I think Snoop Dogg actually said in the movie Old School “Make Money Money

Take Money Money” but I am one of those people who botches lyrics like

in the Elton John Tiny Dancer TV commercial so I’ll go my version!

Book review time!

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

A gift from my wonderful parents from Christmas…it was a book that had

chapters and parts that I will honestly say dragged and I skimmed.

BUT…overall a B+ and…

There were some core themes in this book that would be great for anyone

to take away and learn whether you have 2 million in the bank or you are $200k

in credit card debt!

Here are my top takeaways from this book and important messages that

everyone can benefit from if applied to their life.

1) So many people actually “make a dying” instead of “make a living” and that

is when you work a job all day long that you don’t like and by the time you get

home all of your energy has been wiped out from negativity at work that you

can’t even enjoy your family and friends.  You are not living but slowly dying.

2) Thinking about how every time you purchase something and thinking of the

true and absolute benefit and joy for you.  They called it LIFE ENERGY.

For instance is purchasing this blog to read worth the 30 minutes you just spent

at work making that money.  (Answer is YES because this blog is on the house!)

But you get the idea.  Makes you realize maybe I don’t want to buy that

3rd flat screen TV that will take up two weeks of my pay at work.

3) Making sure you earn just “enough” and are doing something you enjoy and

are passionate about it.  The book basically teaches that it is not worth a higher

salary at a job you dislike but rather work at something you thoroughly enjoy

so long as you have “enough” to satisfy your life.  That amount is different for

everyone.  But take away all the scratch and get right down to the substance

of what truly makes you happy in life and of course your basic life needs of

food, shelter, and clothing.

The book has many other takeaways of course…it takes you through a way

to figure out how to get out of debt and how to find out how much money you

truly spend each month.

Some of the chapters drag but I skipped over those sections with what I really

didn’t need to learn more about.

But I always feel if a book has three to five core values to teach you about

and be able to apply to your life it is worth it!

So be responsible, enjoy spending your money on what truly makes you happy,

try to give some back when you can, and make sure that when you can get to

that point you are truly every day “Makin a LIVIN” and not “Makin a DYIN”!

Thanks for reading everyone…enjoy the Friday!

Post on here or hit me up on email with thoughts, comments and suggestions for

future posts.  Mike@marketingfunwithmike.com

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Carpe DIEM!

Mike

There’s a lot of routes, movement, and potential breakdowns on this above

play.

But the key here is that there everyone must do their part.

The whole team, each single individual, needs to know what they are doing

and when or else the chances that the play fails increases ten fold!

And that is one simple play in one simple football game.

How do you make sure you are ready?

EASY!

Preparation leading up to it and seamless execution at the game.

Easier said than done…

Because sometimes we think (and as a basketball coach I am guilty of this)

that we can simply WIN if we are passionate, fired up, have a home court

advantage, are likeable and fun, etc etc etc.

Unfortunately it often comes down to so much more than that.

Just like in sports a business needs a true in depth marketing plan to help

them prepare for when they are ready to take the field against competition

and try to succeed in the business world.

Sometimes business are guilty of thinking if they have the best service,

a good deal, or just plain old flashy signage or work the most hours that they

will eventually succeed.

NOT ALWAYS unfortunately!

You need to prepare your marketing strategy, cross reference it with competition

in your sector on both a local and a national level.

You need to constantly fine tune it, not be afraid to make revisions to the plan

or throw it away and start all over if something in the market place changes.

You need to understand the P’s (product, place, price, etc) of marketing

and how each relates to what you are trying to accomplish.

Then you need to relentlessly prepare your whole staff to understand every

single intricacy no matter how big or small of your entire business and your

entire strategy.  You can plan ahead or jump right in as you do it though!

AND THEN…

You need to execute!  And everyone on the team needs to execute it in a

seamless motion until you succeed.

Oh and by that point…

Yes you do need passion, great service, flashy signage, work hard, and carry

an overall excitement with your brand.

But just like a sports win starts in the film room and at practice and you need

everyone to be on board…

A win in business begins the same way. 

