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New Year’s Resolutions Status

How are those New Year’s Resolutions coming?

There are varying statistics depending upon whose reports you read, but there’s a strong likelihood that you’ve already quit trying to keep your 2007 resolutions. A hefty percentage of people don’t even remember theirs by now.

Hey… let’s face it. Some of the personal resolutions may not have been all that important to begin with. But, if your resolutions had anything to do with making changes to your business, the consequences of not following through can be costly and painful.

My good friend, Jeff Timpanaro, published an article called Sticking With the Program. I highly recommend it!

All the Best in 2007!

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New Sarasota Retail Development Officially On Its Way

Perry Corneau recently noted that real estate giant Benderson Development has received approval for its University Town Center project in a unanimous vote of the Sarasota County Commissioners. This massive project brings nearly 2 million square feet of additional retail to the area, along with some exciting names like Nordstrom’s and Muvico.

The project is slated for completion in 2009 and will be going up at the University Parkway and I-75 interchange, which is already loaded with retail and commercial space. Just a few months ago a SuperTarget opened, which has by all accounts been a gigantic success.

Continue reading “New Sarasota Retail Development Officially On Its Way”

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Managing Your Time in 2007

Making Time & Money Work For You!Most, if not all, of the New Year’s Resolutions that get made, started, and ultimately broken in the first few weeks and months of a year have one thing in common: time management. Even someone with the strongest willpower imaginable will fail to create sustainable positive change in their lives if they don’t possess the skills to strategically manage time.

I’m not talking about whether you’re late to meetings or not.

I’m actually talking about how much time debt you’re in.

You know what I’m talking about… you’re carrying a “to-do” list longer than your left arm, and you go from one day to another making “payments” but never getting ahead. You feel the weight of it every moment of every day. It’s depressing. It affects your productivity, your effectiveness, your ability to focus. It demands that you fight fires and react rather than function intentionally and proactively.

If this is you, I want to extend a personal invitation for you to join me in Houston for personal strategic training with my colleague, Jeff Timpanaro. Jeff is the President of Oberata Consulting, and is a licensed Total Integration consultant. We’ll be conducting a 2-hour session with a group of executives, business owners, and professionals who are serious about taking control of their working lives.

This is life-changing training, and is pulled from the Total Integration Executive Program. Clients regularly pay thousands of dollars to obtain the training we’ll be providing to participants at this session.

IF YOU PARTICIPATE, YOU WILL ELIMINATE YOUR TIME DEBT!

Why would we make this available at such a substantially reduced investment?

A couple of reasons:

  • One: We believe that after getting your hands on the materials and the methods we’ll be teaching at this session, you’re going to believe that it is so valuable, that you won’t want to miss the 55+ other personal productivity and organizational development systems that we have to offer.
  • Two: We normally work with our clients one-on-one (much like a personal trainer does). In this group session, the value is reduced because of the level of personal attention we are able to provide. Thus, your investment is less. Here’s the kicker: the content is no different than what those who are enrolled in our Executive Program receive. The difference between this and our ongoing one-on-one training program comes down to accountability and personal attention.

Want to get started?

Here’s what to do:

  • Go to the official event website: http://www.TimeDebtEvent.com
  • Follow the links to the online registration
  • Invest $79 using a major credit card
  • Be there:

Homewood Suites Hotel, Kingwood, Texas
(23320 Hwy 59 North, Kingwood, TX 77339)
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
7pm-9pm

Leave a comment if you have questions. I look forward to seeing you there!

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Reconnect with Your Vision

Ever feel like you’ve lost touch with what it was that put you in the business you’re in? The day-to-day of selling, managing, hiring, firing, paying bills [yech!] and dealing with challenges can, at times, make any business owner wonder what they were thinking (smoking?) when they got started!

There’s nothing like reconnecting with the dreams that were in your heart when you took the plunge to re-energize you, to refresh your sense of purpose, and to refocus your energies.

Here’s an opportunity to feed that inner entrepreneur: Nourish The Dream is coming to Sarasota, Florida on November 17th and 18th, 2006. Here’s a taste of what you can expect:

  • 7 Wealth Secrets of the Rainforest – How to Turn Scarcity into Abundance presented by Michael Q. Pink
  • Your Destiny in the Marketplace – Connecting with Your Sense of Purpose presented by yours truly, David G. Johnson
  • Capturing the Future – Turning Your Dreams into Reality presented by Carlos Ramirez
  • Cost vs. Price – How Not Knowing the Difference Can Cripple You presented by Justin DeStoppelaire
  • 7 Laws of Persuasion presented by Michael Q. Pink

Registering by November 15th qualifies you for a discount!

I’ll hope to see you there.

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Marketing Value Update

Wow.

Give them something valuable. Now THAT’s marketing.

If you’re in business, or if you work in marketing, you need to be getting Alen Rosenspan’s e-mail newsletter. This month, you could’ve learned:

  • how to really get results using Strategic Database Marketing
  • the one word you should be using in all your marketing if you want it to really, really pull
  • why you don’t want to screw up your e-mail marketing
  • one important way not to screw up your e-mail marketing
  • why the subject line of your marketing e-mails should be 49 characters long
  • how many pixels wide the HTML design of your marketing e-mails should be (at least for the top portion that fits into the ‘preview’ of Outlook, Yahoo, and which will soon be adopted by AOL.

Sold yet? I am. And I’m not even a customer of his (yet). I got some valuable stuff.

