Sales Approaches that are Doomed to Fail or Backfire

After spending about 18 years in marketing, communications and sales departments in everything from small nonprofits to Fortune 100 corporations, there aren’t many sales and marketing approaches, techniques, systems or plans with which I haven’t had at least tangential experience. I mention that as context for the criticisms that follow, because I’ve made errors aplenty and speak with that experience in mind.

Bottom line: most online sales approaches are flawed beyond repair and should be abandoned immediately or sooner. In this post I’m going to focus on a few of the daily epic fails I witness in B2B.

First on that list: Email marketing. Each and every day a dozen or more solicitations slip through my junk filter and choke my inbox. I read at least the opening lines of all of them because I’m curious to see if someone has come up with anything approaching an effective pitch. Here are a few actual examples:

“Dear Mr. DiSalvo, over the course of the last few weeks you have received several emails from me regarding my firm’s client management software…”

“David, I’d really like to sit down with you over lunch and discuss our newly released capture planning program…”

“You’re a busy professional, and I don’t want to waste your time, so let’s get right to the point: our database management system is unlike any you’ve used before…”

Of the many things that could be said about those openers, there’s one major problem with all of them – namely, I didn’t ask for information of any sort about any of these offerings.  Cold emailing me simply because I subscribe to business magazines or because my email address shows up on conference registration lists is a bad idea. You don’t know what problems I’m facing in my organization, and assuming that you can throw enough wet linguini at me in hopes that a little will stick just ticks me off.

The only one of the examples above that I might evaluate further is the second, in which I’m asked to discuss the product with the representative.  But the problem is that this person is assuming that the solution he’s offering is the one I need to hear about.  Listen up: never approach a potential client with a solution in your hand. Ever. Your job is to find out what issues I’m facing and then introduce possible solutions.

Further, why are you emailing me?  Are you trying to demonstrate just how lazy you are, as if that’s going to inspire me to spend an hour with you? Hear this: nothing comes across as more flaccid than cold-call emails. All you’re showing is that you’re uncreative, which leads me to think you’re not someone I want to do business with.   If you really want to talk to me, then do your job and sleuth a mutual point-of-contact. Figure out who knows who and draw a line through the dots until you reach me. Then call me and we can figure out if meeting is worth both of our time.

The first and third examples above are terminal fails and it’s hard to believe someone was paid to write them. Patronizing me with references to how busy I am simply shows that you have zero ideas worth listening to. If you know how busy I am, then why are you taking up my time with unsolicited emails?  And yes, I know you’ve pelted me with “several emails,” and the fact that I haven’t responded to any of them should be evidence enough that I’m not interested. And yet, you send me another stating that all of your attempts have hit the rocks?  Yes, I know – I’m the one who kicked them there.

Of course, what we know is that not a single one of those emails was written with me or any particular person in mind. They’re targeted to a list of recipients dangling from the same vertical tree.  And that fact alone should be enough to convince anyone who actually wants to sell a business service or product not to hit send.  Just don’t do it. Pretending to address me personally when you’re actually boilerplating a pitch is worse than incompetent, it’s insulting.

Another bad idea: Webinars with entanglements. If you invite me to a webinar on a topic that may interest me, fine. At least you’re offering something of potential value for my time.  But if I choose to accept your invitation, know that I am trading my time for your message. Period. Beyond that, our relationship will only continue if I find value in what you’re offering and want to know more. How will you know if I’m interested?  Simple – I’ll tell you.

If I do not, and you approach me once as a follow-up, I’ll politely let you know whether or not I intend to inquire further. If my response is that I don’t intend to do so, and you persist in contacting me over and over anyway in hopes that I’ll change my mind, you’ve made a mistake. Now, not only am I not going to pursue your offering, but I am going to make sure everyone I work with avoids your webinars. You’ve just catalyzed anti-marketing, and unfortunately for you it’s nearly impossible to outrun word-of-mouth.

An equally bad idea is sending me an email with a link to a website. Unless I know you, or have done business with you already, I’m not going to click on a link no matter how eloquent your pitch.  If the information is worth seeing, then format it upfront and don’t make me dig for it. Besides, I have no interest in providing you with more information about me, my company, or anything else you’re collecting when I click through the link. Populating your capture database is not my job.  Same goes for attachments.

