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Balancing Act: The Newsletter (No. 162, February 2013 )

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  • Don't fret. Take action or forget the issue. Worrying, stressing, and guilt simply burn up energy in a totally non-productive manner.

  • When you're at the beach and it rains, you tend to look to the horizon to see if clear skies are in the offing. When you feel you're in a storm, look to the horizon.

  • If you are doing a kindness with the expectation of thanks or gratitude, stop, because you're only doing it for yourself.

  • Writing a check is easy. Attending an event or offering to volunteer your help is real commitment.

  • If you're going to make a big splash, others might get wet. They have the option to leave the pool.

  • If you are reading this, you are probably in the top 5% of the population, world-wide. You have talent and resources. If you ignore them or forsake them, you will be in mental poverty.

  • The secret of abundance is to pursue it so that you can help others, not merely stuff your cheeks like a chipmunk.

  • People write me to ask what a word I've used means, or a reference pertains to. I have two words for you: Goo-Gle. If you aren't curious enough to investigate, why should I be your secretary?

  • I don't believe in cutting costs as a fundamental method to improve profits, but if you do it NEVER allow the client or customer to notice. When I see amenities reduced in top hotels, I don't go back.

  • Outside of the US, people are a lot more relaxed in organizations and there are far fewer ridiculous rules. On a million dollar launch coming back from dinner on an island to the Four Seasons in Bora Bora, the two crewmen asked if I'd like to drive the boat. That sure ain't going to happen in Hilton Head or Palm Beach.

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We were escorted to one of the largest suites at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas. The general manager had greeted us and everyone was incredibly helpful and friendly. They all asked, "Is there anything at all we can do for you?"

After looking around our digs for a minute or two, I realized that if we were farther out toward the end, we'd have a much better view. I said to the concierge, "Remember your offer….?" Fifteen minutes later we were re-deposited at the end of the building facing the sea with a humungous balcony. (A few doors away was the presidential suite where President Obama recently stayed.)

You never know until you ask. You can get lower prices, larger spaces, more service, and unknown amenities if you simply inquire. The worst that can happen is you're told that it can't happen.

I'm not a negotiator, and I rarely look at a price tag. But when I told Mercedes that I thought their property tax reimbursement demand was unreasonable and would they investigate, they halved it on the spot. Whenever I ask, "Is there a better table?" I'll get one if one is available. If the wine I order is out of stock, the sommelier will offer an alternative, and I'll ask, "What do you have slightly better that you'll offer at the same price?" I'll usually be accommodated.

I'm not suggesting you act as if you're in a souk, but simple questions never hurt. "Do you accept installments?" or "Is there a discount for cash?" or "Is there a way to avoid the line?"

This also is a good technique to use on yourself. We have some logistics and discipline (!) problems taking our dogs to be bathed and groomed. So we asked, "Can we take the grooming to them?" And we found a mobile groomer who comes to the house with a grooming van.

Ask yourself, "Is it really necessary for me to do this?" (Just as I ask a hotel, "Is it really necessary for me to fill out all this paperwork for my meeting?") The hotel almost always says, "No, just sign the one form with your payment choice."

I'll bet you might tell yourself, "No, stop doing it."

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The human condition: Data-drive

We are obsessed with data, justification, verification, and validation. The stock market goes down and at 10:30 in the morning some pundit is quoted in the news that the cause is "failing belief in the sincerity of Euro-Zone members to mutual aid in the future." Says who? The news reports it because the media can't bear to say, "The market is down thus far this morning," and leave it at that.

Our insistence on underlying cause and data-justification often creates worse circumstances than the problem itself. I once heard the position of shortstop in baseball (where fast, bouncing balls must be fielded and quickly thrown to first base) as "easy to understand but very hard to execute." There is a difference between complicated and complex.

I don't know how sound comes out of a phone, I'd just as soon attribute it to magic. But I do know that if I press a button I'll either hear a dial tone or someone's voice. That happens consistently. However, the stock market is complex, comprising institutional investors, global connections, speed trading, diverse instruments, interpretations of corporate earnings, guesses about confidential strategies, and so forth. I have no idea what will happen in tomorrow's market, any more than I do with the outcome of a football game or horse race.

We need to operate in greater comfort with ambiguity. The ability to adjust, adapt, and acclimate is more important than trying to avoid it or eliminate it. I know how to make an airline reservation and get my boarding pass, but I don't know if the plane will be on time or even take off, so some "Plan B" needs to be in my head (or even in place).

Talib in "The Black Swan" makes the now-famous point that a turkey is confident the butcher loves it for about a thousand days, since it is fed well and unmolested. Then Thanksgiving comes, and in the midst of a sense of great well being, things change harshly. The past is not a very good predictor of the future, no matter how much data we have and how long we have it.

I'm not looking for validation, I'm looking for victory. I don't want verification, but I do need veracity. I am not propelled by data-drive.

I just want to drive.


NEW AND EXCITING:

COMMON SENSE WEEKLY VIDEO SERIES

Learn low-labor, high fee consulting for $5 a week. People are joining from all over the world. A five-minute video every week to build your career immediately. Created after sold-out teleconference and New York workshops. You'll receive all past editions when you sign up!


