Do you have a passion for helping others? Do you get a strong sense of victory and achievement when you see someone you coached, mentored or trained reach personal levels of success?  Well if so it is time you begin looking at your baby boomer retirement as just the next phase in your career or business  life!  As many corporations are finding – their knowledge base is currently draining at an accelerating pace!  The initial phase of the knowledge leak began early in the decade as younger technically savvy workers replaced older workers.  Sometimes it was because of salary levels or the race to employ technology and technology systems within companies that were struggling to catch up.  Many of the younger workers became available to traditional companies after the dot com meltdown – as those young tech savvy unemployed workers reached out looking in more traditional companies to get a job.

Then along came the recession in 2007 – which no one wanted to acknowledge until midway through 2008!  Older workers and younger workers lost their jobs by the hundreds of thousands and with them went years sometimes decades of experience and knowledge!

The biggest and probably most damaging knowledge leak is actually beginning now as the front edge of 76,000,000 baby boomers aged 46-64 begin retiring at age 65!  These last remaining stable and loyal employees will take with them many times decades of experience, actionable knowledge and what to many appears to be an almost magical laying-on-of-hands ability to solve problems!

This Could Be Your Baby Boomer Retirement Plan

Has anyone ever used that term when describing you? Do your co-workers express amazement at how you can quickly size up a problem, identify what won’t work (because it failed before) and then almost magically bring together bits and pieces into a solution that gets the exact results your company or more importantly the results a customer needs!

Baby Boomer Business Opportunity

If you answer yes to that – you most probably are entering what could be for you the most empowering and satisfying business stage of your career.  Cut loose the fear that you have that outside your comfort circle you can’t apply the same ideas and get similar magical results.  You will – I can guarantee it!  You may not recognize it yet – but you have a thought process you follow.  You do have a step-by-step approach you take in review-testing-analysis-conclusion.  It is time you recognize it and begin to leverage it to help others in a coaching business.  The role of a business coach is a huge baby boomer retirement niche.  It may not be for everyone but those of us baby boomers who have had big successes in their corporate life can transfer those successes into an online coaching business and be a successful baby boomer entrepreneur

Although I talk to baby boomers most frequently – this article will have application to all.

Is there a universal definition for the term financial freedom?

There is probably a consensus written objective definition that most people would agree describes a state of financial freedom and yet in my experience most of us would define it subjectively in a way that has meaning for our own lives.  Some might define it as being debt-free and owning all their possessions outright.  Freedom to them is never paying interest on a debt owed to anyone – not having bills to pay to others.  Some would see having a job with a high paying salary that allows them to live comfortably as financial freedom. Some would see it as having enough money to retire comfortably for the rest of their life – they see it as not having to work.  Some might see it as being able to purchase whatever they want at any time – take lavish vacations, live in an expensive home and drive a fancy car – I call these the financial freedom is having money to burn!  There are many, many other definitions from having that big retirement plan for your future to having nothing – no possessions – living a completely minimalist life.

Financial Freedom’s Universal Terms

As I have spoken with literally hundreds of people the last couple of years about this topic the words that are almost always used in the description is either “independent” or “dependent on no one”. Just yesterday we posted an article about the number one goal for baby boomers.

Many will offer it involves having a substantial enough income then correct themselves and say savings or investments and as we have the discussion and I ask questions the word that is more difficult to tie down is “freedom” – Something we all take for granted here in the United States but actually struggle to define.  It takes the default position often of … “I don’t know how to define it but I know it when I see it”.

I am amazed how few people have a crystal clear definition in their lives of what financial or freedom is – what specifically it would look like – what they would have or not have…

If you don’t know what it is – how will you ever get it? Do you really think someone will give it to you?

Right now maybe I shocked a few of you to stop and write down what it is for you but before you do – since you are taking the time – let’s do it right!

Let’s suppose you focus on money saved or invested… Are people with large savings accounts in a commercial bank truly financially free? At this time with the financial system so shaky and literally broken is a huge stash of cash in the bank financial freedom?  Does a large investment account invested in companies, stocks, bonds really make you financially free?

