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Author Archive for Tim Davis

Have you ever thought about a career or business as a coach, speaker or trainer? If so, do you find yourself also thinking…”who would be willing to pay you for your advice?”

What if you could know for sure that you could make a living as a full-time speaker, trainer, or coach?

I have been getting paid to train, coach and speak for over 5 years and one of the biggest questions I get asked is…how do you know if you can make money in this business? The answer is extremely simple and may surprise you. In fact, it all comes down to one question that you have probably already been asked.

If you have had success in any area of your life – personal, financial or business – and when people find out about your success do they ask you this simple question…

“How did you do it?”

Anytime someone ask you that question, it is your pathway to selling them your advice. There was a system, series of steps or formula that you followed to achieve your success. If you take time to properly document your steps of success, then people will willingly pay you to coach, speak or train them.

It is that simple.

Take your success, break it down into steps that anyone can follow, then go out and sell it as a speech, seminar, training class, coaching program or informational product. We live in the “information age” where content rules and the content that helps people reach new levels of success is your pathway to becoming a speaker, coach and trainer.

In fact, I am going to be going into this in more detail at my seminar of February 10th in Nashville, Tennessee. If you want to know more you can still register at http://www.PersonalBrandingMastery.EventBrite.com

 

5 Things You Should Never Do…here’s why…

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Do you remember that song “Signs” and the verse that says,

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”

Some signs are good and some are bad. Sometimes when people tell you something, you should take their advice and other times you need to walk away.

Over the years I have discovered 5 things you should never do, under any circumstance.

  1. Never let anyone convince you that your dream can’t happen
  2. Never over-promise and under-deliver
  3. Never under-estimate your ability to make a difference
  4. Never wait on an opportunity, go make one
  5. Never give up

What about you? Have you discovered some things you should never do? Leave a comment below

Personal Branding is a hot topic that many people struggle trying to figure out. Some questions that come up are: Is developing a personal brand important? Why should I develop my own brand? and How do I develop and authentic personal brand?

Today I want to focus on the “why”.

My definition of a personal brand is “an authentic identifiable brand that creates curiosity for people to know more and helps attract your ideal customer” Think Oprah, Donald Trump and even “The Rock”. They all have powerful personal brands that over the years have created a tremendous amount of wealth and opportunity.

I discovered several years go that developing a personal brand for service based professionals is very important for 3  big reasons.

  1. People buy from people they KNOW.
  2. People buy from people they LIKE.
  3. People buy from people they TRUST.

A well thought out and authentic personal brand helps you get known. It is never who you know more than it is who knows you. Take real estate agents for example…someone who has the title of “The Savvy Real Estate Diva” will become known faster than Sally Smith simply because the “title” creates curiosity and is re-memorable.

Like’s hang around Like’s. Developing an authentic personal brand will attract customers who are most like you, thereby creating quicker rapport and ultimately leading to TRUST.

When I developed my brand, The Marketing Evangelist, I noticed a fast increase in the number of referrals and quality clients I started to receive. This strategy has worked for countless clients of mine as well so it is proven to bring the business in the door.

Do you have a personal brand? Leave a comment below and let’s talk more about it!

Me & Tom Ziglar with his new book, Born to Win http://www.borntowinbook.com

Just about everyone has heard the saying, “When opportunity knocks, answer!” but does opportunity really know or is it something that you can create? I believe opportunity exist for everyone regardless of your current circumstance; however most people have never been shown how to create opportunity from thin air.

It would have been incredibly easy for me to just accept that growing up poor and living in the project was just the cards I had been dealt, yet I simply refused to believe that is how my life would be played out. I wanted more. I wanted to make a difference, to do something meaningful and to have a life. Looking back it was the difficult times growing up that set the stage for my learning how to create opportunity. I want to share with you want I have learned and how you can create more opportunity in your life and your business.

  1. Realize that your current circumstances don’t dictate your future success. Regardless of what you may be going through, you have to believe with everything within you that you have a purpose and calling in life. Once that happens you must develop the courage to step out in faith and pursue your dreams.
  2. Fill your mind with the right information. What you read, what your watch and who you listen to, are so very important to feeding your mind and soul with the information you need to believe in yourself and how you can help others. A great resource is Born to Win by Tom and Zig Ziglar.
  3. Network with leaders. Attend seminars. You will find other like-minded people who will inspire and encourage you as well as share new opportunities with you. I could go on for days about the connections I have made by investing in myself and attending seminars. I would not take one penny or experience back for all the money in the world. In fact, I would like to see YOU at my seminar, Personal Branding Mastery on February 10th – here is the link.
  4. Recognize and own your gifts and talents. As you learn and grow, get a firm understand of your gifts and how you can bring value to others. Your gifts are meant to be used to leave a trail for others to follow!
  5. Identify ways that you can bring value to someone else. Listen to what others are doing and identify ways that you can bring more value to their efforts. Once you see a way for you to add value introduce the idea to them. Don’t wait or expect that they will approach you. You must make the first move! I have started businesses, received funding for my children’s book Squiggly’s Race to the Ark and created partnerships because I simply identified a need and presented an option that showed I could bring value.

