Hello World!

Welcome to the all new GuruGilbert! I will continue to share my ideas on marketing, entrepreneurship and life as I pursue a life of passion, purpose and prosperity.

I have finished converting everything from blogger to WordPress. Although, blogger was a great starter blog, WordPress is by far the most complex and professional software on the market.

WordPress has incredible capabilities. With WordPress my posts will now be categorized. For example, if I write a post about marketing it’ll be categorized in; yep you guessed it, marketing. If I write about life or customer service, it’ll go under the respective category. This is a great feature as not only will it make my blog more navigable and seamless but you can now choose to read the topics that interest you most. The categories are listed on the right side.

GuruGilbert is now on a stand alone system, meaning that I am hosting my blog on my own server. Simply type or hopefully bookmark GuruGilbert.com and there I am. No more extensions or sub domains.

Another incredible feature, which happens to be my favorite, is now you can and should subscribe to my blog via RSS. When I write a new post, you will get it in your RSS Reader instantly and be able to stay up to date. Now what more can you ask for?

There are a lot of exciting new things happening with GuruGilbert so stay tuned and keep reading!

You can take the cheese off pizza but how many pizzas are you going to sell?

I send out a monthly newsletter to all of my Ultimate Discount Card clients. I do it for many reasons but reason #1 is because I truly care about the success of my clients. I love helping them grow their business. If I can educate, inspire and offer some great practical ideas and knowledge then I have served my purpose. I really strive to add a lot of value to my newsletter or else they won’t read it.

I want to share an email that one of my older mentors/friends sent me. I thought it was so important that I wound up replying to the email in the next months newsletter so all of my clients would see it. Here it is:

After last month’s newsletter, (and an overwhelming positive response) a well respected real estate entrepreneur I am friends with emailed me back with an interesting response. ‘John’ to keep anonymity, said I was educating incorrectly about marketing. John said ‘promotion’ and marketing is not the same thing. ‘Promotion’ is only 1 aspect of the marketing mix. Product is extremely important if not more important, John added. He also said that I am being totally naive.

Let me respond. First off, I am so happy that I am getting people to think. If you ever have any questions, comments or anything to say for that matter please feel free to email/call me. Marketing out of all the skills needed in business is the most intriguing to me. If you know how to market you truly hold the key to wealth. There is a saying that goes, “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a clever man to sell it”. Now, let’s talk about the marketing mix.

The “old” marketing mix consists of the 4 P’s: Product, Place, Promotion and Price. I absolutely agree with John that promotion is not the only aspect of marketing. Maybe I am being naïve in believing that all of you have done everything in your power to ensure that your product is as good as it possibly can be. Let me make something clear. If your product is not as good as it can be than all of the ‘promotion’ in the world isn’t going to help your business. I personally could never sell anything unless I believed in it 1000%.

Where I come into play is to help you with the ‘promotion’ aspect of your business. My goal is to create for you the very best marketing solution and medium to help increase your business from new and existing customers. Every business on this planet needs to focus heavily on their ‘promotion’ aspect of their business.

You need to get the word out somehow whether it is through newspaper ads, posters, contests, seminars, television ads, signs, door-to-door, radio ads, banners, trade shows, yellow pages, articles, classified ads, charity events, infomercials, online ads, billboards, take-one-box, sales letters, flyers, email, ezine ads, postcards, door hangers, media releases, special events, word-of-mouth, gift certificates, website or business cards to name a few. You get the point. However, promoting your business can only do so much if your product is not as good as it can be.

If that’s the case, then it might be wise to focus your efforts and resources on producing a better product. There’s no point in spending money trying to attract new customers through your marketing efforts if you aren’t providing a good enough product, service or experience for your customers to want to come back. Hopefully, you have done everything you possibly can to make your product as good as it can be. Word to the wise.

As a small business owner myself, there are places you can skimp and save money and there are places to put your money into. Your product is definitely not something you want to cheap out on. You can take the cheese off pizza but how many pizzas are you going to sell?

The 5 Most Powerful Words in this World

Everyday I am overwhelmed by the amount of things I want to get done. At times, it’s extremely overwhelming and causes temporary paralysis. I have so many things I need and want to get done but I don’t know where to begin.

What happens when we have things in front of us we don’t want to do? We put them off for later. People naturally do the things they enjoy doing first. Whether it’s studying, work, going to the gym, etc., etc., we procrastinate.

If you say these 5 words to yourself next time you have a mundane task in front of you, they’ll really help motivate you to just do it!

If not now, then when?

That’s right, I ask you. IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?

Stop procrastinating because the sooner you get the things done that you don’t want to do the sooner you’ll be able to do the things you want to do.

Remember these 5 words next time you don’t want to do something.

If not now, then when?

They can very well change your life!

Do you wish for success?

As I have set many goals for myself this year, it can seem overwhelming at times. Like with anything though if you have a plan you can accomplish whatever your heart desires. I believe a wish is a goal that hasn’t been written down.

If you haven’t written your goals, you are still just wishing for success. I find that when creating goals using the SMART formula helps to make them a reality. Ensure that your goals are Sensible, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Specific.

Here are also some pointers that can help you to make your goals become a reality.

• Phrase your goal in the present tense and assume success
• Put them in writing
• List the benefits you intend to receive by achieving each goal
• As you review your goals each morning and evening, picture yourself achieving each of them
• Anticipate the challenges you will encounter and plan how you will overcome them
• Take action and don’t procrastinate

Use the SMART formula and you’ll be astonished at how many of your goals are becoming a reality!