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August 2018
7462 Old Hickory Drive, Mechanicsville, VA 23111 • www.sklartechnology.com • 804-730-2628
It’s You, Not Me Use the Rules of Dating to Find Your Dream Client
Stop Looking for a Silver Bullet Businesses do need websites, but don’t expect your website to do all the work. The website should be one piece of multistep marketing that includes things like clickfunnels, podcasts, and newsletters. The many parts in multistep marketing allow you to flirt with, and woo, potential “unicorns.” In business, just like in dating, there are no silver bullets guaranteed to seal the deal on your first meeting. Sure, you can try tequila and end up in a Vegas chapel, but a good deal doesn’t come with regrets and a hangover. Create (and Maintain) Business Value If you were seeing someone and they suddenly moved away, driving two hours to see them once a week would be pretty annoying. But if on one date, they treated you to a fancy dinner and dancing with a fireworks show, it might make the longer drive worth it. However, if you drove two hours, and all they wanted to do was sit around watching reruns of “Seinfeld” every week, you might decide it’s time to call it quits. A big mistake I’ve seen many businesses make as of late is increasing their prices without adding more value. Customers will always be frustrated when prices rise, but if you can offset it by offering something worthwhile in return, they might not dump you. It’s like how Netflix keeps raising their prices, but then they turn around and make “Stranger Things” or add interesting documentaries to your queue. This extra value doesn’t have to
I am a unicorn.
No, I don’t mean I have suddenly grown a magical horn from my forehead. I mean that I am a unicorn in the realm of business. To some of the vendors I work with, my needs make me their ideal customer — a unicorn, as I like to say. Finding your unicorn is hard, no matter what industry you’re in. But I’ve learned there are some strategies business owners can implement to attract your perfect customers, and they’re a lot like the rules of dating. Don’t Propose on the First Date Since redoing my website, I’ve had a few people ask for my advice on redoing their own company websites. The first thing I do is ask them what they want the website to do. Their response is never reassuring. “I want my website to bring people to my business,” they’ll tell me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This is not what your website is for. The primary function of a website is to give your business some degree of credibility. Prospective clients will look you up online, and if they don’t find an attractive, trustworthy website, they’ll assume you’re a scam and bail. Even if they do like your website, you can’t expect much more if you don’t do the work. Assuming your website will automatically turn prospects into customers is like proposing to someone on your first date and thinking you’re not going to get a drink tossed in your face.
cost you a lot; think free ebooks on relevant topics, webinars so they can get more education, or extra features for a product they already use. Where’s My Unicorn? The last rule of business and dating is to practice patience. Just because you met someone amazing and think they’re your perfect fit doesn’t mean you can rush right in. Play it cool and pay attention to the choices you make, because if you don’t make a point to build your business and create the value that attracts the right kind of “unicorns,” you could end up with a series of nightmare customers. And anyone who’s ever had an ex who doesn’t know when to quit knows how bad a nightmare customer can be.
–Randy Sklar
A REFERRAL IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF FLATTERY. WHEN A CLIENT REFERS FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES TO US, IT REPRESENTS AN APPRECIATION OF A JOB WELL-DONE. IF YOUR FRIENDS OR ASSOCIATES COULD BENEFIT FROM OUR SERVICES, I’D BE HONORED TO HAVE YOUR REFERRAL!
Ready to Be More Productive? Take a Cold Shower!
The Profound Simplicity of
‘Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got’
Jay Abraham’s “Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got” is one of those evergreen business books every entrepreneur should pick up at some point. Rather than latch on to fleeting business trends or the gimmicks of the early dot-com era, Abraham, a business coach who has spent his entire career solving problems and fixing companies, re-examines the basics of business. By returning to and interrogating the building blocks of growth, he is able to deliver the sort of timeless wisdom most business authors only dream of being able to capture.
The miracle of indoor plumbing means there’s always warm water waiting for you in the bathroom — unless your spouse or kids use up all of the hot water. Being forced into an unplanned icy shower can seem unpleasant, but research from the Netherlands suggests cold showers might be better for you in the long run. Geert A. Buijze led a study in which 3,000 volunteers were instructed to either end their showers with a 30-, 60-, or 90-second burst of cold water, or finish as they usually would. The researchers looked over attendance data of volunteers over the course of a month, and they noticed something interesting: the people who finished their showers with a blast of cold water, for any amount of time, were absent 29 percent less often than the group who didn’t add cold water to their shower habits. Cold showers seemed to result in fewer sick days. In an interview with the Harvard Book Review, Buijze pointed out that the volunteers who took cold showers reported feeling ill just as often as the volunteers who kept their usual shower routines. The difference was that the symptoms of the cold shower group were “less severe” or they had more energy to push through any illness and keep working. How is this possible? Buijze explains that, “Cold temperatures activate the brown — or good — fat in the body … Brown fat doesn’t have any proven connection to immunity, but it does affect the body’s thermoregulation. When activated, it keeps the body warm by burning calories. It may also increase your energy and metabolism and help control your blood sugar. That could reduce your risk of obesity and diabetes.” Buijze admitted that the cold showers could just be a placebo effect, but even psychological phenomenon can have real positive changes. As for whether or not cold showers make you more productive, the jury is still out on that one. “[T]heoretically the cold shower people were cumulatively more productive over the study period, since they were absent less often,” says Buijze. Basically, productivity is all about how you spent that extra time you get when showering in cold water. If 30 seconds is all it takes for 29 percent more time, it’s certainly worth a shot!
