Podcast | Grow Great

It wasn’t a stomach bug, but it had created similar effects. Nausea. “It” was a conference call Tim Tebow had with reporters following his trade to the New York Jets. He’s so positive. Obnoxiously so.

Thanks to everybody (so far) for your feedback from episode 121. In today’s show I’ll begin by reviewing some of the feedback I’ve received. I had show notes (a very rough outline) that I quickly abandoned in today’s show. Time got away from me, as it is wont to do! You have only yourselves to blame though because the show is based on your feedback.

Here’s another show you can go back and check out after you listen to today’s show. You may find it helpful. It’s an epiphany episode (and those don’t come around nearly often enough). Yes, I reference Salty Droid in today’s show. If you know “the Droid” then you know part of the subject matter discussed in today’s show. Internet Marketing.

I admittedly have a bias in favor of one form of Internet marketing – affiliate marketing. My roots in commission sales likely have a lot to do with it. Just check out my resources page. It represents just a few of the products and services that I’ve used through the years…and found useful. If you trust me, you might consider them useful if they fit a need or desire. If you don’t trust me, then my recommendations have no value.

Every act of selling involves earning trust. Unfortunately, some sellers earn trust and they’re not worthy of it because they’re scoundrels. Buyer beware is still very sound advice and unlike our legal system, we ought to assume sellers are guilty of being scoundrels until they prove to us they’re not. If that sounds cynical, well, it is! But that cynicism has helped me live debt-free for much of my life.

Thanks for coming by the website to listen and watch. I greatly appreciate it. Your presence moderates my grumpiness and gives me hope that not everybody is an idiot (yeah, I’m looking at YOU).

Episode 121 – Calling All Readers, Watchers And Listeners! Help, I Need Somebody.

Inside The Yellow Studio, Podcast, Randy Cantrell / By Randy Cantrell

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Today’s show is a personal appeal. I’m not singing in The Yellow Studio, but I have before. Not nearly as well as John Lennon.

Here are the questions in today’s show:

1. If you create and consume content, how often do you do that? You may create content only weekly, but consume it hourly. I suspect we all tend to consume far more than we create.

2. What’s your schedule? Do you create content on a regular basis? Do you visit various content regularly?

3. Do you subscribe (either by email or RSS or any subscribe button) or do you just visit sites to consume their content?

4. How do you feel about the content created here? We’ll go ahead with a few more numbers under this heading (but don’t worry I’ve only got a few more questions). Rate my content on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being “I could care less” and 5 being “I can’t take my eyes or ears off of it.” (In the podcast I call this the final question, but the following questions are under the headline of this question so my numbering system may confuse you. Sorry.)

5. I should ditch this content: ______________ (fill in the blank). This is subject matter I should stop producing. (Yes, I call this number two.)

6. I should do more shows on this: _____________________ (fill in the blank). This is subject matter I should more heavily produce. (I call this one number three.)

7. Yes or No. I should stop producing video. (I call this one number four.)

8. Do you wish I would blog more? That is, I should just write posts without video or audio. (And this one is number five, confused yet? Me, too.)

9. I’m currently podcasting once a week. That is, a single audio only show comes out once a week. Is that enough, too much, not enough? (Here’s number 6.)

10. Is it just time for me to stop all this? Actually, this final question is just whatever feedback or suggestions you want to give me. (This is the final question. I called it number 7 and it’s the most important one.)

Email me or leave me voicemail feedback. Please, please, please!

Thank you for listening, watching and reading. Thank you for being part of my life. I hope I’m just a small resource to help you along the path. We’re all just a work-in-process.

Episode 120 – Claim Your Fortune, Buy This Shovel

Entrepreneurship, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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panning for gold — More often than not, the pan is empty and the water is dirty.

Internet Marketing is like the gold rush…creating more fools than millionaires.

It’s likely Levi Strauss got more money than the richest 49’ers ever did. Here’s a nice little resource from Mrs. Thonus’s 3rd Grade Stars! Here’s a quote that might get your attention:

Then a man named Sam Brannan, a merchant from San Francisco, saw his opportunity to get rich! And he did it without ever mining for gold! He had heard about the news of gold on the river, the news most people dismissed as being just a rumor. Sam also knew about the law of “supply and demand” so he ran through the streets of San Francisco shouting about the discovery of gold. Brannan showed everyone a bottle filled with gold dust so they believed him. Mr. Brannan had a brilliant plan. Before he spread the news about the discovery of gold he had bought up all of the supplies the miners would need: pick axes, shovels, and pans. He sold miners pans for $15 each when he had bought them for only 20 cents before the Gold Fever hit. He made $36,000 in just two months and that was worth even more in 1848! He eventually became the richest man in California.

Today’s gold rush is the Internet. Shouting “there’s gold” garners lots of attention. Especially given the convergence of a bad economy and global connectivity. It’s a recipe sure to drive hoards of clamoring people who long to be rich into the waiting arms of Internet marketers making wild claims.

