Vision Board and Dream Board For Business Success

Can computers help us manifest?

You bet they can!

I've been working on a new "Dream Board" collage for my bathroom.

I'm being very specific on this one as to exactly what I want for each area of my life. At the same time, I've created a new Vision Board for my computer, so that every time I see my computer I can reinforce my dreams and goals. Vision Boards and Dream Collages can be very powerful subconscious tools that enable us to manifest our dreams. My last collage has been incredibly powerful. Of the things on there, I've manifested over 30% so far, in just 2 years! That's pretty impressive, if you ask me.

I recommend The OrangePeel Dream Board Visualization Software:



Using a dream board like this can be very powerful to help you manifest your dreams regarding career, money, health, finances, and love. If you haven't designed your own collage yet, the beauty of a software tool like Dream Board is that you can modify your collage quickly, and it is always in front of you when you boot your computer. Cool, huh?

Check it out and if you want to purchase it, I created an affiliate program with Orange Peel to make it easy for you to join:


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This article is written by Scott Andrews, Founder of AspireNow and CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions. Dream Board video and name is Copyright OrangePeel, used with permission. Copyright © 1999-2008.

You may republish this article only AS A COMPLETE WHOLE with ENTIRE LINKS and copyright messages attached. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIBE for more tools like this!

Crossing A Chasm? Go For It!

I had a conversation with someone today regarding "is it possible to hit higher plateaus for people who are aspiring to higher levels?"

The truth of the matter is this: no matter what you have achieved, how high the plateau you feel you have reached, you will always be somewhat frustrated that there is something that could have been a little better. We always know this. At times, we will do it perfectly, and get it just right. But, nevertheless, there is always a new development, a new way to play, a new design, a new idea, a brighter methodology, whatever, waiting for us around the corner. It is as if no matter how good we get, there is always another level beyond where we are that we can aspire to grow towards.

An example of this for me has been playing the saxophone. When I was in 4th grade, I saw the jazz band come to my school. All the other kids said "I want to play trumpet. I want to play the drums." But not me. I said, "Next year, I'm going to play the saxophone." I always knew I wanted to play the sax, you see. I loved the sound. I thought it looked cool. I just loved the way the saxophone bell curved and how the keys looked so shiny when fingers played them. But, mostly, I loved the sound of the sax and the "voo-voo" sounds the musician made with it.

The next year, I started to play the saxophone. I noticed that in 6th grade, the lead player got to play two solos. COOL. I decided that I would practice so I could be the lead player. I played my saxophone more than any other student, and became the lead player in 6th grade.

In 7th grade, I noticed that there was a Jazz Band. I tried out for the jazz band and got into it. It was so much fun. There was a cocky sax player in 8th grade who told me I'd never be as good as him. He was pretty good. He won the Louis Armstrong jazz award that year for 8th graders. I decided I would win the Louis Armstrong jazz award in 8th grade, if I could. It wouldn't be easy. We had another good sax player, my best friend, and also a good trumpet player and trombone player. It was not a cinch. I'll never forget winning that award how happy I was!

It continued this way, until rather than awards, I started looking at WHO I could play LIKE. This was totally different. I was now listening to music and different sax players, like David Sanborn, Frank Foster (Count Basie's sax player), the guy from Supertramp, and others. I started playing along with records. And, I got better. But there was always someone better than me. I remember trying to play David Sanborn songs for years, until, finally, in college, I told a friend "I can play Sanborn note for note." He said, "you're kidding." I said, "No, I'm not, listen." Then I played a Sanborn song pretty much note for note. He was blown away. He said, "Scott, you JAM on the SAX!!" Coincidentally, this was the same cocky sax player who was better than me in 8th grade. Sadly, he quit playing, last I'd heard. I wasn't though. I knew that Sanborn wasn't as hard to copy as other sax players, like Ben Webster, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Wayne Shorter.

Wayne Shorter, as a saxophone player, is simply amazing. Of all the greats still alive, I rank Shorter as the best. Coltrane died some time ago, and although he was great he doesn't move me the same way that Shorter does. I set, as a goal, to play Wayne Shorter note for note. But after trying to play Shorter's solos year after year I sadly came to the conclusion in my early 20's that such an ability was impossible for me to attain. In other words, that I'd never hit that level of playing. Perhaps, Wayne was impossible to copy. Or, so I thought.

