Life Laws

Good rules of the game. YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK!

Life Law #1: You either get it, or you don't.
Strategy: Become one of those who gets it.
Life Law #2: You create your own experience.
Strategy: Acknowledge and accept accountability for your life.
Life Law #3: People do what works.
Strategy: Identify the payoffs that drive your behavior and that of others.
Life Law #4: You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy: Get real with yourself about your life and everybody in it.
Life Law #5: Life rewards action.
Strategy: Make careful decisions and then pull the trigger.
Life Law #6: There is no reality; only perception.
Strategy: Identify the filters through which you view the world.
Life Law #7: Life is managed; it is not cured.
Strategy: Learn to take charge of your life.
Life Law #8: We teach people how to treat us.
Strategy: Own, rather than complain about, how people treat you.
Life Law #9: There is power in forgiveness.
Strategy: Open your eyes to what anger and resentment are doing to you.
Life Law #10: You have to name it before you can claim it.
Strategy: Get clear about what you want and take your turn.

Understanding a Brand!

I have always known exactly what a brand is, however recently I have been so enlightened to know the "science" behind it. Marketing is a vast world of magic and smoke, that's for sure. There is so much more to a brand then just the logo, the website, the color, the experience, there is substance beyond belief there! It's like the foundation for a building. If the concrete is not square, or if there are pivots caused by nature, then there is a chance that the building will one day fail because of it. Same goes for a brand! I look at the world of marketing in a whole new light, I see it fuller and richer, and almost as if I were a detective of sorts. Now it is a puzzle for me to solve, what is that company's core values, what does their logo represent, who is their audience?

I find this process rather exciting and had to share it with the rest of the world. There are tons of examples I could give, but the best for me, is Wal-Mart. Everyone has been to a wal-mart, or at least seen a commercial for them on TV. Their motto is We sell for Less, period! Wal-mart, has been beaten to death by some people who don't believe that their bulling is fair to the little guy, but most of those people who have beaten, are almost guaranteed to have bought something from Wal-mart because it's cheaper then the competition? But let's get back to their brand here, Wal-mart has been very effective in achieving their brand that has recognition. When we all think of Wal-mart we think of cheap, hence their "We sell for Less," motto. This is their brand, it's not just that they color their stores blue, or the fact that their stores are almost all identical, or that they offer decent insurance to their workers, it's that you know just by thinking of Wal-mart, they sell for less. You know when you go there, that the store will most likely look like any other Wal-mart you have been in, and that they will offer a multitude of items for less, without even seeing their store, you KNOW this. That, my friends, is brand recognition!

I am engulfing in this process myself and I hope that all of you get from brand, that my core values are: integrity, intuition, and creativity.

My core value statement is: A vibrant brand is similar to a picture being worth a 1000 words.

Misty