Fight Mediocrity!

The Outlandish Rebelpreneur’s

Manifesto!

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 Purpose, Focus and
Passion: Be on the Power
Diet for your Business

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Purpose: Form the foundations for your success map

Getting into business is answer to survive the tumultuous economic scenario for the
new age individual. With growing economic insanity and uncertain global socio-
economic scenario, entrepreneurship still makes its own style statements. It holds
promises for the enterprising individuals and companies who would invest time and
effort to ensure that they do what they ought to do to have the competitive edge, to
serve better and to retrieve profits.

It isn’t even rocket science.

However, we still don’t see this kind of success everywhere. We don’t see
individuals or companies making it big. Instead we have decaying financial
statements, eroding bottom lines and bail-out scenarios.

What do you think the reason would be? There are many in fact, but one of the most
stinging ones out there is a gaping, wide-eyed and jaw-dropping lack of focus.

The “lack of focus” problem is the root cause for most businesses not going
anywhere. No, I don’t mean “Hey, we know what are doing here. We were supposed to sell
widgets” kind of focus; I mean the needle-tipped, syringe sharp, laser-like focus.

It isn’t very hard to develop focus like that because for most businesses, the core on
which the focus must be on boils down to the following:
• Providing great products and services
• Make your offerings simple but still unbelievable
• Deliver Value
• Delight your customers without them asking for it.
• Give a surprise (who doesn’t love them?)
• Give your customers a feeling that they really got more for the money they
put on the table.

Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? At least you are not being asked to do anything
like implementing expensive software and do software coding, write programs and
the like. No one even spoke about extending an IPO (Initial Public Offer); talk to an
investment bank and help your company to float shares in the market. We were
talking about things a high-school student can understand.

Ironically, simple things are like eels, they are hard to catch and extremely slippery
when you do try to catch.

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What gives? What must you do?

Have a Well-defined Purpose!

Why are you in Business? If I hear you saying that you are in it for the money, you
aren’t getting anywhere near it.

Funny, but true!

If you started out for money and wealth alone, your business is doomed to the back
issues of your yellow pages and nowhere else. The purpose of your business, among
others, has everything to do with where your business is destined to be. The
purpose, though, isn’t even a secret that has been held down to a few ultra-glorious,
super-prosperous companies. It’s all there for you to see. You clearly know, for
instance, why Google is so successful. How about Wal-mart?

One thing is for sure: Sam Walton and Google’s founders didn’t start out for money.
Neither did Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Michael Dell. Each of them started out
thinking that they would provide value to their customers using a service/product,
they thought would change the way people do certain things -- Dell has literally
changed the way people brought computers and even before that Bill Gates has
given a computing platform for everyone in the world. Walmart changed the way
you shop and shop for less. McDonalds ensured that you get the same fries and
burgers whether buy in Troy, New York, Brisbane, Australia; Delhi, India or Madrid,
Spain.

Need more examples? Starbucks has changed the way you feel at a coffee shop and
experience coffee. EBay has single handedly pushed e-commerce. Amazon brought
about the world’s largest book store ever, which no physical store anywhere can
match its offerings.

Do you see a common pattern emerging? Do you see they their purpose really
wasn’t money? As an Interesting aside, none of them started with any capital in the
real sense. Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Dell specifically, didn’t have any offices
to start from. If you read the “chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur’s soul” book, you
will come across hundreds of other people who started out that way.

It all started as a pure, compelling and consuming desire that shook their very soul
and made the founders of these companies do miracles. A fire in the belly, that can’t
be assuaged even today.

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Here’s the idea button: You are there for money and creating wealth and there is no
denying that. But money is shy, discreet and like a little girl: you can’t coerce her to
come closer. You have to draw her to you. Seduce her to make her believe that you
are worthy of it.
The way you do that is to:

No matter what business you are in, you will focus on doing the best you can to
ensure that your clients are super-thrilled to have you has their partner. Everything
from how you greet them; your personality; your marketing collateral; your
processes; your systems; how you deliver your business; your sales and up-keep of
promises -- everything matters. If your receptionist is harsh when greeting a
customer, you will lose your customer. You don’t keep the promises you make, you
lose your customer.

In fact you will stand to lose everything!

As Paul Gorman Says in his book The Game of Business and How to Play it, “ The
Primary Purpose of any enterprise -- Huge, medium or tiny -- is to provide the
highest degree of service, value and result to every person or organization that
inquires of you, asks for advice from you, and buys or invests from you.”

Once you put your service first you could then keep in touch with all those
customers you had already delighted with your products and services by calling
them once in a while, leave a message, send an email or send a direct mailer just to
thank them. Perhaps, you could ask them as to how they find your services or if the
product you had sent in works flawlessly?

