Month: January 2010

The brand formula is:

(Expectation) * (emotional power) = Brand

Some brand formula examples:

Google:

(Expectation of answers to questions) * (very consistent & useful)= Very powerful brand.

Seattle Times:

(Expectation of news) * (pretty consistent, decent news writing) = Solid brand.

Wells Fargo:

(Expectation of banking services) * (random fees, too many upsells) = Weakening brand.… read more “What is a brand?”

According to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes roughly 10,000 hours of focused practice to become a world-class expert.  His findings show that this holds true regardless of whether your area of expertise is chess, business, dancing or athletics.

So how long is 10,000 hours?

3 hours of practice every day for 10 straight years.

Sound overwhelming? It is.… read more “Want to be a World-Class Expert?”

At first glance, using a robotic answering machine for your business seems like a genius idea.  Pretend your a Wells Fargo business analyst ten years ago.  Let’s say that Wells Fargo at that time had all human tellers answering their phones and taking information.  Doing so took 40,000 man hours a month at $10 per hour, resulting in a cost of $400,000 to Wells Fargo.… read more “Robot Answering Systems SUCK!”

Scientific research has shown that people filter out evidence that is contrary to their beliefs.  People also hate to admit their faults even to themselves.

How can filtering evidence and hiding faults hurt you?

Let’s say you are the CEO of Acme Widget Manufacturing and you believe that the South American market does not have enough money to buy your widgets. … read more “Blind to Your Mistakes?”

Most people thinking about personal finance focus on budgets and expenses.  They try to reduce the money they spend on food, clothes, rent, entertainment, etc. and increase the amount they save and invest.

These people forget the other side of the coin though: INCOME.

You should put an enormous amount of effort into boosting your personal revenue streams. … read more “Common Personal Finance Misunderstanding”

Do you find yourself procrastinating on most of the duties you must take of?  Are you unable to find motivation to get much work done?

The cure for procrastination is to break down your mega-task into a bunch of little small ones.

Want to get in better shape?

Set a series of small tasks for yourself that lead to your goal and just focus on those, for example:

• Run for 10 minutes every day this week, then increase it by 2 minutes a day each week thereafter….

… read more “How to Stop Procrastinating”

The Bible is not often quoted on this site, but read this verse from Matthew 7:3

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

Everyone has one big problem that everyone just wishes they would fix:

• Football has too much time between plays
• AT&T has a slow network
• Ross has lines that are too long
• Safeway’s produce is usually of a poor quality

What is the one big problem that you have that everyone points out?… read more “Fix the Biggest Plank in Your Eye”

I have struggled with finding good ways to teach myself hard concepts.  By hard concepts, I mean skills that take multiple weeks or months or even years to become proficient at.  For example, C# programming, playing the guitar, sex, and flag football.

So what are the 4 steps to becoming a GRANDMASTER of any new hard concept?… read more “How to Learn Hard Concepts”