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In her chapters she explains that one of the biggest stand out qualities of successful people, is their ability to “THINK DIFFERENTLY”. To emphasis the point she talks about a television ad produced by Apple computers in 1998. Do you remember see it?

In case you don’t I will explain it to you… The ads featured a montage of black and white videos of people such as Albert Einstein, Richard Branson, Amelia Earhart, Gandhi, Martin
Luther King, and Picasso. While this is playing some very soft and flowing music begins to play. Then a voiceover kicks in with the words of a prolific poem.

I really wanted to share the words with you, so I did some googling and it popped up. It is called “Here’s to the crazy ones”. I hope you like it…

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.

The rebels.

The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules.

And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,

disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.

They explore. They create. They inspire.

They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?

Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?

Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,

we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think

they can change the world, are the ones who do.

After putting together 15 Secret Exposed books there are certain names that pop up again and again through peoples chapters as they talk about their ‘hero’ or ‘inspiration’.

As you would probably guess at the top of that list is Richard Branson, with people crediting part of their success to his rebel spirit that echoes through everything he does.

However, another hero at the top of the list to many, especially the contributors of the books Secrets of Female Entrepreneurs Exposed and Secrets of Inspiring Women Exposed, is Anita Roddick, founder of ‘The Body Shop’.

This morning I woke to the news that at the relative young age of 64. Anita Roddick passed away but not without leaving an indelible footprint on the world.

The daughter of Italian immigrants, Roddick saw her business ‘The Body Shop’ mushroom into an empire of more than 2,000 stores serving more than 77 million customers in 51 different markets.

But more so than her business and financial success, it was Roddick’s almost cult like following and her extremely loyal customer base that was the envy of every major corporation on the planet. With her mission statement being - “To dedicate our business to the pursuit of social and environmental change”, it was clear there was always a bigger purpose to everything she did.

When asked Roddick said it was her mother’s frugality during World War II that inspired her to being campaigning for environmental issues and question retail conventions.

“We reused everything, we refilled everything and we recycled all we could. The foundation of The Body Shop’s environmental activism was born out of ideas like these,” she wrote on her website. And this was all before recycling and environmental awareness was fashionable.

So for me, it was be her success off the business field that will become her real and lasting legacy. Roddick ‘walked her talk’ she campaigned against human rights abuses and was an environmental activist.

To read the full story of Anita Roddick, get a copy of ‘Business As Unusual’, which is available in all good bookstores and of course through ‘The Body Shop’.

Anyway on the list of question to answer was is one What is Success?

It is a rather interesting question because you can answer it in so many ways, can’t you. Well here is my answer, I hope you like it.

Dale, what is success to you?

Of course everyone has there own definition and interpretation of success. For me success is about three words; Balance, Happiness and Impact.

Firstly, there are many different facets to a persons life. It is a waste of time being a multi-millionaire if youre unhealthy, your marriage is in taters, you have a poor relationship with your kids and you do nothing for your community really, what is the point. I believe that for a person to be truly successful they must take some time to focus on each aspect of their life. It doesn’t mean every area needs to be a perfect 10 (nobody is), however it is important to keep things balanced and in the right perspective.

Secondly, people need to focus on doing things that are going to make them happy. Don’t wait because weeks quickly become months and months quickly become years! Maybe it is a dream holiday with the family, taking up a sport or hobby or time with special friends. Remember this saying, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.”

And thirdly, at the end of our lives I believe that we should be able to say I gave more to the world than I took from it. So for me, making a difference and having an impact on people is an important thing. And I really see the things that I am doing now as just the beginning.

Just in case you missed our success tip from last week, I thought I would share it with you again, as I know so many people got a great amount of value from it! It comes from Robyn Henderson, who is one of the contributors in Secrets of Great Public Speakers Exposed!

Enjoy!

Dale

This week’s Success Tip comes from Robyn Henderson. In 1992, Robyn authored and self-published her first book on Networking and within a short period of time became a ‘Global Networking Specialist’ and a popular speaker in dozens of different countries. Today she continues her love for speaking, plus combined it with her other passion of writing, where she has authored more than 15 books. Having delivered thousand of presentations, Robyn has some useful advice that comes directly from her chapter in Secrets of Great Public Speakers Exposed!

Robyn, what are some of the more common mistakes novice speakers make?