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Tell me if they don’t find that incredibly delightful. Aren’t you really giving it your
best shot? You are doing more than anyone else could possibly do. If you just do this
consistently enough and make sure that your clients/customers are falling in love
with your business, then and only then, will you see profit windfalls. An avalanche
of wealth is all yours to take only if you do this right. Ask for money first without
doing any of the above mentioned
protocol and see how money scurries
away from you, never to return again.
Paul Gorman Says in his
book The Game of Business
and How to Play it, “ The
Primary Purpose of any
enterprise -- Huge, Laser can cut diamonds; Focus can cut
medium or tiny -- is to through business blues
provide the highest
degree of service, value Once you have a purpose, it is time to
and result to every person take it for a hair-cut. Well not literally.
or organization that Having a purpose is a great start, but it
inquires of you, asks for just needs some fine-tuning. After you
advice from you, and buys do that, it is time to focus.
or invests from you.”
Focus is nothing but just a little bit of
madness, an entrepreneur needs to have. Is this madness? Am I losing it completely?
Not at all! By madness, I mean a relentless pursuit of the purpose mentioned herein,
with a modicum of craziness to stick to your guns while you are at it.

You see, it is so easy to say things like “ My purpose is to ensure that I deliver my
consulting services to my clients with an hitherto Unmatched service standards,
great commitment, and honest-to-god mindset such that my clients walk away with
tears of joy, each time they partake my services”.

But the reality is that this doesn’t happen all the time -- maybe because you just had
a bad day, your car broke down, an employee quits, your Venture Capitalist backs
off on the last minute, you tried cold-calling and you faced rejection multiple times.
See what I mean? Days aren’t chalked out of fairly tale story books. They are here on,
Planet Earth, were, things are forever trying to find equilibrium -- an ephemeral
sense of balance, at least.

On the other hand, your business won’t take off if you don’t surmount these
everyday problems -- small or big -- and ensure that you still do what you just stated.

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What helps?

Focus.

So simple, yet so profound; So easy to nod heads but so difficult to achieve ; having
an undulating focus calls for a super-human effort, a steel-like desire, a burning need
to achieve what you had set forth for. It calls for perseverance, patience and a firm
conviction in your goals.

Employees quit ; recession looms ; economy is unstable ; people scoff and joke at
your ideas when you go party; your peers don’t even come close to thinking the way
you do; your business partner doesn’t understand your vision and merely laughs it
off; your spouse is frustrated that you barely come home; your social life is rotting
away; your employees put up a protest and almost make your life miserable; your
life seems to be consumed by your business; you haven’t got a dime in your wallet
and you came close to being crushed under the weight of your own loneliness
sometimes; you must have felt like giving up a zillion times.
In spite of you being crushed this way, and no matter what happens -- never
give up.

Passion

You have a purpose and you now have a focus -- this is just getting better and better.
Perhaps, you will need some Nitrous Oxide for that acceleration? How about a rush
in the progress your business ought to make? Why not ensure that whatever you are
doing, you will want to do more of that? How do you ensure that you be at your best
performing levels at all times?

Passion is the venerable answer!

Passion is the fuel for your focus. This is the engine that can drive your success to
unimaginable levels. It can bring out the best in you, no matter what you choose to
do. Passion is a renewable, ultra-clean and an abundant source of energy which has
been designed just to fuel YOU.

You don’t get passion at staples.com. You don’t get it in your neighborhood malls
and you certainly can’t borrow it from anyone. It has to well up within you. It has to
be borrowed from the extremely abundant reservoir of energy and power your mind
possesses.

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Delving into your inherent strengths and bringing out the very best in your is a
direct after affect of being passionate about what you do; that’s where
entrepreneurship, begins to make sense.

See, a job is something you took because you had to and you needed this paycheck
at the end of every month; you have mouths to feed and bills to pay. But you aren’t
necessarily passionate about what you do at work.

Entrepreneurship has an underlying flavor of passion within, because it comes from

choice. When you start a business, it has always been recommended that you start
your business in spheres you are passionate about and know what you are doing
and then you don’t start for the money.

If you are a teacher, you love teaching and you would like to spread knowledge
while helping other people achieve great things -- starting a tutorial, e-tutoring or
even consulting could all be great business for you to start. Since you love what you
do, you are focused enough on doing something very specific and well-defined and
you have the passion to keep you going -- money is waiting to be piled up in your
bank accounts. You get the drift, don’t you?

When you love what you do, passion comes automatically. When passion comes
through, it is easy enough to stay focused and have a purpose. These are complex
human dynamics and they are slated to remain that way. The best we can do is to try
and understand that this strong interplay between these three traits makes for a
great, show-stopping entrepreneurial material and is secret-but-secret formula for a
roaring success.

