What if you could influence people before you even met them? Would that be a valuable skill in business?

Not only is it possible, you can engineer it with intention. And you should. In today's episode, you'll discover:

•  The difference between strategic and tactical influence, and when to use each.
•  The three key factors we need whenever we feel we've heard a special calling from God.
•  My very favorite photography app.
•  And the always award-winning, much much more.

Announcements:

• I am updating my copywriting course… win free access with your comments between now and Christmas.
• Seats available for Strategic & Tactical Influence (STI) — dates January 14-16 in Phoenix, AZ.

Conferences where I will be attending and/or speaking:

• NMX, Jan 4-6, 2014, Las Vegas, NV
• Strategic Influence Jan 14-16, 2014, Phoenix, AZ
• NAMS 11 February 7-9, 2014, Atlanta, GA
• Social Media Marketing World, March 26-28, 2014, San Diego, CA
• “Permission to Prosper” April 8-10, 2014, Spokane, WA

Tip Of The Week

I've recently taken up photography as a hobby. My current cameras are my iPhone 5S, the Canon A1400, and an old Nikon DSLR that I'm borrowing from my son. My dream kit is a Sony NEX-7. But one thing I've learned is long before you need a new camera, you need better skill with the camera you have, and you need some finesse and how you process your photos after you take them. Which leads me to the fact that I own many, many photography apps. But the one that consistently produces the best results for me is snapseed. Even though it gets a lot of complaints, it seems fairly easy to use to me, and I have produced some pretty nice photos using. Above are three examples.

Spiritual Foundations

The key to taking a word from God in bringing it into manifestation usually lies at the intersection of three circles: Spirit, Soul, and Strategy.  The reason people are often disappointed when “God's word” doesn't come true for them might be because they've missed one of these three.

Feature Segment: The Unconventional Guide to Influence

What is influence? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “the power to change or affect someone or something : the power to cause changes without directly forcing them to happen.”

When you have strategically crafted your influence in a particular sphere, you can affect change without direct communication. Change the atmosphere around people, and you change the atmosphere inside people.

1. Get clarity on what outcomes you seek to achieve.
2. Reverse engineer the required influence to produce the outcome.
3. Discover who you have to become in order to exert such influence.
4. Codify your wisdom in a way to is easy to distribute to other people; the most powerful way is to write a book.
5. Practice and enhance your communication skills so that you are able to transmit your message in an effective, powerful, and memorable way.
6. Become skilled in the science of causing your ideas to spread; in common parlance, we call this “marketing”.
7. Develop an intentional process that causes others to want what you have; transform your ideas into cash.

What To Do Now

The development of the seven steps has both a Strategic and a Tactical component.

At our three-day workshop in January, not coincidentally entitled Strategic and Tactical Influence we develop both of those components, and we work through all seven steps in the system, producing a distilled, Big-League Idea born out of your knowledge wisdom and experience… Developing this into a full-fledged outline for your Big-League Book (and even finishing the book, if you choose to opt for the upgrade)… Developing your talking points for media interviews, etc.… And devising a customized, intentional cash flow funnel for transmuting your ideas into income.

The investment for this workshop is not cheap, but for the right person this is the bargain of the decade. We have a handful of seats left; if you would like to reserve one, if you are serious and you want to know more,  click here to fill out an application. If it looks like you might be a good fit for the workshop, we will get back in touch with you.

If you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the podcast. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher.

Question:    What's your plan for developing more influence in 2014? Click here to leave your comments.

It's just the right time to start thinking about your plans for the new year. It's just the right time to get started early.

Today,  I'll explain how to really set yourself up for a great new year-the best year yet. By the time were done, you will have discovered:

• Why online backups are not enough, and the two hidden “gotcha” they all contain.
• How to know if you're growing spiritually
• 7 steps to setting up your best year so far

Announcements:

• Answer the reader's poll, and be blessed in return.
• I am updating my copywriting course… stay tuned for more details coming soon.
• The coming comment contest, and why you should start commenting now.

Conferences where I will be attending and/or speaking:

• NMX, Jan 4-6, 2014, Las Vegas, NV
• Strategic Influence Jan 14-16, 2014, Phoenix, AZ
• NAMS 11 February 7-9, 2014, Atlanta, GA
• Social Media Marketing World, March 26-28, 2014, San Diego, CA
• “Permission to Prosper” April 8-10, 2014, Spokane, WA

Tip Of The Week

In which I explain the two hidden “gotchas” of all online backup services.

