6. Buck Conventional Wisdom.

In 1971, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher decided to start an airline that you might say…was different and a little bit quirky. They began with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations on time, at lowest fare possible, and make sure they have a fantastic time doing it, people will choose you over a competing airline. This is story of Southwest Airlines, who chose to move beyond status quo by offering services and a sense of style that bucked conventional wisdom. With their focus on fun, games, and "Love Southwest Style,” this top ranked airline has made its mark with its strong focus on stellar customer service and conveniences such as allowing customers to proceed to their departure gate without stopping at ticket counter, skycap, and a self-service kiosk. Most importantly, Southwest has honed in on searching for important personal qualities in those they hire-- perfect blend of energy, humor, team spirit, and self-confidence to match its famously offbeat culture. Southwest was once dismissed as a maverick, as their strategies seemed strange to traditional “airline powerhouses.” These same powerhouses are now looking in awe at what this “maverick” has built. The strategy of originality worked…It had sticking power required for huge success.

7. Become a Talent Farm.

When recruiting new employees, what are you looking for? Raw talent? Raw communication skills? Intellect? Athletic ability? Commitment? Skills? Flexbility? What about all of this and more? If you are a company who wants to operate at leading edge, where change is greatest and success is goal, you will want to recruit most talented group of people you can find…those people who are self- starters and who are living boldly in world. By developing a “talent farm” culture, you can instill a mindset of excellence from top to bottom of your organization. This culture encompasses a deeply held belief that having high caliber people is crucial to your success. With this “talent farm” approach to recruiting, your company will also be required to continually recruit top talent. Successful businesses and organizations have a strong sense of what they are looking for, and they are always on look for new talent and ways to retain them for a lifetime.

8. Embrace Your Core Values.

What is it in life that you most value? Do you value beauty, leadership, creativity, stability, or family? You can choose to orient your life around your wants and needs or list of things you feel you “should” be doing, but if you embrace your core values and build your life around them, you will find experience inspiration and joy at a level you never thought was possible. Whole Foods Market is one of fastest growing supermarkets of today, because its commitment to fresh, nutritious products is a value that keeps customers coming back for more and keeps employees happy, hard working, and committed. When you focus your business on doing what feels right and what fulfills you, you will have no regrets, because you have been true to very core of your being.

9. Become a "White Hot Center" of Influence.

A “white hot center” of influence is an organization or group that you most want your company to be aligned with and in a relationship which is reciprocal. One connection into a visible and strong center of influence can position your company to attract a stream of qualified opportunities. (Example: You are an interior designer, and you want to be in middle of Southern Accent or Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.) In order to attract a “white hot center” of influence, you have to become what you want to attract. Be well educated, highly skilled, experienced, trained and innovative in your product development. Fill your network with other business owners who are up to big things in world and who are experts in their respective fields. Attract talented people into your company, and tap each and every talent and skill available. As you begin to raise your bar in all areas of your business and enhance your network, you will eventually become a “white hot center” that will attract others by thousands.

10. Just Begin.

Start where you are, and begin today to create success in your life. Drop excuses, reasons or people to blame, dis-empowering attitudes and behaviors and get on with business of living life you know you were born to live. Do what you know you want to do, and do it with passion. Begin today to create tomorrow you want. As Peter Drucker said, “The best way to predict future is to create it”

When you create your account for most boards, they will give you option of creating a signature, which they will attach to bottom of every post you make. This is best way to pull customers from messageboards--by alluring them with your signature. Write something catchy or intriguing and then slap a link to your site or email address on it. Remember: more helpful you are (the more times you post advice/hints), more times your signature appears... and more potential hits you’ll get to your site.

Next, you’ll want to decide when it’s appropriate to market outside of your signature. I personally only market in three situations outside of my signature in forum discussions. If a person asks a question about a specific product or service I market, then I’ll respond because I’m qualified to do so and because I truly believe they should use my products to achieve best possible results. If there’s a discussion thread where everyone is marketing products and it is generally accepted, I will market my product if a) it is related and b) I have already posted several times on messageboard. Also, I will market my product whenever there is a forum solely dedicated to marketing your products.

Last, you’ll want to decide how much original content you want to post and how much you want to be boilerplate. You’ll want to find a healthy combination of two to avoid being called a spammer or wasting too much time marketing on forums. I personally have several boilerplate ads that I have saved for signature files, ad-only forums, and personal product marketing discussions. I keep them all saved on a word file and I pull them up to copy-and-paste when I’m spending a night of advertising on messageboards.

Discussion forums can drive buying customers to your site faster than any other marketing medium. Do not abuse them, establish a reputation in your forums, streamline process. . . and your work will come back to you quickly in profit.