The 9 Challenges Every Successful Business Overcomes – Challenge #5

In this series of posts I am focusing on 9 challenges that every business faces.

I will post one of these challenges every week.  These are challenges that I’ve seen as I’ve begun consulting various businesses over this last year.

The more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve come to believe that these are the same challenges that any/every business faces – no matter what product or service they sell.

I also believe that successful businesses in any arena are successful BECAUSE they have overcome each of these 9 challenges.

Each post in this series will give a brief description of one of the 9 challenges that you face as a business owner.

Let’s look at the fifth challenge every successful business overcomes.

5. They need to remember you exist when they need what you offer.

There is a major problem that most business owners don’t consider…

Many prospects won’t buy immediately from you. Why not?  There are many reasons.  Here are just a few:

  • They might want to look around.
  • They might want to check you out on http://www.Yelp.com.
  • They might not have the money or a strong enough need/desire to buy.
  • They’ve never heard of you before and want to get “used to” the idea of buying from you.
  • They just might be in a hurry and not have the time to purchase today!

The problem this causes is that they have to remember that you/your business exists when they finally need/want what you offer!

You might be thinking about your business every day, but your  prospects aren’t!

And I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t just true of prospects. It’s true of your customers!

They can purchase from you, but when they have the same need/desire again they might not think of your business first – or at all! The old saying “out of sight, out of mind” is true about your customers too.

I’ve seen many local restaurants and businesses close down recently.  Some I have shopped at.  Some I haven’t.  But you know what my first reaction was when I saw the “Out of Business” sign?

My reaction was, “Oh yeah!  I forgot they were over there.” Do you want a more concrete example?  Here’s one…

There was a local steakhouse that closed recently.  When I drove by and saw the building was vacant I realized that I NEVER thought about eating there when I was thinking of a place to go out to.

I totally forgot they were there.  And I like steak!  :)

I bet the restaurant owners never realized this.  They just thought people were choosing not to eat at their restaurant.  In reality there were probably many people that didn’t even have them on their radar screen!

You have to come up with ways to help your prospects and your customers remember your business.  You have to come up with ways to get them in a HABIT of purchasing from you.

One of the simplest, and commonly overlooked, ways of doing this is by getting their contact information and contacting them regularly.

Many business owners don’t have any prospect or customer lists.

But do you know what is even crazier and also common? 
There’s another segment of business owners have these lists and never use them!?!

Once you create these lists you need to USE them!

You need to use these lists to give value, content, build relationships, and give incentives for them to come purchase from you – for the first time,  for the second… of thirtieth time!  :)

Successful businesses that overcome this 5th challenge are very effective at making themselves memorable.

They know how to build favorable opinions and attitudes about their business.  They know how to build relationships of value.  They know how to gain “mind share” in the prospects’ and customers’ minds.

If you want your business to have a chance of succeeding whether the recession is over or not, then you have to do the same thing.

You have to come up with ways to help your prospects and customers remember you when they’re ready to buy!

Next, I’ll post the 6th Challenge that every successful business overcomes.  Stay tuned.  I’m trying to post them every week, but sometimes.. it’s more like every other.  :)

In the meantime, if you have thoughts about this fifth challenge you want to share, then post them in the comments.

  • What do you think?
  • Do you agree?
  • What has your experience been with this challenge?

Post your comments, thoughts and even questions – if you have any!

Click here to post this on Facebook!
Click here to tweet about this on Twitter!
(*Here’s the shorter version of the link -if you need it – http://wp.me/pfeEX-9J)

Oh yeah!  And speaking of twitter…

I finally decided to create separate twitter accounts. Tweeting about all of different arenas I’m involved in from one  account was just too confusing.

You can now follow me @rampbusinesses!

The 9 Challenges Every Successful Business Overcomes – Challenge #4

In this series of posts I am focusing on 9 challenges that every business faces.

I will post one of these challenges every week.  These are challenges that I’ve seen as I’ve begun consulting various businesses over this last year.

The more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve come to believe that these are the same challenges that any/every business faces – no matter what product or service they sell.

I also believe that successful businesses in any arena are successful BECAUSE they have overcome each of these 9 challenges.

Each post in this series will give a brief description of one of the 9 challenges that you face as a business owner.

Let’s look at the fourth challenge every successful business overcomes.

4. Your prospects need to know why they should choose your business over other businesses that offer the same product or service.

In the last challenge, we talked about why you need to make it very CLEAR why it matters to your prospects that your business exists.  You need to make the benefits and end results that you offer them extremely obvious.