NEW! 2013 TELECONFERENCE SERIES

12 editions, beginning in January. Ten members of the Mentor Hall of Fame will interview me and two people chosen from subscribers will interview me on the other two occasions! Twelve hours with me "unplugged." Large discount prior to December 31.


NEW! 2013 ALAN'S FRIDAY WRAP®

This will be a five-minute weekly podcast next year, 52 weeks of quick commentary on contemporary business events which can enrich (or endanger) your professional and personal pursuits. Learn what Pop Warner Football League concussions have to do with your clients' decision making, or what scuba diving has to do with committees. Receive access to ALL PAST audio and video.


NEW! Supercharged Coaching

My newest program, intensive, nine-month work with me assertively pushing you. This is NOT mentoring, but focused, continual work to produce that book, enter that new market, bring those new clients on board, create that better life balance. Limited participation. I call this KAATN (kick ass and take names).


ALAN'S GROWTH CYCLE®

Over the past year, six growth cycles of between five and ten people each have exponentially increased their business and enhanced their lives. We "renew" in March, and are accepting new members, or new groups if people choose to form their own groups. These include personal meetings in the groups and one-on-one with Alan, phone meetings, accountability partners, private teleconferences, etc. There are also discounts on all other offerings in Alan's communities, some of which are free.


ADVANCED WRITER'S CIRCLE

Monthly, January through December 2013
Join in a monthly call to critique your submissions for books, teleconferences, video series, blogs, newsletters and so on. Perfect for the "major" writing projects. I take only 10 people, five slots remain. Over the prior two years, people have improved their writing from laborious articles to accepted book proposals. $2500 for the entire year! Write to [email protected]. One opening remains!


SHAMELESS PROMOTION

March 13-14
Alan's Home, East Greenwich, RI

In this unparalleled program of no more than six people, we spend two intensive days creating aggressive and highly effective promotional programs for you. "If you don't blow your own horn, there is no music." I have two openings only in each of the sets of dates above. Fee is only $4,000, which includes lodging, all meals, and all local transportation. You just have to get there and return! ONE SEAT REMAINS.
TWO SESSIONS IN FEBRUARY ARE SOLD OUT.

Use this page to register: http://summitconsulting.com/store/quick-pay.php

Details: http://summitconsulting.com/seminars/shameless_promotion.php


THE ALMOST FREE WORKSHOP

March 21
Toronto, Canada

These sessions have been sold-out in Boston and LA. Spend an entire day with Alan, in a session that normally costs at least $1,000, for a tiny entry fee, his way of paying back. Learn the basics (and the tricks) of marketing, value, fee setting, implementation, lowering labor intensity, and so on. This is the only such session scheduled in 2013.


THE STRATEGIST

April 7-8, 2013, The Pierre Hotel, New York City

A rare repeat of one of my most popular workshops ever, the first day focuses on the philosophy, creation, formulation, and marketing of strategy. The optional second day focuses on actual client implementation and/or implementation for your own business. Complete documentation is included from an actual strategy project that required several months. Overwhelming demand for this rare program.


BRAND NEW! THE CREATIVE PROCESS

April 9, 2013
The Pierre Hotel, New York City

I'll take a limited number of people through the same processes I use to quickly create globally popular offerings, such as Common Sense Consulting (above) in teleconference, workshop, and subscription forms, using participants' IP and "sweet spots." Very personalized. This will sell out, enroll ASAP. I'll show you how I made over $200,000 within 21 days by monetizing IP, and then WE'LL TAKE YOUR IP AND DO THE SAME THING! Do not miss this, i's the only one scheduled.


MILLION DOLLAR CONSULTING® COLLEGE

April 22-26, 2013
Newport, RI

Join the 200 elite people who have participated in this unique program that has been offered in Newport, Boston, London, and Sydney. Everything you need to begin a business or dramatically grow an existing business, from marketing to delivery. There is no other offering like this in the world.


THE GAME CHANGER FOR MANY OF YOU:

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 2013

October 21-25, The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL

In the all-new Fundamentals Experience, Oct. 21-22, you'll learn how to formulate, nurture, and consistently create the IP which leads to thought leadership. MY SPECIAL GUEST IS RANDY GAGE, the global thought leader in prosperity and abundance-thinking whom you would otherwise never hear in a small group.

Oct. 23-25 is the Thought Leadership Graduate Experience, focusing on leveraging prior participants' success and solidifying thought leadership. MY SPECIAL GUEST IS DAN PINK, author of "Drive" and other best-sellers, who will chat interactively about gaining and sustaining thought leadership. Both Randy and Dan will be at some of our meals for more informal talk.

There is no place else in the world to experience a week like this in your development and success track. ONLY TWO SEATS remain in the Graduate Experience. Can you afford NOT to attend? If you attend the first two days you are qualified to attend the next three if you so choose.


