It’s two weeks before the deadline. But your project is at least six weeks behind! Everyone is sweating bullets. As project leader, you’re wringing your hands. A volcano of surprises has erupted since the project launched three months ago. And in contrast to everyone’s prognostications, no one foresaw the lava flow of trouble ahead.

Your dilemma: Information that was supposed to be available in Week 2 won’t be known for another month. Parts of the system that were designed to work one way are really working another. An expert you needed to provide critical details went on extended leave right after the project launch. And that’s just scratching the surface!

So today, that simple-looking undertaking that your crystal ball said should only take four weeks of work beckons from a distant horizon. The funding may soon be cut off. And management will surely panic if it’s not finished for the scheduled unveiling. You sense disaster looming, yet everyone feels helpless. So, what can you do?

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Copyright © 2006 I.M.A.G.I.N.E. Consulting Inc.

So how do you eliminate your competition without bloodshed? You must create a niche for your business. A niche is something that makes your business different from your competitors. To compete with other businesses nowadays (especially online) you need something that nobody else can copy. One of a kind!

First you must know who your competitors are.  Is your business the only one of its type? I doubt it. If so, it won’t be for long.  Do you know your exact target audience? If not, you will have to find out this information before creating any kind of niche. Below are two ways to come up with a competition eliminating  niche.

1. Just Ask!  The first way to come up with a niche is to think like your target audience or customers.  Know their exact needs, wants, goals, problems and interests.  There’re two ways to do this: The first way is to put yourself in their shoes, think like them. The second way is to give them polls and surveys to find out what they’re thinking. Pick a niche that none of your competitors are using.  If you can’t find one that your competitors aren’t using pick one to improve.

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Copyright © 2006 S Wander

Business trips can often take place at the last minute. Something crops up that just absolutely has to be sorted out face to face. Which means if your job could potentially involve business travel, it’s essential to be prepare as much as possible in advance.

In general, all travel trips are being booked later and later, so unless there’s a major conference going on in your destination city, you should be able to find somewhere to stay. What can be more difficult to ensure is that it’s somewhere you want to stay and that it’s within your budget.

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Copyright © 2006 Daniel Levis

When it comes to marketing strategy blunders, pretty much everybody remembers the nosedive failure of New Coke, right? But what most people don’t know is the fascinating story behind the story, & the valuable lesson it reveals.

In the early eighties, Coke was about to lose a marketing trump card to Pepsi. Coke’s market share had been in free fall since the end of the war, declining from 60% at that time, to just 24% in 1983. Pepsi was about to be able to claim that not only did it taste better than Coke (as proven in blind taste tests), but that it was actually more popular. This would have added even more fuel to Pepsi’s already significant marketing momentum.

While Coke was also losing market share to other new market entries, and increasing consumer preference for diet, citrus, & caffeine-free beverages etc., Pepsi’s marketing strategy was continuing to win new customers.

Obviously, people preferred the taste of Pepsi! Better taste was the main thrust of their advertising. Why else would anybody drink such an otherwise worthless mixture of ingredients?

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Copyright © 2006 Cutts Group, llc

1. What’s the deal?
Customers want to know what they are getting into before they open up their wallet. One of the best ways to upset them is to give them unexpected fees at the last minute. Make the deal plain and simple… no unexpected and unpleasant surprises.

2. How do I benefit?
Let’s face it… customer really don’t give a hoot about who you are, your hard earned credentials or your company history. They want to know “what this product will do for me?” Spend your time wisely; emphasize the benefits the consumer will enjoy… and you’ve got a sale!

3. How soon?
Our economy has come to expect immediate gratification. The quicker your customer has the purchase in his hands, the happier he is. Invest in quicker service, for higher sales volume and increased customer satisfaction.

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Copyright © 2006 Gobala Krishnan

I went for that seminar too, the one where some guy bounces around preaching that the only way to become successful like him is to have a near-impossible dream and to work towards it vigorously by following a rigid daily time schedule. They call it time management. There’s only one problem - it didn’t work - for me at least.

