I recently blogged about Brisbane’s Paddington Pups who went from 0 sales to sold out in 3 weeks… Today’s post takes it one step further.

Hi Marc

I just wanted to say I love the Exponential Mindset and how well it works!  Small and easy to implement things for my business that have a huge impact.

Here is a great example I just experienced that you might want to share.

I was looking for a supplier of Dog calendars in November just gone so I could sell calendars to my clients who are all dog lovers.

I couldn’t find a supplier. I was so frustrated I decided to put together our own calendar for 2011 so I won’t have the same issue next year.

My husband is a professional photographer so know I can get great photos of my clients’ dogs. That’s when the Exponential Mindset comes in… I decided to implement Dog Of The Month where my husband would take the photos and the dog of the month for 2010 becomes the dog for that month in the 2011 wall calendar. By doing it this way, creates excitement and anticipation for next year’s calendar.

The dog who wins Paddington Pups Dog of the Month not only has to be a regular client but also must be a well behaved dog with its owners as raving fans of my business. This is my reward for them, a fun thing to do that everyone gets a kick out of!

You should know I am writing this to you in February before we have unveiled the dog of the month for March.

I want to let you know that already the buzz is huge. All my clients want to win! They all want to know who has won but most of all they want to know how their puppy or dog can win dog of the month.

The most interesting part is not however, the in-store competition and jealousy between the dog parents as you might think but the response from non-Paddington Pups clients.  In discussions with the mum of February’s Dog of The Month – Magic – the response she has received has been dramatic.

When Magic and her mum go to the local off leash park (a daily event) she has had people she has never spoken to before come up to her and say “Oh that’s Magic! Paddington Pups‘ Dog Of The Month!”

This happened on several occasions. Magic’s mum is blown away by the success of this ‘Marketing Tool’ as she refers to it.

Given that I have not been the one having the conversations with the people in the park I can’t say if they have dogs that come to Paddington Pups doggy daycare, are locals that come into the shop to purchase food or if they have read about Magic in the Pupdate (newsletter) or on our Paddington Pups Blog.  What I can tell you is that people are positively talking about my business in the local park where my potential clients go and congregate and talk about their dogs.

The pre-eminence this has created for my business is huge and we are only two months into the concept I can’t wait until the 2011 calendar is out.  The Calendar will serve as a constant reminder in people’s homes as well as the homes of all their family and closest friends. Who wouldn’t want to give a calendar as a gift if their dog or puppy was in it?!?!

Plus it gets even better as I have already managed to secure a sponsor for the calendar who is happy to contribute financially to add their branding. Did I mention it’s only February?!?!

I love the Exponential Mindset!

Thanks Marc for helping me think outside the cube and know how to twist it into profits that are fun!

Bree Robbins
Top Dog
Paddington Pups

Isn’t it amazing how one simple idea can become Exponential?

It of course has no end… Because once adopted, an Exponential Mindset keeps coming up with combinations…

• The first calendar will be the Dog Of The Month
• The second calendar will the Puppy Of The Month
• The third calendar can be the Labrador Of The Month, Boxer, Beagle…

Of course it doesn’t end there…

• The photos can be sold as large high resolution (quality) prints
• Keychains, coffee mugs, etc. can be created for each winning dog or puppy.

With an Exponential Mindset, once you’ve CREATED the initial movement, momentum is not hard to maintain…!

You will after you watch this exceptional YouTube Video that conveys

WHY you should always wear your seat belt.

Merci to Andrew Powell of Montreal Canada who sent this to me!

Rosti Zacharias of Omni Data sent me this list of 50 Sydney Red Light Cameras that have been converted to speed cameras to catch people going over 60 km/hr! So be careful out there and make sure you forward this blog post link to anyone who’s out there driving around making sales calls or running errands! The format is the street, cross-street and suburb where the camera is.

Red Light Camera

Read More »»

I am sure I am not the only one to get a brand new iPhone for Christmas… But what will you do with your old mobile phone? Recycle it by donating it to charity!. That way you not only save the environment, but you help a charity create much needed income! That’s an exponential double-whammy!

Recycle Your Mobile

I just used Clean Up Australia as part of the Aussie Recycling Program.

