Everything in the world around us was finished in the mind of its creator before it was started… From the cars we drive to the houses we live in, the clothes we wear and everything else began with a vision.

Once the creator was clear on what the end product looked like, it was then mapped out so their was a crystal clear MAP to follow on paper, before the first piece of cloth was cut or the first nail was driven in.

Long before the vision was converted into a physical reality, the mind had a clear picture of the end product.

The same process applies to how people design their own lives…

It all begins with an idea how the future will be and over time people refine and perfect the vision. Soon all your thoughts and actions are all working together to bring your vision into existence.

Successful businesses are created in exactly the same way!

Unfortunately most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t have the right tools in their possession to guide them in making their dream a reality.

Which is one of the BIG reasons why it is insane not to arm yourself with our Business By Design process and get your very own Strategic GAP MAP so you know every day you are rapidly closing the gap to getting what you really want.

Arm yourself with everything you need to START, GROW AND BANK THE CASH IN BUSINESS at Business Master Class. Secure your complimentary ticket by using access code “Vision” when you register at:

http://www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events/

Full details at website.

Business Master Class is unlike anything you have experienced before with a unique combination of Strategic Entrepreneur Business Building and Special Forces Discipline that gets YOU RESULTS!!

Your future is what you make it!!

Aaron Parsons.

When it comes to entrepreneurship there are none better than Sir Richard Branson and today I have 6 great business tips for you that Richard shared with me last week…

1. Have fun
   It pays to play, make business an adventure and look to inject fun into everything you do. If you can make people smile, they will love you for it and a happy team is a productive team. Lavish praise on people, rather than criticizing them.
2. Recruit great people and set them free
   Surround yourself with people who are better than you and encourage them to bring new ideas to the business. Don’t lead sheep, herd cats!
3. Move on from failures
   It amazes Richard how much time people waste kicking themselves over failures, instead of quickly picking themselves up learning from the mistake and going again. A Rejection is NEVER Fatal Unless YOU Choose To Walk Away From The Battle!
   
4. Create a cause driven business
   If you can align your business with a good cause, people will be more committed to make a positive impact and want to contribute more.
   Great for your team members and your customers.
5. Listen to the people
   Your customers know what they want more and are far better consultants than the McKinsey’s of this world. Continue listening to your team and your customers and be what people want you to be.
6. Fast track your learning curve
   Always arm yourself with the key knowledge you need to succeed as quickly as you can. Virgin as a company fast track their learning curve by partnering with companies that already have the industry specific knowledge they need in the market place they are entering.

   And even Richard uses mentors to accelerate his results. When he launched Virgin Atlantic in competition with British Airways Branson had Freddie Laker as his mentor. Freddie had already gone up against British Airways and was unsuccessful. Learning from Freddie’s mistakes and with his guidance Virgin were able to be ready in advance for every dirty tactic British Airways fired at them to try and put them out of business.

   And a big one Richard said he learnt was, Freddie said you will not have the marketing budget to compete with British Airways… So I just used myself Branson grinned. By pulling his crazy stunts he got millions of dollars worth of publicity for FREE!

I hope you enjoyed Richard’s tips as much as I did.

Make your day a great one!!

Aaron Parsons.

P.S. Fast Track your learning curve now at Business Master Class. Use access code “Branson-Blog” to secure your complimentary ticket at: http://www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

If you’re like most entrepreneurs you would have dealt with the pricing dilemma at some stage… Where you’re scratching your head trying to decide how much you should charge.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to cover today…

One of the most common mistakes the untrained entrepreneur makes is discounting on price.

Usually because of getting caught up in their own B.S.

It is NEVER about price, it’s always about value…

Think about it… If price was always the decider Mercedes and BMW cars would not exist.

*********************************************

Multiply your profits and boost your income now at:

www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

Use access code “Blog” for your complimentary ticket.

*********************************************

And depending on what market you’re currently playing in and where you are positioned, if you’re down the bottom end flogging yourself to death for next to nothing because of your low margins, then wake up to yourself and do what you need to do to re-position yourself in the market place and play the game on your terms.

As an entrepreneur the price equation is ALL about making price the size of a 20 cent coin and value the size of a family pizza.

It’s simple really, you have a choice;

1. Discount and take the hit straight off your bottom line
2. Or do what smart entrepreneurs do and ADD VALUE

You may think about it like a scale where price is on the right side and value on the left side.

Value ALWAYS needs to be higher than price to get the sale… So the untrained entrepreneur will just drop their price to tip the scales in favor of value… Where as trained entrepreneurs simply pump up the value of what their offering to tip the scales in favor of value and make the purchase a “No-Brainer”.