Spiritual Foundations

All spiritual growth involves discomfort.

It is abnormal for a believer not to have an appetite for the impossible. When we are born again and open the Bible and start reading about Jesus, we all want to do the things that Jesus does. Unfortunately many of us fall prey to disappointment or bad teaching and that appetite goes. This desire that was birthed in us at conversion gets buried by disappointment, by things which didn’t happen as we thought they should have, or teaching that said it wasn’t supposed to be like that. And yet we don’t have the luxury, we don’t have the right, to lower the standard of scripture to our level of experience. The responsibility of every believer is to look at what is possible and then in the secret place with God contend until there is breakthrough, until we manifest the very things that Jesus said should be manifested in our lives. That is the privilege of a believer.”

Bill Johnson, Manifesto For a Normal Christian life

Feature Segment: 7 Steps To Your Best Year so Far

This is the perfect time to be planning your new year. In fact, if you wait until after Thanksgiving, I think you may already be under the gun.

Here are 7 steps you can take right now to set yourself up for your best year so far.

1. Evaluate your progress for this year, and for the last quarter.
2. Create a fresh Life Plan. I recommend Michael Hyatt's free life plan book. Click here to download it.
3. Plan your priorities using annual time blocks.
4. Identify your 3 Keys, and how you will track them; establish annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily tracking.
5. Invite wise counsel, and do not despise it.
6. Honestly evaluate areas where you need to improve, identify “Keystone habits”,  and commit to those habits. (for more on “Keystone habits”, read The Power of Habit By Charles Duhigg)
7.  Start today, right now.

What To Do Now

All seven of these steps can be implemented immediately-and should be. Join me in committing to complete the seven steps before the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the podcast. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher.

Question:   How will you plan your success in the coming year? Click here to leave your comments.

What if there was a way to cut through the fluff, the chaos, confusion, and just flat out fix your business? Well, there is.

Today,  I'll explain how you can stop worrying, start living, and learned to love discipline. By the time were done, you will have discovered:

• Why you do stuff you don't want to do, and don't do stuff you do want to do.
• How to stop that.
•  How to use your laptop's power cable to increase your productivity.
• The key to releasing power into the lives of others.
• And of course, five specific ways discipline will make you rich.

Announcements:

• Answer the reader's poll, and be blessed in return.
• I am updating my copywriting course… stay tuned for more details coming soon.
• The coming comment contest, and why you should start commenting now.

Conferences where I will be attending and/or speaking:

• NMX, Jan 4-6, 2014, Las Vegas, NV
• Strategic Influence Jan 14-16, 2014, Phoenix, AZ
• NAMS 11 February 7-9, 2014, Atlanta, GA
• Social Media Marketing World, March 26-28, 2014, San Diego, CA
• “Permission to Prosper” April 8-10, 2014, Spokane, WA

Tip Of The Week

How can your laptop's power cord increase your productivity? In the podcast audio, I reveal this arcane secret…

Spiritual Foundations

If what you are saying does not impart grace to the people listening,  it's better to be silent.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give cgrace to those who hear.”
Ephesians 4:29

We can do terrible damage with what we say, or we can bring life. Speak only life, and watch what happens.

Feature Segment: 5 Ways Discipline Will Make You Rich

Wikipedia says “Discipline is a course of actions leading to a greater goal than the satisfaction of the immediate. A disciplined person is one that has established a goal and is willing to achieve that goal at the expense of his or her immediate comfort.”

Add this book to your list of must-reads: The Ultimate Sales Machine, by Chet Holmes.

If you haven’t read it, move it to the top of your list.

If you have read it and haven’t yet implemented every single strategy inside its covers, read it now. Again.

Probably my favorite passage from Chet’s masterful business work is one that most people read without understanding its import. In the early pages of the book, Chet points out that most people will read his book, agree with its precepts, and still not do them. He says this is the “reverse psychology” section of the book, in which he attempts to prod the reader into doing what needs to be done. In Chet’s words, “I’m goading you into applying a powerful force for creating success from what you’re going to learn… and that force, my friends, is pigheaded discipline and determination.”

Pigheaded discipline is the subject of this post for very good, and simple, reason. That reason being the fact that this is the most-lacked skill in over 90% of entrepreneurs. In my experience, what stands in our way, what holds us back from our potential, is usually not some external force (such as competition or marketplace conditions)-it is, rather, our own inability to say no to the things that distract us from our most profitable activities, and our continued inability to say yes only to those activities that produce the results we seek.

