SmartFlame

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists. Less good when they obey and acclaim him. Worse when they fear and despise him. Fail to honor people, and they fail to honor you. But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, "We did this ourselves." -- Lao-Tzu

HIDDEN MARKETING ASSETS
--------------------------------------

How much money are you leaving on the table by not fully utilizing your marketing assets? If you have a small- to medium-sized business, with revenue under $5 million annually, you probably have some hidden marketing assets that can be leveraged to increase profits, without spending additional money on advertising.

Advertising is a huge expense. If you know exactly how much business your advertising is bringing you, then that's good! If you can point to the marketing activities that bring in the most revenue, then you're doing a great job at targeting your market.

But if you have a sense that you could grow, or reverse a downward trend, then there's probably money sitting on the table in the form of customer data and marketing strategies that are not being put to advantage.

Where are you now? Is your company:

• Growing, but not fast enough?
• Stagnant?
• In decline?

Where do you WANT to be? Some companies are content with status quo. For example, the owner of a large-truck moving service may be satisfied with enough clients to cover his expenses, salaries for his moving helpers, and make a good living for himself. Growth would require adding trucks and employees, and trusting part of the operations to someone else. In the current state, the owner can go on every job to provide expert supervision and his personal touch. With growth, he would not be able to cover every job himself, and would have to rely upon someone else, who may not have his expertise. Currently, customer satisfaction and referrals come from his personal attention to every detail of the business.

If you do indeed want to generate more revenue, or increase profit on current revenue, there are a number of ways to do that. An opportunity analysis is the first step. In a one-hour conversation that takes you through exploration of your current business situation, hidden marketing assets can be revealed. They may include clarifying your unique selling proposition or irresistable offer, optimizing your current marketing activities and customer base, and positioning you for exponential growth.

Another area of leverage could be your customer support department. Instead of it being a cost centre, it may be possible to turn it into a revenue generator with a few simple techniques and some basic training for your support staff. Wouldn't you enjoy more profit if you could minimize costs?

LEADERSHIP
------------------

The responsibility of being a leader means that you will often walk ahead of others, into unfamiliar territory. You will often choose to follow a path that others cannot see. You will blaze a trail where no foot has ever before stepped. In so doing you will clear the way forward, removing obstacles as they present themselves to you, and you will make straight the way for others to follow.

Being a leader means not only going where others fear to go, but putting yourself forward in unpopular causes, speaking up for ideas that are unproven and perhaps frightening to others, and by example showing courage in the face of fear of the unknown.

"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost. "
-- Thomas J. Watson, Sr.
Industrialist, and Founder of IBM

BETTER IS THE ENEMY OF GOOD ENOUGH
---------------------------------------------------------

Another way to put it is that "You don't have to get it right. You just have to get it going." And as my mentor Raymond Aaron says, "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly."

Does this mean we compromise on quality? Absolutely not! In our search for perfection, however, we can sometimes get bogged down in focusing on every little detail and we lose sight of the bigger picture. If what you are working on is worthy enough for your effort, then it is also worthy enough to be sent out into the marketplace, even if it is not yet perfect.

In the software development world, we call this "creeping elegance". With writing, as with software coding, we can always make something better. We can do another edit, we can rewrite or tune up the product a little more to make it even better. But while we're doing that, we are not shipping it. To quote Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, "Great companies ship!".

You cannot get accurate marketplace feedback on the product that is still sitting on the drawing board, or in your desk drawer so to speak.

I had a great experience with my book Water: The Miracle Cure that illustrates this. In a burst of inspiration, I wrote the book in about 2 weeks. I had made discoveries about the healing powers of plain water that I wanted to share with others. It was intended as a mini-book, something you might find at the supermarket checkout stand. As I started to distribute the "finished" manuscript I began to get valuable feedback that indicated it should be published as an E-book AND as a trade paperback book that would be available in bookstores as well.

In addition to that, I started to get comments on the text as well as numerous ideas for improving it. The current distribution of the E-book is a much more thorough version than what I started with. And I still have some changes I want to make before we get to the trade paperback stage.

