Business and Money Tips

As we know, social media marketing is about social first and marketing second. Same for Sun Tzu Art of War: it is about art first and war later.   'Art' in Sun Tzu Art of War refers to how we do things, while 'War' here refers to winning in the business battlefield. Social media marketing is about how we do and not what we do.  For example, it is not about how nice your photo is on FaceBook but how you post your photo: do you post it with a positive or negative angle? On the surface, Social Media is a 201x thing, while Art of War belongs to 2,500 years ago. Yet they both share a common origin: the Yi Jing (or Book of Changes) written 5,000 years ago: life is about evolution. Social media is always evolving, while Sun Tzu Art of War is too evolving with the times as Sun Tzu advocates flexibility as the key winning strategy. Today I shall look at the 5 Elements of Sun Tzu Art of War and they can be applied in our Social Media Marketing.  Know Yourself Know Your...

"What is the number one result that you believe would bring you the biggest result in this year?" This is the question that I have, since 3 January 2017, asked my clients, this year. Not once but 7 times. People give me different answers, "I want to build my business to a new level this year", "I want to super-charge my career" and "I want to fire my boss" are the three most common answers so far. As the responses emerge, they reveal something important. Your answer to this question shows what you currently believe would give you your biggest return on investment (ROI) for the time, energy and money that you put in. I would next ask a powerful question, "Knowing what you know now, are you willing to break out of your comfort zone and do what is necessary to achieve the result you want this year?" This is where they will give me silence. Let's face it: most people are just living in dreams. They say they want something,...

Why do people queue up to buy iPhone when it sells for double the price of other phones and is one to two times the average monthly income of most people?  Why when internet companies launch free mobile apps people download them immediately but baulk when they are asked to pay for the apps? Welcome to the world of psychology, in this case, customer psychology. Human beings are highly complex creatures and most people don't even know themselves, let alone know what their customers think and want. Because of impermanence, un-satisfaction and focus on self, people are not only highly unpredictable but also highly eco-centric. From years of training, consulting and coaching people in 15 countries from U.S.A. to China and Maldives, we at Asia Trainers have come up with the following 5 factors that make people think, decide and buy from you. Whether you are now selling to individuals or corporates, if you too want to get ahead of the pack and outsell your competitors, you need to...

Questions are the answers, and smart people don't ask smart questions but empowering questions, questions that give you more power.  So on this first day of 2017, I ask myself these 7 powerful questions: Do you truly want 2017 to be  better  than 2016?  If so, do you have the plans to make it happen?   Are you  committed  to doing things that you find uncomfortable, but will bring you results for 2017? Are you working on  strategic  opportunities, or are you still looking out for transactional opportunities? Is your  boss  going to help you get what you want?  Can you ask your boss for more?  If you are the boss, is your  team  helping you to achieve your goals?  Can you get better team and ask for more results from them? Are you resolved to spend your valuable time and resources with truly good opportunities for  improvement ? Will you  listen  more to your customers, your boss, yo...