leaky bucket syndrome

Written by Ryan Renfrew | Follow me on twitter / facebook

What uuuuup? What’s crack-a-lacking?

Last week I was drawing some comparisons between my offline business (personal training) and my online business. And I found some really great, and easy to implement ideas.

I started this blog little over three –very short – months ago and back then my phase 1 objective was to create awesome content, phase two was to generate some traffic, not a lot, just some super awesome people with similar goals, attitudes and dreams to my mine. And phase 3 – make it sticky – build a core group of commentators.

What I noticed is that commentators come and go. I’ve put in the hard yards, writing quality posts and finding awesome people – like your fine self – that comment on my posts. But alas many are never to be seen again. This is as annoying as trying to fill up a bucket with water that has a bunch of holes in it.

So I decided to plug up the holes. But how?

Hmmmm, this pattern seems familiar. I had noticed the leaky bucket syndrome happening in my personal training business. I would put a lot of effort and money into marketing campaigns which attracted new clients (the hard part) but after their pre paid sessions had ran out I would lose them forever. I had done all the hard work only to let qualified paying customers slip through my fingers.

Sick and tired of this happening again and again I decided to drill my loyal long-term clients and ask why they were still training with me. And I came up with a list of 10 core reasons.

I have taken these 10 principles and made them blogger friendly.

#1 Connect With Your Readers.

Try your best to really get to understand your readers. Visit their blogs, read their about page and really try to uncover their “hot buttons” , their driving force and what their core values are.

#2 Bring The ENERGY.

When I write I imagine I’m talking to a bunch of excited 8 year olds, I try to be as animated, as fun and as different as possible. Its my aim to hold attention and be interesting. The biggest turn off on a blog is being boring and dull!! Every sentence should be rocking it’s A game.

Let me tell you where I get my energy from.

I don’t write with the sole intention of maximising comments, subscribers, likes and retweets.  I write every blog post with the thought  “I am taking another step towards achieving my life dream”. I believe it’s because of this attitude that my readers pick up the ENERGY of my dream and have a much better experience than if I was writing to impress them.

If you want insane amounts of energy check out Mars Doraian and locationless.

#3. Shower Your Readers With Appreciation.

I love you guys, you guys rock! Its you guys that motivate me, encourage me and inspire me. If I didn’t have you guys around I would find it very hard to keep blogging.

#4 Respond To Your Readers Personally.

You can appreciate your readers by personally emailing them and thanking them for hanging around. Reply to every comment. Thank them individually for their RTs.

#5 Be An Eternal Student.

You don’t have to go to official seminars or get fancy certifications. You can get great ideas watching what your peers do – the good ones, there are some crap ones out there too, don’t learn from them – watching videos at ted.com or mycomeup.com or by reading industry magazines or books.

By reading success books and taking action on their teachings you can inspire, motivate and improve your readers experience.

Plus the more you teach the better your understanding of what you learn, which is a great help in positioning yourself as an authority figure within your niche

#6 Be Fun

Don’t take your self too seriously. Being “professional” is not mutually exclusive to being super fun.

Blogging is all about creating an experience. You can read this material on thousands of other blogs. What readers remember is how you make them feel, so having some fun along the way will leave a positive association in your readers mind.

#7 Make Your Readers Feel Important.

Two of the best books you could ever read are “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie and “Influence” by Robert Calandi.

Both of these spellbinding must reads explain that one of the most powerful human desires is the need to feel important.

If you can figure out your readers most powerful desires then they will keep returning to hear your wisdom.

#8 Mix It Up.

Never stick to one topic. I understand you may have specific niches and that’s great – and too be encouraged in most cases – but don’t be too rigid, you will find that you will sound repetitive and like a broken record and will sound repetitive like a broken record!!

Write from different angles and different viewpoints, try and find comparisons and differences between your niche and others, sometimes the more extreme the niche the better the insight. I wrote this post by comparing client retention strategies from my offline personal training business to my blog.

#9 Build Your Brand.