Bookmark this link when you do get your next mobile phone – if you’re a company with multiple phones, they have a corporate service to make it quick and easy for you…

By the way, you can choose from several great charities so you can pick your favorite:

	Adelaide Zoo
	Animal Welfare League of Queensland
	Apex Australia
	ARAZPA
	Ardoch Youth Foundation
	Asylum Seekers Resource Centre
	AUSTRALIA ZOO with FAUNA & FLORA INTERNATIONAL
	Australian Red Cross NT
	Australian Red Cross VIC
	Australian Reptile Park
	Baptist Community Services
	Big Brothers Big Sisters
	Birkdale Scout Group
	Cancer Support Association WA Inc
	The Centre for Cerebral Palsy
	Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland
	Cerebral Palsy Tasmania
	Children’s Leukaemia & Cancer Research Foundation
	Clean Up Australia
	Community Telco Australia
	Convoy For Kids
	The Developing Foundation
	Disabilities Opportunities Victoria Inc
	Endeavour Industries
	Finding Workable Solutions
	Future Employment Opportunities
	Humane Society International
	Inspire Foundation
	Karuna Hospice Services
	Kidney Health Australia
	Lifeline Australia
	Lions Medical Research Foundation QLD & NSW
	Melbourne Zoo
	Perth Zoo
	Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation
	RACV Foundation
	Rett Syndrome Australian Research Fund
	RSPCA ACT
	RSPCA SA
	Salvation Army
	Samaritans Foundation Recycling Division
	Scope (Vic) Ltd.
	SIDS and Kids
	Spastic Centre of New South Wales
	Spastic Centre of South Australia
	St. Vincent de Paul Society (Tasmania) Inc.
	TARALYE
	Taronga Zoo
	Uniting Care Ballarat
	UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide Inc
	UTS Union University of Technology
	WaterAid Australia
	Yooralla

Check the end of the post for the Exponential Distinction to avoid ALL scams like this. This one is pretty slick since they provide YOU with  all the information, except the one piece they  want. Note, the callers do not ask for your card  number; they already have it… This information is worth  reading. By understanding how the VISA  & Master Card Telephone Credit Card  Scam  works, you’ll be better prepared to protect  yourself.

One of our employees was called on  Wednesday from ‘VISA’, and I was called on Thursday from  ‘Master Card’.. The scam works like this: Caller: ‘This is  (name), and I’m calling from the Security and Fraud  Department at VISA. My Badge number is 12460. You r card has  been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I’m  calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was  issued by (name of bank). Did you purchase an  Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a Marketing  company based in ?’

When you say ‘No’, the caller  continues with, ‘Then we will be issuing a credit to your  account. This is a company we have been watching and the  charges range from $297 to $497, just under the $500  purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next  statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your  address), is that correct?’

You say ‘yes’. The caller  continues – ‘I will be starting a Fraud investigation. If  you have any questions, you should call the 1- 800 number  listed on the back of your card (1-800 -VISA) and ask for  Security.’

You will need to refer to this Control  Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. ‘Do you  need me to read it again?’

Here’s the IMPORTANT part  on how the scam works.

The caller then says, ‘I need to verify you are in  possession of your card’. He’ll ask you to ‘turn your card  over and look for some numbers’. There are 7 numbers; the  first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the  security Numbers that verify you are the possessor of the  card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make  Internet purchases to prove you have the card. The caller  will  ask you to read the 3 numbers to him.  After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he’ll say, ‘That is  correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been  lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you  have any other questions?’ After you say No, the caller then  thanks you and states, ‘Don’t hesitate to call back if you  do, and hangs up.

You  actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you  the Card number… But after one of our friends was called on Wednesday, they  called back within 20 minutes to ask a question.. Are they glad they did! The REAL VISA Security Department told them it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of  $497.99 was charged to their card.

Long story – short -  they made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account.  VISA is reissuing them a new number.  What  the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of  the card Don’t give it to them.  Instead, tell them you’ll call VISA or Master card directly  for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told  them that they will never ask for anything on the card as they  already know the information since they issued the card! If  you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think  you’re receiving a credit. However, by the time you get your  statement you’ll see charges for purchases you didn’t make,  and by then it’s almost too late and/or more difficult to  actually file a fraud report.