Without wanting to come across as a doomsdayer or seem to be forecasting the arrival of financial armageddon.  If your assets are in the financial system and you rely on them to be financially free – excuse me aren’t you really dependent on the bank as much – maybe even more that the clerk or teller who works there everyday from 9-5?

Enjoy The Whole Journey To Financial Freedom

Most of you know I rely heavily on the principal of mindset – so I highly recommend you get your crystal clear vision of what true financial freedom really is – only then will you be able to map a plan to get from point a to point b.  The plan is a journey – design a journey you can enjoy!  We are not financial planners – we are business and lifestyle designers – we are here to help you draw your map from A to B – to create your masterpiece!

If you go searching on the Internet for how many baby boomers there are you will get numerous results between 70 million and 80 million.  Most analysts are comfortable with a number of 76 million which does equal the total number of births between 1946 and 1964.  Taking out deaths and adding in any immigration keeps the number at that stable level according to the professional people counters.  We look forward to updates to this number from the 2010 census! Comparing that 76 million number to the number of births in the next 19 years (1965-1983) which is 66 million – one can see why this is such a large population segment! Even accounting for larger populations, less war deaths, more wealth and affluence the next 20 years of births are still over 20% smaller in number.

Baby Boomer Retirement Demographics

Marketers have been salivating looking at the baby boomer retirement demographics now for a decade.  Their focus is always on what will this group of baby boomers approaching retirement buy and how can we reach them?  This group in the marketers mind has always had adequate resources to purchase what they desire and so the key focus has been selling to them!

So let’s take the baby boomer population raw number and apply it to these kind of statistics

At the end of 2009 only 13% of baby boomers facing retirement felt very comfortable about their income level in retirement – that means more than 66 million future retiring boomers have concerns about their level of income in baby boomer retirement!

What Do Boomers Facing Retirement Really Want?

Well after looking at the scary statistics of how few of us baby boomers are adequately prepared for retirement – to me the marketers have had it all wrong. It is time the marketers begin really understanding what we want – what we need and these statistics are the initial layer of the onion (artichoke) that begins the peeling process.  Check out my post on What Your Customers Really Want – it is about peeling away the layers to reach the heart of the artichoke.  The heart of the retirement matter for many of us baby boomers that is becoming more and more urgent is – How to retire financially independent.  Not dependent on family – not even dependent on things like Social Security and Medicare. Independent to go where we want, do what we want and not be financially restricted or restricted due to failing health.

How do we baby boomers maintain or achieve financial and lifestyle freedom into our boomer retirement.  A retirement we know will bring increased pressure on resources with larger numbers living longer lives  Especially since so many of us baby boomers have been almost betrayed by the myth of the American Dream:

• go to school,
• get a good job,
• buy a nice home – which increases in value,
• invest in a 401K account which grows magically compounding a return if you consistently contribute and
• enjoy an active retirement with good physical and financial health into your 80’s.

Some of us baby boomers may begin to look like Brett Favre going into our retirement with an on-again off-again retirement – yet our on again off again may be due to the need for money not so much our love of the corporate job we are leaving behind….

As a fellow baby boomer who left the corporate world three years ago without looking back – who has improved his financial condition without the consistency of a monthly salary and big bonuses, I can tell you the time is right for most of us to make a shift in our approach to work and planning for retirement.

Connect with me – follow my posts here – I am releasing some pretty exciting wealth building materials specifically catering to us baby boomers retiring and those of us about to face baby boomer retirement.  It Is never too late to start. Join the conversation and my newsletter – I do want to help! And I will!

As a Business Coach for over 2 decades I have had the opportunity to work with people in building a business that serves their lives.   I continue to be amazed by  how entrepreneurs and business owners respond to what occurs in their business and their personal lives.   A personal mantra of mine you will see me refer to constantly is – It is not what happens to you – it is how you respond or react to what happens that determines the quality of your life.   I believe this is at the core of a subtle mindset shift and success strategy that successful entrepreneurs and those entrepreneurs seeking more success must master.

To get on the path to success, to build a business that serves your life developing the right responses to “failure” are critical – You must be willing to fail in order to win.  Sadly, for most individuals – most people are not.  Their biggest fear is what others may think.  When the most important thing is — What Do YOU Think? We have heard the sports analogies – most of us know Babe Ruth struck-out many more times that he hit a home runs.  For him they were just another opportunity for success – hitting the home run.  Miss Big – Win Big!