But what about all the other businesses that are in the same category as yours?  Your prospects have to know WHY/HOW your business is different/better than any of the other choices.

I have two situations for you to imagine to help you see the need for this…

SITUATION #1

Imagine that you’re thirsty and want to buy a bottle of water.  Now imagine a whole crowd of people who all look and sound the similar.  They even are dressed similar.  They are all yelling your name, holding up water bottles, and telling you they have what you want!

Which one are you going to choose? It’s hard to decide isn’t it?  It’s actually pretty confusing.  You’ll probably pick the closest and/or the loudest one.

SITUATION #2

Now imagine the same situation and the same crowd yelling out the same things.  But suddenly you look closer at the crowd and you see one guy who is dressed differently.

He’s yelling your name too, but he’s saying something different. He’s telling you that his water is chilled at exactly 40ºF to make it extremely refreshing.  He tells you that the others are just at room temperature.

He also tells you that his water comes from a pure spring at the top of a mountain and is filtered to get out any impurities, but still maintains the important minerals your body needs.  He also mentions that all of the others are just bottled and filtered tap water.

He tells you that his water is priced at the same as the others, but that the it will be much more refreshing and helpful for your body.

Which one are you going to choose now? The one guy who’s different!

Why?  Because you know why/how what he is offering is different and better than the others!

This is what it’s like when we don’t make it clear to our prospects why/how we’re different from the competition.

I was driving through my city and saw a van with a generic sign on their door that just said, “Air conditioning and heating service” and it had a phone number on the sign that you could call.

I couldn’t believe that was all it said!

Did they think someone who needed that service was going to see the van a scream, “YES!  I finally found an A/C and heating service!” and then call them right away?

It a small town, with no competition for miles around, that might work, but not in most areas nowadays!

Why didn’t this guy have at least a name on his A/C & heating sign?  Something at least like “Steve Smith’s A/C & Heating service”.

Better yet, why didn’t this guy ALSO  have something on the sign that explained how his service was unique.  “We offer the guaranteed best priced services that are fully guaranteed for 1 year!”

That would’ve been much more powerful and attractive to prospects looking for his services.  My prediction is that he won’t be in business for very much longer.

Successful businesses make it very clear that their businesses are different than the competition.  They clearly spell out how their product or service is better/different.

If you want your business to have a chance of succeeding whether the recession is over or not, then prospects must know how you’re different than other businesses selling the same things.

Next week I’ll post the 5th Challenge that every successful business overcomes.

In the meantime, if you have thoughts about this fourth challenge you want to share, then post them in the comments.

  • What do you think?
  • Do you agree?
  • What has your experience been with this first challenge?

Post your comments, thoughts and even questions – if you have any!

Click here to post this on Facebook!
Click here to tweet about this on Twitter!
(*Here’s the shorter version of the link -if you need it http://wp.me/pfeEX-9A)

If you want your business to have a chance of succeeding whether the recession is over or not, then prospects must know
Published in:  on January 21, 2010 at 1:06 am Leave a Comment

Systems You Need To Help Your Business Succeed In 2010…

I’m going to continue my “9 Challenges Every Successful Overcomes” series in 2010.  Until then, I thought I’d post this for you…

If your business is going to grow in 2010, then you’re going to need to have systems set in place.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about systems. I haven’t always been good with them in my life. But they’re really important and I want to get better at them in 2010.

What do I mean by a “system”? A system is a way you have come up with doing something over and over to get the best result you can.

A system can be made up of these things:

  • How you do something (method)
  • When you do something (sequence/order)
  • Where you do it (location)

We all have systems that we use in our own, everyday lives.

You don’t believe me? Ok. I’ll prove it to you… :)

What’s your system for putting on your pants in the morning?

How do you usually do it?
While sitting down or standing up?
When do you put your right leg in? First or second?
Where do you usually do it? In the bathroom after your shower? In the bedroom?

You HAVE a sytem – a way you usually put your pants on – whether you realized it or not!

It might not be the best way, but it’s the way that you have come up with consistently doing it.

Systems help us to do the regular, consistent activities that we need to do in life, so that we can see a consistent result in a consistent amount of time.

That’s why I’m telling you…

IF your business is going to grow in 2010, then you’re going to HAVE to have systems (or NEW, BETTER ones) set in place! 

We can’t just hope things will happen or rely on random – even accidental – results.  We must have systems to see consistent, reliable results.