Be yourself, leave your mark. I write in a way and use phrases that are recognisable and are identifiable with my self. Just look at the beginning of every one of my posts “What uuuuuuup?” and bLAZE yOUR tRAIL. I often use these phrases on tweets, facebook comments and blog comments, after a while it becomes recognisable and gets noticed amongst the hustle and bustle of social media. Another great example you might recognise is Traffic Coleman – with his “Black SEO guy “signing off” tagline. Traffic Coleman also has that green border around his avatar which catches the eye. You always know when the Black SEO guy is around – well played sir.

#10 Be Cool.

Be cool to people.

Its not about how much you can get from people and what they can do for you.

“ The more people you can help to get what they want in life, the more you will get out of life”

- Zig Ziglar.

And this blog is proof. I have found that helping others get what they want has come back to me X ten.

Help mend the holes in my leaky bucket and drop me a comment.

bLAZE yOUR tRAIL

how to market yourself

Written by Ryan Renfrew | follow me on twitter / facebook

What uuuuup? Hope you are off to a flying start so far in 20eleven.

In this era of the new economy and the power of super small business’ we need to focus on one thing and that one thing is marketing, for me 20eleven is gonna be the year of marketing – I am gonna learn, absorb and implement everything marketing. When I refer to marketing I don’t just mean marketing tactics with its Click Through Rates and Search Engine Optimisation I want to delve further into the deep psychological recesses of our consumer minds.

Marketing has been used to sell products and services since time began, well at least the beginning of consumerism, but I’m not interested in selling products or services (for the time being anyway) what I am interested in is using marketing as a psychological weapon  to ‘sell’ my ideas, opinions and ultimately ‘sell’ myself as a trusted authority within my sphere of influence. It is of utmost importance to sell your self to potential customers BEFORE you try to sell your goods and services.

There are three basic components to market anything, anywhere, at any time, to any one, at any price, under any circumstances. I have spoken with many business owners and many of them insist that their business is different, that their circumstances are somehow unique. This is not the case. Every single business in the world, past or present needs these three things to prosper.

1. MARKEThow to market your self
2. MEDIA
3. MESSAGE

These three elements have no particular order of sequence, they can’t have. No one element is more important than an other. However you do need all three operating at the same time. Think of it as a tripod, you need all three legs intact otherwise the tripod will fall over. The three sides of this marketing triangle all feed into one another to form a super marketing trifecta.

There are quite a few ways to screw up the super marketing trifecta.

Right Message – Wrong Market – Right Media
Right Message – Right Market – Wrong Media
Right Message – Wrong Market – Wrong Media
Wrong Message – Right Market – Right Media
Wrong Message – Wrong Market – Right Media
Wrong Message – Right Market – Wrong Media
Wrong Message – Wrong Market – Wrong Media.

There is only one right way.

Right Message – Right Market – Right Media

THE MARKET

how to market your selfWhen you choose your media, WHO are you targeting? When you craft your message, WHO is it meant to resonate with? It is true but sadly unfortunate that many business owners don’t know WHO they should be hunting, they don’t’ know WHO their current customers are and they have no idea WHO their ideal customer is.

Do you know WHO your ideal customer is? I mean do you really know them?  Do you know their likes, their interests even their dislikes? The reasons why they buy? If not, you should find out as soon as possible. Its as easy as just asking them, surveys, polls, questionnaires whatever you fancy.

Finding out this WHO is very important, once you know WHO you want to attract then finding them becomes so much easier. Often you will find that the right description of your WHO is already in your business, its just that you haven’t bothered to look or paid any attention to it up until now.

But what if you are just starting a new venture and have no frame of reference? Well, look for similar business’ in your niche and profile their customers. For example when I started this blog I had no readers – and I wanted some – not only that, I knew I wanted readers that would like my blog enough to comment and subscribe. So I read, comment and subscribed to blogs similar to mine. I took this a step further and commented on the blogs that commented on the blogs I read. Which in return yields subscribers WHO fit my WHO.

Start with your preference of WHO you want as a customer or client and whatever you do make damn sure that you stop trying to round up ‘everybody’ and ‘anybody’.

THE MESSAGE

If you want to catch a salmon them don’t tie an old boot to your fishing line

“Match Bait to Critter”
- Dan Kennedy

Once you know WHO you want to attract you need to create the right bait. The ‘bait’ is two things; the message you want to convey and your offer, whether that be a free info product, a free gift, a discount, a free service etc.

