Dr.Mani says...

About Success & Scorecards

When I was in eighth grade in school, I received a gift. A plaque to keep on my desktop, or somewhere easily visible. It had a picture of Charlie Brown talking to Lucy.

Charlie says: "Always remember - Money is NOT everything!"

And in the background, Lucy mutters under her breath: "And also remember to make a lot of it before talking such nonsense!"

:)

Well, having earned the right to 'talk such nonsense', I want to share some insight I gained while showering this morning (yes, some of my best thoughts and ideas come under the hot water stream)

Today, I was wondering about SUCCESS. What it means? How it's measured? When does it come? And indeed, what it IS.

Some months ago, I wrote a special report with the title: "How Long Does Success Take?" Several thousand people read it and wrote back with comments and feedback. It's one of the best reports I've ever written - and it still is free (download it here)

But one thing I had not done was define what my idea of success is.

And it isn't easy to define. What's more, your idea of success will definitely be different from mine - it's completely individual. And that's why each of us has a different yardstick to measure it. To track it. To keep score.

A Success Scorecard, if you want to call it that.

The deepest insight I got, however, was that often we mistake the scorecard for success itself.

For example, one measure of success may be money. The amount you earn. The portion you keep and grow. The size of your bank balance, or the assets you own, or the lifestyle you live.

Another measure of success may be the people you help. How many folks you employ or manage. What impact you have on their lives. Why people look up to you, admire you, respect you.

One more way to keep track of success may be the status you have reached. Your job title, position in a club or association, your standing in your community.

There are many more.

But they are all scorecards. Externally focussed pieces of evidence to show others that you've managed to do something of importance. Stuff the rest of the world looks at and goes:

"Ah, s/he's done all that. S/he's a success."

Don't confuse them with success itself!

There are far too many 'silent successes' in the world - and they have/do/need none of these 'scorecards'.

How can you then know you have achieved 'success'?

By your feeling of content or fulfillment. How secure and confident you are about having achieved your purpose in life. The things you look back on with pride and satisfaction - and joy.

Not everyone wants the same 'success' others want. Many are satisfied, completely ecstatically delighted, with a 'different' kind of success. And it matters no more or less than others.

I'm a heart surgeon. You may be a fantastic artist. You might never be able to carry out a complicated heart operation. I may never be able to paint a masterpiece. We can both be great successes - indeed, we both will... as long as we stay focussed on the 'success' and NOT on the 'scorecard'.

Do you achieve great things - and get many others to take notice of it?

Then you're successful... if that's what you wanted to do.

Do you achieve things, benefit from them, even if others don't know what you've done?

Then you're successful, too... as long as you are not making your 'fame' the primary goal of your efforts.

Do you take action, make everything you do effective?

Then, again, you're successful... even if you don't get all the rewards you hope for, or expect, or even deserve. That's if you stay focussed on the things you managed to get done - not on the external 'perceived' benefits of your actions.

Do you do something - anything, really - based on your dreams?

Well, congratulate yourself. You're a success. Yes, already. The external rewards will come in time. But they don't really matter. By acting out your dream, you're already in exalted company!

Do you dream?

Believe it or not, you're a success. Honest. Every great fortune, every great achievement, every effort to change the world and make it a better (or worse) place - it all started with a dream. You've taken the first step - and that makes you a success.

The vast majority of the world's population isn't even at your level. They merely exist, stumbling from one day to the next, apathetic, disinterested, even too scared to DREAM!

And it takes courage, a special kind of 'success orientation', to dream.

Because you dream about change, about better things, about making a difference. And then, if you dream vividly enough, you can't just stop there. You have to follow up with action. And in time, you WILL make a difference - to yourself, to the people and things around you, and the world.

So...

Dream.

Dream of success.

Achieve success.

And when you do, don't forget to ENJOY your success.

Don't let your 'scorecard' take away from the exhilaration of your 'success'

May the year ahead be the one where you live your dreams - and relish your success.

I'll sign off with a "Happy New Year"... and wish you

All success

Dr.Mani

P.S. - Talk about it: Share your thoughts, comments, or feedback about this post on the forum - click here

My TOP 5 List...

The TOP 5 books I read in 2005

• "The Lazy Way To Success" - It showed me exactly WHERE I was going wrong... and it was in my THINKING!

• "SOROS - The Life & Times of a Messianic Billionaire" - An eye-opener into the mindset of a powerful financier who "broke the Bank of England"

• "TRUMP - The Art of the Deal" - Simplified my thinking about complex deals. Stuff I hope to use effectively in the years to come.