These traits hold good for anyone who has got anything to do with wanting to be
successful in any endeavor -- sports, politics, Business, science and technology etc.

The Reading Room and Resources

On the way to your success, you will meet Mr. Learning Curve -- The brash, out-
spoken, extremely proud and very repelling but also very learned, strict and
unbending trainer (Very popular and incredibly effective master). You might hate
him, but you will benefit from him. Your success is guaranteed 105%. Here are a few
books he recommends that would help you get started on setting this mindset:

• “Think and Grow Rich” By Napolean Hill

• “The Beautiful Mind” By Sylvia Nasser
• “It’s not about the Bike” by Lance Amstrong and Sally Jenkins
• “Banker to The Poor” By Muhammad Yunus
• “Direct From Dell” By Michael Dell

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 • “Made in America” by Sam Walton

Motivation -- The Starting

Point for your Business
Success

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Entrepreneurs, artists, professionals and people of all sorts in various walks of life
are just one step away from success. The only thing that stops most people from a
tidal wave of success and achievement; a lifetime of glory and wealth is just a few
muscle movements to take action, which in turn requires a tremendous amount of
will power and motivation.

It all starts in your cauldron of positive thinking within your brain, where little
things add up -- frustration of a 9-5 job; tyranny of your boss; the irritating equated
monthly installments and a lifelong payment cycles for your mortgages -- to get you
to move towards certain actions that will chalk out your future.

Little things do add up, don’t they? You might lose steam; competitors might just be
too competitive; product or service is going through a lean buying cycle; attrition
problems; financial crunch; external factors you can’t place your finger on and what
not.

The Mind conditioning you need to be able to Live to get to the red Juicy Carrot
(Your Success)

Only certain character traits -- from you, reflected and percolated into the depths of
your company -- can help bail you out of all of this.

One of which is Motivation -- a raging fiery desire to make it through; to see it to the
end; to surmount whatever would be thrown on you. To be motivated, there are
certain character traits that will define a successful entrepreneur:

A compulsive, relentless and an insatiable desire to get going, no matter what

happens
An entrepreneur, by design, is a pure capitalist at heart; a perennial risk-taker and a
rainmaker. Rewards entrepreneurs accrue over time, after sustenance, are a lot more
than any aspiring soul can seek to get. But all of this comes at a cost -- a wave of
problems might wash you away sometimes and if you have survived for any
amount of time, you would have surmounted it all. It takes fire within you -- a
compulsive, almost maniacal and humanly impossible desire. I am talking about the
blazing flame inside your stomach; that relentless and tireless voice in your head
that literally screams into your face and conscience and reiterates the fact that “Do
what you must do “; “You are meant to do something different” and “I am better off
being on my own “. You got to have this insatiable desire to develop your business
and take responsibilities for your own life.

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An unquenchable thirst to become wealthy

In spite of the prevalent social stigma attached to earning wealth -- linking this to
being greedy and almost anti-social-- this is a primary motivation for most people.
Let’s not fool ourselves and ignore that fact. Of course, this should not be your only
guide-post while charting the course you would be taking for your business. Here’s
the fun part, the really successful business owners really do begin to get it at one
point (you will get it now! ) that money automatically follows when you have sound
business practices, great products and services and appropriate systems in place.
You don’t run after money (wasn’t that the primary reason why we look at
entrepreneurship such that money begins to work for you? Instead of the other way
round? )

A bottom-less appetite for risk

One stark difference noticeable in most successful entrepreneurs and ordinary folks
with a mundane day job is the risk-appetite. Entrepreneurs are fearless, reckless and
they behave just like children do. They have an inane ability or would have
developed the ability to absorb any negative ramifications that might occur when
something goes wrong -- ideas don’t work; ideas back-fire; money is lost; deals go
sour and partners or employees sometimes walk away on you. All of this is has been
an investment on the entrepreneurs’ part and each time the entrepreneurs have
invested, they took a risk. Risk-taking ability, by far, is the most distinguishing factor
that separates the men from the boys; women from the girls. Do you have it in you?
Are you willing to develop it to a level that makes you successful?

A creative problem-solving, calm and composed head on the shoulders

You can’t afford to be throwing tantrums -- this was something you could have done
while working somewhere. You don’t whine like a baby anymore and as if this isn’t
enough, you have to be thinking on your feet, forever. You will have to solve real-
life, and more specifically, business problems which will make or mar your future.
You need to be innovative; have boundless imagination; a knack to think quickly
and rationally; and never losing your composure, no matter what happens.