Many business yield poor results from their sales and marketing efforts because the have crap, no or the wrong bait for their WHO.

Crap bait is boring and dull. For example a free report  “Lifestyle Design Online” is crap. A free info report “How To Make 6 Figures With a Lifestyle Design Blog In Less Than 12Monthsa” is better.  Now, that same report with an audio download and a transcript of 5 interviews from that niches gurus is much much better. You get my drift?

Now that we have our bait we need to consider the message-to-market match. Most businesses have the one size fits all mentality, one brochure, one catalogue, one website. But this is very ineffective. You want your marketing to be magnetic, don’t ya? Then your gonna have to make it appeal in different ways to different people. Some people are more visual – offer them a report to read, some people are more auditory- offer them an audio download, while others are more tactile – offer them a free gift.

THE MEDIA

Newspaper, fliers, postcards, tv, magazines, billboard, pay per click, catalogue, social media, word of mouth, sky writing and the list goes on and on.

Fist off, channels of media changes business from business. The most important factor to consider is the WHO you are trying to reach. What do they pay attention to and what media do they use? A flier tucked under your window wiper for a 2 for 1 pizza offer might work. But a flier probably wont work for multi-million pound luxury yachts. There is no such thing as bad media, it’s how we use it that makes it bad.

So, it is your mission to find and use as many different media as you can. Many business’ rely on one, two or three forms of media to deliver their message, but this can leave them vulnerable to disruptions and competition.

Obviously my main media channel is my blog, but I also use twitter and facebook. What media works for you and why do you use it? Also, what hasn’t worked for you and why? Please, I would love to hear your responses in the comment section below.

To receive updates via email you can subscibe here.

bLAZE yOUR tRAIL.


Mystic Ryan Can Tell The Future

Posted: 30th December 2010 by Ryan Renfrew in Uncategorized

Psychic Ryan can be found on twitter and facebook

What uuuuup you wonderful guys and gals?

We all know 2011 is now upon us. If you would like to take advantage of my psychic abilities then ask any question you like about any topic you like and I will reply with my super spooky psychic 2011 predictions.

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Subject

Your Message

***Disclaimer I am not psychic at all, I am only doing this for shits and giggles, so please, the  stranger and the questions the better. Due to the high volume of questions I will  receive – and I will respond to them all -  please limit yourself to only one question, so make it a goodie.***

Blaze a super special 2011 trail.

how-to-bad-ass-lifestyle-design-personal-development.

Written by Ryan Renfrew | Follow me on twitter / facebook

What uuuuuup? Hope you are having a great day and that you’re a kickin’ some bigtime ass.

And I truly mean that… I hope you are completely smashing it in all areas of your life… Do you know why? Because it is 100% all in your hands.

No one else is gonna give you the official title of ‘Mr Bad Ass’… or even has the right to decide if you are worthy or not of everything you want and deserve in life.

Without coming across as pessimistic, which I’m not, it is widely known that the majority of people here on planet earth are miserable in their lives, people are pissed off with their jobs, their relationships and the general flow of their lives. So I wouldn’t take – with a pinch of salt – what most of the people around you are telling you, unless you are lucky enough to have surrounded yourself with the awesome people who read my blog! In fact, not only are you better off not listening to said vampires you are better off learning what NOT to do from them. In not jokin’ around here… it’s true…. If you want to live the Rockstar life and kick some serious ass…watch what the majority of people do and do the opposite – a complete 180.  I mean this, if you want to be noticed and stand out you gotta swim against the tide, be a maverick, a Bad Ass, do things your way, no compromises and definitely not the way the ‘normal’ majority or the status quo believe things should be done.

Most people place their future in the hands of others and are very good at making excuses and finding alibis for everything that is wrong in their life…putting way too much emphasis on what others say…you should get a steady 9-5…you should work hard now to reap the benefits when you retire…do what the so called “experts think”, the economy isn’t right just now, and so the list can goes on and on. But guess what, NO DEAL! A BIG FAT NOOOOO DEAL!!!!!! Take your advice, no opinion and shove it.

