HOW TO BECOME A TOTAL FAILURE

We often hear in business discussions this idea of setting a person up for failure. I once had a new boss who wanted to fire me because he wanted to bring in his own person to run the Asia-Pacific division. We were driving in a taxi in Tokyo and he says that he wants me to go to Vietnam and do a 5 year business plan to expand our company in this emerging market and, by the way, you have 5 days to do it and we don’t have a local partner so you’re on your own. If that isn’t setting someone up for failure, what is? It all worked out fine, much to my boss’s dismay, thanks to a lot of support from other people in the company.

I was listening to NPR the day after the election and the host was taking calls from people outside the US to comment on Obama’s success. Callers were saying things like, “I wish Obama could be our president,” and “I think we should elect Obama to be President of the World.” While I support Obama 100% and have the utmost confidence in his ability and in his intent, this kind of unrealistic zealousness is frightening. We have to give the guy some time.

That said, like I had to do when faced with the challenge my boss gave me years ago, Obama is going to need to figure out how to be successful and I’m sure he will. He has taken on this challenge and he knows what he is up against. His presidency will have challenges and he will have to make tough decisions. I just hope we can see what he does with clear objectivity because in four years we will need to make our own tough decision, which is do we give Obama another 4 years or not. We messed up by giving Bush a second term. In many ways, Obama’s success depends a lot on us and I hope we too are up to the challenge.

The one thing I hate about insurance providers is when you actually do need to take advantages of their services — after years of paying them for protection — many of them don’t deliver what they promised.

My husband, father and I have been a long-time customer of our house insurance provider and paid our insurance on time, for well over 10 years. However, a couple years back a terrible wind storm ripped through the area damaging several homes and businesses. Unfortunately, our home was among those damaged. The wind had tore the roof off our house , which caused major damage — damage that required us to have to contact our insurance provider for the first time ever. Upon calling them, they scheduled an appointment to have an insurance adjuster come to our home and inspect the damage. The adjuster showed up on the date scheduled, looked over the damage, made notes on his clipboard, and then informed us that we’d be hearing from our insurance provider within the next few days.

Approximately one week later we received a letter from our insurance provider in the mail; they never called. Instead, they sent a letter telling us how much we’d get to fix the damage the wind had done to our roof. Problem was, the amount stated in the letter was not the minimum amount our contract showed us we were supposed to get. The amount we got was a whole lot less that the minimum promised. Needless to say, we weren’t satisfied customers. After all of these years of paying thousands of dollars for insurance and never having to use them, we were sent a check for quite a few thousand dollars less than we should have received. Hmm… what ever happened to the rule that you should deliver on your promises to keep your customers happy.

Luckily, we had a family member who was in the roofing business, and he offered to repair the damage for us without charging any more than the insurance company gave us. However, if we hadn’t of had a member of the family kind enough to give us a discount, we would have had to pay out-of-pocket expenses for someone else to make the repairs — an expense that our insurance provider should’ve covered but chose not to.

Since then we’ve been searching for other house insurance providers, and just as soon as we find one that we believe will stay true to their word, our current insurance provider will lose a long-time customer who will never return. If only they had kept their word. After all, the minimum we should have received was much less than the thousands of dollars we’ve paid them over the years.

Misti Sandefur is a writer for How to Become a Total Failure. In addition to writing blog posts for How to Become a Total Failure, Misti also blogs at Teevieo, Pure Blogging, and 62946 - a blog about Harrisburg, Illinois. Her personal blog is Life of a Writer.

Joe Gibson Automotive in South Carolina promised customer Montie Bradburn that if he bought a vehicle from the dealership then his monthly payments would never exceed $99 a month. In order to keep his low monthly payment of $99, Montie Bradburn would need to refinance his loan in one year, but according to WSPA news, that’s not what happened. Instead, Montie Bradburn and his wife were denied refinancing and now they’re staring at a monthly payment of $656.79, which they can’t afford!

Montie Bradburn filed a lawsuit against the dealership, but he’s not the only one who has come forth. WSPA news reported that 13 other lawsuits have been filed against the dealership alleging they, too, were lied to by Joe Gibson Automotive.