I’ll return to this topic in future posts, and will end this one with a closing thought:  Unless you’ve done the requisite work to find out who I am, what I do, and what my needs are—in other words, targeted your pitch based on credible knowledge—then don’t contact me. It’s really that simple. Generic marketing is dead. Resurrecting it in poorly aimed emails and other scattershot solicitations will get you nowhere, so don’t waste your time and resources. If you do anyway, you might just end up in an article like this one.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/01/20/sales-tactics-you-should-never-use-part-one/

A Smart Business Knows 8 Ways to Pivot Their Vision

 

One of the hottest buzzword for startups these days is “pivot.” The term, introduced by entrepreneur and venture advisor Eric Ries in an article on Lessons Learned a couple of years ago, is properly used to describe smart startups that change direction quickly, but stay grounded in what they’ve learned. They keep one foot in the past and place one foot in a new possible future.

Over time, this pivoting may lead them a bit away from their original vision, but not away from the common principles that link each step. The pivot has to leverage previous learning about customers, technology, and the environment. The alternative is more risky, simply jumping compulsively from one vision to another, and is likely to lead to a death spiral.

The pivot can be applied to any element of the business model, without changing the underlying vision. Here are some of the most common pivot elements that Eric and others have noted:

Customer problem pivot. In this scenario, you use essentially the same product to solve a different problem for the same customer segment. Eric says that Starbucks famously did this pivot when they went from selling coffee beans and espresso makers to brewing drinks in-house.

Market segment pivot. This means you take your existing product and use it to solve a similar problem for a different set of customers. This may be necessary when you find that consumers aren’t buying your product, but enterprises have a similar problem, with money to spend. Sometimes this is more a marketing change than a product change.

Technology pivot. Engineers always fight to take advantage of what they have built so far. So the most obvious pivot for them is to repurpose the technology platform, to make it solve a more pressing, more marketable, or just a more solvable problem as you learn from customers.

Product feature pivot. Here especially, you need to pay close attention to what real customers are doing, rather than your projections of what they should do. It can mean to zoom-in and remove features for focus, or zoom-out to add features for a more holistic solution.

Revenue model pivot. One pivot is to change your focus from a premium price, customized solution, to a low price commoditized solution. Another common variation worth considering is the move from a one-time product sale to monthly subscription or license fees. Another is the famous razor versus blade strategy.

Sales channel pivot. Startups with complex new products always seem to start with direct sales, and building their own brand. When they find how expensive and time consuming this is, they need to use what they have learned from customers to consider a distribution channel, ecommerce, white-labeling the product, and strategic partners.

Product versus services pivot. Sometimes products are too different or too complex to be sold effectively to the customer with the problem. Now is the time for bundling support services with the product, education offerings, or simply making your offering a service that happens to deliver a product at the core.
Major competitor pivot. What do you do when a major new player or competitor jumps into your space? You can charge ahead blindly, or focus on one of the above pivots to build your differentiation and stay alive.
In all cases, the change is not linearly adding one more new feature, in the vain hope that this one will cause traction to magically materialize. The key to pivoting is spotting trends from real data and real market experience, and optimizing the basic product/market fit, without leaving a hole or divot in your market or your credibility.

Look for multiple data points before you pivot. You have to learn that no product will satisfy every customer, so don’t make random jumps based on a single customer, friend, or negative blog article. A good internal data point or early-warning is a chronically frustrated solution team.

Get your investors and advisors to do the pivot exercise right along with you, so there are no surprises. Adaptation and dealing with chaos is the key to survival for a startup, and your best competitive edge over large companies. The down side is that it may be bad for your golf swing.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2012/01/21/a-smart-business-knows-8-ways-to-pivot-their-vision/

Lose weight by using the right tableware: study

Losing weight and eating right could be as simple as switching up your tableware and redecorating your dinner table.

At least, those are the findings of a new US study which suggested that when participants chose smaller plates in contrasting colors, they reduced their portion size between 9 to 31 percent.

Published in the Journal of Consumer Research and released Wednesday, the study points out that the average size of dinner plates has increased by almost 23 percent since 1900.

For one of their experiments, researchers asked 225 students to pour a specific amount of tomato soup into one of seven different bowls: one control bowl, three smaller bowls and three larger bowls.

As predicted, participants served less than the target serving in the smaller bowls and served more than the target serving in the larger dishes.