It is as if the world conspires against us to lead us down this path to destruction. Most of our peers, and certainly most of our employees, are happy to tell us what we should be spending our time on-and almost without fail their advice is dead wrong. It usually doesn’t come packaged as advice, by the way – it usually comes packaged as a meeting… a phone call… a personal plea… or some kind of interpersonal conflict. None of which are, perhaps, designed to take us off target- but all of which inevitably do.

Guard your heart carefully, eternal entrepreneur, and focus only on the things that expand the kingdom. Employ pigheaded discipline.

There are at least five ways cultivating more discipline will make you rich:

1. Discipline measures activity instead of intent.
2. Discipline measures results instead of reasons.
3. Discipline cultivates stewardship.
4. Discipline produces accurate thinking.
5. Discipline practices the Pareto principle.

What To Do Now

Here's how you put these five points to work right now, starting today.

1. Reverse engineer the daily activities needed to achieve your objectives, schedule them, and then do them.
2. Meticulously track the results you achieve, and continuously adjust your approach until you reach your objective.
3. Carefully examine your finances, your relationships, your health, your spiritual foundations. If there are any areas where you are not being a good steward, you already know what to do. Do it. Today.
4. Evaluate every area of discontent in your life, determine the cause, and decide what is required to fix it. See things as they are, then see them as you want them to be, then make them how you see them.
5. Ruthlessly eliminate activities and relationships that do not move you forward toward your objectives. Begin today, by making a list of at least 10 things to eliminate from your life.

If you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the podcast. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher.

Question:  What have you learned from conferences that has changed your life for the better? Click here to leave your comments.

I just attended the single best business conference I've ever been to… and it has nothing to do with my being one of the speakers!

Today, I share my notes from this week's Platform Conference. By the time you listen to today's podcast, you will have discovered:

• The real secret to stress-free productivity
• How to get your business cards imported into your smart phone for free
• Why you procrastinate and how to stop doing that
• A simple formula that allows you to WOW your customers
• The secret that allowed Jeff Goins to build 100,000 readers for his blog
• The simple method for building an intimate connection with your tribe that will surprise you
• The altar you are probably worshiping at that will eventually kill you, and what to do about it
• Why it's important for you to make as much money as possible
• And much, much more!

Announcements:

• The Return of the Lifestyle Business Segment, and listener questions.
• Our first ever annual readers poll is coming tomorrow.
•  Next week I'll be offering a free video training series on writing powerful persuasive copy. Be looking for it.
• A new listener comment contest.

Conferences where I will be attending and/or speaking:

• Private Client Meeting, Dec 2-4
• NMX, Jan 4-6, 2014, Las Vegas, NV
• Strategic Influence Jan 14-16, 2014, Phoenix, AZ
• NAMS 11 February 7-9, 2014, Atlanta, GA
• Social Media Marketing World, March 26-28, 2014, San Diego, CA
• “Permission to Prosper” April 8-10, 2014, Spokane, WA

Tip Of The Week

Cardmunch is a free iPhone app that turns business cards into contacts.

Spiritual Foundations

We accomplish the most from a place of rest.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30

Rest does not equal in activity. It means that we are able to be active without fear, doubt, or emotional striving. We become peace inside chaos, we are the call my at the center of the storm.

Feature Segment: What I Learned From The Platform Conference

Nearly every significant turning point in my life has been marked by attending a conference.  which is not to say that every conference I have attended was a life changer; but even at the “poorly produced” conferences, I always learn something of value.

This week, I  had a life-changing experience at the single best business conference I have ever had the privilege of attending, the Platform Conference in Dallas, Texas.

How does this affect you? As always, I seek to learn everything I can and then bring it back here to share with you. While not every one of the ideas I'm going to share is necessarily be applicable to you, I believe many of them will. Here are some (not all) of the most valuable things I learned at this year's platform conference.

The absolute imperative of building your own platform. “Platform” is a metaphor for the stage you construct from which you share your ideas, insights, and advice. As Michael Hyatt says in his book Platform, building a platform is how you “get noticed in a noisy world”. I write frequently about creating strategic influence; which means to exert influence in the lives of people who have never even met you. The mechanism by which you do this is your platform. Although I have long been a proponent of platform building, after this week's conference I am absolutely convinced it is of paramount importance for anyone who has something important to say, or something useful to sell.