What makes “Getting Everything You Can” stand out is the simplicity of the ideas it presents. In fact, Abraham’s central thesis is that our tendency to overlook or dismiss the mundane, everyday aspects of our business is what keeps us from seeing its real value. As Abraham puts it, “You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence, and success.” Finding those solutions is what “Getting Everything You Can” is all about. What makes Abraham so successful as a business coach for small companies and international brands alike is his practical, methodical approach, which shines through in this book. You won’t find banal platitudes or sweeping summations within these pages. Instead, Abraham uses direct, approachable language to outline clear, actionable steps to get you to “recognize the income- and success-increasing connections that are all around you.” With this workmanlike approach, “Getting Everything You Can” breaks down success in business into its component processes: attracting new clients, increasing the average size per sale of a client, and boosting client retention. These three aspects of success, according to Abraham, hinge on your ability to leverage a “unique selling proposition,” or USP. Put bluntly, a USP stems from the aspects of your business that make it stand out from the competition — what you bring to the table that others can’t. Identifying a USP sounds like a simple-enough concept, but as Abraham explains, business owners are often blind to the real value of their company. Seeing what truly makes your brand unique requires looking at old problems in new ways and fundamentally shifting your perspective on the basics of running a business. Finding solutions hidden in plain sight is no easy task, but “Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got” is committed to getting you there.
4 Signs Your Smartphone is a Malware Hotspot Stop Ignoring Red Flags
2. The battery drains faster. Here’s another red flag a lot of us may chalk up to just another sign of old age. Over time, device batteries may not last as long as they used to, but if your battery abruptly starts to drain faster, don’t be surprised if malware is the cause. A background malware program constantly monitoring your activity and sending it to third-parties can suck away more battery life than hours of streaming music or video. 3. Your device is hotter than before. You know how your phone heats up when you run it at high power for extended periods of time — like when listening to music or watching video? Constantly running malware programs can create the same hot-to-the-touch result. 4. Emails sent from your device get blocked by spam filters. If you constantly have to tell people to check their spam folders for emails
We have more technology in our pocket now than ever before. Smartphones and tablets are essentially supercomputers that put all the science fiction technology of the original Star Trek series to shame. But this technology does not come without risks. Too often, we forget that our smartphones or tablets are just as likely to become infected with malware as a computer. In fact, there’s a good chance your phone is already infected! Here are a few telltale signs you might have missed: 1. Your device runs slower than before. Most people will wave off a decrease in performance as their device getting “too old.”And to be fair, some companies, like Apple, have been known to release software updates that run slower on older devices. But if your smartphone or tablet is running slower these days, and you haven’t recently upgraded your software, background malware may be to blame.
sent from your smartphone or tablet, it might be a sign something has changed your email configuration. Malware may be causing your emails to be sent through a nefarious server and allowing your messages to be read by someone else. If you suspect your device is infected with malware, take action. Run mobile anti-malware software from a few different vendors and remove any unfamiliar apps. If the situation is serious, you can reset your device to factory settings or take it to a professional. It might be a bit of a pain, but it’s a better alternative than losing your data to malware and hackers.
Inspired by Bon Appetit magazine
Summer Grilled Halibut If you’re tired of grilling hamburgers at this point in the summer, try using your grill for something a little different. This easy halibut recipe is a great change of pace.
Ingredients
• 2 pounds mixed tomatoes, sliced • 1/2 cup hearts of palm, drained • Basil leaves, for garnish • Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
• 4 boneless, skinless halibut fillets, about 5 ounces each • 1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for drizzling • 1 lemon
Directions 1. Lightly oil grill grates and heat grill to medium. 2. Grate 1 teaspoon lemon zest onto halibut fillets. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 3. Grill halibut, turning just once, for about 5 minutes on each side. 4. In a mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, hearts of palm, juice from lemon, and oil. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Garnish salad with basil. Spoon salad over grilled halibut. Serve.
7462 Old Hickory Drive Mechanicsville, VA 23111 www.sklartechnology.com 804-730-2628
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Inside This Issue
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Where’s Your Unicorn? Jay Abraham’s Simple Guide to Success Change One Thing in Your Morning Routine to Get More Done Malware Red Flags You’ve Been Ignoring Summer Grilled Halibut Sleep Better and Feel Great
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How to Achieve a More Restful Night’s Sleep
the morning). If you do need an alarm, consider a wake-up light. Wake-up lights mimic the sunrise, slowly brightening the room and waking your body in a natural, gentle way. Kick the screen habit. You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again: Looking at an electronic screen — a TV, computer, tablet, or smartphone — before bed is detrimental to sleep quality. Light from these devices is disruptive to your brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which helps regulate your circadian rhythm, and screen time before bed can throw off normal SCN function. Put your excuses for staying up too late to bed. Say no to “one more episode.” And all those emails? They can wait until tomorrow. Not getting enough quality sleep is harmful to your mental and physical health. When you get into the habit of following these three tips, you’ll find yourself feeling rested and refreshed in no time.
A good night’s sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your mind and body. One study published in the Journal of
Psychosomatic Research found that the quality of your sleep is much more important than the quantity — that is, if you want to feel rested. And we all want to feel rested. So, what can you do to improve the quality of your sleep and get the rest you need? Listen to your body. This, above all else, is crucial to a good night’s sleep. Your body knows when it’s time for bed. Generally, you want to go to bed when you feel tired, whether that’s at 8 p.m. or 1 a.m. Whenever your body tells you it needs rest, you should make a habit of going to bed then. The more consistent you are, the better your sleep will be. Wake up naturally. Jolting yourself awake with an alarm or radio isn’t doing your brain and body any favors (it can be stressful on the body and even elevate blood pressure, which is not good first thing in
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