In a follow-up experiment at two summer camps, those who used larger bowls were also observed to over-serve themselves by up to 31 percent more than normal.

Meanwhile, researchers point out that eating just 50 more calories a day could result in a five-pound weight gain each year.

Another way to prevent overly generous portions sizes is to color-coordinate food and tableware.
That is, instead of using a plate that matches the food color, researchers suggest using a contrasting color to serve as a visual gauge of their meal.

For example, when participants ate their red, tomato-based pasta off a white plate or a white-sauce pasta on a red plate, they reduced the amount they served themselves by 21 percent.

Changing the the color of the tablecloth reduced how much they served themselves by 10 percent.
"In the midst of hard-wired perceptual biases, a straightforward action would be to simply eliminate large dinnerware –– replace our larger bowls and plates with smaller ones or contrast ones," the authors conclude.

In the US, the Small Plate Movement also advises Americans to eat their largest meal off 10” plates once a month. The movement was launched by Cornell University, where the study was also conducted.

Another study published in the same journal found that people who use bigger forks tend to eat less.

Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/lose-weight-using-tableware-study-161453412.html

10 Things All Entrepreneurs Fail At

Editor’s note: James Altucher is an investor, programmer, author, and entrepreneur. He is Managing Director of Formula Capital and has written 6 books on investing. His latest book is I Was Blind But Now I See. You can follow him @jaltucher.

I was on the phone with Tony Conrad at True Ventures pitching a business idea I had in early 2009. The site was built and we even had people registered for it and I had about a half million dollars already committed but I wanted a VC firm on my side as well. I don’t know why. Maybe I thought it would give me some credibility and I desperately craved it after the divorce I had been going through.

Tony asked a question I thought was very smart. And now I forget exactly what it was. But I’m going to paraphrase what I think he said. He asked, “What have you failed at already in this business and how have you learned from it?”

I think I lied in the answer. Why not? But I can’t remember what I said.

And when I got off the phone I knew he would not put in money. I had just not failed enough yet at this business and I had not learned enough.

Later on I decided to not accept the money I had raised and not do the business at all, at great personal cost to me.

It wasn’t a good idea and I didn’t want to spend two years of my life losing everyone’s money, including more of my own. So I stopped it.



But Tony’s question brought back memories of several successful businesses I had either started or been involved in and how much I had utterly failed even during those businesses. Failure sucks in every way.

Business gurus will write books like “Failing Forward” blah blah blah, but I can tell you this: at that moment when you fail, there’s nothing to learn. It just sucks. For me, I take it very personally when I fail in each of the below ways I’m about to list. I’m too much of a perfectionist and I associate shame with every kind of failure. But ok, I admit it. “My name is James A…” and you know the rest. Former world chess champion Mikhail Botvinnik used to tell his students to study their losses the most because you learn the most from your failures. He would even practice playing while someone blew smoke in his face so he could conquer all his own personal obstacles.

I’m not that smart. I don’t like to fail at all. And I don’t like it when people blow smoke in my face. But acknowledging, cataloging, and then recognizing when you do fail is the first step to maybe learning from them. So I’ll take care of that part for you. Then you can fail, not want to kill yourself, and go on living and hopefully succeeding.

Incidentally, Google thinks I’m an expert on this. Apparently, the top phrase on Google that took people to my site last year (other than my name) was “I Want to Die”, which takes people to this post.

10 Things Entrepreneurs Will Fail At

1. You will lose some customers. Not everyone will be happy with your product forever. Or, not everyone will be happy when you stop paying them bribes. Or arranging their sexual escapades. Whatever. In my first business I started to lose HBO as a client. HBO! I had worked there. Heck, I had hired my own business and then left! And then the people who I had hired to take my place had their own agendas. I was backstabbed. It happens. Deal with it. You can’t keep every customer forever. Which is why you have to every day list potential customers, call new ones, come up with new ideas and products. Every day. If you didn’t today and your spouse is waiting for you to come to bed then she or he is going to have to wait a little longer before they can cuddle with you. That list needs to be finished.

2. You will lose some friends and family. You’re spending so much time on your business that inevitably you will not be able to match all of the expectations of the people who love you. At that point you have to make choices but don’t forget that running a business you have responsibility to not only friends but employees, customers. your future family, and investors who put their hard-earned money with you. I started one business with a close family relative who no longer speaks to me. That happens. You spend so much intense time together it’s like a lifetime of every psychological insult that has ever happened to you comes out and you vomit it all over each other. You’re comfortable with each other because, after all, you’re family. Until you become comfortable enough that it all ends.