It is so easy to add value and often it doesn’t even cost you anything to do it. Sometimes it’s just a matter of providing better quality service or just spending some time with your prospect explaining what you are going to do for them. There are literally hundreds of different strategies to add value with that doesn’t cost you a cent.

…And even when there is a hard cost involved, on a $100 sale for instance, let’s say you add a bonus worth $20 retail, which only costs you $5 to buy trade, then it’s only cost you $5 to get your $100 sale instead of what a lot of entrepreneurs do is just discount $20 which comes straight off your bottom line.

*********************************************

Multiply your profits and boost your income now at:

www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

Use access code “Blog” for your complimentary ticket.

*********************************************

The other BIG thing when it comes to price is all about the conversation.

The best product in the world is “Selling Money at a Discount” and for a lot of us that’s exactly how the price conversation should go.

For example;

I was helping one of my clients recently with pricing a job that was going to save his corporate client over $3 million in the next 12 months. It was a very unique job that my client had all the tools and training for I might add. If this job was priced at the normal rate it would have been around $150,000, which before speaking with me was exactly what my client was looking to charge. My client has a very unique set of skills that are hard to find and would have been a hassle for the corporate client to find someone else. After a brief discussion I suggested he price the job at $300,000 with some value adds and change the conversation to “Are you prepared to INVEST $300,000 to save $3 million over the next 12 months”. That’s only 10% of what the corporate client will save… Chicken feed to the corporate client, but a big deal to my client doubling his revenue on that job.

I’m sure you get the picture.

The selling money at a discount strategy is a great one you should look to use whenever you can.

Your future is what you make it!!

Aaron Parsons.

P.S. Unlock your hidden profits and replace your income with the Commando Lifestyle Business by securing your place for Business Master Class now at: www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

Use access code “Blog” for your complimentary ticket.

If you’re like most people there would have been a time when you used the old “I don’t have time” excuse for not achieving what you set out to.

So today is all about challenging that all too common reason that is overused by far too many people… And yes I will be the first to put my hand up and admit guilt as I remember using it myself, albeit not in recent years.

If you want more time, money and results what we’re about to cover is absolutely crucial for you moving forward…

************************************************

Get more now at:

www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

Use access code “Blog Time” for your complimentary ticket.

************************************************

First, let’s look at some examples of super successful entrepreneurs; Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates for instance… Do they have more hours in the day than the rest of us?

I don’t think so!

There is such a vast difference in their results compared to everyone else, so if we really bought into the old “I don’t have time” as an excuse, then how do these successful entrepreneurs achieve so much when they have exactly the same amount of time as we do?

Well the first reason is they don’t waste time using that lame excuse and the BIG reason why is that they are strategists and invest their time in the areas where they receive the biggest pay off…

Here is what I mean;

You have a choice where you invest your time…

Down the bottom end of the scale where you’re working flat out with your head down and bum up going nowhere, spending your time on the $2 an hour stuff…

…Or you can do what ALL successful entrepreneurs do and invest your time up the top end of the scale on the high value stuff that gives you the biggest pay off from your time investment.

And that’s it!

If you want more profits and better results, you need to put yourself under the micro scope with how you’re spending your time and constantly be shifting from the BUSY TIME end of the scale further towards the MONEY TIME end of the scale.

More time focused on the high value stuff like strategy and marketing is the key.

…And if you are struggling with being stuck on the BUSY TIME stuff, you will most likely need to invest in systems for automation and getting the right people in place doing the right things to accelerate your business.

Here’s an easy exercise for you to do to get more free time back in your week…

1. 1. Monitor how you spend your time for the week
2. 2. Do it in 15 minute blocks
3. 3. Review how you spend your time, systemize repetitive tasks and make the necessary changes

And if you really want to get serious about this to achieve more in a day than you used to in a week and more in a week than you used to in a month then get along to www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events
Use access code “Blog Time” for your F*R*E*E ticket.

Your future is what you make it!!

Aaron Parsons.

P.S. Get more now with the ultimate time management
system from Business Master Class at:

http://www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

Use access code “Blog Time” for your complimentary ticket.

I recently caught up with one of my friends who is a highly successful entrepreneur on a global scale and he was telling me how he was amazed at how naïve most people are, with them frequently talking about him as an overnight success.

He said “Most people still don’t understand the simple concept; You must LEARN Before You Can EARN!”

As the legendary AFL coach Allan Jeans who passed away earlier this year said “If you see a man on top of the mountain, he didn’t get bloody put there!”

