Apple finally released the new iPhone 4 to an avalanche of excitement. There were people just drooling over this new phone. When I say excitement.. I'm serious! people were nuts trying to get their own iPhone. I mean seriously, who camps out for a phone? Why would you? I drove by my local Apple store about 10 am this morning just to witness this phenomenon. There were 500+ people in line, some with chairs, umbrellas (Texas heat), I even saw one person who had brought their own box fan and extension cord. This to me is NUTS!
With all that I began to wonder this... Why would these people subject themselves to this torture? No sleep, heat, loss of productive time, and the hassle just for a phone. What does Apple iPhone have that you can't get in another smart phone? I will tell you. Mystique. It has that wow factor that makes it different.
Apple has created a culture, a brand loyalty, that very few companies or people ever do. Think of the brands you remember that conjure up such fierce loyalty that people will create tributes to or even tattoo it on themselves. Harley Davidson, Apple, Nike, The Rolling Stones tongue logo, Marilyn Monroe etc. Why would anyone put the logo of their favorite motorcycle or computer or athletic shoe tattooed on their body? Because the brand has created a remarkable distinction and made itself different from the competition. What would it be like if your brand had such loyalty?
What do you think drives this loyalty? How did Apple become the brand synonymous with revolutionary ideas? Now ask yourself, how can I build brand loyalty for my brand? We all have a personal brand in one shape or another. Whether it is a company brand or maybe even your own personal "brand". How can you or what could you do to make your "brand" remarkable. Many years ago when I started my latest career as a speaker and executive coach it was critical to build a brand that works for me. I began to brand myself as a business coach call "COACH RICK". Now when someone asked about me most people will say "Oh yea, Coach Rick, I know him or I get his e-mail the "BALD TRUTH" good stuff."
I took years to build this brand and continue to promote Coach Rick as the speaker for your event or coach for your business. All my clients call me Coach Rick and when the talk about going through one of my programs or seminars the refer to me as Coach Rick. This is branding. Personal branding. My brand stands for a couple of things; Integrity, commitment, serving, relationships, quality and Fun. What does your brand say about you? This week work on how you can become remarkable and make your brand stand out head and shoulders from your competition.
Just Roll up your sleeves and get to work.
Coach Rick
http://www.coachrick.net/
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Work from your Core Strengths
Today I read something that reminded me of how important it is to remember your strengths and work from them. All too often we try to shore up our weak areas and forget to look at what has gotten us to where we are now. We cannot grow to our full potential if we continually work outside our core competencies and strengths. Improvement is related to ability. Find what you are good at and become great at it.
What happens if you spend all your time working on your weaknesses and forget about working on your strengths? You become good at best, and probably just mediocre or average at what you are trying to become. Occasionally you may have to work outside of your core strengths but you should always come back to what you do best. Don't settle at mediocrity, focus on your strong suit.
We always are taught to look at the areas that we are not doing so well in. In school we are told to keep ALL our grades up. For me, sometimes I just didn't get a subject and didn't get an "A"... OK I really didn't get many "A's" I will admit, but I did well in the areas that interested me and these were the areas that were my strengths. Math, English, Arts (drama/acting) were some of the areas that I was pretty strong in. Over the years this has served me well. I run a successful small business that requires I do the books (math) and speak and write for my living. (Drama/English) The other subjects, well, they just were not something that I found particularly important to work on. AND so far this has served me well.
I was reading a daily devotional and it told a story about a group of neighborhood kids that built a fort in the woods. They formed their own club with officers and all. When they shared this with their parents they explained who held what office the parents were astonished. See they had elected a four year old boy the president. Every one thought "he must be a born leader". Au contraire... See when asked how the boy had become president and why the boys had elected him president they explained; "Well he can't very well be secretary, because he can't read or write. He couldn't be treasurer because he can't count. He would never do as sergeant at arms cause he is just to small to throw anyone out. If we didn't choose him for anything he would feel bad and like we left him out. So we made him president.."
Unfortunately life doesn't work like that. You can't and don't become successful just because you show up. It is critical that you work from your strengths and continue to expand than hone them to be as strong as you can. This will assure you are a success at what you are good at.
Seek guidance, sharpen your core strengths, be patient and doors will open for you.
Live life with passion and a clear direction.
Rick
http://www.coachrick.net/
What happens if you spend all your time working on your weaknesses and forget about working on your strengths? You become good at best, and probably just mediocre or average at what you are trying to become. Occasionally you may have to work outside of your core strengths but you should always come back to what you do best. Don't settle at mediocrity, focus on your strong suit.