Well, isn't it interesting how we grow? There clearly was a level beyond me then, wouldn't you say? So, in my late 30's, I was playing in a band called BODY, which I still have alive and kicking today at http://www.myspace.com/body. We were playing funk, Afro-Latin, jazz, and other fusion songs. One song I decided would be fun to play was Black Market, a song by Weather Report from the 1975 album of the same name. Wayne Shorter played the sax on Black Market. Well, while practicing for the rehearsal to bring this song into the band, I found myself playing for a friend when I suddenly stunned myself while playing along with the solo Wayne played on the CD track: I hit each note almost exactly the way Wayne played it! Later, in rehearsal, I did it again. I was so excited. I remember my bass player, Joe Duran, saying, "you're not going to copy that, are you?" (Joe and I like to tease each other.) And I just laughed and said, "No, I just wanted to show you that I can do it." He said, "Nice. Now think up your own solo." Which I did. Was it as good as Wayne's? I suppose that was for the listeners at our gig to decide. I remember Matthias, my guitar player, grinning at me more than once and saying, "Awesome solo, Scott," back in those days.

Later that night, I went home and listened to a more recent recording of Wayne playing with Herbie Hancock. I realized that Wayne has grown since the recording of Black Market, and to play like him now would actually be another level or two beyond where I am now (or three or four). The point is this:

No matter what we have accomplished, there is always seemingly another level of skill, knowledge, and growth to be achieved in our future.

If you're reading this and saying to yourself, "Man, that is true!" Then, why not use this as a moment to dig deep and aspire to the next level in your own skill, talent, or vocation?

As somewhat of a polymath, or Renaissance Man, I've always seen myself as someone who aspires to be knowledgeable on multiple subject matters. I remember back to 1994, when I'd been selling for DSI, and my company merged with Bell Atlantic. When we bought BABSS, the new company blended the resources of the old, so that my team now was managed by the former Bell Atlantic Business System Services Group Manager, Dick Bomely. Bomely, or "The Bomber" as his team lovingly referred him by for his brusque manner of managing his team, looked at my business card from DSI and frowned eyebrows. "Senior Account Executive, ha!" he exclaimed. "I'll show you a senior account manager. I want you to meet Bob Wood." He got on the phone at that instant and scheduled me to meet with Bob the next morning for breakfast. At first, I was taken aback. After all, I thought I was a good salesperson. I'd had success with my accounts, respect from my peers, and had won a few large deals in my past. But I knew there were people better than me. I just didn't know who. Well, I was about to meet him.

I recall the next day when I came home from work, and I told Patti, my girlfriend at the time, "I just met the next level today." I was talking about Bob Wood, the Northern California Region's star salesman. When I met Bob earlier that morning, I remember there were several things that impressed me about him. First, he was sharp, dressed impeccably. Second, he was sharp as a tack and funny. He was quite clever. Third, He knew his clients and knew his company well. He was also a little cocky. He'd also gained quite a reputation for signing huge deals with Chevron and other firms in the Bay Area. But, all of that said, he was also human. I'll never forget that Bob put a $20 bill on the table, then freaked out when he thought the busboy took it! I never saw him pull the $20 bill out of his pocket, so as far as I was concerned, it wasn't substantial. But, if a busboy can make off with your Andrew Jackson, you're human, right? But I sure was impressed by Bob, anyway.