What type of systems do you need in 2010?
Here are SOME of the systems you need…

  • A system to bring new prospects to your business
  • A system to convert those prospects to customers
  • A system to come up with new products and/or services that you can offer your customers to continue to add value to their lives
  • A system to help these customers connect with each other in order to build a sense of “community” among them
  • A system to help them grow in relationship with your business
  • A system to make sure that YOU grow in 2010
  • A system to help your staff/leadership team grow in the skills they need to lead your business
  • A system to encourage customers to use word-of-mouth or word-of-mouse to spread the knowledge of your business organically

Don’t be overwhelmed by this list!

You probably already have a system for some of these things!

Here’s what to do:

1. Print up that list of suggested systems that you need for 2010 and put a “check mark” by the ones where you have a system already.

2. Put a “+” sign next to the ones you already have a system for and that you think are pretty good systems.

3. Put a “-” sign next to the ones you already have a system for and that you think are NOT good systems.

4. Circle the ones that you don’t have a system for at all. 

Now here’s your ACTION plan:

Take that list and focus on the systems you have a “-” sign for or the ones that are circled.

Think and dream – alone and with your staff/leadership team- of ways that you can improve the bad systems you have and come up with systems for the areas that are without systems.

(When you’re done with those things, you can go back to the systems you put a “+” sign by and think and dream of ways to do these even more effectively!)

There you go.

These are some of systems to help your business succeed in 2010 and how to begin putting these sytems in place!

If you can begin working on these things now and in early January, then you’ll be able to see new growth in your business in these areas in 2010.

That’s it. Go and improve and build your systems!

The 9 Challenges Every Successful Business Overcomes – Challenge #3

In this series of posts I am focusing on 9 challenges that every business faces.

I will post one of these challenges every week.  These are challenges that I’ve seen as I’ve begun consulting various businesses over this last year.

The more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve come to believe that these are the same challenges that any/every business faces – no matter what product or service they sell.

I also believe that successful businesses in any arena are successful BECAUSE they have overcome each of these 9 challenges.

Each post in this series will give a brief description of one of the 9 challenges that you face as a business owner.

Let’s look at the third challenge every successful business overcomes.

3. Your prospects must know how your business (and what you offer) benefits them.

In the last challenge, we talked about the need for your business to be known.  If they don’t know you exist, then can’t purchase from you.

But once they know you exist, they now have to know HOW your business being in existence is a benefit to them!

Let me show you what I mean by this.

Let’s say they find out your business exists and that you sell ___ widgets.

They’re not going to start cheering just because they found you.  Their response in probably going to be…

“Yeah, so what do I care!?!”

You need to be very clear in how you describe what you do and offer so that you are describing it in terms of benefits to your customer.

And don’t just think of benefits.  Focus on END RESULTS.  What end result do you offer?

What end result has your customer been searching for that you offer through purchasing your product or service?

You are not selling your product or service.
You are selling benefits and end results.

Don’t assume that the benefit you offer them is clear in their minds.  It might be, but there’s a good chance it’s not.

Also don’t assume they realize the true end result that they will receive from your business being in existence.  This is even less clear to your customers.

And guess what?

Even if they have a general idea of the benefit and end result they get from your business, it doesn’t hurt you to make it very clear and “fleshed out”.

When you do that it will only clarify and enhance their understanding of why it matters to them that your business exists.

And that can only lead to a greater chance of them becoming your customer.

Successful businesses make it very CLEAR that it matters to their prospects that they exist.  They make the benefits and end results that they offer obvious.

If you want your business to have a chance of succeeding whether the recession is over or not, then prospects must know how the existence of your business is a benefit to them!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this third challenge.

  • What do you think?
  • Do you agree?
  • What has your experience been with this first challenge?

Post your comments, thoughts and even questions – if you have any!

Click here to post this on Facebook!
Click here to tweet about this on Twitter!
(*Here’s the shorter version of the link -if you need it http://wp.me/pfeEX-9b)

*I’ll continue this series in the new year.  I’m taking a break for Christmas and New Years.

Published in:  on December 23, 2009 at 7:12 pm Leave a Comment

The 9 Challenges Every Successful Business Overcomes – Challenge #2

In this series of posts I am focusing on 9 challenges that every business faces.

I will post one of these challenges every week.  These are challenges that I’ve seen as I’ve begun consulting various businesses over this last year.

The more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve come to believe that these are the same challenges that any/every business faces – no matter what product or service they sell.

I also believe that successful businesses in any arena are successful BECAUSE they have overcome each of these 9 challenges.