Or like one of my other mates who has just reached the $10 million mark with his business jokingly says “I’m a 10 year overnight success.”

The point is you must first work hard on yourself to develop the foundational roots in order to grow and develop for you to reap the rewards.

That is why we are inviting you to join us at Business Master Class where we will share with you the simple 4 step formula that EVERY successful entrepreneur uses everyday to live life on their terms.

To live life on your terms and put a rocket up your __________ (you can fill in the blank) Get to this awesome entrepreneur workshop…

Use access code “Blog” for your complimentary ticket now at; www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

Sorry to break the news to you, but sitting home on the couch isn’t going to get you what you want… And neither is any other lame excuse for missing this.

Success Begins With Showing Up!

Your future is what you make it!!

Aaron Parsons.

P.S. UPGRADE YOUR KNOWLEDGE, UPGRADE YOUR INCOME AND UPGRADE YOUR LIFE now at:

http://www.TheBusinessCommandos.com/events

Use access code “Blog” for your F*R*E*E ticket.

Today I’m going to share a highly valuable strategy I call Magnetic Marketing that you can use to both flood your business with new paying clients and importantly increase the “Stick Factor” to keep your clients coming back to your business.

Magnetic marketing involves giving your clients some thing of tangible value when they do business with you that they can redeem on their next visit. This is designed to attract them back to your business for repeat custom.

If you have a mechanic shop for example with every service you may leave a $20 discount voucher in the car off the next service, which expires in 3 months time. So when the person needs their car serviced again they are more than likely going to call you, otherwise they would be effectively wasting $20.

This works especially well when you are trying to attract new clients to your business.

Here’s how it works for a dry cleaning business…

First you send out vouchers for Free dry cleaning to the people you are targeting for this marketing campaign and then when the people who took you up on your offer come back in to pick up their dry cleaning, you would give them a 50% discount voucher for their next lot of dry cleaning, which would expire in 14 days.

When they come back you would give them another 50% voucher off their next dry cleaning bill as well to attract them back to your business again and get them into the habit of dealing with you. From then on you treat them as a normal client.

The psychology behind this strategy is that firstly you offering a no-brainer offer that your prospects would be just throwing money down the drain if they didn’t take you up on it and then you’re following up several times with more magnetic marketing offers to get them into the habit of dealing with you.

We are creatures of habit, so you can use this strategy to change people’s behavior and retrain them to deal with you.

For this to be effective obviously you must deliver excellent service.

You don’t have to use discounts with your magnetic marketing, you can offer holidays, free meals at restaurants, gift packs or whatever else you can come up with that is appealing to your target market and makes sense to give away to attract a new client or keep an existing client.

Just remember if you want to catch big fish and enjoy big rewards, you must be prepared to offer a big prize for dealing with you.

Get creative, you can even partner up with other businesses and work together on this one.

Just got off the phone to one of my very excited clients who couldn’t wait to tell me about her boost in profits from one of the strategies I shared with her…

…And I got her permission to share it with you right now.

She has a restaurant and before she spoke with me she was looking at closing on Tuesday nights, as the numbers just didn’t stack up – They were struggling to get 20 people a night on Tuesday’s.

First up I asked a few questions;

1. 1. What is the maximum capacity of the restaurant? A: 120 people
2. 2. On average what does each client spend when they visit? A: $55
3. 3. How many times do your clients visit your restaurant per year? A: Every second week – 26

After these initial questions I was clear on our objective and what it was worth to the business.

I then asked a few more important questions;

1. 1. How much do you want to invest in marketing to fill your restaurant? A: $0 (Yep she wanted to do it for F.R.E.E)
2. 2. Who else has a list of your ideal clients? A: A large list of businesses and groups.

Next we created a short list of targets to approach for a joint venture product promotion and the 3 businesses she partnered with were the local Accountant, Video Shop and Hair Dresser.

The approach was simple; We asked when was the last time you thanked your clients for their custom, and for most it was only at Christmas if they were lucky…

So we offered them to send out an invitation to their clients to come in on Tuesday night for a complimentary dinner on them.

This was a big win-win for all parties involved; The joint venture partners got to offer their loyal clients a F.R.E.E dinner at no charge to the joint venture partner and they still got all of the credit for it…

And my client got to fill her restaurant on Tuesday night’s at a cost of a F.R.E.E dinner for first time clients, which had a hard cost of only $15 a head to my client – chicken feed from a marketing perspective, especially when you take lifetime client value into the equation.

So I’m about to show you the numbers so you can see why my client was so excited…

By the way remember that this was only focused on Tuesday night’s… Do you think, just maybe she may just leverage this strategy across other nights too.

