What is Your Gold Medal?

The Olympics are going on in Vancouver Canada.  Canada just won it’s first ever gold medal earned on their own soil as a host of the Olympic games.  Heckuva goal and they did it.

Do you notice how long some of these athletes have been coming to the games in hopes of claiming a medal?  4? 8? 12 years some of them have been coming back.

Determination.  Persistance.  Think about the training that goes into to qualifying for the Olympics.  Then times 2 or times 3 … times 4 YEARS.  Think about what it takes for a salmon to swim back upstream to spawn.  Envision you had a FRACTION of that determination to achieve the things that have been on your To Do list year after year after year.

What a rock star you would be if you could just get it together and Do It.

No time like the present.  Write and let me know how you are doing with those New Year’s Resolutions.

Later…

Why Marketing Should Matter

Seth Godin is one of the most inventive and down to earth marketing guys around.  He has written various books with titles that might lead you to conclude he looks at things a bit differently:

Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

This latter example discusses his purple cow theory which, in a nutshell, is that you can take your business (or blog) to new heights by differentiating yourself from your peers.

In any event, one of his latest posts reflects on the concept of marketing budgets and whether ads work.

His blog is always brief and hits home with often a truly compelling message.  I personally am better at the latter than the former … still have not figured out how to come up with a short blog post.

Maybe next time.

Read Seth’s blog.  That’s all I really needed to say!

College Program Testimonial(s)

Just a couple of comments I had on my program this week (people saying nice things about me!).  All of you Student and Career Services folks looking for someone who is going to make a difference in your students lives need to listen up!

“… another instructor and I were discussing what we liked best about Mark’s talk to (the Business Club). We both agreed on how grateful we were that he encouraged the students to add value to everything they do….whether they are presently flipping burgers or someday going to be pushing numbers as accountants.

Mark was the perfect person to make this suggestion because he was doing it as he spoke to our students. Mark exemplified value as he shared his knowledge, time and energy with 110% enthusiasm, spirit and soul.”

- Professor Elaine Bienvenue, Business Department, Sierra College. Read more

Mark T. Rafter, Radio Guest (OK, OK … Radio Star!)

Yesterday, I was interviewed by Wayne Kelly, the morning show host of KBS Radio out of British Columbia (yes, Virginia, that is in Canada, eh?).  I talk about making money doing what you love, some ways just about anyone can get into some short term cash and a few other aspects regarding Your Inner Expert.  Good Stuff!

There is a link to the interview on Wayne’s blog this morning … I’ll post the audio for the interview on my own site in the next few days.

Check it out