Each post in this series will give a brief description of one of the 9 challenges that you face as a business owner.

Let’s look at the second challenge every successful business overcomes.

The second challenge that every business must face

2. Your business must be known.

“If you build it, they will come” might have worked for Kevin Costner in the movie “Field Of Dreams”, but it won’t work for you as a business owner!

Just starting or opening up a business does not guarantee that people will come rushing to you to purchase from you.

One of the things that keeps many business owners from succeeding in business is that they THINK people are going to find them.  They THINK that people will know that their business exists.

But the common problem that all businesses face is that so many prospects don’t even know they exist!  If someone doesn’t know your business exists, then you might as well not even have a business.

The more known your business is the more of a chance you have of growing your business and the more chance you have of building a successful business. 

Let me ask you three simple questions:

  1. Who are your ideal prospects?
  2. What percentage of these prospects know that your business is even a option to choose for whatever product or service you sell?
  3. What have you done, or are you doing, to make your business known by these idea prospects?

Think about any successful business – take Coca-Cola for example.
One of the reasons they are successful is because they are known

If you asked a crowd of thirsty people to name the first soft drink that came to their minds, I BET you at least 65% would name “Coke”.  And the other people who didn’t name it first, ALL know that this business exists!  They know it’s an option when they are looking to buy a soda.

Again, how many of your prospects would name your business (or the product or service you sell) if asked that question about the category/niche you’re involved in?

Successful businesses are KNOWN.  If you want your business to have a chance of succeeding whether the recession is over or not, then it must FIRST be known!

In next week’s post, we’ll look at the 3rd challenge. 

Please subscribe by email or RSS feed if you want to be notified when the next post is up!  (*See the top right of this blog to subscribe.)

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this first challenge.

  • What do you think?
  • Do you agree?
  • What has your experience been with this first challenge?

Post your comments, thoughts and even questions – if you have any!

Click here to post this on Facebook!
Click here to tweet about this on Twitter!
(*Here’s the shorter version of the link -if you need it http://wp.me/pfeEX-8V)

The 9 Challenges Every Successful Business Overcomes

This is the first in a series of posts that I am doing which will focus on 9 challenges that every business faces. 

I will post one of these challenges every week.  These are challenges that I’ve seen as I’ve begun consulting various businesses over this last year. 

The more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve come to believe that these are the same challenges that any/every business faces – no matter what product or service they sell.

I also believe that successful businesses in any arena are successful BECAUSE they have overcome each of these 9 challenges.

Each post in this series will give a brief description of one of the 9 challenges that you face as a business owner. 

Let’s look at the first challenge every successful business overcomes.  The first challenge that every business must face…

1. You must offer a product or service that is what I would call “worthy”.

If you don’t overcome this challenge, then all the other 8 challenges we look at won’t matter or won’t work!

What makes a product or service “worthy”?

  • It is unique and not offered exactly in the same
    way(s)
    by other businesses.
  • It is above or beyond what already is offered.
  • It meets the customers needs/wants in an overwhelmingly satisfying or surprising way.
  • It is NOT just about offering a better price.  You can’t win that way!
  • It is about offering the maximum benefit (end result) possible for your customers in a way that is pleasing and makes them feel they “won” by buying from you.

If you want your business to succeed you must sell something that is worthy! 

There are way too many choices for your customer to choose from for you to just offer another “me too” product or service. 

If your product or service is not “worthy”, then you’ll never be able to face and ovecome the other 8 challenges!

In next week’s post, we’ll look at the 2nd challenge.  Please subscribe by email or RSS feed if you want to be notified when the next post is up!  (*See the top right of this blog to subscribe.)

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this first challenge.

  • What do you think? 
  • Do you agree? 
  • What has your experience been with this first challenge?

Post your comments, thoughts and even questions – if you have any!

Click here to post this on Facebook!
Click here to tweet about this on Twitter!
(Here’s the short version of the link if you need it: http://wp.me/pfeEX-8E)

One Unique Way To Get Other Businesses To Gladly Promote Your Business

Have you ever wished you had some help promoting your business?

How would you like to have other businesses in your area GLADLY helping to promote business for you?

Sound like a far-fetched idea?

Well,  in this short post I will show you how it’s actually possible for you to do this with non-competitive business in your area…

There are three incentives that you use to encourage other businesses do this for you…

Three Incentives:

1. Make it something that is financially beneficial to them and at no extra work or cost to them.

2. Make sure it’s something that won’t cause them to lose income or customers.

3. Make it something that their customers want and will benefit them.

Think about it.