So don’t just think putting a photo of yourself in front of a famous statue

in New Orleans wearing a Young’s Dairy shirt will put you at the forefront of

your industry.  (Although I think it’s a great photo to position myself as.)

Lots more needs and will have to go into your plan to make you succeed!

So hit the practice book this weekend!

CARPE DIEM ALL

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Email: mike@marketingfunwithmike.com

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That line is true…

When your best isn’t good enough…you FAIL!

But what people don’t always talk about is the fact that if you continue to

fail you will become a winner.

That is correct.

In fact those who don’t fail are the losers.  Because they never try.

To achieve high goals in life that few others rarely achieve you will fail numerous

times to get there.

The greatest teams in NFL history have won only 6 super bowls out of 48 or so.

That means the greatest team in NFL history failed 42 other times.  Good for a

12.5% success rate, that’s it!

The greatest authors rarely turn out like Harper Lee (who wrote to Kill A

Mockingbird, made it a best seller and never wrote again) they are writers

who have a hit and three misses, one more decent one, two misses, then an

instant classic!

Perseverence through your failure and how you react to it and what you learn

from it lead to success.

If you never try you will NEVER win.  In sports, music, sales, your own business,

etc.

Teachers every day in inner city schools may only reach and connect with 3 out

of 100 kids.  But isn’t it worth it to reach those 3 kids and change their lives

forever rather than be scared of failing to reach the other 97 and not even

trying.

The next time someone tries to talk you out of doing something, trying something,

because the odds aren’t good…you never know what will happen…TRY IT!

So long as it is not a ponzi scheme or something that will put you into debt

or risk the lives of your children or wife…TRY IT!

We too often in business keep the status quo and keep ourselves as average

not failing…but not GREAT companies!

We need more greatness, more trial and failure, that will lead to more success.

We need more Thomas Edison’s, Mark Cuban’s, Tom Brady’s (you think he is

satisfied with failing in the playoffs the last 3 years just b/c he has 3 super bowl

rings), and less people who are satisfied with being 100% average, boring, and

mediocore.

Fail today…become a winner tomorrow…and build your business into greatness

after you repeat that cycle 50 more times!

Thanks for reading everyone…enjoy the FRIDAY!

Comment on here or email mike@marketingfunwithmike.com

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CARPE DIEM!

The holidays are over and January is open us.

Water cooler talks goes back to drama, the excuses by the employees start

popping again, and buyers have a little bit of hesitation after reaching deep into

their pockets over the holidays.

If you are a small business, large corporation, multi location, whatever…your

business has a few choices it can make this month.

1) Ride it out like everyone else does and hope your sales don’t drop too much

and that your employees stay somewhat focused in 2k12.

OR

2) Spread the January CHEER!

What is the January Cheer?

January Cheer is the way your business needs to operate when no one else

wants to operate.

Go the extra mile.

Have meetings with your linchpins (the ones you don’t want to leave) to

speak about ways to make their jobs more challenging, rewarding, and fun.

Speak to your clients with the same zest and passion that you and every

other company did in December before the holidays.  Everyone has a great

passion and excitement in December because they know they are about

to get a few days off and a few days at the office when there isn’t much

going on.

Strive to be that company or employee that does it in January.  When

everyone else has their post holiday hangover and isn’t quite ready to get

their feet dirty in the new year.

Take advantage of their missed opportunities and spread the JANUARY CHEER!

The January Cheer can be a mindset, it can be a new incentive program

you launch for your employees that is fun and attainable (not something that

happens all the time) or it can be a sale/reward/thank you to those customers

of yours that stick with you through thick and thin.

Everyone gets a holiday card from their good suppliers, friends, clients, and

relatives in December.

Strive to be that guy, lady, team, or company who spreads the January Cheer

and makes everyone remember you when all other competitors are standing

around a cubicle strategizing about how they will make 2k12 a year to remember!

CARPE DIEM and WHO DEY!

Have a great one and thanks for reading again everybody!

mike@marketingfunwithmike.com or post comments on here

get all updates and other tid bits on my social media sites…

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This is the view of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals stadium for 6 out of the 8 home

games this year.