We always are taught to look at the areas that we are not doing so well in. In school we are told to keep ALL our grades up. For me, sometimes I just didn't get a subject and didn't get an "A"... OK I really didn't get many "A's" I will admit, but I did well in the areas that interested me and these were the areas that were my strengths. Math, English, Arts (drama/acting) were some of the areas that I was pretty strong in. Over the years this has served me well. I run a successful small business that requires I do the books (math) and speak and write for my living. (Drama/English) The other subjects, well, they just were not something that I found particularly important to work on. AND so far this has served me well.
I was reading a daily devotional and it told a story about a group of neighborhood kids that built a fort in the woods. They formed their own club with officers and all. When they shared this with their parents they explained who held what office the parents were astonished. See they had elected a four year old boy the president. Every one thought "he must be a born leader". Au contraire... See when asked how the boy had become president and why the boys had elected him president they explained; "Well he can't very well be secretary, because he can't read or write. He couldn't be treasurer because he can't count. He would never do as sergeant at arms cause he is just to small to throw anyone out. If we didn't choose him for anything he would feel bad and like we left him out. So we made him president.."
Unfortunately life doesn't work like that. You can't and don't become successful just because you show up. It is critical that you work from your strengths and continue to expand than hone them to be as strong as you can. This will assure you are a success at what you are good at.
Seek guidance, sharpen your core strengths, be patient and doors will open for you.
Live life with passion and a clear direction.
Rick
http://www.coachrick.net/
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Change is Inevitable - Growth is optional
Daily we are all faced with doing new and different things. Change can knock us off track in an instant. How are you measuring how change is affecting you?
You must constantly be measuring your results to make sure you are on track to achieve what it is you want. You will get just what it is that you expect to get. It was once said that if you think you can or think you can't... you are right. So true.
Just this morning I was commenting on how important it is to establish benchmarks for performance in an organization. Without a target to aim for how will you know if you are progressing towards your goals? You must evaluate whether the action you are taking are moving you forward towards the results you want or in the other direction. It is critical that you take the right actions and then continue to act on them in order to get the success you are looking for. When working on a goal you and only you are the final say in whether you are getting the results you want. You get to decide what actions to take, it may mean that you re-evaluate the goal, or change it or even forget it altogether. Your choice.
When trying to grow you will go through some major changes. You will experience obstacles that will either hold you back or take you off track or you can embrace them, learn from them and grow! The choice is yours. Do you grow or change course?
Evaluation is critical! If you see yourself heading down a wrong road, a slippery slope or even at a dead stop... Change course. take new actions. If you are going along and ignore the directions and feedback, the warning signs, you may get so far along that it may be too late to fix it and you will have to start all over again. You may even not notice you are headed the wrong way because this is what is normal now and you have not looked at your original goal for quite some time. Evaluation is critical.
Start by setting your goals, then decide on the actions and implement. Simple right? It would seem so, but why do so many fail to accomplish things. It is because they fail to set measurements and regularly evaluate progress. Start off knowing what you want and then set this as the standard. Then... Measure, measure, measure.
What are you going to do to measure and hold yourself accountable? Who keeps you on track? Do you have a personal "board of directors"? Find someone to hold you accountable and then let them help you achieve more than you ever thought you could.
Live life with a passion and a clear direction!
Rick
www.coachrick.net
You must constantly be measuring your results to make sure you are on track to achieve what it is you want. You will get just what it is that you expect to get. It was once said that if you think you can or think you can't... you are right. So true.
Just this morning I was commenting on how important it is to establish benchmarks for performance in an organization. Without a target to aim for how will you know if you are progressing towards your goals? You must evaluate whether the action you are taking are moving you forward towards the results you want or in the other direction. It is critical that you take the right actions and then continue to act on them in order to get the success you are looking for. When working on a goal you and only you are the final say in whether you are getting the results you want. You get to decide what actions to take, it may mean that you re-evaluate the goal, or change it or even forget it altogether. Your choice.
When trying to grow you will go through some major changes. You will experience obstacles that will either hold you back or take you off track or you can embrace them, learn from them and grow! The choice is yours. Do you grow or change course?
Evaluation is critical! If you see yourself heading down a wrong road, a slippery slope or even at a dead stop... Change course. take new actions. If you are going along and ignore the directions and feedback, the warning signs, you may get so far along that it may be too late to fix it and you will have to start all over again. You may even not notice you are headed the wrong way because this is what is normal now and you have not looked at your original goal for quite some time. Evaluation is critical.
Start by setting your goals, then decide on the actions and implement. Simple right? It would seem so, but why do so many fail to accomplish things. It is because they fail to set measurements and regularly evaluate progress. Start off knowing what you want and then set this as the standard. Then... Measure, measure, measure.
What are you going to do to measure and hold yourself accountable? Who keeps you on track? Do you have a personal "board of directors"? Find someone to hold you accountable and then let them help you achieve more than you ever thought you could.
Live life with a passion and a clear direction!
Rick
www.coachrick.net
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