Meeting Bob Wood was the event that triggered me to decide to push my sales career to the next level. I went out and bought new suits (not just $300 suits, but $1000 suits). At first, I went into debt to do it. So, at least I LOOKED better than Bob. As Tony Robbins says, sometimes you "gotta fake it til you make it." It's true. People noticed, too. I got compliments all the time in those days for my suits and ties. They treated me with more respect because I treated myself with more respect. I then subscribed to Harvard Business Review and Strategy + Business Magazines to step-up my acumen and skill-set. None of my peers read these magazines. I revamped my sales approach to include starting at the top FIRST. I started learning how to sell at a higher level - even to the daunting C-level of organizations. I was determined to learn how to get in the door of these difficult prospects. Three months later, I had the opportunity to win a large support contract with Tandem. Bob told me that I'd never get it signed, because Tandem wanted us to service equipment without a database of the serial numbers, and BABSS wouldn't approve such deals. I called the Vice President of Operations in our company and asked him if he wanted another $2 Million revenue for the company. He said, "Yes, with who?" Then I explained my problem about the serial numbers. He gave me a solution to survey the assets on the first service call in each location, which was a win for everyone. I won Tandem, my first multimillion dollar deal of that year, and went on to attend every Summit Club the company held from then on. Could Bob have been my inspiration?

Later, I met another guy who was "the next level" through interviewing with Arthur Andersen. he didn't dress fancier than me. In fact, he looked like he was on his way to a night club when I met him. But this guy wrote $20 Million dollar deals on a routine basis. He'd earned the right to dress however he wanted. Wow, here's a guy who is another next level beyond Bob. You see, no matter how good we get, there is always someone a level up the scale who might know something we don't. Even if you are the top-rated cardiovascular surgeon in your country, there may be someone in another country who discovers a breakthrough surgical procedure that makes your skills pale by comparison. There is probably something greater in every person who reads this article.

And that is what I am urging you to go after. Whatever it is you want in life, go for it! Go from being good at it to being GREAT at it. Do what nobody else is willing to do. Go for it with all you've got within you. Because you're the one called to that special interest, that talent, that vocation. If you don't do it, what then? Who will do it? Anyone? And if someone does do it, and you didn't, how would it feel THEN?

I remember a former manager, Greg Ficke, who once said to me, "You know, Scott, you will never regret the thing you try and failed trying to do. You may always regret not trying to do it." I think Greg is right. But I'd go further and say you'll regret not DOING it, for sure. But you might regret failing, too. Learn from your failures, get up, refine your process, again, and again, until you WIN. Don't just TRY to DO it, DO IT.

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The author of this article is Scott Andrews. Scott is the Founder of AspireNow and CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions. ARRiiVE helps executives launch companies, improve sales and marketing, and empower the employees within their organization through unique models of collaboration and team-building. If you want to learn more, visit http://www.ARRiiVE.com, or call Scott directly at (805) 459-6939.

Team Selling in Enterprise Environments

Companies have been selling in teams since the dawn of IBM. But, with today's dispersed and global environments, an executive recently asked me: "Does Team Building work within enterprise selling environments, today?" My answer was "Yes, team selling can work, but you can only create the explosion of sales success by blasting away outdated systemic issues that block the natural flow of selling your organization to the client's organization."

I'm not providing statistics in this article. But I can tell you the challenges of selling in teams, and ways to overcome some of them.

Common problems with selling in teams include:

1. Structure of selling organization.

2. Problems with functional organization rather than team organization.

3. Job descriptions and the role of Human Resources aligning (or mis-aligning) human capital.

4. Compensation based upon functional output rather than team or cross-function output.

5. Focus on short-term results rather than long-term benefits to customer.

Now, if you drill down into each of these areas, I did a few searches on team building, and for kicks and giggles, came up with a few that I think illustrate my point well.

1. Structure of selling organization. Most problems in the business world, today, are systemic. You'll notice I said the structure of the SELLING organization, not BUYING organization. Why? Because the company you're selling to can structure however they want. A good sales team will be flexible and able to adapt to a variety of environments they sell within. The real issue is in how YOUR organization is structured to go to market.

Here (http://www.internetviz-newsletters.com/PSJ/e_article000415636.cfm?x=b11,0) is a URL with an article that is well-written, focused on team selling, and mentions key roles within the sales force team as:

• Specialist
• Market Researcher
• Business Developer
• Rainmaker

The problem with this list is it suggests team selling but only within functional roles of a the sales team function. It completely fails to consider that operations, services, administration, and management impact the sales process and half of the positions mentioned are not the mover/shakers who actually write sales deals or build customer relationships but the reporters/analysts who report on the deal or effect of the deal. The people who makes deals happen are the Rainmaker, and perhaps to a lesser extent, Business Development, but Research and Specialist are people who usually want to "see more" data before they'll move. One of the key people who can make a deal happen: Senior Executive, is missing from this list. The operations point-man and implementation expert is also not included here.