• "Hyperspace" & "Parallel Worlds" by Michio Kaku - Absolutely mind-expanding. Soaring across the vastness of the cosmos, these 2 books reinforced something I had intuitively believed in for many years - and gave it a scientific base.

• "It's NOT About The Bike" by Lance Armstrong - Amazing, inspiring, energizing. If Lance can do it, why not me!

The TOP 5 IM-related things I bought in 2005

• iMac G5 - It kept me working longer than I wanted to. After all, who'd want to walk away from such a cool machine?!

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
• Yanik Silver's 'Underground Seminar' recordings - Just the bonus CDs of Dan Kennedy's 'Platinum Group' meeting was worth multiples of the price.

• Olga Farber-Becker's "Blog Auto-Publisher" - I've only started tapping the power of this tool - and look forward to doing more with it.

• Mike Sin's paid newsletter - It's no longer open to subscriptions (as far as I know), but what I've got from the 2 issues until now are worth a small fortune!

• The Warrior Alliance - Great products. Great people. Great value.

The TOP 5 things I did online in 2005

• The Heart Kids Blogathon - 24 hours of non-stop blogging on August 6th-7th brought in $7,148 to sponsor heart surgery for poor children.

• "How Long Does Success Take?" - One of the best special reports I've written,it has been downloaded and read over 3,000 times.

• Experimented with Adsense - While it won't replace my other efforts, it's a quick and easy way to leverage a lot of my under-utilized content... and spun off some new products.

• Went the Membership Site route - In 2005, I launched 4 memebership sites (or subscriptions). One was "Quick Niche Profits" - The biggest, highest ticket item I had created until now. It did well - and brought me into contact with 3 great partners. It was fun. Should have done it sooner!

• Tapped hidden resources in my list - All I did was ask. They responded... my subscribers and clients. And I tapped into some amazing talent lying latent inside. Will do a lot more of it this coming year.

The TOP 5 things I achieved in 2005

• Funded EIGHT operations on children from poor families with heart birth defects in our partner hospitals.

• Read a lot of books, studied many experts, and steadily grew my knowledge about many different things.

• Started building teams and outsourcing portions of my projects. At first, it was tough. It's getting easier.

• Attended my first IM Seminar at Detroit (Stephen Pierce's 'Unleash Your Marketing Genius') and met some amazing folks. Worth the 22 hour flight - each way!

• Got the confidence to take on big projects. One I'm doing involves managing one hundred blogs. Another involves 50 partners. It's a different experience.

The TOP 5 mistakes I made in 2005

• Trying to do too many things. Despite a promise to myself to stick with 3 big projects, I found myself on familiar terrain - juggling more than was good for me! Not next year - I hope!

• Trying to do most of them on my own. That's no way to grow big. Lesson learned. Teams are being built as we speak.

• Focusing short-term rather than long-term. I didn't have to. Which makes it worse.

• Buying stuff I couldn't use. Great sales copy got me to do it. And I will be using the stuff - just not right now. Which means I should NOT have bought!

• Not being organized enough. I'm not very bad at it. But could do better. I'm starting to learn to think in 'systems-and-process' terms. Things should get better.

The TOP 5 things I intend doing in 2006

• Building bigger teams to handle many tasks that bog me down. Have a skill and want to join my team? Drop me a line. I'd love to discuss it.

• Automating and outsourcing as much as possible, so I'm free to do some other things - many of them more important.

• Reading and reading. My bookshelf is full of books I need to read - soon. My hard drive has at least 30 ebooks not even opened up. It's a high priority.

• Exploring new arenas I've not tried in a big way. Building massive content sites and blog networks. Offline marketing. Home study courses. Bigger and bolder stuff.

• Waste less time. I've spent more time than wise on forums, blogs, reading email and non-critical stuff. Leaving less for serious work. That's about to change.

Customer Service - Have We Created a Monster?

As a Christmas gift to my subscribers, I put together a special offer yesterday. 3 minutes after hitting the SEND button, the first order came in. And in 7 minutes, I received the first complaint!

It was impatient, irritable, and insulting. It seems the buyer had a problem with the download link.

I checked it out. Fixed the link. And refunded the customer.

Hold on... I can hear the crowd howling:

"But how could you do that? There WAS a problem with your link!"

Yes. And does that give a 'keyboard cowboy' reasonable excuse to vent his or her angst on me? I think NOT.

Mistakes happen. To you. To me. To everyone.

Yes, even to my angry customer.

All it takes to resolve most of them is a simple request for assistance.

But all this clapping and cheering about the customer ALWAYS being right is creating a nasty backlash - and it is NOT pleasant at all. Customers believe they can get away with anything!

