It is that time where everyone is looking forward and planning for the year ahead, but to plan for the future, you MUST first learn from the past.

So this is a look back at SOME of the things that worked best for me in 2011.

So let’s activate “list mode”.

#1 – Filtering out the time wasters

I speak with a LOT of well connected people on a regular basis, I know what is going on, I know when someone wrongs some body… and I filter those people out of my life ASAP.

Some people also just rub me up the wrong way… one example was a person who was introduced to me, and then before we even started to build a relationship, he said “So, are you going to promote my S&%T or what?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, but I now actively go out of my way to avoid him.

Maybe this method of communication works for him, but to me it came across as rude, arrogant and lacking in even the basics of social etiquette.. I don’t associate myself with that sort of person. Sorry.

#2 – The “Oprah Winfrey Webinar Business Model”

Anytime you can model your business on the world’s wealthiest woman you are probably making a good move.

Here is how this works:

You act as Oprah Winfrey for your audience…

This means that you are host, and you provide a platform for experts to shine.

The downside to this model is the need for a TV studio, production crew, editors etc…. so that is why I use webinars instead.

I provide an audience, and the webinar platform, and guest experts come and share their knowledge.

This model is extremely powerful, I did it sporadically throughout the past year, and in 2012 I will aim for more consistency and even more filtering when dealing with potential experts.

#3 – Relationship Marketing

Here is a little story to emphasize the potential power that high quality relationships can bring:

I went along to an event here in Florida, one of the people at this event really impressed me, and I made an active effort to build a relationship with him… we had dinner, a good chat, and I kept in contact after the event….

He then offered me the opportunity to share my knowledge with his audience… and it looks like this deal alone may bring close to $10,000 in sales.

What’s more, both him and his wife are now considered close friends. (priceless).

If you have the right motives, and the right method of conversion, then high quality, high value relationship building can be hugely profitable and rewarding.

I may create additional training on the EXACT steps I take to go from stranger to big money in a short space of time.

* If you think this sort of training would be valuable, please let me know via the comments.

#4 – Saying “Adios” to Alcohol

I am from a part of the UK where binge drinking is pretty much a badge of honour… you can be defined as “a man” by the types and quantities of alcohol you can consume… Have you ever wondered why “light beers” are so commonplace in the US, but they are almost impossible to find in the UK? It is part of the culture, nobody where I am from would be caught dead with a “light” or “no alcohol” drink… but many years living in Spain and now the US, plus hopefully a little more maturity have led me to the conclusion that I don’t need or want alcohol in my life anymore.

There was a time where having a drink or 5 would make everything seem more amusing, everyone more interesting, every goal more achievable, and every social awkwardness more diluted… that no longer happens, all I am left with now after a few too many drinks is a terrible hangover, a lack of productivity, and generally being often LESS fun to be around.

I have no regrets, and I have thousands of great memories of fun times over the years, but even putting aside all of the issues listed above, and the long term health issues… it can get VERY expensive… A quick tally up over a period of one week when we had friends stay with us left my wallet almost $500 lighter from food and drinks.

I also tend to be an “all or nothing” type of person… so having the occasional beer just wouldn’t work for me… so I have now been well over a month without touching a single drop of alcohol, and I have no intentions of ever doing so again.

TIP: One of the biggest mistakes I see is people thinking that having a few drinks will temporarily make them a better person… whether it be being more courageous, funny, charismatic etc… the reality is that alcohol makes you FEEL like you are achieving all the above, but in reality, it is often making you look like a prat. Believe in yourself, you are capable of much more than you may think.

#5 – High value, high intensity group coaching

I always got the best results for my clients and students when I spoke to them directly… but not everyone can afford my $1,000 per hour consulting rates.

So I found a middle ground that has generated massive results for my clients: High value, high intensity group coaching.

We take 5-10 people, we do a structured training once per week… throw in some Q&A, a members area where people can ask questions and connect 24/7, some one to one time with me for emergencies… and 9-12 weeks later we get successful students.