The author of the article went on to suggest bi-weekly meetings without stating an objective for the meeting. Rainmakers abhor meetings without purpose! This type of article is the reason for the problems in the current business environment with building cross-functional teams. They're only looking at the "sales" silo and missing the bigger picture. The author makes a good point about training the entire sales team, it just seems that training ought to expand outside the sales silo boundaries across the entire cross-functional team.

I've addressed this concern with my Sales Diamond Model which you can find at: http://www.arriive.com/sales_diamond_model.htm

2. Problems with functional organization rather than team organization. I came across this PDF, which is a reprint from a Sales and Marketing Executive Report from Darnell (http://baygroup.com/Articles/TeamSellingIsTodaysReality.pdf).

This article hits upon two problems I see: 1) Silo by organization function (sales, engineering, administration, etc.) when organizations try to get cross-functional, they haven't blended or created any type of system that enables teams across functions, (2) Lack of pay based upon team results. People are paid individual salaries based upon their job description. And the job description is, again, based upon function (sales, HR, Operations, Strategic Planning, etc.) without inclusion or consideration of payment for team performance or impact upon team's productive results. The other inherent problem within this is the fact that job descriptions are based upon general individual contribution within the function group rather than job description for unique capabilities and contribution to the whole, with a nod to the functional aspects. If companies were to shift this payment structure in their compensation plan, they will drive team-performance and create better cross-functional teams.

But if organizations create teams only within their functional groups, then they miss their opportunity to truly build an empowered environment. I once participated in a contest, and the Director of the project was brilliant to notice that EVERYONE wanted to participate in the contest. He made sure that each functional group got enough "points" from the contest to assure them a potential prize (i-pod, gift certificate) so that every employee felt the benefit of the contest. Yes, sales people had more opportunity to win than administrators, because they had more impact and pay scale, but every person came away with something for helping grow customers as a team. What I found interesting about the contest is that administrators started calling me with leads, operations people started to discuss ways to better help certain clients, and managers worked overtime with me to help me get certain deals structured to win for the customer. In short: it worked to drive more cross-functional performance, at least for a short period of time.

3. Job descriptions and the role of Human Resources and the utilization of human capital. As referenced in the article above, if job descriptions don't describe the accurate work that you expect people to do, then you'll get what you've asked for. It is about the law of attraction. If you point people at a tall building, tell them they have to sell your business services to the organizations in that tall building, then why would you be surprised when the deals they bring in are from the companies in that building? That's the whole idea, isn't it? Now, today's customers aren't all located in one tall building, they may be spread out over multiple cities, states, or even countries. In addition, it isn't just the customer's organization we're selling to within enterprise organizations, there also is the impact of outsourcing within the enterprise that affects how to go after deals. But, nevertheless, if your organization's job descriptions describe how people will interact with organizations you seek to do business with, then you're likely to produce a better result. I'm working on a software tool that will deliver a better team structure and enable organizations to track "jobs" or team projects by key words. That way, job descriptions may be re-written to include key phrases of the team and build better results.

4. Compensation based upon functional output rather than team or cross-function output. Now, this is always where the rubber meets the road, isn't it? If you have someone that you're paying to move a brick, and he grabs a hose and pours water instead, you'd ask him "Why didn't you move the brick?" Wouldn't you? I would. Yet, how many organizations are using the same re-tried compensation models promoting individualism, private results, and functional results? Almost ALL of them are using compensation models based around the results of individual or functional programs.

I tried to find an article discussing the impact on sales that EVERY function needs to own (administrative roles, operations roles, management roles, etc.) but couldn't find one. You know why? Because people have come to associate "salespeople" as the people who "sell" and the other people "just doing work" contributing to the company. It's a fallacy that has been created over time by sales v. operations battles, and as a result of bad habits. For example, it is a bad habit to think you don't have an impact upon selling by processing billing in accounts receivable. The billing people often find some of the greatest opportunities for a sales development. It's a bad habit to think upper management need not be part of the sales team. Upper managers want to meet with other upper managers. Use the cross-functional team but more than that ALL employees need to be actualized in the compensation process to also show the benefit to creating complete win-win solutions across the enterprise.