Many people become blinded by their goals.  By their own internal measures, they judge themselves a success or failure.  But failure does not happen to you – you do it to yourself. You decide to label the result of your efforts a failure.  Babe Ruth thought of a strikeout as missing the connection.  When you miss the mark, or miss your goal – you can choose to call what you got – feedback on the way to success or you can consider it a failure.  You fail only when you think you have failed and give up believing in yourself.   There is no other failure in the world.

Although your actions may not always accomplish your goals in the time period you set them, your actions always produce an outcome.  If you know how to positively accept what your actions produce, you can use every outcome you produce to guide you toward your goal.  Whatever course of action you take -  You can choose to – View ANY Measurable concrete indicator of success as a movement in the direction of your goal. It is your choice to see and believe the feedback is — “I have not arrived at my goal yet”

The point of this strategy and language is to recognize movement and progress.  We can experience and reinforce success in the direction of our goals without having achieved the goal just yet.  Although I am a strong believer in setting goals with a time deadline – when we take the “arrival pressure” off ourselves, we maintain our balance, enjoy the journey more, and see the business as serving us in our lives.  It enables us to keep learning all the time.

If you value and integrate the feedback from your actions, EVERY outcome you produce can lead to learning — NOT frustration or Failure as it does for so many.

I have the pleasure and responsibility of working with dozens of Entrepreneurs and business owners week in and week out and I see and hear frustration. People take on a sense of failure for exactly the reasons mentioned here – when they have an empowering alternative. To see their results not as a failure rather as feedback along the way to their destination.

Peeling Away The Layers To Reach The Heart Of The Matter

In order for you as an entrepreneur to create the success you want in your business and ultimately your life a mindset shift is necessary.  If you can actually effect a paradigm shift in your beliefs that is the ultimate goal.  A moment on paradigm shifts – yourdictionary.com defines a paradigm as an overall concept accepted by most people in an intellectual community.   So a paradigm shift would be a fundamental change in that accepted concept.  Normally when ever I hear a marketer talk about paradigm shifts I want to turn and run the other way – it is a cliche – an over used one and unfortunately it is used completely wrong.  As an individual a paradigm is your perception of reality, your view of the world, your beliefs and your attitude. It is your interpretation of events based on the previous teachings you received! The piece literally everyone misses when talking about paradigm is how powerful it is and how irrefutable it becomes!  As in once you have a paradigm shift – there is never a going back to the old belief.  When you experience a paradigm shift your old belief has been completely obliterated as a way of thinking!

Example Of A True Paradigm Shift

A true example would be old scientists believing that the earth was the center of the universe – it was universally accepted as truth and reality by the scientific community and the world.  Then it was discovered that the earth revolved around the sun, we were part of a solar system/galaxy/universe.  That was a true paradigm shift – no rational person could any longer belive at all in the earth is the center of the universe. With that context you can see why I say paradigm shift is over used – it is used to describe maybe innovative ways of looking at things and many times to label a new flavor-of-the-month management principle.  Rarely though do most people experience a shift in a way of thinking or doing that there is no going back!

My Personal Paradigm Shifts

I have had numerous paradigm shifts in my life – I guess that comes with age and an inate joy in discovery, exploration and understanding.  The one that is the focus of this article is about marketing and has for me made a shift in how I approach a different fundamental.  Marketing teachers, gurus, coaches experts still as a community preach the difference between features and benefits, they have re-packaged that basically accepted fundamental into things like Solution Selling focusing on the benefits to the customer not the features of the product – focusing on showing your product as a solution to the customers problem.  All better stuff but not the best.

The Difference Between Features And Benefits – Who Cares

I believe this is one of the most important posts to this blog I will make if I can effect a shift in your thinking about marketing to your prospects and customers. If you do a search on Google today  for what is the difference between features and benefits you will find over  7,500,000 results. I promise you this will be unlike any of those articles, blogposts and websites.  The difference between features and benefits is irrelevant  It is all about results. Relationships don’t really matter if you don’t deliver results to your customers. Nobody wants your stuff – nobody wants to buy anything from you.  What they want, are the results your offering can provide them! (please don’t confuse results with benefits they are not the same thing).  And those results are ALWAYS subjective and specific!  When you tap into that people buy what you have – you don’t sell them – they decide they want it because you have helped them identify the specific results they want, the specific changes they want!

