Uncovering the truth about your USP!

There has been a lot of talk about discovering your Unique Selling Point (USP) and to be quite frank, I am sick of hearing about it. Most of the time it is spoken of by marketing experts and is externalised with a view to impressing your market. It is important but not for the reasons that they often profess. Even though most business owners understand and know of the value of having a USP, or at least have heard that they should, most still have not got it right.

We live in an increasingly competitive market place, with tighter margins and often more demanding clients. It is your USP that will help you to stand out in a busy and competitive market place. Where most business owners go wrong is that they look outside of themselves, analyzing and researching their competitors, trying to find a gap and in turn design their USP.

At Intrinsic Success we take a very different view of discovering you USP. In our experience your USP is more about the essence of you and your business than it is about marketing or competition. Your USP should really be your unique stand and place, and less about how you sell. If you really want to stand out and make a difference in the world then discovering the truth of your USP is essential.

So what is it that makes you unique? In a world of six billion people and millions of businesses what on earth could make you unique. Here is where the trick lies, for if you are trying to find your uniqueness in what you do then you are going to come up with the same thing as everyone else. It is interesting to note that so many businesses claim to be unique and then go on to do and say the same thing everyone else does. So what could make you unique? This is where the essence and energy of you and your business comes in. What is it that makes you, YOU? What is the uniqueness that makes you the special person that you are? What would your friends and family say about you that makes you, YOU? It is the same for your business, what is it about your business that makes it your business? What would your existing clients say about your business? What would your team, your friends and family say about the uniqueness of your business?

If you can nail these questions then you are most of the way to finding your USP. It is a little tricky I must admit and can seem like a never-ending pilgrimage to the end of the earth however, once you have it your business is guaranteed to take off. Now, you will know when you have it by the reaction of the external world, your clients, your team, your family and friends. One of the KPI's is when the clients come flocking then you know that you have it. When we get really clear about what we are then our potential clients can get clear about what we are and make a definite decision as to whether or not to engage us. It is when we are covered in fluff and same old same old that potential clients get confused and unsure about what we are and what we have to offer. Clients want businesses that are clear, definite and sure-footed. Our USP will give them most of this information.

Then you want to understand what it is that you stand for and make that stand. In our case we are interested in business owners who are ready to make a difference to their business and their lives. Those business owners who are truly ready to do what ever it takes to grow and expand and make a significant difference in their world and the world at large.

Once you have discovered the thing that makes you unique, are clear about what you stand for, you can then take your place in the market. So where is your place, or where do you want it to be? Go find the most comfortable and receptive place in the market and tell them what your USP is all about. Begin to attract your perfect client based on your USP. Let go of trying to find clients that do not fit into your view of yourself and the world. I guarantee you will be happier, less stressed and more successful. Oh and if you have some that don't fit I dare you to think about changing that...

So go out into the world and discover your true intrinsic USP, then go tell everyone…NOW!

Have a great week and may your intrinsic uniqueness shine for greater success.

Cheers Marcus

Under the pump...creating massive action!

There is nothing like putting yourself under pressure to get the job done. Keeping one eye firmly focussed on the end goal and the task at hand is a great way to get into massive action.

However sometimes I take massive action to a WHOLE new level as my team have experienced today and anyone who has tried to talk to me about anything other than the workshop tonight has found out.

Although I am stressed, short tempered and crazy focussed I am being super productive. Now I would not suggest this as a long term strategy however if you want to get some things done give yourself a dead line where others are effected by the outcome, like running the workshop tonight, and things get done. Get others to hold you accountable, if I don't get everything done there are going to be a whole lot of disappointed people showing up...

I'm not a good one for delegating, maybe I'm a control freak, not that I have ever thought of myself as one...and maybe that's the problem. But today I have had to let go and rely on others to help me to reach this dead line and wow how wonderful everyone has worked.

So are you a procrastinator? Do you put things off? If so follow me...

1.  Set a dead line;
2. Tell someone and get them to hold you accountable;
3. Leverage the resources around you;

and I bet you have a better success rate.

Sorry if this is a short one today but I have some massive actions to achieve so that my workshop is a great success.

Have a great week...get into massive action I dare you!

