Welcome back to Dr. BrockO's blog. Just kidding. I realize you were beginning to think this was a medical blog, but we are back to business now. First, let us paint a word picture so you remember the importance of this topic.

What are the typical events that lead to a human heart attack? First, a tiny plaque ruptures in one of your arteries. Imagine this plaque as a “festering sore” or “inflamed pimple” filled with fat, cholesterol, and white blood cells. When a plaque ruptures, “products of injury” are released. The response to injury that follows causes the blood flowing inside the artery to suddenly clot. Just as a clot forms around the injury when you cut your finger. The blood clot completely plugs your artery suffocating the heart muscle it once supplied. As the muscle dies your heart becomes an ineffective pump and you die. Your lifeblood was the oxygen and nutrients carried to your heart by your blood.

For those that need a visual, see the following video:

What are the typical events that lead to a business heart attack? According to the US Census, 62.8% of all businesses have a fatal heart attack (fail) within 6 years. Business failure is often a result of declining gross margin (or profit) and/or expenses rising as a percentage of sales. If either of these occur while sales volume is increasing, your business is in serious trouble.

So, what is the lifeblood of your business? The answer is margin. Margin is the most important thing you will ever consider in your business and is absolutely critical to high growth businesses. Business is not about how much you sell, it's about how much you keep. Margin is the price minus the cost of goods/services sold. Margin is what is left over after all of your direct costs to fulfill whatever it was you sold.

How do successful businesses differ? They tend to have high gross margins and excess margins are invested in market and product development. If sales volume rises with the above, a raging success is the result.

All things being equal, the company with the strongest margins wins because they have the deepest pockets. This means they can outspend, out-market, and crush the competition. Everyone else is left scrambling to keep from being boxed out of the market by the company with the strongest margins. This is who you want to be and it is possible even if you are not this company right now.

Ironically, margin is also the most important thing you will ever consider in your personal life and is absolutely critical to happiness. Your commitments including time, money, energy, etc…all require margin. So, the next time someone asks you the secret of life, you can tell them margin.

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I often find that site owners feel website visitors are looking for reasons to buy from them. So, they give them a laundry lists of features. Do you realize that subconsciously visitors are instead looking for reasons not to buy from you?

Their mind attempts to find every conceivable inconsistency it can. Subconsciously they believe there is more risk associated with making a decision than there is in doing nothing at all. Now naturally, they have a problem (need or want) or they wouldn't be looking to buy from you. Likely there is significant risk in doing nothing about their problem and it is your job to help them see that.

The goal of an e-commerce store is to remove any elements of friction (objections) so that customers feel comfortable enough to pull the trigger and order during their first visit. If they leave your website, you will likely never see them again. Some may want to return at a later time but will either be unable to find your website or will get distracted by something else. This is why it is absolutely critical to make them feel safe and comfortable.

This can be accomplished through a variety of means such as a satisfaction guarantee, price-match guarantee, low-price guarantee, security guarantee/seal, privacy guarantee/seal, toll-free phone number, flat-rate or free shipping, customer testimonials, liberal return policy, etc… Your potential customers must know that you want them to be happy no matter what. Sometimes it is a little more costly in the short-term for you but the rewards in the long-term more than make up for it.

Rest assured that if they do not spend their money with you, they will spend it with someone else (even if it means on an unrelated product). Even in our tough economic times, people are spending most of their money. Hardly anybody saves anymore. As a business, it becomes our goal to remove all objections and elements of friction so we have the opportunity to convince the prospect why it is the right decision and later why it was the right decision to buy from us.

In addition, to building trust and persuading; it is your job to make sure your website is EASY. Nobody wants to work any harder, think any more, or spend any more time than absolutely necessary. You only get a very short amount of time to make sure your process appears easy or they will leave and find another solution.

Figure out what 3 or 4 things 80% of visitors will be hoping for. Make these prominent on your home page. Write text to take visitors by the hand and walk them through a simple pathway of pages that culminate in the order page. Anticipate the help they need and give it to them. These are just a few of the ways you can release the brakes on your business growth and increase conversions and profits.

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There is real risk in sharing this message because it crosses into personal matters and we cling to our existing beliefs like a life preserver. You will either be open to the message or you will not and no amount of convincing will change that fact. I want you to know that I thought long and hard about this and decided that I am willing to take the risk on the off chance that what follows makes a difference for you and your family.

Today I would like to share some results of a recent experiment. This is going to be long but very important, so please bear with me. First, I need to fill you in on a little background information. I am a male, 33 years old, 5' 11" tall, and 146 pounds. On average, I work out six days per week split between lifting free weights and running on a treadmill. I have been following Body-for-LIFE for over the last six years. I typically eat six times per day with a combination of lean protein (chicken, cottage cheese, protein powder) and carbohydrates (apples, peas, corn). I never smoke, drink, or do drugs. I have never had any serious illnesses, diseases or surgeries. I am not perfect but I would definitely say much better than average with regards to taking care of my health.