She said her restaurant has enjoyed a full house the last 2 Tuesday night’s and they are booked out for the next 3 weeks right now… And the flow on effect continues.

Not a bad result for a few hours work, hey?

A good example of what strategic entrepreneurs do, focus on money time, not busy time… Invest your time in the areas where you will receive the biggest pay off.

Your future is what you make it!!

Aaron Parsons.

One of the most leveraged tools and principles of successful entrepreneurs is what we’re going to cover today…

Not leveraging with this is why 95% of people are destined to miss out on their dream of financial independence.

And this is another reminder of why it is insane and expensive to take the poor thinkers path of going it alone through the long slow and expensive school of hard knocks.

Poor people spend time to save money, where as wealthy people spend money to save time… And the tool I’m about to reveal explains exactly why wealthy people do what they do.

This is the tool Richard Branson and the Virgin group consistently leverage when they’re entering new markets and one of the assets that enables them to stretch the Virgin brand across multiple markets successfully.

…And the best thing about this tool that all wealthy entrepreneurs exploit is that you can very easily leverage from it too.

The tool I’m talking about here is a key business strategy model called THE LEARNING CURVE.

As you can see in the diagram above; Wealthy Entrepreneurs fast track their learning curve by learning from mentors who have already walked the path before them. (After all, isn’t it better to learn from someone else’s mistakes than to experience the pain first hand?)

Where as the majority of people chose to go it alone resulting in working their life away with next to nothing to show for it from a financial perspective at the end… And the very time they need money for their retirement they’re left wanting.

When entering new markets The Learning Curve is a great tool to use to map out where you are and where the competition is and work out what you need to do for a competitive advantage in the market place.

Bottom line, this tool plays a key role in both your business strategy and also your personal development. At least if you want to be in the wealthy 5% and stay there.

Your future is what you make it!!

Aaron Parsons.

If you’re like most people at some stage you would have wondered the reason why only a small percentage of people achieve financial success, just 5% and the remaining 95% get left to fight over the scraps.

With this alarming statistic in mind that hasn’t changed in the last 100 years, let’s take a look at the cause…

If you’ve been in my environment for a while you will understand a major key to success that my ex-Commando mentor shared with me many years ago…

“If you’re not sure what to do to be successful, just look at what everybody else is doing and do the opposite!”

We already know that 95% have got it wrong and go through life like sheep following each other straight to the slaughterhouse.

Everyone wants the accolades, rewards and riches that come with success; however when it is time to step up and earn them, something very interesting happens… 95% of people choose not to act and stay stuck in their comfort zone.

Crazy when you think about it, the very moment when they have an opportunity to turn the tables, stand up and take the necessary action to get what they want, they freeze.

In the Special Forces my commander used to spend a lot of time with us on psychology he said “If someone pulls out a gun most people are like sheep and will run the other way, as a Commando you are the sheep dog and you must instinctively do the opposite to everyone else and attack!”

As an entrepreneur you are no different. A Commando and an entrepreneur are very similar… There is not a game on this Earth you can win on defense, you must attack to win!

And success as an entrepreneur comes from going against the grain!!!

It’s very important you get that, if you follow the herd, you will get the same as them, which in most cases is stuff all.

In life you’re either growing or dying, that’s it! No other option, if you’re treading water you are dying… Everything continues moving forward at a faster rate as you’re no doubt aware of with globalization, technology and innovation and if you don’t keep up, it’s game over.

Countless times throughout my life in business and especially in the Special Forces I have faced obstacles that were out of my comfort zone and one thing I’ve learned that was drilled into me in the Commandos was; Your comfort zone is your enemy! All growth and the benefits that come with it come from continually stepping outside your comfort zone.

You would have experienced it too, even things like the first time jumping off the diving board at the local swimming pool, it may have been scary before you took the leap of faith, but once you did it your comfort zone expanded and you loved it!

If you’re familiar with my story, when I first started seriously accelerating my skills as an entrepreneur I was faced with a choice; The training was $21,000 which was almost my entire years pay back then… Thankfully I chose to make the investment and step forward rather than give into the fear trying to hold me back.

And in this case as you probably already know with the tools and training I learned I made $106,000 in the next 3 months, which was more than 4 years pay for me back then.

Another example of the big rewards are outside your comfort zone.

Just the other day a friend of mine who has a barber shop was cutting one of her clients hair when BANG, right then and there he died. At that moment my friend Emma had a choice, the easy one would have been to just accept that he died and she couldn’t do anything about it like most people do in that situation… alarming, but true…

Emma a very quiet natured person, who had no training in CPR I might add, took charge of the situation. She immediately yelled to one of the other clients to give her a hand to get him out of the chair and onto the floor as she dialed triple zero… The operator from triple zero instructed Emma to perform CPR as the ambulance was on its way.