If a business approached you with a proposition for something that you could offer your customers that they want and would benefit them, but would also bring you in extra income (without any real extra time or effort on your part-  and wouldn’t cause you to lose income or customers)

Wouldn’t you be interested?

I bet most of you would.

Here’s how you can offer something like this to other business and use that tool as a way to promote your business.

1. Think of other business that deal with your same customers, but are not direct competitors. (To start think of where your customer goes to purchase before, during or after they purchase from you.)

2. Begin to think of what information these customers need and want to help them to get more of the end result you and these other businesses help them achieve. Think of what common problem they’re trying to solve by doing business with your business and these others.

3. Put together an information product (book, ebook, report, audio, etc.) that gives them this information. (*I’ll show you how to find experts who will GLADLY write this for you!)  Make sure it’s branded as “brought to you buy…” (your company), so that it promotes you and your business.

4. Offer this information product for other businesses to sell to their customers and allow them to keep the majority of the profits. (60/40?)

A twist would be to contact these business beforehand and tell them you’re creating this infoproduct before you create it.  Tell them that if they’d provide some of the info (they can be one of your “experts”) that they can promote their business with this product also.

This will take some of your time, but if you use my method of getting others to write the infoproduct for you, then the end result would be more than worth it.

You’d have a product that encourages other businesses to promote your business while even bringing in a small extra income stream for you.

If you’d like to learn more about how to get experts to do this check out my FREE eclass this Wed. Nov. 4th…


“How To Create An Info-Product That Will Please Your Customers, Promote Your Business, And Even Establish You As An Expert”

http://www.recessionsolution.com/eclass/

 

Published in:  on November 2, 2009 at 10:49 pm Leave a Comment

“How To Create An Info-Product That Will Please Your Customers, Promote Your Business, And Even Establish You As An Expert”

Did you know there are ways you can actually get your customers to pay for your advertising or even pay you to advertise for you?

One way for business owners to create advertising that your customers will pay you for is to create an info-product.

But not just any info-product.

You create an info-product sponsored by and produced by your business.

And if you’re worried about creating an info-product, I’ll show you how to get experts to write this product for YOU.

You have them create an information product on a topic your customers need/want more information about and then you sell that to your customers for a really affordable price.

I’ll show you how to do this in a way that benefits the experts, so they are willing to do it for you.  I’ll show you how to do this, so it benefits your customer too.

And the cool thing is that this info-product benefits and promotes your business too!  (I’ll explain all the ways that it can benefit and promote you and your business.)

Sound good?

If it does, then you can be a part of a FREE e-class I’m doing on November 4, 2009 at 10am PST/1pm EST.

I’m calling it…

“How To Create An Info-Product That Will Please Your Customers, Promote Your Business, And Even Establish You As An Expert”

If you’re a business owner and want to be a part of this FREE e-class, click this link: http://www.RecessionSolution.com/eclass

If you have any comments or questions, then please post them below!

2 More Testimonials About My 1-Hour FREE Business Consultation…

My latest testimonial on my free 1-hour consultation…

“Scott spent one hour on the phone with our team, and I can honestly say that it was eye opening. Within one hour, Scott opened our eyes to new ways of gaining untapped revenue, shared some highly creative, practical, and low cost forms of marketing that we had never even heard of before, and gave us incredible free resources we never knew existed. We are so excited to begin implementing what we learned in one hour on the phone with Scott.

“I thought I was fairly savvy when it came to creative marketing, but I was blown away by how much new info Scott had in such a short amount of time. The one hour I spent on the phone with Scott was one of the most beneficial hours I’ve ever spent building my business, you can’t beat it.”
Jason Calhoun
>Jadanica Productions

Here’s another…

“My experience with Scott’s guidance has been truly enlightening. I came to him with a stalled out marketing strategy that was getting me nowhere. Instead of giving me some useless, canned advice that anyone can find plastered all over the internet, he started me out with a comprehensive list of pre-consultation questions. After taking the time to study all the facets of my unique situation, he followed up with what I can only describe as a tidal wave session.

“I learned more in that one hour about the boundless possibilities of effective marketing strategies and tactics than I have learned from an hour of trying to glean knowledge from any other source. By the end of the session, I had an tangible action plan and plenty of momentum to boot. Thanks, Scott!!”
David Brewer
www.epicoustics.com

If you’d like a FREE 1-hour consultation, then call my Google Voice number and leave your name, number and email address (please spell out your email).   Just call (650) 539-5242.