There are many success stories that spring to mind, but one of my favourites was Ben Rogers… he had never done a webinar before, I showed him the technology, the mindset, how to create a presentation/pitch, how to find JV partners with high level relationship marketing… and before the 12 week program was over, he was well in profit. In fact, he had done his first webinar in week 5.

Fast forward 7 weeks and he had sold approx $40,000 in coaching with these methods.

Needless to say, I will be doing at least one more group of this in 2012.

So there we are, some of the things that worked well for me in 2011… comment below with your thoughts, and share what has worked well for you.

Dean

If you have ever struggled to complete a project, failed to follow through on your goals, or felt completely stuck, then read on….

I have but one rule in life… “if it rhymes, then it must be true”.

So imagine my glee when I heard the term “Paralysis by analysis”.

Let’s kick this thing off with a little tale, a yarn, a story, a wee anecdote from when I was a teenager…

Anecdote commencement:

Not many people know this, but as a teenager, I studied to be a pro golfer… that’s right, I literally studied it… I went to a specialized university, where there were golf coaches, golf courses etc on campus.

One day I was having a lesson with one of the coaches, and he gave me 15 different things to think about during my golf swing… “keep your spine angle, arms tucked in, rotate from the hips, release your wrist through the ball….” blah blah.

I understood his advice, but as I stood over that shiny little white ball of dreams, I found something very scary and strange happen… I was paralyzed.

I tried to move my hands to commence my swing, but they were frozen, I literally couldn’t move them an inch.

That was the day I discovered “paralysis by analysis”, and here is the thing…

This probably happens for you in your business regularly.

In a nutshell, it is over analyzing something to the point where there is so much information coming in, you simply cannot compute it all, and your brain hits a shutdown switch.

So how does this relate to your business and your projects?

Well, have you ever had a decision to make, or a task to do, and found yourself going back and forth, second guessing, frozen on how best to do something?

Often, you will get frustrated and impatience and look for a release… this is part of the reason sites like Facebook and Youtube are so popular.

I was recently trying to decide on the name for a webinar… numerous ideas bounced back and forth in my little brain box, and the more I thought about it, the more confusing it got… 10 minutes passed, and I was still staring at the screen… not a single word had been typed.

This is a prime example of how projects and tasks fail to get completed.

So here is what I did… I gave the webinar the following title: “dhfjsdjfdsjfdsklfjsdlfjjds”

Now, the pro copywriters and gifted wordsmiths amongst you will notice a few subtle flaws in the above title… firstly, it is not an actual language, and it also lacks a benefit statement.

So why on earth would I name my webinar this way?

Well, the fact of the matter is that I was bipassing the paralysis manually.

You see, when you hit a mental brick wall, you can either over think things, second guess, and ultimately, hit paralysis…

Or, you can be aware of what is happening, and simply say screw it!

I skipped the title, completed the rest of the tasks, and when I went back to the title 30 minutes later, it was no longer an issue… and I am happy to say I even used a legible language. (Go me!)

Context is Key

Context is also really important here… I could have easily gone down a one-way mental path of trying to come up with the best possible title for my webinar… but to put it into context, just how important is the title? To be honest, there are far more important things in the project, that make a MUCH bigger difference… so it simply wasn’t worth over complicating…

As a wise man once told me “sometimes, good enough is good enough”… it is better to take massive action at a pretty good level, than a zero amount of perfect action.

So next time you find yourself stuck inside your own brain prison, remember the words of wisdom above… then, go to www.Facebook.com/deanhunt and message me with the following: “Dean, you sexy little minx, your blog post helped me get out of my brain prison, I shall henceforth name my first child Dean, in your honor.”

Have a great day, and remember to get out of your own head every now and then.

Dean

Me reading Brand Against the Machine on the beach.

What on this big blue sphere that we call “earth” is ‘Brand Against the Machine”?

If that is the question you had in your head when you turned on your computer today… then wow, you are in luck… for the other 100% of you, I am going to shed some light on my good friend John Morgan’s first book… entitled… “Brand Against the Machine”.

Now, I should prefix this post by saying two things:

1) Yes, John is a friend, so if I honestly thought the book sucked balls, I would never have written this in the first place.