With all that said, my cholesterol has been elevated for the last several years. I went in for my most recent physical and my doctor told me I should start taking statins. He even told me about a 17 year old female track athlete he put on statins (as if that makes it okay for me). Told me it is probably genetic and that clearly eating healthy and exercising regularly were not working. Although he never did ask what I eat or what and how much exercise I do. He just whipped out his pen and wrote me a nice little prescription for drugs and sent me on my way. Who taught him this strategy? Pharmaceutical companies. Who gets a kickback on this strategy? The clinic.

I went back and told him I would like a VAP test done to get a more accurate picture of my cholesterol. He said they don't typically do that but would go ahead for me. Got those results back and he said statins are still my best bet. So, I began doing some research on statins. Needless to say I don't want to take them and especially not for the rest of my life. It made me sick to think it had gotten to this point with all of the hard work I have put in to be healthy. I don't want to take drugs to fix one thing and destroy something else (like my liver).

In my research, I ran across Dr. McDougall and began frantically consuming his website, his books, and the published studies (all respected medical journals) he references to back up his program. What I found was something that not only made complete sense and gave me hope but shocked me to the core. I kept reading every free moment I could find and still am one month later.

Basically, the McDougall program is a starch-based, whole foods plant-based diet. The center-piece of your meals are starches (complex carbohydrates) such as potatoes, rice, corn, or beans combined with some fruits and green and yellow vegetables. You are to avoid all animal products (including meat, dairy, fish, and eggs) and all free oils. You are to clean up your habits by avoiding alcohol, tobacco, soda, and coffee. Lastly, you are to get a pair of walking shoes and get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least three times per week. Turns out the 60% of the earth's population that eats this way literally does not know heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and most other chronic diseases so common in Western culture. We are literally digging our own graves with our teeth.

Ironically, many will find this eating style radical but will feel it is completely normal to take diet pills, starve themselves, take pharmaceutical drugs, have their chest cracked open, or submit to chemotherapy and radiation. I had no trouble adopting the eating style and the change in how I feel is beyond words. I won't make long lists of all the ailments and things that went away within weeks and often days, but if you suffer from headaches, acid reflux, constipation, back pain, fatigue, anxiety, acne, depression, overeating, uncontrollable sweet tooth and a million other common issues many of us face…you can say goodbye to all of them within days.

This program has completely changed my life. I was beginning to feel old and now I feel better than I did as a teenager. These changes alone were enough to make this a permanent life change for me, but the ultimate measuring stick was still going to be how it affected my cholesterol. I had my total cholesterol tested again and it went from 217 to 138 in 14 days. That is a drop of 79 points with zero drugs or supplements! Anything under 150 literally lowers your risk of heart disease to zero. Remember that high cholesterol is not a disease but an indicator of atherosclerosis and heart disease. It means you are sick. Your arteries are covered with festering sores, clogged, and in spasm. Nobody has ever died from high cholesterol, so lowering it with drugs just means you will die with normal cholesterol numbers.

So, how come my doctor never mentioned this option to me. What about informed consent? Why are doctors not helping people with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases? Why is this not covered in the media? Marketing is why. The meat, dairy, pharmaceutical, and supplement industries are ridiculously powerful (and persuasive) and they need you to kill yourself eating meat, drinking milk, and taking drugs in order to profit. Hospitals and clinics are just another form of big business looking to maximize profits. You can't get rich telling people to stop eating meat, dairy, and oils. You can however get rich by pushing drugs, surgery, and radiation (especially if they never cure the root cause). If you see doctors as next to God, then you need to read Heart Failure - Diary of a Third Year Medical Student. You will never see them the same again.

If everyone in the United States suddenly followed the McDougall program, we would witness the greatest financial crisis of all-time impacting the following industries: medical, farming, restaurant, food, vitamin/supplement, weight-loss, fitness, etc… It is unlikely this is going to happen anytime soon. If you want to be sick and riddled with disease, go ahead and follow what everyone else is doing. You will get the same results. Take a close look at everyone around you and see how many look healthy versus sick. When is the last time you saw someone go to the doctor for heart disease, cancer, or diabetes and come back cured? The answer is never. How about improved? The answer is still never.

Hospitals and clinics make money by having you be sick and stay sick. If you got healthy and never came back, that would not be good for their business model. That is the truth. I know, we were told that doctors are there to help us and most wish they could but often their hands are tied. The reality is that you cannot serve two Gods at one time. Either helping people or making money has to win and today there is no doubt that making money almost always wins.