I see a need for compensation overhaul. If the client is measuring our success by delivering the benefits we promise them, then wouldn't it make sense to build our OWN compensation programs by delivering BENEFITS to the CLIENT? It's a whole new way of looking at compensation. I'm developing a payment description model and compensation model that rewards based upon client goals, rather than seller goals. It's exciting, and drives a considerably larger result to production with each employee.

5. Focus on short-term results rather than long-term benefits to customer. I dug around and found an article on sales teams that hit this problem square on the nose: the problem is FOCUS.

I think of the Buddhist and consider FOCUS to be part of the RIGHT THOUGHT structure of RIGHT THOUGHT, RIGHT ACTION, RIGHT SPEECH. Without RIGHT THOUGHT, none of the other desired results can happen. So, if you focus upon the right things, you ought to have the right results. This article (http://www.ivey.ca/publications/impact/vol3_22.htm) discussed the challenge that sales organizations are focused on hitting numbers. Those numbers are not numbers of benefits clients receive, but numbers of revenue dollars coming in from that account to the SELLING company's coffers. Focus on numbers might impact numbers, short-term; however, for the long-term it is the wrong focus. Yet, you'd be surprised how many meetings I've had with upper managers where all they look at is the NUMBERS! Crazy idiots, if you ask me. They ought to be focused on CUSTOMER BENEFITS. Because, if their organization delivers a high value of customer benefits, they'd likely hit MORE sales numbers as a by-product. Makes sense, doesn't it?

The quote that stands out to me from this article is:
"Developing a sales team can be very difficult in an environment unfamiliar with the team selling approach. The hurdle is shifting the mindset of an organization and its salespeople from lone rangers selling products to selling teams providing solutions for customers. 'Results from organizations who try this change actually show some organizations facing up to a 30 to 40 per cent turnover in their sales force,' says Barclay [the author of the article]. According to Barclay, organizations who implement true team selling must change to move from a short-term focus to a "continuous, evolving relationship with customers with the relationship building under the guidance of a selling team."

This is, in my experience, correct. Turnover may happen. But that type of turnover is healthy turnover if it results in a longer-term, more honest and responsible approach with the customer. This is the objective I've been working to implement with organizations through ARRiiVE Business Solutions (http://www.ARRiiVE.com). It's about the customer, it's about their needs, and the benefits they receive. Ah-ha! I've found a modern mantra for the modern businessman. Say it again with me: "It's about the customer, their needs, and the benefits they receive."

10 Secrets To Blogging More Successfully

I'm a blogger. Are you? Blogging is one of the coolest things going on with the web, today.

I blog, therefore, I am. At least, it feels that way, when you blog! I recommend blogging to almost every company I'm working with right now. Why? Because you can really improve your interactive marketing through Blogging.

What is a blog? It's kind of a website. People often think of blogs as "online journals" but they really are much more than that. Blogs are a way to interact with people with frequent posts about a wide variety of content.

Several years ago, I had someone ask me if my site, http://www.aspirenow.com/, was a blog. At the time, AspireNow was not a blog. However, it may have been wise to have launched much of the site as a blog - had I known where blogging was going to go. Why?

Because blogs have stronger LABELS (read: keyword optimization) and blogs have stronger BACKLINKS. And BACKLINKS are the key to success, in terms of SEO (search engine optimization), on the web. Want proof? Look up StevePavlina.com and Oprah.com. That's right: a blog started by a guy who was basically a nobody in the world of self-help is not BIGGER than OPRAH in terms of traffic and backlinks. THAT is the power of blogging. Do it right, and you'll get HUGE traffic.

The reason for this is because when you post to your blog you are essential SYNDICATING your information to go out on thousands of RSS feeds (provided you've submitted your blog to feedburners). There are special considerations with that for you to consider.

Blogs are also an additional source of generating traffic.

Last, blogs position you as an EXPERT. It is a chance to inform and share, not sell. Thus, a blog is actually a stronger selling tool than your regular website.

