How awesome would it be to start your own social agency and be your own boss?
Welcome to my full in-depth review of Tai Lopez’s Social Media Marketing Agency Program. Imagine, instead of being stuck in a boring, grey cubicle you were free and able to travel to distant locales like the beaches of Bahamas or the pyramids in Egypt. Instead of taking orders from a boss, you are the boss. You could travel the world, enjoy experiences you have never seen before and even discover exciting ideas from other countries. All of this would not be possible if you were stuck in a normal 9 to 5 job.
As a true supporter of self-help books since I was a child, “No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline” had me spell-bound and Tracy’s own words “learn what you need to know and do what you need to do, and never give up” truly resonates with me. We are so easy to find excuses and not resolutions. We look and find the quick solutions to get what we want quickly. With self-discipline, we will stick to what we want, and not try to do things quickly and get it over with. It becomes a way of living, not a quick fix.
I also like the idea of “voting yourself off the island of no discipline”. By doing that you surround yourself with people who believe like you and who want to stay with, shall we say “with the program?” In my own experience, I can guarantee you that the quickest way to fail in life is to surround yourself with toxic people. I personally don’t like the use of words like “winners” and “losers” in life to describe people. I truly prefer the term “like – minded” people. He emphasises how important it is to surround yourself with like – minded people and I completely agree with that.
Brian Tracy also says that, “without self-discipline nothing works. With self-discipline everything works”. “You will rise above yourself”. The truth is that most people do what is fun and easy rather than doing what is hard and necessary and this is the main difference between winners and losers. Self -discipline is also known as self-control, and I am sure that you will agree that this is a subject that is as much written about as can be. I suppose the reason why people still become millionaires by writing about this is because we lack self-control and cannot stick to things that take effort. Read this book, and make it part of your life. Then you will succeed, I guarantee you that.
What you will find in this book is how to incorporate self – discipline in 21 easy to read and follow chapters. These chapters are presented in three parts to complete the book.
In the first part, you learn about self-discipline and personal success. It is about courage, persistence, goals and how to master these with self – discipline. In the second part, you read and learn how to apply self-discipline in your sales, business, and finances. In the third part, you read about the quality of life and how to apply self-discipline for ultimate success in fitness, health, and marriage. A fitness membership and a good dental clinic can help you get started on the right track.
With each chapter, you will find a number of exercises to guide you in the right direction. These exercises are really helpful and Tracy truly helps you find the areas in your life that need the most work for ultimate success. If you partake in all the exercises, you will definitely change your life positively.
All of Brian Tracy’s books are excellent and worth reading and I will definitely put this in the top three. He explores self-discipline and the best way to use this, and many aspects of life to ensure that you get where you want to be and stay there.
Most people think success comes from good luck or enormous talent, but many successful people achieve their accomplishments in a simpler way: through self-discipline. No Excuses! shows you how you can achieve success in all three major areas of your life, including your personal goals, business and money goals, and overall happiness.
Why can people be irrational when it comes to making simple everyday decisions?
Well, it’s as simple as understanding the human psychology of the hidden forces that shape our decisions. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely is a fundamental book on why humans, customers and buyers decide to take action.
For instance, the concept of anchoring is an important tool to understand. If you purchased your first KIND Bar for $4.00 and your friend purchased the same KIND Bar for $0.50 at another store, when you and your friend purchase another KIND Bar for $2.50, the perspective between you vs your friend will be completely different. In the real world, anchoring comes from the manufacturers suggested retail prices (MSRP), advertised prices, promotions, product introductions, etc. – all of which are supply side variables, meaning pricing can be controlled to influence customer decisions.
What does this show? That our first decisions resonate over a long sequence of decisions. First impressions are incredibly important.
“….people are sometimes willing to sacrifice the pleasure they get from a particular consumption experience in order to project a certain image to others.” – Dan Ariely
On another note, the power of FREE! has tremendous benefits. Experiments were ran in France comparing the results of offering shipping for $1 Franc vs offering FREE! shipping. What happened was that shipping for $1 Franc was virtually ignored by purchasers. FREE! shipping on the other hand resulted in an enthusiastic response by customers.
