Which Ticket Do You Have?

     I was sitting on the couch at my grandmother-in-law’s house watching TV while she and my wife spoke. She was telling my wife about how she has on a small scale been buying lottery tickets for the last few years (or maybe decades......). With her being 75 years of age and having the notion of “making it big” one day made me wonder. Why does the lottery drive people more than goals?
    
      Here we are, fully functioning, intelligent, able bodied people, yet we would rather rely on chance solely to make our fortunes. The odds are so astronomical that you know you are wasting your money. Yet people still do it in droves! People still put all of their faith in it. People come up with systems to pick numbers that they KNOW will be a winner. Yet and still, people would rather do that and work as a cashier than to roll up their sleeves and make something out of nothing.  We have become a "microwave" society in more ways than the kitchen............

     Truth be told, running a business of some sort does rely on a bit of faith and chance, but it is of the tangible type. One that you can see come to reality day by day. You can’t see a lottery ticket making you millions until they don’t call your number.

     I am not wearing my preacher hat today, but merely saying cheers to those that are working towards a goal. A person with a goal is a person on fire. There is nothing more meaningful or honorable. Coming from a past of working for somebody else’s goals I will tell you that I feel invigorated knowing that my efforts are for my future.

     Working for somebody else is pretty much like hoping you win the lottery (and that's ok for many people). I just wish I would've stopped paying for their tickets and made my own sooner!

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3 Reasons Why Wrestlers SMASH Marketing

Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh  yyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!  (not the Kool-Aid one)….

Not everyone is a fan of wrestling, but everyone knows of it.  Everybody goes in knowing that it’s not real, but somehow they capture millions of viewers day in and day out. 
I just had to stop and think about how powerful that is for a business, because that’s all wrestling is.  How much would it impact your business if millions of people just saw you every day?! 
See although it is fake, every WWE superstar has mastered 3 powerful things when it comes to the business of them and this is something every entrepreneur needs:

1.  A Compelling Story -  Every wrestler is a character.  They are either a bad guy, good guy, or wild card.  They tell their story every week to the fans and draw them in to their world.  Are you drawing in your target audience?  What is your story and is it compelling? 

2.  Belief In Themselves – Every wrestler believes with all of their fiber that they are the best one there.  They often times can’t snap out of it!  The best example is The Miz.  He started out on MTV’s “The Real World” and parlayed that into a wrestling deal!  He told everyone he would do it and believed that with all of his heart.  How much do you believe in your success?  Have you affirmed your goals? 

3.  A Great Tagline / Catch Phrase -  Every memorable wrestler has some line they use every time you see them so you remember them.  Do you smell what ……………  What you gonna do when ……………..  And that’s the bottom line……………..  It might sound cheesy, but with all of the noise in the world you need to make a little so possible clients remember you.

Have A Plan, Not A Plea.

Shameless plug 

*The thoughts expressed here are not those of the WWE and are no way endorsed by Ric Flair, Wwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooo!

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Do You Give A Duck?

You’ve just had a major car accident and we need to hospitalize you for a week.  How much is your recovery worth?  You gotta pay if you wanna stay!

This is what happens everyday in our country.  Unfortunately many of us are in denial about the possibility of major unexpected events happening to us.  See how this recent study shows how optimistic people are:



Not to be morbid or a pessimist, but here’s the reality:

• In 2012, around 2.36 million people were injured in car accidents and 33, 561 died.¹
• Every 34 seconds someone suffers a heart attack and in 2010 1.9 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed for people 20 and older (results are over 1,900 deaths a day).²
• 1 in 2 men as well as 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime (results are over 1,500 deaths a day).3
• Over 37 million Americans are classified as disabled; about 12% of the total population. More than 50% of those disabled Americans are in their working years, from 18-64.⁴
• The average length of a hospital stay is 4.8 days and it costs an about $10,000.⁵

Here’s the complimenting financial reality of this:



Now having the wool pulled off of you, what are you doing to prepare?

Unfortunately it is not a question of it things will happen, but when will they happen and how will you handle them.  It’s bad enough these events are physically, mentally, and emotionally straining, but adding the financial aspect is adding insult to injury (no pun intended). 

Quite simply, as I always say:

Have A Plan, Not A Plea.

Do something to help your employees prepare for this.  Undoubtedly if they work for you for some length of time, their families often expect owners to do something to help.  It’s the right thing to do, but do it the smart and fair way.

1. http://www.nhtsa.gov
2. http://www.heart.org , http://www.diabetes.org
3. http://www.cancer.org
4. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2011
5. The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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