Do you know what happens if you don’t use what you learn?

You lose it.

It’s gone, forgotten!

And all it takes is 21 days.

I heard this long ago.

Since then, I have proven it to myself through personal experience.

It’s easy to for­get what you have just read, listened to, or watched on a DVD or the Internet. There are many distractions in life, and it’s very easy to put things aside.

Last week, I received a quote in an e-mail that said,

“Knowledge that’s not being used is like having no knowledge at all.”

If this is true, then it is important to start using what you are learning from these and other blog posts right away.

Try one idea, and then another.

Take notes as a reminder of the ideas and concepts.

Reread these blog posts and the notes that you’ve taken while reading them until the ideas are fixed permanently in your mem­ory.

Jay Abraham, the author of Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got (Truman-Tally, 2000), says that he has read Scientific Advertising—a self-published book by Claude Hopkins first issued more than 50 years ago— at least 30-40 times. According to Jay, he pulls out a new nugget or different spin on an idea each time that he reads Hopkins’ book.

How much of what you told yourself you should be trying have you forgotten this week?

Sandy publishes a wide variety of tidbits about marketing and marketing plans on a frequent basis here and at: http://www.FastMarketingPlan.com

Where can you turn when YOU need help?

Simply ask your friends, business associates, clients, members of your family, etc., “Who do you know who could help me with (Fill in the blank here).”

Start thinking about all of the people who could help you to achieve your goals (you do have written goals, don’t you?), realize your dreams, and help you to become more successful.

Ask everyone you know to give you an introduction to someone who might help you to reach your goals.

Twenty percent of the people you know will introduce you to individuals who can help you without even having to ask the person you know for an introduction.

Sixty percent will give introductions to you after you
ask them.

Twenty percent will never help you, no matter how many times that you ask them.

“You can’t help someone uphill without getting closer to the top yourself.”
- Unknown

It’s been said that you are never further then three people away from being introduced to the person who can help you.

Keep this in mind:  NEVER ask for help from someone who doesn’t know more than you do.

About a year ago, I wanted to interview the president of a local fortune 500 company in Detroit. I was looking for help putting together these secrets (he did know more than I did).

I started asking everyone I knew if they could suggest anyone who could introduce me to him. After about two weeks, I got a call from one of my clients, who said that his brother-in-law worked for that company.”

I called the brother-in-law, who turned out to be a vice president of the company. This gentleman said that he would speak with the president about the possibility of  interview with him to talk about his marketing efforts. The following week, I received a call from the president, he inviting me to come in and interview him for this guide.

It doesn’t always work so smoothly, but you never know. You have to keep trying!

What problems do you need solved?

Who will you ask for help?

How quick do you make decisions?

The speed with which you make a personal, business, or marketing can be the difference between success and failure.

Often, it doesn’t matter what the decision that you make actually is as long as you decide something.

The more quickly that you make a decision, the sooner that you can get on to the next item.

Because nothing happens until something moves.

Now, and I think you’ll agree. It is far better to make a wrong decision and then fix it than it is to make no decision at all. You can learn from your mistakes, but you can’t learn if you don’t act. To quote Ross Perot, “Ready, Fire! Aim

In many instances, it takes a lot less time and effort to correct a wrong decision than it takes to analyze and procrastinate before making the original decision.

Think of yourself as a guided missile speeding toward your target, making the required adjustments as you go but always moving forward.

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes.
It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving
your other innovations.”
- Steve Jobs

When you learn to make decisions quickly you gain momentum.

Each quick decision adds additional momentum to your success flywheel. You will find that the more the flywheel gains momentum, the less effort that it takes to reach your ultimate goal.

I delayed making some important decisions while I was put these secrets together, only to become very frustrated when I calculated the lost opportunities that I may have left on the table.

Taking too much time to write “97 Marketing Secrets To Make More Money” cost me a lot of money. I should have acted more quickly. Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes at one time or another.

However, it is important that we move forward, learn from our mistakes, and try again with something else.

What decisions do you need to make right now?

Do you have ideas for growing your business that don’t seem “perfect” enough to try?

Are you are waiting for everything to be absolutely perfect? The perfect product to sell, the perfect marketing effort to start, the perfect sales staff, or the perfect distribution network—you will wait forever.

Perfection equals paralysis.

You need to be willing to act.

Just realize that you are going to make mistakes: Everyone does.

“Have no fear of perfection — you’ll never reach it .”
- Salvador Dali

You may market to the wrong target or pick the wrong mailing list.
You may make the wrong offer or use the wrong media.
Sometimes, even when you think that you’ve done everything right, things don’t work out the way that you hoped they would.

Mistakes happen.

The key is what you let yourself learn from them.

I once sent out a broadcast fax to 5,000 businesses for a local co-op, business-to-business mailing. The only responses that I received were 83 requests that said “Take me off of your fax list.” I did not get one positive response: nada, zip, and zilch. It happens. Luckily, it was a small test. At least I didn’t fax 50,000 businesses and get the same results. Now, I can change my message, or try a different marketing approach.

The important thing is that I tried something and learned from the experience.

If I had decided to wait until I had perfected everything, I’d still be waiting.
I wouldn’t have learned anything.

Remember: you can’t learn if you don’t act.

If you keep on trying and keep on testing, your efforts will succeed.

What you decide to do doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be done.

Action is the key. Decide to act!

Are you allowing perfection to paralyze your marketing efforts?