First Step Marketing

I survived not because I am smarter or anything else, I am used to learn from my experience.

First, prioritize. Go back over the list and put a 1 next to the item that is the most important to you, as next to the second most important, and so on. As you’re doing this, eliminate those items that you know you’ll never attempt, or for which the reward just wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Now organize. Create at least two lists: one for your career, and one for your home life. You may wish a third for your community aspirations. List your goals in priority order under each heading, and leave about ten lines after each goal. Finally, create a brief outline under each goal showing what you’ll have to do to accomplish the goal. For a final touch, put a date after each of the items, indicating the deadline you’ve set for the completion of each goal. Your page should now look something like this.

MY PERSONAL GOALS

1. I want to be in a position to work or not work and not be concerned about the financial aspect of that decision by the time I’m fifty.

• I’ll need to have $2 million in liquid net worth.
• I’ll need to prepare myself for a life where work is not my life.
• I’ll need to find a method for achieving the financial part in the twenty years I have left.
• I believe I can raise half of the $2 million through sound conservative investment of 10 percent of my income each year.
• I believe I can raise the other half through the sale of an enterprise that I plan to open by the summer of next year.

2. I want to live in Hawaii on the island of Maui three months of every year, starting five years from now.

• My business will have to be able to get along without my presence; I’ll have to be able to conduct business from there.
• I’ll have to have the wholehearted support of my family and my business associates.
• I’ll need to buy a condo or home within three years and arrange to rent it out the balance of the time I’m not occupying it.

3. I want all of my kids to reach adulthood without having tested drugs, become sexually active, and with their religious beliefs intact. I also desire that they all attend college.

• I must have my spouse’s and kids‘ agreement in these goals.
• They should be written down by the kids as personal goals. C. I’ll keep the kids in private schools where I can maximize my knowledge of—and input into—their schooling.

4. I want to lose fifty pounds in the next five months and keep it off.

• I’ll have to select a weight-loss system within two weeks.
• I’ll need to budget for the cost of that system.
• I’ll have to ask for the cooperation of my wife and family.
• I’ll need to discipline myself to do an hour per day of exercise.

BUSINESS GOALS

1. I want to build a business that will provide me with great personal satisfaction, $150,000-per-year income, and a salable asset worth $1 million in cash by the time I’m fifty.

• I must first decide exactly what business I wish to pursue.
• Then I must raise the necessary capital to open the doors.
• I must prepare myself with the skills to enter that business.

I must work with my family to assure that everyone appreciates and agrees with my entrepreneurial choice. They must understand the potential sacrifices and how each of them will be affected.

2. I want to raise a minimum of $50,000 before I open the doors. If the venture that I choose requires more than that, I’ll find a partner.

• I need to save $1,500 per month to reach that goal.
• I need to draw up a list of potential partners.

3. I want to have an impact on the industry that I choose. I’m not interested in merely providing a standard product or service. I want to do something new and different.

• I’ll have to invest in knowledge of that industry in order to discern what is new and exciting, and what is not.
• I’ll have to have the guts to go with my intuition.
• I’ll have to pick an industry where my abilities will allow me to have an impact.

4. I want to learn all I can about selling and computers beforeI open.

• I need to sign up for a computer class.
• I need to purchase a used computer.
• I need to see if my current employer could use my potential computer skills.
• I need to purchase several books and tapes on selling.
• If you’ve completed this section and feel good about what you’ve done, you have only one last step to take. You need to internalize your decision. You need to make it your own. You have to believe you can do it and dial in the desire to make it happen. How do you do that?

VISUALIZE

This time you need to find a quiet spot for only thirty minutes to an hour. Once you’ve done so, continue to read.

Lie down or get as comfortable as you can while sitting. Read over all of your material with special emphasis on your goals. Now, close your eyes and imagine the result of having achieved those goals. Think about every detail. What does it feel like to drive up to your own company in the morning and greet the employees who are supporting their families because of the jobs you’re providing?

What does it feel like to produce products that you later see in the marketplace? Imagine, in detail, the excitement of landing your first really big contract or having to pay taxes on your first profitable year.

Take an imaginary walk on the sand in front of your home in Maui. Drink in the tropical breezes. Feel the warm surf on your bare feet.

It’s a good idea to repeat this process very frequently. Your author finds himself indulging in this daydreaming (a sport for which I was roundly criticized as a child) just before falling asleep. I will think about even the most minute details of the steps in my overall goal and the excitement of reaching the summit.

Okay. Lie back and daydream. As usual, it’s totally against the rules to read on until you’ve completed this exercise.

My heartiest congratulations to those of you who’ve completed each and every step. You still have a lot of work ahead of you. You’ll have to show more discipline than you’ve ever shown before. But you’re now positioned to be one hundred times more successful than the average member of your peer group.

A FEW MORE THOUGHTS ON GOALS

1. They don’t have to be grandiose to be meaningful. They only need be important to you.
2. That you set a goal and fail to achieve it should in no way be seen as a failure. Setting a goal and not trying to achieve it .. that can be considered failure.
3. Goals are not set in concrete. There’s nothing wrong with changing them as frequently as your situation changes. However, each change should be thoroughly considered.
4. Publicize your goal. Tell your soulmates: your spouse, your best friend, and your partner. Some may be critical or jealous or skeptical. Your job is to use every comment made by these well- meaning associates to hone your goal. Even the least objective statements may have a kernel of substance that might help you to consider strategy changes.
5. Don’t let naysayers get in your way, though. There are two main reasons you’re telling them your plans. One was covered in point 4. The other is that you’ll be more motivated to complete what you’ve started, once you’ve told the world what you plan to do. Therefore, unless someone points out a fact that you truly hadn’t considered before, let the negative folks have their say, and then move on.
6. Make certain that you don’t allow the goal to own you. You must own the goal. There are many things in this world that are well worth doing or having, but none of them is worth giving up your soul. You must be in control of your destiny. If you allow money, fame, or success in reaching your goals to take over your life, you’ll end up being one miserable individual. Keep each part of your life in perspective, and you can find real happiness.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Some of my business success tips: PRIORITIZE, ORGANIZE, AND INTERNALIZE

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 3:10 am and is filed under Budgeting, Jobs, financial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.