How Quality Sells Products and Services

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” ~Henry Ford

In the market place, quality is one guaranteed selling point. If your product or service is high in quality, most cases, it sells real good and competes well. Once quality is guaranteed, customer loyalty is easier to build. Quality helps to build trust which is about all you need to keep your customers coming back. Integrity too helps to sustain quality. When you have integrity, people tend to trust you more and hence more comfortable doing business with you over a prolonged period of time. Dispensing guaranteed quality over time helps to build integrity. Quality really sells, believe me!

Take my advice here. No matter what you do in the course of your business, never you compromise on quality. If you do, you may never get very far. For instance, anytime word gets around that the best peanut butter in town is made by you, people get curious and they want to find out. If they find out, they too get out the word further and more people want to find out. If you continue to dispense real quality, your business grows exponentially. Who wouldn’t want that?

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

Why What You Think Leads the Way

“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves, they have the first secret of success.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale

There is nothing anyone can achieve in this world without their thinking making it possible. That is where achievement begins for everyone. Just name it, anything you feel like doing must first be well thought out. If not, chances of starting at all are very slim talk less of making any meaningful headway in form of progress. The thinking process helps to put the entire business or enterprise in proper perspective even before commencement. The thinking process gives the picture and the roadmap of what is to be done. Following what you’ve already thought about is a great way to measure progress and to be sure you are on course. Knowing you are on course at any point in time encourages more progress and eventual completion and success. Note that without what you already thought about, it is difficult if not impossible to follow this natural order.

If your thinking says it can be done, it will. If however it says it can’t be done, it is almost impossible to get it done. That is the real power of thoughts in the process of general achievements. First, you must believe you can and you will. Your thinking process makes that possible. If however you think you can’t, certainly you can’t. Putting efforts when your thinking says you can’t is one sure way to dissipate energy and time while achieving nothing. Some waste! That is clearly no way to go. To get anything done, you must first be sure you think it through before attempting to act it through.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”


 

Benefits of Guest Blogging

For the sake of my small business, I blog. Maybe, you blog too for same reasons. These days, nearly everyone who is doing business online blogs. Many people blog for one main reason, business exposure. Everyone else blogs for business exposure and customer attraction. Business exposure is what everyone blogs for. Besides updating your small business blog with fresh content that resonates with your website visitors, contributing articles to other blogs can further enhance your brand’s image. That is what is known as guest blogging. It attracts some good measure of exposure when properly done. Guest blogging offers several benefits which include:

– Building your reputation as an expert in your chosen field.
– Introducing you to industry leaders and influencers in your business field.
– Helping you increase the social media following of your business.
– Increasing the exposure of your brand.
– Providing the opportunity to link back to your business website.
– Helping your Search Engine ranking for SEO benefits.


 

Why you Need Abundant Faith to Get Things Done

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” ~ Helen Keller

Embarking on any business is like taking a leap of faith. Most times, you know what you want to do but you can never be sure if the results will come out as you expect. You take the plunge all the same hoping with some measure of confidence that things will turn out right. Without hope, nothing worthwhile can be successfully achieved in our world. With faith, you get optimistic fairly easily. Optimism is what really fires everyone on to get things done as planned. Without it, most times you find yourself stuck in the starting blocks of what you have planned to do.

If you are determined to achieve maximum success in your business, you must learn the principle that real progress is made one step at a time. If you take one step, with hope and optimism, you can take the second and the third and the fourth and so on until you get the job done. When you are building a house, all you need is a brick at a time added on until the structure comes out. It is with hope and optimism you add these bricks because you believe a building will result from your efforts. There lies your faith in the steps you are taking.  With hope, faith and confidence, Football games are won a play at a time. A department store grows bigger one customer at a time. Notice how all these big accomplishments come about as a result of a series of little accomplishments stringed together with hope, faith and optimism. Everyone gets these results and really succeed provided they follow the rules.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

Why Time is Highly Valuable

“If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know and start charging for it.” ~ Kim Garst
 
Do you know that many people live by simply selling their time? It is the value you bring to your time that others get to pay for. All of us have equal time allotted to us daily but the people who get to use their own time better tend to live better and are more successful in whatever they are doing for a living. Time is fleeting and waits for no one. Once gone, it is gone forever and never to be recovered. The more and better you deploy your time, the more successful you become in your chosen business.

The value of time becomes more apparent when you discover that paying for services rendered is measured in time. Traveling between two locations no matter the means of transportation is estimated in time even though the distance is known in mileage. Economists believe very rightly that time is money since nearly all of us live by selling our time to others. If you are a wage earner, the employer who pays your wages values it in the time you put in working for him. Even if you are self employed, the prices of your services/products are determined largely by the time you expend to get through with the service or to produce the product. The good news is, everyone has ample time daily to do what they like with. The people who get to make it better are those who are able to use their time economically and profitable. You too can if you give it a try, now that you know.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”
 

 

Why You Must Have Trust in Something

“You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” ~ Steve Jobs

As a business person, I have no doubt you read business books. Even if you don’t, I will advise you to start reading now. You are missing out on very valuable information which can help your business if you don’t read books. If you read, among the books you read, be sure there are books with information about successful entrepreneurs, books that are either written by them or written about them. One of my favorites is Steve Jobs, one of the big brains behind the development of Apple Computers. Mr. Jobs had an extraordinary approach to business, life and living, the reason I believe he achieved so much in the short period he lived. He trusted his instincts, his ability and above all his capability. There was no stopping him whenever he had a gut feeling he was onto something great as an inventor and innovator. The string of successes Apple Computers recorded in its early years is a great testimony to Mr. Jobs abilities. He always had absolute trust in “something.”

