Be Stronger Tomorrow

Climbing more strongly is only really useful if you're on the right hill.

Hence my thoughts on planning your route on the Be Stronger Tomorrow cycling blog.

Find it at: http://stronger-tomorrow.blogspot.com/2009/10/planning-your-route.html

Roy

Find YOUR Niche

Hello again.

That's YOUR niche, not A niche. Because, if you are going to spend quite a lot of time and effort working in one fairly small subject area, you'll find it much easier if it's a subject you're actually 'into'.

Yes, it needs to be a niche that enough other people are into, and enough of those people have to be buyers.

But we can't all attack the golf niche, however profitable it looks. There's a lot of competition in the Internet marketing niche, so if you're getting into that you need to be good AND interested.

So that's why I've recently started a blog about cycling. Actually, about cycling and life.

Riding the coast to coast again this year has reminded me how much I enjoy long trips and big challenges. Commenting on a few cycling forums has reminded me how much I've learned and how useful my experiences can be for other people. I reckon I've been alive long enough to be able to talk about life, too.

And some of the lessons of cycling translate very well into my general thinking about life and living it as well.

So I'm talking about cycling, in my new blog 'Be Stronger Tomorrow'. I have other plans for that phrase, that I'll reveal in good time, but it comes from the literal truth that a hard ride today really does make you stronger tomorrow. Literally tomorrow.

Have a look and let me know what you think.

And meanwhile, think about your passions and how you could relate them to your business, if you're not already.

Roy

Positively Invigorating

Hello again

Today, I'm not going to talk about marketing.

Spending the past weekend cycling coast to coast (that's the English coast to coast, from Irish Sea to North Sea, not California to New England) gave me some much-needed time away from the computer and all things Internet-related.

It was a great ride and the weather was perfect, thanks - even in the highest village in England where we enjoyed an excellent Bed and Breakfast, and over the highest passes.

Is that fortune favouring the brave or the sun shining on the righteous?

Anyway, I still managed to learn a few things about achieving a vision, mainly through sheer determination, despite myself.

Firstly, the C2C, as it's known, is a masterpiece of coordinated effort and the triumph of a clear vision over huge difficulties. Establishing such a stunning, permanent, almost traffic-free route over 136 miles of this crowded little country is a great achievement. We met plenty of other people tackling the route who must be equally impressed, even as they cursed yet another steep hill.

Secondly, testing ourselves by taking the route on shows how our own determination can bring us personal triumph, too. Of course, most people tackling a hilly 136 miles will have trained for it, but it still hurts!

And frankly, if we can put our bodies through that and come out smiling, we should soon start to believe we can do just about anything we set our minds to.

So, nothing about marketing today, but instead a little about goal-setting and vision and how just those can carry us further than we might have believed.

Roy

PS. Just about everyone we met on the route was friendly and encouraging. We were all in it together in a way, while all fighting our own battles and doing it in our won, unique way. But the point is that being friendly and encouraging is a pretty sure sign of a positive attitude and that's what it really takes to not give up, as always...