You may call me crazy. but it's true.

When I recently saw one of my favorite movies, “Happy Gilmore” staring Adam Sandler, I realized that this movie has an extremely important success principle that you should know about to achieve success in new year.

Let me explain:

In movie, main character, Happy, can't find a stable job and can't seem to make his dream of playing hockey come true.

...And after Happy fails to make hockey team for 11th time, his girlfriend gets fed up and leaves him...in other words, his life seems like a complete failure.

Then his life turns around when he makes a very important promise to his Grandmother and himself that he will get her house back from government, which may be auctioned off unless Happy comes up with $270,000 in 90 days.

So, what does this have to do with success?

You see, soon after he made that promise to his grandmother, he realized that he had an amazing talent to drive a golf ball, which he developed as a hockey player.

...And by stating his desire to make enough money to get his grandmother's house back, new solutions began to appear that would have otherwise gone by unnoticed.

Do you have any hidden opportunities around you? You'll only find them if you make it known to yourself and to others what you are looking for.

Once Happy becomes a professional golfer and starts taking home big checks, antagonist 'Shooter McGavin' hires a man to intimidate Happy while he is golfing, so he will not win championship.

Tip #1. MARKET FOR YOUR DESIRED PROSPECTS, NOT YOURSELF

What looks good to you is not necessarily effective for your desired audience. This is biggest mistake I see people make over and over again. The come up with an idea, they think it’s great, a few friends, family or nontarget market people give them thumbs up and they run with ball.

When it doesn't work, they just can't understand why. Do market research and test your strategies on your target market. Big companies do lots of market research before launching a product or service. The little guys don't have resources to match this but that doesn't mean you don't do any. Even if you are an independent professional, you need to do marketing research. And market research isn't a one-time deal. It needs to be incorporated into your marketing system and it needs to be ongoing.

Tip #2. YOU MUST ANSWER THESE FOUR CRITICAL MARKETING QUESTIONS

Question 1: WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?

Is it immediately clear to reader what is being offered? Any opaqueness, confusion, or question marks in their mind, even for a second, and they have moved on. They are gone and usually don't return. Don't be cute or clever. Make it simple and very clear. Cute and clever has a reference point now with S*P*AM or hype. Don't let them place you into that category.

Question 2: WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

The big benefits are very clear and directly stated... not implied; reader doesn't have to guess. The listener doesn't have to guess. Please come to you from all different stages of readiness and different desire levels. How do you handle each one when they arrive makes what occurs afterwards critical? It isn't what you perceive that they want, it is what they perceive what they want. Stop guessing just because you are too lazy to do legwork to find out. Start asking and don't ever stop.

Question 3: CAN I TRUST YOU?

How do I know you are safe and credible? Can I find out easily enough if I want to? Is your photo and contact info prominently displayed so I can build a relationship with you? Put your photo on every page. If you want to, change picture to show you doing something fun or different on every page.

People don't trust any more especially if all your contact information isn't on your web site. Put your phone number and address on ever page. It says you are credible. Put them in every ezine, in fact, put it at beginning and at end.

Create a safe place for them to be, a comfort zone. If you offer a complimentary session, realize that people don't immediately sign up for these because they aren't comfortable to. It doesn't matter if you think you are safe, it’s what they think. Step them into working with you feeling safe whole way through process. People are either boulders or blue birds. Blue birds are easy to convert to clients. Boulders need to know that they have a safe place to roll to before they will move.

Question 4: DO I FEEL GOOD ABOUT THIS?

Do I WANT to engage you? Do I feel COMPELLED to click my mouse or pick up phone (or whatever call to action is)? Do I feel good about myself in deciding to engage you? Can I trust that I'm making right decision? What's my motivation? Am I being motivated by fear, shame, or being empowered to make a good choice? Am I so excited that I want to tell all my friends?