It was announced this week that BP had extended invitations to a limited number of people to demonstrate their technologies to see if any of these things will help solve the oil spill problem. BP has likely received many solicitations from people who say they’ve got a technology or process that can help. I have no way of knowing how valid each claim is, or how seriously BP has even humored these solicitations. Now that we’re well into the worst oil spill disaster ever, it appears BP is more willing to listen.

BP is inviting a select group to come to the Gulf where they can demonstrate their services live, on the water. I rather doubt BP will ask a single candidate to describe their “core values.” Something tells me BP doesn’t likely care about the story behind how a single entrepreneur was driven by his passion. No, it’s likely they care only about one thing, “Will it work?” Okay, two things. Will it work? AND “How much will this cost?” Welcome to Capitalism where we put a price tag on everything. Where performance and effectiveness matter – even if you’re a jerk with a suspicious purpose.

Honestly, I have no problem with that approach. It’s smart. After all, if one of the oil spill fix pitch men has a compelling story based on the core values of his enterprise, but his service or product is less effective in cleaning up this mess – I’d boot him out of the boat! BP shouldn’t care. I’m rather certain they don’t.

I’m not in the oil spill clean up business. I’m not even in the oil spilling business. How would you like to be the company who will forever be known as the greatest oil spiller in the ocean? Not a good claim to fame. That is not the best road to being remarkable – remarkably BAD.

Here, at Bula Network we’re focused on one thing – helping people. It happens that our tagline is more than that – it’s a mission, a quest and a driving force. The art of being remarkable. And because the process and interaction is so personal, it does matter what core values are. Convictions and demeanor do count. Personal connectivity counts.

In today’s show I reference this book, written by Al Stubblefield – “The Baptist Health Care Journey To Excellence: Creating A Culture That WOW’s!” (That is NOT an affiliate link) We all consider our best doctors those we like the most. We assume competence. We assume a certain degree of expertise. A doctor can be very skilled, but if our experience with him is bad – we complain about him to everybody we know, and we may even decide to go to another doctor. Bed side manners do determine the quality of the experience. It may not be quite like core values, but a doctor’s personality and ability to interact with us is surely determined by what’s in his heart.

DO YOU WANT A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK?
I’ve got one copy I’ll give to you if I select your name based on
audio feedback you leave me at
214-736-4406*

So, let me talk with you about coaching, consulting, core values and why BP doesn’t care about the core values of the outfits who may be able to help pull their fat out of this fire. Remember one thing though – BP may not care about the principles of the folks who can best help them, but they’ll always behave in ways congruent to their own values and principles. Those things they value most will rise to the surface just like all that oil. Your career and business are no different.

*You can leave audio feedback 24 hours a day. Leave your name, your location (city/state) and email address plus any feedback you care to share. I may play your feedback in a future show. Your feedback can be as specific or generic as you’d like. I honestly don’t care. It’s YOUR feedback to me.

On Monday, July 5, 2010 I’ll make a random drawing and give away the book FREE. No, I’m not going to charge you twenty bucks shipping. It’s 100% free, including shipping – my bribe for getting you to give me feedback.

Thanks.

Subscribe To The Podcast. Connect With Me.

Right Click Here To Download The Audio

No blog post. Just today’s show. Why? Because I’m lazy. And busy. So hit that PLAY button and you’ll understand the title. The subject is building relationships. Yes, relationships. Trust me. You’ll understand when you listen to the show.

Subscribe To The Podcast. Connect With Me.

Right Click Here To Download The Audio

Sometimes you just have to share brilliance and creativity. Watch it. Ponder it. Use it.

Many, if not most (perhaps all), Internet marketing gurus – those folks who earn their money by teaching others how to earn money online – advise us:

“Find a hungry market, then give it what it wants.”

They go on to tell us to serve a market that proves it will pay for what you offer. How do you do that? Well, easy. Just see if they’re buying solutions now. If they are, then it’s logical that they’ll be inclined to buy your solution.

We love stories. We love analogies. We can visualize thirsty and hungry people who have a strong appetite for the things to satisfy those desires (or needs).

Find a hungry crowd and BAM! Instant Success.

Do you know why that advice is so common? One, it’s true. Sort of. Two, it’s easy to talk about. Three, it sounds good. Right, even! But…there’s more to it. Isn’t there always more?

Right Click Here To Download The Audio

Do you have a dream? Some desire? Well, you need to write it down because that adds validity to it. Next, give yourself a deadline. When you do that, it becomes a goal. Suck up the courage to tell your friends and family about it because when you say it out loud you add a level of accountability that can help you achieve it.

There are some fundamentals of business that I was taught decades ago. For starters, marketing is getting your message out to the world. Have some intentions about your enterprise, or your career. You can’t simply wander aimlessly toward success – or your goal. You need to behave with clear intention.

There are people in my life – even if they’re only slightly connected to me through social circles or social media – who appear to have a single focus in life. A very clear intention. They seem to be chasing it for all they’re worth. Their intention is evident. They need, want and strongly desire ATTENTION.

Not all of them want attention for the sake of money. Many seem to be wanting something else – POPULARITY! They want the big three F’s: friends, followers and fans! They’re living their entire life out loud. Life is a reality program in which they are the star and they seem to be forcing it on everybody who knows them.

Pass me the barf bag because I’m sick of these people.

Right click here to download the audio.

How much should I give away for free?

I’m worried about giving away too much.

And how good should my free stuff be?

I sure don’t want to give away my best stuff, do I?

The conversations about free versus paid have been going on for awhile now. They don’t seem to be dying down any either. If anything, I’m finding more and more people are asking about how much they ought to give away for free. And they’re worried about it. Seriously fretting about giving away too much, in quality or quantity.