3. You will lose the faith of investors. Not all of the time, and hopefully not at the end, but there will come a time when the investors question you. This is normal. Answer their questions. Be honest about mistakes, about what you learned from them, about what you expect in the future, and then move towards that future. Vaultus was the first business for which I ever raised money. My business before that had been profitable from day one and we turned away all money. So, of course, I wasn’t qualified to run an unprofitable business that had raised a lot of money. First they asked me to step down as CEO, then they asked me to step down from the board, then they removed me from the company website. Was I upset? Of course!

When they first asked me to step down from the board, I put up a meager fight. They said I had missed two board meetings in a row. I blamed “9/11”. The guy, Savio,  actually laughed at me. So I was off the board. The next time he called me was when he needed a recommendation from Calpers for his fund and Calpers was planning on calling me. I said to him, of course I will give you a good recommendation. And I did. Never hold grudges.

4. Your idea. Your idea might be a bad idea. I was taught in school that the best thing an entrepreneur can do is “focus”. This is not totally accurate. Yes, focus on your business but you may have to totally change ideas, tweak ideas, mate ideas, transform ideas at different points.

5. You will fail some of your employees. Employees are there for many reasons. Money. Potential career advancement. Exploitation (not a bad thing, they want to learn all they can from you so they can then start their own business). Sex (lots of it happens AT the workplace. And I do mean physically AT the workplace. Note I capitalized it twice). Sometimes they won’t always get what they want. Sometimes you won’t always get what you want from an employee. It’s ok to let these employees go as quickly as possible so they find what they are looking for  elsewhere.

6. You will fail at keeping stress levels low. Sometimes the stress is too much. I’ve heard about three heart attacks in the past two months.






7. Sales. You can’t win them all. Sometimes your competitors will underprice you. Sometimes they will trash you behind your back. Sometimes they will have a nephew who is making the decision and there’s no way for you to know that.  And sometimes they are just plain better than you. You have no idea.One time I was pitching Tupac’s manager on doing the post-memoriam website for Tupac. I had a CD-ROM (yes, a CD-ROM) demonstrating my work. Only problem is: I had never used a Windows machine before. Only Macs and Unix machines. So I didn’t know how to open the CD Drive. He just sat there without helping me and said, “You don’t know how to use a computer and you want to do Tupac’s website?” I mentioned to him that I had been thrown out of graduate school for computer science. He then laughed me out of his office. I was humiliated.

After losing a potential sale there’s a few things you should do:

Call the decision maker and say, “Just for my own learning, is there anything we could’ve done better?” Then take sincere notes.
Then ask, “Is there anything else we can do for you. Any other way I, personally, can help you succeed at your job.”
And conclude with, “Well, it was a real pleasure going through the process and learning about your business. Please call us if you need anything new.” And check in every month after that. Send monthly updates of customers you are winning, new products you are building, etc.
But, if you are being laughed at all the way to the elevator the best you can do is just swallow your pride and tell yourself to learn that when you are ready, learn how to open the CD-ROM drive on a Windows machine. And, perhaps, blame someone else. But that was hard for me to do in this case.

8. Communication. Some people are just simply going to disagree with you. Some people you work with might disapprove of that button in the center of the box you insisted go there before the box was delivered. Some investors might not like you personally. Your landlord might not like you and might want to kick you out. You’re just not going to be able to charm everyone like you are used to.

9. Raising Money. I just saw this happen: great idea, great people, revenues, and profitable and…the company in question could not raise money from professional venture capitalists. Were the VCs stupid? Of course they were! Everyone is “stupid” who doesn’t hand over their hard-earned money for you to play with. But, it’s their choice. And it’s hard to raise money. So you have to always make sure you have a “Plan B”. I’ve seen Plan B work remarkably well in several instances in the past few years, particularly companies I invested in pre-2008 that then had to make it through 2008-9 without any venture capital help. How did they do it? In general, Plan B involves getting to break even as quickly as possible. Getting rid of product categories that don’t make money, and usually switching to a service model where you charge for a specific service, and only use employees to create that service who will make you profitable. The spread between what your employees cost and what you charge is how you pay your lofty salary and office space.