Oh, and one more trick: turn your marketing campaign into something valuable. Staples has taken in close to $6 Million selling “Easy” buttons…

(If you’re still wondering, the word is “you”)

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Great Event!

A gigantic “Thank You” to Jeff Timpanaro of Oberata Consulting in Houston, Texas and all the people who worked so hard to make the “Eliminating Time Debt” event such a success. For those business owners and business leaders who participated, you have work to do! You received some powerful new tools and a preview of some of the other systems and tools available in the Total Integration Executive Program.

As a follow-up to this and other recent Total Integrationâ„¢ events, Epiphany Consulting has scheduled a “JumpStart” in partnership with Justin DeStoppelaire of C Service Consulting, Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is a one-hour phone call that gives you access to an actual Total Integrationâ„¢ module and a taste of what a real call is like. It is done in a group setting, however, so we are able to affix a low cost per participant. We’re also offering a free download of the “Eliminating Time Debt” interview with Eric Beck and Bill Sanders, which is a phenomenal resource that sells on CD for $49 in and of itself.

The next JumpStart will occur on Tuesday, October 17th at 1pm Eastern. Registration is required. The investment is a mere $47. You can access the registration page here.

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Eliminating Time Debt

Sticky Notes on MonitorEver had the feeling that you had so much to do that you could never possibly catch up?

I have.

Isn’t it amazing how similar that feeling is to the feeling of being in debt up to your eyeballs? Making minimum payments or interest only payments . . . never getting ahead . . . only creating more debt . . .

If you’re walking around under the load of an impossible task list, with no hope of ever catching up, then you’re in “time debt.” Even if you’re not that far behind, but keep moving your “to-do” list from one day to the next, then you’re in time debt. You’re probably also not aware of how much this really affects you – mentally, emotionally and even physically. These effects add up. Your productivity will be lower. Creativity is reduced. It can even result in depression.

What can you do about time debt?

Eliminate it!

My good friend Jeff Timpanaro (President of Oberata Consulting in Houston) and I are conducting a seminar in the Houston area on Tuesday, October 10th, 2006. The seminar is a 2-hour event, during which we will provide you with the tools you need to strategically change how you approach your “to-do” list and your calendar. These life-changing principles are being used by top executives and business owners across the country with some amazing results.

Visit the Time Debt Event site for more details! I hope to see you there.

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Searching for Money

How easy is it for your future customers to locate you and do business with you?

Evidently, this is a big question on the minds of business people, if Google’s ad revenue for this year is any indication. They are, incidentally, on track to earn over $2 Billion this year from their ‘sponsored links’ business, which is becoming increasingly popular as companies struggle to promote their websites.

Forbes.com reported yesterday on the “Search Industrial Complex” and the (relatively) new flock of businesses which are built entirely around “search engine optimization” and other forms of internet business promotion, quoting Google CEO Eric Schmidt who said, “People are not aware of how big the opportunity is.”

Why does this matter to you?

In today’s digital society, it has become increasingly important for businesses to not only have a web presence, but to ensure that their websites are being found by the people who are searching. This means that your website must rank highly on the search engines – particularly for those search terms or keywords that are most likely to bring you business.

Gone are the days when it was good enough to simply have a website. Businesses are wising up to the fact that investing in an online presence without having it optimized for searchability is much like building a large retail store in the middle of a 100-acre cow pasture. If no traffic is going by, you’ve wasted your money. No one will know your store even exists . . . you can forget having them come in and spend money.

So, from a strategic marketing standpoint, how is your website performing for you? When was your site last reviewed for relevant content? Is it showing up on the search engines when people are looking for businesses like yours? How are you measuring your traffic to understand the return on your online investment?

If it could use some improvement (as most sites could) . . . is a company specializing in SEO (search engine optimization) the right move for you? Perhaps. But I challenge you to answer this question from a strategic vantage point. A better question might be: when was the last time your company evaluated all of its marketing initiatives to strategically determine where and how to invest?

The answer to that question might just determine how tomorrow’s revenue searches you out.

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Have Yourself an Epiphany

Epiphany Marketing - Early Graphic
Epiphany Marketing - Early Graphic

One question I get asked a lot is: where did the name (Epiphany Marketing) come from?

What’s somewhat humorous about it is that I broke some of my own rules. Ironically, this consultancy started out as a marketing practice. One of my big pieces of advice for clients that are starting out or are considering a name change: keep it short, easy to spell, and easy to remember.

Who knew that “Epiphany” would be so hard to spell?

So, difficult spelling aside (it wasn’t hard for me to spell!), Epiphany is a name that reflects some of the fundamental, philosophical aspects of why I’m in this business to begin with.

Epiphany – (from definition number 3)

a. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.

b. A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” (Frank Maier).

epiphany. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=epiphany (accessed: September 11, 2006).

This expresses the heart and soul of what this business is all about. We are interested in creating those situations for our clients where suddenly everything becomes clear — as if the challenges they faced were out of focus and we’re able to help bring them into focus. We live to help others gain perspectives that will facilitate success!

Now that we are focused on strategic work, we see this occurring with our clients even more frequently! The work we enjoy doing most now is something like what a chiropractor does — we focus on alignment. Most functioning businesses already have everything they need to get to the next level, but what they lack is proper alignment. Having a strategic consultant come in will help find the leverage points that need to be adjusted – much like putting a finger or an elbow or a shoulder back in its joint would empower your golf swing.

Do you need an epiphany?