Marcus

The Onsen and the importance of living your passion…

Two years ago I went skiing in Japan, Niseko to be exact, and experienced an Onsen for the first time. Now, those of you not familiar with the concept, an Onsen is a term for hot springs in Japanese though the term is often used to describe bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs.  


Apart from the amazing skiing in Japan and the awesome food and the wonderfully friendly people the Onsen is a real treat, especially after a hard days skiing the powder, as these monkey's will attest to.

Unfortunately I was not skiing in Japan over the weekend but I did spend it in Sorrento for some well-deserved R & R. 

So Friday night we headed off to Sorrento primarily to rest and rejuvenate but also so that Stephanie could introduce me to the soothing treat she had found a few weeks earlier. Believe it or not right here in Victoria on the peninsula are some of our very own hot springs. These hot springs are amazing with pools ranging from 37 degrees up 43 degrees and the water is amazingly good for the health.

Ok so maybe you don’t want to hear about my wonderful weekend bathing in the hot springs, I feel fantastic by the way and my skin, smooooooth. What was impressive is what the owners have built there. As an excerpt from their web site describes how it all happened…

‘Peninsula Hot Springs was founded by brothers Charles & Richard Davidson and Norm Cleland’.

‘The inspiration for the project began when Charles visited several hot springs while living in Japan in 1992. This sparked off several years of touring and studying hot springs around the world’.

‘In 1996 Charles heard a rumor that hot geothermal water had been discovered on the Mornington Peninsula in 1979, and a search of Department of Minerals and Energy records substantiated it’.

‘In 1997 the two brothers formed a partnership and they bought the 42 acre site on which the hot springs now stand. It took several more years of hard work to design the facility, secure the water license, obtain a planning permit, and drill a bore some 637 meter deep to a plentiful aquifer of 54 degree C natural hot minerals waters. The Davidson brothers then found an investor, in the form of Norm Cleland and his family, and together proceeded to build the Stage one Spa Dreaming Centre facility, which opened in June 2005. In December 2009 the second stage Bath House centre penned vastly increasing the number of bathing experiences and providing a area for children and families. Future plans include an increase in bathing experiences, accommodation, a restaurant and more wellness focused facilities’.

For me, both as a business mentor and personal development coach, it is amazing to see what they have built. The passion that has gone into the project is obvious and truly inspirational. No expense has been spared and the experience for the patrons is top notch. It is fascinating to see that it has taken them since 1997 to build what we see today. In a world of fast food and instant gratification it is important to remember that sometimes dreams take time, especially big dreams. To see the persistence, dedication and commitment that must have gone into the making of the bathes is worth writing about and also worth the drive to experience.

Noting that it took several years just to secure licenses to design and build the premises and drill the bore. I know for me I sometimes expect that things will be perfect right now and that success should happen yesterday. But in truth it takes persistence, determination and a real commitment to see the project through. This is where passion comes in, for without it, chances are you will quit before it has even got off the ground.

Passion is the driving force behind many of the world’s great projects, companies and individuals. Many things have gone by the wayside just because the passion was not there. The world would be a colder place without the passion that has driven these amazing things. Therefore it is important that we follow are passion. When we do we are twice as likely to have the success that we have dreamt of, experience twice the fun and realize twice the joy. At the end of the day that’s what life is about…Joy!

So what are you passionate about? What is it going to take for you to go and make it happen? When do you get the courage to seek help, to find mentors in those that have been there and are now living their passion fully?

If you can’t connect with your passion or the fear is too deep, just for a moment entertain the possibility that your passion could be made known to you. What if it was possible to know your passion? What if it was possible to live that passion fully?

Passion is the hot spring of life, it gives meaning, it gives energy and it heals the lost soul. So go out into your world and be passionate about what ever you do, even if for the moment it is not your true passion. Living passionately will bring you more joy, success and the possibility that you too can live an abundant and full life.

Have a great week and may the passion be with you…Oh and don’t forget to visit the hot springs next time you are on the peninsula it is well worth it. Check out the web site: 

http://www.peninsulahotsprings.com

Regards Marcus

Easter Bunny Blues...

Well Happy Easter to you all I hope the Easter Bunny was kind to you?

