true to my beliefs and what I feel is appropriate. That’s all each of us can do. And that truth is a moveable line so I’m careful that it doesn’t creep in the wrong direction. When it does, I try to quickly move it back to it’s rightful place.

Trust your gut. The best way to be distinct is by being more yourself, more fully self-expressed.

5. Be useful and relevant.

Finally, you have to provide useful, relevant and timely information. That’s the real key. Truly relevant and useful material is always shareable.

It’s December and many small business owners like you are looking at their accounts and performance over the last twelve months, and starting to put a plan in place for 2012.

If you watch this video, even if that’s ALL you do, you’ll have a very clear, very concise overview on the EXACT areas on which to focus, both professionally and personally, to achieve your goals.

That’s timely and relevant.

Of course, I’m telling you about my program as well. But if it’s not right for you, you’ll still get value from watching the video (I believe).

Take a look at the video I put together, and see how it ticks the boxes above:

1. It gives people something to talk about (especially the first seven seconds).
2. I make you feel immediately comfortable so that you want to stick around.
3. My love and respect and gratitude for you shines through from the very beginning.
4. It’s unlike many of the sales videos you’ll have seen recently.
5. It’s useful and relevant.

Keep thinking big about who you are and what you offer the world. Much love and big hugs to you this fine day.

If you’d like to think bigger about who you are and what you offer the world, then just a small change in your choice of words may open up whole new worlds.

A number of years ago, while speaking with my teacher, I made a statement declaring, “Everybody’s like that.” My teacher replied, “Are they?” “Well…I guess…no, not really,” I stammered. He asked me if I would be open to observing my language for the use of generalities and declarative statements that were not empirically based. I agreed and was surprised by what I found.

You too, may be surprised by how often you use declarative statements that don’t allow room for alternatives or other possibilities.

Notice my choice of words in this post thus far. The above sentence leaves room for an alternative by suggesting that, “You might be surprised” rather than “You will be surprised.” Earlier I said that a “small change in your choice of words, may open up whole new worlds,” and that “the way you see the world can influence your language” and that “your language can also influence your perspective.”

You’ll often find declarative and general statements in the language of marketers, especially aggressive marketers. “This is the only thing you’ll ever need to learn and the only thing you’ll ever need to know and the only thing you’ll ever need to do…”

From the marketer’s perspective, that kind of language is often designed to close you off to the possibility that it might not be the right product for you and that it might, in fact, not help you. Sure, you’ll often see “may” and “should” used to reduce the marketer’s liability but, for the most part, marketers try to close off your thinking so that you focus only on what they are suggesting you buy into.

I imagine that you don’t care much for that kind of language when it’s directed at you. Although, you might love it, I don’t know. But, putting that aside for the moment, think about how your mind might react if all of the language you used included declarative statements.

If you emphatically declare, “All men are like that,” or “I can never trust again,” how are you going to create space in your mind, your perspective, for a man that does meet your expectations?

If you generalize that, “All rich people are snobs,” how are you going to see yourself as a wealthy person so that you can improve your professional and financial status?

If you state that “All liberals are socialists,” or that “All Tea Party members are crazies,” how do you come together to make things better?

Often these viewpoints are a reflection of something that scares us but even the simple, little things can make a difference. When you say something like, “You didn’t take out the trash,” the other person is immediately accused of doing something wrong. However, if you say, “It seems like you didn’t take out the trash. Am I correct?” you leave room for an alternative.

So does the way you see the world influence your choice of words or does your choice of words influence the way you see the world? I believe it’s both.

Often, it’s suggested that you simply change your actions to get better results. However, if your worldview doesn’t change to support the new actions, you may find it difficult to sustain the new actions. Moreover, it can be difficult to simply say, “Ok, as of today I’m going to see the world in a different way,” if your language doesn’t support the change.

If you’d like to quite smoking but every time you attempt the feat, you find yourself repeating, “I can’t get through the day without a cigarette,” how do you think it influences the way you see the world and the outcome of your effort? By making a slight change in your language to something like, “It’s been hard to get through the day without a cigarette,” leaves room for the possibility that it is doable.

If you’d like to lose weight but you consistently say things like, “Oh, I could never do without my chocolate fix,” how do you think it influences the way you see the world and your waistline? Instead, trying saying, “I am used to having a chocolate fix.” That slight change alone might open up the possibility that you can live without it.

If you want to build a business and hear yourself saying things like, “Marketing takes too much time,” or “Getting clients is just hard,” or “Every time I get a lead, ‘this’ happens,” how do you think it influences the way you see the world and influences the actions you take?

Using different language like, “I’ve found that when I get a lead this has been happening,” allows you to explore alternatives. Instead of generalizing that “marketing takes too much time,” saying, “I’ve found that marketing has taken me a lot of time,” might leave room for exploration. And, well, saying, “Getting clients is just hard,” doesn’t seem like it will help the situation, now does it?

I would venture a guess that you have made a declarative statement or two over the years. I know I have. I now do my best not to. But when I do, I try to catch myself and amend my statement.

Whether it’s on little things or big things, all generalities are false (including that one).

And just think about how your choice of words makes the world see you.