Can we work our way from free to paid? How do we do that? How will we know when it’s time to charge money for it? Here’s a hint. If your free stuff sucks, then you can forgo paid stuff. If your free stuff is remarkable, then you’ve got a fighting chance of selling even better stuff. Better stuff.

Better can be defined in a variety of ways. Maybe it goes deeper. Maybe it’s more detailed. Maybe it’s personalized. But, it must be different – unique – remarkable.

Above all, never betray the trust people give you. Free or otherwise. Betray the trust of those who follow you and you can save yourself time and money by just closing your doors, fast! You can build your business on quality free stuff. How much? Listen and I’ll tell you.

Right click here to download the audio.

The world is full of rookies and novices. It’s understandable that at any point in time there will be plenty of people just entering a market.

An abundance of novices and women seem to be entering the world of “I’d like to start a business.” As a result, there are more than enough providers willing to help them start a business. For a fee.

Charging money isn’t a bad thing. I’m rather fond of money. And I respect those who charge for products or services provided. I’m also a big fan of Jason Fried and his compadres over at 37 Signals. They don’t want to work for free. Neither should you.

I don’t have a problem with charging, but I do have a problem with the value proposition. In too many cases I’m seeing businesses that take unfair advantage of those who don’t know any better. They’re picking the low hanging fruit because right now it’s easy. Meanwhile, that higher hanging fruit is sometimes rotting on the tree. Too many of these marketers ignore that higher hanging fruit – in part, probably because it takes greater skill and effort to pick that fruit that’s higher up in the tree.

The risks are low with low hanging fruit. Stand on the ground, reach up and pick it. Simple. Not so of the higher fruit. The risks are higher. But so is the reward if you’re thinking longer term.

Women and rookies are in abundance today – they comprise an enormous group of people looking to start a business. They are the low hanging fruit. And sometimes they are easy picking for unscrupulous and unwise marketers.

Right click here to download the audio.

Yesterday Dallas talk radio was somewhat abuzz about a sex tape that Jesse James supposedly has with wife, Sandra Bullock. If the reports are true the behavior isn’t appropriate for any public (or private) discussion.

Update 4/6 @ 3:56pm CST: Sandra reports there is NO sex tape. I feel some better. Can we believe her? I sure hope so. I kinda like her.

Tiger Woods is clearly the front runner in how to destroy your reputation. Behave poorly. Be found out. It works every time.

The question is asked, “How can I build a reputation, especially an online reputation?”

I’ll give you 3 components that I think must be included in any discussion about reputation building – which is really about making connections. There are likely many other things we could talk about, but I’m going to give you three things to consider. Hopefully, you can find things to help you build your reputation, online or otherwise.

Warning: You won’t appeal to everybody. Not everybody will like you. Not everybody will want to do business with you. Reputations are like farming, you reap what you sow. It’s important that you behave properly 24-7-365 if you want to have a great, remarkable reputation. I’d encourage you to behave well, all the time!

Right click here to download the audio.

Erykah Badu decided to strip off all (yes, all) her clothes in a video shot on March 17th.

It was the lead story last night in Dallas. The lead story!

She exposed herself and the media rewarded her with publicity that even money couldn’t likely buy.

Oh, yeah. Her new record was released today. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence though. I’m equally sure that this buzz about her public display resulted in greater record sales.

Ms. Badu is going for creative remarkability. She’s just making a statement. There’s a message in her nudity, you know.

Well, that’s what she said yesterday. And today. You don’t think she’d get naked in downtown Dallas just to sell records, would she?

What do you have to do to get known? How can you get exposure? There are just 2 things I’d like to mention. If you’ll focus on these two things, you’ll be well on your way toward being noticed and becoming remarkable.

Right click here to download the audio.

Even if you have no interest in “Internet Marketing” you’d do well to observe what goes on because some of the most innovative, creative and disciplined marketing on the planet is happening in that space. Marketing is marketing. Every serious student of sales and marketing would do well to maintain a portion of their attention on this crowd.

Why? Because we tend to flock together, with folks just like us. The result is we often complain together, whine together and tell each other why we’re not doing as well as we’ve done in the past, or as well as we’d like. I’m encouraging you to break free from that. Look at a group of people who you’ve likely never paid attention to before. It just may help you innovate your own career and business.

What’s the future of Internet Marketing? I’m not sure. I am sure it’s changing though. John Reese is an Internet Marketer of some notoriety. He was perhaps the first “Internet Marketer” to crack the million dollar mark in a single launch – one product offering made over a period of days. The product was called Traffic Secrets. It was a product designed to show you how to drive more traffic to your website.

Around October of last year he released a pdf entitled, “Internet Marketing 2010: The Road Ahead.” Go to John’s site to get a copy and read his blog. Can you find a better domain name for an Internet Marketer than income.com? Probably not. He’s no fool. Oh yeah, he also owns and operates opportunity.com. I told you he was no fool (deep pockets helps you get killer domain names, too).

I’m not telling you that John Reese is THE guy you should listen to, but it can’t hurt you to read his take on where Internet Marketing is headed. I’m NOT an Internet Marketer and Reese is. No matter. We can learn more perhaps by just paying attention to how other people use persuasion and influence (aka “marketing”).

Regards,

Right click here to download the audio

Watch this video, then listen to the podcast. You’ll quickly make the connection and understand how context impacts our ability to market ourselves – and our companies.

Pardon my lip smacking audio, but food and drink wait for no man. I’m sorry, but it may happen again. I’ll work to make sure not for awhile though. Enjoy!

Right click here to download the audio