I like Simon, one of three judges on American Idol. I find his feedback refreshingly honest. And while his words startle me with their ego wounding potential, the traditional feel-good, let-you-down-easy, sugar-coated feedback is not much of a gift. It’s hard to tell someone they’re not good enough and their dreams are not going to happen, at least in this venue. But not telling them is no gift either. Some contestants rise to the challenges he throws at them. Some don’t. And, some can’t. Which one are you?

The people who influenced me most in my career were those who gave me the hardest critiques. Stricken with a bruised-ego for days, or on occasion for months, inevitably their feedback helped me make the right life choices to improve, change direction, or stay the course with intensity. In fact, the boss who was the hardest on me is the one I thank the most. Good was not good enough if I was capable of better, and she was quick to point out when that was. No sugar coating from her. And the funny thing? When I was honest with myself, I knew she was right.

Being honest with yourself is one of the challenges to winning at working. We all have talents and abilities, but they’re not always in the areas we pursue at work. Too many people I’ve run across in my career have American Idol Syndrome (AIS). Like Idol contestants auditioning with little or no singing ability, these people believe they are good at what they do. They can’t understand why they don’t get the promotion, the outstanding review, or the highest increases. They view themselves as varsity team material, but they play with junior varsity skills.
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A very efficient method to advertise your professional services, the products you are selling or simply to show how educated you are in a particular niche is by using the highly beneficial method of article marketing.

These articles that enclose at the end a short presentation of you or your business can be about various solution to actual problems, about everyday life or any other topic that will interest and inform a reader about the subject. There are many sites to which you can submit these articles to, or if you have a database of your customers’ emails, just drop them an email containing the article and a link to your personal site or professional site. Over time, it is hoped that your article will be syndicated on websites throughout the internet.

The articles can generally be copied from one article submission site to the other as long as the content belongs to you and you are not stealing someone else’s work. There is a huge demand for content on the internet, it’s what keeps the search engines hungry, and with so many website owners and ezine publishers regularly looking for fresh content, chances are that your article will not only be used on article directories but also on several other sites.

The more interesting and informative an article is, the more people will read and remember it. Even if you don’t have experience with writing, there are some benefits that may persuade you to give it a try:

- It may improve the way you convey your thoughts on a subject.
- It will bring your website visibility.
- If it’s written well it will may help someone.
- You can prove your knowledge in your professional areas.

Publishing articles means they have to contain mostly useful information and just a little bit of advertising. If they don’t follow this rule, you might end up with an un-publishable article. The promotion area of the article is usually meant for the end of that article, known as the “resource box”. As an article directory owner myself, I know that there are many authors who insist on placing links to their website throughout the article, but I would suggest that having an informative article with the links to “futher information” in the resource box is a much clearer and better structured approach.
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Bulk vending machines are everywhere. It is what you sell through these machines that will make or break your business. Of course, the location is important as well, but there are so many different kinds of candy and other products you can sell through the vending machines that it is hard to decide what you should start with. Candy and giant gumballs go over well, as do the bulk vending machines that sell a prize.

There are almost as many bulk vending distributors as there are products that you can sell. These distributors have different models of bulk candy machines. Some of them are single machines, but you can get combo machines where you sell three different products in one machine. The reason they are called bulk vending machines is that they can hold a lot of candy or other products, which means you don’t have to restock them as often.

Usually bulk candy machines dispense a handful of small candy. Although the candy doesn’t last very long, it is a thrill for small children to put in a quarter and receive the candy. They will often want to spend more than one quarter in the bulk vending machines because they are amazed at how it works. You will most likely see these machines where parents take small children, even though adults like the candy from the vending machines too.
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I have become a huge Apprentice fan. Thursday evenings you’ll find me glued to the television, excited, focused and wondering who will be fired next. I’m willing to bet that many of my readers share that obsession.

Whenever I talk about Getting Past the Palace Guard, the secretaries, receptionists, assistants, voice mail, anyone and/or anything that blocks access, I’ve taken to pointing to Donald Trump. The question I ask: “If Donald Trump were to call your prospect and that prospect’s secretary were to say to him, ‘What is this in reference to?’ what do you think Donald Trump would say?”

This question always occasions much conversation. The general consensus of opinion, however, is that Donald Trump would probably say, “This is Donald Trump. Is she there?”

Another example: If Barbra Streisand calls Steven Spielberg at DreamWorks and Steven’s secretary says to her, “What is this in reference to?” here is what Barbara will not say: “I’m a singer and an actress and a producer and maybe you’ve seen some of my movies?” She would probably say, “This is Barbra Streisand. Is he there?”

I know that many of you will now say to me, “But Wendy, I’m not famous.” It doesn’t matter. I’m willing to bet that Donald Trump and Barbra Streisand would have said exactly the same thing 30 years ago before they were famous. I’m willing to bet that 30 years ago they had almost the same self-confidence, assurance and sense of entitlement that they have now. It was that self-confidence, assurance and sense of entitlement that helped them get to where they are now.

Let’s switch gears for a moment and talk about your prospects. What type of people are they? They are bosses. What does it mean to be a boss? How does a boss behave? First of all, bosses are decision-makers. That’s what we call them and that’s what they do. They are used to making decisions. They also have at least some authority to be able to implement their decisions. They give direction and expect the direction to be followed. More than likely, at least in their business persona, they have self-confidence and assurance. These are all traits that bosses or leaders share and these traits influence how a boss or a leader behaves.
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