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Letter From The Editor

Dear Friends,

We’ve all known people who appear to have it all. They love what they do, they have a great family, life is good, and they’ve always a smile on their face and a kind word to say. How do they do it? Well, among other things they are what I call Unstoppable!!!!!!

• They know what they want.
• They are 100% committed to getting it.
• They know that there is more power in a hug than a fist.
• They love life.
• They refuse to be stopped by any circumstance.
• They know the value of asking for help.
• They have teams that support them everywhere.
• They are clear about what is most important to them.

Being unstoppable is like playing a mental game of chess. We are either in the game… recognize when we aren’t and are willing to do something about it… or we’re not! And if “not” is where you find yourself… OK. But I ask you to reconsider. You see, life is all about having fun, stepping out, being visible, and playing full out no matter what the world has to say about it! So give it a chance… I dare you!!!!

Remember: You are the only person who has a say in how your life turns out! What do you say?

Best Regards,

Clay S. Nelson

New Audio CD Sets from Clay Nelson Life Balance

The Clay Nelson Life Balance Audio CD sets are here… and available for immediate delivery!

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Building Your Company's Brand

Building your company’s brand isn’t always easy. After all, in order to get your target consumer’s attention, there is an abundance of competition that has to be dealt with. Not just those brands in direct competition with your product or service, but all products and services that are pushing their brands into the marketplace too!

You know from your own personal experience that there is only so much the brain can absorb at a time; so the keys to building your company’s brand and bringing it to the forefront of your target market’s mind are:

1. Consistency, consistency, consistency! Without a consistent brand that is also consistently out in the market place, your brand will get diluted and generally washed away by those who are consistent in their brand and visibility efforts.
2. Make sure your brand (logo, business cards, signage) are all the same, and that your brand is easily understood and remember-able. You want your brand to leave an imprint on the mind of your potential customers. You want to get your potential customers to a place where the imprint creates some sort of inquiry in their own minds as to who you are and what you provide, etc. And that inquiry generally causes them to take action in some way. They’ll look up your website, ask others about you, and even pick up the telephone and call you!
3. You want to set yourself apart. You want to stand out from the crowd, and you can’t do that if you simply mimic what your competitors are already putting out in the world. Don’t brand you or your company in a way that it can be confused with your competition.
4. Make sure your advertising is consistently of good quality and that it has enough frequency. Without frequency, your brand will simply wash away. Or as some advertising folks have been known to say: “When you don’t put into your advertising the resources necessary to create, at the very least, minimum frequency levels, you might as well be spitting into the wind!”

Consumers tend to gravitate toward what they know, even if all they know is familiarity with a brand! Therefore, when a brand has high visibility and is known in the market-place, the brand actually creates a competitive advantage for the company it represents. How cool is that! So while the nuts and bolts of what you do in terms of the products or services you provide are important, don’t forget to make the most of your branding efforts. Ultimately, it is those efforts combined with quality products and services that will give your company the edge you are searching for.

Quieting the Squeaking Gerbil Wheel of Life

Life has a way of serving up a whole lot of stuff at one time. You may even be multi-tasking your multi-tasking just to keep up with your work, your family, your social commitments, and your kids social commitments. Oh! And then there is taking some time for you!

Given all that we do day-in and day-out, who hasn’t felt like a gerbil on an exercise wheel at one time or another? But maybe if you said "no" more often, the exercise wheel wouldn’t be squeaking so loudly! So how do you do it? How do you determine what you are going to say “no” to and how do you do it without upsetting those you say “no” to?

1. You have to make you and your time the clear priority – Put standards in place around the number of hours you will put in at the office, which social commitments you are most passionate about and want to continue, and even the number of activities you are willing to run each of your children to and from.
2. Take a look at the activities you take on as your own that could be delegated. For instance, hire a service to clean your house instead of doing it yourself! Have your animals bathed and groomed by a professional. Hire a college student to mow the lawn or shovel your sidewalk. Your spouse wants to change the color of the paint in every room of your house… hire a painter! You get the idea!
3. Include taking care of you in your list of priorities. Keep your batteries charged with things you love to do that can be done efficiently and quickly and frequently enough to keep you from running low on juice!
4. Have your priorities and commitments written down in a plan – If you have a plan and are clear about what you will and will not do, first of all, it makes it easier to say “no” when necessary and others can hold you accountable for doing (and not doing) what you say you are going to do (and not do)!
5. Give up worrying that you will make anyone mad by saying “no”! Now, I’m not advocating that you growl your “no”, but you do have to respect yourself enough to not allow yourself to be overrun with extra activities, tasks, and unreasonable demands for you time.
6. Finally, when you find yourself having to turn down someone’s request, first ask permission to speak straight. Say, “I can’t do that, I have a portion of my life I need to take care of and this is the only time I have to do it.” Or if the “no” involves a request from someone at work that would require extra and/or unreasonable demands on your time, put your schedule down on paper. Include the items you are doing, show the person making the request the schedule, and ask which items should take priority or be replaced in order to accommodate the request.

In the end, all it takes to stop the gerbil wheel from squeaking so loudly is to slow it down with clear priorities and a plan and then grease it with some good old fashion communication!

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