In your own business, even if the thing you have absolute trust in is just yourself, you can achieve many feats in the business with that trust as the driving force. You can never be let down if you have full trust in yourself and the fate the get things done. That is the way to go.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

How Unwavering Attention Grows Your Business

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” ~ Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee may have been a successful and renowned martial artist but perhaps unknown to him, his lessons in that beautiful trade of his apply squarely in our everyday business lives. It is difficult if not impossible to get any business problem solved if you are unable to direct your focus on the problem and how to solve it.

To succeed in any venture, you must be able concentrate fully on it and what it takes to achieve it. Sadly and very pathetically, most people have no idea of the giant capacity they can immediately command when they focus all of our resources on mastering just one vital aspect of their business lives. That is the magic of focus. If you want to add more power to your business life, you must be able to concentrate all your energies on a limited set of targets involving the growth of your business. That is what brings about favorable results more easily. It is human nature somehow to become exactly what you focus on most of the time. It is for that reason business gurus always advise their mentees to always endeavor to concentrate their thoughts fully on any business they have at hand at any particular point in time. As Alexander Graham Bell likes to say, “The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus." So it is in all aspects of our business lives. Take my advice, to get it done, you must fully concentrate on it and concentrate you must unless you want to remain stagnated where you currently are. I believe you can do better, but do you? Just find your focus and you will.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

How to Grow Your Business Amidst Challenges

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” ~ Bernice Johnson Reagan

Yes you have challenges in your business, so what? You may not be aware that everyone else is facing their own challenges one way or another. If you run a business, facing challenges is a given. You must face challenges in order to grow. When such challenges come as they must do, facing them squarely and conquering them is much better than getting confused and allowing the challenges to paralyze and overwhelm you. Facing challenges is one sure way to nurture and grow your business.

As Robert H. Schuller likes to say, “Tough times never last but, tough people do.” It is the toughness of these people that enables them to squarely face the inevitable challenges and obstacles everyone gets to face in the normal course of everyday business. That is what gives them the staying power to stay the course and to keep their businesses going. Most times, business challenges are a true test of who you really are. They enable you to understand yourself and your abilities better. When you know yourself, at all times, you get to know your capabilities as well. Knowing your capabilities is what gives you the impetus and the zeal to face challenges. It helps you to solve your business problems as they crop up. Being able to solve problems in your business is one sure way to guarantee its growth. Business growth is not without challenges, it is inspite of challenges.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

Why Taking Chances is Good for Business

“Life isn’t worth living unless you’re willing to take some big chances and go for broke.” ~ Eliot Wiggington

When opportunity knocks, always remember that it is knocking for mankind no for you alone. If you ignore it, somebody else won’t. Sometimes, the only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible. It may present as an opportunity waiting to be taken. If you don’t take it, you don’t make it. If you do, you get to make it. That is how some people succeed and some onlookers will say it is their luck that made it possible. Unknown to these onlookers, the people who strive, work harder and better somehow get luckier at the end of the day. Have you ever heard someone say “strike the hammer while the iron is hot?” Good if you have. Taking a chance and striking at an appropriate time with everything you’ve got most times guarantees some appreciable level of success no matter the venture.

If you want something bad enough and you are willing to go for broke to have it, somehow you’ll get it. Life may present itself a bore and drudgery unless you’re willing to take some big chances as they come along. That is one great way to discard mediocrity for purposeful achievements. Every successful business person is always looking for opportunities to get things done. Once any opportunity presents itself, they tend to go for it with everything they’ve got. That to me appears to be why they are succeeding. Anybody else can do same and succeed to too if they learn to seize opportunities as well. These opportunities are out there waiting for those with sufficient vision and zeal to grab them. These are the people who really succeed.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

How Results Define Business Success

“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.” ~ Confucius
Success in business is not about pace. It is about results. Favorable results that is, no matter how long it takes to get them provided you get them. Every perfect job, every perfect business requires time to accomplish. If you are determined to achieve maximum success in what you are doing right now, you must respect the natural principle that progress is made one step at a time. Even if you are building a skyscraper, you need to add a brick at a time until the magnificent super structure is ready.  Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments added one at a time until the job gets done. Even in some sports like football, games are won a play at a time over some time. Time is also of essence if you want to build a department store. You will discover that you can only grow it and make it bigger one customer at a time. This is the natural order. Recognizing this natural order and deploying the knowledge to your business helps your way to success.