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Decisiveness

Here’s another one of those things you won’t find elsewhere -- The ability to decide
quickly. This comes entwined with the ‘risk-appetite” that we talked about earlier,
but has a charm of its own. All successful entrepreneurs have no choice but to be
very decisive. They need to make decisions solely based on their experiences,
information, situational experiences or sometimes they need to do it just on the basis
of raw - confidence and gut-feel. This trait basically leads to action and as I
mentioned earlier, taking action is half the battle won. So, even in the worst scenario,
the entrepreneur is well-ahead of the pack simply by virtue of having decided.

A Willingness to learn and to be well-read

One of the best ways to motivate you is to read up on some amazing biographies
and auto-biographies. Look at a cross-section of any self-made millionaires or any
wealthy person’s profile and you are likely to notice that all of them have a penchant
to learn new things. Be it something that has got to do with their business or
something that might be their weekend pursuit, they do it incessantly. If you are
wondering as to why they might want to learn new things, it isn’t any rocket science.
They do it to keep themselves well-informed, well-read and because of the sheer
beauty of the fact that ‘learning makes you a winner’.

Humility and Character

Good character and humility is the cornerstone for success in business. When you
are about to sell something to someone, it is YOU who is going to be sold first.
Having said that, what makes you think that you would be doted on if you are
abusive, rude and rustic by nature? Successful entrepreneurs are humble people,
almost always accessible and approachable. If you ever did a sales call, you will
recall that these top guns are the easiest ones to grab an appointment from (even if
they are busy) and the gnomes( the middle level managers and gate-keepers, no
offence meant! ) are the most difficult to approach. By making yourself humble and
full of great character, you are opening your doors to a world of opportunities just
by being congenial.

Self-motivated, determined and driven

No one became successful because someone else wanted them to be (of course, you
have well-wishers, but that’s mere wishing; not pushing!). To be a successful
entrepreneur, you will have to be self-motivated, not wait for things to happen but

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rather be able to ‘make things happen’ and be self driven. Your obstinate refusal to
give up on the face of adversity is going to mark your successful business career.
How deftly you manage to propel yourself during your inevitable and much
welcomed lean phases is going to the determinant factor for your success.

Motivation: The price you pay for success

The process of motivating oneself is an ongoing affair; it is the price you will pay for
success. You can’t expect to be maddeningly successful if you don’t keep yourself
motivated at all times.

Being in a motivated state is like being on steroids; being on a high. It is important to

be on that state because of the fact that you will have road blocks and you will need
to saunter around them all the time. The only way you can do that is to be super-
charged. The only way to solve problems and be persistent is to have the ability to
look at the horizon and keep going -- no matter what.

When you are starting up or in the course of running your business, you will be
critiqued, admonished and even rubbished. When you get out there trying to get
some leads for your businesses, your honor will be questioned. When you try to sell
your products/services, they will be compared indiscriminately to those of your
competitors.

You will face problems all the time. There will be days when you would get into a
deadly vicious cycle of self-questioning. You will doubt if your decision of wanting
to start or run a business has been a sane one or not. If you were made of anything
less harder than steel, you might even give up and go back to just the place you had
always wanted to be away from -- the corporate, cushy 9-5 job.

There are times when your partners will bite on your back when you aren’t looking;
your staff can embezzle funds; your accounts can turn into bad apples and your
business just looks like a huge complicated mess.

Your family might not understand your goals, tribulations, aspirations and
problems. In some cases, they might not share your ideals and might be as
enthusiastic about your next merger or the fact that your company is going public.

In short, life can suck. Businesses can like black holes that can suck everything in. It
is a marriage that can go bad.

However, if you took care and stayed motivated enough and if you persevere and
hold on to your beliefs things will look better. If you stand your ground and battle
these seemingly frustrating problems, nothing can take your success away from you.

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The law of attraction -- supposedly the holy grail of success, wealth and glory --
states that the nature conspires to get exactly you ends up thinking about (whether it
is positive or negative).

6 Ways to Stay Motivated: How to keep your carrot Red, Juicy and mouth-
watering.

Have a strong reason for doing the do: Why are you in Business? What makes you
tick? What are you going through all this for? What is it that you want? What’s your
story? One of the best ways to keep yourself motivated to know where you need to
go and keep your mind fixated (have a monomaniacal obsession) on what you want.
A friend of mine used to say “If you need something badly enough, that something
will beat a path to your door”.

