Ask the Expert, THIS Thursday on Mix 102.9

You MUST tune into Mix 102.9 this Thursday morning for the Ask the Expert segment. Because this Thursday, the Expert is ME! I am SOOOOOO excited about this!

It's great because it gives me a chance to promote Smart Singles Dallas, but more importantly, I'll get to help a lot of their listeners get into ACTION in their Quest for Love!!!!! I'm so completely, utterly, totally EXCITED!!!!

This is a major milestone. I'll post another blog as soon as I find out what time the segment is.

Big Thanks to Jeff Crilley, who is a The World's Biggest PR Cheerleader for every business owner in the Metroplex and beyond. Jeff, you ROCK!

Mark

PS. I just realized - I need someone to record this into the computer, so I can make an MP3!!! Any takers? Email me right away! Thanks!!!

How to Find a Good Contractor

I needed a Freon recharge. Here are some contractors I found. I went with A#1 Air and liked them a lot.

A#1 Air, 972-242-4800
$80 labor + $20 per pound
Can come today! Will match any price.

Air Clinic 817-226-2665
$70 service + $18 per pound
Thurs.

Crocker Air 972-333-8497
$75 + $18 per pound
Thurs. night

Two other companies called me about the A/C. But they wanted to charge me to come out and bid. They wouldn't estimate a price over the phone! No Way!

Finding a Contractor is such a pain sometimes. Well the internet caught up to demand. I found these three cool sites for finding a good contractor. I've listed them in order of my preference.

#1) Servicemagic.com
#2) Home.respond.com
#3) Bidclerk.com

Enter your project. Contractors call you.

Pretty easy! Happy Home building!
Mark

Sci-Fi Channel Buys God, Inc.

Well its time to talk a little about my favorite Sci-Fi shows. My favorite show was a mini-series on the Sci-Fi channel called The Lost Room. It stars the older brother from Six Feet Under. It's fun, cute and smarmy. You can rent it right now.



Another favorite is a Youtube series called God, Inc. Watch it here. It's short and simple, but the writing and acting are great. I've followed the creator's video blog for several months. Well Sci-Fi bought the rights to this show! After getting youtube fame, his show got picked up by Sci-Fi, which is awesome! Big Congrats to him!

Setting the Pace for Sign-ups

This is a thought on business. What if the only reason most people didn't sign up for something is because they weren't ready. I'm, of course, talking about programs that appeal to almost anybody. If you look at any great invention, like the toaster or the TV, then you see that its buyers took their time. Some bought early and some bought late.

When a customer objects, they are not saying no. They are saying "not yet." Rather than push toward a Yes, you should let them take the time they need. Devise ways to stay in communication during the interim. In the end, you'll have more sales because they were able to take the pace they wanted. Any force would cause a "permanent" no, instead of an ongoing relationship where a Yes has time to grow.

Prosecuting Pot

I heard an interesting commentary on the Jagger Show on 105.3 today. They were discussing all the arrests and prosecutions associated with marijuana, and then showing the toxicity reports and number of deaths associated with smoking pot (zero deaths). And they were saying that we are putting these kids in jail, endangering people, putting them in bad situations, because of an out-dated law about a drug that is less dangerous than alcohol.

He made some really good points. Apparently, whenever a fatal car accident happens, they test the body for toxicity. In those tests (by the FARS agency), 110,000 showed alcohol and 17 showed pot. Compare that to the fact that 42 million Americans say they smoke pot every day.

It's interesting to see pot slowing becoming legal, while cigarettes are slowly outlawed. I wonder if the two will meet somewhere in the middle?

Give me Brevity, or Give me Death!

That's how I feel these days. I've been wanting PR exposure and I've been doing the work, but my Achilles heel is a lack of brevity. As a result, my message is not clear enough and newsworthy enough to get the attention it deserves! As you allllllllll know, brevity was never my strength growing up.

Well I do declare, it's now a new strength! I need your support in creating a succinct newsworthy message about my dating program. I want to hear from you! When you see rambling, let me know! When you a succinct message, let me know that too!

The program is called The Mastery of Dating: How to Find True Love in 28 Days. It's a program for intellectuals who do too much thinking and not enough action. It's about Action. It's about stepping forward into the game of love, and playing till it hurts.

