A TRUE Hero.
March 19, 2010
You’re a 19 year old kid.
You’re critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley.
November 11, 1965.
LZX-ray,Vietnam.
Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away,
that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.
You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you’re not getting out.
Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again.
As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then – over the machine gun noise – you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see an unarmed Huey.
But … it doesn’t seem real because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you.
He’s not Medi-Vac so it’s not his job, but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.
Even after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.
He’s coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses.
And, he kept coming back !! 13 more times!!
He took about 30 of you and your buddies out who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient,
Ed Freeman , died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise,Idaho.
May God Rest His Soul.
-Craig Zuber
FOCUS
March 10, 2010
Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream
of it, live on that idea.
Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your
body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone.
This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.
ENTREPRENEUR OR FREELANCER, WHICH ARE YOU?
March 4, 2010
First, you must answer the vital question above. This is your moment of truth. Being honest to yourself now will save you monster heartache later.
Difference?
Freelancers sell themselves and their talents. Though they may have a few employees working for them, they focus on getting a job done rather than running a business. Consultants, advisors, artists, landscapers, musicians, and writers are all freelancers. There is no exit strategy. Freelancers are driven by the satisfaction of working for themselves, setting their own hours, and being their own boss. Freelancing is the single easiest way to start a new business.
Entrepreneurs are building something big, lasting, and profitable, focusing on growth. An entrepreneur is willing to receive little pay, work long hours, and take on great risk in exchange for the freedom to make something big with real market value. Venture capitalists and other investors are usually involved. An entrepreneur’s business is sustainable and can survive after they are gone. For them, it’s all about making it big and leaving behind a legacy.
If you buy a Quizinos franchise hoping to work very little and get very rich, you’re in for a huge disappointment. The numbers of the business model do not support absentee management of most Quizinos. You, the franchisee, need to be the manager as well.
Contrast this with the entrepreneur who invents a new kind of contact management program, then leverages everything he owns and borrows the rest to build a company with 45 employees in less than a year. If it works, he’s hit a home run and influenced the lives of many people. If it fails, he’s out of the game for a minute or two and then, like all good entrepreneurs, he’s back.
Both situations offer tremendous opportunity to the right person, and millions of people are delighted that they left their jobs to become a freelancer or an entrepreneur. But for you, only one of them will do. And you must figure out which one. Right Now!
Freelancers focus on a craft. They can easily build their business by doing great work and supplying great service consistently. The entrepreneur is comfortable raising money, hiring and firing, leasing more office space than he or she needs right now. The entrepreneur dreams big and persuades others to share their dream. Successful entrepreneurs rarely invent a new business model. They trade on the success of a proven one. Here are a few advantages to doing this.
LEARN FROM OTHERS MISTAKES. If the guy down the street grows to quickly, you can learn from that.
FIND A MENTOR. Somewhere, there’s someone with a similar model that’s probably willing to teach you.
BE CERTAIN THAT IT CAN BE DONE. If someone is making a living with this business model, odds are you can too.
YOU’RE NOT ALONE. The horrible uncertainty of staring down a bottomless pit doesn’t afflict the entrepreneur who is brave enough to steal a business model.
Listen up!
Copying some poor schmuck isn’t the answer. Instead, take his business model and make it your own. If someone’s making a good living selling candy bars from a van, maybe you could sell ice cream from a bus the same way. Business models are the same—same distribution, same competitive pressures, and so on. There’s plenty of room for creativity in the business trenches, why not take advantage of the knowledge that’s there for you?
Knowing the distinctions between an entrepreneur and a freelancer is just a start. You’re the one who determines how you’re labeled. It’s up to you to decide the kind of success you want.
If you’re a freelancer, freelance. If you’re an entrepreneur, build a business that works. Whatever you do, never mix em!
Never give up. Success is persistence. Set realistic expectations. Never give up.
