August 2012
 
 

Dear Member,

“You can’t swim if you don’t get wet.”

Have you ever wondered why some people achieve 10x the results of others in their business, with what looks like less effort and more ease? It’s a little like the surfer paradox: You can’t surf fast unless you’re on the big wave, but you can’t get on the big wave unless you can surf fast...

How do we get over these quantum leaps in expertise to make it look easy at the next level? When I was a child, I heard the phrase ‘Putting your toe in the water’ - Test the temperature before you jump in. Every good entrepreneur knows how to put their toe in the water with a new market or a new product - how to prove the concept, product and pricing with a small sample before rolling it out and investing in growth.

Today, the waves are much bigger and much faster. Relying on your ‘toe in’ takes on a new meaning with big waves. ‘Tow in’ surfing was invented in the 1990s to allow surfers to pick up enough speed to get onto giant waves - riding behind a jet ski or even a helicopter. It isn’t really the same as just dipping a toe in gently. It’s more about hitching a small ride before the big ride. It’s what all the best entrepreneurs are doing today.

Matthew Inman wouldn’t call himself an entrepreneur. He’s a cartoonist, he created ‘The Oatmeal’ website 3 years ago and wrote his first book a year ago (5 Very Good Reasons To Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth). The popularity of Inman’s cartoons has led to him making about $500,000 in 2012 on his website from advertising and merchandising. Then, two months ago, Matthew tried a tow in...

Matthew was served with a defamation notice from Funny Junk, for writing blogs criticising the website, where his cartoons were getting posted by users. Funny Junk’s lawyers demanded $20,000 in damages from Matthew. So what did he do? Having heard about crowdfunding but never having tried it himself, he decided to try and raise $20,000 from fans - not to pay Funny Junk, but so that he could take a photo of the money, send it to the lawyer with a cartoon of his mother making love to a bear, and give all the money to charity. He named it Operation BearLove Good, Cancer Bad, and set up the fundraising on Indiegogo. Within the month, instead of raising the $20,000, he raised $211,000 for the charities, and Funny Junk dropped the suit. (http://theoatmeal.com/blog/charity_money)

But that was just the tow in. Having suddenly realised the power of crowdfunding, this month Matthew was back on Indiegogo again. This time, to try and raise $850,000 to buy scientist Nikola Tesla’s original laboratory and turn it into a museum. Just two weeks after launching ‘Operation Let’s Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum’ he has already raised over $1.2 million, and there’s still another 30 days to go... Now Matthew is on the wave.
(http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_museum_1m)

If Matthew hadn’t tried the $20,000 idea, he wouldn’t have tried the $1 million idea. He put a toe in, and now he’s jumped in. The ten million-dollar waves I’m covering on my Fast Forward Tour next week are all as big as the current crowdfunding wave. Each can be surfed, and each you can (and should) put a toe in - and a tow in - today.

What can you test right now? Crowdfunding? Micropayments? A mobile site? Rapid prototyping? A new market in a new country? A partnership with a hyper-growth company?

We all know that the days of just having the better product - or the prettier surf board - are over. Success is dictated by not just the surf board, but how you surf it and the wave you choose. Don’t wait to build the perfect board for the perfect wave. Put your toe in today, test the water, take a ride. Do it. Now. Use the tow to build both your confidence and competence. If it’s not the right wave, try again. When it is, let go of the rope and fly.

Keep Making Magic,

Roger James Hamilton

Connect with me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rogerhamilton
Connect with me on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/FBRoger
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LAST CHANCE TO BOOK: Fast Forward your Business - UK Tour | London 6th Sept 2012 | Manchester 10th Sept 2012

This is your last chance to book your tickets for the Fast Forward your Business UK Tour. My tour begins next week and i look forward to seeing you at the event.

Here's what you're going to learn at this, follow up from last year, and again totally revealing and fresh event:

  • The latest Top 10 trends that will make or break your business in the next 5 years and how you can tweak what you learned last year or implement from the ground up if this is your first time.

  • How to future proof your business for future success and what new driving factors to be conscious of in 2012

  • Immediate steps to profit now from the changes taking place.

  • And as per usual, much much more mind bending insights and distinctions with the Wealth Dynamics Community all the way through the day....

You'll be meeting with some really influential people from all areas of industry in your area who are on similar path to you, people who are focused on making one heck of a difference in their business, the people they work with and the community around them.

Make sure you book yourself in now and secure your place
>> http://on.fb.me/ffybfacebook

Click on the link to see what people have to say about FFyB http://bit.ly/ffybtestimonial

 

Are you a Trainer/Educator/Coach working with large teams and corporates?

If so, Join Michelle Clarke for a Talent Dynamics 'Taster Session' webinar in September

Talent Dynamics, the sister company of Wealth Dynamics, has been created especially for use with large teams and big organisations.

The trainers we partner with are looking for innovative tools that deliver real return on investment for their clients. In this day and age, training interventions that don't deliver both financial and human results, fall off the company agenda very quickly. Typically from our one day, 'Introduction to Talent Dynamics' workshop, clients see a £100k return on investment within 12 months. Many clients are experiencing significantly higher returns.

We partner directly with forward thinking Trainers/coaches and HR Professionals who are already well established in their field, with a track record of operating in the corporate market. If this is you and you would like to learn more about how Talent Dynamics can directly increase your and your clients revenues then click here for details of an upcoming free webinar with Michelle Clarke.

>> http://talent-dynamics.com/events/tastersessions/

Dates: We have webinars to suit all time zones. Please click on the link below for details and to register

>> http://talent-dynamics.com/events/tastersessions/

"Our Australian RTO (registered training organisation) has doubled its revenue in the last 6 months since I became a TD Performance Consultant and implemented the strategies in our business." - Vicky Jennings - Talent Dynamics Performance Consultant Australia
Book your place now!

>> http://talent-dynamics.com/events/tastersessions

 

 

 
 

Friction is Fiction, Wave 2 - Top 10 Trends in Business

Here's a video on the second wave in my Top 10 Trends in Business that was recorded just a month ago at our Fast Forward event in USA

What is this wave?

'Friction' is the cost of doing business that slows things down and does not add to the experience of your product. Things like delivery and storage are examples of friction. Making payments are examples of friction. This wave is about how all the most successful companies are using technology to cut out friction altogether, with products becoming cheaper and more instantly available. As friction becomes fiction, Amazon has taken Borders out of business and Apple is taking music companies out of business.

Why is this important to you?

Trainers and speakers are finding less people showing up as those same people can now get access to the same learning online - faster and cheaper. Retailers are attracting less visitors, banks are attracting less customers and service companies are attracting less requests of quotations, as markets flow to alternatives they can access with less friction.

Physical money is also friction. The reason that we are seeing so many Amazon, Apple and eBay millionaires is that all their customers don't have to fill in their credit card details to buy from them. They just click the button, as Amazon, Apple and eBay already have their credit card details. This means having your store on a frictionless platform will multiply up your sales in ways it can’t if you just have a physical store or a web store where people have to enter payment details.

This means the success of your business now has less to do with how great your product is, and more to do with how easy you make it for customers to sample it, how you design your price points, and how easy it is for people to access what you have to offer.

Click here to Watch Wave 2: Friction is Fiction

Click here to join us in UK or at the Global Virtual Event.

 
 

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