The Bengals improved by 5 wins this year, have been in playoff contention or in

the playoffs in the last week of the season 7 of head coach Marvin Lewis’ 9

seasons and overall the past decade minus last year and the ‘08 run have been

a pretty competitive team.

But Mike Brown, owner and CEO of the Bengals, had finally made fans reach

their breaking point this year.

Bengals fans were tired of the fact that they had paid for a stadium and Brown

did not give it his all to put a great team out there year after year.

There were guys with multiple arrests, locker room issues, etc.

It had finally eroded and while I personally will always be very thankful with

everything Chad OchoCinco did for the franchise and the city last year finally

reached a breaking point and Bengals fans said NO MORE!

No longer will we support you Mike Brown…

And for the whole season Bengals fans have held pretty true on this promise.

I was not one of those Bengals fans…I went to the Arizona game on X Mas

Eve and couldn’t believe how many open seats there were.

The problem was though Bengals fans picked the wrong year to boycott.

Not by Mike Brown’s doing necessarilly but the Bengals have a young, hungry,

fun, likable team that is doing everything they can on every snap to win

every time they step on the field.

Most picked them 32nd out of 32 in the league this year and some said they

would go 0-16.

Well….

It is the final week of the season and they are 9-6 and if they win Sunday

they make the playoffs!

Bengals Fans bought 18,000 tickets over 48 hours earlier this week thanks to

a promotion the Bengals front office did.

The point?

Bengals Fans made sure that Mike Brown knew all year long they weren’t going

to put up with his cheap crappy ways anymore.

And you know what?

I think they proved their point.  The Bengals were LAST in attendance this year

after selling out pretty much every game the past 10 years.

And I think if Mike Brown does stuff to get rid of or screw up this core group

of great young players, or not pay the money to keep coordinators like Zimmer

around and the team erodes again…then they will boycott again.

But sometimes you reach a breaking point…

And Bengals fans did this week.

They finally let their love of these young hungry players outweigh the hatred

toward the CEO who people have put up thousands of blogs asking him to just

quit being owner.

Sometimes an average or not good CEO can be outweighed by his employees.

In this case the employees are the players and the coaches who for 16 weeks

this year played in front of doubters and empty stadiums and never once

asked for anything from the fans.

They are going to be rewarded this Sunday, and these employees deserve this

reward.

This is a good football team that has potential to be great.

The JUNGLE will be rocking this Sunday at 415pm in a huge game against the

division rival Baltimore with a playoff bid on the line.

Mike Brown is still being boycotted by the fans.  The fans finally just decided

that if his company has so many great pieces below him that they can’t punish

all of those employees as well and not come out and support this product

any longer.

Good Luck Dalton, AJ, Marvin, Ced, Rey, Dunlap, etc…win one for the fans,

yourselves, the city, and we’ll just not worry about the CEO for a few weeks!

WHO DEY!

CARPE DIEM and HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Post comments on here or hit me up at mike@marketingfunwithmike.com

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One of the great business books is From Good to Great by Jim Collins.

It speaks about many still useful practices for business and life but one

of its core values is how quickly you can become great if you do all of the

right things and people will forget that you were ever just “good.”

On the flip side if you don’t continue to do the “great” things you will be

back down to earth in the blink of an eye.

Real life example needed to show how quickly it can happen???

Look at that photo above…

That is a picture of the Green Bay Packers QB Matt Flynn this Sunday just

ONE year ago this coming weekend fumbling against the New England

Patriots and losing that game to fall to 8-6 and out of the NFL playoffs for

the time being.

WAIT….

What?  The Green Bay Packers almost didn’t make the playoffs last year.

Matt Flynn was their starting QB in week 15? (Aaron Rodgers sat out week 15

from a concussion suffered in week 14.)

These are the same Green Bay Packers who in the last 363 days have:

1) Snuck into the playoffs at 10-6

2) Won 3 road games and then the Super Bowl

3) Are currently sitting at 13-0

4) The odds on favorite to win 2 Super Bowls in a row in a league that is

more full of parody than ever before

5) Have the chance to win 25 straight games and will potentially be annointed

THE BEST TEAM EVER to play in the NFL!