If I had waited until the manuscript was "perfect", I think I still would be working on trying to finish that book. Instead, I have given the information some important initial distribution and received feedback that will make the bookstore edition truly useful.

What things are you hanging onto that could and should be released into public, even though they are not completely perfect? What can you get going, without necessarily having to get it right? What are you trying to make better, when it is already good enough?

WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER
--------------------------------------------------

Being SMART is a function of doing things in a certain way. The quality of smart-ness usually includes saving time, saving money, saving energy, and maximizing all of your resources.

The best way to work and live smarter is to have a plan. Smart people are successful people. And successful people have a personal strategic plan that helps them project their creative thoughts forward into the future to create a new reality and bring it to pass in their lives.

While having a plan is the first step, you must also be flexible enough to adjust your plan, or deviate from it, when necessary. Sometimes you will be faced with obstacles that you hadn't anticipate. At other times, you will realize that part of your plan is incorrect and needs changing. This could be because others have changed the situation variables. Or it could be because you made an assumption about things that didn't turn out the way you thought.

Whatever the reason, change your plan to accommodate what you now know to be true. It doesn't mean you have failed; it means only that you needed a course correction.

Pilots file flight plans to indicate where their aircraft is going, and the route it will take to get to its destination. But they often must change that plan and make adjustments to the course to avoid storms, take advantage of tailwinds, and keep their distance from other aircraft.

Be prepared by having a plan, and then be prepared to change your plan when it makes sense to do so.

The SMART SIX™
------------------------------------

A group of six people, aligned in harmony, and committed to achieving the utmost in prosperity and abundance can be a powerful force. Six provides two groups of three, or three groups of two. This organization is useful if you want to have smaller groups of people working on different aspects of a problem, or to springboard creative thinking when the group itself is stalled.

A group of six is manageable and can easily fit around a table. A group of six can travel together in one vehicle, and walk together down the street within hearing distance of each other. Six people can have a discussion without anyone feeling left out.

The hexagon, a six-sided figure, is a strong symbol in nature. The cells of a beehive honeycomb are hexagonal. The hexagon shape gives the cells the greatest area for holding honey, is easy to construct, and multiple cells can be placed together without any wasted space. Indeed, they even "lock" together when placed side by side, and the pieces reinforce each other.

What can your Smart Six™ group help you accomplish?

MASTERMIND ALLIANCE
------------------------------------------

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill talks about the power of the master mind principle. It is a power that is created when there is a group of like-minded individuals working in harmony.

Whether you want to achieve personal goals or have access to a creative source that can help you identify and refine new ideas, a master mind group is the key to leveraging this power.

The ideal master mind group is about six people, what I call the Smart Six™. None of them should be in competition with each other, and they should all be committed to freely sharing their ideas and impressions. It is important to make sure they all have a sense of their ideas being gladly given. If anyone is afraid that some good idea might be "stolen", and consequently holds back, then the group will not achieve its potential. This principle of offering ideas to someone else is an important part of keeping yourself in the flow of abundance.

Hill also points out that there should be something in it for the members of the group. If you call together a mastermind group to work on your problem, there must be some form of valuable compensation to the individuals for their participation. This could be monetary, given in the form of services, or simply be a commitment that each member of the group may present a problem to the mastermind for solution. As long as each member of the group feels they are receiving a reciprocal benefit for participation, the good feelings within the group will foster the most creative results.

What problem or question will you propose to your mastermind group?

MANIFESTING PROSPERITY
-------------------------------------------

One of my key goals this year is to invite and create prosperity with every avenue that is open to me. It's not a sin to be rich. Our mission on this planet is to be blessed and be a blessing to others. By cultivating prosperity, we tap into the flow of abundance in the world and can therefore use those additional resources we receive to bless the lives of others around us.

Flow comes when we gladly, with gratitude and no thought for the morrow, give of our substance. By giving, we open up room in our lives to receive additional substance and increase our prosperity. This works even if you have very little. If your thoughts are focused on lack, and you hang onto everything you've got for fear that you won't get any more -- you'll be right, because you'll cut off the flow of riches to you. Opening your heart and your hands, in faith, allows the substance of the universe to flow into that space you have created.