Well, I don't buy that. Just as customers expect to be treated with care and respect, I believe a sincere vendor deserves no less.

Of course, this attitude assumes 2 important things:

* the seller is genuinely concerned about his/her clients and customers - I am
* the product or service being offered is of good quality - mine are

If these basics are met, then respect and consideration are mandatory in all exchanges - on BOTH sides.

So, does firing a client really work? I don't know. But any day, I'll take a polite, pleasant client over a short-tempered or impatient one. It's why I chose to ignore this email which came in a few hours later from this buyer:

"I actually wanted the product, i am just getting a little frustrated, since this has happened to me several times in the last 2 weeks. i apologize, i did not mean to be so brash."

This isn't the first time a client has written back with a note of apology - and I'm sure it won't be the last. I have refunded $9.95 purchases, as well as $997 ones, for similar reasons.

Which is why I will stick to this policy of not accepting bad behavior from my clients. That's right - My customers are NOT always right!

What do you think? Share your thoughts - click here

The Three P's to Profits

As I do every year, I spent some time today thinking about the year that's passed. Recalling the pleasant successes and painful failures. Feeling grateful for what I've been lucky to have, to get, to achieve. Thinking about the reasons for it all.

There are lessons to learn from such analysis - and I'll share a few of them with you. To put it into a simple formula ...

Passion + Purpose + Persistence = Profits

The year that just passed reinforced this formula for me. It is the first year my business has achieved a growth in net profit of less than 350%. This year, we grew by ONLY 75% !

Believe me, it's easier to go from $500 to $1,700 than it is to go from $50,000 to $170,000 - but I'm determined to do it this coming year... using this formula.

Recently, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates visited India. I watched an interview with him on TV. Bill was asked what he thought the keys of success. He said: "Passion. Intelligence. Integrity."

I agree. And have a slightly different twist. They're the 3 P's - Passion. Purpose. Persistence.

Passion is the fire. Purpose is the fuel. Persistence is the catalyst.

Together, the mix is explosively profitable.

Of all, I would put purpose highest. It's the WHY of your life, your work, your hobby. It is what pulls together everything else, synergizes and synthesises your actions with your thoughts, keeps you going.

If you haven't found it, keep looking.

For me, personally, it is my work with children born with heart defects. It gives a solid, meaningful reason for doing the things I do.

Let me share a strange - but true - story with you. Last month I had some vacation time due, and took 2 weeks off from work. Set to clearing up some backlogged tasks. And managed to create and launch 2 new products and roll out a couple of big affiliate promotions.

They didn't do well.

One morning, mid-way through my break, I woke up, looked at my checklist, saw we had some funds in the Heart Kids Foundation account waiting, and made a phone call to the head of the charitable wing at our partner hospital. I wanted to check if any children were on the waiting list.

There were two. I asked for details. A couple of hours later, they came via email. That evening, I couriered a check for their operation costs to the hospital.

Then I wrote an email to my list - for the same affilate promotion. Went to bed. Next morning, I woke up to find NINE sales. Plus 3 of my own products had sold. That afternoon, another promotion email to my list brought in a $1,350 profit. In all, the 48 hour period earned me just under $2,000

Coincidence? Consequence? You decide.

Repeated experience has convinced me that this is no accident. It's an experience shared by others too - just see the Positive Promise report and you'll learn more about it.

What's this got to do with purpose?

Everything.

A time may come when making an extra $1,000 or $10,000 or even more may NOT seem exiting or interesting. But the day I stop being excited about helping a child live is the day I would wish to die.

Your purpose may be different. It could be to give yourself a special treat or luxury. Or provide for your family so they don't lack anything. Or even to make sure you get 3 meals a day and put a roof over your head.

Whatever your purpose, it is neither greater or lesser than mine. To you, it is special. Make it the center, the core of your success.

Which leads nicely in to the next P on my list - Passion.

If you have a purpose, it's easy to be passionate. As long as everything you do is aligned with your purpose, passion comes naturally. And it is a powerful force, constantly driving you towards your goals, relentlessly guiding you forward despite every obstacle and hurdle - until you succeed.

But forget about overnight success!

Sadly, this is where most hopeful beginners at the online game get disappointed and quit. They expect success to be instant. Easy. Effortless.

Quit dreaming.

Persistence is the last piece in the puzzle. The glue that holds the bits together. The critical ingredient in the recipe of success.

Never give up. Ever.

That's something my little patients teach me every day. They struggle to breathe, to live, but they keep fighting. Because to give up is to die. For them - and for you -

Failure is simply not an option!

Your Special Gift

There's some exciting stuff on the niche marketing forum.