Pep-talk

You might think it is crazy, but most of the famous athletes do it all the time. Some
successful entrepreneurs do it too -- they all talk to themselves, as if they were their
own motivators. They would tell themselves to keep going where they ought to be
pushing themselves; they would implore themselves to keep them afloat the
turbulent seas; they would pamper themselves when they achieve something; they
would pull themselves out of their own misery. They would do all of this by just
talking to themselves. It’s called pep-talk and it works like a charm because it is self-
imposed, effective and personal.

Staying focused by using Post-it notes

There is something amazing about Post-it notes -- they can intrude into your
personal space and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it but thrown them
away. But here’s the kicker: even while throwing it away, you would read what’s on
it; that’s the deal maker. If you could write some famous quotes, snippets of wisdom,
punchy statements that can pull you to do something -- that little bit of reading can
help to motivate you tremendously. The post-it notes can be anywhere -- in your
bathroom; on your computer screen; books and tapes, wherever -- and you will find
your daily dose of sticky inspiration in these little pieces of sticky paper.

Staying with Supercharged Groups of People

You are often known by the company you keep. Not just that, you are often inspired
by the company you keep -- provided you stay with super-charged groups of people
who have nothing else on their mind by success. Just like you, they must be on the
search to find something great and worthwhile to dedicate their lives to. The least

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you could do is to stay with people who are at least positive in their approach.
Staying with negative minded people -- be it friends, family or relatives can thrown
into a vortex of depression and self-doubt, which is the last thing you need.

Get a Mentor

Lots of people swear by it and some people go out of their way to find their mentors.
Mentors are people who have supposedly “been there and done that”. They come
packed with wisdom and can deliver it to you personally just as your family
physician would. They would stand-by to kick you when you are lazy; to raise your
performance standards; to make the best of yourself; to bring about the best in you
and to inspire you tremendously. What’s more, their experience would even save
you from the mistakes they would have made and cutting your learning curve into a
finer and more beautiful one.

Read Success Stories

Human beings have always been suckers for stories. All of us fall for a good story.
We shed tears, laugh, empathize and are moved by a story well told. Reading
success stories of self-made millionaires, business tycoons, ancient kings and
emperors would all lead you to into a super charged state of wanting to achieve
something. Stories are a powerful way to motivate and you can pick what you like.
By reading these stories, you can impersonate the protagonists of these stories,
model their behavior and achieve hitherto unseen unbelievable pinnacles of success.

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 The Unique Selling
Proposition -- Have
Reason, Will
Succeed

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Look around you -- right from the time you wake up until the time hit the pillow
again, you are bombarded with messages of all sorts (thousands and thousands of
them). Most of these messages will not even be remembered. Now if the message
that had to reach you had cost money for the message sender, it would be a sheer
waste of money, don’t you think?

Marketing Scenario? Bleak! Why? Your Business lacks the flashy Red Unique
Beak, that’s why.

Here’s a typical business scenario: You want to start a company; they come together
and roll one out; they set-it up, operations begin; perhaps they find a few
clients/customers too. Bang -- the tire goes flat. You are stuck in a vacuum. You don’t
figure out why customers don’t tear their clothes to get near your products and
services and while you thought your business should have rocked, it now sucks. It
saps you off your energy and it would make you feel like going for that easy 9-to-5
job again.

Here’s a little statistic that really stands out. While about 85% of an average family’s
needs are met and satiated by about 150 products. But you know well that there are
at least about 50,000 products and services at any given point of time.

Whatever happened to them all?

Ignored, sometimes avoided even.

That explains the plight business face. Competition suddenly feels like this giant
fearsome, grotesque monster that can kick you out of survival. Suddenly you would
feel that the very thought of running your business can wreak havoc with your
nervous system.

Why does this happen? You thought everything was going well for your business,
why this sudden turning of tables?

The fact is that your business has nothing in it for the customer. It is added
deadweight to scores of similar businesses out there. Take a gander at the yellow
and you would scratch your head as to whom to approach.

Businesses don’t stand out.

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Their ads don’t stand out.

The messages in there are not compelling enough.

David Ogilvy, the founder of an advertising agency called Ogilvy and Mather, once
remarked that “a product should be able to sell itself and not be pushed on to the
customer”. If you aren’t making a product or delivering a service like that; you must
seriously consider why your business exists.

It all leads to a central marketing concept: Unique Selling proposition. In a nutshell

and in everyday language, it means “What have you got that others haven’t got?”

What makes for an incredibly focused, captivating and business leading USP?

A message or proposition that can monopolize your prospect’s mind!

I know it is easier said than done. The trouble with most of the businesses out there
is that they have a “me-too” approach and there isn’t anything distinct about their
offerings and on top of that, their communication to the rest of the world about what
they have to provide in the form of products and services leaves a lot to be desired.