If you were my Mom or Dad and I could ask for only one last favor…I would beg you to watch the following video with me:

Why current therapies for chronic disease don't work & why lifestyle medicine can't fail - Dr. McDougall presentation at an American College of Legal Medicine conference.

Note that Dr. McDougall is a board certified internist practicing in California, not some quack. While he does sell a bunch of different things in order to monetize his business (as we all should be doing), you are not required to buy anything to follow the free McDougall program.

My mother went through breast cancer just a few short years ago. She has just never quite been the same since. The evidence is overwhelming that diet and lifestyle changes are the only hope she has (and sadly the primary reason it got to this point). I am obviously worried to death about her. I was hopeful that she would trust me enough to consider the evidence with an open mind. She was EXTREMELY skeptical because it counters everything we have ever been taught (*by industry*) about diet, lifestyle, and medicine. In just a few short weeks, her life changed dramatically. She looked at least 10-15 years younger and felt like her old self again. I got my old mom back!!! The more she learns, the more convinced she becomes that this is the absolute truth. She desperately wants her sister to do the same but not everyone is ready to hear the message.

If you still think I am nuts, I am fine with that. If this helps one other person, it will all have been worth it. How sick do you really figure I will get by eating this way? Sicker than consuming unlimited quantities of meat, dairy, and oil? All I ask is that you really put on your critical thinking cap and think long and hard about what Dr. McDougall has to say. The program is only 12 days and if you follow it faithfully, you will see and feel the results long before the 12 days are up. I guarantee it!

Update 02-2009: My cholesterol is still 138. I have spent nearly all of my free-time over the last three plus months reading dozens of books, watching nearly 100 hours of video, and reading tons of articles/studies on what the world literature says about the link between chronic degenerative diseases (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.) and the rich western diet. The peer-reviewed studies published in the world's best medical journals could not possibly be any more overwhelming or convincing. See the following experts for more information:

• John A. McDougall, M.D. (my favorite - brilliant man & terrific teacher)
• Douglas Lisle, Ph.D.
• Jeff Novick, MS, RD, LD, LN
• T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
• Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
• Neal D. Barnard, M.D.
• John Robbins
• Processed People (Documentary) - Experts
• A Delicate Balance - The Truth (Documentary)
• Diet for a New America (Documentary)
• Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP, IBCLC
• Michael Greger, M.D.
• John Abramson, M.D.
• Nathan & Robert Pritikin
• Dean Ornish, M.D.
• Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
• Howard Lyman
• Healthy Lifestyle Expo DVDs (tons of experts)
• Michael Klaper, M.D.
• Food, Inc. - Hungry for Change
• Fast Food Nation
• Earthlings Documentary (more info at Earthlings Website)

A sample of well-written articles covering topics most of us have been conditioned (aka brainwashed via marketing) to overlook and disregard:

• The Milk Letter : A Message to My Patients - Robert M. Kradjian, MD
• Why We're Losing The War On Cancer [And How To Win It] by Clifton Leaf (Fortune magazine, 2004)
• Is Heart Surgery Worth It? (Business Week, 2005)
• Consumers May Have a Beef with Cattle Feed (USA Today, 2003)
• They Die Piece By Piece (Washington Post, 2001)
• Modern Meat in America–A Brutal Harvest (Washington Post, 2001)

P.S. Am I a card carrying member of the lunatic fringe? If somebody had shown me all of this just a few short years ago, I would have said they must have fallen off their rocker. The difference between me then and me now? I am no longer so self-absorbed that I cannot see the damage and suffering I cause to myself, to animals, to the environment, and to hungry people by what I choose to put on my fork. I am left with a terribly uneasy feeling knowing that all of this could be avoided if people simply opened their eyes, their ears, and their mind. But sadly, most never will.

“Live simply so that others may simply live.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity” ~ George Bernard Shaw

“You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Update 06-2009: I am still "obsessively" studying the topic of diet and disease (my new favorite hobby). It has been a life-changing journey for me personally. I feel like I can "truly" see for the first time in my life and I feel better than I have in 15 years (physically, mentally, emotionally). We have been sold a pack of lies by industries which put profits ahead of public health. The rabbit hole is SO deep that at times I find it difficult to fathom the entire web of deceit.

All of the "real" answers are out there (backed by science and uncontested in our best medical journals) and nearly anyone can re-gain their lost health and appearance for free. No drugs, no surgeries, no starvation, no counting calories, no portion sizes, no supplements/vitamins, no fancy exercise equipment, no yucky bars or meal replacement shakes, and no diet book of the week. The solution is actually rather simple, just not easy to implement because industry has shaped our thinking, our norms, and our social interactions. All of which lead us to do things that may feel good for a fleeting moment but ultimately make us feel miserable for the vast majority of our waking hours in a whole host of ways.

