Mark Silver - Articles

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How your Friends Destroy your Marketing Message
A lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into crafting your 'elevator speech' (I hate that term). You've probably agonized over it, striving to catch just the right tone and wording. Finally, you're (hopefully) finished. For the final blessing, you turn to your friends and colleagues, and test it out. They respond: "That's great! I love it. Go for it." They've just killed you with kindness. Read
By: Mark Silver | 14/10/2007 | Business
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The True Measure of Money in your Business
Shiny new cars. Big mansions. The good life. Even if you're not a particularly material person, it's easy to be caught by those images, and to wonder: "Why don't I have that? Is there something wrong with me?" Read
By: Mark Silver | 13/10/2007 | Business
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How Being Outnumbered Will Gain you Raving Fans
You're sitting in class, and the teacher at the front has just said something that doesn't entirely make sense to you. "You see, the world is flat. It's always been flat. And it always will be flat. Flat, flat, flat." The year is 1400 A.D., and you're thinking, "But, what if it isn't flat? What if it's round?" Do you stick your hand up and tell the teacher? Read
By: Mark Silver | 30/09/2007 | Business
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Repeat After Me: "i Have Only One Business."
Imagine you're ten years old, and there are huge stacks of cardboard boxes towering over you. It's a maze. It's a fortress. And you're allowed to climb all over them. Inside every single one of those boxes is a dozen bottles. Fine wines, liquor, you name it. It may sound like a caterer's dream, but I was just hanging out in the warehouse of my grandfather's wine store. My parents worked with him, and so I kinda grew up there. Read
By: Mark Silver | 29/09/2007 | Business
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Why It's so Hard to Ask for Money and How to Make it Easier
"What's wrong with me?" Someone in the marketing class was complaining to us, about himself. "My bank account is near zero, and I have twenty thousand dollars in accounts receivable- and all I need to do is send out the invoices." "Why can't I send them out? I feel out of integrity with myself." Why is it so easy to be out of integrity with yourself by not asking for the money you are owed? Read
By: Mark Silver | 17/09/2007 | Business
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The Real Reason Success is so Elusive (hint: It's not Fear of Success.)
I'm guessing you spend a certain amount of time daydreaming... Daydreaming of what it will be like when you hit 'the big time.' When your finances are really abundant. When you become well-known in your field. When you make that next big step, whatever it is. Dreams of lolling around on silk sheets with peeled grapes and fizzy drinks. Dreams of giving away as generously as you've always wanted to. Dreams coming true. Read
By: Mark Silver | 15/09/2007 | Business
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How to Keep Mistakes With Clients From Turning Cancerous
Don't you hate it when a client emails you: "You know, I feel really ignored. Why haven't you responded to my last email?" Or how about: "This class isn't working for me. I'm in a completely different place with my situation from the other participants, and you aren't following me at all." You make mistakes with them all the time. Really heartening, ain't it? Read
By: Mark Silver | 09/09/2007 | Business
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Why your Business Needs Two Types of Accountability
The tide's coming in, fast. Your kayak is there on the sand, starting to get gently nudged. Meanwhile you're flat out on a beach towel. Hot sun. Cool breeze. Iced tea. Are you going to get up in time to save your kayak from floating out to sea? Your business may be calling, all kinds of important things to get done. But who can lift a finger when the sun is so bright? Read
By: Mark Silver | 07/09/2007 | Business
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Why and How to Create an Information Product
Have you put off, or given up entirely, the idea of writing that book, or creating a CD or DVD, for your business? Maybe you've let that idea slip away because you thought your business wasn't suited to it. I mean, what you do is so individual and personal, or too complicated to explain, or so intuitive in nature, that it can't be captured in a product. Read
By: Mark Silver | 03/09/2007 | Business
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How to Chop Days and Hours Off your Article Writing
Ready to write an article? You even made the big step of scheduling time to do it. So here it is, and you're sitting at your desk, staring blankly at the screen. Just like you've been doing for the last two weeks. And still no article. Despite the fact it was supposed to go out 10 days ago. Ugh. Read
By: Mark Silver | 22/08/2007 | Writing