What makes this more  remarkable is that on Thursday, my friends got a call from a ‘Jason  Richardson of Master Card’ with a word-for-word repeat of  the VISA scam. This time they didn’t let him finish. They hung up!  They filed a police report, as instructed by VISA. The police  said they are taking several of these reports daily! They  also urged us to tell everybody we know that this scam is  happening.

Please  pass this on to all your family, friends and neighbours. By  informing each other, we protect each  other.

New  Credit Card Scam
Snopes.Com says this is  true.

Exponential Distinction to prevent this sort of credit card scam:

Don’t give out any new information – track the caller’s phone number (if possible), get their employee ID and tell them you’ll call them back get their phone number (to give to the police). Then call the credit card company using the number on your statement instead of the number they gave you. That way you know who YOU are calling.

We do this EVERY TIME our credit card company calls us – WITHOUT EXCEPTION. They are used to it by now.

This is the kind of distinction that saves a lot of disruption and annoyance. It’s called having an Exponential Mindset. If you want to start to think like this, check out our programs at www.ExponentialPrograms.com if you want an introduction, you can test drive www.ExponentialMasterMind.com

This is an interesting question. I bet you think your blog is global because it’s on the Internet and that it’s at least NATIONAL because it’s a .com.au blog. Hmm…

Global Or Local?

According to some recent research featured in The Economist that tracked baby names and matched them with e-mail use over 10 years, simply put, even though we think we’re ‘going global’ we’re actually really still quite ‘local’. Something to think about when you publish your next blog post. Your subscribers are more likely to be down the street than halfway around the world.

What are your thoughts on the global or local reach of your blog? Any fun stories to share? I’d love to hear them!

I admit it. Today’s post is totally gratuitous eye candy. but y’know what? There’s nothing wrong with that because it’s both FREE and has NO CALORIES. Every once in a while, you just have to have fun AND LET YOUR READERS ENJOY themselves too. Yes, I know this is slanted towards one half of the population… I am sure I’ll get a blog comment to balance it out and I’ll post that one as a reBUTTal, excuse the pun!

Welcome to the Australian Blog Of The Month Series – where each month we focus on one Australian Blog that reveals their Blogging Success Strategies. This month’s Australian Blog Of The Month is www.ScrapbookingCompanion.com/blog which focuses on you guessed it – Scrapbooking! We have asked each blogger to reveal a handful of their success strategies so that you can learn from them within the context of different blogs and audiences they cater for.

Hi, this is Marie Perrow the from Scrapbooking Companion.

I thought I would share 8 of my successful blogging strategies with you since I was chosen as the Blog Of The Month By Australian Blogs.

Here are some of my strategies to making sure my blog gets the traffic and readers that I am looking for.

Read More »»

I am going to highlight a blog of the month every month – if you’d like to nominate your blog, post a comment here. I’d love to know why your blog should be singled out above and beyond others – of course ONLY Australian Blogs can be spotlighted here – afterall this is the #1 Australian Blogging Site!

Submit your blog by posting a comment below!

This is just a friendly reminder to tune into Sydney’s Radio Show “Money Talks”  hosted by David Haseldine on 2RRR 88.5 FM. The show is live from 8-9 AM Wednesday 8 July 2009 to get some exponential ideas on stress free wealth creation. The podcast will be made available after the show on www.NextBestStep.com.

Subscribe to Australian Blogs simple as that. Click the hyperlink to find out how and why this is the least expensive strategy you can deploy to get more traffic to your blog. Nothing more needs to be said – get to it now. Time is money and lost opportunity… Imagine getting 10, 20 or 300 more people to your blog every day…

This is why I don’t live in Canada anymore… There’s ‘nothing you can do about it’… Once you hit the ice, it’s ‘over’…

If you’ve heard the world turning off the lights for an hour, it’s called Earth Hour and IT’S THIS SATURDAY… It’s a SMALL WAY to make a BIG IMPACT on getting this message across and helping save our fragile planet. Click on the hyperlink >>Earth Hour << to REGISTER so your effort gets counted.

Do your share – Australia was one of the leading participants last year!!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie….!

