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This article highlights the wrong way to write a goal and then teaches a brilliant new way.

I call the bad way to write a goal The Dreaded Binary Technique.  It looks like this: “I will be the top salesman in the company this month.”  What’s wrong with this goal?  I’m sure it is exactly how you would write such a goal.  Indeed, it is the way 100% of all goal-writers write their goals.  What’s wrong is that it is binary – you achieve it or you don’t achieve it.  If you achieve it, you feel good.  If you don’t achieve it, you feel bad.  Why would you want to set up a system that gives you some reasonable probability of failure and feeling bad?  The reason is that you don’t know any other technique.

Let me tell you my proven and patented technique.  It’s called The MTO™ Technique.  Instead of writing a goal in The Dreaded Binary Technique, you break every goal into three levels:

• Minimum
• Target
• Outrageous

Minimum is defined as “what you can be counted on to achieve based on your past performance”.  Not on your hopes.  But on the reality of your actual past achievements.

Target is the “stretch”, that which is slightly beyond what you know you can accomplish.

Outrageous has an unusual definition: “what you know you cannot achieve”.

Now, let’s go back to the example.  Let’s say you typically sell 7 widgets a month and the top salesman usually needs to sell 13 widgets in that month.  The binary goal of desiring to be top salesman will probably end you in failure this month.  Here’s the new method of writing the goal:

I will achieve the following sales success this month:

MINIMUM           sale of 7 widgets

TARGET              sale of 9 widgets

OUTRAGEOUS    top salesman of the month

You will most likely achieve your Minimum, since that is what you typically do.  Maybe you attain 7 sales by the 22^nd day of the month.  You then look at your goal and realize that you’ve only got 2 sales to go to hit your Target.  That will inspire you to go for it.  If you achieve your Target then you are even happier; nevertheless even if you hit only 7 or 8, you have still achieved your goal (at least to the Minimum) and you feel great.  If you actually achieve Target, you are elated.  And, the increased self-esteem you generate each month will soon propel you up into the Outrageous category.

If you wish to learn about setting and achieving goals powerfully, simply claim your copy of my hardcover bestseller Double Your Income Doing What You Love absolutely free by instant download at:

• www.aaron.com

There are dozens of ways to brand yourself; let me present the most common ones.  The purpose of this article is to alert you to the different ways so that you can select the one that works best for you.  All four of them begin with the letter “A”.  After I present all four, I’ll tell you the easiest, surest, and most profound way to brand yourself.

Branding By Association is the way to brand yourself that is based on the reality that you are known by who you hang out with.   Write on paper the five people you spend the most time with, outside of your family.  Look at those five people and tell me what I would say about you based on who they are.  That’s how you actually are judged.  I spend my time with, and go on a one-week vacation with twice every year, my dearest friends who happen all to be world famous – Jack Canfield, Stephen M. R. Covey, Dr. John Gray. etc.  In my presentations, I show pictures of me with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Wozniak, Eric Trump, Donald Trump, Brian Mulroney (the Prime Minister of Canada) and many others.  I say this not to draw attention to myself, but rather to use myself as an example.  This is not name-dropping and it is not boasting – unless you present it that way.

Branding By Appearance happens on its own simply by how you present yourself.  Do you dress sloppily or elegantly?  Are you overweight or fit?  Do you show tattoos?  Are your shoes polished?  Have you done your colors so that your clothing matches powerfully?  In test after test, when subjects are shown photos of two different people and asked who would you trust, or who earns more, or which one would you hire, or which one would you trust – the answer is always the same.  The well-dressed, fit, smiling person gets the vote, gets the nod, gets the hire, gets the contract, gets the account.

Branding By Achievement relates only to people who have won significant awards or won medals or who have been elected to high office, etc.  Remember that this achievement must be relevant and esteemed by your prospects, not just by you.  Realtors make this error all the time by proudly exclaiming that they have attained the Chairman’s Club or the President’s Club or some other designation that means absolutely nothing to anyone but themselves.

Branding By Being an Author is the one that scares many people (“Oh I don’t know enough to write a book”) but is surprisingly easy to do and works startlingly fast and powerfully well.  In fact, because it works so well, I have chosen to help my clients get branded this way by creating a program called 10-10-10™, in which I teach you how to write a book of ten chapters of your own words, in ten hours of your own time,  and be handing it to clients or selling it in only ten weeks.

If you wish to learn about branding by being an author, simply attend one of my powerful branding experiences:

• www.MonthlyMentorUniversity.com
• www.MillionaireBusinessBootcamp.com
• www.WorldConnects.com

My clients all want to have wealth.  But, when I ask what technique they are currently using to attain wealth, they have no idea.  This article will give you that overview.

The first rung is Visibility.  When you wish to attain wealth, don’t go for it.  Going for wealth will paradoxically guarantee that wealth will elude you.  Like the horizon, it will keep receding.  Wealth and happiness are the two goals that you cannot approach directly – rather, you must go elsewhere and wealth and happiness come along afterwards for free.