And again, just like in the above for “Sales” you keep in touch with everyone, you send updates. You make sure that everyone is aware of achievements. You throw a big Christmas party and you invite me (don’t worry, I won’t come, though but I’m a bit insulted you didn’t invite me and you know who you are) and as you grow go out there and raise money again. Someone once told me, “When your business is ready for it, the money raising will be easy.”

10. Yourself. You will certainly fail yourself during the process. You can’t do everything. You can’t get everyone to like you. You can’t get everyone to buy your service. You can’t stay in top shape. You can’t. You can’t. You can’t. Well, sometimes you can. But most of the time, you can’t. Because you can’t control the world around  you. Give up control. Learn to be flexible. Every day come up with new ideas for your customers, new ideas for your product. If you aren’t doing it, then who is? Who will have the passion you have?

And in the meantime, while juggling all of that, you have to keep your health up. Or else you will fail more.

10. Your business. And sometimes, your business will fail. It simply won’t work. The cash you have in the bank will go to zero. Your employees will quit, you can’t raise any more money. Your customers will leave because they don’t want to go down with a sinking ship. You’ve failed. As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes things just keep getting worse, and you can’t do anything about it.

[Editor's note: I see James put the #10 twice and titled it "10 Things..." so I guess entrepreneurs also fail at top 10 lists.]

What will you do then?

Well, it’s so much fun to repeatedly fail at everything, you’ll just have start all over.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/11/10-things-all-entrepreneurs-fail-at/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

Louis C.K.’s lesson for marketers: Honesty is the best strategy

 

Comedian Louis C.K. recently self-released a video of his stand-up special, “Live at the Beacon Theater,” for $5 online. He personally paid for the production costs up front in an experiment to see if this was a cheaper, more efficient, and less restrictive method of getting his content to his fans. In doing so, he cut out paying the middlemen — including the marketing team — and avoided the red tape of working with studio executives.

In twelve days, Louis C.K. earned more than $1 million from people downloading the special — far more than the $170,000 it cost to produce the video. Louis C.K. gave his thoughts in a post on his site:

“I would have been paid [less than $200,000] by a large company to simply perform the show and let them sell it to you, but they would have charged you about $20 for the video … This way, you only paid $5, you can use the video any way you want.”

Coming from the online marketing world of The Search Agency, I was particularly interested in how he was able to reap a significant ROI without using any of the traditional or online marketing efforts usually made on behalf of comedians and entertainers. Google “Jerry Seinfeld” or “Jay Leno” and you’ll see the paid AdWords links.

Instead, Louis C.K. announced the release of the special on his website and followed up with a personal plea from his Twitter account: “Please don’t torrent this video. I paid for the whole thing with my own stupid money.” He also participated in a Reddit Q&A session with his fans and he discussed his video on “Fresh Air” on NPR. He didn’t appear on Letterman or Leno, he didn’t do an interview with the New York Times. He didn’t do any of the more traditional publicity executed by the PR and marketing teams in the lead-up to a big media product release.

He let his fans do all of the PR.

An alternative comedian, Louis C.K. does not have a PR team or community manager to manage social media assets. He claims to have little knowledge of social media. He told Conan O’Brien that he “hates Twitter.”  There is no official Louis C.K. Facebook page, and he personally manages and occasionally engages his 897,707 Twitter followers. At the end of the day, Louis C.K. followed the most basic best practices of social media and promotions outreach and reaped all the benefits of a best-case scenario.

Let me reiterate something — Louis C.K. is not terribly famous.  He doesn’t have a built-in fan base that will buy anything he tweets.  He has been a successful writer behind the scenes, but has not had enough onscreen time to earn mainstream fame.  His TV show “Louie” on FX was very quietly nominated for two Emmys in 2011, but the show’s highest viewership in history was recorded at 1.57 million viewers.  This is just a fraction of reigning comedy The Big Bang Theory’s lowest rating of 7.34 million viewers. Even reruns of The Big Bang Theory on cable syndication regularly defeat Louie — just last week 4.3 million viewers turned in to TBS to watch a rerun.

Without the luxury of stardom, Louis C.K. sold $1 million of video downloads by trusting his audience. He showed this by selling DRM-free videos, then gently asking them to purchase, not pirate. This openness built a relationship of mutual trust and respect with his fans.  Companies looking to create successful online marketing campaigns should try to build similarly long-term relationships with customers based on trust and direct communication.

