The way we manage our time is one factor that can make a significant difference in our suc­cess. It can be the deciding factor between becoming a huge success or having an average life.

If you maximize the way you use your time, then you are actively lever­aging your success. Use your time wisely, and you will find that you can reach an amazing level of success. How you manage your time is far and away the most critical decision you will make in business.

One of my clients can never seem to get anything done. He is constantly putting out fires and dealing with issues that his employees have been trained to handle.

Does this sound familiar?

Sometimes my client gets frus­trated and calls me looking for advice. Recently I asked him how often this “putting out fires” happens, and he told with me “almost every day.”  I suggested that he try the following steps to managing his time better.  Maybe they will work for you, too.

Use some type of time planner. A “schedule plan­ner,” whether loose-leaf or electronic, will help you to plan for each day, week, month, and year.  Your time planner should contain a master list where you can keep track of every task, goal, and required action as it comes up. It should also contain a calendar and daily “must­ do” list. If your planner doesn’t have these things, then it’s not as useful as it should be.

Always write and use a list. Make out a detailed list of every single task you will have to complete to reach your goal. A list will allow you to think on paper. You can get organized faster with a list than you can with any other time management tool.

“A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.” – Segal’s Law

Accept 100 percent responsibility for starting and fin­ishing your major tasks; refuse to make excuses or rationalize putting them off.  Be hard on yourself.  It will pay off.

Visualize yourself working with a sense of urgency.
Program your mind by repeating the words “Do it now!” over and over.

What are you doing to organize your most valuable asset?

You lose it.

It’s gone, forgotten!

And all it takes is 21 days.

I heard this long ago.

Since then, I have proven it to myself through personal experience.

It’s easy to for­get what you have just read, listened to, or watched on a DVD or the Internet. There are many distractions in life, and it’s very easy to put things aside.

Last week, I received a quote in an e-mail that said,

“Knowledge that’s not being used is like having no knowledge at all.”

If this is true, then it is important to start using what you are learning from these and other blog posts right away.

Try one idea, and then another.

Take notes as a reminder of the ideas and concepts.

Reread these blog posts and the notes that you’ve taken while reading them until the ideas are fixed permanently in your mem­ory.

Jay Abraham, the author of Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got (Truman-Tally, 2000), says that he has read Scientific Advertising—a self-published book by Claude Hopkins first issued more than 50 years ago— at least 30-40 times. According to Jay, he pulls out a new nugget or different spin on an idea each time that he reads Hopkins’ book.

How much of what you told yourself you should be trying have you forgotten this week?

Sandy publishes a wide variety of tidbits about marketing and marketing plans on a frequent basis here and at: http://www.FastMarketingPlan.com

While on a family vacation, my wife Amy and I with our four kids straggling behind made our way to see Mount Rushmore for the first time.

We had to park about a mile away because there were a ton of cars and couldn’t get any closer.

Now, picture this, we had already been on the road for about 3 weeks, a bit tired, had seen many American treasures and were very excited to be at Mount Rushmore.

As we approached, all of a sudden, we rounded a curve and there was George’s nose. The biggest nose we’d ever seen. Of course, I took a quick snap shoot (Took about an hour of serach the box with all the old photos and finally found it. Showed up in the second from last enveope).

We kept walking and walking, seeing more and more of the great presidents, getting bigger and bigger as we got closer and closer.

Finally we made it to the entrance, went in and the place was packed. People everywhere.

Turns out that the official Fourth of July Celebration was rained out the day before and we walked into the rescheduled Fourth of July Celebration.

So we walked in further, made our way to the seating area, not a seat in sight except a roped off row or two about 10 rows up.

Being one to rarely follows the rules, we made our way and sat in that row. Other’s followed and in moments, the row was filled.

Within ten minutes, the master of ceremonies started making announcements about the program that was about to start.

I gotta tell you, it was amazing, the presentation and program took about an hour and a half. There was music, dancing and celebration.

All along, the sun was going down, getting darker and darker.

Mt Rushmore July 5th, 1998 W0W!

