Dreams, courage and action.....Guest Blogger Steve Heston

“Without dreams, there can be no courage.  And without courage, there can be no action.”

-       Wim Wenders, German film director (b. 1945)


It’s interesting how one thing feeds another, and the continuum keeps on keepin’ on…

Dreams, courage and action.

If that’s all we could bring to the game each day, we’d probably be ok.  But they’re not all we can bring.  When we intersperse these traits with planning, wisdom, experience and knowledge (not necessarily in that – or any order), then incredible things start to happen.

Layer on a dose of practice, and wow, we’re rolling!

Interesting to note, though, that action and courage are linked.  Even when the outcome is more sure than others – courage is at play.  Those that watch things happen tend to wish they were the ones making things happen.


Make something incredible happen today!  Dream….courage…..action!



STEVEN T HESTON

Credit Scores: Based Upon What? How Does it Work?

by Guest Blogger J. Austen Smith, Mortgage Loan Specialist

Credit is one of the most important things a person can manage. It will also be one of the most confusing things as well. Hopefully the following information will be able to assist you with understanding how your credit score works and why it is important to monitor it.


Your FICO, or credit, score is part of the mortgage information that will dictate whether or not your application is approved.

Your score is based upon:

• Timely credit payments
• Amount of debt you owe
• How recenetly your accounts have were opened
• Number of recent inquiries on your credit report
• Different types of credit

Big Holy Audacious Goals...Put Your Goals and Dreams to the Test

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, 
but happy is he who keeps the law.

- Proverbs 29:18 (NASB)

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by 
moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees 
the dawn before the rest of the world.

- Oscar Wilde

I recently heard Brawn Lide, of BrawnCoaching.com, speak on John Maxwell's book Put Your Dream to the Test. Brawn went it fairly good detail on the 10 questions Maxwell challenges you to ask yourself....and I'm challenged.

Here are the 3 "Questions" I'm focusing on this next week and will be challenging myself and others:

#2. Do I clearly see my dream?

#9. Does working towards my dream bring satisfaction?

#10. Does my dream benefit others?

This year is only 3/52's over and many of us have already forgotten the goals (errr..resolutions) we started 2012 out proclaiming.

That's probably because our dreams aren't big enough. How big are your dreams? What is God's will in your life? Are you considering the two?

It's ok to dream, it's good to have goals and it's ok to dream big and have big goals!

To that end....

Make 2012 the "year of achieving big Holy audacious goals and dreams!"

Danny

Related Posts

Be Smart About Finishing the Year

Setting Goals Worth Achieving

TASKS Based Goal Setting

Performing Daily Acts of Trivia

Improve Your Marketing...and Imploding!

You can't market well if you can't deliver your product well; good operations is an essential part of your marketing. 

I was approached by a businessman (I'll call him John) that had come to one of my Guerrilla Marketing workshops. He came because he was looking for new was to market his business, particularly how to blend his face-to-face meetings with social media. As we moved from the workshop into a one-to-one, I began to understand where he is "now," I realized that his business would probably implode if he brought in any more business.

John has had great success in the past and comes up with a new idea at least once a day. He is the epitome of "entrepreneurial seizures." The marketing itself would be a dream account for the right marketing consultant. Except... John is wearing himself out and I believe I've convinced him that he needs to improve his business model before we can work on his marketing.

We'll see if he allows me to introduce him to a small business consultant/coach.

Cases like this are far to common. Most small business are started by people that have great ideas but don't know how to run a business, handle the process and they end up ignoring the operations.

Thus, the operations become a competitive disadvantage to marketing.

Are your operations a competitive advantage?

To that end....

Don't let criticism crush your creativity

Thanks to Tim Hetzner, President of Lutheran Church Charities for his article that prompted my thoughts on this matter.