The Dating Coach Program

This is in the works at Love Kung Fu! It's a monthly renewal program to give you your very own Dating Coach. I wanted to keep track of the benefits, and my blog is as good as any place. So here ya go! (If you are just dying to get involved with this program, call me direct at 972.365.8084 and let me know.)

The Dating Coach Program: Provides the infrastructure that keeps you actively searching for love till you find it.

1. Support Weekly: It’s so easy to slack off and postpone the search for love. Relationships create more productivity and success. Weekly support keeps you on track, keeps you focused and keeps you driven.

2. Teamwork: Having several people supporting you every week is so powerful. It creates new dynamics like peer pressure and family dynamics that speed up your success exponentially.

3. Accountability: When adding a Coach to the system, you add responsibility. That responsibility adds urgency and expertise to the game. Adding a Coach to your game is the fastest way to succeed.

4. Trust, Faith & Hope: The Dating Coach program gives you new friends and family to rely on. When you are depressed or frustrated, you can turn to your new family. We will bring you up, motivate you, and get you moving in the right direction with new inspiration and action.

5. Scorekeeper: In the Dating Coach system, you’ll have the ability to track your progress and success. When you watch the numbers, you’ll know how you are doing at finding love.

My Personal Sales Training

Here's where I'm at in being a sales person today. At this stage, I am training myself to call six potential clients per day. In each call, I'm checking in and providing anything I can to improve their romantic endeavors.

It's amazing how important an exciting display is. I have fallen love with a new website, (and they sealed the deal by telling me that are working to sync with Plaxo), called Highrise. Because the display, colors and organization are fun, easy to read and it has big clear buttons, and obvious way-finding, it keeps me doing my one hour of calls every day because I like to make notes in there on how people are doing. (Don't worry, the site is password protected and besides, the really good gossip stays in my head, not in notes!)

I've redesigned how I approach my calls to potential clients. I've been reading Frank Rumbauskas material for a while - currently reading his new book, Selling Sucks! I just finished SalesDogs. And I have a friend who calls me about Shaklee once a month. At first I was annoyed, but eventually I realized that he was my health expert, and he wasn't putting any pressure on me to buy anything when he called. He was just catching up, helping me with my health. If I happened to buy something, then that was great.

By learning from all three of those angles (Selling Sucks, SalesDogs and my Shaklee friend), I have a new approach. That's the approach I plan to use when calling potential clients: I'm here to support you in your love life, and if you buy something, then that is great.

As I continue to grow my salesperson expertise, I continue to fall in love with business, sales and marketing. It's like I'm raising a child: constantly intrigued and fascinated by this little tike as he grows and changes and surprises me at every turn. I'm exhausted, but really, really loving it.

Warehouse Loft in 2008

It's official. We're having a baby girl in 2008, and her name is "Warehouse Loft." Well okay, it's a not child, but it will be a labor of love.

Dave and I have decided that while we live here on Brockbank Drive, we are also going to purchase an abandoned warehouse downtown and convert it into a Loft Condo (or Condos).

The first step is to determine our budget for the mortgage. The second step is to hunt for the right warehouse space. This will be a small project in Real Estate terms. Since we will eventually live there, it's going to be a lot of fun to design and build. We are especially interested in the Design district. If you know Commercial RE agents that want to present warehouse space to us, then have them contact us.

Yours,
Mark and Dave
Future Warehouse Loft Owners

Happy Birthday Flagger Boy

I've spent the last couple of years learning to flag. Now I know what you're thinking... is that something from band camp? No, its not your grandma's flagging. It's a performance art performed in dance clubs around the world. The fabric is irredescent in the black lights and it looks beautiful. Here's a glimpse of it...



One of the best flaggers in the world lives right here in Dallas. His name is Phillip Bryan and he just had a birthday! He created the Annual Texas Flagger Weekend and the FlaggerCentral.com website. For more information, check him out at FlaggerBoy.com. Happy Birthday Phillip!

Miss Potter and Ratatouille

I saw some great movies over the holiday. Miss Potter is the film documenting the life of Beatrix Potter. It's a great movie for authors and aristocrats. It's about going after success and achieving it. The life lesson that you'll also learn is about how love will find you if you focus on driving toward your passion and let life take its course.

Speaking of courses, we also saw Ratatouille. This is a great movie about following your dream. It's sharp, interesting, and very surprising. As a analytic freak, I often figure out movies but this sleeper-hit kept me on my toes the whole time. It's really good!