"Practicing the Law of Giving is very simple: if you want joy, give joy to others; if you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation; if you want material affluence, help others to become materially affluent."
-- Deepak Choprah

What can you do, today, to bless someone else with that which you desire?

RESTOCKING AND TAKING STOCK
---------------------------------------------

At the end of a year, a fiscal year, or any creative period, it is a good idea to look back and assess what was accomplished. The idea is not to determine all of the faults and failures so that you can apportion blame, but instead to dispassionately review the past in order to ensure a better future.

Focus on the positive. Ask these questions:

1. What did we do right?
2. What moved us forward to our goals?
3. What could we have done better?
4. How will our future actions change based on this knowledge?
5. What lessons did we learn about ourselves, our company, our market, our industry?
6. What is our new plan for achieving our goals?

You may uncover some personnel or process changes that need to be made in order to allow better movement toward goal accomplishment in the new year. But at least those decisions are based on objective evaluation, and not emotional reaction or overreaction to an unsatisfactory outcome.

Taking stock of your current position, and your progress to date, as well as determining how to move forward better in the future, can be a formal or informal process. But it is an important step to take if you truly want to achieve success. In order to make a course correction, you need to know where you are right now. It sometimes helps to know how you got there, if you have been pulled off track. With that information, you can create a new plan to take you to your destination.

DIVINE DISCONTENT
-----------------------------------------
Sometimes things don't go the way we had planned, or even the way we expected. We know we have to be prepared for obstacles in our path and the setbacks that naturally occur on a day to day basis as part of life.

But every now and then it seems that nothing is working out. Maybe you've had new business ideas or plans for new projects, and you can't seem to get them to move forward. Perhaps the reasons for the delays or lack of momentum seem trivial and pointless. You know they are good and worthy endeavors, but you can't seem to get things going.

Your frustration level builds, and you may even begin to doubt your own abilities.

Rather than get down on yourself or your circumstances, see this instead as divine discontent. The universe is giving you a message that your direction needs changing. Further effort in a fruitless direction would sap your energy and your will, so it's time to stop and take stock of where you are in your business or your life, and determine what new direction you should follow to regain your momentum.

Attune yourself to the messages you are getting from the universe. It's the creator's way of telling you there is more in store, but just in a different direction.

PERIODS of REORGANIZATION
----------------------------------------

You will have noticed the gap between a couple of my posts. That time was a period of reorganization for me. Perhaps you've had such instances in your life. While the term "period of reorganization" sounds pretty tame, what is really going on in your life can be chaotic and stressful.

For me, I was plagued with illness, stress, depression, setbacks, and a series of other obstacles that often seemed impossible to surmount. I was reorganizing all right -- struggling to keep my head above the tides of change that were threatening to overwhelm me. In addition to changing some habits, some beliefs, and some attitudes, I had to change more fundamental things such as the people with whom I associated, and the tasks that I spent my precious time on. Not all of those choices were good, or even real choices. Many times I was backed into a corner and had to simply wait it out, or fight my way through.

In keeping with my belief in and commitment to maintaining a positive frame of mind, I prefer to think of that period as a time when many things in my life had to be reorganized in order for me to achieve the goals I strongly desire. Another term for such a situation could be "creative destruction".

The principle of creative destruction is based on the idea that you cannot build a new structure over top of an old structure. First, you must destroy the old in order to make room for the new. You may be able to re-use the foundation from the previous struction, but only if it is solid and in excellent condition. You've seen those townhouse renovations in various parts of the city where an old bungalow is gutted and torn down to the foundation, except perhaps for one or two solid brick walls that will be used in the new structure.

Life is like that sometimes. If you are holding a vision of your desired objective strongly in your mind, and continue to visualize that successful outcome, the universe proceeds to change things so that your desires can be manifested. Unfortunately, the universe does not consult you about how you think these changes should be brought about. As much as we'd like a nice straight line from where were are now to where we want to be, with no difficulties along the way, that is not the nature of life as we know it.