Not bad for a team that 363 days ago had Matt Flynn getting worked over

by an average New England Defense (New England lost in the first round at

home last year fyi.)

That’s how quickly it can happen if you keep doing all the right things, for the

Packers it was having an Elite QB, top to bottom deep roster, playmakers on

both sides of the ball, great coordinators, smart draft picks, and an attitude

that they were doing all the right things and it would pay off.

They continued to do that during last year’s ups and downs of injuries,

tough scheduling, etc.

Because of that….

They went FROM GOOD TO GREAT.

If they go undefeated and win another Super Bowl I can make the argument

that Jim Collins should let me add a foreword to his award winning book about

a current example of a company (they are one) going from good to great!

How long will they stay there?

Running a company in the NFL is just as cutthroat as Wall Street, so it will be

hard to maintain but they have continued to have the right attitude, mindset,

team work, players, talent, and coaching.

So it could be up on that GREAT pedestal for a while.

Stay Tuned…

Thanks for reading all and as always CARPE DIEM!

Post comments on here or email me mike@marketingfunwithmike.com

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The above photo is the fossil of a whale.

On my trip to Chicago last week I spent a few hours at the Field Museum in

Downtown Chicago.  One of the interesting facts I learned was that whales

actually had legs in the early stages of their species.

They evolved over millions of years into the creatures that we know today.

For some reason I found this fascinating…mainly b/c it explained how the

world around them was changing and they had to adapt…their legs became

useless and they began to swim more and slowly over millions of years their

legs turned into fins and wings and they disappeared.

Just as whales I think we are constantly evolving and eras begin and eras

end.

We can’t hold on to the past and must constantly find ways to stay on top

of our game and our industries to lead us properly into the future.

I feel we are entering a new era where there is a high percentage of people

who want to move forward with the new rules of work…be highly creative,

apply great ideas to your company, give when nothing is expected in return…

and we also have a high percentage who believe that coming to work

and doing their job and nothing above the minimum will be okay and down the

road they will be rewarded.

I am not trying to be harsh…but being rewarded for putting in time at a

minimum level and bringing nothing to the table but a bad attitude, drama,

and gossip are OVER!

Over the next 75 years our country will be challenged by China, India, Japan,

Europe, and even New Zealand and Canada on multiple fronts of being the

leading superpower in the world.

To stay in the position that we are I feel we need to end the era of working

50 years at a job you don’t like just to be rewarded at the end with a

retirement of not having to go to that job again.

We need to keep the smartest people here and attract the most talented people

from the world here and all of us need to play our part in evolving…

Or I feel that the era will end and instead of growing as whales did we will

become one of the numerous extinct species who didn’t evolve and we know

nothing about.

That meaning instead of being the greatest country in the world we will simply

be one of many good countries that it is possible to have a great life in.

It is very possible and very real.

Evolve Today!

CARPE DIEM!!  Enjoy your Friday.

mike@marketingfunwithmike.com or post comments on here

http://twitter.com/marketingmiker

Facebook Fan Page “MarketingFunWithMike”

As I watched the end of the Michigan victory over OSU yesterday I saw the

joy and the Michigan players as they stormed the stands and the look of anger

and frustration on the Ohio State sidelines.

I did find it nice to see, the last few years OSU expected to win and Michigan

quite frankly (partly due to their coach Rich Rod I felt) had placed little worry

about whether or not they won the game.

Yesterday I feel both teams wanted and expected to WIN.

Both teams did everything they could and threw everything at each other.

Though both defenses at team did not look good those guys wanted badly to

make stops.

That’s what a Rivalry is.

When you take your opponents best punch and get back up and hit them harder.

I know some people would like it if OSU beat Michigan every year and vice

versa…

But then it is no longer a rivalry.

A rivarly is when for the next 364 days the OSU players are working on the field

and in the weight room getting angry and motivated to get back onto the

field against Michigan in the Horsehoe.

A rivalry is when you bring the best out of your opponent.

A rivalry is when you will do anything past the point of exhaustion, normalcy,

and when you physically can’t go forward you continue on b/c your mental

framework is so strong that it makes you keep fighting.

That is a rivalry.