Get up at 8.00am, have breakfast at 8.30, do this at 9.00 and do that at 11.45. Repeat every day. I tried so many times but it all ends after I’ve created a beautiful schedule and pinned it on my home office notice board. After two days it sort of blends into the board and I don’t see it anymore.

Has that ever happened to you?

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Copyright © 2006 Daniel Castro

Perhaps your professional life isn’t going exactly like you thought it was supposed to go. Maybe you’ve made a series of bad decisions or even one really bad choice that you can’t seem to bounce back from. Maybe you’ve been downsized or terminated. Maybe your best-laid plans have failed and circumstances beyond your control—from market downturns to bad weather to a key player’s incompetence—have put you in the danger zone, or even out in the street.

You may not realize it right now, but you do have options. You could wallow in self-pity, or remain angry at those whom you blame for your current situation. Or you can turn your past disappointments into great accomplishments. How? Just follow the path of the heroes who’ve gone before you. They will show you how to transform past adversity and failures into springboards for success.

Tip No. 1:  Take An Objective, Not an Emotional Look, At Where You’ve Come   From.

Thomas Edison believed there were no such things as mistakes, only eliminated options that brought him one step closer to his goal. There is no such thing as “failure,” he claimed, only lessons to be learned.

Most people find it difficult to see a failure in an analytical, impartial fashion; many of us were raised to believe that if we failed at something, we were failures. Therefore, as adults, we take failure personally, believing our lack of success indicates a lack in our character. Instead, we must look at the situation objectively, as a matter of cause and effect. The fact that we fail in business situations does not mean we are failures, but rather that we didn’t create the right cause to achieve the desired effect.

If you find yourself in a stuck emotional state, go back and analyze the steps you took and see what you might have done differently. Remove the emotional involvement; just look at the raw data. Logically and dispassionately examine the course you chose and determine why it did not yield the result you wanted, and then consider why it was not appropriate for that particular situation. You’ll need to acknowledge what you did that led to the failure, and take responsibility for it.  But, like Thomas Edison, you should take what you can learn from it and move on.

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Copyright © 2006 Karen Saunders

Color is a magical element that gives feeling and emotion to art, design, and advertising. By understanding color meaning, (or the psychology of color) you can choose the right color to support and emphasize your design.

A dominant color or overall color scheme can determine the tone of your document. Certain colors will help your product, corporate document, or advertisement attract specific target audiences and evoke desired responses.

The information below provides generally accepted guidelines on the symbolic meanings of color and how you can use color more effectively in your marketing pieces.

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Copyright © 2006 Margaret Stead

OR Why you should publish a blog now instead of a web site or standalone newsletter?

If there is a vital piece of advice you should take when contemplating your ‘Web platform,’ it is to use the words that your visitor might use, in the title of your site. (Your URL.)

(Resist the temptation to call it by your name: www.kevinsmith.info because unless you are ALREADY famous, then NOBODY will find your site by themselves, ever.)

The other trouble with choosing domains or addresses with ‘KEYWORDS’ is that you will find almost invariably, that the minute you have chosen one (and PAID for it) - is likely to be the minute you can think of a ‘better’ one! (That is probably why I have forty or fifty domain names hanging around spare at GREAT expense!)

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Copyright © 2006 The National Learning Institute

I looked up the web on email ettiquete and found many sites, yet only one of the 10 sites on the first page of Google, dealt with the real issue around email etiquette.  However, I did find that there’s even a new word for it now – Netiquette.  One site had 32 rules (of course with links to other pages for a fuller description) for email etiquette and yet they still missed the main point!

What is the REAL issue on email etiquette?  Well, before I answer that, read the following statement:

“I did not say she stole the money”

Now read it aloud to yourself (doesn’t matter if anyone else is around, they won’t know what you’re doing).

The key question!  What is the meaning of this statement?  What did you interpret from this written statement?

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