I used to think I could exercise away my poor eating habits. That somehow it would compensate. Now I realize that exercise plays a much smaller role than I would have ever dreamed possible. It turns out, you eat for health and exercise for fitness. If you eat the foods the human body was meant to consume, you will quickly begin to look and feel like the person you were meant to be (maybe not "your" ideal, but beautiful indeed). I know, it sounds ridiculous and too good to be true. I would have said the same thing a year ago.

If you get the eating right, everything else takes care of itself. Just ask my wife (Nicole Heyrman), who nearly won $1 million through the Body-for-LIFE Challenge. Since then she had a baby and hasn't worked out in a few years (other than chasing our son and going for walks) but is nearly where she was when she worked out seven days a week, several hours a day and was hungry all the time during that fierce competition. And she is not as into this topic as I am, so she is not obsessing over her choices the way she did during the challenge or the way I do now.

I was born and raised in Wisconsin, so I feel like a monkey trying to survive in a jungle overflowing with meat, dairy, and beer. I prefer to stay away from labels such as vegetarian and vegan because too many of them are unhealthy. I firmly believe Dr. McDougall has everything correct because he shares the "ideal" path to the health we all deserve…a starch-based diet, a pair of walking shoes, and clean habits. However, he will probably never reach critical mass because people prefer to hear good news about their bad habits. They want solutions that don't include change.

I like to say that I don't eat anything with a face or a mother. I also like to say that I no longer celebrate Easter for breakfast, Thanksgiving for lunch, Christmas for dinner, and a birthday party before bed. I can still remember when those foods were special (something to look forward to) but now people eat them daily with zero enthusiasm. I always have a choice. I can choose to feel healthy or I can choose to feel sick. Sometimes I choose to eat foods that taste good but will make me feel sick. However, more often than not, I choose foods that make me feel healthy.

Desserts are my primary weakness. My wife and I are dessert "connoisseurs". I am currently doing the elimination diet to test for allergies and ate nothing but brown rice and water for seven days to clear my system. Funny thing is that I got used to it and when I introduced apples they were a complete disappointment. I expected them to be AWESOME. It has been a few weeks now and I don't even think about treats anymore and don't miss anything. Went to a holiday picnic, where junk food was the centerpiece, and nothing had any pull because I feel too good. How cool is that?

If you struggle with eating the wrong foods even when you know the right foods, you are caught in the pleasure trap. If you want to finally understand why eating right is such a torturous battle and how to co-exist with those who do not want to eat like you, allow me to offer one of the most profound presentations I have ever seen. The Pleasure Trap by Douglas Lisle, Ph.D.. I would hate to ruin such a brilliant message, superbly delivered. He also has a book but the video is priceless. I have not run across anything else like it.

You certainly have to dig "deep" to find the sources of information you can trust. Most people skip this critical step because they prefer to go with the one that fits neatly with what they already believe or want to believe (good news about their bad habits). People don't like to change.

There are a lot of learned/educated people spouting all sorts of ridiculous ideas. You also have to realize that "unbiased" does not exist for anyone…even you and me. However, the most insidious are those acting as fronts for industry. You have to take a step back and think about potential ideas in terms of the bigger picture. Use your common sense.

Just look around! See what different populations eat, how they look (fit or fat) and what their health reflects. There are 1.73 billion Asians and not a single one of them is fat living on a diet based on rice (and white rice at that). A starch-based diet with fruits and vegetables has never failed a population of billions of people. You must understand the importance of starch in your diet as the Asians have with rice, the Peruvians have with potatoes, the Native Americans have with corn, the Hawaiians have with poi, and so on.

Contrast that with Americans/Europeans (and other societies who have copied us) eating flesh, cow's milk, french fries, candy, and soda. Do they look healthy and fit? Are they free of medications and daily sick feelings? If the high-protein, high-fat, high-sugar diets work so well then why don't I see anybody healthy, fit and trim over the age of 18 in America (with the exception of people who live in the gym or who have won the genetic lottery)? No matter, it is a rare sight indeed.

You also must consider who stands to gain most from a particular message or piece of information. How much money is at stake? You do realize that nobody gets rich telling people to eat plants but a lot of people get rich telling you to continue consuming the rich western diet? The meat and dairy industry, the processed food industry, the restaurant industry, the perfume/deodorant/hygiene industry, the supplement/vitamin industry, the medical industry (hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses, supply/equipment companies), the pharmaceutical industry, the weight-loss/diet/self-help industry, etc… If you choose to not use your critical thinking skills, this amount of money will most certainly be enough to convince you to do what is in the best interests of industry profit.