As a blogger, you need your computer to be working optimally – today’s post is geared toward non-Mac users, but the principles apply equally to Macs. As one of the Exponential Strategies I’ve posted about, blogging is about creating value for your readers. Today’s post was sent to me by one of my ISPs…

Mousekeeping Tips To Speed Up Your Computer

You don’t need to CREATE each blog post you publish, today’s is courtesy of Bigpond – I thought it valuable enough to share with you. Click here to learn 4 Mousekeeping Tips For Your Computer.

I received this e-mail from one of our clients and thought you could forward it on to those who need it most. We as adults are shocked so you can image how difficult it is for kids to make sense of this tragedy.

By Dr Janet Hall
Clinical Psychologist:
Author: Fear-free Children, Fight-free Families, How to be Boss of Bedtime.

Children are able to cope better with a traumatic event if parents, friends, family, teachers and other adults support and help them with their experiences.

Help should start as soon as possible after the event.

It’s important to remember that some children may never show distress because they squash it inside, but it may begin to ooze out in uncharacteristic changes in behaviour after several weeks or even months. Other children may not show a change in behavior, but may still need your help.

Children may exhibit these behaviors after a disaster:

1. Be upset over the loss of a favorite toy, blanket, teddy bear or other things that adults might consider insignificant, but which are important to the child.

2. Change from being quiet, obedient and caring to loud, noisy and aggressive or may change from being outgoing to shy and afraid.

3. Develop nighttime fears. They may be afraid to sleep alone at night with the light off, to sleep in their own room, or have nightmares or bad dreams.

4. Be afraid the event will reoccur.

5. Become easily upset, crying and whining.

6. Lose trust in adults. After all, their adults were not able to control the disaster.

7. Revert to younger behavior such as bed wetting and thumb sucking.

8. Not want parents out of their sight and refuse to go to school or childcare.

9. Feel guilty that they caused the disaster because of something they had said or done.

10. Become afraid of wind, rain or sudden loud noises.

11. Have symptoms of illness, such as headaches, vomiting or fever.

12.Worry about where they and their family will live.

Things Parents or Other Caring Adults Can Do

1. Talk with the children about how they are feeling and listen without judgment. Let them know they can have their own feelings, which might be different than others. It’s OK.

2. Let the children take their time to figure things out and to have their feelings. Don’t rush them or pretend that they don’t think or feel as they do.

3. Help them learn to use words that express their feelings, such as happy, sad, angry, mad and scared. Just be sure the words fit their feelings – not yours.

4. Assure fearful children that you will be there to take care of them.
Reassure them many times.

5. Stay together as a family as much as possible.

6. Go back as soon as possible to former routines or develop new ones.
Maintain a regular schedule for the children.

7. Reassure the children that the disaster was not their fault in any way.

8. Let them have some control, such as choosing what outfit to wear or what meal to have for dinner.

9. Help your children know that others love them and care about them by visiting, talking on the phone or writing to family members, friends and  neighbours.

10. Encourage the children to give or send pictures they have drawn or things they have written to family and friends.

11. Re-establish contact with extended family members.

12. Help your children learn to trust adults again by keeping promises and including children in planning routines and outings.

13. Help your children regain faith in the future by helping them develop plans for activities that will take place later – next week, next month.

14. Children cope better when they are healthy, so be sure your children get needed health care as soon as possible.

15. Make sure the children are getting balanced meals and eating enough food and getting enough rest.

16. Remember to take care of yourself so you can take care of your children.

17. Spend extra time with your children at bedtime. Read stories, rub their backs, listen to music, talk quietly about the day.

18. lf you will be away for a time, tell them where you are going and make sure you return when you promised or call at the time you say you will.

19. Allow special privileges such as leaving the light on when they sleep for a period of time after the disaster.

20. Limit their exposure to additional trauma, including news reports.

21. Children should not be expected to be brave or tough, or to “not cry.

22. Don’t be afraid to “spoil” children in this period after a disaster.

23. Don’t give children more information than they can handle about the disaster.

24. Don’t minimize the event.

25. Find ways to emphasize to the children that you love them.

26. Allow the children to grieve losses.

27. Develop positive rituals and “anniversary” activities to commemorate the event. Help children understand that these events may bring tears, but they are also a time to celebrate survival and the ability to get back to a normal life.