The dynamic tension between excellence and procrastination. Michael Hyatt started us off with a powerful presentation that reiterated the five-part framework of his book. (Incidentally, for all my students and coaching clients, that book is required reading.) Michael teaches that we must start every project by “baking in WOW”. The key to creating the “wow” experience for our readers and customers is to exceed their expectations. I came home with a long list of things I need to do to bake more “wow” into everything we do at my company. The other side of the coin is, it's easy to use this commitment to excellence as an excuse to never get anything off the ground. Seth Godin makes it clear it's important that we “ship”-that we get a project out the door and into the hands of our audience or tribe.

Perfectionism is the mother of procrastination.”
-Michael Hyatt

Ken Davis offered a startling perspective on creating  “WOW”. Ken is  a best-selling author, frequent radio and television guest, and one of the country's most sought-after inspirational and motivational speakers,  Ken's premise is that WOW is “found at the intersection of pretty, practical and personal.” He shared compelling examples of this from real-life advertising and marketing campaigns. Apple Computer is, of course, the primary example of a company doing this right. Think about it. Every product they introduce has all three of those elements. Yesterday I got my new iPhone 5s. I assure you that it is very pretty, it is extraordinarily practical, and my password is actually my thumb print: you can't get more personal than that. Also, implicit in Ken's brilliant instruction was the importance of being interesting and entertaining. This is something Ken teaches at his SCORRE  conference, which I plan to attend next May.

Jeff Goins, who writes a frustratingly beautiful blog at GoinsWriter.com (frustrating only because he makes writing brilliantly look incredibly easy), inspired us with his session. I took many notes from Jeff's talk, which was about starting from scratch and building a platform with words, passion and people. My big take away from Jeff's talk was this: the key to succeeding at platform building is not about “who you know”, it's about who you can help. This includes not only helping other influential speakers, authors, and bloggers… More importantly, it's about the tribe of readers you help. Focusing on that will eventually bring you the attention your message merits.

As I stopped chasing attention, more people began paying attention to what I had to say.”
-Jeff Goins

Cliff Ravenscraft, the founder of the podcast mastermind, has produced over 3100 podcast episodes. He has helped thousands of people and organizations launch successful podcasts. While Michael Hyatt inspired me to start my podcast, Cliff provided me with the practical knowledge, tools, and advice that have allowed me to succeed as a podcaster. Cliff made it clear in his talk that the opportunities and benefits of podcasting can dramatically shift your success as a platform builder. While I am obviously a proponent of podcasting, it was only after watching clips presentation that I realized what an incredibly powerful “secret weapon” podcasting is for building your platform there is no other way to build such an incredibly intimate connection with people. And at this point in time, competition is very thin in podcasting. While I knew in principle this was true, I don't pay much attention to my chart rankings in iTunes. But while listening to Cliff speak, I checked and discovered my own podcast ranks in the top 25 in the world for business and marketing advice on iTunes! Thanks Cliff, for the reminder.

Lysa Terkeurst, The New York Times best-selling author and president of Proverbs 31 ministries, knocked me off my feet with her presentation. Lysa is a bona fide celebrity, and yet she is the most humble and approachable person you'll ever meet. I'm a bit of  word nerd, so when Lysa started sharing her copywriting techniques for writing value propositions, I swooned.  She was inspiring, smart, and entertaining. She was also incredibly generous and although she shared.

Amy Porterfield is a friend I only met in the “real world” just this week. Amy and I first met a few years ago, when she was still working for Tony Robbins. She was actually the person in Tony's organization who hired me to write copy for Tony. Since leaving his organization, Amy has built an amazing business, created one of the most successful podcasts on the subject of marketing (click here for the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast), and authored a book called Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. Amy gave a stunning presentation on her Facebook advertising secrets. I promise you I'm already at work implementing her ideas for my own business. But, that's not the most valuable thing I learned from my friend Amy. I watched her while an audience full of seasoned business professionals was held captive by her stark and transparent admission of how overwork had almost wrecked her life… and how setting a new standard has given her freedom, satisfaction, and even more success.

When you worship at the altar of “hustle” you say yes to everything because it never feels like you're doing enough.”
-Amy Porterfield

Amy Porterfield, you did in fact change my life this week.  I hereby renounce my worship of the idol called “hustle”.