There’s nothing wrong with the monopoly -- at least not if you are trying to grab
your customer’s mindshare. The offering (your product or service) along with the
message using which you wish to communicate your offering must be captivating. It
must hook your recipient for life. It must have something that can knock on their
heads and say “Hey, look here, I bet you haven’t heard this before”.

Here are the steps you need to take to develop a USP that can make your customers
swear by your business:

Modify your product/service Offerings

You have been making products or rendering your services for some time now,
haven’t you? It is time you brought about a change in the way you do business. If
you haven’t and if you are just starting out, you’d still have to know this: take the
core product or service that you deal with and think of anything else you can do to
it. Here are a few examples as to how you can add a USP to some common products
and services

a. Writing Services: Why should a business claim that it is a full-service

writing company? After having priced your services much higher than
the competition (which is rampant, by the way), you would add
editing and proof-reading; designing e-book covers, white paper start

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 pages, landing pages and other such miniature graphic works for free;
you could then consult on how content should look like on a client’s
web site; you could help them market their website on the Internet (if it
has anything to do with e-commerce).
b. Real Estate Business: If all you did was finding your clients pieces of
land or find them homes to live in, you might know that this is another
area where you would face plenty of competition, not withstanding the
prevailing gloom within in the industry. What must you do? Don’t just
be in Real estate business -- be in the business of making people live in one
the most expensive investments they will ever make in their lifetime -- their
homes. Why not consult them on how to decorate their homes; how
about landscaping for a reduced fee? ; how about having a bevy of
professionals like plumbers, electrical technicians, carpenters and
others on your part-time roster so that you clients can treat your
business as a one-stop reference point for all things to do with land
tracts, homes and commercial buildings?
c. IT Programming and Web Design Businesses: There are a mind-
boggling number of service providers (individuals and businesses)
rendering these services. How do you think you must develop your
USP? Why not provide a Money Back Guarantee of some sort -- don’t
pay if you don’t like; How about charging them 10% lesser than the
competition and delivering the work with 10% better quality than the
very best and with a 10% faster turn around time? How about giving
them a life time support for the web design/ Graphic design/
programming code? For instance, you might have designed a simple
static page for a client, but later you realized that the client will be
better off with a dynamic site, complete with a blog -- why not just do
it right away with your client’s consent? Won’t that delight your
clients?

The above mentioned businesses and the USP ideas are just examples of how some
everyday services can be made exemplary and hence be made to be firmly etched on
a customer’s mind.

Grabbing mindshare of your customers can be the key to untold levels of success for
you and your business.

Overhaul your marketing plan

Take that marketing plan out which has been gathering dust until now and overhaul
it a little. See where you have been following your competitors and doing what they
have been doing. If you caught yourself following them 100% percent, you’d be
guilty of being “me-too”. Now that you have realized that, it is time to move on.

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Think about your target market, where are they? What do they do? Why do they do
what they do? Where do they hang out? When do they have their self-defense
mechanism turned off? Can you reach them with your unique offering during these
times?

As you keep thinking, you could list out all possibilities and do a self-brainstorming
(you could take help of your marketing team or perhaps the entire staff on this: more
ideas, the better).Could you think of new ways to market; new ways to reach your
customers. For Starters, you could think of the following:

If you start an online business or begin to work online, the whole world is your
playground. For now, assuming you are a brick-and-mortar business and if your
target market is youngsters through-out United States; male and Female; ages from
21- 48 and are all gadget lovers; where do you they hang out? Have you thought of
everything? (You could do this with any geographic location):

• Bowling alleys -- Can you advertise anywhere here? Have you thought of the
pins? The floor boards?
• Restaurants -- with permission from the restaurant owners, why not sponsor
the napkins with your unique message, Business name and logo on it? How
about the tumblers? Cutlery? Plates and Dishes?
• Pubs and Discotheques -- Let’s say you sell tech gadgets and you know that
your clients end up in pubs, why not give them discount coupons for them to
avail discounts when they hang out. Imagine the word of mouth effect here;
you distribute a tiny book of coupons to these young customers and would
usually buy drinks with ( they remember your business name); they would
sponsor drinks for their friends and boast about the discount coupons they
possess ( now the friends will hear about it)
• Coffee Shops (Starbucks?) -- Starbucks has a lot of telecommuters working
on their laptops and sipping coffee while they are seated for hours there. You
could think of advertising within the coffee shop, the napkins (just as the
restaurant example); the straws, the coffee itself (have you thought of naming
and sponsoring a coffee rendition with your business name? I was
considering a drink like “Martin’s Martini “or something which could be
given away complimentary for meeting certain conditions.
• University Events -- How about hiring a bunch of enthusiastic youngsters
who can do the rounds in the Universities and colleges throughout the
country and exhibit your products. Demonstration makes the customer touch,
feel and experience the product and has a high conversion ratio. On top of
that, we are hitting them where their defenses are low and they tend to be at
ease while they have nothing to lose. In case you haven’t forgotten, we still
have a unique selling proposition and a great product/service offering which

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 is unmatchable compared to your competition. At least, we are getting there,
aren’t we?