REALLY! ➤ All People Want Are Subjective Results

My paradigm shift is:

Features ➤ Benefits ➤ RESULTS

Marketing and sales is all about the RESULTS you can help your customer get. 99% of your marketing gurus and experts  will use and retell the comparison of you don’t buy a drill for the drill you buy a drill for the hole in the wall you can make with the drill and explain that the hole is the benefit the customer wants to drive from buying the drill.   They drone on about not marketing about the variable speed FEATURE of the drill and focus on the benefit (HOLE) the customer wants.  I too used this very story in my early days of marketing and sales.

My paradigm shift is best explained using the exact same parable. I would propose to you that

Customer buys drill ➤ To drill a hole ➤To put up a sturdy shelf over their desk ( are we done yet? – NO) ➤To organize the books currently on the customer’s desk so they can work more efficiently (DESIRED RESULT)

OR

Customer buys drill ➤ To drill a hole ➤ To attach a picture on the wall ➤ To ensure that the customer’s  artwork is secure on the wall and she can enjoy looking at her art investment! (DESIRED RESULT)

I think the standard guru story is totally off the mark and missing the last component. It does not cover the end results ➤ the real value the customer is looking for. This is usually not evident or even sometimes known by the customer. You add value by helping the customer actually identify and become aware consciously of what they really want! And how your product will actually deliver the end result of more efficiency in their work space!  That end result captures their subjective and personal emotion!

By your assistance in this you have endeared yourself to the customer and now have the right to help them obtain those results through your offering. Notice I did not use the buzzword solution here!

What I want to leave you with is this: Nobody really wants your stuff – Nobody wants to buy anything from you. What they want are the results your offerings can provide. When you truly get this and develop the skill of “peeling away the layers” (getting to the tasty heart of the artichoke) When you help the prospect identify and get clear what their end result they desire is your shift has begun.  As this skill develops with use – you will never again look back at the hole as what the customer is looking for – you will have a shift – one that will not allow you to go back to your old way of thinking.  That is a paradigm shift

Once in a great while I come across a business tool that amazes me and I feel like my business could not survive without it. Market Samurai fits squarely in that class for me and gets our top ranking of three thumbs up from the successful entrepreneur team!  I wholeheartedly support this piece of software and have recommended it personally to dozens of my close friends.  The entire team at www.entrepreneursguild.com has been using this tool in keyword research for over 4 months now.  The best part is that there is both a free version that every entrepreneur should use regularly even if the funds are not available now for purchase of the full version.  They actually provide a 12 day trial period for the entire application so you can test it and use fully the software!

The final price of the full version is $147 and this is a one time payment – not a monthly charge like Wordtracker.com or Spyfu or other keyword research programs.  Now this is not a knock on either of those programs I have previously used both of them for over a year!  Wordtracker.com has great original and updated content every successful entrepreneur should be accessing regularly!

So this review is by someone who has been using Market Samurai for almost a year and has used other tools extensively for long periods!

As you can see from my e-book I believe good keyword research and results are the cornerstone to a website that consistently generates free search traffic.  Although it by itself is not the key to a successful online business, nor is it the first step – no online business will survive for the long haul without a solid foundation of valuable keywords targeting your ideal customers!

Keyword research, delving into niche markets, understanding number of searches, knowing your competition and then ultimately picking keywords with commercial value to your business can take an incredible amount of time and actually be very tedious!  This is why many new online entrepreneurs fail at building a successful online business.  Well Market Samurai can take away much of the repetitive comparisons and analysis and put it all on one screen for you!

A key component to build and sustaining a successful business is to constantly improve what you do as noted in – the Japanese business practice of Kaizen!  The developers of Market Samurai have embedded this business principle in their organization.  They are always delivering updates and new features to the software and since it runs in adobe air it is very stable. Note Adobe Air is big user of your computer resources (do not run many apps with it open)!

Market Samurai Is Mac Friendly

It has both a windows and mac version!