In A Closer Walk Catherine Marshall writes, 'One morning last week God gave me an assignment for one day. I was to go on a "fast" from criticism. I was not to criticize anybody or anything. 'For the first half of the day I simply felt a void, almost as if I'd been wiped out as a person. This was especially true at lunch. I listened to the others and kept silent. In our talkative family nobody seemed to notice. Bemused, I noted that the Federal Government, the judicial system, and the institutional church could apparently get along just fine without my personal observations! But still I did not see what this "fast from criticism" was accomplishing - until mid-afternoon. 'In the afternoon God gave me a new vision for my life. And it had His unmistakable hallmark on it - joy! Ideas began to come to me in a way I hadn't experienced in years. Now it was apparent what the Lord wanted me to see. My critical nature had not solved a single one of the multitudinous things I had found fault with. What it had done was to stifle my own creativity.'

Creativity is a huge part of marketing smarter and when we're cynical and critical about our competition, ourselves and well.....anything, it stifles our energy and thoughts.

To that end....stay focused on your competitive advantages and make this a great year!

Even if they don't buy from me...Carl Goss w/Mercury Communications

I met with some really good people last week and Carl Goss is in the great category.

What makes me say so?

Words. The words he uses in describing his business and "what he does."

The hour spent with Carl, a business phones and communication consultant with Mercury Communication Services of Austin, was a learning experience in how to have a first one-to-one meeting with someone. Carl originally noticed that I had joined MBC, emailed to congradulate, and then...he complimented me on my blogs.

Ok, do you think I'm not already thinking about what a great guy this is? And then, he comes up to me at MBC last Wednesday to set-up a meeting!

In our meeting, as I wanted to know more about his business and how I could help him....he says...

"Danny, even if I don't land someone as a client, I still want them to think of me as the person to refer business to."

Now, I don't care who you are.....that's the way to build relationships. That's the way to do business.

To that end....go out and make it a Memorable Monday.

The New Year: Setting Goals Worthy of Achieving

A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, 

works his tail off to develop them into skills, and 

uses these skills to accomplish his goals.

- Larry Bird

Some would say I rattle on a bit about setting goals based upon your tasks; talent, attitude, skill, knowledge and style. When I meet with someone, particularly for the first time, I ask three important questions:

1. what do you do?
2. what's your biggest challenge?
3. what goals do you have?

There's a lot one can learn about another person by asking and listening to those questions and their corresponding answers. One of the things I learn is whether or not I can help in any of these areas, or, do I know someone that can help.


As to the goals part, this is my self-proclaim YEAR OF THE GOAL and some of them are of BHAG* quality. Business Coach and friend Scott Carley (@SACarley) posted on Twitter recently that asked "what are your Top 10 goals for the first 100 days of 2012." Well, Scott didn't send that to just me, but I took it as a challenge and posted those Top 10 goals for the 1st 100 days of 2012 on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I did so over a 3 day period, wrote them in a spiral notebook, made step-lists associated with each one, put step-dates and then set step-reminders on my phone, iPad and computer to be sure my I stay focused over the next, now, 94 days.

My friend, colleague and Social Media Coach Blair Ball has written an excellent article about goal setting and you can find his link below, along with one from Scott about Time Management.

What goals are you setting for yourself this year? What are you going to do differently with your marketing? Do you understand the difference between selling and marketing?


Have your BHAGs, but be sure you are developing your talents, attitudes, skills, knowledge and style to achieve your goals. Walk-up-the-steps to your big holy audacious goals.

To that end....be purposeful, make a difference and a profit.



Danny


Related posts

• TASKS Based Goal Setting
• Goals..Be Smart About Finishing the Year
• Procrastination: Marketing's Most Dangerous Enemy
• Be a Purposeful Loan Officer
• Prepare1's 12 Steps to Goal Mastery (from Blair Ball @BlairEvanBall)   
• The 9 Keys to Time Management (from Scott Carley @SACarley)
  

*BHAG: this comes from Jim Collin's Good to Great: big, hairy, audacious goals. Cathy, my lovely wife, doesn't like the hairy part. She likes to call them big, HOLY, audacious goals!