I used to tell people that I had to eat at least a little meat each day to have that full feeling. I loved bacon cheddar cheeseburgers and french fries with ketchup and mayo. I loved pepperoni pizza. I loved Ben & Jerry's pints. I was born and raised in Wisconsin and ate this way for 33+ years. After only a few months of moving to a whole foods plant-based diet, the smell of burning flesh and the thought of eating dead animals makes me sick to my stomach. I also never realized just how much I stunk from eating all that decaying flesh. Once you stop, you can smell it on everyone around you. It is absolutely disgusting!

And man does it feel great to lose that extra 20 pounds of fat, feel full all the while, look fit and trim and not even have to workout to get there. It couldn't possibly be any easier.

If what I have learned helps even one other person as it has me and my family, I will be content. At first, I wanted to save the world with my newfound knowledge. Now I realize that I have more than enough to worry about just taking care of myself and my family that I have to leave it up to everyone else to choose whether they want to be healthy or sick. I wish everyone would choose healthy, but I know most will choose sick. And that makes me extremely sad.

Let me guess, you have questions. Already ahead of you…

• When Friends Ask: Where Do You Get Your Protein?
• When Friends Ask: “Why Did You Quit Meat?”
• When Friends Ask: Where Do You Get Your Calcium?
• When Friends Ask: “Why Don’t You Drink Milk?”
• When Friends Ask: Why Do You Avoid Adding Vegetable Oils?

“Gluttony and chronic degenerative diseases have been linked in the minds of both layman and scientists for many years. The saying "to dig your grave with your teeth" probably has its origins in antiquity, but in the prosperous areas of the Western world during the past few decades the maxim has taken on real and tragic meaning.” ~ From "Low-Fat Diet" 1959, by Dr. Roy Swank, MD, Professor and Head of Division of Neurology, University of Oregon Medical School. He served as the head of the Division of Neurology for 22 years.

“America is a constipated nation…. If you pass small stools, you have to have large hospitals.” ~ Denis Burkitt ("Fiber Man")

“I think it's ironic that the health agencies responsible for protecting our health are, in effect, destroying our health and shortening our lives. A million and a half people are dying each year prematurely because their food supply is poisoned with excess fat and cholesterol.” ~ Nathan Pritikin

“I don’t understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol-lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.” ~ Dean Ornish, MD

Also see, Addicted to Band-Aids? and Is Unbiased a Myth?.

Image Credit: unforth

The average e-tailer or e-commerce store spends the vast majority of their time and resources finding new customers. Ironically, this is the most difficult and expensive task a business faces. After going through all of the effort to acquire this new customer, they simply leave the possibility of reordering to chance. To have a backend means to have mechanisms in place that help your customers buy from you multiple times.

No matter what statistics you look at, it is always easier to sell to an existing customer than a new customer. Unless you really botched up their order and did not deliver on your promises. If that is the case, you have other issues that need attention. For example, selling to an offline B2B customer may look like this. You have a 1 in 8 chance of converting a new prospect (probably closer to 1 in 100 or 1 in 50 for B2C), a 1 in 3 chance of converting an inactive lead (no purchases in last 12 months), and a 1 in 2 chance of converting an active lead.

So, why do so many of us (the vast majority) fall into the trap of constantly searching for new leads and neglecting our active and inactive leads? Often it is because we don't realize that we could easily be leaving a 50% increase in our revenues on the table or we simply don't understand where to begin. We are not unfamiliar with the process because often successful companies that we purchase from use backend strategies on us.

An internet business breaks down nicely into a few general areas: traffic, conversion, and backend. All of which are only a means to an end; increased sales which hopefully leads to increased profit. Many people focus nearly all of their energies on increasing traffic. A subset recognize that it is often easier to increase conversion than it is to increase targeted/converting traffic. An even smaller subset recognize the power of selling more than once to their existing customers. This actually allows them to increase revenue while keeping cost of sales flat.

Information marketers often use backends to sell more because it is easy for them. You start with a free newsletter which leads to an ebook which leads to an audio course which leads to a video course which leads to a tele-seminar which leads to a membership site which leads to a coaching club. The same thing applies for physical products but it simply requires a bit more creativity and effort on your part.

Start small and build from there. If you give your customers more of what they want and enhance their ability to get the results they are after; you may very well double your business literally overnight.

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Did you enjoy Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Did you stand in line or squat at websites just waiting to pounce on the amazing deals? Did you land any amazing deals? Do you feel that you won this round? Would you go so far as to say it was a steal? Or did you end up stressed, in a proverbial pushing and shoving match, and ultimately had to settle for something other than what you had your heart set on?