For every truly great thing we want to have, a price must be paid. Usually that price is simply the pain of discipline, where we work hard, study, learn, and grow, applying what we learn to forge that new reality that can bring about a change in our circumstances. Often it is the pain of deferred gratification, where we put off our wants in favor of doing what is needed now to lay that solid foundation, working toward the future instead of enjoying the pleasures of the present.

But occasionally, what we want is so great, and for the moment so far out of reach, that larger forces must be put into action. What we desire is indeed attainable, but we must be prepared for the universe to choose its method of delivery. In other words, to manifest our desires, we must be clear on the outcome, but flexible about the process.

What have you asked the universe for, that has led you into a period of reorganization?

CREATIVE MANIFESTATION
-------------------------------------
As creative beings, we can turn our thoughts into things. This is called manifestation. In other words, we get what we think about. If we're dwelling on lack, on tension, on war, we'll experience more of those things in our lives as our minds work to create exactly what we have asked for. Our subconscious doesn't know the difference between an image, a memory, or the real thing. Therefore, what we focus on soon becomes reality. Often, what we fear comes to pass because we have been thinking of nothing else.

Dr. Christiane Northrup, (author of "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom " and "Awakening Intuition: Using Your Mind-Body Network
for Insight and Healing") has some suggestions for using the power of creative manifestation to give us peace of mind during this time of world tension.

"Use your thoughts wisely. Understand their power. Thoughts
have a tendency to become their physical equivalent. This is one
of the fundamental laws of the universe. Another one is the law
of attraction, which states that "like attracts like." Because it
is consciousness that creates reality, the kind of consciousness
you hold -- your vibration -- actually creates the kind of life you're
living...

"The only way to get and stay peaceful is to
concentrate on what brings you peace and resist the downward
spiral of negative emotions that blames others for your lack of
peace. Remember, that to which you give your attention expands.
Although there is no denying that we're in a perilous and
frightening position right now, that doesn't mean we are
powerless to change it. But the only way to do so is by changing
your thoughts and emotions from those of anger, hatred, and fear
to those associated with compassion and peace."

With peace of mind, all things are possible. We can find solutions to any problem when we have enough room among our thoughts for a creative idea to occur. We can then manifest the idea, bring it into reality by visualizing a successful outcome.

How would your life change if you made peace and peace of mind your overriding goal? How do you think it would affect those around you, or the world?

Welcome to SmartFlame! This is the place to find Smart Ideas for Smart People(tm) -- ideas that can help you do everything better, smarter, faster, more friction free, with less stress, and with greater positive impact on your life.

As a teacher and a professional life and business coach, my mission is to be a catalyst for the spectacular changes you can make in your life, your work, or your contribution to the planet. If you're happy as you are, then my question to you is, "What greater joy could you achieve in a game that is ten times bigger than what you have now?"

Are you willing to go for it? If so, stay tuned for some provocative questions! And some life-changing answers.

CREATIVE ABRASION
--------------------------------------------
What are the sources of Creative Abrasion in your life?

Creative abrasion, a term coined by Jerry Hirshberg, founder and president of Nissan Design International (NDI), is like a grain of sand inside an oyster.

In its quietest form, creative abrasion is the catalyst for producing a pearl. The oyster is so bothered by the unpleasant abrasive effect of the sand inside its smooth shell, that it works on the sand to smooth its rough edges and coat it with essence of pearl. The result? A beautiful, valuable gem.

In its most energetic form, creative abrasion brings two teams, people, or ideas together like flint on steel. It creates sparks that ignite a wildfire of ideas or innovation.

Sometimes we need abrasion to bother us enough to make a much-needed change. While abrasion can be painful -- anyone who's ever skinned a knee knows that -- it may also be exactly the right action to shift a company, a team, or an individual out of an unproductive pattern.

Be aware that it takes courage to manage creative abrasion. You need the vision to be able to see past the discomfort of temporary conflict to the potential benefits. The people involved need to be reassured that their viewpoints, although opposed, are equally valued.

How can you introduce a little creative abrasion, or take a different look at the sources of friction you are currently experiencing?