2) I do NOT do reviews… to review something you need to devour it, study it, compare it to similar work, use critical analysis and indepth research etc… all of those things make me want to vomit… so what I offer here is my gut feeling, thoughts here and there, and initial insights.

So let’s start with the big question: WTF is Brand Against the Machine (BATM)?

Well, it is a book that claims that the world of branding is broken… that the machine.. or system, is no longer valid in today’s age.. and so John attempts to share insights, tips and thoughts on how to fix it.

If you have your own business, then knowing how to brand yourself and your business can be hugely important… so let’s look at some of the chapters of the book.

“Chapter 12 – The Creation Story”

“What’s your story?” asks John… and you know what… that is a bloody good question… you see, this chapter says that behind every company and personal brand is a creation story, and as business owners, we should identify and share that story with the world.

This was definitely one of the areas from the book where I added a to-do item for myself… you see, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there isn’t a single business owner that I admire that I DON’T know the creation story for…

Gary Vaynerchuk – selling baseball cards as a kid, worked in dad’s wine store, etc…
Tim Ferriss – had nervous breakdown and was forced to remove himself from his business.
James Schramko – General manager for Mercedes Benz who got the IM bug from an industry event and hasn’t looked back since.
Matt Wadsworth – World renown, blind, and broke musician, decides to supplement his income via the Internet… makes 7-figures.

Heck, I have read entire books on the creation stories of Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, Steve Jobs etc…

QUICK TIP: Discover, polish, embrace and broadcast your creation story…

PS: I have three creation stories, depending on the audience… all true. I may do a blog post to share them in the near future.

“Chapter 53 – The 10:100 Method”

“Would you rather have a raving fan or a satisfied customer?”

In this section John talks about the importance of focusing initially on turning your existing fans and customers into raving fans… so even if you have just 10 people that like your stuff, focus your time on those people, as opposed to racing to a million and neglecting everyone along the way.

Examples cited include Gary Vaynerchuk, and the fact that although in his peak he was getting 90,000 viewers per DAY to his show… he started off with a handful of viewers, and made those people feel like kings.

SUMMARY

BATM is an easy read… and I mean that in a good way. Each of the 61 sections are rarely more than a few pages long (great for my terrible attention span)… the writing style includes a healthy dose of self aware and sometimes self deprecating humour (clearly a certain Scott Stratten was an UNinfluence here)… and the book makes some valid, interesting and educational points.

Some of the advice may seem like common sense to some… but common sense is rarely common practice… I have personally taught branding around the world, heck, John and I were in business together… and there are numerous items from this book that have since donned my to-do list.

If you are already sold on the importance of branding and growing your brand, then this book is well worth a read.. heck, even if just a handful of the 61 tips strike a chord with you, it will be worth every cent.

You can go check out the book on Amazon here: NOT an affiliate link

I often find there are three types of business books:

1) The view-changer

Malcom Gladwell is a great example of this… the book presents a new way of looking at something, often story based.

BATM has a title that would work well in this category of book… but besides the intro, it doesn’t dive deep into this hook (and that is not a bad thing).

2) The how-to

As the name suggests, these types are action and results orientated… they can be a tough read at times, as they lack the stories and world changing views, but can be extremely useful. Writing a branding book that is firmly in the “how-to” would be a bad move in my opinion… firstly, it would likely make it a dry and tough read, and secondly, branding is not something that lends itself well to templates, blueprints and step by step…

An example of this would be the section where John talks about the importance of being super passionate about your brand and what you do… now, this is solid information… but it doesn’t really say HOW… it would be like going for driving lessons and the instructor advising you to “drive really well”.

There are some lists, and action items in the book, and I have to credit John for that… as most branding experts tend to have a phobia of the words “how-to”… but again, this isn’t what I would strictly call a how-to book.

3) The rocket up the ass

The main benefit for these books is motivation… they remind you of the importance of something… they show you how not to do something, and they inspire you to delve further.

I would put BATM more in the third category, with a splash of the second category thrown in for good measure… and I suspect that after reading this, you will be inspired to take action and make changes in your business… which is always a good thing.

