Marketing Secret #93 Visualisation And The Ground Rules!

This step is actually so important, that if you don’t get this one right, none of the others will matter. I am a firm believer in building a foundation for your business, that is solid, unbreakable, and will be able to stand against the test of time.

Let me explain what I mean.

Whether you already have a business of some kind, are in sales, of if you are working for someone else, you must have bought this course for a reason. And, I’m sure that reason has something to do with your desire to change your life for the better.

Which is what I want you to do as well!

But just wanting to change your life, isn’t enough. It’s too vague of a concept. Yes, having the passion is crucial. Having that burning desire to make your life better is the cornerstone of success. No one can dispute that. But, desire and passion alone are just not enough.

While they act like the fuel to move you ahead, they will not be able to do anything by themselves.

These emotions need to be guided by very specific, very defined rules, goals and objectives. And when I say specific, I mean specific.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let’s say you have a burning desire to go on a holiday.

You’re burned out, tired, and need to get away. You can’t imagine anything better than a change of scenery to make you feel better and to recharge your batteries.

So, you sit and think about this holiday. You talk about this holiday. Great, now there’s only a few little problems. What problems, you may ask? Well, how about things like: Where are you going? When are you going? Who are you going with? How will you get there? And so on. I’m sure you would agree these little details are very important.

See, wishing to go on a holiday, is not the same as planning a holiday!

Now, just about everyone I’ve ever met, will think about a holiday in much more concrete terms than just thinking about wanting to go. When you decide you want to go, you start picturing things in your mind’s eye. You see the white sand beaches, with the crystal clear Caribbean water gently lapping up to the shore. You see the palm trees hugging the shore line. You see the little thatch umbrellas over the tables next to the pool. You see the waiter bringing you your drink in the tall glass with the multi-coloured drink inside. You see the room with the balcony overlooking the sun rising over the glass like ocean. You see… everything!

Yes, when you want to go on a holiday, you see it all very clearly. Now, this visualisation is common for most things in life that we want to do badly. Whether it be a holiday, or a new car, or whatever; we see it in our mind’s eye!

But, this same sort of very specific picturing of our wants and appetites, often escapes us when it comes to the big picture of our life. Most of us do not devote the same energy and enthusiasm to seeing our future as clearly as the hands in front of our faces!

Why is this? Well, I’m no psychologist, but I think I have a simple answer. Picturing the true desires of our life is overwhelming! And, anything that is so big, and so important, can easily get lost in the day to day shuffle of our lives.

Let’s face it. Changing our lives is scary as hell. Picturing a holiday or a new car, or your kid’s team winning the football, are smaller, easier to imagine goals. Picturing them does not threaten us.

But, changing the fabric of your entire life, now that’s a threat!

See, the stuff I’m helping you learn how to do, may in fact; change everything your life is about! Following my system of business can cause you to do things like:

See your business thriving with more clients/customers/patients.
Having your clients/customers/patients coming to you for advice on what to buy from you, rather than you chasing them to do business with you.
Making large deposits into your bank account, rather than worrying how you’re going to pay the bills this month.
Relaxing and having some holiday time and time for your family. Maybe you can even attend some of your kids outside activities.
Be forced to learn about how to invest your profits, reduce large tax liabilities etc.
Face the negative feedback you’ll be sure to get from friends and relatives, telling you that you should not be doing this.
Deciding everything in your life for yourself. What you wear, where you go, who you do business with etc.

In other words, be the total master of your own fate!

And sometimes, the thought of such a radical change in your life can lead to, well, basically nothing happening. If the fear of the change is so great, you may have a difficult time visualising the “holiday” from your current life; and therefore have little chance of ever achieving the change!

So, the first thing you have to do is picture your changed life, very clearly, and in great detail. See your “holiday” in your mind’s eye, and you’ll be on the road to getting there!

The other part of this first step, is to set up your ground rules for your new enterprise. Once you have figured out what you want out of life, you must build your business solely around that dream. You cannot just start doing things in a haphazard fashion, or you’ll never have a chance of seeing your dream become a reality.

Many people think I’m crazy when I tell people that planning your business out from a “top down” perspective is totally important. I understand why people say things like that. They think that I am asking people to look down the road, before they have even got into the car!

Understand something. I am not like a business school professor who tells you to develop a detailed business plan, with multi-year cash flow projections, sales analysis, financing strategies, etc. No, actually, I think that type of plan is stupid, and usually worthless.

Those types of details are far too speculative, and provide little if any insight or direction.

The ground rules that I want you to put down on paper right now, revolve around the details of what your life is going to be like, and how the business fits into those lifestyle decisions.

For example, in the summary of my philosophy of marketing, I gave you the parameters of the only way I would accept a new business venture. If you remember, I talked about how, at my lowest point in my life, I set up the only acceptable parameters I would allow for myself.

After I established visualisations of my life, I built a framework to live that life under. For example, I decided that any business I built, would have these types of characteristics.

No more face to face customers.
Phone order, direct response only.
Home based.
No more nights or weekends, unless I chose to do so.
I would see all of my kids sports games.
No more employees.
No more depending on others.
High priced information products only.
No more inventory. Publishing on demand only.
No working away unless I wanted to go to a seminar or something.
I would make the use of new technologies to save money.
I would be able to create the products on a computer, and copy them easily at a copy store.
The business would have to be one that others could easily run without me being around.

And, when I moved into specialised, niche marketing, every single decision I made either followed these ground rules, or it didn’t happen! (Which is still the case today, by the way. For example, I get asked to speak at seminars quite frequently, and hardly ever accept the assignment because of my lack of interest in being on the road for business. I do, however, take lots of holidays, and will go to a seminar if it’s in a place that I can combine fun time with some work!)

Okay? Is this all making sense?

Because here’s the homework assignment I’m giving you, which is going to lead us into more hard, meaty details, in the rest of these lessons:

Sit down, and find a picture of your life, in your mind’s eye. Once you have it, concentrate on it all the time. See it when you go to bed. Dream about it when you sleep. See it while you daydream at work. Watch yourself in that scene every single second you can. Never let it get buried back into your subconscious. Keep it in your conscious thoughts, and you’ll eventually make it a reality.

Next, sit down, make up a list of the ground rules for your business. Use my list as a guide if you like. Just promise me you’ll write it down on paper. Also promise me that you’ll keep it in a visible place where you can see it.

I want you to be able to see it, so that any time you are making a decision to take, or not take, any action, your decision will be based on your ground rules, and not on what may seem more important at the time!

(By the way, you are allowed to change the ground rules any time you want. I’m not saying these are cast in stone, and can never be altered. No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that you always need a set of these rules, and that no matter what they are, or if they’ve changed, or whatever; they will always be there to lead you to the picture of your life in your dreams!)

Final point.

Life is too short to be miserable.

Visualise your dream life, then you’ll have a chance to get it…because you know what you want! And, it’s a lot easier to get what you want, when you know what it is that you want!

Try this, and see how it changes the way you look at everything. How it dictates the actions you choose. And how it leads you right where you want to go!