Then suddenly, from behind the presidents, a loud boom, fireworks starting. And they got bigger and bigger. Exploding behind and shining on the rocks. Illuminating the Presidents. The fire works went on for a very ling time. Booming. Cracking. Showering us with magicial colors. It was amazing.

After the grand finally when the fireworks faded away and the smoke hovered low, my wife looked at me, my kids looked at me, tears running down my cheeks, my shirt wet, they asked why I was crying.

I was too choked up to explain my feelings to them at the time.

Anyway, that moment I’ll never forget the patriotic feelings I had.

How proud, lucky, and appreciative I was to be an American living in America. And, to be there, with my family, of all places on Earth or in America we could have been on that early July day. Wow.

You see, I just had to share this with you because every 4th of July this fond memory comes flooding back. Once again bringing tears of gratitude, appreciation for all who have been kind enough to let me be part of their life.

Thanks for allowing me to be part of your life.

Now, what fond memories do you recall of your past 4th of July’s?

What will you have gratitude and appreciation for on this 4th of July?

Go out and create your great memories of this 4th of July 2009.

And may they be fond memories that you’ll be proud to carry with you, tell your friends and family over and over for many more 4th of July’s to come.

You lose it. It’s gone, forgotten!
And all it takes is 21 days.

I heard this long ago.

Since then, I have proven it to myself through personal experience.

It’s easy to forget what you have just read, listened to, or watched on a DVD or video.

There are many distractions in life, and it’s very easy to put things aside.

Last week, I received a quote in an e-mail that said, “Knowledge that’s not being used is like having no knowledge at all.”  If this is true, and IMHO it is, then it is important to start, immediately,  using what you are learning from whatever source you learn from, right away.

Try one idea, and then another.

Take notes as a reminder of the ideas and concepts.

Reread these secrets and the notes that you’ve taken while reading them until the ideas are fixed permanently in your memory.

“To make sure this goal was achieved, I created eight laws of learning; namely explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, and repetition.”
- John Wooden

One famous marketing Gooroo (I refuse use his name because he doesn’t practice what he preaches) once said that he has read Scientific Advertising—a self-published book by Claude Hopkins first issued more than 50 years ago— at least 30-40 times.

According to this Gooroo, he pulls out a new nugget or different spin on an idea each time that he reads Hopkins’ book.

How much of what you told yourself you should be trying have you forgotten this week?

Wherever you go and whatever you do, try to focus on learning something.

Useful information is everywhere—for example, you can find it in meetings with prospects; in attending seminars; and in reading books, magazines, and newspapers.

The information you learn can be applied in many ways.

There is something useful to be learned in every situation, even when you see or hear something with which you don’t agree.

It does you no good to be critical or angry.

These attitudes usually prevent you from learning something.

For example: A former business partner of mine complained a lot. He would go to various seminars and would get upset if the speaker didn’t cover every single item on the syllabus or covered them in a different order. I would tell him, “So what?”

“When you’re through learning, you’re through.”
- Vernon Law

To me, it was far more important to take away something useful from these seminars.

In every situation into which you are thrown, it’s important to learn all of the useful information possible.

Ask yourself constantly, “How can I use this idea or that concept to help to my clients or myself grow our businesses bigger and stronger?”

Every piece of information has the ability to lead you closer to your goal, but you have to recognize the opportunity.

Remember to write down everything that you can while you are learning. If you don’t, you risk losing the idea, and it may be gone forever.

What useful information did you learn today?

The speed with which you make a personal, business, or marketing can be the difference between success and failure.

Often, it doesn’t matter what the decision that you make actually is as long as you decide something.

The more quickly that you make a decision, the sooner that you can get on to the next item.

Because nothing happens until something moves.

Now, and I think you’ll agree. It is far better to make a wrong decision and then fix it than it is to make no decision at all. You can learn from your mistakes, but you can’t learn if you don’t act. To quote Ross Perot, “Ready, Fire! Aim

In many instances, it takes a lot less time and effort to correct a wrong decision than it takes to analyze and procrastinate before making the original decision.