If you run a business, first you have yourself to compete with before anybody else if ever. You are you and nobody else. You are not competing in a sprint event with anyone. Take your time and pace to get things done your own way provided you get good results at the end. So, it does not really matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop, you will get there. Slow and steady progress somehow manages to guarantee more and better success than rushing through things and crashing out soon enough.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

How Perseverance Saves Your Business

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” ~ Winston Churchill

If you run a business, no doubt you know what it means to go through a bad patch once in a while. It is nothing strange. Everyone gets to go through their own bad patches in the course of any business. Nothing good comes easy so says the sages. Going through a bad patch in the course of any business is akin to going through hell. Depending on the passion you have for the business and what the business means to you and your family, it is real hell on earth anytime things aren’t going well for your business. For some businesses, this happens much too often because of the vagaries of the economic environment the business is operating from. In such circumstances, you must always find ways to persevere hoping that things will pick up again down the road as they always do. So, if you are going through a bad patch in your business, stick with it and keep on striving to make things better. Things always get better with time anyway, if you manage to stick with the job. Most times, throwing up your hands and giving up is not advisable. That is like quitting at the very first obstacle. Successful people never do that.

According to Conrad Hilton, "Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." That requires determination and bravery because as most working people know very well, "fortune favors the bold but abandons the timid," a very apt Latin Proverb. In any business, you can never go very far if you are not willing to do and dare. At some point, if you are going through hell in the course of your business, just go right through. That is the surest way to success. Nothing is guaranteed in this world of ours. If you want something bad enough, you must find a way to get it no matter the odds.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

How Enthusiasm Helps Your Business

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever flown on an airplane? Even if you haven’t, you must have seen airplanes flying all over the skies. If you have, have you ever wondered how such a big machine manages to fly in the air so easily? Stop wondering and think about those men with great and unlimited enthusiasm who invented airplanes. Just take a look around you. All those tall buildings, superstructures and wonderful monuments you are seeing were all invented and built with great enthusiasm. In all human endeavors, nothing great ever comes to be without enthusiasm. It takes enthusiasm for the human intellect and resourceful energy to be deployed to productive use.

Even in business, you can’t sell, negotiate nor manage any enterprise successfully without enthusiasm. No matter how great the dream is, no matter how sharp your vision is, without enthusiasm, you can never get off the starting blocks to get things rolling. Anywhere you see great things happening in our universe, you discover there are monomaniacs fired up with enthusiasm who are in the driver’s seat. Yes, there may be problems along the way, yes there may be obstacles and yes there may be outright failures and disappointments but with enthusiasm, successful people manage to stay on course till results are achieved. Fact is, without enthusiasm, the zeal to get things done is not there for you. Therefore, if you want to succeed in that business of yours, just get enthusiastic about it and go for results. With enthusiasm, you can never miss the mark.
 
Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price."

How Liking What You Do Helps Your Business

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” ~ Maya Angelou

My mentor once told me, “if your heart is not in it, just forget it, you are wasting your time, energy and resources for a lost course.” The import of this statement was lost to me at the time it was made. Years later, I came face to face with the reality of the statement when I had to be practically “forced” to do something I didn’t believe in because it was an instruction from my superior officer. Till date, I regret not declining that instruction outright and face the consequences later instead of going ahead half-heartedly and ending up in avoidable failure. In any business deal you want to negotiate, forget it if your mind and heart are not in the deal. A practical business lesson!

To succeed in any venture, you must have your mind on it, be focused on it and be determined to get it done. That is only possible when you like what you are doing. Liking what you are doing enables you to focus properly. Being focused on the task at hand is the key here. This is because at all times, success demands singleness of purpose. Without it, hoping to succeed becomes a mirage. What you choose to focus your mind on is critical because you will become what you think about most of the time. If you like what you do, and liking how you do it, it becomes easier to focus your mind on all tasks at hand relating to what you have to do. That way, getting it done to your satisfaction comes about more smoothly. That is success. Liking yourself, what you do and how you do it, helps the mind to focus better. It enables you to harness and concentrate your thoughts positively. The more you concentrate on the work at hand, the better the results you get. No doubt you know that the sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. That is exactly how concentration helps everyone who wants to succeed.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

Why Opportunities Are Not Scarce

“Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.” ~ David Rockefeller

I have heard it said that there is opportunity everywhere for those who have eyes to see. Yes, it is there somewhere but you must have the discipline, zeal and determination to find it. It requires hard work too. If I may add, that should be hard, legitimate and purposeful work otherwise nothing jells after all efforts. If you love something and you are prepared to work to get it, you can always make a living out of it as a business. That simply means, there's no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. What may be scarce is the resolve, your own resolve to get things organized to make it happen. I make bold to say that there are more and better opportunities in the world today than there were say about 50 years ago. That is the reality of life and modern day living.

Even if you merely dream about opportunities, you can still achieve them with time. The truth is that it is possible for all your dreams to come true provided you have the courage to pursue them. That you are not courageous enough to go after the opportunity you have been dreaming about is not to say it is not there. It is there, waiting. You can go for it and actually get it if you train and discipline yourself enough to make the right moves. With hard work and determination, you can grab it. If that happens, casual observers will begin to wonder how you are making it. The good news is that there is no scarcity of opportunities all around the world at the moment. What is at times lacking is the resolve to understand that such opportunities can be had by anybody who dares.

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”