Be Bold and Outrageous

To be conventional is to be like a “Nice Guy” in dating parlance -- he would never

get the women, but the jerks always do. If you have been doing things in a certain
way you would have gotten something out of it all. However, if that ‘something’
isn’t what you are looking for, then you shouldn’t be doing what you were doing
until now. Sounds logical enough, but humans defy logic most of the times. We
know it is time to do something else, but we don’t. We don’t do it because we would
uncomfortable.

Comfort, for humans, is nirvana.

The key to make your product/service offering through a message, conveyed in your
USP is that it must be bold and claim to do things your customers would kill for.
Perhaps, you could take it a bit further make and turn this offering into an
unbelievable, almost insane offer.

Case Studies

Reliance Industries in India started a revolution by offering mobile handsets and a

tariff which was perhaps the lowest in the world (it was an unbelievable offer for
Indians too). Literally transforming the way mobile business is done in India,
Reliable Telecommunications today is a global leader going by the sheer size of
growing subscriptions and revenues.

Domino’s Pizza -- I know, this one has been waxed in all the time -- had an earth
shattering response to its “30 minutes to deliver or its free” USP. Thanks to its USP, its
brand got etched on shelves all over the world and although, others have quickly
espoused similar USPs in the market, Domino’s is remembered for its USP.

Walmart, claims to deliver the ‘Lowest prices ever”. That’s a USP, isn’t it? It is so
dedicated to this single promise that it sometimes incurs the wrath of its own
employees (by paying them less and doling out inadequate insurance packages);
dominating and forcing its vendors to charge less and never splurging on expensive
hotels and Airlines, while its executives are busy deal-closing through-out the world.

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FedEx, was first thrashed as a useless idea. It was never meant to be. However, it
had an outrageous claim of being able to deliver packages overnight. Remember the
initial ad campaign that came out like “When it positively, absolutely has to be there
tonight”. To this day, FedEx continues to deliver.

Dell Started out with something no one else has thought of and it had nothing to do
with the computer itself. They pioneered the concept of e-commerce only model.
They rendered their products online for customers to buy and also their customer
service. A new way to do business in the computer Industry, don’t you think?

Examples abound. Some businesses make all the money. Remember Pareto’s
Principle? Commonly known as the 80/20 principle -- in this case, 20 percent of all
the companies in the world now rake in 80% of the consumer wealth and profits.

So, where would you like to be?

Pump Up The emotional Volume

You do that by necessary focusing your offering, your message and your business
around consumer needs and not your business needs. List out benefits Instead of
wasting expensive real estate on your ad space by listing out a string of features; hit
the emotional button on your consumers; pump up the emotional volume.

Humans respond to their needs first. Your message must have this piece of truth
captured. It must have an answer to the obvious, ever present question: “what’s in it
for me?” As long as your message doesn’t communicate this, you aren’t inching into
your consumer’s brain.

How to Arrive at Your USP Really?

We have discussed the importance of USP and why you must have one. We had
even discussed what goes into developing your USP. However, we are left with
what we really need to do to get our USP alive and kicking. How exactly do we
formulate one? Here are some ways:

Us Vs Them Method

Make a complete list of all the benefits you provide for your customers and then
make a similar list for each of your competitors. You can now strike all the benefits
that are in common with your proposition and theirs. If you have anything left on
your list, they would hereby form your core benefits that form the foundation for
your USP.

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Pain Killer Method

Here’s another great way to come to define your own USP. Check out your product/
service and see if it solves any problems for your customers. Does it make them look
great? Does it make their room cool or hot? Is it something that uplifts their image in
the society? Does it save their time?

The core essence of this method is to solve your customers’ problems. How does
your product or service alleviate this pain? How exactly?

People wanted their packages to be delivered quickly, overnight. FedEx found its
USP there.

People hated to see their pizza arriving Soggy and wet; distasteful and cold.
Domino’s found a pain killer here.

People love shopping for less. Walmart Had found its Holy Grail.

You get the drift, don’t you?

Of all Business, Why buy from you?

If you could kindly step aside, detach yourself from your own business for a while
and then ask yourself this question, it would surely help you think and devise a
great USP for your business.

There are lots of real estate agents available locally, why should I consider your services?