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"Stephen Pierce just did $1,079,595.00 in 2 hours..."

The headline of a forum post stopped me in my tracks:

"Stephen Pierce just did $1,079,595.00 in 2 hours..."

My first thought was, "It couldn't have happened to a nicer person!"

Excited to learn the details, I clicked on the link to his blog:

http://www.stephenlive.com/blog/

And there, I watched an amazing, inspiring video of Stephen's interview with one of his clients named Kim, who went from almost being broke to making upto $50,000 a month - following her passion.

One thing Stephen said stuck in my mind:

Desire is when you want something. Passion is when you refuse to live without it!

Think about it. Then live with passion. And be thankful for everything you already have.

This is what Stephen Pierce said about working with Kim:

We're blessed to be able to be a part of it

No wonder he's a success!

I was privileged to meet him in person and spend some time in Detroit at his 'Unleash Your Marketing Genius' event earlier this year.

By the way, I thought it worth sharing a post I made on a private forum, during the 26-week mentorship program I did with Stephen, Rich Shefren and Jay Abraham.

It was on 25th September, 2004...

Now I KNOW - Stephen Pierce Taught Me!

I've had the "Moolah Map" DVD for some time. Was watching it tonight. And was amazed at the performance of a Master. His name... Mr.Stephen Pierce

In moments of doubt, I've wondered what madness could have made me fork over $5,000 to attend this protege program.

True, Jay Abraham was a guy with a big reputation, and the little I had viewed of his material was top class. But I had never even heard the name 'Rich Schefren' before this - actually, at first, I had thought it was someone else!

And while Stephen had taught some outstanding lessons in his "The Whole Truth", I hadn't bought much more from him.

Now I Know...

It is the instinctive liking I must have developed at a sub-liminal level for Stephen Pierce as an individual - for being an honest, ethical, generous and helpful person.

That must have been what worked on my mind, convinced me to invest the single biggest chunk of change, in my 8 years of working online, into this program.

Now I Know...

... that it was the right thing to do.

Hearing and watching Stephen's performance on stage was amazing. I had planned to run it in the background while working on my research - and ended up turning around, spending one full hour watching the first DVD.

Several statements in Stephen's speech at the "Big Seminar" go straight to my heart, resonate deeply in my mind, and are now written in big, bold letters on the board in front of me.

I'll share them with you - as life-changing, paradigm-defining, direction-setting messages which will guide my work, online and off, from this day forward. Here's what Stephen said...

* Make The World You Come Into Contact With, A Better Place

* Learn To Celebrate The Success Of Other People

* Bridge The Gap Between Knowing What To Do, & Doing What You Learned

* You Make A Living By What You Get, But You Make A LIFE By What You Give

* Don't Look On Giving As A Duty, Look On It As A Privilege

Each will be worth over $1000 to me - which means this alone has repaid my investment in the program in full.

Thank you, Stephen Pierce, for sending me your "Moolah Map" DVD... and impacting my life.

Incidentally, Stephen replied with this note:

"Hey Dr. Mani,

I would feel horrible if I didn't immediately reply to your incredible, moving and touching post. In fact, no one has ever expressed so deeply
the impact of what we do as you have.

Your words leave me speechless but overflowing with an abundance
of joy and it confirms in my heart that doing this is worth it.

Thank you Dr. Mani.

A right 'mutual admiration' society, eh? :)

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The BEST Book I've Read this Year is...

Last year, I told you about 'Success Engineering' by Phil Gosling.
It was a remarkable book that changed my way of thinking about many
things - and had a 'scientific' background that, as a doctor,
appealed to my mind.

This year, I have read well over 100 books. Many of them were
fantastic. They taught me things, made me laugh, opened up new
vistas of imagination and belief.

But only one of them achieved a paradigm shift - just like 'Success
Engineering' did last year. And the book is one I heard about
from Rebecca Fine. It's called:

The Lazy Way To Success
How To Do Nothing & Accomplish Everything

Written by Fred Gratzon, it's an irreverent and funny narrative,
spruced up by delightful cartoons that will have you laughing
out loud. What a fantastic way to package information that's
extremely powerful, somewhat 'out there', and - if it had been
shared in a serious or ponderous tone - could be a BIG turn-off!

It's true that no matter how good the content of a book is, it
won't do anyone any good unless they open up and READ first.
"The Lazy Way To Success" excels at it.

I ordered and downloaded my ebook version around 10 p.m. last
night. Read it until I couldn't keep my eyes open - and
continued today morning, and sticked with it until I was done.

It's not often a book - especially an Ebook - can get me to
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"The Lazy Way to Success" is a great book for the 'end of year'
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