The purpose of a business is to make a profit. There it is. I said it. That ugly word in the minds of so many Christians, which might explain why so many are so broke in the business world. They think profit is evil or bad or at the very least, inappropriate - unless it happens by accident or as a result of doing other things well but minus the profit motive. Believe it or not, you can desire a profit and work hard to generate one without being guilty of coveting or piercing yourself through with many sorrows due to the love of money. But that requires spiritual maturity. Selah.

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Hello Friend,

If you’re like me and you’re trying to keep up with all the technology, then you’ve probably tinkered some with the amazing power of immediate downloads. As someone who believes firmly in constantly improving myself, I enjoy the ability to download training and listen to it on my computer, my iPod, or… as of this week… my new iPhone.

So… it’s a thrill to be able to announce that as of today, for the first time ever, the 12-hour Selling Among Wolves Audio Coaching Program is available for you to download! That’s right… you can listen to it today and start improving your results immediately!

Check out all the details here…

Blessings,

Michael

P.S. Not only can you get the material right away, but you’ll also save some money! Check it out right now.

It’s Rainforest Friday! It’s the day we send out our rainforest report with useful tips for increasing productivity and turning your business and life into a peacefully productive environment where things just seem to work like they were meant to.

Last week we talked about how to synchronize to maximize like so many trees do in the rainforest but today I want to talk about another strategy for keeping the pests at bay that is modeled in the forest. It’s called “delayed greening”. Here’s how it works… The tree shoots out its new leaves which are highly vulnerable, but they come out red in color. They are completely lacking green (chlorophyll) which is what the bugs want to eat. The leaves grow and get strong without being eaten, then once the leaf has matured some and toughened up, the plant injects the green into the leaf. By then, it is protected and the bugs can’t get to it.

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I want to continue the discussion on intensity. Where does it come from? I submit that intensity is the result of FOCUS. When I was a child, I guess I had a cruel streak or at the very least an insensitive streak. On a lazy summer afternoon, we would grab a magnifying glass and go looking for ants.

Some of you already know where I am going with this. We would find some slow moving ant near an ant hill and try to focus the light of the sun upon the ant. If we were way out of focus, there was no effect. If we were nearly in focus, it got us excited, but the ant didn’t seem to pay any attention.

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Intensity.

There’s something about intensity that generates results like nothing else. I watched a documentary yesterday on the life of Keith Green. Talk about intense! His passion was a consuming fire! His music moved a generation of young Christians in the early eighties. And I was stirred, just watching.

Where does intensity come from and what happens when you have it? Well, first of all, it’s highly contagious and anyone with any contact with you will catch your intensity. If they don’t appreciate your intensity, it will drive them away, but others, many others will be drawn to it. Therefore, make it about the right things.

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Getting too many interruptions? Not getting enough done? Is your time consumed by pests of one sort or another? You know… those pesky interruptions that try to look legitimate but in the end, they only consume your time. Well, here’s the third of seven rainforest strategies to protect your time and maximize your productivity. It’s called Synchronous Leaf Production. It’s where several species of trees all put new leaves out at the same time. The idea being that there are so many new leaves suddenly appearing in the rainforest, that no one tree or group of trees will be ravaged by hungry pests. It’s like spreading the risk around.

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 Want to know how powerful a name is? I have a client who is generating millions of dollars in revenue in very short order because, in part, of the power of names. The first order of business was renaming their organization. It had to be a name that reflected their vision and would be widely accepted and quickly embraced by the market. The change was made and the market receives this young company as if they have been around for 100 years!

The next order of business was giving a powerful, fresh, descriptive name to the offer they bring to the market. It already had an industry name someone else, in another time and with a great lack of creativity, gave it. That name was so overused that just the mere mention of that name created immediate walls of resistance. This resistance was based on old ideas that didn’t fit the way - the new way; they were presenting a very old offer.

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 I am continuing the discussion on the importance and power of naming. God named the stars because it mattered. We should give care to naming the things under our stewardship. It will shape the perception they receive in the marketplace and potentially make or break the product itself. 

I remember helping a friend years ago negotiate a publishing contract. They were at an impasse and I offered to draft up a prospective contract for consideration.  The publisher had offered a small royalty rate and wasn’t willing to budge. Among the things I introduced in the contract was a 5% IPA.  We left the royalty rate the same, which made the publisher happy, but we added the all important 5% IPA.

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As I write this blog entry, I am flying home from Seattle to Florida. It’s been a busy week with doing a Get Motivated event with Zig Ziglar on Tuesday, visiting family in Canada and staying on top of several business priorities. Did I mention this was a “red-eye” flight arriving home at 6:30 am? The good news is that flying is an excellent “no-pest zone” for me.

You see, in the rainforest, there are 7 strategies built into the ecosystem to help plant life erect a barrier to pests. The more effectively they keep pests at bay, the faster they grow and the more productive they are. The same is true for us. Trees are most vulnerable when their leaves are fresh and tender. (Our projects are most vulnerable when they are in the formative stages.) Some trees utilize a defense strategy called, Rapid Leaf Expansion where they shoot out their new leaves at a remarkably quick rate. By the time pests discover the new leaves, they are already grown and tough.

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Hello Friend,

You’re probably aware of how important it is when you’re engaged in the selling process to ask the right questions. In fact, understanding how to approach this one aspect alone can multiply your results. And when you need to get better results without compromising your integrity and your principles, this becomes even more significant!

A friend and colleague at ChristianBusinessDaily.com related a story today that you might find interesting. In it, he references my teaching series, “The Moses Questioning Strategy,” which outlines Biblical principles you can use right away! Also, this series is now being made available for download for the first time ever! This means you can start listening to it tonight!

You can check out the story here.

Blessings,

Michael

P.S. Also available for download: The Negotiating Secrets of the Apostle Paul. Read this special offer now!