If you already can’t wait to get your free trial go here! (Disclosure – if you end up purchasing a full version of this tool I do earn a small affiliate commission)  But remember – In my opinion just the free version is a tool that no entrepreneur should be without for their keyword research!

How Does Market Samurai Work

One of the reasons I highly recommend Market Samurai is that it has not really re-created the wheel.  It is a true example of innovation at work.  In the keyword research module which is always free the developers went out and basically incorporated a number of free proven tools and put them all together with thoughtful analysis and comparison.  The application goes out and grabs data from Google’s own search and analysis tools, (keyword tool, timeline, AdWords data) and overlays Bing’s OCI which is incredibly useful for establishing commercial value!  Showing all this data side-by-side in one browser with some formulas and analytics takes so much of the tedium and time wasted – away!

Market Samurai Is User Friendly

This is what qualifies it for the Baby Boomer Best Bet Award -  It is not technically challenging – has popup windows for every column in the application so you know exactly what it means and is pretty simple to operate!  My Baby Boomer Best Bet Award is given for software, websites and services that are easy to use for us technically challenged late adopter baby boomers.

It has very Clean Easy To Navigate User Interface in Windows with easy access to all your projects New and Old

The Modules Are available as tabs on the left margin of each page as well as front page when beginning a new project or keyword research session

If You Are Ready To Grab Your Free Trial Now – Hop Over To Their Website Now –

For  A Quick and easy Instant Download

Overview Of The Market Samurai Modules

We use the following three modules everyday!

	Market Samurai Rank Tracker – for an everyday user who keeps close track on my targeted keywords – this module tracks and ranks your keywords across the various search engines so you know exactly where they rank and which ones you must work to optimize or maintain.
	Market Samurai Keyword Research – Your work starts here!  It consolidates all the proven tools out there – compares them – puts the data in context! Turns incredible information into knowledge – you now know what actions to take and where to put your resources to work!
	Market Samurai SEO Competition -  Shows you exactly how your competitors for your chosen keyword are getting their ranking.  Shows each backlink they have with the type of backlink.  Even color codes them so you see which ones are vulnerable.

Market Samurai Keyword Market Research

Traffic is the key to a successful website and online business, Like Location-Location-Location is the key to appreciation in real estate - Traffic-Traffic-Traffic is the key to success in the online world.  It is incredibly important to select your keywords wisely in order to ensure your success.  Market Samurai helps you target keywords that attract search engine traffic with lower levels of competition.

It really is quite easy to get started:

1. The first thing you do is enter a “seed” keyword and
2. Then press the Generate Keywords icon and Market Samurai will access Google and return a list of relevant keywords from the Google Keyword Tool and/or Google Synonym Keywords.
3. You can then add your own keywords and/or remove keywords as well as filtering them.
4. When you have obtained your keyword list then you select Analyze Keywords and Market Samurai will provide you with an amazing amount of CURRENT data on each keyword, such as searches, AdWords traffic, search trends and timelines, competition and the most incredible analysis commercial value.   this last one helps you focus your keywords on ones that buyers are using!
5. You can then filter and arrange your keywords by any item with a simple mouse over feature that gives you the definition of each item

This Module with ALL it’s features  remains active and available for you to use even after the initial trial period!

We Use these modules every now and then for specific projects

	Market Samurai Website Promotion – Boost your search engine rankings, pump-up your site traffic, and build high quality back links quickly and easily with this module. Check out whether they are no-follow or do-follow and pick and choose your options.
	Market Samurai Domain Search – Helps you identify new high quality keyword-optimized domain names available for  purchasing and registration.  Also assists you in finding expiring domains that may have existing page rank.
	Market Samurai Monetization – Assists you in searching for various affiliate programs based upon keywords and websites to help you monetize your website if this is applicable to you.  Can always help to generate additional income stream opportunities!

We Do Not Use These Modules Nor Recommend You use Them.

	Market Samurai Content – This module will find content on the web for your website for you to republish.  Even following strict article site rules on publishing other authors content – you may subject your website to duplicate content penalties!  We strongly believe in the business strategy of providing your readers fresh and unique content.  We Do NOT Recommend using this module!
	Market Samurai Content Publishing – After finding content to re-publish for your website this module will assist you in publishing it to your website  We Do NOT Recommend using this module either!