Having been a professional speaker for the past 14 years, I have seen a lot of speakers and I have seen a lot of simple mistakes made by both new and experienced speakers. Some common mistakes include:

1. Trying to squash too much content into your presentation – many people who get up in front of the room may have worked in an industry for ten or more years and think they have to include every single thing they know in a one-hour talk. You’ll discover it’s far less stressful on both you and your audience to concentrate and expand upon just a few key points. This helps to embed the learning and is usually much more effective than covering so much ground that you leave the audience’s heads spinning.
2. Going over your allocated time – surprisingly, when you get into a speech you often reel off way more information than you planned to, and often underestimate the level of audience participation. This makes it easy to get carried away but you must keep an eye on the time. You are never to go overtime, no discussion at all on this. If you go over time you are taking someone else’s time, be it the audience or another speaker, and you have no right to do that.
3. Not giving a handout to an audience, even if you are not being paid for the presentation – respect any and every presentation and treat it like the most important speech you’ve done. This means giving the same resources you would if being paid (this may be a simple one-page handout that adds value and also lets people know where to find further information).
4. Thinking you are better than anyone else in the room – well, you are not! Often this comes from a misguided belief about why you are at the front of the room. If you are not coming from a genuine position of wanting to help by sharing information and ideas then you might want to examine your motives. Remember, a speaker’s role is to serve their audience and the greater service you can be of to people, the greater speaker you will be.
5. Arriving late to the venue, being unprepared and not knowing enough about the industry or profession of the audience – this basically says you do not care enough about your audience. If you can’t commit to being on time and researching your audience then don’t commit to the presentation.
6. Telling stories that go on for too long and have no relevance to the point you are making – the only purpose of a story is to make or reinforce a point. If it doesn’t, leave it out and find one that does. Also, there is a difference between delivering a speech and delivering a training session. A good speech can deliver a story in 40 seconds that might take ten minutes to deliver in a training session.
7. Using quotes and stories from speakers or authors and not acknowledging them as the source – this is self-explanatory and as Brian Tracy once said, ‘…always acknowledge your sources. First because it’s the right thing to do and second, if it’s wrong you can blame somebody else’.
8. Thinking that you can charge top money for poor quality presentations – there’s a tried and true rule which can basically explain every business success or failure throughout history and that rule is to always ‘under promise and over deliver’. If you concentrate on being the absolute best you can be and deliver massive value, then the money will eventually find you. Speakers that over promise and under deliver, in my opinion, do more damage to themselves and the industry as a whole than they realise.
9. Not walking your talk – many speakers deliver material that is completely inconsistent with who they are or what they do off stage. A classic example of this could be a very stressed person talking about work/life balance.
10. Criticising other speakers publicly – remember what your mother told you, ‘If you can’t say something nice about someone…’ Criticising other speakers or telling derogatory stories about people without seeking their permission, which of course they would not give, is totally unprofessional.

To read more from Robyn Henderson and discover all the secrets to master the art of public speaking, order your personal copy of Secrets of Great Public Speakers Exposed at:

www.SecretsExposed.com.au/gpsletter

On Wednesday, we took a boat out to view a number of the other islands which was a totally amazing experience. This was my first time to Fiji so everything was a surprise and there was lots to explore.

One thing that I will certainly remember from trip is the friendliness of the local people that we met. I have been to a lot of places but never experienced such genuine warmth and people that really take the time to get to know you and do what they can to bring a smile to your face.

Below are a couple of photos and later on in the next month or so we will add a new section to our photo gallery where you will be able to see more photos from our trip.

We are about to head home, with a lot of preparation coming up for our new baby. So we will definitely appreciate the holiday time we have had and the sleep!

Talk to you soon,

Dale

After some brief pleasantries and the usual announcements, to kick the morning off each attendee stated a “Thought of the Day”. This was followed by a brief speech from one of the members and then it was onto me for the main event. It was great to have the opportunity to share some of the things that I have learnt by putting together the Secrets Exposed series and people seemed to really enjoy it. However, I was totally blown away when at the end of my presentation audience members one-by-one came up and presented me with these cards. Here is a couple of examples….

This was a touching experience and of course I was extremely grateful. But then on the drive home I started to think, when was the last time I wrote an “Applause Card”?�

There is an old saying that goes “Recognition - Babies cry for it and grown men die for it” and it so true.

