Internet Marketing | Lead Generation

Stuart Wilde - Perpetual Traveller and Mentor

It has been a while since I have had a chance to update this blog - along with Dean Hunt I have been working on some new projects which we will be announcing quite soon. Visit BuzzProfits.com for updates.

Looking at the blog and my misc ramblings it struck me that I have never gave credit or praise to a man who has influenced me more than most in this current incarnation - a gentleman called Stuart Wilde.

I first came across Stuart in 1990 - when I read his book “The Trick To Money is Having Some” - perhaps the best book ever written about MONEY ENERGY and how to attract it into your life. It was also a time in my life when I had huge financial challenges following the “failure” of a business I had started.

Since then I have met with Stuart a number of times, been on workshops etc. I will be honest, sometimes, I don’t have a clue what Stuart is on about - and occasionally I go of wandering on my own (in the metaphysical sense) - but for whatever reason, I always come back to Stuart.

Stuart Wilde is definitely not everyone’s “cup of tea” - but for me, his wisdom and inspiration have at times been life changing.

Thank you Stuart

I found the video below on YouTube - the quality is not that great, but hopefully it gives you a flavor of Stuart Wilde.

In this video, Stuart talks about how so many of us only CONSUME and do not serve humanity.

Now if it was just about any other “New Age Type Guru” in the world - you might expect the next line to be about how we should all serve - but one of the things I really like about Stuart Wilde is how he is also cool about us enjoying ourselves and consuming - so he just goes on to say it is so much better to BOTH Serve and Consume.

I am very comfortable with that - and indeed now, as I get a little bit older I see my role increasingly as someone who Serves.

I hope you enjoy the video - Stuart’s website is at StuartWilde.com

Stuart Wilde - Perpetual Traveller and Mentor

Of the many websites Midascode now owns, one of my personal favourites is: Retired at 21

With the help of Dean Hunt we have pulled of some pretty successful interviews of leading Young Entrepreneurs recently. And the site is becoming more and more popular with decent amounts of traffic now.

Today’s featured interview is of a Brilliant Young Man called Josh Shipp.

Not really sure how to best describe Josh Shipp - so I will stick with his personal description which is that he is a Youth Motivational Speaker with the gift to Entertain - Inspire - Empower

Josh Shipp is still in his early 20s, but you wouldn’t know it from his résumé. He’s written books, shared the stage with Bill Cosby, and hosted a reality TV show. And he’s already established an international reputation as an inspiring speaker with a simple and entertaining, yet challenging message.

Catch the full interview at:
Talk Shipp - My Interview with Josh Shipp

Also below are a couple of Videos and further links to Josh’s sites. I encourage you to check them out

www.HeyJosh.tv

http://www.joshshipp.com
http://myspace.com/joshshipp
http://www.heyjosh.tv

A short post - just to promote one of my other (Midascode Ltd) websites : Retired at 21

Check out a great interview with a remarkable young man that I had the opportunity to meet at Yanik Silvers UK Underground Seminar last year - John Beede, an author, a hugely successful public speaker, and… a rock climber.

The first question John is asked answers a question I have often asked myself of people who partake in any form of extreme sport and that is: WHY does he climb

His answer is I feel inspiring and explains a lot about what values have led John to become the amazing Human Being that he is.

If you have to ask “WHY?”… then you’ll never really understand why.

I don’t climb to reach the tops of mountains. I don’t mountaineer to explore some of the most remote and challenging locations on the planet. I climb to reach my top personal performance. I mountaineer to explore the most remote and challenging locations inside myself.

A journey into the mountains is as much an inward journey as anything else.

When you’ve hiked 26 kilometers with 40 pounds on your back, gaining 2,000 meters in elevation, at an already agonizing elevation, you stop wondering what your body can do, and you start exploring what your inner-will and inner-strength can muster up.

This probably makes you think I’m even crazier… but I’m cool with that.

Catch the full interview at:
John Beede Interview

Once in a while you come across a business book that really has some substance - one that inspires, entertains, motivates and educates.