Many professionals and 9-5 ers put way too much emphasis on the number of qualifications they have. Okay, now I know this ain’t gonna help me make any friends here…but to hell with it!! And here it is… You don’t need to have all these fancy qualifications and have those fancy letters after your name. Unless you’re a doctor or something, then those wee letters could make all the difference. The point I’m making is… if you want to design your life around your passions and turn what you love into how you make a living, then qualifications don’t mean jack.

NOW, If what you LEARNED to get those qualifications makes you better at what you do and moves you closer towards you goals, or if you enjoy getting further qualifications, by all means do so. There ain’t nuttin’ wrong with that.

9 times out of 10, entrepreneurs with the most qualifications and letters after their name make the least amount of money. Bill gates, Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerman, are all college dropouts. There are of course exceptions, but they’re rare.

It’s not like you can’t learn all that stuff on your own any way. All you need is the right books. And there are lots of great books out there which cover anything you want to learn… the only thing is that they don’t come with those little letters after your name.

Of course you gotta be good at what you do… but a bunch of letters after your name or some fancy title will have nothing to do with how good you are or how much money you’re capable of making.

Do you know that there are people out there that make a lot of money and have one hell of a good time making it?

They learn how to get from where they are today to where they want to go…they are self educated in business, sales, marketing, personal development and time management.

These people, ma’ friend, are mega action takers! Taking massive action in the direction of their goals…not just one or two things a day.. but massive action…seriously they get a huge amount of momentum going towards where they want to be in life.

They do things that force them to step out of the comfort zone (the only way to grow is to step out of your comfort zone and take fear head on) if you don’t grow as a person then there is a huge chance your business won’t grow also, the two are very closely related.

They don’t take any shit… but also they don’t give people any shit… they live by their own values and rules and let others do likewise.

They invest in themselves AND in their business…if you invest in the right things it will come back ten fold or even one hundred fold who knows, maybe even more. The investment isn’t necessarily financial, time is our most valuable commodity, we car earn back the money we wrongly invested but we can’t earn back our time spent invested in wrong interests.

And you may have guessed it, they most always work for themselves. If you really want to create a legacy and leave your mark you need to be captain of your ship, take responsibility, take a few risks and full steam a head.

Okay, these people are not perfect and by no means are they way smarter than most of the unsuccessful people out there…they do have their fair share of rough times like every body else… but I assure you they’ll be the first to admit these dark days are essential in shaping who they are today.

The most important things about these dark days is to learn the lessons along the way.

In addition to these dark days, some of the most successful people I know are loaded with some crazy ass dysfunctions like OCD and ADD. It’s just part of who they are, and how they roll.

In the recent No Bullshit Secrets to Stratospheric Success series I talked about the importance of giving, and giving often. To be a serious Bad Ass you have got to understand the importance of value, getting paid good money for providing extremely high levels of service or a product of great value and having the balls to charge two, three and even four times what your competitors are charging.

Not every one will put in to action what they have learnt or been told to do. Only a small percentage of people are gonna get Bad Ass results because there is only a small percentage of people who are doers. It takes a Bad Ass attitude to take the theory and apply it.

The most distinguishing trait of a Bad Ass is that they do not conform. They do not swallow the norms that the majority of the population so readily gobble down… I f had had followed a conventional path I would be wearing a shirt and tie, wouldn’t be allowed to swear, would have to make that there are no speeling or grammatical errors anywhere on this page. But worst of all there’s a good chance that I would be surrounded by drones, zombies and life sucking vampires on a daily basis, instead of meeting cool Bad Ass achievers like your good self.

If I had conformed to these norms by doing all the boring lifeless stuff I mentioned above, nobody would read this blog… because it would be boring, regurgitated crap with no soul, passion or personality. I guarantee if  I followed and emulated what everyone else around me is doing (and what most people are actually telling me I should do) Id be lucky to have a fraction of the readership I do. Ya’ see people not only want to learn and grow but they also want to be entertained along the way.

The serious Ass Kickers have a higher purpose, a deeper motivating factor, something internal that drives them forward.

  • They KNOW they are gonna make mistakes.
  • They KNOW their dreams aren’t gonna be handed to them wrapped up with a bow.
  • They KNOW they are gonna piss off a few people along the way and have a few fingers pointed at them. But do you know what? They don’t give a fuck, they are cool with this.
  • They KNOW not to try and please all of the people all of the time.