Think of yourself as a guided missile speeding toward your target, making the required adjustments as you go but always moving forward.

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes.
It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving
your other innovations.”
- Steve Jobs

When you learn to make decisions quickly you gain momentum.

Each quick decision adds additional momentum to your success flywheel. You will find that the more the flywheel gains momentum, the less effort that it takes to reach your ultimate goal.

I delayed making some important decisions while I was put these secrets together, only to become very frustrated when I calculated the lost opportunities that I may have left on the table.

Taking too much time to write “97 Marketing Secrets To Make More Money” cost me a lot of money. I should have acted more quickly. Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes at one time or another.

However, it is important that we move forward, learn from our mistakes, and try again with something else.

What decisions do you need to make right now?

How many times have you waste your time worrying about problems that already have been solved by someone else?

Many other people have faced problems similar to the ones that you will run into.

More than likely, they have found solutions to these problems and may be willing to share their solutions with you.

Sometimes, many times, the solution to your problem may be found in another industry.

There are experts on solving problems everywhere:  fathers, mothers, mentors. Your suppliers, your employees and clients. Business “gurus,” trade groups or associations, librarians, the Small Business Administration, your banker, your CPA and industry leaders.

An answer to the problem that you’re facing even could come from the place you would never think about.

For example, I can’t remember where, I once read a story about how the management of a hotel dealt with their customers’ complaints about long waiting times for elevators. One of the hotel chambermaid suggested putting mirrors next to the elevators so that people wouldn’t mind the wait. Now, most hotels use this simple but effective technique.

The point is, when you have a “situation,” you need to be able to get to someone who has faced something like it before. Is in the trenches, everyday.

“There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.”
- Harold Stephen

In most instances, a problem can be solved or fixed merely by mentioning to someone,”I have a problem and I need your help.”

Most people want to be helpful and will help along the way.

You just need to be willing to ask.

What problems are you having?

Are you afraid to ask for help?  Don’t be.

How often has this question been asked by you, your boss, your sales manager, or someone else?

The only one who really knows the answer is your former client.

So, why don’t you ask this person why s/he no longer buys from your company?

You might get lucky and find a customer who is prepared to talk, but keep in mind that s/he has moved on and may not want to talk to you.

Also, your customer probably will give you only one reason, then thank you for your efforts and wish you well. How much have you learned? Not much at all.

“Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.”
- Anonymous

I once lost a client for whom I had created a successful direct-mail campaign. This marketing effort had produced a nice 1,148.85% Return on Investment (ROI).
I found out from my client that she was upset with the slow response that she was getting from me regarding a marketing questionnaire for which she had paid. After answering the questions, my client wanted her marketing analysis, but we just couldn’t seem to find a mutually convenient time to get together. Ultimately, I gave her a refund on the questionnaire and we parted friends.

However, to this day I feel that there had to be something more. Maybe there was a hidden “decision-maker,” someone else who had a final say about who my client does business with or who harbored some ill feeling. I felt very bad when I lost my client because I was hoping that there would be a long and profitable relationship for both of us.

Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint the definite reason why someone chooses to stop giving you his/her business. It can be hard to determine what complaints s/he had about you that led to the decision.

Oftentimes, you are left with very little information.

Working backwards to discover what went wrong can be very difficult. However, if you are prepared to ask a new client for a little time after the first sale or, even better, after s/he has been buying from you for awhile, then you probably can determine the things that keep him or her coming back and buying from you.

After the relationship with your client gets past the new phase and is “long-term,” ask him/her why you get his/her business.

There will be many reasons, not just one or two.

You may have to probe a little, so ask some open-ended questions. I’m sure that it will be worth it.

Build a file or a database of the answers that you get—the reasons why your clients came to you, of course, but also (if possible) the reasons that they stopped using your competition.

Learn from their answers and discover what you can do to prevent clients from going somewhere else

” One man’s loss is another man’s gain.”
- Unknown

You can benefit by using what you have learned with your next prospect.
This information will help you to convert him or her into a new client.