This game is one of the best rivalries in sports and I think it was on the verge

of losing its luster…I think it is back.

And regardless of how good OSU is next year with Urban and Braxton I think

Michigan has a coach now who is good and wants to beat OSU every just

as bad as we want to beat him.

And that is what Woody and Bo had…

And what Tressel and Lloyd had…

Rivalries bring the best out of us.  Rivalries are great in sports, the workplace,

even the family because when they are respectful rivalries they make you go

to a place you didn’t think you could get to.

Congrats Michigan…enjoy it though b/c the Buckeyes are pissed and are going

to be ready to hit you in the mouth that last Saturday in November 2012.

Have a great day everyone thanks for reading!

CARPE DIEM!
Mike

Email: mike@marketingfunwithmike.com

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I was watching a webinar earlier this week when I came across this story

that really hit home with me.

A car dealer on the webinar talked about how his favorite media rep or parts

rep in town was the guy who always came in and told him he sold cars.

He said I don’t sell TV, I don’t sell radio, I don’t sell my brand new tires.

I sell your cars…that’s my focus.

And sometimes we lose track of that but in reality that is really what it is all

about.

So I remember that I don’t sell radio or digital or social media.

I sell cars, insurance, beer, food, concert tickets, tires, hospital visits, etc.

There shouldn’t be a focus on my product…but rather how my product

will help sell their product…and that’s what the bottom line is.

If you forget that your customers sales are what keeps you in business

then that is the time when you will lose grasp of what is truly important

and rewarding in your job.

So on that next appointment or meeting before you go in there…

Think about it…

What do you sell that day?

If the answer isn’t focused on what that client has in their store then it is

time to rethink and go back to the drawing board.

We often times talk way too much about how great our TV station is and how

many people our radio station has listening to it.

I want to make sure I think about how many of my listeners are in the need

for a car next month and how I am going to help an auto dealer sell X amount

of cars to my listeners to make sure he makes a return on his investment.

That’s what makes sales worth it…delivering happiness to our clients!

Thanks for reading everyone!

Have a great weekend and as always…CARPE DIEM!

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I would like to first off start this post with the only thing that people should

be worried about during this Penn State scandal is the kids/now adults who

were harmed.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all who were hurt and involved in this

and their families and the families of the people who hurt them, because those

families will certainly be treated harshly and unfairly.

That being said the point of this is I was recently reading another dynamite

book by Malcom Gladwell called “What the Dog Saw.”

It was a collection of his short stories and it explained deep into the profile

of the minds of a criminal profiler and his job.

It also explains how often times when a criminal profiler actually nails his

profile of an “unsub” that person is given all the due in the world for cracking

the case and it was all because of his profile.

When in actuality the profile helps but there are so many other factors including

evidence, the detectives, witnesses that help crack the case.

It also then explains how the profiler often gets on average 80 to 90% of their

profile about the criminal INCORRECT!

But the 10-20% they nail down is pretty accurate and when they catch the

criminal that 80 to 90% disappear.

The moral of Gladwell’s article…

One enormous tip/find on a profile will make a criminal profiler a hero and a

genius even if they did 99% of everything else wrong.

One great mark will erase 99 bad ones.

On the flip side…

The sad, sick, twisted story about Penn State and those kids.

I will not delve into any more details about this…only to explain the relevance

and reasoning and what we can take from this.

Just as if you nab a serial killer and only did one smart thing during the whole

process but that one thing was extroadinary then you should be rewarded and

treated like a hero because you took a killer off the street.

Likewise Joe Paterno in his position of responsibility can do good things for

46 years but one terrible slip up on judgment and his ethical conduct booted

him out.

That’s the way life goes and the way society works.

So in business, relationships, your everday life what we can take away from

this is remember that you are never above the system.

Never more important than other peoples well beings.

No matter how many good things you do in one terrible thing will bring it all

crashing down just as many small errors in judgment but one thing that

brings greatness to the world can make people forget for a moment.

Always make the right call, do what is best that you know is best in your heart

and hopefully we won’t ever see a scandal like this again.

Thanks for reading everyone!

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mike@marketingfunwithmike.com

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