Don’t wait for opportunity to knock – go out a create it today!

Does everyone have a blog these days? It seems that way, although we all know that is simply not true. There are still 3 people on a small island that have not yet started their blog. Nevertheless, if you are a blogger, are thinking about blogging or maybe you just read blogs the big pay-off that bloggers desperately seek are more comments and more shares.

Most bloggers, myself included, experiment around with what people like, share and even comment on. It can be a lot like fishing, not that I go fishing…

In fact I like to refer to myself as an indoor pet. Ok, back to the post. If you are looking for more ways to get people to share your blog, here are my top 7

  1. Have a compelling headline. I find that “How To” and “Question” headlines work great. I have also found that adding “Here’s how…” or “Read what I mean…” at the end of your headline works great too. Here is a great FREE tool that you can use to get over writer’s block – http://www.internetmarketingcourse.com/freeheadlinegenerator/
  2. Write from the heart. Seriously, don’t make crap up. Say it from the heart. You can see what I mean by reading SlimDownDiva.com
  3. Speak to the needs of your audience. Don’t ramble about irrelevant information. Give your readers real content that they can use to improve their lives, business or bank accounts.
  4. Add a great photo. Don’t steal photos from the Internet, but always include a great photo. You can buy them very inexpensively at iStockphoto.com or do what I do, add pictures you take with your smart phone. What do you think of the one of me? Don’t ask…it’s a long story
  5. Add some humor. People want quality content, but they much prefer to be entertained so adding humor always increases the chance your post will be shared, but like Bon Qui Qui says…”don’t go crazy”
  6. Make your post timely. The news, events and other timely issues will always receive more attention simply because major media outlets are also talking about the issues.
  7. Ask. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Yet few people ask for comments or shares. Let me show you how that is done…

Would you leave me a comment and please tweet or share this post? Who knows it just might make you famous :)

 

Most business owners don’t need more leads, they need better partnerships. Let me begin by explaining what a partnership is and why they are so valuable to your business.

As a typical business owner you can only reach so many prospects in a given day. There are multiple ways to accomplish this and can include phone calls, emails, social media and seminars. Each method you choose is going to take some time and have a varying degree of results.

But I suspect you are like many business owners and want to reach as many new, red-hot, willing to buy customers as fast as possible and out of all of the strategies forming a strategic partnership is the fastest way for you to hit your goals.

The concept of partnerships is not new; however, most people don’t approach the right partnerships and when they do, their approach is not welcomed.

What you DO NOT want to do is randomly “friend” people on social media like Facebook with your only intention being to get at their friends list for your own personal gain. Most people don’t realize it, but savvy marketers know when you are pulling these types of shenanigans. Worse yet is when people “tag” you in a post so that is shows up on your wall when they haven’t asked permission.

So how can you create really strategic, valuable and profitable partnerships in an ethical way? Here are 5 steps that you can use right now.

  1. Identify people with whom you would like to form a partnership – make a list
  2. Discover what is important to them right now. Are they promoting a project, product or event?
  3. List out ways you can bring value to them right away. It could be a cross promotion, blog post or even video highlighting their services.
  4. Look in your own network for people who may already have a close connection with your perfect partner. Ask for warm introductions.
  5. Once you establish a meeting don’t bombard them with partnering. Find out more, build a relationship built on trust.

If you take the time to use these steps, you will be able to identify and connect with the right partners that can take your business to a whole new level.

I will be talking about partnerships at Personal Branding Mastery in Nashville on February 10th, 2012. If you want to learn more, click here to find out about our event!

Are You Born to Win? Find Out Here

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

I recently had the pleasure of sitting with Tom Ziglar, the proud son of Zig Ziglar at their corporate offices in Plano, Texas. While I was there Tom shared with me some insight on their upcoming new book, Born to Win.

I have had the honor and privilege of meeting with and speaking to some of the best thought leaders in the world today and the Ziglar’s are examples for us all of practicing what they preach.