Brand New – Soon To Be Released Module

Market Samurai New Pay-Per-Click Module – Based -upon their track record the developers do innovate and publish new valuable features.  We look forward to the release of this new module and their help in using Search Engine Pay-Per-Click services

In my zest to tell you about this great tool- I almost forgot to mention – There are a number of great – simple to follow videos with great content on the website!  If you have any questions feel free to drop me a comment here and I will help you out if I can!

Grab your free trial and keyword tool by clicking below!

This Product Earns Our ‘THREE THUMBS UP” Review

Try It With Confidence

Successful Entrepreneurs and successful people in life accept responsibility.  Successful Entrepreneurs don’t just accept it they thrive in positions and situations where responsibility is required!  Success goes hand in hand with a mindset of no condition, no circumstance, no person nor no external thing determines my success. If it is to be it is up to me!  That is not a mantra of egotism it is one of responsibility.   Successful entrepreneurs also know is their choice in how they respond to events and circumstances in their life that determines their success and overall the quality of their life.   Ask yourself this question,  “Why don’t I have all the prosperity, happiness, success and fulfillment that I desire in my life?” If an excuse or “contributing reason” comes to mind – then you continue to block yourself from having all that you desire in your life.   If you blame any condition, circumstance, event, person or external thing — then you are building a loser mindset for your life. Losers assess blame.  They spend time whining over things that get in their way – rather than identifying a way to step around, under, over or through them.  They are characterized by whining and two of the most destructive words ever uttered “… if only …”

Stepping Up And Accepting Responsibility

It is totally up to you – to decide to step up and accept responsibility for your life and how it is right now at this moment.   When you choose to do this -  you have taken the first step on the path to being what you really are – a magnificent success, doing what you know you must to have what you desire in your most heartfelt moments.  There is something truly amazing and powerful in accepting responsibility for your failures — You also get to accept responsibility for and own your successes.  You know longer will feel compelled to say that you were lucky or fortune smiled on you or you had the right breaks…  you will know – you can say and you will feel –  “I did this!” And you will be right!

Enjoy Our Short Inspirational Video On Responsibility

We begin this post by expressing our sincere condolences and best wishes to the entire Steinbrenner family and organization.  George Steinbrenner passed away today in Tampa Bay Florida.  In part our post is to honor Mr. Steinbrenner by acknowledging his mindset, his drive and accomplishments.  For us he truly is The Worlds Ultimate Entrepreneur.   I have been almost mesmerized by the reports on ESPN the past 90 minutes as ESPN has interviewed the Who’s Who in the Yankee Sports History.  As I listened – I really marveled at how he was being remembered.

There was common theme about winning, never quitting – from the words he said he wanted on his gravestone – “He Never Stopped Trying” to advice he gave Daryl Strawberry when Daryl was in the midst of his drug problems – which was “never give up – don’t quit – winners pick themselves up and get back in the game”

He was often quoted saying “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing,” he was fond of saying. “Breathing first, winning next.”

His history as a sports entrepreneur began back in the 70’s when he bought a Cleveland basketball team and then was rebuked in his attempts to accomplish his dream of purchasing the Cleveland Indians.  So what did he do in 1973 he went and bought the struggling – in the basement – rundown franchise of the New York Yankees for $8.7 million.  He did not give up.

he almost single-handedly changed sports by his “my wallet is open” use of free agency.  It was based upon a sound business practice of hiring the best talent – paying them a ton of money and expecting the best.  His expectations were about winning!  And his goals and expectations were high – it became the organizational goal every year to be the best in the world – to win the world series and he went out and hired the best talent available every year to get there.  He was not satisfied with being better than the Boston Red Sox or winning the division or even the AL Pennant (they won 11 of those during his ownership) – It was world series or bust! In 36 seasons since he became the owner of the Yankees they have won 7 world series.  The most of any baseball franchise in history just counting the ones during his ownership.

What can we entrepreneurs learn from this? Mr Steinbrenner as the ultimate entrepreneur set out to be the best in the world at what they did – to win the world series every year – not just once and look they only won it about 20% of the time.    And yet the New York Yankees are recognized as the most successful, most profitable and most valuable sports franchise in the world. Even though they achieved their goal only one in five times!  The organization embodies his drive – never quit, focus on winning – don’t give up.