“They go in thinking that they’re going to get a car either on terms for $47 a month or $49 a month or $99 a month under a lifetime program and it turns out that’s not the case at all,” Attorney Rodney Pillsbury told WSPA news.

Joe Gibson Automotive failed in relationships and landed themselves in the court room when they promised things they had no intention of doing. Here’s an excerpt from the story reported by WSPA news:

“Bradburn’s lawsuit says the dealership assured him that his car payments would never exceed $99 a month and that the dealership would pay the difference between $99 and the scheduled payment amount, which his contract shows is $656.79.

Bradburn is one of 13 lawsuits the Pillsbury-Read Law Firm in Greenville filed last week against Joe Gibson Automotive, American Suzuki Motor Corporation, and some finance companies. Attorney Rodney Pillsbury says he had previously filed one lawsuit, and expects to file at least eight more. The lawsuits accuse Joe Gibson Automotive of ‘deceptive marketing and sales tactics’.”

Misti Sandefur is a writer for How to Become a Total Failure. In addition to writing blog posts for How to Become a Total Failure, Misti also blogs at Teevieo, Pure Blogging, and 62946 - a blog about Harrisburg, Illinois. Her personal blog is Life of a Writer.

According to an article in the New York Times, over a thousand young employees under age 40 lack knowledge in financial planning. Despite their lack of knowledge in financial planning, a large percentage of them are positive that in next ten years they’ll reach their financial security goals. My belief is if they continue on their path to resist learning anything new and doing the least the necessary for success, then most likely they’ll fail. In order to meet their goals for financial security, these young employees are going to have to take the time to educate themselves first, but who really knows what their future holds.

Following is an excerpt from the article published in the New York Times. If you click to read the entire article, I invite you to come back here and let me know your thoughts in the comments area.

“Most of the nation’s younger workers say they know more about how an iPod functions than about filing taxes, buying a home or investing their savings.

In a survey of more than 1,700 employees under 40 years old, nearly half gave themselves failing grades in financial planning, according to Divided We Fail, a Washington-based coalition of business and retirement groups that includes the National Federation of Independent Business, Business Roundtable and AARP.

While many said they planned to set aside funds for retirement, only half were actually saving their paychecks regularly.”

Misti Sandefur is a writer for How to Become a Total Failure. When she’s not working hard to please her clients, she’s immersed in books and articles to improve her writing skills. To find out more about Misti, visit her on the web and at her Life of a Writer blog.

When I first began my Internet business, a friend of mine noticed my increase in sales and asked me for some business advice. He too was selling products and wanted to know how he could get sales. I shared my knowledge with him, but afterwards I felt as if my advice went upon deaf ears. He listened but didn’t have the desire to apply the advice I had given. I told him that in order to succeed he was going to have to put some effort into being a salesman by getting up off the couch and working toward his goals. I also advised him to invest what little money he had into the products he was selling and set up a booth at flea markets and other local events to resell them. Furthermore, I told my friend to use the Internet to sell his products as well, but added that he would have to promote the website in order for it to be noticed. He could set on the couch to make sales from the Internet, but he still needed to leave his comfort zone every once in a while to sell at local events. He nodded his head, but in his mind he still believed he could discover his success in business from the couch.

To make a long story short, my friend did pay the company he distributed products for to set up a website for him, but he didn’t promote the website. In fact, I don’t think he ever promoted it. Moreover, he never made an effort to get off the couch and sell at local events or flea markets. He made a few sales during Christmas, but 99% of those came from selling to his family and friends who came to visit him. Overall, my friend assumed his success in business would come from doing the least that’s necessary for success.

Today, my friend still spends the majority of his time sitting on the couch, and every now and then he’ll ask me again for business advice. I tell him the same as I did before, but I guess he’s looking for a different answer. And to be honest, I don’t think he’ll ever receive the advice he’s truly seeking.

Misti Sandefur is a writer for How to Become a Total Failure. Before making freelance writing her full-time job, Misti owned and managed an Internet wholesale business. After five years, she sold her Internet business to focus more on her freelance writing business. To find out more about Misti Sandefur and her freelance writing services, visit her writing services Webpage.

