GarthBox

The best kind of learning, I’ve found, is learning from others.

I say this in a very personal way. Obviously we learn from others, but in different ways.

I could read a book from an author who I will never meet and I could learn something from her. You can learn all  about E = mc ² from a guy who is dead. When I say learning from others, I actually mean learning from someone face-to-face, voice-to-voice, skype-to-skype.

Fond of an author. Write to her. Connect. Talk.

It isn’t knowledge that will move you forward, it’s people with that knowledge.

Much of the learning we do, we do in hiding and that doesn’t lead to anywhere special. Success comes from finding the sweet spot between learning and doing. And it’s people who can help you find that medium.

 

Stay Positive & Where Ya Headin’?

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We unduly attempt to uncover tough ideas that we can execute simply.

We think deeply about a problem, looking for an idea that’s never been thought of or done before, but it’s got to be easy to do. Great work, well, doesn’t work like that.

There is, however, a magical bank of unlimited simple ideas.

The caveat is they are often tough to manufacture.

Consider this simple idea from Forever21 who took the fans selfies content and turned them into the material they make their clothes with.

It’s not a new technique to think about two items that have never been put together and then put them together, but the more you focus on the reverse, the tough ideas with simple executions, the more you become a path finder, not a trail blazer. And at the end of the day, it’s often the work of the path finder that the trail blazers mix and match with. All you’re doing is fueling the work for those to be better than you.

 

Stay Positive & Care More About The Tough Work, Less The Tough Ideas

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Brand loyalty is harder to measure than you may think.

Brand loyalty is not a matter of how long a customer has been around, it’s not a matter of how many times they purchase your product within a week, it’s not a matter of them only having your number in their phone.

Brand loyalty is about the sacrifice or nuisance one is willing to make or go through to have what you offer.

When someone is willing to stand in line in the freezing cold 24 hours before you open, that’s brand loyalty. When someone is willing to go through your poorly designed online shopping cart, that’s brand loyalty. When someone is willing to stay with you when a competitor is offering a huge discount, that’s brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty doesn’t come from surprising and delighting people, it comes from telling such a strong story and selling such a quality product that they would go through hell to stand by your side.

 

Stay Positive & What’s Your Story? How strong is it? Brand loyalty strong?

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When you rely solely on others to motivate you, to hold y0u up, to remind you of what you need to do, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

People, friends, family, loved ones, colleagues are meant to support your self.

The self-confidence in you. The self-esteem. The self-motivation.

It starts with your self and at the end of the day, it ends with it too.

 

Stay Positive & It Doesn’t Make It Easier, But It’s Satisfying To Know

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To double the profit, sometimes it’s not a matter of doubling the sales calls or doubling the paid advertising or doubling the PR.

In fact, more often than not, doubling the profit is done by doubling the service.

 

Stay Positive & Start Caring x2

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There are two moments that a conversation can go awry.

The first is when you don’t know what to say. I was at a holiday party last night and stood next to a couple of people who had no clue what to say to each other. They exchanged names and then stood in silence. This situation happens all the time, but doesn’t need to.

The second moment conversations go askew is when there’s no direction for the conversation to go in. I sat and had coffee with a friend a couple of weeks ago and the conversation we had seemed to loop over and over. Neither of us brought anything new into the conversation. Neither of us lead it into an interesting space.

Conversations go awry because there’s no questions fueling them. There have been articles about the 36 questions that can make strangers fall in love, videos too, and it’s all good and fun, but in turning it into clickbait, it has lost its realness.

Questions are the foundation to golden conversations.

Having 36 (or even 5) questions in your mind to ask to strangers ensures there’s never awkward silence. Asking powerful questions that allow someone (whether you know them or not) to use their imagination is critical to ensuring conversation doesn’t get repeatably banal.

 

Stay Positive & Ask More

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