Another interesting thing to note about FREE! is that it subtly changes decisions from monetary transactions to social transactions, which has an enormous impact on how others view us and our actions. The conclusion: no one is offended by a small gift, because even small gifts keep us in the social exchange world and away from market norms. Hundreds of years ago when individuals were mostly farmers and fending for themselves and their families, economies mostly ran on social transactions, resulting in bonds between traders, potentially connecting people and their resources.
These experiments show that cash will only take you so far – social norms are the forces that can make a difference in the long run. Our task as entrepreneurs is to figure out which of the two – social or market norms – will product the most desirable outcome.
The price of ownership is another interesting concept in the book. It is true that the idea of possessions causes us to view objects in different perspectives. We fall in love with what we already have. Another thing is that we focus on what we may lose, rather than what we may gain. A third quirk is that we assume other people will see the transaction from the same perspective as we do. All this mean is that ownership has its own pecularities. The more work you put into something, the more ownership you begin to feel for it and lose perception of its actual value in the marketplace.
Our brains work in fascinating ways. Although we may believe we are rational and logical decision makers as consumers in our everyday lives, the hidden reality is that we are emotional creatures that make seemingly questionable decisions. Understand these hidden forces and you will be aware of how decisions are shaped in our everyday lives.
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Why do our headaches persist after we take a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a fifty-cent aspirin? Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup? When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we're making smart, rational choices....
About the Book
Why do our headaches persist after we take a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a fifty-cent aspirin? Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?
When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we’re making smart, rational choices. But are we?
In this newly revised and expanded edition of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, we consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They’re systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.
The story of Sam Walton’s life is not just a story of a successful businessman, but rather an autobiography of the true American success story who started out in humble beginnings in the Midwest and compounded into the largest retail chain in the world. The book takes you through the story of how Sam took one retail shop and out competed all of his neighbors time and time again. From raising a family to recruiting his team, Sam Walton’s formula for creating a multi-billion dollar company is a true classic.
Sam Walton: Made In America simulates first-hand how the largest retailing empire ever was built long before Amazon ever existed. In scaling a business, especially a physical retail brand such as Wal-Mart there are many challenges that can come up. Sam succeeded in an era where technology was not prevalent by optimizing pricing, product promotions, retail locations, distribution systems and most importantly customer service. Sam overcame obstacle after objection and eventually thrived during a time when competing retailers were just struggling to survive.
Not only is Sam Walton’s story filled with wisdom, actionable knowledge and perception but the true gem inside the book is one for the ages.
You will learn the essential fundamentals firsthand from the very man himself. Sam explains it all from his eyes and experiences. An American legend, this book brings the reader back to the grassroots of industrialization and culminates in the building of the largest retailing brand in existence (at the time).
Sam Walton’s Top 10 Rules For Success
Commit
Share
Motivate
Communicate
Appreciate
Celebrate
Listen
Exceed
Control
Swim
If you want to learn what these rules mean more in-depth, then I suggest you take the time to read the book. After all, it is only $7. The hard part, as so eloquently stated by Sam Walton is that the real challenge, is to constantly figure out ways to execute the rules and plans you have set for yourself. You can’t just keep doing what works one time, because everything around you is always changing. The world will always keep changing. To succeed, you have to stay out in front of that change, which means adaptability is key in a world of ever-changing circumstances.
“The secret lies in motivating kids who aren’t getting educated today to want to put themselves through school, and to make them understand the rewards they can expect when they do.” – Sam Walton
Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America's heartland: Sam Walton, who parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The undisputed merchant king of the late twentieth century, Sam never lost the common ...
About the Book
Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America’s heartland: Sam Walton, who parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The undisputed merchant king of the late twentieth century, Sam never lost the common touch. Here, finally, inimitable words. Genuinely modest, but always sure if his ambitions and achievements. Sam shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style.
In a story rich with anecdotes and the “rules of the road” of both Main Street and Wall Street, Sam Walton chronicles the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to lasso the American Dream.
