Posts by Mark Morgan Ford
If Your Deadlines Are Often Unmet, Blame Yourself
“You are strong and you can be tough,” I told JC. “That’s good. But you have to recognize that your approach is wrong.” She started to defend herself: “You wouldn’t be complaining to me if your deadlines were being met. I know that my people are …” I stopped her. “Being tough is great,” I…
Read MoreWhat To Do When Someone’s Badmouthing You
“No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.” – Bertrand Russell A consultant for AGP told one of its publishers, “If I were MMF’s partner and he did that with my company, I’d take him out to the woodshed.” He didn’t say it directly to me — and I guess that’s why it surprised…
Read MoreThe Gospel According to MMF
“The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” – Bible, Corinthians My friend CR is beset with the suspicion that everyone around him is trying to knock him off. As soon as he gets one of his promotions working well — usually by…
Read MoreThe Deviant’s Advantage, Part 1
“You have to be deviant if you’re going to do anything new.” – David Lee In “The Deviant’s Advantage”, a new business book that is getting a lot of good press, Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker argue that you can predict the future (and thereby enjoy explosive, exponential success) by recognizing a pattern that has…
Read MoreHow To Become A Better Conversationalist
If you want to be an effective businessperson, you must learn to speak well. You must approach each conversation as an opportunity to advance your goals or bring some benefit to someone. Consider this: Every conversation you will have this week will give you a chance to: * learn something useful * establish or deepen a personal relationship *…
Read MoreAre You a Creative or Reactive Leader?
“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” – George Lois If you want to advance quickly in the business you work for or accelerate the progress of the business you own, you’ve got to become better at starting things, at making things new. In an…
Read MoreThe World’s Easiest Way To Get Rich
When reading (or listening to) a sales pitch, you have to read between the lines. Copywriters and salespeople want to persuade you to act. To accomplish their goal, they need to push your buttons. There is nothing wrong with that. As consumers, we read sales copy, flip through catalogs and brochures, and listen to personal…
Read MoreDeal or No Deal
Dear Early to Rise reader, Imagine walking into a room where a very important business deal is about to take place. This deal could make or break your business. Or having an important talk with a family member – one in which you really need to convince the other person of something. Imagine that the…
Read MoreSuccess Comes Faster As Your Experience Builds
I have a little gift for you. A simple idea that can make a big difference in your life. It can mean the difference between struggling through an ordinary life or being immensely successful. It is a very small thought that is worth a very great deal to you if (a) you really understand it…
Read MoreIn a Nutshell: Why I Like Real Estate
“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.” – George S. Patton First, I like the tangibility of real estate. When you have $50,000 invested in a group of stocks, you have, at best, a piece of paper to prove it and the reputation of some financial institution you know very little about…
Read MoreTips for Launching A New Product
It took me years and millions of dollars to disabuse myself from the following: 1. “The customer is interested in me, my product, or what I have to say.” * The customer doesn’t care about you. * The customer cares about himself. * If you talk about anything other than the customer’s own concerns, you’ll…
Read MoreDirect-Mail Debate: Disguise The Envelope — Or Not?
On the disguise side of the direct-mail-envelope argument are such DM luminaries as Herschell Gordon Lewis (“The only purpose of the carrier envelope is to get itself opened.”) and Gary Halbert (“Remember, people sort their mail into two piles: the A pile and the B pile. Your goal is to get your mailing into…
Read More