Why How People Learn is Crucial to Your Business

In my printed newsletter from July, (If you’re not getting my FREE printed monthly newsletter, click here to sign up!) I promised you that I’d  explain the 4 Top Secret Ways in which people learn and why these are crucial to your business. Eben Pagan introduced me to these learning styles at his Guru Workshop in LA, and he got these from Dr.  Wyatt Woodsmall.  He’s a certified master trainer and master modeler in NLP and has over 25 years experience in behavior modeling and training.

Discovering these styles was a fascinating revelation to me, not only because we all learn differently, but the fact that we can then use these in our businesses.  This is really highly important and crucial information to you and your business, so don’t take this lightly.  You’re probably asking yourself right now, “Well why is this important to me?”  It’s important because knowing these different learning styles, you can then ensure that they are incorporated in your marketing, advertising and when you write ads, sales letters, create presentations, write a self-help book, when you coach, or even when you create information products. By using these, you”ll be reaching a lot more people because you’ll be appealing to the way they learn, read and understand information. So these are key, especially when you’re creating an information product!

Here are the 4 Ways People Learn:

1. WHY: Why should I learn this? (1/3^rd of people learn this way) These people area always  asking themselves – “why is this important to me?” They’re also asking “Why do I need to know this?” These people need to be motivated and need to know what the outcome is, what they will achieve and what challenges they will avoid by doing such and such. So, when you are thinking about your product be sure to address the – why one should be doing this.
2. WHAT:  What am I learning? People who learn this way are abstract thinkers, and usually have a higher level of education. These people want to know the history, philosophy, psychology and even theory behind your product. They need to see the whole picture, the process, and the features in order to buy into your product. A lot of these thinkers are college professors.
3. HOW:  What is the step by step process? These people are not concerned with the What and the Why they just want to know the the step by step process of “How” to do it. In order for them to buy in, they have to understand  “how it” works.  So give them step 1, 2 and 3 of exactly what they need to do to take advantage of your offer, or solve their problem, etc.
4. WHAT IF:  I get it, so let’s just do it. These people are mainly entrepreneurs, they see the whole picture and what the outcome could be and want to just dive in. So, you need to give them the one thing they need to do right now.

So how can we apply this to your business?  If your goal is to get as many people as possible to see what you have to offer, then you must appeal to the masses. And in order to do this, you need to structure all of your copy to meet the needs of every learning type. Here is why you need to do this. Here are the actions you need to take. Here is what it is. Now go and do it. So, make sure you adress these learning styles in your text, in your product, course and on your web site.  These 4 learning styles could really help you and your business, so go out now and implement them!

How to Fuel and Grow Your Business with Your Mistakes

Have you ever sent out an email to a bunch of folks and later found out that there was an egregious typo, or maybe you got a fact wrong, or maybe you forgot a word, or had a wrong date and on an on?  The worst of it is that you didn’t find it, that one of your prospects, or maybe it was one of your clients took time out to tell you about your error.

Well I can tell you from going through this experience more than once, it’s no fun making mistakes, simple ones like typos in your advertising, or in your email, and even more complex ones like picking the wrong business partner or backing the wrong product and it goes bust on you.

The one thing I discovered and that’s what I wanted to share with you is the best way to look at your mistakes is ask yourself this question? What’s the worst thing that could happen from this mistake?  Now be forewarned your mind will go to some pretty interesting and maybe even some scary places. This is what my new colleague Noah St. John calls beware of your “head trash.” (He’s the author of the newly published book – The Secret Code of Success.) You’ve got a lot gunk up in them there hills of your mind that’s embedded many experiences good and bad from childhood.  The best way to use this exercise is to stop your mind and realistically look at the worst thing that could happen. So in my case, because that’s really why I’m writing.  I made a pretty good mistake in my last newsletter. I went through the exercise and realized probably the worst thing that could happen is those who read it thought I was a little off my rocker, or couldn’t add, or worst yet, I was lost in time… So let me tell you what my mistake was in my newsletter. (The funny thing is so far only one person caught it and told me about it.) In my main article about my workshop with Jeff Walker, I said how I went to his training 2 years ago in 1997. I’m thinking I was channeling 1997, had some great memories, but the point is I should have said it was back in 2007. So… that was my big mistake. And yes, I do have an editor who looks over my newsletter, among many other things and we still didn’t catch it. Go figure!

My moral of the story is we’re only human. I make mistakes just like the next person. I would hope you’d walk away with some great lessons-

1-     Don’t let making a mistake stop or paralyze you from taking a chance or doing something you want to do.

2-     When you make mistake, always ask yourself what’s the worst thing that can happen

3-     At all costs, fix the mistake, or mend the bridge, or figure out a way to deal with and handle the worst thing that can happen.

4-     Irony would have it, when making mistakes, lots of times you’re better off having made them simply because of the wonderful learning experience you can turn it into.

Lastly, I decided to give away a free gift for all those who caught my mistake, as a mea culpa and I’ll work on doing better next time.  I just recorded a call with Valerie Young, ChangingCourse.com.  I did this special bonus call for her students who are training to be Outside the Job Box Experts. They work with you to help you discover your passion and find the best career for you.  It was The 7 Easy Ways to Economically Get New Clients, and to Easily Boost Your New Business In A Down Economy. To access this mp3 recording, just click here.

I always try to look at mistakes now as learning opportunities, hence I wrote about it here. I’d love to hear your storiesand how you’ve made lemonade out of some lemons. Here’s to turning our mistakes into awesome learning and discovery tools….