Do not race for wealth, rather go for visibility.  The more visibility, the closer you are to wealth.  Let me state this very strongly – as a general rule, everyone who has wealth first got visibility.  The more visibility – that means the more you are seen and the more that people know of you – the faster you move towards wealth.  You get visibility by being an author, by being on TV or radio, by writing a well-read blog, by paying for a well-placed billboard, etc.

Once you’ve attained visibility, you must ensure you have Credibility.  That means that they don’t just know of you, they also like, admire and respect you.  You first have to be known, then you need to be liked.  It’s a ladder.  You must take each rung at a time.

Strangely, you don’t have to next go up to the top rung of Wealth.  Once you have visibility and credibility, you are already at the top rung of wealth.  It’s like a Free Pass.

If you’ve been counting, you’ll know that we are already at the top and yet I’ve identified only three rungs, not four.  There is a fourth, but it is in the wrong direction.  It is in the Dark Side.  It actually goes down into the earth below the Ladder of Wealth.  It’s Invisibility.  It is at this rung that 97% of entrepreneurs are at – the great unwashed unbranded masses of unhappy entrepreneurs who work way too hard for a living.  At this level you are known by your clients and a handful of suppliers but hardly anyone else.  It means that when you want to get a new client, you need to go to total strangers, the cold market, expensive advertising, etc.

Identify the rung of the ladder you are currently at (statistically, I’d predict you are at Invisibility).  Then, do whatever you need to do to rise to the next rung, then the next.

If you wish to learn about branding from me and indeed actually be branded by me, simply attend one of my powerful branding experiences:

• www.MonthlyMentorUniversity.com
• www.MillionaireBusinessBootcamp.com
• www.WorldConnects.com

If you are excited to get branded, then you need to know that there are four levels.  In this article, you will:

• Learn all four levels and fully understand them;
• Realize which level you are now at;
• Set your short-term goal to climb up to the next higher level;
• Set your long-term goal to attain the highest level.

The first level is, unfortunately, not a level of branding at all.  It is actually life without a brand and it is called Brand Absence.  97% of entrepreneurs are at this level.  For them, life is tough.  Sales are tough.  Price cutting is the norm.  Working overtime, evenings and weekends is required.  Vacations are rare.  Income lower than desired is usual.  This level is way too common and is responsible for chronic overwork, failed marriages, ill-health and many other woes related to working way too hard for way too little money.  This level (or more correctly, non-level) is worth zero out of ten.

Brand Awareness is the first real level of branding.  Awareness is nice – it’s better to be at least known versus unknown.  But, don’t take too much comfort at this level.  Simply paying for a huge billboard in the middle of town will ensure that you are known by many, many more thousands of people.  But, awareness alone does not well translate into sales.  You may know of Rolls Royce, but it does not do the Rolls Royce salesman any good if you are never going to buy one.  Hence, this level is worth one out of ten.

Finally, we arrive at a level of branding that has some value – Brand Preference.  It’s really nice to be preferred.  If people prefer you, they will go to you first.  They will ask first if you are available.  They will call you first or visit your website first.  Nice.  And, if you are available, you’ve likely made a sale.  If you are a little out of the way, or out of town at that moment, or busy, or your price is just a shade too high for them at that time, then their preference fades and they will soon seek another.  So, there is definite value, but not too great.  I assess this level at three out of ten.

Now, we finally arrive at the top.  Brand Insistence.  I am insistent on Starbucks.  If I want coffee and there is no Starbucks, I will not buy coffee.  Period.  Many of my own clients are insistent on me – they will go to my bootcamps and workshops and conferences on branding and will not go to others’.  That’s really nice.  It means that your attrition (that means loss of existing clients) will be low to zero.  It means that you do not have to spend marketing money or time to get new business from those who are already insistent on using you.  I evaluate this level at the full ten out of ten.  Interestingly, though, it is not the top.

The very top is Brand Advocacy.  At this exalted level, your current clients tell others about you.  At this level, you get an endless stream of new clients for free for the rest of your life.  Apple is the most valuable company of all time because such a very higher percent of its clients are brand advocates.  I am, for example.  I’ll tell anyone how wonderful Apple is.  Because I am an opinion leader, many Apple products have been purchased by those I teach.  I don’t get any financial benefit from Apple.  So, why then do I do it? I do it because I feel such love for Apple that I am compelled to tell the world.

You now know and understand the five levels.  Identify at which level you are at in your business.  Set your goal to get up to the next higher level.  Set your long term goal to have many brand advocates.

If you wish to learn about branding from me and indeed actually be branded by me, simply attend one of my powerful branding experiences:

• www.MonthlyMentorUniversity.com
• www.MillionaireBusinessBootcamp.com
• www.WorldConnects.com