Often we think good things about people but that is all we do - THINK. We don’t take that extra step and actually make the effort to say what we think and feel about a person. What I have realised is that no matter how big and successful you think a person is they probably need to hear what you have to say more than you know. Often times it may look as though they have it together, but in actual fact they are human just like you and even the smallest comment or gesture can go a really long way.

So that is the first challenge to speak up and SAY SOMETHING. The next challenge is to put pen to paper because as they say nothing is more powerful than the written word.

So now here is my challenge to you… Go ahead and make someone’s day!

Dale

I just thought I would give you another update on how our pregnancy is going! Katherine is now at 29 weeks (as I am sure you can see from the photo below). Getting closer now! Below is a bit about where our baby is up to in terms of growth.

Thanks again for your support, will keep you updated!

Dale Beaumont

"Your baby is now developing a special layer of fat called brown adipose tissue (or BAT). BAT is your baby’s main source of heat production after birth (similar to the fat of hibernating animals). Newborns have a limited ability to shiver, sweat or move to regulate their own body temperature. By 40 weeks, BAT makes up 2 to 7 % of your baby’s total body weight. Premature babies have trouble keeping warm after birth because they lack BAT. This is why they are cared for with overhead heaters or humidicribs in intensive care nurseries."

A few weeks ago I was in Melbourne, and as I often do, I had a quick look in a few bookstores. I am now pleased to announce that my books are taking over whole shelves in bookstores! Below is a picture I took, which shows many of our new titles that are now available.

Make sure you keep an eye out when visiting your local bookstores, and stay tuned for when we release some more new books this year!

Speak to you soon.

Dale Beaumont

Last week in our Weekly Success Tips Newsletter we shared with you some ideas and advice from Lisa Messenger, who is featured in our book Secrets of Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed!

In case you missed it, we wanted to share it with you again. Enjoy!

This week’s Success Tip comes from Lisa Messenger. Coming from a background in sponsorship and marketing, in 2004 she authored and produced a beautiful photographic book, Happiness Is…, which supported Kids Help Line. This success led to her being named a finalist in the Telstra Business Woman of the Year in 2005 and 2006. She has also co-authored best selling business book Cubicle Commando. In this ‘Success Tip’ Lisa Messenger shares some useful advice that comes directly from her chapter in Secrets of Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed!

What are your top tips for success?

Dream big – chase your dreams until they become reality and don’t be afraid of your passions. If you believe in them enough, you will find an inner strength to achieve them.

Don’t procrastinate – try not to postpone anything for the wrong reason. If you have to put something off, make sure it’s because the time really isn’t right, not because you’re too afraid to start.

Ban negative thinking – become aware of the negative patterns you are perpetuating and de-program them. Replace them with positive habits to create a new way of living.

Maintain a positive outlook – believe that you can take on the world – you can! Remain focused and don’t let anyone drag you down. Wherever possible, break from convention and take risks.

Find a level of inner peace – believe in a higher power that will take you beyond your emotional and intellectual boundaries. You may surprise yourself by how exciting the journey of personal discovery can be.

Find a strong team – surround yourself with the best people. Create a brilliant team with brilliant minds.

Dump – leave behind anything you are not passionate about. Pursuing ideas that don’t sit well with your personal philosophy or ethics is a waste of time and a drain on your energy.

Delegate – pass on anything that doesn’t require top-level strategic thinking. That way you can keep yourself clear for important projects, to think and to dream.

De-stress – deal with any issues that could become unmanageable as they arise. I have found that this is a great way to alleviate stress. I have also found it useful to create an effective ‘switch-off ’ mechanism when I’m out of the office. I have an extremely full life with golf, tennis, boxing, kayaking, writing (I am currently working on a novel and co-authoring six non-fiction books), meditation, walking and going to the movies to keep me de-stressed. I’ll pretty much try anything once and have managed to create an amazing work/life balance.

Know who you are and what you want … I can now say that I am content and accepting of who I am. I now have a greater awareness of my values and my beliefs. I think it is important to look deep within yourself to realise who you truly are, where you came from and what made you the person you are today.

Love what you do … if you don’t like what you are doing now, change it! Refuse to live a discontented life.

Never give up … sometimes knowing what we want is the hardest part of life. But when I know what it is that I want, I have an uncanny knack of never giving up until I have made it happen. I have so many dreams and never want to close myself off to opportunities. I suppose that is the true essence of an entrepreneurial mind-set.

To read more from Lisa Messenger order your personal copy of Secrets of Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed at:

http://www.Secrets-Exposed.com.au/eu40letter