If you didn’t happen to catch last night’s episode of Celebrity Apprentice, you missed some seriously ugly reality-show moments as Melissa (and mom, Joan) Rivers reacted to Trump’s latest firing. Check it out:

“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”
~ Thomas Jefferson

In the game of The Apprentice and in the game of life, poise comes through maturity. When we get it, and can keep it under pressure, we will have a decided advantage over others. John C. Maxwell once wrote that panicking or acting out usually has a negative effect on a situation, but remaining calm and cool enables us to think and act more intelligently. The Rivers duo clearly let the best of their emotions get to them.

Melissa’s firing should come as no surprise, however, as she plainly declared what her fate was going to be well before the boardroom scene. Let’s go back to scenes from the task:

She is proof that what you say about comes about. She speaks about what isn’t, as if it were. And, as you know from the ending, she continues to act as if and goes until that which she spoke about became reality!

Her “woe is me” banter and circumstance-blaming got her exactly what she deserved. There is no such thing as circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want. And if they can’t find them, they make them.

Melissa: Stop playing victim. Stop proclaiming entitlement. Stop seeking to be rescued. Stop blaming.

Bottom line? Get out of your own way.

A son asked his father, ‘Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?’  The father who, despite having a heart condition, said ‘Yes’. They went on to complete the marathon together. The father and son went on to join other marathons, the father always saying ‘Yes’ to his son’s request of going through the race together.

One day, the son asked his father, ‘Dad, let’s join the Ironman together.’ To which, his father said ‘Yes’ too.

For those who don’t know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever.

The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island in Hawaii .

The father and son went on to complete the race together.

Watch this video.


Nothing can stop you if your REASON WHY is strong enough.

What’s your reason why?

I love this video. Tim Ferriss, best-selling author of The 4-Hour Work Week, reveals his methods of “rethinking false constructs and untested constructs.” In order to overcome his trepidation of swimming, learning new languages, and dancing, he embraced the principle that fear is your friend.

When it comes to selling a new product or branding oneself or company online, what’s typically the main goal? To get people to click on your link and buy buy buy, right? Yes- Click here! Go to my beautiful site!

But is this what people do? No way! In fact, if you’re too eager to plaster your link all over the place, you are likely to be deemed a spammer, annoying, and a nuisance. Yuck- who wants that?

Instead of focusing on spreading your link everywhere, why not save it and all the valuable information that sits behind it for people who readily want and ask to see it?

How can you do this? You need to build a positive, trusting relationship with others. Let them know you– who you are and what you’re all about. Put yourself out there. Help people. Provide value. And give it away for free. My friend Joe Schroeder always says, “What you give away, you always get to keep.” Ain’t that the truth?

So to start, why not concern yourself more with helping others do what they need to do or obtain what they are looking for? It’s easy-peasy.

Here’s one way you can start from scratch and for free. Leverage an existing community to carve out a voice or brand for yourself or your company. Ever heard of Yahoo! Answers? Of course, you have. I’m sure many of you have even benefited from it. It’s a community-driven website provided by Yahoo! which allows members to engage in a site-wide discussion forum. The service is quite simple. Users ask and answer questions about virtually any topic.

Hello! If you are an expert in a particular industry, or have information that could help others, or if you’re just passionate about a specific topic, Yahoo! Answers offers a great opportunity for you to lend your expertise, knowledge, and resourcefulness to a community where everyone is literally asking for assistance.

The service is free to all and is accessible to anyone in the world. The information posted on the forum is non-exclusive and royalty-free. As a result of each posting being automatically indexed to a category, it will show up high on search engine results.

So where is the power behind this?

Well, if you are able to help others by providing useful answers to people’s questions, you will not only be offering quality information to others, but you will also, over time, build your credibility as a resource. Once you establish credibility, it will be natural for readers to want more from you and to want to become your subscriber.

Here’s the KEY and I will state the obvious: You must provide helpful, useful, quality information.