Have you ever received one of those spams offering an online degree for no more effort than it takes to fill out a credit card form? I admit, for a couple years after I graduated college, I wondered why I spent so much time and money getting a degree. The career I landed was more a result of where I worked during college than the degree I received. In fact, to this day, no employer has ever asked to see my transcript.

But after a few years in the real world, I found myself working for a new boss and the first assignment he gave me was to fly to Vietnam and produce a 5 year business plan for expanding to that country to present to the board. I don’t think my new boss cared if I succeeded or failed, in fact, I think he wanted me to fail so he could fire me and bring in his own, more loyal, employee. Oh, and I had one week to present my plan to him. Needless to say, I was nervous. But I figured I’d at least get a free trip to Vietnam before I had to start looking for another job.

During the next month (my boss actually extendend my deadline), I discovered how important my accounting degree was and I was able to not only keep my job, but get promoted. I ended up doing business plans for Australia, Thailand, Moscow, Dubai and Mexico. It was a fun job.

Now back to fake diplomas. Here’s a blurb from MSN:

Throw a few hundred dollars to the right P.O. Box and you too could have a medical license, engineering degree or credential of choice all without cracking a single book. And many unscrupulous students do.

“[The diploma mill industry] is so large that it’s hard to believe the numbers,” comments Dr. George Gollin, a physics professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign whose independent research on fake degrees helped shut down St. Regis. “We think that U.S.-based diploma mills are selling as many as 200,000 [phony] degrees per year.”

I can’t think of a more guaranteed way to fail than getting a fake diploma. The consequences can be a lot worse than merely getting fired for incompetence. If you’re in the medical field, lives could be lost. Doing the least that’s required might seem like a good idea at the time and you might rationalize that a degree is just a piece of meaningless paper, but it’s not.

Adam Urbanski posted 11 Internet Business Mistakes to Avoid on BizTipsBlog.com, and I discovered that some of the mistakes he posted fit the 10 Rules for Failure. Let’s recap three of those Internet business mistakes to see which of the 10 rules for failure each of them fit, shall we?

• “Not selecting a specific niche.”

I believe this fits rule #9: Do the least that’s necessary for success. Instead of doing the least that’s necessary, take the time to research the popular niches. Make a list of popular niches and select the one you’re most familiar with that hasn’t been overdone. You’ll be more successful if you choose to cover a popular niche that your familiar with than you will covering something that isn’t as popular. Following are a few websites that will help you in your search for a popular niche you’re familiar with:

Google Trends
SEOmoz
Springwise
Yahoo Buzz

• “Falling for the get rich quick scheme!”

This fits well with rule #5: It’s all about the money.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs believe they can really “get rich quick,” but it isn’t that easy. Becoming successful in business requires time, hard work, dedication and the desire to learn. There’s an old saying that still holds true today, especially when the Internet is involved: “If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.”

• “Not building relationship with clients.”

This could fit with rule #2: Don’t share what you know with others. As Adam already pointed out, many Internet entrepreneurs worry more about “a quick sale.” Go ahead and let your clients or customers know what you’re selling, but instead of just asking them to buy, lure them by giving them a reason to trust you. Supply them with helpful information related to the product(s) or service(s) your selling. By sharing what you know, you’ll gain your client or customers trust, then they’ll be more likely to invest in your product(s) or service(s).

Starting any business — online or offline — takes time to grow and become successful, but if you hang in there and follow the advice of those who have already made their business a success, then you’ll be more likely to succeed.

Misti Sandefur is a writer for How to Become a Total Failure. Before making freelance writing her full-time job, Misti owned and managed an Internet wholesale business. After five years, she sold her Internet business to focus more on her freelance writing business. To find out more about Misti Sandefur and her freelance writing services, visit her writing services Webpage.

I ran across an interesting customer service story related to rebate checks today. This customer service story was published in the New York Times on March 19. The story reminded me of rule #10: The Customer is someone you have to put up with. Here’s a short excerpt:

“I was immersing 12 empty bottles of Dancing Bull wine in my half-filled bathtub, trying to remove the labels without mutilating them, when I began to wonder whether applying for a rebate of $2 a bottle was worth the hassle.