I skipped both events. I love deals as much as the next person and in fact, I would be considered extremely frugal by most. So, why do I skip these huge opportunities to save money? Let me count the reasons. It is cheaper to avoid shopping altogether as much as possible because brilliant marketers take you by the hand and help you spend more money than you anticipated and on things you had no intention of buying. Don't believe me, go home and browse through your closets and basement for concrete proof. They really are good and I have been burned many times. Ever have something you spent a lot of money on, is now worth nearly nothing, you want to get rid of it, but you can't do it because you feel bad about the wasted money? I thought so.

The next reason is that time is my most scarce and valuable resource. I can always trade my time for more money but money cannot buy me more time. If you believe Blackberry's and iPhones save you time, then you need to go read Margin. Turns out the cultures with the most time saving devices ironically have the least amount of free time. If you have not read this book, I beg you to go get a copy from your local library or Amazon.com. One of my all-time favorite books. While you are at it, if you have not read Your Money or Your Life, pick that one up as well. One of my other all-time favorites. Since I have your attention, go read Escape from the Institutional Straightjacket as well.

I can speak intelligently about this because I have been on both sides of the fence. I have been the person who goes to Best Buy just looking for something to buy but with no idea what. This is called pleasure for the person with a very stressful job and way too much disposable income. Shopping malls were made for this very purpose. Giant buildings full of wants but nearly no needs. All of this over-consumption left me with too much house, too many cars, and too much junk. I am in the process of remedying the situation and now reside on the other side of the fence. Call me Mr. Frugal.

How we choose to use our limited time on this earth determines the value of our life. We arrived with nothing and we will also leave with nothing. Our culture is driven by consumption (actually over-consumption) but unfortunately, happiness is often uncovered by freeing ourselves from this trap. Our fulfillment only increases to a certain point (more for needs than wants) and eventually starts to go down as we continue to accumulate stuff (especially true as we become adults). We keep buying with the anticipation that we will feel more fulfilled but end up more and more empty.

So, how do I reconcile this with being a marketer? Actually being a person who is attempting to get people to buy my stuff. Well, I try to offer true value and fill actual needs and wants. It is not my job to change customers but to serve them. However, in order to sleep at night I need to be able to look myself in the mirror and know that I acted with integrity and added to their lives instead of took away.

Less is more. If you purchase and consume less, you can work less and end up with more free time and money to do those things that mean the most to you. Their is a price to pay for researching a product to death for the perfect one, hunting for the lowest price, performing maintenance, and eventually figuring out how to rid yourself of the thing. You may not realize it but this bundle of fun may actually be more stress than it is worth.

Ironically, if you have not figured this out yet you probably will by the time you are too old to do anything about it. Often it takes us a lifetime to gain the wisdom we could have used and yet nobody younger will be interested in our attempts to help save them time, money, and stress. Such is the circle of life.

Image Credit: jocke66

Small business owners often get so caught up in their quest for growth, more revenue, and more profit; that sometimes they forget that all the success and money in the world is useless if they have nobody to share it with. If you lose the love of your spouse, children, and family along the way, you may get rich on the outside but you will be dirt poor on the inside. Thanksgiving is nearing and it is great that we get together with those we love and make extra efforts to be thankful.

However, we should not wait for one day each year to be thankful for our blessings. And yes, we all have blessing even in the most dire of circumstances. Sometimes we struggle to see them because we are so consumed with everything we don't have or wish we had. It is a shame that we cast aside priceless gems that others would give anything to have. We chase and chase and chase…never taking the time to appreciate all that we have already been given.

Here are some terrific quotes to get you thinking. I will be on vacation for the next nine days, so my consecutive streak will come to an end. We will see you on the other side. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

• "The grass is not in fact always greener on the other side of the fence. Not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered." ~ W. Somerset Maugham
• "The richest man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least." ~ Anonymous
• “It is better to want what you have than to have what you want.” ~ Proverbs
• "If you want to know how rich you are, add up everything you have that money cannot buy and death cannot take away!" ~ Anonymous
• "The real measure of our wealth is how much we'd be worth if we lost all our money." ~ J. H. Jowett
• "If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.' ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
• "Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have; what you are will show in what you do." ~ Thomas Davidson
• "Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” ~ Margaret Lee Runbeck
• “The grand essentials of happiness are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” ~ Chalmers
• "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye." ~ Antoine de Saint Exupery

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“The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brain of his own.” ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

Okay, so I have pretended to be a writer and have written a bunch of posts (77 to be exact) at a pace of one per day. Many of them have probably been overly long for some people's tastes. I think some of them have been pretty good and some probably mediocre. I have tried to share my experiences and knowledge about presentation folders, the printing industry, small business marketing, running a business, and life. Since I was a child, I have often been told I am wise beyond my years. I like to think they are right. However, I realize that much of what we hold true originates from somebody else. We each act like sponges soaking up what goes on around us.