 

AND FOR THOSE WHO DESIRE SPECIAL GROWTH EXPERIENCES:

SPECIAL TELECONFERENCE ONE

March 15, 2013
11:00 am Eastern US time

Alan Weiss on Instructional Design:Excellence in Training, Teaching, and Delivering Dynamic Classroom Results

This special teleseminar is based on Alan’s experience and best practices honed over nearly three decades of conducting successful high-end educational workshops, immersions, teleseminars, and other learning experiences, as well as an early career as the most successful trainer in the most successful training company in the US.

Learn the core skills and strategies that will elevate your training and teaching to the highest levels. Are you earning $2,500 for a workshop? You should be earning $25,000:

  1. Working backwards from learning objectives
  2. Planning a full day: Alan’s 4-90
  3. What never to forget when structuring shorter programs
  4. Making it easy: How to create top-notch preparatory work
  5. Dynamic openings
  6. Ain’t no boring college lecture: Conveying learning points succinctly
  7. Tips for structuring interactive groups
  8. Developing power questions to maximize group discussion
  9. Visuals and technology that you don’t trip over
  10. Principles for providing direct, helpful feedback
  11. Dealing with hecklers and road-blockers
  12. Adhesion: Sticking the landing (actually using the stuff)

SPECIAL TELECONFERENCE TWO

March 15, 2013
1:00 pm Eastern US time

Alan Weiss on Abundance Thinking: Thinking Big, Living Large, and Losing the Poverty Mentality

In recent years, Alan’s Thinking Big, Living Large, and Million Dollar Mindset offerings have emerged as among his most popular and frequently discussed topics in his communities. In this special teleconference, Alan will build upon these seminal works to “dig deeper” and illuminate how poverty thinking can quietly undermine even the best intentions to rejoice, live large, and care for self and others.

Learn and use and improve with these principles:

  • Why flying first class is cheaper than coach after all the thinking is done
  • Why you can't help anyone more than you help yourself
  • Breaking out of the guilt jail
  • "First confidence" replacing "second guessing"
  • Creating three-dimensional perspective
  • Developing your fire power
  • Succeeding by giving
  • It would have been a better world if Atlas shrugged

This is not about making money or gaining fame, though those may be offshoots if you so desire. It's about being comfortable in your own skin, recognizing the ethical opportunities that life and society provide, and running down the track without the burden you may now be carrying.

The good news and bad news: It's about what you think and tell yourself. Join Alan as he gets as close as he might ever to Tony Robbins—but wear sneakers.

Each program: $175
Sign up for both: $300

Alan's Growth Cycle® Discounts Apply
Alan's Roundtable® Members Free

Deadline March 1, 2013. After March 1, $200 for each program.

Register immediately at:
http://www.summitconsulting.com/teleconference/Special-Teleconference-2013-03.php



Digital Empire Creation
Provided by Chad Barr and his team

Work with the strategic technological genius, Chad Barr, Master Mentor and Mentor Hall of Fame member, who is behind all of my web activity (and co-author with me of Million Dollar Web Presence). His team will create "instant" intellectual property from your material and place it in a variety of forms on the Internet on a continuing basis.

 

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I am sitting at the bar of Prime 112 in Miami Beach, and I've smelled bacon as soon as I walked in the door. The group of us sit at the bar, it's too early for dinner, and I'm watching the wait staff prepare for later diners. I'm wondering what dish requires so much bacon to be prepared that the aroma fills the air like cheap perfume.

The bar maid finally makes her way down to me, and I order a martini. Coyly, I say to her, "Is that bacon I smell?" Without a word, she moves a large glass on the bar containing about 40 pieces of bacon six inches closer to me.

"Maybe it's this?" she says as she goes for the vodka.

Balancing Act® is our registered trademark. You are encouraged to share the contents with others with appropriate attribution. Please use the ® whenever the phrase "Balancing Act" is used in connection with this newsletter or our workshops.

Video Rant

See Writing on the Wall, featuring Koufax the Wonder Dog.

Visit my blog

Two new podcasts every week. Special cigar smoking room.

Join the Friday Wrap®

Weekly, 15-minute podcasts with segments on current business events, new intellectual property, and some humor. Monthly, ten-minute videos on business and self-development. And a full-day, free conference in mid-year. Three full work days—24 hours—of programming for a few dollars an hour in investment. Get this weekly booster shot right away. You’ll get all the archived material.

2013 Teleconference Series

A series of wide-ranging interviews with me, with 10 conducted by members of the Million Dollar Consulting� Mentor Hall of Fame.

Shameless Promotion

East Greenwich, RI
Scheduled on demand

One-to-four people participate in a rigorous two days of promotional "mayhem," in which we create assertive and powerful approaches to mold thought leaders, "go to" people, interviewing targets, and objects of interest. The second course is now completed, and we ensure compatibility by vetting applicants. Nothing else like this if you seek to "rise above the noise." One to four people, scheduled at mutual convenience. The third one has recently been formed.

The reason it's so hard for some to be creative is that the act requires emptying the mind, not filling it. —Alan Weiss


E-mail [email protected]
P.O. Box 1009 � East Greenwich, RI 02818-0964 � Telephone: (401) 884-2778 � Fax: (401) 884-5068

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