Words every entrepreneur can live by!  Mr. Steinbrenner when you were at your best – you have left inspiration for us all.

There were parts of Mr. Steinbrenner many people don’t know or remember also.

In the early 90’s Mr. Steinbrenner was banned from day to day management and involvement in his baseball teams operations for his involvement with a known gambler and legal problems he had over that.  this coincided with a time  when the Yankees were in the basement and were not the Winning Yankees.  So many entrepreneurs would give up on their dream – sell out – etc.  Not Mr. Steinbrenner – he did not quit and was eventually allowed to return to the team management.  The Yankees went on to their incredible streak of World Series Championships after that incident.  It supports the view that many successful entrepreneurs recover form and get through big setbacks and circumstances because they are resilient and have developed a never quit on your dream attitude.

Another little known characteristic of Mr Steinbrenner – his charitable giving.  Even though he loved the spotlight – had his own personal PR agent – his charitable giving rarely made the press – because that what he wanted.  He did not give to get press coverage or free PR for his business – he gave because he was helping others and giving back.  Usually his only stipulation to his gift was that noone knew it came from him.  His much covered firings of his managers were very visible – stuff of legends and folklore- Billy Martin 5 times – but few knew that many of those people remained on the Yankee payroll – their families taken care of the rest of their lives!

He built many teams – some better than others – always seeking the best and to be better.  Win a World Championship – get better and repeat!  He took care of his players and employees – He paid them industry leading salaries and bonuses. he was consistent in his expectations – win or else!  He involved his family in the business and has left behind a legacy for his family for generations to come.

Sounds like The Ultimate Entrepreneur To Me – Our prayers go out to you and your family!

OK It is Friday afternoon – evening for my friends east of here and I am going to lighten up!

Every now and then people tell me to lighten up and not be so serious – so to honor that request and keep my close friends and business associates.  It may be more often now versus then!  I will use my mad speed-blogging and research skills to do an article on some thing stupid.  So this afternoon I thought I would use my proprietary blogging process and focus on two words – Douchebag and Entrepreneur and compare contrast and blend them.

First starting with my research partner Google Wonderwheel™. I don’t know what it was… but gosh if Google didn’t go and hide Wonderwheel™ on me and make me go looking all over for it!  I guess my most valued supplier-partner Google was just trying to protect me from self-destructing today!  Well lo and behold I guess we just don’t know what douchebag means – out of 8 terms on wonderwheel 5 of them were about what it means.

So to help us all understand better just what a douchebag is the following do not count:

• I don’t know what the definition is but I sure know one when I meet them or
• the new hip term pronounced (doo-shay-bag)

So lets go with the most popular and relevant to the topic at hand Douchebag Entrepreneur — how does this fit? From Urban Dictionary — Someone who: talks shit, starts shit, wont finish their shit, and at the end of the day still thinks they own the universe.

I like that one – have met a few of those myself.  So let’s move on to my next keyword Entrepreneur  and here it is the best definition of an entrepreneur I could find! Again quoted from urban dictionary

Knows a little of something but lots of everything. Loves starting things then delegating them to others. Hates bosses, rules, authority and taxes. Thinks Donald Trump should have a golden statue errected in his honour. Probably doesntreally know how to spell entrepreneur.

So lets see if we can create our blended definition of Douchebag Entrepreneur:

Knows a little bit of something, talks shit like he knows everything. Loves starting shit and never finishing it and blaims it on the guy in India he outsourced it to for $3 an hour.  Never had a boss he liked or that liked him. Never met a rule he could understand or follow but can explain everyone of them to you. And he believes and tells you they are going to erect a statue of him in his hometown cuz he is such an internet rockstar!

HMMMM is that entrepeneur or is it entreprenuer -ahh- don’t know – don’t care – don’t matter – but I know I am one!

Chime in – did I hit the mark?