“What you hear, see and read will determine your destiny. You're the same person today that you'll be five years from now, except for the people you meet and the books you read.” ~ Unknown

We begin life as a giant book full of empty pages. Our senses are the ink which eventually fills the pages, creating the story of a life. We see, hear, feel, taste, and smell things. We are influenced by our family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers. We learn from television, books, and classes. Our senses are inundated with new information at mind-boggling speed each and every day.

“Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits, which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master gardener of his soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thought, and understands, with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind-elements operate in the shaping of his character, circumstances, and destiny.” ~ From 'As a Man Thinketh' by James Allen

The pages of our unique book quickly fill and it is up to us to determine which pages we keep and which we throw out. Unfortunately, we often keep the bad ones and throw away the good ones. We must take care to discard the bad so we ensure ample room for the good.

In my short life, I have learned that it is often wise to do the exact opposite of everyone else. Following the herd (or conventional wisdom) often leads to dead ends. If you want different results than everyone else, you need to take different actions. This applies to health, finances, marriage, parenting, and business. It is sad to see so many people needlessly struggling and suffering. If only they knew there was a different way and that it is okay to take the road less traveled.

“When you write from the heart, you not only light the dark path of your readers, you light your own way as well.” ~ Marjorie Holmes

I thought writing about presentation folders and small business marketing would be a relevant combination. Do you agree? Do you have a better idea? What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? Are there any specific topics you would like to see covered? What suggestions do you have for improving our blog? Let me know what you think about this blog, good or bad.

Thank you and best wishes,
Brock

Image Credit: rachaelvoorhees

Face it, we are a culture obsessed with band-aids. And I am not talking about the rubber strips, but rather the deep-seated desire to bandage up the side effects instead of fixing the root issue. Lack of critical thinking skills, laziness, and being misled by pundits who stand to gain financially are just a few of the reasons we continue to do this to ourselves. We only make matters worse when we attempt to patch up the results instead of fixing the root cause. No only that, but we create more (often new) problems. Then, we patch up the side effects of these new problems and the cycle just keeps going around and around forever. Let us look at a few examples you may be familiar with; golf, food, and medicine.

We will start with golf. If you are slicing the ball, then more than likely it has to do with your grip, your alignment, or your lack of understanding of the physics behind the golf swing (your intuition will be wrong). If you read the popular golf magazines and books, you will find a million solutions to your problem. However, how many people have you seen who cured their slice? Hardly any! The reason is because all of these tips are band-aids that may very well work for a round or two but will eventually fail you because they only address the results of your flawed swing and not the actual flaws. If you want to get back to basics and address the underlying issues, then you need to check out Manuel de la Torre. Otherwise, keep tinkering with all the band-aids and I am willing to bet that you will reach a point where your swing is such a mess that you will probably give up on getting better. Been there, done that.

Let us move on to food. A long time ago, when you purchased packaged foods (plant-based items such as bread) the ingredients were whole and included the natural fiber and oils. Eventually, they were ground down and all natural fiber and oils were removed to increase shelf life. Humans require natural fiber and oils from plants. Next they began selling fiber and oil supplements separately so you could get what you were now missing. Lucky you, now you get to pay much more for something that should have already been included. Eventually they began including purified wood cellulose to replace natural fiber so they could tell you it was healthy. Is wood actually healthy for you?

This story continues with the field of medicine. Are you aware that nobody dies from cholesterol or high blood pressure? These are side effects or markers of heart disease. When you take cholesterol or blood pressure lowering medications, you are treating the results of poor eating habits and not the actual root problem. This time you will be even luckier. You waste a whole bunch of money on drugs, suffer the devastating side effects, get to take additional medication to counter these drugs, and still die with no increased lifespan. But, at least your cholesterol or high blood pressure numbers were within the acceptable range when you died. If you are sick and need help, then you need to check out Dr. McDougall.

If someone told you they were constantly coughing and wheezing but they also smoked; would you recommend smoker's vitamins? If someone told you their family and job were in shambles but they were an alcoholic; would you recommend drinker's vitamins? No, you would tell them to stop smoking and drinking. Then, why don't people stop killing themselves with their food choices. As a society, we are digging our own graves with our teeth.

When you have a headache, acid reflux, or back pain; your body is trying to tell you something and it is not "please drug me so I no longer feel the pain." It is trying to tell you that something is wrong and you should figure out what it is and stop it. These same things apply to your business. Pay close attention to what is happening and dig deep to find the root cause. In doing so, you can have the greatest impact with the least amount of effort and cost.

