The Business Growth Blog by Rob Cuesta

Motivation, success and wealth 2

Last week I posted a link to the first of success-guru Tony Robbins' videos on weath and success. Here is the second video, in which he interviews internet marketer John Reese, who managed to generate $1m on the web in the midst of chaos and destruction in the wake of a tornado strike.

Again, watch it once as an inspirational piece to remind you that however bad the economy seems, at least it's still there, generating wealth and prosperity. Then watch it a second time as an example of masterful use of video to build a personal brand.

Enjoy!

Motivation, success and wealth 1

As anyone who has attended one of my courses or workshops knows, I'm a huge fan of personal development guru Tony Robbins.

Lately, Tony has issued a couple of motivational web videos around the subject of wealth and success. the first of them is notable not only because its a deeply motivational story, but because it's one of the best web videos I've seen. Granted, it was filmed during a break in the filming of something else more substantial, but even so, it's definitely raised the standard that anyone using video to build their brand should aspire to.

So watch it, enjoy the message, and learn from the production values.

Enjoy!

Customer satisfaction? It's the unexpected extras that count

Recently, I had a nasty dent in the rear wing of my car. The insurance company chose the body shop they wanted me to use so I dropped it off.

Three weeks and four aborted attempts to return my car later, I finally have it back. The first time, the paintwork was full of bubbles. The second time, the bubbles were gone but it looked like the whole thing had been rubbed with emery paper and left. The third time, the repair was a different colour from the rest of the wing, and they had splashed my rear bumper (fender, for the Americans among you!) with grey primer - not a good look for a flame red coupe! The fourth time, they brought the car back with the engine management light on. Suffice to say, I was NOT happy.

Fifth delivery, and I finally got Mr Tibbs (it's a Hyundai Tiburon - what else would I call it?) back on Tuesday, and as soon as the delivery driver left I went inside to draft a strongly worded complaint. It's all forgotten now though, so what changed my mind?

Even the homeless are getting in on Personal Branding

I was fascinated by an almost throwaway comment on the Workshifting blog that describes how the homeless in Orlando are making the best of the resources and opportunities available to improve their lot. It's easy for all sorts of prejudices and preconceptions to cloud our ideas about the homeless, and lead us to make all sorts of generalisations, so I found this story truly heartwarming.

"

Jeff told me that any homeless person in Orlando that had ID and no outstanding balance could have a library card, which entitled them to time on the public computers. [...] Some were even attempting to start their own business, find contract work or rebuild their lives via research, personal branding and financial education."

If people like Jeff can make so much of the little that they have available to them, just imagine what you can do with all the resources at your disposal...

You owe it to your customers to close

At a networking breakfast this morning I told the group at my table a short story about one of my clients. Like many professionals, he hates to sell. I observed one of his sales meetings, at his invitation, and I was shocked to see him go all the way through flawlessly, explaining his unique value propositions, clearly differentiating himself from his competitors, and using all the NLP skills I'd taught him to get the prospect to the brink of signing, and then he opened his mouth and uttered that awful, awful phrase "well, I expect you want to take this all away and think about it".