All this success happened in the middle of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill controversy. Louis C.K. promoted his own video and demonstrated innovative entrepreneurship without losing significant revenue to Internet piracy. And he did this without any legislative digital protection, proving that making original content available, convenient, and reasonably priced can be enough to quell illegal downloads. Louis C.K. said on his website that “if anybody stole it, it wasn’t many of you. Pretty much everybody bought it.” Perhaps the burden should fall on companies to create products that appeal to willing buyers instead of asking legislators for protection.

Here is my list of lessons from the success of Louis C.K.’s self-released video:

1. Build relationships with customers using an approach that is engaging, personal, and honest.

2. Work toward long-term relationships with your customers so that they will trust your brand as long as you deliver high quality content and products.

3. Create a reasonable price. When the price point is attainable, both fans and people on the fence are willing to pay for the product rather than hunt for a pirated version.

4. Read up on the Stop Online Piracy Act. Stay informed when the bill returns to the House of Representatives this year. Check out Sergey Brin’s Google+ post and I Work for the Internet.
The thing is — Louis C.K.’s online marketing campaign wasn’t really a campaign. It was a public agreement that he made with his audience. He promised to create and release an honest product, and the audience promised to continue supporting his future projects. The consumers didn’t just buy a DRM-free download of Louis C.K.’s standup special — they bought into a trusted relationship with the comedian.

Jessica Lee is a SEO specialist with The Search Agency, an established search marketing firm with expertise in search, display and social media.

Source: http://gigaom.com/2012/01/06/lee-louis-ck-marketing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

Few things you need to know when starting up a business.

1. Dont start small when you can start BIG

Building a profitable small-market company is difficult and carries a high risk of failure.
Building a profitable large-market company is also difficult and carries a high risk of failure.
But the marginal risk in building a company decreases as the addressable market increases.

While a larger company may require more total work, the relative effort is less. Make no mistake: small-market companies still come with 18 hour days, flaky vendors, upset customers, and exasperated spouses.

Thinking small increases our risk. So let’s think big.

[Notes: “Large vs. small” is a different debate than “bootstrapped vs venture-backed”, though the two are often conflated. It’s also worth noting that serving a small segment and progressively expanding outwards to serve the larger market is a totally legitimate large-market strategy.]



2. Cut out the middleman

Interesting things happen when we cut out the middleman. In addition to reducing cost, we often end up creating an internal byproduct that can be productized and sold to a completely new customer. (Amazon Web Services is an example of this.) Sometimes the middleman’s market is so huge, that a freaking enormous business can be built simply by providing their customers a lower cost and more efficient option. Two-sided marketplace businesses are a textbook example of this type of disruption.

3. Don’t shit where you eat
  
“When someone’s doing something for the money, people can sense it, like a desperate lover. It’s a turnoff.” – Derek Sivers, Anything You Want

Simple meaning: Don’t screw with your users. They are your golden-egg-laying goose. Protect them from rapacious cofounders and investors. Don’t spam them. Don’t abuse them. Don’t be a douchebag. They can sense the level of service from you and whether you are just abusing them to make your money.


4. If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense

“A business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.” – Jason Fried, Rework

We can build an awesome product and then give it away for free. We can bolt advertising to it. We can turn it into a lead-gen property. We can even sell some virtual goods but if it's not making money it's not a business.

Always find viable business model before spending money on development resources. Stay close to where the money is, close to a transaction. 

5.Closed mouths don’t get fed

If you want something, you have to either ask for it or walk up and take it.”
We can’t expect good fortune to fall into our lap. It’s our responsibility to create the circumstances for it and then capture that good fortune.
 
6. Be a badass

“There’s only one thing that will make them stop hating you. And that’s being so good at what you do that they can’t ignore you.” – Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Chris DeVore makes a comparison : pirate ships as organizational models. Pirate ships combine an “us against the world” mentality with a hunt for treasure. This crucible of chaos and ambition somehow allows unstructured groups of mercenaries to complete complex tasks without killing one another (very often). A pirate ship is a meritocracy where he/she who is most badass, leads.


The one thing these badasses shared was the source of their power: influence rather than authority. This lesson is the most important and also the most difficult to implement. There’s no pill, book, or retreat that will turn us into badasses. But if we want to captain a pirate ship, we must become the most badass version of ourselves.