Too much money is going into the pockets of the folks selling the picks, shovels and pans. They know the “typical” customer won’t make enough money to offset the purchase of the picks, shovels and pans.

Buyer, beware! There’s one ingredient you need in order to succeed when you’re mining for gold. Listen up and I’ll tell you what it is.

Mentioned (or implied) in today’s show:

• Gold Rush, the Discovery Channel TV show
• Doll Dresses By Rhonda
• IzzyVideo.com
• PaperClipping
• RollingR’s
• ScreenCastsOnline.com
• WPWebDesigner.com

P.S. Do me a favor. Help me spread the word about the podcast and the video shows! If you enjoy my work here, spread the word. Thanks!

Episode 119 – I Want Happiness For The Rest Of My Life

Personal Development, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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She writes, “I want happiness for the rest of my life.”

She’s in grand company. Who doesn’t want happiness? Okay, maybe she’s greedy for wanting it for the rest of her life, but there are far worse things to wish for.

Sorrow, sadness and failure have been on my mind recently…brought about by the people in my life who are suffering. And brought about by my own sadness and sorrow. Sure, I often experience disappointment, failure and my fair share of gloominess. But lest you feel today’s show is a depressing affair (it’s not), I think these things are part of a happy, productive and wise life.

There’s a benefit to difficulty, challenge and obstacles. They help us grow stronger. They build within us greater resolve. So many areas worthy of conversation, but today I simply hope to provoke you to think and consider a few things that may help you push forward toward the life you want most. Even if what you want most is happiness for the rest of your life. 😉

Would you do me a favor and take a few minutes to leave a review over at iTunes? I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for listening,

P.S. As inviting as that photo is, would you really want to spend the rest of your life at that table? Might get boring pretty quick, huh?

Episode 118 – Common Mistakes Of Virtual Selling

Communication, Entrepreneurship, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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Skype, GoToMeeting, Apple FaceTime…there are so many ways for us to virtually connect with prospects!

Face-to-face selling for many organizations has given way to these methods. It’s convenient. It’s inexpensive. Prospects and salespeople both are actively gravitating to these methods to connect.

Some challenges confront us when we connect virtually. Facial expressions and body language give us cues in face-to-face meetings. In virtual meetings we have to listen for verbal cues. Misunderstanding and miscommunication are quite common even when the technology works as it should.

Recently I’ve encountered sales presentations that broke rules necessary to complete a sale. Our objective should always be to create a happy customer! How can we accomplish that if we can’t provide a degree of happiness during that crucial prospecting phase?

apple-iphone-4s — The cell phone - more often than not our weapon of choice.

A few days ago I read this article online at Inc. Author Geoffrey James writes about 10 common mistakes he thinks salespeople commit in face-to-face selling. It’s helpful to use his article as a template for discussing the common mistakes made during virtual selling, too.

Some salespeople lack proper communication training. If we’re going to become masterful at selling, we first need to be superior students of selling. The primary component of masterful selling is masterful communication.

Go back and check out these recent video shows on selling:

• Build Rapport Before You Start Selling

• Talk Less, Sell More

• Salesmanship Starts With Finding Out How To Best Serve

• Should You Use Humor In Selling?

Spread the word about the podcast if you know somebody who’d find it helpful.

And lastly, would you take a few minutes to leave me a review over at iTunes. That’ll help others find the podcast.

Thank you for listening,

Episode 117 – How Do You Want To Spend Your Days?

Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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Her day wasn’t going so well. She was dangling her toes over the ledge, fully prepared to implode – or quit. Frustration boiled over from too many days of chaos. Constant interruptions. Distracted at every turn from doing the work that needed to be done. She’d had enough.

And I asked the question…stopping her dead in her tracks.

He sat across from me lamenting ongoing employee problems. They simply don’t do what he needs. They’re busy solving problems that don’t exist while real problems crop up constantly…without being properly tended to.

And I asked the question…once again, the crickets started chirping.

“How do you want to spend your days?”

We often aim at the outcome we think we’d like, but we don’t often enough consider the daily actions required to achieve that outcome. Thoughtful consideration about how we’d like to spend our time – with an emphasis on our professional/business life – is in order. As with most of life’s important questions, asking is easier than answering.

I want to encourage us to spend time answering the questions. It can help us move forward, even if only by inches. Some days we need to be thankful for inches of progress. But some days, we’ll be able to advance miles. We want opportunities. We want progress. We want improvement. Advancement.

We’re going to fail. Maybe often. So what? Keep swimming. Seth Godin calls it “the dip.”

Everybody experiences a dip. Many of us experience quite a few of them. Keep swimming. Figure out how you want to spend your days.

It only happens when we’re intentional, strategic and methodical. Well, at least part of our time needs to be characterized by those things.

Mentioned in today’s show:

• Jeff Dunham: The Birth of a Dummy (a Biography channel show)

• Jeff Dunham finally got on Comedy Central, but only after he went out on a big limb.

• Net News Wire (a terrific RSS reader that integrates with Google Reader)

Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear what you think.