Such a book is Anyone Can Do it - The Autobiography of Duncan Bannatyne - From Ice Cream Van to Dragons’ Den

Not sure how many of my Non UK readers know who Duncan is - but he is one of the UKs leading entrepreneurs - a self made man that can from very humble (poor) beginnings to become very rich.

Duncan has made something like £100 Million and the recurring theme of this book is that is someone like him can make £100 million, then anyone can!

I have to say as something of a “self-made man” myself (but not currently in the style of Duncan) there was tons of really good advice and inspiration in this book.

Right from the first paragraph, Duncan proclaims: “that if you had a childhood like mine, you’ll never get bored of using private jets, owning luxury villas or staying in the best hotels”.

Well Duncan, I don’t have the private jets, but I can relate to that

Indeed, the reason why so many successful entrepreneurs are as motivated as they are is simply that they decided early on in their lives that they HATED being POOR and once more, they appreciated and understood that being financially poor is as much a choice as deciding to be financially RICH. (I’m just waiting for all those emails disagreeing with me now!)

There is much much more to the book than MOTIVATION, there is also lots of good old fashioned practical business advice - such as for example, lowering your accountancy fees with regards to Government Policy / Taxation etc - by simply approaching each Government Department direct and obtaining all the guides and advice on how to for example: Take on Employees or Register For VAT

So often, business people are too scared of “Government” and have their accountants do even the simplest of tasks for them, when they would be far better of doing it themselves (and learning and understanding the process) rather than wasting money that on many occasions they cannot really afford, especially it those early start up days.

I dare say you could also say that Duncan Bannatyne is a Frugal Entrepreneur - who despite his great success has never lost touch with the Value of things. Indeed FRUGAL is a trait I often find some of the most successful entrepreneurs share.

Anyone Can Do it - Very inspirational - especially if you are seeking the motivation to start your own business or to take the business you have to a greater level.

Buy Anyone Can Do It At Amazon

As many of you know, I am a big fan of the Mastermind Group Idea

Napoleon Hill author of “Think And Grow Rich” is usually credited with popularising the concept of the Mastermind Group - as we know it in the last 100 years or so.

Of the Mastermind principle he wrote that it is:

“The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.”

He also continues that …

“No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.

During our recent visit to Washington DC, for Yanik Silvers Underground III, Yanik asked some of us Masterminders (myself included) to take to the stage and relate some of our experiences with the Yanik Silver Mastermind Group. To relate as Yanik puts it ‘our big AHA! moments’ or our big Breakthroughs from being members of the Mastermind.

Here is the group of us up on stage.

Going left to right we have:
Andy Miller - Sales Management Guru , Donna Krech - ThinAndHealthy.com , Jon Tuttle - CarolTuttle.com , Barry Dunlop, Tim Schmidt - USConcealedCarry.com and brothers, Jack and Don Corn of DonationsInk.com

A quick look over some of the above links and it is very clear this is a very diverse group. Indeed, I’m sure many of us would agree, that in the so called “normal world” we would not have chose to hang out together or have considered we had very much in common. The one common point that we all shared was a good deal of success in our own Niches, a willingness to share our experiences and a commitment to give constructive feedback to our fellow Masterminders.

With a successful Mastermind Group you get clarity and vision and input from lots of other successful people who are not as “close” to your situation as you are and perhaps that’s the greatest benefit. And of course the great friendships that you make.

Thank you fellow Masterminders and in particular, thank you for allowing me to reveal your identity at BarryDunlop.com

As for my personal GREAT AHAS! - I will be revealing some of them in future posts

Yanik’s Mastermind Group is almost always Sold Out just as soon as he releases it each year, but for next year you might like to check out: Yanik Silver’s Internet Mastermind Group

Finally, If you are interested in starting your own Mastermind Group, I found this excellent article online

How to Create and Run a MasterMind Group

Anyone who has been following my recent posts about my Attic cleanup and clear out and the resultant re-discovery of some of my original sales training / personal development materials will no doubt, have observed that I have quite an eclectic mix or “taste” in sales trainers / personal development gurus

One of the most influential sales and motivational mentors that I had early on was Zig Ziglar. Now Zig is very well know to just about anyone involved in sales or personal development and has touched I dare say Millions of Lives.