A friend of mine once said: “Dean, a kick up the ass is a step in the right direction”… I still don’t fully understand what he meant, but hey, it sounded awesome at the time.

So go check it out, leave your comments below… and enjoy.

Dean

PS: Well done John.. you should be really proud of this, and I am sure it will open up a lot of doors for you.

Have you ever heard of the terms “Loss leader”, or “Bait and Switch”?

If you would like to know the down and dirty on these two… or my recent story of seeing the dangers of pulling a “bait and switch” on a “loss leader”… then read on dear reader….

Ok, it seems to little old me that the best place to start would be my definition of these two terms:

“A loss leader or leader is a product sold at a low price (at cost or below cost) to stimulate other profitable sales.”

Ok, I confess, I may or may not have just copied that from Wikipedia… but you get the picture… you take something hot or popular, and you put it at a crazy low price, so people will come to your store etc… and the theory is that they will buy other stuff, or become repeat customers… to cancel out any losses on the “loss leader”.

Bait and switch is simply where you offer one thing, and at the last minute, you pull a switcharoo and change the rules somehow… almost always to the detriment of the customer.

Ok, so that is the learning out of the way… so let’s look at the dangers of what happens if you offer a loss leader, but don’t have the balls, or ethics, to actually follow-through with your promise.

PS: The following is a story that just happened to me:

So my car needed an oil change, and luckily, there is a place nearby that offers “$8.88 oil changes”… in fact, they broadcast this offer via a giant sign on the front of the garage.

Now, I am pretty sure that the cost of the oil, plus the time and resources taken to do this, means that $8.88 for an oil change is very likely in the “loss leader” category… at best, they are breaking even on this.

The theory is likely that an oil change is the popular thing that people need the most, so let’s do that at a super low price, and hopefully, they may need a spare tire or something while they are here, or perhaps they will remember us in future, and become lifetime or longterm customers.

Now, picture this… I walk into the garage, and am in line behind 2 other people…

Person 1: “I am here for the $8.88 oil change special”

Garage guy: “You have an SUV, so it is $28 for an SUV”

* Person 1 walks out disgusted *

Person 2: “I am here for the $8.88 oil change special”

Garage guy: “You have the latest model of engine, we charge $28 for that”

* Person 2 walks out angrily *

Me: “I am here for the $8.88 oil change special”

Garage guy: “Your engine type requires a special type of oil… it will be $28″

Now, my time is valuable, so I just paid the darn $28 and left… but can you see the dangers of turning a loss leader into a bait and switch?

This garage wanted the best of both worlds… they knew that advertising a loss leader price would attract people like moths to a flame.. but they also wanted to make a nice profit, so they pulled a bait and switch.

They may think that this is smart, and that they are getting away with it… but here is what will likely happen now:

Person 1 may go home and tell friends and family to stay away from this garage.. he will also likely never use it again in future.

Person 2 may do the same, he may also tweet angrily about it to his 4,000 friends and followers.

And me… well, I blogged about it, and in future, if ever I need work done on the car… guess where I WON’T be going?

From these 3 bait and switches… all of which happened in just a 5 minute period, they may have made $28 from me… but they have likely lost thousands of dollars in lost future sales… and if you factor in the bad PR and reputation they are causing, it could be much higher than that.

So what is the moral of this story?

Well, firstly, price framing is always an important factor… if you had told me from the start that it was $28, I would have paid it, and wouldn’t have considered that expensive at all… but when I went in expecting to pay a third of that amount, suddenly they framed the price one way, and charged a different way, so the end result is that I am not happy.

Secondly, loss leaders can be a useful marketing tool… but you can’t have your cake and eat it… if you don’t plan to deliver on your promise, then don’t bother offering it in the first place… and if you plan to pull a bait and switch, then please know that longterm, it will have a hugely negative effect on your business.

The story of a loss leader done correctly.

Have you heard of the website Fiverr.com?

In a nutshell, people offer services for just $5.

These range from graphic design, to video work, to novelty gifts and beyond.