NOTE: You will need to be willing to answer a 25 or so question “Pre-Consultation” questionaire by email before our call.  This will allow me to maximize our time and help me to see the areas I can help you the most.

When you leave your info on my GV#, I will email you with more details.

The 7 Invisible Qualities You Need To See Your Business Succeed In A Recession” Quality #4

In order to survive and prosper in a recession, you definitely need effective methods, because without them you don’t have much of a chance.

But you also need to possess certain unseen, or “invisible”, qualities if you want to be able to guide your business towards success in a recession.

This blog series will focus on what I’m calling “The 7 Invisible Qualities You Need To See Your Business Succeed In A Recession.”

So far we looked at the first 3 qualities, which are persistence, courage and intense desire. (See 1st post here. See the 2nd post here.  And see the 3rd post here.) I also took a quick break to cover “The Major Barrier To Success (In A Recession Or Out)” here.

Today, we’ll look at the fourth invisible quality you need to possess to succeed in a recession.

The last quality I talked about was the need for a strong desire to do what you’re afraid of. If you want to succeed in a recession, then you’ve got to get MORE FED UP than AFRAID! 

YOU’VE GOT TO WANT TO SUCCEED MORE THAN YOUR FEAR TO ACT!

Alright, now that we’re all up to speed, are you ready for the fourth invisible quality to success in a recession?

*The fourth invisible quality is belief.

You’ve got in believe what you’re doing so much that you’re more afraid NOT to do it, then to do it! You’ve got to believe that what you’re wanting to do is worth doing and that doing what you’re doing will accomplish what you want!

In the book, “The Power Of Focus” (click here to see the book) by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt, they say, “To overcome fear you must have faith in the outcome.”

If you want a good example of how belief helped someone to succeed, then I have a great story for you…

The Invention Of Vaseline
It the late 19th century there was a young chemist named Robert Chesebrough who sold kerosene. He got his kerosene from the oil of sperm whales, but by 1859 he was put out of business.

In 1859, Robert Chesebrough took off for a Pennyslvania oil field to “strike it rich.” What he came back with made him rich beyond his wildest dreams.

But he DIDN’T become rich from OIL!

Oil field workers had told him about this “sticky stuff” that stuck to the drilling rigs. The riggers hated this stuff – it caused the drilling rigs to seize up.  For all the problems this substance caused, the riggers found one small use – when rubbed on a cut or bruise it helped it to heal faster.

He bottled the stuff up and dragged it back to his Brooklyn laboratory. He began a search to duplicate the petroleum-based lubricant, and by trial and error, he was able to extract the key ingredient – the translucent material we now know as petroleum jelly.

But it had to be tested, and tested it was. He needed a guinea pig to test it out on. But who could he use?

Chesebrough cut his OWN hands and arms, burned himself with flames and acids and each time he would then cover them with his new gel.

ALL the self-inflicted wounds responded to his petroleum jelly and were healed!

Satisfied that his new grease had healing properties, he took to the road with his own medicine show, but first he named his gel. Using the German word for water (wasser) and the Greek word for oil (elaion) he came up with “Vaseline.”

He took it out on the road and would demostrate it by cutting or burning himself and then applying his vasleine.  He also showed his audience the healed scars from past experiments.

Amazingly this worked!

Soon he was selling a jar a minute, and when these ran out people begged their druggists to order more from Chesebrough. It was used for everything: chest colds, chapped hands, nasal congestion, and even to remove stains from furniture.

*By the turn of the twenty century it had penetrated the American market and was entering Europe, and Chesebrough had become a very rich man!

Although its miracle properties were eventually debunked (it really healed because it sealed wounds from bacteria like a band aid), Chesebrough himself was always a true believer. He lived to age 96, revealing shortly before he died the secret to his longevity: *Every day of his life he ate a spoonful of vaseline! (* Not recommended! DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! :) )

Cheesbrough succeeded because he believed so much in his product/idea that he refused to give up!

Do YOU want to succeed in a recession? Do you want to overcome fear — the major barrier to success?

If you do, then one of the 7 invisible qualities you need is belief.  You believe in your product or idea so much that you let nothing stop you!

Stay tuned.  Next, we’ll look at the 5th invisible quality that you need.

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Comments are always welcome too.  Post your thoughts on fear below.  Thanks!

@scottaughtmon

Published in:  on July 2, 2009 at 9:39 pm Leave a Comment