Even today, the mere mention of Zigs name brings a very broad smile to my face and a warm positive feeling. Back in 1982 when I first read his book ” See You At The Top” (SYATT) I was as a rookie sales person to whom Zigs Words of Wisdom really did make the difference between success and failure in selling. You see, sales success is a much about having the right attitude as it is about learning a repertoire of Sales Closes.

I believe that around about 1983 / 84 Zig came to the UK and that was the first time I met him. One of my purchases back then was a set of tapes called: How To Stay Motivated. I must have played those tapes over and over until they were almost worn out.

Interestingly, in hindsight, being in the UK, I did find some people who did not relate well to Zig and his “quirky” all American Positive Mental Attitude. It was some times said that Zig was “too American” and that all this “positive sales stuff” did not work in the UK. I however am very pleased to report that nothing could be further from the truth in my experience. Indeed, in the last 20 years, there has been quite a Mind Shift in the UK to be overall much more accepting of personal growth and personal development materials.

I also had the great privilage of attending Zigs Born To Win Seminar in 1986 - a seminar that still exists today.

Thank You Zig Ziglar

For information on the Born To Win -Seminar Click Here

“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.”
– Zig Ziglar

Today’s temporarily misplaced ATTIC find is a set of Tapes by Hal Krause - Titled: How To Hire Winners (or as it turned out for me, How To Hire Sales Winners)

By 1983/84 I was enjoying considerable success as a salesperson - and everything looked very rosy. I enjoyed selling and being still quite young, sales management was not something I was yet particularly aspiring to. Indeed, I had been offered sales management positions several times before I eventually accepted the invitation from my good friend, Keith Revel (my Area Sales manager at the time) to become a District Sales Manager for a Big Name Double Glazing company.

Looking back on it, I’m not entirely sure why I had been so reluctant to go into sales management (I can only assume it was because I enjoyed selling so much) - but very quickly I developed a real passion for sales management and also for sales training.

Back then, we would put ads in the newspaper along the lines of “Do you want to earn £500 per week” ($1000 per week) - “No Experience Required”

These positions were of course “commission only” and frankly that was a big turn off for a lot of people, so as a sales recruiter you really had to really work to get people to join you. We did not always get it right, but we gave quite a number of people who are still in sales today, their first sales job. Just a few of the previous professions that some of these Sales Superstars had worked in were: Bank Managers, Farmers, Building Labourers, Engineers and Ex Armed Forces.

Of course equally important was to recruit the right types of people and over time we developed a number of processes which allowed us to better sort out the wheat from the chaff so to speak.

One set of tapes, that more than anything else at the time helped was a set called “How to Hire Winners” by Hal Krause.

Hal and I shared something in common, in that we both got into Sales Management and Sales Training at a young age. Indeed Hal was only 23 when he founded American Salesmasters, an international audiovisual company specializing in sales training.

In this series of “temporarily misplaced ATTIC finds” series of blog posts it is perhaps too easy to sound like everyone whose training material I came across had an AWESOME impact on my life - but really, I am not over stating anything in this series of posts. Everyone of them impacted me greatly and made me a better sales person, a better sales manager and a better human being.

Without doubt, the training Hal Krause provided on how to hire winners had the greatest impact at that time on my sales recruitment skills.

Thank you Hal

For more information on Hal Krause Click Here

When I first started making a name for myself in sales, the amount of training materials available in the UK in terms of tape sets and video sets was relatively little. Certainly, there is a lot more available today.

For this reason, most of the training materials I used, were imported from the USA.