Now, I would wager that most of the time, these are loss leaders… however, a year or so ago I hired a kid to do a graphic of me looking like Superman… this was my litmus test to see how good they were at working to a deadline etc…

I paid the $5, and this was the end result….

I went on to hire that person for an entire year, paying many, many thousands of dollars, and even helping him get clients for his business… some of whom paid him $3,000+ for one job.

This is an example of how a loss leader can help grow a business longterm…

In the marketing world, or any role where you give time for money, or are deemed an expert, there is a lot to be said about the harm that de-valuing your time can do on your perceived value… but hey, that is perhaps a discussion for another time.

I hope that some of these two tales have sparked an idea, or perhaps shown you how NOT to do business.

Have a great day.

Dean

PS: The garage just called, my 20 min oil change is going to take an extra 3 hours. Remember, first impressions count.

Hi, my name is Dean Hunt, and in the past month alone I have had lots of new relationships…

Heck, I had over 20 this past weekend, one with a Samurai called Shane, and one with a married couple… oh, and how could I forget the slick guy from Poland?!?

Now, before you light your pitchforks and cast sin upon me… I should stress, I am talking about business relationships here.

You see, I passionately believe that the best way a small business owner or entrepreneur can grow their business FAST… is through relationships.

Let’s start by looking at some of the ways a relationship can help you in business, and then we will look at some of the tricks and mistakes that people make when it comes to this powerful art and science.

Why Should You Give a Damn About Relationships in Your Business?

There are too many benefits to list… but here are a few to get you started:

* Sell more stuff

* Great for brainstorming, advice, masterminds etc

* Speaking invites

* Webinar invites

* Co-product creation

* Strategic referrals

* Trusted recommendations

* New business opportunities

* Building your brand

Those are just a few, there are literally hundreds more…

But the truth of the matter is that building relationships is not a “what’s in it for me” mentality… this is where most people go wrong… so let’s look at some of the DO’s and DONT’s of relationships in business.

DO = Push your comfort zone.

Are you nervous about going to a networking event? Are you scared to pick up the phone? Then this is exactly what you should do… “money is where the fear is”… trust me, it gets easier, and is well worth it.

DON’T = Focus on yourself.

Imagine speaking to someone and then bombarding them with stories about yourself… what have you gained from that? What have you learned from it? Chances are, very little… so focus your attention and conversation to the other person.

PS: I am guilty of making this mistake, but I am actively working on it… it is hard because my stories are so awesome. haha

DO = Have a system to store your relationships.

Unless you are the rainman, chances are that you will not be able to remember the names and contact details of everyone you meet…  personally use HighRiseHQ to store my contacts… an old school folder is fine, as is a spreadsheet.

DON’T = Try and get married on a first date.

I see people make this mistake all the time… basically, this means that people try and close the deal before they have even started to build a REAL connection…

I don’t want to promote your product when I don’t even know your name!!!

DO = Follow-up…

I am sure we are all guilty of making a great first impression and then going years without speaking again… you have done the hard part, so make sure you follow-up regularly.

DON’T = Only focus your time and energy on the “A-listers”

Many of my close friends and connections come from speaking to attendees at events, not just the speakers. Don’t be a fame whore.

DO = Be a “Trust Bridge”.

I have to credit my friend Chris Diagle for this term… Chris is business development manager for Ryan Deiss, and we recently spoke about the value of being a trust bridge…

This basically is the act of introducing two people to each other who can mutually benefit from that connection.

As a middle man, or “trust bridge” you are saying that both parties are cool, and well worth connecting with. I do this often, and ask for nothing in return… how can you be a trust bridge in your industry?

SUMMARY

The relationships and people side of the industry are not areas that get discussed often enough in my humble opinion… and as someone who was rather introverted as a child, I believe there is a science to this art.

If you would like me to discuss this side of things further, ranging from rapport building, influence, networking like a pro, getting speaking gigs, finding promoters for your products or services, how to fascinate people, or even how to use Facebook to build great relationships without Facebook using you and your time… please comment below.

Enjoy, and remember, behind every great business is a great person.. so go say hi.

Dean

 
PS: Comment on this blog post and I will name my first child after you.