Craig Zuber takes the discipline and accountability of the US Marine Corps into the business world with the publishing of his cutting-edge business guide, In The Trenches: Do Or Die Lessons From the Business Battlefield. Download the first two chapters FREE
Leadership Means Service – In the Business Trenches
February 25, 2010
Leaders don’t sit around waiting or hoping for something to happen-leaders MAKE amazing things happen! Instead of excuses or blame, leaders deliver solutions and results. Leaders go above and beyond the call of duty. Doing a good job is not enough-leaders push themselves to greatness. Anyone at any level can be a leader by stepping up and taking initiative.
Leaders influence and inspire others by actions, not by words, and work to achieve specific results by working collaboratively with others. They are more concerned with the success of the team than their own personal gain. And, leadership doesn’t just apply to your troops-your clients are also counting on you to be the expert who will guide them through unfamiliar territory by protecting and advancing their best interests.
LEADERSHIP MEANS SERVICE
There’s a stereotype out there that when you get to be the boss you get to put your feet up on the desk, clamp a cigar between your teeth, and order people around. The boss reaps the profits while the grunts do all the work, right? Wrong. Making a business work is a team effort, not a one-man show. Even if you’re a sole proprietor, you’ve still got to have a team; what about your vendors, your clients, your mentors, your CPA, your spouse and family, your colleagues, and/or your coach or mastermind group?
In a team, everybody has a job to do, and the leader’s job is to get results and to steer the business wisely so that it prospers and provides services for customers and a place to work for the employees. And barking out orders is not the way to prosperity-teamwork is.
Do you open staff meetings by saying, “Here’s what we’re going to do, because I say so, period.” or by saying, “Here’s the situation. What do you think? How can we solve this?” There’s a leader trait. Ask people what they think and listen to them.
True leaders understand and leverage the power of A.L.L.-Ask, Listen, and Learn. It’s ALL or nothing.
Go to http://www.inthetrenchesbook.com to download the first two chapters FREE!
I am a business coach, author, speaker, top-producer in residential real estate, creator of Soldiers Impact, and most importantly-a Marine. http://www.soldiersimpact.com
I have been spending a lot of his time championing the cause of seeing military personnel effectively transition into the workplace once they leave active duty. There are nearly 500,000 individuals annually who find themselves in this position. With their leadership and training, I believe that many of them have the abilities to be successful entrepreneurs and business leaders.
My mission is to provide them with a little guidance to uncover 10 entrepreneurial principles that they learned in the military – and how to directly apply them to business ownership.
Check out my new book: In The Trenches: Do or Die Lessons From the Business Battlefield http://www.inthetrenchesbook.com
Craig Zuber
NEVER EVER ASSUME!
February 15, 2010
Time after time I’ve heard new recruits tell me they know just how to adjust their approach to a potential customer based on how the person dresses, what kind of watch they wear, how old they are, or how wealthy they appear to be. And that’s bullshit.
Why? Because whether or not somebody buys from you has absolutely nothing to do with what they’re wearing or how they act. It has everything to do with the questions you ask and how well you listen to their response, taking that information and using it as leverage to lead them in the right direction.
Never assume that someone is or is not going to buy based on your own knee-jerk impression of them. Trying to close too soon can backfire rapidly, and it’s always the result of assuming the client is ready when they’re not. Don’t assume! Listen! If you’re not sure, ask!
Prejudging isn’t the only way assumptions will get you killed. Have you ever lost a customer because they were expecting a follow-up call, which you didn’t make because you had no idea that’s what they were expecting? A professional refuses to leave things hanging.
Every time you talk to a customer or a prospect (or anyone, really), it’s your responsibility to make sure both parties leave the meeting or phone call knowing what is going to happen next and who is expected to do what. And that means closing, because you’re not going to leave that meeting with only a “maybe” for an answer. You’re going to get a commitment.
Even in cases where you’re not actually closing on a sale, you still need to be closing them on something. Instead of saying, “I’ll get back to you,” say when. If they say, “I’m not sure,” get a commitment on the specific date and time you will contact them to get their decision. Click here to purchase your copy of, In The Trenches: Do or Die Lessons From the Business Battlefield.
Craig Zuber