There are many categories and you will want to focus on positioning yourself as an authority in a particular niche. Eventually, when people see your posts, they will automatically read and LISTEN to what you have to say.

You will start to earn respect from other community members, which will give you more freedom to answer questions on an ongoing basis and turn this into an additional income stream for you.

Remember: When posting answers do NOT ruin your reputation by putting links for people to go and buy something on all your posts!

Instead, focus on posting helpful answers throughout the day and on just 1 out of, say, 10 posts, include a post that includes all of your information, including a link. If your answers are indeed helpful, your readers will WANT this information. The other posts will simply be direct answers providing very helpful information, and will NOT include a link to anything.

A few technicals… Yahoo! Answers operates on a point system. Each new user starts with 100 points upon opening an account and additional points are obtained by answering questions, receiving votes on answers, and having answers chosen as “best answer”.

As you continue to consistently add quality content to questions asked, you will be laying the groundwork for becoming a “Top Contributor”. Top Contributor status gains you a bright badge under your name and image. It represents the highest position you can achieve on Yahoo! Answers.

Once you reach this level, you will be seen by others as an authority and an expert. Everyone will see your answers and people will readily LISTEN to what you have to say. This becomes very powerful when you post your occasional 1 in 10 posts with a link to your site. People will be much more inclined to follow that link and more importantly, YOU!

A similar community-driven answers site has just been launched at Mahalo.com. Now you can double your presence!

JM Smucker Co, which recently acquired Folgers from Proctor & Gamble, is launching an immediate price reduction plan in their Folgers Ground prices as well as their Dunkin’ Donuts retail roasted coffees which it manufactures and distributes.

The aggressive price reduction strategy is in response to the pressure of the worsening economy and consumers’ growing propensity to forgo pricey café brews in favor of home brewing and less-expensive cups of coffee. In order to stay competitive, passing savings onto customers is their way of gaining customer loyalty, especially in a sagging economy.

With ever-increasing competition from McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts, do these kinds of price reduction moves necessarily mean bad news for premium brands like Starbucks?

What really happens to consumer loyalty in a recession? When we are forced to cut back on our spending, do we automatically downscale? Instead of Starbucks, do we opt to go with the more cost-effective means of having coffee by brewing Folgers at home?

According to Eric Anderson, VP of Emerging Media at Whitehorse, consumers will, indeed cut back on their spending, but not necessarily in the way most of us might think. Instead of making decisions between brands, consumers will make decisions between the types of luxuries that they enjoy. So, instead of Starbucks versus Folgers, for example, the decision is more likely to reside between Starbucks and say, Netflix.

If this is true, then this can make it more difficult for traditional marketers to keep customers since their brands may be competing against a completely unrelated product or service.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told analysts last week that it’s critical that Starbucks not undermine its premium brand position in the face of economic pressures. Starbucks is not “a fast-food operator” or “discount business,” he stressed.

True. Starbucks is, in fact, built around a community and the brand, itself, is a part of people’s lives.
Watch this.

It’s no wonder that in the face of tough economic times, their new Gold Card program which carries a $25-per-year fee and offers benefits –notably, 10% off on most purchases–drew 350,000 sign-ups in the first four weeks after it began to be promoted in stores in November, Starbucks reported.

Clearly, some folks are not willing to forego their beloved coffee of choice for its lesser-priced counterparts.

So, what can we learn from this? What can businesses do to maintain customer loyalty in times like this? Anderson suggests we need to have a deeper level of engagement with our consumers about where our brand fits in their lives. Advertising alone will not achieve this, but social media might. Why? Because the impact of social media is a matter of trust. It’s about connecting with people in their daily lives and engaging them.

With the web consisting of a giant network of humans interacting and a mass of conversations, Anderson believes it is communities that will drive brands and inspire brand loyalty. And because of this, businesses can’t afford to ignore the importance of the social media space.

Bottom line: Increasing loyalty, which can be leveraged through communities (esp. social media), is a key way to recession-proof your brand.