And oh, all these things here? They are learnt from a crime boss. Curated by me. If you're interested to see please click the source link below

Source: http://gigaom.com/2012/01/07/desantis-startups-crime-boss/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

Top 10 detox foods

Lemon
Lemons are a staple of many detox diets, and there is good reason for this. Firstly, lemons are packed with antioxidant vitamin C, which is great for the skin and for fighting disease-forming free-radicals. Furthermore, the citrus fruit has an alkaline effect on the body, meaning that it can help restore the body's pH balance, benefitting the immune system. Try starting your day with hot water and a slice of lemon to help flush out toxins and cleanse your system.

Ginger
If too much fatty food or alcohol has caused problems for your digestive system, it may be worthwhile adding some ginger to your diet. Ginger is not only great for reducing feelings of nausea, but it can help improve digestion, beat bloating and reduce gas. In addition to this, ginger is high in antioxidants and is good for boosting the immune system. To give your digestion a helping hand, try sipping on ginger tea or adding some freshly grated ginger to a fruit or vegetable juice.

Garlic
Garlic has long been known for its heart benefits, however the pungent food is also good at detoxifying the body. Garlic is not only antiviral, antibacterial and antibiotic, but it contains a chemical called allicin which promotes the production of white blood cells and helps fight against toxins. Garlic is best eaten raw, so add some crushed garlic to a salad dressing to boost its flavour and your health at the same time.

Artichoke
If you have recently been overindulging in fatty foods and alcohol, adding some steamed globe artichoke leaves to your meals is a great way to help get your body back on track. Globe artichokes are packed with antioxidants and fibre and can also help the body digest fatty foods. On top of this, globe artichoke is renowned for its ability to stimulate and improve the functions of the liver - the body's main toxin-fighting tool.

Beetroot
For those needing a quick health-boosting shot of nutrients, you can't do much better than beetroot. Packed with magnesium, iron, and vitamin C, the vegetable has recently been hailed as a superfood due to its many reported health benefits. Not only is beetroot great for skin, hair and cholesterol levels, but it can also help support liver detoxification, making it an ultimate detox food. To enjoy its benefits, try adding raw beetroot to salads or sipping on some beetroot juice.

Green tea
While it's not technically a food, no detox plan would be complete without regular consumption of essential liquids. Fluids are essential for keeping our organs healthy and helping to flush toxins from the body, and drinking green tea is a great way of boosting your intake. Green tea is not only a good weight-loss drink, but it is extremely high in antioxidants. Research has also suggested that drinking green tea can protect the liver from diseases including fatty liver disease.

Cabbage
Many celebs have resorted to the cabbage soup diet to help lose weight and get in shape quickly before a big event, however cabbage is not only good for weight loss - it is also an excellent detoxifying food. Like most cruciferous vegetables (including broccoli and sprouts), cabbage contains a chemical called sulforaphane, which helps the body fight against toxins. Cabbage also supplies the body with glutathione; an antioxidant that helps improve the detoxifying function of the liver.

Fresh fruit
Fresh fruits are high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre= and are also low in calories, making them an important part of a detox diet. If you're after brighter eyes and skin, shinier hair and improved digestion, try boosting your intake of fruit and eating from a wide variety of different kinds. The good news is fruit is easy to add to your diet, so try starting your day with a fresh fruit salad or smoothie and snacking on pieces of fruit throughout the day.

Brown rice
If you want to cleanse your system and boost your health, it is a good idea to cut down on processed foods. Instead, try supplementing your diet with healthier whole grains such as brown rice, which is rich in many key detoxifying nutrients including B vitamins, magnesium, manganese and phosphorous.  Brown rice is also high in fibre, which is good for cleansing the colon, and rich in selenium, which can help to protect the liver as well as improving the complexion.

Watercress
Like most green herbs and vegetables, watercress is an excellent health-booster and detox food. Firstly, watercress leaves are packed with many vital detoxifying nutrients, including several B vitamins, zinc, potassium, vitamin E and vitamin C. Secondly, watercress has natural diuretic properties, which can help to flush toxins out the body. To reap the benefits of this nutritious food, try adding a handful of watercress to salads, soups and sandwiches.

Source:http://sg.news.yahoo.com/10-detox-foods-090000545.html