I am interrupting my series on characteristics of a successful entrepreneurs with once again a post that may seem at first glance to be semantics.  But as you will see in an upcoming post in my series – one of the characteristics is their “language”.  How important it is to them that they monitor, control and are precise in their language.  Their internal self-talk and their communication with others.  So some might think that discussing successful entrepreneur behaviors is just a re-hashing – different way of discussing successful entrepreneur characteristics.  Nothing could be further from reality that that!  The Free Dictionary defines Characteristics as “a feature that helps to distinguish a person” The keywords there being “distinguishing feature”  This post is about behavior which is defined as “actions or reactions of a person or animal” there is no reference to distinguishing or differences – note – it throws human and animal into the same description.

I tend to be stimulated to write a post here by my interactions with people – both successful and non-successful.  We experience powerful emotions with both and I am always grateful for the ability to learn and constantly improve who I am, what I do and how I do it! What happens frequently is that I see and witness behaviors first – since I am NOT AN Animal – I am blessed to be able to enjoy the right and privilege to PAUSE between the stimulus I witness and my Response/Reaction.  I even insert a new component to the stimulus-response 9which is basically a sensory nerve reception and a motor nerve automatic reaction) It is the human privilege to DECIDE as in

Stimulus – Pause – DECIDE – Respond

In one of my earlier posts last month I said … successful entrepreneurs believe attitude and behavior determine nine tenths of what happens in their life… Well I seem to have been seeing extensive examples of this the past month.  And I have put together my 5 C behaviors of successful entrepreneurs.  These are the actions and responses that when you observe successful entrepreneurs you see.  I also add hoping not to confuse you see differences in these behaviors between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs.

Successful Entrepreneur Behavior | The Five Cs

COMMITMENT – Successful entrepreneurs commit to accomplishing or even doing something and they keep their commitments.  They do not create or offer excuses. They just do it!  Everyone is not perfect and successful entrepreneurs demonstrate that – what I see is that a successful entrepreneur communicates immediately when they see that a commitment they made will be broken and communicate to the person they made that commitment to immediately – not at or beyond the deadline!

COMMUNICATION – Great second behavior – note the commitment and communication go hand in hand! successful entrepreneurs are great communicators.  this does not mean they are the best writers, or use thew spoken or written word the best – they communicate frequently, they communicate in a timely manner and they have systems set up to support themselves in achieving and maintaining this.  I use  a recent conversation as an example – a new entrepreneur I was working with was frequently offering up excuses for not responding to an email or voice mail interaction in a timely manner – many times days would pass for a simple response.  The offered excuses were i was away from my computer for a few days, I was traveling, I was unable to get to the Internet.  My coaching feedback was successful internet entrepreneurs make certain they are always responsive and accessible to their business customers and associates.  they do not let the sun go down on a question from a customer without responding.  I did not say without answering… in this day of high expectations – you set the expectations with a systemic response up front or you respond the same business day. This is a great chance to over deliver and exceed expectations.

CONFIDENT – Successful entrepreneurs communicate and act confidently – I can get that done!   Rather than a maybe to the response or an uncertainty – make a bold response a confident one. Even if it is “let’s talk more about the details so we can make that happen!”  Use confident words, undertake discovery in a confident way.  Undertake a project confidently expecting success.

CONSISTENCY – Consistency is of the five both a behavior and a characteristic.  Successful entrepreneurs communicate frequently and consistently, They act in a manner consistent with their commitments.  They behave in a consistent manner that reinforces expectations and delights their customers.

CUSTOMER CENTRIC -  I thought about leading with this behavior but decided to close with it hoping that it would be your lasting impression.  Successful entrepreneurs are all about their customers.  The customer is the center of their business universe! They live and breathe the value of giving value first to your customers – they all have embedded in their entrepreneur code and DNA a value they live with of -  in order to achieve my goals I must focus on helping others reach theirs. Words like “…how can I help you, … what can I do for you, I can do this to help you, let me help…” flow from them.  Genuine offers of assistance and follow through on it are things you see and hear consistently!

To develop habits of a successful entrepreneur it is up to you to do two things

1. Make the change in your behavior, in what you do and how you do it. make that change in behavior for 30 days and your actions will become a habit.  is it too much to give to focus for 30 days to improve the rest of your life?
2. Subscribe to our RSS feed or our newsletter opt-in and come back frequently to keep the behaviors, habits and characteristics of successful entrepreneurs in your sight!