Activities for Children

1. Encourage the children to draw or paint pictures of how they feel about their experiences. Hang these at the child’s level to be seen easily.

2. Write a story of the frightening event.

You might start with: Once upon a time there was a terrible ___________ and it scared us all_________. This is what happened: ____________

Be sure to end with, “And now we are safe.”

3. Playing with playdough or clay is good for children to release tension and make symbolic creations.

4. Music is fun and valuable for children. Creating music with instruments or rhythm toys helps relieve stress and tension.

5. Provide the children with clothes, shoes, hats, etc. so they can play “dress up” and can pretend to be adults in charge of recovering from the disaster and “being in charge.”

6. Make puppets with the children and put on a puppet show for family and friends, or help children put on a skit about what they experienced.

7. Read stories about disasters to and with children making sure to talk about how people coped and recovered.

Please pass this on to a friend who needs it.

Check out this blog post to help Australian bush fire victims – the video will shock you – it shows how a lot of the damage can be PREVENTED with an economical product that is available in America. A few hundred dollars can save a home… Please pass this one to anyone living close to bush land.

Earlier this morning I sent a mass e-mail from Dr Janet Hall’s newsletter to help children cope with this tragedy. Jennifer Jianjun Wang sent me a response telling me Coles is donating all their profit from Friday’s sales to the relief effort. Isn’t it amazing HOW QUICKLY SMALL ACTS OF KINDNESS CAN MULTIPLY?

Click on the image below for more information and do your part to help our fellow Australians in their hour of need.

Even if you’re an accomplished blogger, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded to do the right things. In the field of Expert Performance and Elite Athleticism, it’s called “Deliberate Practice” you might want to Google that. But getting back to blogging and 10 Tips To Become A Better Blogger…

As a blogger, you probably know that you have to post regular and relevant content that matches the niche you are writing for. You know you can’t just throw anything into your blog and expect to be credible and successful. But what else is there that makes the ‘Top’ bloggers so good?

10 Tips To Become A Better Blogger

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Good news for bloggers: A recent report by eMarketer.com reveals that despite the downturn in the economy, E-Mail performance is holding steady. Click on the link below for the full article.

The tactic’s low cost keeps it popular with marketers

This is important because if you have a blog with subscribers, you want to make sure people are still opening and clicking through…

There’s great news out that your great blog content can yield as much as 38% more ad revenue if you have advertising on your blog. Read more about this report below.

A research report released in early January 2009 by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) showed that ads placed on content sites get better results than those on portals or sold through ad networks.

For example, the aided brand awareness metric was up by 38% on OPA member sites—that is, content sites—versus the following:

* Down 9% on portals
* Down 19% on ad networks
* Down 7% against control data

There are reasons why this makes sense. In the offline world, such as on TV, greater brand effectiveness is affected by how people react to the programming. In fact, the more the audience is engaged because they value the TV content, the more responsive they are to the ads viewed. This revelation has been echoed in other branding research published recently.

However, on the Web, the mindset of visitors varies far more than when they watch TV.

For example, cruising through a portal (Yahoo, MSN, etc.) to check weather, e-mail and headlines tends to create what you might call a “fast-food” mentality, with little time [or intent] to stop and notice what’s being consumed.

Or when people use search engines, while they might be clicking even more rapidly than when on a portal, they often have a focused task in mind —based on their search—which lends itself to effective [targeted] paid search advertising.

In contrast, when people linger a while on a content site—to read an article or view a video—they tend to pay more attention to the webpage environment, even if only marginally more.

BECAUSE, audience reaction to advertising tends to be affected by the company it keeps, the more visitors value the online content they consume, the more positive their reactions to surrounding advertising will be. At least that’s the tendency if ad clutter is kept at a minimum or structured in a visually appealing way.

What this means is that if you are a blogger, you will be rewarded when creating high-value sites that leverage Google Adsense properly positioned. As you might know from this blog content, there is a compounding effect that occurs when your content is KEYWORD RICH, pulling BETTER ads that are then are perceived as more appropriate and consequently are clicked more often.

So there you go – create MORE VALUABLE CONTENT and you shall be rewarded both with more visitors as well as more click-throughs on your ads.