The truth you may not be aware of is that there is real money in pretending to fix problems but never actually fixing them. You end up with paying customers for life even though you are really scum. Be careful who you trust. They may not have your best interests in mind even if they do a marvelous job pretending. You have been warned.

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Are you currently getting the vast majority of your traffic from Google and then selling them stuff? If so, you have great rankings, or perhaps an Adwords account, but you do not have a real business. Why? Because all of your eggs are in one basket. Didn't your mother warn you about this?

Even some extremely savvy SEOs I know have lost top positions in Google due to an actual bug in the algorithm (confirmed by Google). One of them had their entire multi-million dollar website removed from the index completely. If they had not been wholesaling their products to all of the other competitors on page one, their business would have literally dried up overnight. However, the devastation was limited to single-digit losses because they were diversified.

Ever heard of the seven-legged stool?

• One-legged stools fall over
• So do two-legged stools
• Three-legged stools are stable unless you lean back a lot
• Four-legged stools stay up, even if they lose one leg
• Seven-legged stools stay up forever

There is nothing that will take down a seven legged stool. Building your business on one source of leads is a formula for disaster. If it hasn't happened yet, it will. Not a matter of if, but when. It is hard to imagine the almighty Google crumbling but stranger things have happened. However, it is not too difficult to imagine losing your rankings for a million different reasons. Or having the behemoths in your space box you out of the Adwords game by upping their bids until you can no longer reasonably afford to play.

62.8% of all new businesses fail within 6 years! ~ United States Census Bureau

Business Owners Failed Because They…

• Lacked vision
• Lacked strategy to realize vision
• Lacked system for marketing or sales
• Lacked system to monetize client base
• Tried to do too many things at once
• No plan to get resources for growth
• Caught up in the day-to-day
• Did everything ad-hoc (no systems)
• Didn't create or stick to action plans

Source: SBA / US Bank Joint Project

The Odds of Success:

• Slot machines in Vegas = 32%
• Business = 37%
• Horse racing = 41%
• Blackjack (lousy player) = 45%
• Roulette = 47%
• Blackjack (strategy & counting) = 50%

Source: Doug Hall, Jump Start Your Business Brain

Almost all of these provide a better chance of success than running a business. So, why aren't you in Vegas having fun instead of grinding away endlessly? Probably because you feel you are just one step away from ungodly wads of cash. Are you a victim of the rescue fantasy? "If I could just learn the one thing that is missing from my business…then everything would just work out."

If there was actually just one thing, what are the chances you would pick the right one? This is the silver bullet fallacy that the guru business is built upon. A magical problem-solving tool that if properly used will help you get everything you've always dreamed of. While the guru has likely had amazing success with their silver bullet, it is highly unlikely you will have the same level of success.

Unless you have extremely deep pockets, firing off silver bullets often leads to the death of companies. You absolutely must find a way to protect the future of your company. With the current economy, there is no better time than today to get started. Figure out what you do best and do more of it and better. Figure out what you do poorly and stop doing it. Lastly, make sure your business is not hinging on any one thing…including you.

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Sometimes we get weary from our daily battles and lose sight of what is most important to us. We get so hung up on our immediate wants and needs that we overlook those things that offer the most value to our lives. We rush to handle the urgent and put off the important for another day when we have more time…which never arrives. It is never too late to regain control of your life and be all that you thought you would be when you were a child.

I have pulled together a few classic quotes to inject some life back into your mission and provide you with some protection from the elements. Take a few minutes away from the fire fighting and reflect on where you are today and where you would like to be in the future. Are you on the right path and can you pull it off? You can, if and only if you are…

The Victor by C W Longenecker
The Victor
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you like to win but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you are out classed, you are.
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of your-self before
You can ever win the prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion surrounding change lately. If history is any indication, we have a new president but little will change. There is no incentive for drastic change. The only way to achieve revolutionary change would be for the American people to take personal responsibility as our founding fathers once did. When we talk about change, the inscription on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abbey is a great place to start.

“When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits,
I dreamed of changing the world.
As I grew older and wiser I discovered the world would not change -
So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country,
But it too seemed immovable.
As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt,
I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me,
But alas, they would have none of it.
And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only changed myself first,
Then by example I might have changed my family,
From their inspiration and encouragement I would
then have been able to better my country,
And who knows,
I might have even changed the world.”

As you go about your journey, be careful when selecting your pursuits as you may get what you want and lose something more valuable.

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost:
For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;
For want of the horse, the rider was lost;
For want of the rider, the battle was lost;
For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a nail.

Image Credit: marfis75