As Emma persisted pumping his chest the man came back to life as the paramedics arrived, they took over stabilized him and took him to hospital to recover.

That guy will be thanking his lucky stars he was a client of Emma’s… As a lot of people in the same situation just freeze and choose not to act.

Thankfully in this case because of Emma’s actions stepping outside her comfort zone, there is a happy ending and the paramedics have recommended Emma for a bravery award.

As an entrepreneur you must be a leader, if you don’t step up when it’s your time to do so, you will battle through life and miss out on the rewards and achievements that you are really capable of.

Your future is what you make it!

Aaron Parsons.

Today we’re going to look at a major key to business success that very few businesses truly understand the power of, which is why they don’t put much thought into.

The best business leaders totally embrace this, which results in them playing the game of business at a far superior level to everyone else.

My mentor shared this lesson with me in the early days and the truth is I never understood the significance of it at first and once again it revolves around doing things 180 degrees different to the vast majority. What we are talking about is… Your WHY.

What do most business owners focus on when starting a business?

In 95% of cases it is WHAT they do or HOW they do it… And that’s the message they communicate to their market place.

Where as the successful 5% minority start with WHY, they communicate their reason why to their market place. As leadership guru Simon Sinek from the US says – “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it!”

Starting with why sure isn’t going to win everyone, but that’s a good thing. You don’t want everyone, you just want to attract those who believe what you believe. This is a total game changer… When you work with those who believe what you believe, they are easier to deal with, trust is established must faster and it is a true win-win with both of you heading in the same direction.

For example, why is Apple so successful? After all it’s just a computer company isn’t it? Apple doesn’t tell the market place WHAT it does – sell computers. Apple tells the market place WHY they do it or what they believe, Apple say; “We believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently.”

And everything they do and take to the market place supports their WHY or vision or the reason they exist, depending on what language you want to use.

Apple have attracted a cult following, people will line up all night to get the latest innovation like with the IPod, IPhone, IPad, etc, etc… Apple have raving fans is a BIG way. Just think about the way Apple customers rave about their latest Apple gadget everywhere they go… That doesn’t happen with IBM.

There are so many benefits with clearly communicating your WHY, not only does it attract the ideal customers for you, but also the ideal team members to continue driving your business growth.

Virgin are another awesome example… Virgin have created a fun culture where people are happy to work for them even though they can get paid more working somewhere else. Virgin go into market places where a big player is taking advantage of the consumer and Virgin present themselves as the people’s hero – giving a great value for money option.

Virgin have a culture that people want to be a part of, internally as team members and externally as customers… They certainly don’t attract everyone, but they attract those who believe what they believe.

There’s another way in communicating what we’re talking about here and that is; “Create a cause, not just a business!” People achieve amazing things when working for a cause they truly believe in.

If you’ve spent time with me at one of my events you will already know how I emphasize the importance of tapping into a much bigger purpose than yourself. Most people focus on themselves when starting out, which is the weakest driver of all.

When you focus on a cause much bigger than you, that is when the magic happens. I’ve seen it time and time again in business and in the Special Forces, we are all capable of achieving amazingly great things when you tap into our reason WHY.

And here’s the cool thing with your WHY… You can’t fake it!

One of my mentor’s Paul Dunn helps me with being a better communicator and Paul taught me that most people communicate from the head, where as the best communicators come from the heart. As he says “You’ve got to shift from head to heart.”

Telling people WHAT you do is coming from your HEAD.

Sharing your WHY with people is coming from your HEART.

When you find your WHY, it is infectious and has a magical effect on you and your team in pushing forward to serve your market place. This is a core focus in our all new business by design program and a key component to your strategic GAP MAP.

So what’s your reason WHY?

Start with your reason why and you will attract the right people to help you with the how and what and most importantly, you will attract the right customers for you.

Doing business with everyone is not the answer, doing business with those who believe what you believe is the key!

In rapping up for now here’s The Business Commandos WHY;

1. Why: We Exist To Multiply The Ripple Effect Of Entrepreneurship
2. How: We Transform People Into Strategic Entrepreneurs
3. What: We Train Entrepreneurs With A Unique and Powerful Combination of Strategic Entrepreneur Business Building and Special Forces Peak Performance Techniques

So there you have it, a major key behind successful businesses… Now it’s your turn. Invest the time to create your WHY and move forward doing great things.