Derek Halpern is the creator of the well-known blog Social Triggers. Derek is a brilliant business thinker, and approaches marketing with the attitude of a scientist. He dives deep into scientific research and finds ways to apply it to social media, blogging, and online marketing. He has influenced the marketing approach of thousands of business people, and host one of the top marketing podcast on iTunes. He also dresses like a boss. Derek may have been the most prepared presenter I've ever encountered (well, other than Michael Hyatt!) I was most impacted by a simple statement from Derrick: “Don't sell often, but when you do, so hard.” By “selling hard”, Derek does not mean to be and of noxious pushy salesperson… he carefully studies the desires of his marketplace, and tailors every nuance of his marketing and selling specifically to the people who need what he has to offer. Powerful stuff.

Stu McLaren is the co-founder of WishList member, the membership site solution for WordPress that now powers over 43,000 online communities. Stu is of course a great friend of mine, and we are perfectly aligned when it comes to the moral rightness of prospering in business. I took more notes during Stu's presentation than anyone else's, but without a doubt the single most powerful thing he had to say (at least in my opinion) was this: “The more money you make, the more impact you can have.” Amen, Stu McLaren.

Michele Cushatt was the MC of the conference, and her bright and cheerful personality said just the right tone for the entire event. But that was only the precursor to what had to be one of the most powerful talks I have ever heard. There was a moment in her speech that had the entire room in total silence, except for an occasional sniffle… because she also had managed to bring tears to the eyes of most of the attendees. Those tears were not generated by some trite emotional device, but by a powerful moment in which she revealed the truth about why many of us struggle with achieving our full potential. I hesitate to say more, because when you get the chance to hear Michele speak (and you will, because her star is rising), I don't want to spoil this special moment for you. Suffice it to say, Michele, if you are reading this… I have promised myself to dive deep into life. Thank you, my new friend, for how you contributed to my experience of life.

3 Powerful Takeaways From The Conference Itself.

I know I've already shared quite a few insights, but it's only a fraction of what I took away from the conference this week. When I zoom out another level, I also learned some valuable lessons from the overall conference experience. And for this learning, I have to give credit to Michael Hyatt, Ken Davis, and their amazing team, who crafted a framework that allowed this event to have  such impact. Here are three of the many learnings I gleaned from the overall conference experience.

1. WOW is in the details.  Michael and Ken  pay close attention to every detail of this conference, from the choice of venue (it was beautiful and comfortable), to the way the rooms were set up, to the number of people staffing the event making sure things were happening happening smoothly, to all the printed materials that accompany the event. Every element was high quality, with attention being paid to design and the experience that the attendees had. In fact, from beginning to end, this can conference embodied the intersection of pretty, practical, and personal. For me, the Platform Conference raised the bar on how these things ought to be done, and you will see the results at my upcoming Permission to Prosper event in Spokane next year.
2. Community multiplies the benefits of training. It was not lost on me that connecting people to one another was carefully engineered into the entire conference structure. There was a networking reception the night before any of the conference activities began, there was ample space between sessions for people to connect the network. We took many meals together, there are few things more powerful than breaking bread with other people to connect and bond you to one another. Is it more expensive for the promoter to provide such opportunities? Undoubtedly. Does it provide a deeper more fulfilling experience for attendees? Absolutely.
3. Devotion to your participants is primary in importance. I have never been asked to do more as a speaker at a conference that this one. And I have never been more delighted with my conference experience than at this one. I attended every session, I was present at every networking meal, and made myself available every waking hour to meet with attendees. It was tiring, hard work… but it was so rewarding. I'm sure that sounds noble, but I have to be honest, I feel the person most rewarded was me. I met so many brilliant, loving, powerful, and remarkable people. My life will be forever changed by those I encountered and had the privilege of getting to know. I'm absolutely convinced I made several new lifelong friends at this event. The environment that fostered these kinds of relationships (not just for me, but for everyone who attended) was intentionally produced by Michael and Ken, and will be incorporated into any future events that I myself produce.

What To Do Now

How can you benefit from my notes? Pick three of my takeaways and use them.  Decide exactly how you're going to incorporate them into your business, and then schedule it on your calendar. I look forward to hearing the results you produce.

If you enjoy the podcast, I would consider it a great favor if you subscribe (and leave a review) in iTunes. This helps new people discover the podcast. You can also find the podcast on Stitcher.

Question:  What have you learned from conferences that has changed your life for the better? Click here to leave your comments.