In my household all holidays are meet with great excitement having three littlies, and Easter is no exception. So at the wee hours of this morning they all ran in to announce that the Easter Bunny had arrived and there were soooo many eggs. It is nice to hear the excitement in their voices even though it was 6:30 on a Sunday. Now we are all paying the price for those damn chocolate eggs feeling sick and disgusting, it felt good at the time! It's the Easter Bunny blues...

Anyway it is a public holiday so its time to have a break therefore there is no formal blog today.

Stay tuned for next week it's all about communication, the maker or breaker of success in any aspect of life. Until then enjoy the video and have a great long weekend or if you are reading this on Wednesday I hope you had a great long weekend?

Fatigue and the Busi-ness of Life?

I came to the end of another busy week feeling tired, exhausted and fatigued. Pushing myself from one meeting to another in a flurry of action, and as I came to a stop on Saturday morning I realized the pattern. Caught in a pattern that I have been running for many years now, flat out making it happen or fatigued to a stop. A wave of sadness came over me as I realized that my true self is the stillness that resides inside me. That peaceful self that meditates the wisdom of my life, and yet still I run.

It got me thinking of the sub-scripts that the subconscious brain runs that I often talk about with my clients. Those damn beliefs, patterns and fears that we choose to agree with over our lifetime. Now manifesting as a negative interference pattern. And I tell my clients that once you have a consciousness about a thing you can then decide to change that thing….right? Well as we all know it is not as easy as it seems and sometimes that comes down to the level or depth of consciousness we have about that thing. In my case I had some consciousness about it but not enough to completely shift my external experience of that thing, until today!

We had my nieces seventh birthday at a gymnastic centre followed by lunch at my brothers. It was a wonderful day, I got to run and play with my little girl Lucy and see our other two children, Claudia and Brendan, play with her. The love and care they have for her and each other whilst in a group of children is wonderful. Anyway when we got to my brothers the rest of the family had assembled including my Dad. Now I love my Dad but for most of my life he has been the one that I am trying to free myself from and today he gave me an insight. Now when I mean free myself please don’t get me wrong my Dad is a wonderful man, generous, caring and has supported me and my brother far and beyond most fathers. However like most boys and certainly first sons, I have the father wounding that I am trying to heal. So today was another chance but did I take it?

At one stage throughout the day, Dad I had a chance to chat alone for a few moments and in true form he asked me how business was going and again, true to form, I picked all the most positive points to tell him. The opportunities, the excitement of new clients and the underlining message of how well I was doing. At that moment I looked at him and noticed how far away he was from me. It was as if he had not heard anything that I had said. Oh there was the obligatory nod of the head and rhetorical murmurings of agreement and understanding but at the end of the day he was not there. Here I was sharing exciting news that things were going well and he had chosen to disappear. Now the disappearing is not the important part of this story, hell we all have those moments when we disappear from a conversation. No, it was the need I felt to once again prove that I was worthy and valuable….

Here was the driving force behind my need to run flat out and why it is not possible to keep up the pace. In truth this keeping up of the pace is me not living the truth of who I am but rather in the shadow of approval and acceptance of what my father might think is good. Sure like most I can keep up the pace with the best of them however I have had chronic fatigue so energy or the lack there of is my specialty. It is my calling, the reading of energy and sensing the state of myself and others, so now what to do with it…?

At the end of the day it is not the speed at which one moves that is the issue but rather what is going on inside that counts. It is possible to drive a car at 100 kilometers and hour however if you don’t change gear relative to the speed of the car then you are likely to blow up an engine. To complicate matters the alignment of ones own truth must match the energy so that the external performance matches the internal truth. In other words not only do we have to change gear so as not to blow the engine up but we must also have our gears aligned or we will destroy the gearbox. Now at 100 kilometers an hour that could be life threatening. In my case when my gearbox goes I get fatigued and literally have to stop.

There is a great understanding that comes from deep observation. Observation of your own internal scripts that continually run through your mind and observation of the scripts of those around you. To then bring awareness to how those scripts inter play with each other and the effect that these then have.

