I find it interesting that so many great opportunities come out of simple, brilliant ideas.  I mean, think about it.  Our world has changed so much over the last hundred or so years.

All of the innovations are driven by people who have a thought, develop it into an idea, and then set themselves on a path to make that idea a reality.

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I’m in the middle of turning an idea into reality myself.

My company, MySMARTblog.com, was created from a simple idea that communication that fosters top of mind awareness with a person’s sphere of influence should be easy.

In fact, it was a single conversation with Michael Addison, one of the top mortgage lenders in the country, where we uncovered a gap in the market which has grown to hundreds of happy customers all over the USA (and even Canada now too!)  As Michael and I talked about generating referral business and delivering world-class service, we came up with three areas that he felt his business was lacking and needed improvement.

1. He couldn’t get the high quality, custom image that he wanted his customers to see online
2. He had tons of people connecting with him through social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter but had no systematic way to communicate with them (and he knew that he’d never sit at his computer for hours a day managing those sites)
3. He was super busy, so he needed a system that was as automated as possible.  I mean automated like if he went on vacation, or just didn’t get around to it, that the marketing and communication would go on without him.

Unfortunately, the only solutions that were being offered to business owners and sales professionals were either online courses teaching how to “do-it-yourself” or “point and click” websites that really didn’t convey the professional appearance that was possible and required the user to maintain the system themselves.

I knew from my 15 years experience as a business owner and successful salesperson in the real estate and mortgage industry that those two offerings just wouldn’t work for a large portion of the people just like Michael….and me.

So with that idea in mind, I set out to solve the problem.  One simple idea.  Add focus, attention and commitment.  Consistently pursue the idea transformed into a goal.  Commit to daily refinement and improvement.  And with that, a new million dollar business is born.

Turning ideas into reality is the same process in your business!

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in.  If you’re in the real estate or mortgage industries, I guarantee you that there are a ton of brilliant ideas that you can come up with to absolutely revolutionize your business.  You can use these “elegant ideas” as my friend and mentor, Joe Polish, would call them, to skyrocket your income and live the life of your dreams.

But it does take courage…..and commitment.

I’d love to hear your ideas.  What ideas do you have to revolutionize your business?

Leave me a comment below.  Or better yet, contact me and let’s schedule a time to chat.  I’m sure we can come up with some killer marketing strategies together!

Success in selling really revolves around doing simple activities consistently over time.

Many people get caught up in the time consuming, success draining world of invention.  They try to figure out better ways to get their product or service message across to potential customers and they forget about the simple actions that they must engage in on a daily basis to achieve the success that they are striving for.

Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, recently released a great book on this very subject.  The Compound

Effect talks about little actions done day after day result in big wins over time.  He tells the story about the Tortoise and the Hare, which my kids and other children all over the world love, but shares this tale in a completely different level of understanding that applies to your success journey.  You see, Darren shares that just in the way that the tortoise plods along daily toward his goal of winning the race, your daily completion of simple, but profitable, tasks virtually guarantee that you will get to your goal.  In fact, the Hare, with all of his boasting and starting and stopping, actually loses the race in the end.  Apparently, according to Darren Hardy and proven through this fable, the slow, steady march of simple, repeatable, profitable processes are what lead to winning in the end.

Tip #1 Continually Educate Yourself

I read a lot of books.  In fact, my library of books is somewhere between 800 and 1,000 and the vast majority of that library deals with personal growth, leadership and success.  I like to reflect on the concepts in these books, most of which remind me of the same truths written in different ways.  The last three books that I’ve read are Crush It!: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Rom Brafman.  All three are great reads and I’ve written short reviews of each one on my blog.

Tip #2  Surround Yourself With Positive People

You’ve heard the saying “Birds of a feather flock together”, right?  Well, in terms of you getting to the most important goals in your life, this saying could not be more true.  If you have dreams and aspirations that you want to accomplish, you’ll have to check the people and information sources that you are spending your time around to make sure that they are people who are also looking to go in the same direction that you are.  Unfortunately your friends and family might not be very motivated to achieve more in their lives.  They might be happy right where they are.  Worse, they might not want you to move to far ahead of them and will subconsciously pull you back by distracting you from your worthwhile goals and dreams.

Now I’m not suggesting that you should end all of your relationships with people who aren’t the strivers in life.  In fact, some of my best friends have no interest in the type of business building activities that I involve myself in.  That’s ok.  Differences are what make our lives and our culture richer.  However, if I am interacting with a person who takes away from my self-confidence by ridiculing my business activities or intentions, then I must remove that type of person from interacting with me in order to stay focused and committed to my goals.

A few ways to surround yourself with like-minded people are to look for group associations locally that you can start to attend and develop new friendships and relationships around what you are interested in.  One of the new and growing tools that I like is MeetUp.com.  This is a service that allows people to post local, in-person groups that are based on interest categories.  If you’re interested in internet marketing, look for a group that is focused on that and join it.  Attend the meetings and get to know others in the group.  These associations will push you forward in your quest for success.

Another way to surround yourself with positive and uplifting people is to attend industry or company events.  If you’re involved in a network marketing company or a real estate or mortgage company, there are numerous company-sponsored and industry related events.  When I was actively building my mortgage business, I attended a Keller Williams event because Gary Keller was speaking. I didn’t work for Keller Williams, and I wasn’t a real estate agent, but I took the opportunity to learn from Mr. Keller’s success and surround myself with the other people in the local area who were looking to grow their business and their life in a positive direction.

Take Imperfect Action

This is really where the rubber meets the road.  Too many people try to get everything lined up just perfectly before they go out and get busy.  Many times that effort and energy that is put into planning and perfecting your business is wasted because of a fatal flaw in your business plan that wasn’t apparent before you started talking with clients and getting proof of your concept out in the market.

A popular saying by entrepreneurial experts is “Ready, FIRE, Aim!”  That simple saying reminds us to move forward on our goals with urgency.  Once you get your ideas out in front of people, they will give you feedback which can help to make minor adjustments along the way.  Those minor course corrections are what will lead you to the realization of your dreams and goals.  It’s never perfect and you’ll never make everyone happy.  You will, however, make many people happy when you bless them with your ideas, products, and solutions that will improve their lives.