If you had answered to that question by saying “ I am hardworking; punctual; I am

committed; dedicated; enthusiastic etc, you will see why most people don’t get their
USP right. You are answering exactly what the consumer doesn’t want to hear. She
wants to know what is in it for her, so why do you waste time raving and ranting
about you?

You could have said:

“I would help you find your dream house in a whopping 65% lesser time it would
normally take and then I would also do all the paperwork for you; I would finalize

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the property details; do the legal work and then deploy a bevy of professionals
whose services come highly recommended from us for your home needs (we don’t
take a commission from them and they have been highly scrutinized for
professionalism.

After everything, if you are unhappy with our service or if you like to discontinue
using our real estate services for some reason, best known to you, we will offer a
100%, no questions-asked, money back guarantee”.

Now, that sounds like a great offer, doesn’t it?

All you have to do then, is to answer that question for your customers “Why they
must buy from you?”

Ask, and you shall get

One of the simplest and often overlooked methods to really arrive at your USP is to
stop guessing, over analyzing and thinking too much and rather just go out there
and ask your customers. If you could find a way to ask a lot of your customers
whether they are happy with your products/services or not and then ask them if
they would have been thrilled if you gave them anything more.

You would get loads of responses out of which you could see if you can implement
any of those suggestions.

Elevator Pitch: The Official USP Messenger

Can you get me a dumbed down, quickie version of what your business is all about?
There is a reason why it’s called as “The Elevator Pitch” -- whatever you might
“pitch” should be short enough that anyone listening to you in the elevator has to
get what you are up to -- crucially, they must be mesmerized by it. This should
translate to the fact that your elevator pitch must not only communicate what you
do, but also how you are different from others (The USP).

When you get your USP right, an elevator pitch would be easy to fabricate. It is just a
matter of putting it all in words.
So for example, if you were in a real estate business, you wouldn’t want to say ‘I am
a real estate agent”. That’s boring.

You might want to say “I help find my clients find their dream homes, make it easy
for them to obtain it, live in it and even help them sell it again later”.

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If you are a Computer Security Consultant, you would want to say “I help
individuals and companies save all their precious data, confidential information and
a lifetime of business secrets by helping them find the best solutions to help protect
their computers and networks from being attacked or stolen”

If you are a marketing consulting business, you would want to say “I pump my
clients’ profits while I bring in more sales by creating sale force; developing new
channels; streamlining and automate their lead development. I bring in the food for
them while I take a bite at it, myself”

The key takeaways about the “Elevator Pitch” are the following:

An Elevator Pitch Must

• Be Short, unique and Interesting

• communicate your USP
• Be worded in a simple, conversational manner.
• Not try to “sell” anything, even though it is called as a “pitch”.

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Activity - How to Develop a USP for your Product/Service

Name of Your Business:

Product/ Service offerings:

Why do people need this service or product?

Give 5 reasons why the same people should buy the product/service from you? What have
you got that they haven’t got?

1.______________________________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________________________
3.______________________________________________________________________
4.______________________________________________________________________
5.______________________________________________________________________

Can you really fulfill the 5 promises made above? What down the assets you have to be able
to deliver your above mentioned promises?

1.______________________________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________________________
3.______________________________________________________________________
4.______________________________________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________________________________

You can use the following framework for writing down exactly how you propose to
differentiate your offerings from that of your competition:

Our [product/ Service] is/are very different from all the other similar [product/services]. We
solve your [list pain points/problems/needs] by providing with [your
offering/products/services].

Which means that you get:

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1_____________________
2______________________
3_______________________

You will notice that you won’t get this anywhere else!

Conclusion

Your desire to start a business online or to work online, to telecommute or to become a

freelancer is a just one, a noble and an admittedly daring one. However, just dreaming about
it won’t help.

You know that as much as I do! It’s time to buckle up! You got to do what you got to do.

Entrepreneurs who have set out in this journey have had no excuses to look back and say
“I shouldn’t have done that”, assuming they did everything right. It might not be possible
the very first time you try. It might not be a success initially, but like I had mentioned
before, you have won the battle already by having taken the big step and by moving
ahead of the pack.

Starting on your own requires grit, strength of will, abundance of raw determination and
a sense of purpose in life. You will begin to have all of these as you set forth in your
journey of riches.

I hope that this report kicks up the energy a notch higher and haul into the trajectory of
success. I pray that you wake up and smell dollars. It takes grit, determination, consistency,
efficiency, pragmatism, and high levels of productivity.

I know that you have it all in you.

What’s stopping you soldier? Where is that war cry?

I am available on email for each of you personally – just send in an email and I will strive to
answer it.

I hope this report serves you well!

While you are contemplating, why not:

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Passion will serve you well, go ahead and bring it on!

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