Some of the first sets of videos I every purchased was from a company called American Salesmasters. I have even in my Attic cleanup found the original invoice for just two of these videos (Dated 29th January 1985) for the amount of £747.50 ($1444.93 USD currently) That is a lot of money even now, but such was my thirst for knowledge that I actually bought quite a few videos in the end.

I was such a good customer that they actually gave me a Picture signed by the various speakers / trainers and that is what you see below.

It may not be clear in the picture, but the Speakers and Trainers who signed it (all original signatures by the way) are a real who’s who of Sales Trainers and Positive thinkers.

We have Fred Herman, Larry Wilson, Cavett Robert, Dr Norman Vincent Peale, Hal Krause, Zig Ziglar (LEGEND) and J Douglas Edwards (who I believe trained Tom Hopkins early on)

I can in particular remember in Dr Norman Vincent Peales video were he mentions that if you want to find people without problems, we should go to a graveyard. He said we could find plenty of people without problems, 6 ft down! Looking back on it now, I really don’t know why this impacted on me so much - but it did, i.e. Problems (or issues as I later started to call them) are great things, as they prove you are still alive!

Thank you Fred Herman, Larry Wilson, Cavett Robert, Dr Norman Vincent Peale, Hal Krause, Zig Ziglar, and J Douglas Edwards - you enriched my life in so many ways, not just financially.

Some related websites:

Dr Norman Vincent Peale

J Douglas Edwards (Listen to a short clip of J Douglas Edwards speaking from 1966)

Zig Ziglar

Cavett Robert ( Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note; only today is legal tender, only now is negotiable.)

Fred Herman (Fred is probably most famous for coining the KISS Principle for Selling - Keep It Simple, Salesman)

More in the Clearing out the Loft / Attic is Good for the Soul theme

Today’s temporarily misplaced ATTIC find is a set of Tapes by World Renowned Expert in Marketing and Direct Marketing: Ted Nicholas

Strictly speaking I don’t believe I bought these tapes in the 80’s - more likely the early 90’s

I did have the pleasure of attending a small intimate workshop with Ted in London around about 1993/94 - and I shall always remember Ted’s less than flattering review of my press advertising at that time. Ted really tells it as it is - an awesome copywriter for whom even the term “world class” does not seem good enough.

If you ever get the chance to hear Ted speak in public or read / listen to any of his material - then please do it. The impact that he has had on so many business peoples lives, both online and offline really cannot be over stated.

I was very fortunate to hear Ted Nicholas speak at the Peter Woodhead and Yanik Silver Underground Online Seminar™ UK in London last year. The impact that Ted made there, will I believe, live with everyone in that audience for ever.

Special Note: There is a Ted Nicholas Copywriting Day before the Yanik Silver Underground III Seminar on March 22, 2007, in Washington DC

I attended Yaniks Underground II last year and I will also be attending Underground III - Perhaps I will see you there?

Click Here For the Ted Nicholas Website

Continuing on the theme of Clearing out the Loft / Attic is Good for the Soul - Today’s temporarily misplaced ATTIC find is a set of Tapes by Master Sales Trainer: Tom Hopkins

This set of tapes was bought at a seminar that Tom did in the UK, sometime around 1983 / 1984 (If you look carefully, you will see Tom, signed the back)

It would be just about impossible to overstate the impact Tom’s sales training had on my life. As a young man in my early twenties I enjoyed a Six Figure income from sales (That’s UK Pounds) - and frankly, that would not have been possible without Tom’s training.

I quite literally listed to Toms tapes over and over to the point were I could almost repeat, word for word, what Tom said on those tapes. This is not hard sell, this is gentle sell - or at least it is if you do it Toms way. I also read his wonderful book: How to Master the Art of Selling over and over. If you are a salesperson, or even if you are not, this is one book you MUST read.

As a little side note, I am attending with some friends, Dan Kennedy’s 2007 Marketing and Money-Making Super conference in Chicago in April and one of Dan’s special guests is Tom Hopkins. It is over 20 years since I saw Tom, so I am looking forward to that very much.

Click Here For Toms Hopkins Website