With Zig and Tom”s rich history of under-promising and over-delivering I can not wait to buy my copy of Born to Win. I first learned of Zig Ziglar in my early 20′s an I am proud to say that I have listened to, read, and applied his advice throughout my life.

As I was on my way home from church this evening the thought occurred to me that wisdom is all around, we just need to have the courage to take that wisdom and apply it to our lives. We truly will become a product of what we read, who we hang around and what we do.

For me, I am going to buy a copy of Born to Win and I hope you do as well!

I meet people all the time who want to become a coach, speaker or trainer, but they simply don’t know how or where to get started.

If you do a quick google search you will find thousands of websites, e-books, conferences or study at home guides that will show you how to get in the business; however the question then becomes…

“which resource can you trust?”

John Maxwell says “It is not only important what you learn but who you learn it from”

Growing up in the projects, I discovered that this was very true. If I truly wanted to get out of poverty, I needed to find the right information from the right people and then apply it daily in my life.

I started coaching, speaking and training 5 years ago and I have attended, purchased and studied just about everyone out there in the training world of coaches. Last year I ran across an opportunity that has literally changed my life, opened new doors and unlocked numerous opportunities – I joined The John Maxwell Team of independent certified coaches, speakers and trainers.

Because I get asked about getting into the business so often, I wanted to share this resource with you. John Mawxwell and Paul Martinelli recently recorded a video that I believe will really launch your success in the coaching, speaking and training industry. Click here to watch the John Maxwell Coaching Program interview.

I don’t receive any compensation from this should you decide to join. I just simple wanted to share with you what I did to further launch my career. You can decide for yourself if it is right for you.

John says. “If you want to do what I do, then you must be willing to do what I did” and The John Maxwell certification program is what I did for my career.

As always you can leave a comment below or use the contact tab to reach me if you have any other questions!

If you know what motivates people to pass your content on, you have a much better chance of getting them to keep doing so in the future.

Why is it that people are willing to continually pass on content from certain sites to friends, while not at all for other sites?

These are some of the main factors in play when it comes to why people pass on certain pieces of content.

Thinking Emotionally Rather Than Logically

Really great marketing gets people to take action by having them think emotionally rather than logically. For example, if a video gets someone really shocked and outraged about some political position, they might post that video on their Facebook wall without necessarily double-checking any of the facts in the video.

It wasn’t necessarily that the video presented shocking facts, but the fact that they managed to get the watcher in an outraged emotional stage.

If you can get your content to really get people fired up, they’ll often be much more willing to pass it on to their network.

 Wanting Their Friends to Have a Good Experience

This principle is very basic. It’s the same reason why we recommend restaurants and movies to friends: we just want them to have a better experience.

If you create a website that helps people in a certain industry do things faster and cheaper, there’s a good chance your content will get passed around simply because people want their friends to have a better experience.

To make this process easier, it often helps to have “sound bite sized” pieces of information. For example, if you run a website about how to repair your credit, instead of having someone just pass on your website, it’s much easier for them to pass on an infographic specifically about how to repair your credit before buying a home, if they had a friend who’s on the verge of buying.

 You Helped Them; They Want to Help You

Have you ever had the experience of getting such great customer service that you wanted to return the favor? For example, you go to a restaurant whose service is so spectacular that you feel like you want to bring more people to their establishment just because you want to help them out.

If your clients get the sense that you’re really looking out for them and that you really care about them, they’ll often be willing to return the favor.

Ordinary service doesn’t elicit this kind of loyalty. But if you provide exceptional service, this kind of marketing can be one of the most powerful marketing tools in your arsenal. Many viral campaigns work just based on using one of these principles. A few of them activate all three principles and really take off. Which ones make the most sense for your business?

10 Ways to Win Everyday

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

Everyone I meet wants something. They want to make a difference, they want to achieve a goal, they want to make a dream a reality, but whatever it may be, the starting point is in your daily agenda.

The road map to success is built on a street called perseverance and it is traveled only by those people who are dedicated to practicing winning habits each day in their life. I want to share with you what I have learned about winning every day.

  1. Get up when you wake up
  2. Believe that today is your day
  3. Read scripture
  4. Listen to a motivating message
  5. Great your family with a smile and a positive word
  6. Have an agenda that you will accomplish
  7. Send out 3 note cards to people you know
  8. Look for 1 way to give something to someone – a smile or encourage word
  9. Expect favor in your activities
  10. Come home with a positive, supportive and grateful attitude

What are some more ways they you have discovered to win every day? Comment below and lets talk :)