The Ass Kissers will be clueless

  • They are afraid to confront their fears.
  • They are way too concerned what others think and say about them.
  • They certainly don’t like to piss people off.
  • They are afraid to make mistakes.
  • They avoid risks whenever possible.
  • They don’t invest in themselves.
  • They will wait for everything to be perfect. (A heads up – It never will).
  • They will take shit from people.
  • They only look out for themselves.
  • They don’t have belief in themselves.

If you regularly read this blog you are in the other 1%… you are the small minority who can see through the bull shit and are stepping up, taking personal responsibility for your life and are an actively doer….and for that I salute you.

You are awesome at what you do, and you know that the cute letters after a name are exactly that, cute letters after a name… that don’t define you at all…. you define you… what you say defines you, your actions define you. Not what others say or think about you. When it all boils down…what the status quo think and do shouldn’t bother us, that’s their business, not ours.

How do I know YOU are like this when 99% of people aren’t? Simples… because you would of ran like a bat out of hell the first time you came across this blog… You would have been scared, and thought these views quite radical and too afraid to be an unconventional Bad Ass like the rest of the 99%ers out there.

I genuinely commend you on being a one percenter, a massive action taker, a person who is not afraid to make mistakes…and learns from them. I have so much respect for the value you provide, the people you help and the balls to live unconventionally. I respect you for being a total Bad Ass.

*** Disclaimer*** I am not bashing the 99%ers out there, I just choose to surround myself with the people who are rising to the top.

I would love to hear your comments in the comment section below. I realise that this post my make me even more enemies. But I don’t believe in holding back, sometimes I gotta say what I gotta say.

A personal note the Bad Ass 1% ers, please share this post and if you haven’t already you can subscribe here gratis!

bLAZE yOUR tRAIL

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receptivity- personal development, lifestyle design

Written by Ryan Renfrew | Follow me on twitter / facebook.

What uuuuup? Hope your having a great day.

Today is the grand finale of the “The No Bullshit Secrets of Stratospheric Success” series  – so with out further ado let us begin.

When you where young what did you learn about giving? Don’t think about it. Don’t try to remember.

When I say “giving” what’s the first thing that pops into your mind?

For me I think of the expression “Its better to give than to receive

This is a very nice phrase, philosophically sound. But come on! In the game of life, if your anything like me, from time to time you will think “What’s in it for me? When am I going to get compensated for the value I’ve been giving?

I want you to try something. I’m going to count to thirty and I want you to slowly exhale. Take a good breath in then just exhales, that’s all.

1, 2, 3……..28, 29 and 30.

Couldn’t get to 30???

Of course not, you can’t just go on breathing out forever.

It’s not better to give than to receive. In fact,  its totally crazy to only give and NOT receive. Trying not to receive is unwise and it’s also arrogant. What gives you the right to refuse someone’s act of giving. Receiving is the natural result of giving.

Lets have a look at the receiving and giving balance in nature. At this very moment all of us humans are breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. Also at this very moment are billions of plants doing the exact opposite – breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen. Their giving is our receiving and our giving is their receiving.

Giving can only happen because it is also a receiving.

All the giving in the world won’t lead to stratospheric success unless you are willing to also receive.

Secret # 5 The law of Receptivity

The key to effective giving
Is to stay open to receiving.

Its up to you to open your eyes, see what’s being offered to you and take it!

So go on, treat yourself, your an awesome reader you deserve it! Today, go look for 3 things that are being offered to you and take them. Recive and enjoy, recieve and enjoy.

I am also a firm believer that the law of receptivity applies to tweets, if you retweet for people they will retweet for you. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge ; )

bLAZE yOUR tRAIL

Written by Ryan Renfrew | follow me on twitter / facebook.

What uuuuup? What about ye!

So, the fourth instalment of the No Bullshit Secrets To Stratospheric Success is here. I hope your  uber excited. In case you’ve missed any of the previous secrets take a few minutes to catch up.

Secret # 1 Click here to reveal
Secret # 2 Click here to reveal
Secret # 3 Click here to reveal

Secret # 4 is The Law of Authenticity

How may times have you heard the saying “Just be yourself” ?? I used to hate this saying, to me it sounded like a cop out.