My Dad’s script is one of having to be perfect, which plays beautifully into mine, which is one of trying to seek acceptance by having the perfect business, life or what ever. Perfection to me is then played out through what I perceive as positive success, the bigger the positive success the better. This continual expectation is not possible to live up to. It is never possible to live up to others expectations. The only thing you can do is live up to your own, that is to meet your own inner expectation that in this life you will live as your true self as much as you can. That is the only expectation we have of ourselves at a deep level and it’s not really an expectation but rather a mantra, a desire to fulfill ourselves. Those that surrender fully to this internal expectation reap the rewards of a full, content and happy life. Those that don’t have to make do with whatever is left.

It is time to live my internal truth and to slow down, become clear, focused and move forward with grace and ease, regardless of the speed of the vehicle. Now I am going to take some of my own medicine and powerfully choose to make a difference. To live the peace that I am, calm and relaxed regardless of the speed of the outside world. I will allow myself to not have the need to impress, or be good, or be anything except that inner peace.

So how do your sub scripts interfere with your success and affect the living of your truth and, what do you choose now…………….?

So be brave and courageously share a little more of yourself this week. In a work or corporate environment it can be the scariest thing to do….but the most important. As one of my clients discovered last week, when you begin to let go and share your truth others are given permission to share theirs. Out of the darkest places the most amazing light often appears. So go and shine this week and let me know what happens and who else crawls from under the veil of a subconscious sub-script self.

If we were all free to perform from this place the world would certainly be better place…

Regards Marcus

Remember: Perform from your core, your truth and you will unleash your true potential...

Sometimes letting go helps…

Sometimes it is just about letting go… The problem with our modern busy world, if there is a problem at all, is that we spend so much time in our heads. Constantly thinking, over analyzing, and trying to work out the next thing to do or to write. As has been the case this morning, yesterday I thought of so many things to write about yet when I got up at 5:30am on this Monday morning do you think I could reach in and located any of those great thoughts from yesterday. Then it hit me maybe I should stop thinking and just start writing so here we are…

Through my experience of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I came to realize just how full the mind can get and the consequence of that fullness. In my case it lead to a foggy mind, an inability to think clearly, irritability and anxiety and often dizzy spells. To this day if I fill my mind up enough these symptoms come back. The mind is an interesting instrument constantly analyzing, assessing and contemplating the for’s and against’s for any particular situation, decision or thought. It rarely gives you a definitive answer on any matter but rather the thought or decision with the least likely hood of failure. It then spends its time often over analyzing the decision that it has just made. Now in and of itself it is a great instrument and has helped to get us this far. However it is “the emptiness of the vase that is the most valuable part”, in that without the space in-between the ceramic vessel there would be no vase. In some respects it is the same with the brain with out the ability to empty the mind from time to time we reduce our ability to utilize it’s power of thought.

I often see business owners and executives who have become anxious, stressed and confused finding it difficult to make a decision or think straight and immediately I know that the mind has become full. It is amazing what insights, clarity and freedom comes from emptying the mind from time to time. It is a bit like freeing up some space on your hard drive. I know when my computer runs out of space I get a warning that the computer is about to have a nervous breakdown and loose data or worse totally break. (As you can tell I am such a computer expert…not!) I am sure it wont break if I run out of space but I know its not good because it tells me. Now the brain is a bit like this if you don’t clear it out every now and then it does get overloaded and when this happens there is a fear that it will break down. When I guide these executives to clear the mind and free up some disk space it is amazing to watch the clarity come back, the anxiety go and a wave of relaxation appears.

So if you begin to feel anxious, confused, unclear or full take a moment to let go. Go for a walk, change the scenery, stop thinking about the issue or any issue for that matter and clear your mind. Think of nothing if you can, meditation is a great way to do this or failing that think of a time when you where in nature, on holidays where you were away from work. Think of how that place made you feel, what were the noises that you herd, the smells that you smelt and the sights that you saw. Immerse yourself it that experience for just a moment. If you have an abstract painting in your home or office, focus on that for a while or look at the plant in the corner of your office (if you don’t have a plant in your office get one, natural objects like plants can assist you to feel more relaxed and provide fresh oxygen). Then go back to what you were doing, a moment out of time can help you to become clear again, less anxious and more relaxed. 

Please note that short term anxiety or stress can be relieved through the clearing of the mind however long term anxiety related disorders may need greater help and support. If you are suffering from anxiety please see a health care professional.