Here are 10 boosts to creating better blogs to interact with your users:

1. Know what you want to say. If you have nothing to say, you won't be interesting. Why do you want to write a blog post? If you don't know what you want to say, you don't have vision. And people without vision are B-O-R-I-N-G. So, get your vision squared away FIRST!

Also, when you're posting, start with a solid introduction paragraph. Use visual elements, such as photos, movies, and other things you have license to use. Just make sure you own the copyright.

2. Titles matter. Structure matters, too. People like titles like: 10 ways, 7 steps, 5 things about... type of titles. They also like FUNNY or QUIRKY titles. TEASERS. Simple titles also work. Make sure you use links and block quotes. I think the most important thing to know about a blog is that you're syndicating to the world, so make sure what you put out is what you want to send... if you don't blog the entire article (include a link back to your website) that is okay, just make sure your TITLE rocks. Start with something engaging. Don't apologize in your TITLE!

3. Blog often. You want to gain exposure. You also want to make it easy for people to track back to you. You don't need to ask for it, just give them PERMISSION to do it, and they will.

4. Blog well. People don't want to read crap. What you write is what you are, to the blog community. And, to the blogging reader, what they read is what is defining their behavior. So, be interesting. Be funny. Be unique. Again, don't apologize (well, unless you royally goofed!) and be REAL. People can tell who you are by the writing voice you use in your blog.

Don't miss the fact that KEYWORDS MATTER. Make your blog KEYWORD RICH to the words that you want to target for your topic. If you want to maximize your SEO, you must maximize your use of keywords. Keywords I love include: how to, I want, what I need, and tags to popular current titles, like Harry Potter, or the Secret.

5. Comment on other blogs. Strange as it may seem, comment on OTHER blogs. Many links back to your blog from these blog sites. Especially HIGHLY rated blogs. An example of how this worked for me recently is Statcounter's Blog. I received an email sharing how the Statcounter CEO received an entrepreneur award. I visited the blog and congratulated him, with a link back to my site. My site received more hits from Statcounter than any other site for the next week.

6. Create With A Simple Initial Design. I think design is important. The best blogs I've found are not littered with widgets. They simply have articles, archives, and a few recommendations that make it easy to interact with them. They may or may not have ads. Simplicity in text also matters - so does HONESTY. Create a special header graphic using image design software (illustrator, Image Composer, or something like that). That way, your blog has your logo posted. Make sure if you run ads on your blogs, you have the ads in key areas and not littered all over your blog. You can have ads run at the top, top left, middle of articles, and bottom as primary ad locations. My feeling is to choose two or three of these locations and run with those.

7. Do not SELL, repeat, do not sell on your blog! Important!! What I'm talking about is the context of your TEXT. If you are selling people in your information you share then people reading your blog may lose trust, so just state your opinion. Stating your opinion, as an EXPERT, IS important, however. So share your opinions. Also, share opinions from other bloggers you like.

8. Burning your blog. Make sure your blog is listed properly. Listing your blog through feeds: RSS Feeds. I'm using Feedburner to burn my blog feed, and considering some other burners to make sure that my blog gets posted. A feed burner essentially cleans the blog post and sends it to other blog sites that post blogs. It basically is a network and methodology of sharing your blog. You definitely want to share your blog, or what would be the point of blogging in the first place, right?

9. You're SYNDICATED. Make sure you realize that everything you publish on your blog MAY be syndicated and published on OTHER blogs. All they have to do is run the RSS feed, and they'll have your content. So, only publish information you don't mind SHARING with others!

10. What Blog Software To Use? What's the best blogging software? I don't have a conclusive answer on this question yet. I am researching this: I find that blog software like Blogger is easy to use. That's why I'm using it. However, I am considering a switch to WordPress or Typepad. Why? Because many of the top blogs are hosted through those software. They offer more features, better statistics, and so on. I'll report more on this later.

Do you have any tips to help people blog better? Why not share them here and create blog back links to your own blog?

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Scott Andrews is CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions (http://www.ARRiiVE.com). Executives seek out ARRiiVE's wisdom for help in starting a company, launching new products and services, improving sales team performance, creating interactive marketing, and building collaborative teams. Contact at info@ARRiiVE.com or 805-459-6939.