What are you willing to ask your clients about

One of the first steps in growing your business is confronting the brutal facts:

• What are we doing right?
• What are we doing wrong?
• Are we being honest, or are we fooling ourselves?

When you take a long, hard look at your situations, the truth should become self-evident.

To help you discover the real truth about your business, ask open and honest questions, such as “Is this strategy working?” and “What can we do better?”

Talk to your clients, employees, and suppliers—in fact, everyone whose opinion you value—and ask, “What is the one thing that we could be doing better?”

Also ask, “What went wrong?” “What went right?” “Why do we get the business that we do?” and “What keeps us from getting the business that we don’t get?”

“Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.”
-Baltasar Gracian

Getting answers to these tough questions through open dialogue with your clients, employees, and suppliers will help to provide you with information that you can use to solve most problems.

More importantly, having a framework of questions like this helps you to confront issues that shouldn’t be ignored.

The “Stockdale Paradox”, a concept named for Admiral James Stockdale, a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for over seven years.
I feel that his paradox sums up this reflection secret.
In Jim Collins’ book From Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t (Harper Collins, 2001), he states, “Every good-to-great company embraced what we came to call the Stockdale Paradox.
You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of difficulties, AND at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

How often do you confront your current reality?

“Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.”
-Anonymous

This morning wasn’t much different then any other morning.

Except for voting…
Now, I made it to the polls by 7:45am and was out by 8:20am
Small voting district. Short lines.
Saw a neighbor that I had not seen in a while.
Got the latest neighborhood news.
Births. Deaths.
You know what I’m talking about.

While standing in line to vote, it hit me.

“We vote every day of our lives”

We vote for cereal or eggs.
We vote to work or goof off.
We vote to prospect or not.
We vote on who we want to see that day
We vote on what projects to work on
We vote to hit the enter key
Who to work with
What route to take home
On and on and on.

Every decision we decide is a vote.
A choice to move forward, stay the same or move backwards.

Besides all the political candidiates, what did you vote for today?

Here are a few quick voting ideas.

• Vote for your family members success.
  Give them praise for anyting well done and you will help them grow even stronger

• Vote for your client’s success.
  Do everything in your power to help them succeed and you will succeed.

• Vote for doing something. Anything.
  Nothing happens until something moves. Get the pendulum moving, momentum makes things easier.

• Vote for YOURSELF.
  Forge you own path and be willing to stand alone because your life in no way depends on what others think, say or do.

• Vote for Forgiveness.
  Forgive yourself and others for honest mistakes of the past.

What will you decide today that will change someone life?

Happy Marketing
Sandy Barris
Business Marketing Services
Author of ’97 Marketing Secrets to Make
More Money: Your Secret Guide to Growing
Your Business”

P.S. Your Invited To Join (By Invite Only) Our Next  Monthly How To Market Profitably Teleseminar Hosted by List Expert Jerry Bresser.

For Details Click Here:  www.HowToMarketProfitably.com

This statement also applies to your business.

What if you have developed a marketing campaign that is working well?

What if your marketing is bringing in all kinds of sales leads and increasing sales and profits for your business?

What if you have tested and proven your list and your headlines?

What if your offers in this campaign are the best that they can be?

What if no other marketing effort that you have tried has beaten its results?

Wouldn’t it be insane to change it?

You would think so.

However, many business owners get bored with using the same marketing message over and over again.

Consequently, they change their campaign midstream.

These owners never get the full benefit of their campaign.

This, folks, is insanity.

Sometimes the reason that these business owners change their approaches is that they listen to their spouse, employees, family members, friends, clients or someone else who has gotten tired of the campaign.

As a result, the business owners changes his marketing before they should.

Whatever the reason, if something isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
If a marketing campaign is working, then stick with it!

A profitable marketing campaign must be allowed to run its course.

You will know when it is time to change or develop something new when your current campaign stops working.

Again, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

You can see this mistake made over and over in many businesses.

Advertising and direct-marketing efforts that are working are abandoned midstream for the “next big thing.”

Don’t waste the money, time, and effort that you have invested in creating a marketing campaign by making this same mistake in your business.

How sane are your marketing efforts?