I was doing what the fine print in the mail-in rebate form told me to do. To detach the label and its U.P.C. code, which along with the cash register receipt was required as proof of purchase, it said, I should “soak empty bottle in hot tap water (approximately 130 degrees) and liquid dish washing soap.”

‘The U.P.C. code can then be lifted off in 5-10 minutes,’ the instructions, clearly visible under my magnifying glass, had assured me.

It was not to be. On my knees, crouching over the bobbing beverage containers, I could neither coax the labels off with my fingers nor scrape them off with a knife. Turning to face my wife and two adult children, who had crowded behind me to observe me in action, I beheld expressions that came perilously close to smirks.

‘Maybe I got the temperature wrong,’ I mumbled.”

I encourage you to read the entire customer service story. It’s certainly one story I can relate to, and one I’m sure many of you can relate to as well. In fact, if you’re an entrepreneur and offer rebates to your customers, then you just may learn a bit from the story. And I think two lessons you could learn from this customer’s story is to make applying for a rebate simple for your customers, and two, don’t delay mailing the rebate checks to your customers.

Misti Sandefur is a writer for How to Become a Total Failure. In addition to writing blog posts for How to Become a Total Failure, Misti also blogs at Teevieo, Pure Blogging, and 62946 - a blog about Harrisburg, Illinois. Her personal blog is Life of a Writer.

I’ve read quite a few articles lately discussing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEO service providers, and I just ran across another good article entitled “11 Tips for Recognizing a Bad SEO Firm,” written by Eric Enge. Eric’s article and all the others is what inspired today’s post on succeeding in business. With that said, I’d like to categorize and explain a few of the rules for failure regarding SEO. This discussion should benefit those of you utilizing SEO on your website and/or blog as well as those of you who would rather hire a SEO service provider to do the work for you.

In Eric Enge’s article, he listed 11 signs to watch for when choosing a SEO firm, so let’s take a look at a few of the signs he mentioned and see where they fit in the 10 rules for failure, shall we?

Eric said to beware of SEO firms who offer to submit your website to several search engines. I believe if an SEO firm provides their clients with this type of service they’re choosing to follow rule #9: Do the least that’s necessary for success. As Eric already pointed out, it’s best to “let the search engines discover you through links.” Plus, there’s a whole lot more to successful SEO than submitting your website to loads of search engines. If you use SEO properly, then the search engines will eventually discover your website and/or blog.

Eric said another sign of a bad SEO firm was one that “talks about hidden text (or other tricks such as cloaking) as a strategy.” Hiding text within a website or blog fits two of the 10 rules for failure: Rule #1: Resist learning anything new that could lead to more responsibility and (again) rule#9. Many would rather resort to placing hidden keywords in a website or blog rather than learning how to do it properly. Moreover, some may believe this is an easy way out because they’re just too lazy to take the time to research keywords, which is where rule#9 comes into play, because in this case the website owner or SEO firm is doing the least that’s necessary for success. And as most good SEO firms and SEO professionals know, hidden text and other tricks could get your website penalized or banned from search engines.

If an SEO firm promises you a #1 ranking, then you may want to keep on searching for another SEO firm. In this case, the SEO service provider may want to follow rule #6: Promise things you have no intention of doing. Any good SEO firm or anyone who knows SEO can tell you a #1 ranking can’t be guaranteed. Things change with search engines and there are lots of competitors and millions of websites. One day your website might be #1 with your keyword or keyword phrase, and the next day it could fall to #10. In fact, just the other day I searched for a keyword phrase, and the first website I visited was ranked #1 on Google, but one week later I returned to Google and entered the same keyword phrase to find that site again. Instead of seeing it in the #1 position, I discovered the website ranked at #5, and that was in one week’s time. You see where this is going, right?

If you’re willing to put forth the time to learn and do what’s necessary, then succeeding in business or SEO will be possible!

Misti Sandefur has over five years SEO experience and writes SEO articles and Web copy for others. If you’re looking for an experienced and dedicated SEO writer, check out Misti Sandefur’s writing services.