Regardless of how much you try to resist it, you can’t help but get reflective this time of year. Sure, it might be driven by the idea of a new year giving us the proverbial clean slate to build from. Or it may be a state of shock emerging from the holi-daze wondering how you could possibly be this fat, this broke and this far off where you thought you’d end the year.
Take your pick.
But in the spirit of thinking 100% about me, I thought I’d look back on 2010 and see, on a professional level, what themes emerged that neatly wrap it up.
Input. Someone must’ve drilled me with a g
Pardon me while I get a bit self-indulgent over the next few days.
Yes, I’m totally in a reflective mood as 2010 closes down. So I’m slowing digging into some of the data-licious morsels that my site’s analytics are unveiling to me, and thought I’d pass them along. This one’s a no-brainer, although it’s amazing how what you think is gonna be popular and what actually is are always two very different things.
While we’re at it, here are the top posts from 2009, if you’re interested.
You can’t always tell what you’re going to get out of a big college bowl sponsorship. Sure, it’s cool to have your name in bright lights, and to get the great tickets that come with a sponsorship, but what does it really lead to in terms of exposure and sales?
I still don’t have a hard answer, but I do know of one added benefit that’s easy to overlook but may have the most potential of them all.
A month or two ago, I noticed a few of my friends at AdvoCare were posting screen shots of a PlayStation 3 college football game. The game would actually place the logo on the field chosen. In other words, if someone chose to play in the Independence Bowl, the AdvoCare V100 logo would appear at the 50, like you see in this picture.
Last week I took part in the Predictive Index survey. You’ve seen things like this before. They’re kind of like personality tests. One I’m used to is DISC. There are many more out there. The process is always essentially the same. You answers some questions and then you get back a profile. In a group [...]
Funny thing about network marketing: while many get involved to help gain some kind of freedom and gain some time and space in their lives, it can be a real time-suck at the beginning. Which is to be expected, right? The vast majority of direct sellers are fitting in their direct sales business “on the side” and “in their spare time” now so they can reach that goal of life on their terms.
So although the ends most certainly justifies the means, it doesn’t make things any easier. Your calendar was already booked solid before you started your network marketing business; how in the world are you going to find time to make it happen now?
One of my favorite parts of working at a direct sales company is getting to attend events by the Direct Selling Association. This past week, I attended their annual Marketing & Communications seminar, themed “Be Connected.” The presentations are usually pretty informative, but it’s the networking and “catching up” with those I would now consider friends that really takes the cake for me.
Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the second day of the conference this year. But it was enough to stir up some thought-provoking thoughts I figured I’d pass along.
I’ve been thinking a lot about strategic planning lately. Partly because I’m in the midst of doing some myself, but mostly because I see so many of us struggle with it. Regardless of what we think we know about strategic planning, the actually “doing” always seems to be more cumbersome than expected.
To simplify, I wonder if an approach like this would work:
To help focus, the CEO sets forth the three strategic goals for the company for a given year. We will grow by X% by focusing on this, this and this in 2011.