Friend : “So, are you looking forward to going on your date tonight Ryan?”
Me : “Yes I am, but to be honest I’m a little nervous, I mean what should I do? How should I act?”
Friend: “Just be yourself, you’ll be grand”
Me : “What the flying fuck is that meant to mean? When am I not any one other than myself?!”

I didn’t get it, honestly! When someone told me to be myself I didn’t know what they meant or how I was even meant to be myself. I thought they were just regurgitating an oft-repeated phrase in an attempt to reassure me.

I have now come to accept the phrase “Just be yourself” to mean loosen up and act impulsively rather than to a follow an agenda or try and fit some preconceived perception others may have.

Just being yourself is important, you are a commodity, a far more important commodity than your house, your car or any other material goods you own. To be successful you have to sell yourself as a commodity. To sell yourself you’ve got to know yourself, to know yourself you’ve got to be yourself.

I once read that achieving any goal is 10% technical skill, the other 90%  people skills. So what makes good people skills? Is it liking somebody, is it listening? Is it caring about others? To some extend maybe, but the cornerstone of people skills is… you’ve guessed it “Just being yourself”.

As long as you are putting up some act, pretending to be somebody else or hiding behind certain behaviours you will not be able to truly connect people.

You want people skills? THEN BE YOURSELF. Simples.

And this my friend is the fourth secret.

Secret# 4 The Law of Authenticity

“The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.”

bLAZE yOUR tRAIL

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If you have found this post of value please spread it via email, twitter or facebook. It would honestly mean a lot to me. Thank you

To stay up to date with the latest post you should subscribe for free.

Written by Ryan Renfrew | follow me on twitter / facebook.

What uuuuup? How you’re having an awesome day.

This is the 3rd post of the 5 post series “The No Bullshit Secrets to Stratospheric Success”
If you have missed the first 2 secrets, the Law of Value click here and the Law of Compensation click here.

The 3rd secret is the Law of Influence

In life you need to develop astrong support network. What do I mean by developing a support network? I mean a network of people who know you, like you and trust you, they will have you in the back of their minds. These are people who are personally invested in seeing you succeed. They are your walking talking ambassadors. Once you’ve built your army of personal walking ambassadors you will have so many opportunities coming at you way faster than you can handle.

Okay, so you may be thinking ‘I’ve got a large twitter/ facebook network’ but do you honestly think they are your walking talking ambassadors? Are your followers personally investing in your success? Some maybe but the majority are probably not.

Do you know how to make this kind of tight support network happen…?

STOP KEEPING SCORE

There is one cliché in business and relationships that I strongly disagree with, it’s the old faithfull “ Win – Win” the “ I’ll scratch your back and you’ll scratch mine” or the “Evey Stevies”. Fuck this!!! Adopting this mindset makes you a creditor.

To achieve true stratospheric success you need to change this mindset. You need to look out for the other guy. Watch his back, help him get what he wants.

“If you help enough people get what they want in life, you will get what you want”

- Zig Ziglar

Forget win – win, 50 – 50. Focus 100% on the other guy, focus on his wins. This way you will establish a network of walking talking ambassadors who are personally invested in your success. If you place anothers interests first, your interests will always be taken care of.

Secret#3 The Law of Influence

Your influence is determined by

how abundantly you place

other people’s interests first.

The common conception is that money, position and list of accomplishments creates influence. WRONG!!! this misconception has it all backwards. Ya’ see, it is influence that creates wealth, position and accomplishments.

Givers Attract.

Have you ever wondered why some people have magnetic personalities? Why so many people are attracted to them? It’s simple. BECAUSE THEY GIVE! They help people, put others interests before their own. Giving attracts and magnetises.

If you have been keeping up to date with the No Bullshit Secrets to Stratospheric Success series you will know that I like to send you on missions and today is no different.
Today I want you to throw your self-interest to one side and put someone else’s interests first.

If you have missed secret#1 and secret#2 you can catch up here and here.

We are over halfway through the series I would love to hear your experiences of the Law of Value and the Law of compensation to date in the comment section below.

bLAZE yOUR tRAIL

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