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This is the third and final in a series about Nido Qubein and his book, Stairway to Success.

Developing a plan for success involves three things:

1. Setting Goals
2. Setting Priorities
3. Developing Strategies

“Good personal planning involves no more than determining how you will get from your present circumstances to the future you have created through your vision.” - Nido Qubein

I tend to set pretty ambitious goals for myself, and I do so by writing or printing them out and hanging them around my office. Up until last week I listed goals on my blog for page views and other meaningless stats. I have since pulled those off because I personally think those are the wrong goals to have because of their small measurable impact. I am instead working on a new set of goals that I might not publicly post for this blog and its growth. Goals are a must and should be taken vary seriously.

“Wisdom ofttimes consists of knowing what to do next.” - Herbert Hoover

Setting priorities gives you a place of reference when you come to a situation in which you are unsure of where to go. Knowing your goals and making them your priority makes day to day decisions easier. Suppose your goal is to save $2,000 and you are buying Christmas gifts for your family and extended family. It is easy to want to splurge on the people you love even if it goes against your goal of saving money. Is there a way to save money and still buy / create gifts for your family? Of course there is. It might take a little more imagination than cruising the isles of Best Buy, but it can be done.

More important, the issue of saving money vs. buying Christmas presents for your family shouldn’t even be an issue. Nido talks about the different levels of planning and problems. Most problems like the one above can be addressed early and then shouldn’t ever be an issue down the road at Christmas time. If you plan ahead with your goals and set priorities you should be able to navigate your way through most problems fairly easily.

“There usually are half a dozen right answers to “What needs to be done?” Yet unless a [person] makes the risky and controversial choice of only one, he will achieve nothing.” - Peter F. Drucker

Developing your strategies for success in any area of your life is like having a playbook in sports. Could you imagine if a professional sports team just said: “Aw…this week, let’s just wing it and see what happens”? My guess and I am sure yours as well would say they are guaranteed to lose.

Your strategies should meet these criteria:

• They must specify actions to be taken.
• They must specify the person or persons who is to take the actions.
• They must establish a time for beginning the actions.
• They must establish a deadline for completing the actions.
• They must establish criteria for determining when the actions have been satisfactorily completed.

This can be addressed pretty easily by stating what the problem or goal is that you are trying to achieve or overcome. Then developing a plan of action to tackle that issues in a systematic and bit sized way. You need to set an “end game” for that issue when you get to your defined goal or conclusion.

I have brought you through roughly half of the book Stairway to Success by Nido Qubein. If you would like to learn more, I would highly suggest buying it or checking it out of your local library. Although I did not read this book before I started out on my own quest for success in business and life, I have been using many of the same techniques learned by other teachers and writings. I think this book has the plan well laid out and is a solid package of advice for building upon your success in any facet of your life.

Here are the first two parts, Nido Qubein Part 1 and Nido Qubein Part 2

It was a fight to the finish as the top 3 commenters battled it out to see who would walk away with $50 and copy of Tim Ferriss’s Book The Four Hour Work Week. Here is how it breaks down:

Winners

1. BM (422)
2. Sherry (416)
3. Wiehanne (328)

Prizes

1. $50 and Tim Ferriss’s book
2. $30
3. $20

I was originally only going to give the Top Commenter a prize, but since these three were so far ahead of anyone else I offered a 2nd and 3rd place prize as well. I am glad they didn’t collaborate to stop on an exact number and all win the $50 (that would have been evil ). All in all there were 1411 comments for the month and I feel that is a success and definitely a new record for my blog. Thank you everyone.

The RSS subscriber that was chosen by Random.org was Doug Labrosse. There were 162 possible winners because you had to be subscribed by email to either my newsletter or RSS feed. The number chosen was 96.

Overall the contest was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting 100 emails in my inbox from all the new comments some mornings. I also learned not to hold a contest that ends on the day you have to move out of one place and into another. Sorry for any confusion to the commenters who were frantically trying to figure out who won. I still don’t have Internet at my new place and have to work from my remote office at Dunn Bros. Coffee in Fargo (if you are around swing by I might be here).

Here is a compiled list of recent Marketing Ideas for many different occasions starting with the newest Marketing Idea.

Marketing Ideas #5 Cut Prices - I find it amazing how well cutting prices works to lure people into a store. The problem with the price cut war is eventually everyone gets in on it and those that don’t cut prices get cut out by the customers. This year retailers have cut prices quick and early to attract customers into their stores.

Marketing Ideas #4 Do a guest post - Guest posts are a great way to introduce yourself or your product to a new audience. I believe any time someone asks if you are willing to do a guest post, you should jump at the chance. Yesterday, I did a guest post for Eric on Marketing.fm. If you would like to hear me talk about Social Network management you can head on over and check it out.

Marketing Ideas #3 telephone conference series - One realm I have never ventured into is that of a telephone conference series or packaging a product on mp3 or DVD. I have seen the effectiveness of marketing via these methods and the ability to upsale people on bigger and better versions of the same series later on consultant fees.

Marketing Ideas #2 Black Friday “Free treats for all” - As black Friday and the mad shopping spree from Thanksgiving to Christmas approaches, stores are getting desperate. The more desperate they get, the better deals you will find. Already, I have seen sites posting stores like Best Buy and JC Penny’s with Black Friday sales coupons. You can always visit BlackFriday.info to find the best collection of coupons.

Marketing Ideas #1 Thanksgiving Game - Sometimes the turkey just isn’t ready. Now, instead of awkwardly looking at all your family and extended family members you can pass that time with a new Thanksgiving Game.

Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas for your business - “Taking advantage of targeted advertising next to online recipes for holiday favorites is a great way to get your brand at the top of every shopper’s grocery list this year. When a consumer goes online to look up recipes on how to roast their Thanksgiving turkey, will they be thinking Butterball, Norbest or Honeysuckle White?

Starbucks new Gold Card marketing strategy - Just the other day I noticed Starbucks had started a new promotion, the Starbucks Gold Card. Although, it is not quite like the Centurion Black Card, it is on the right track. If you have seen this card or have purchased one, let me know your thoughts about the promotion. Do you like it or dislike it? Are you interested in getting one? Play the video below to hear my thoughts on the Starbucks Gold Card.

Seesmic marketing - What do you do when you don’t have a lot of time to express your thoughts and ideas? 1. You can hire an extremely fast typist and have them pound it out for you

Halloween Marketing Ideas - I have been seeing a lot of searches landing on my blog for Halloween Marketing Ideas and really wonder what people are tying to marketing on Halloween (or there about). Here are a few of my Halloween Marketing Ideas for various industries…

Real Estate Marketing Ideas - I don’t know if you have noticed, but the Real Estate market is taking a bit of a beating. When things in a market change so drastically in a sort time period, people have to get creative to preserve business and their way of life, none more is true than in real estate.

Quick Marketing Ideas - I am going to just throw out a few different marketing queries I have received to this blog and then reply as quickly as I can with marketing ideas. All of these are terms people have searched and found their way to my blog. I can’t promise that they found what they were looking for, although I hope they did. Just in case, here are my different marketing ideas for a variety of different areas.

Get CONNECTED with your audience - A list of 13 different ideas or ways to connect with your audience both on and offline.

Marketing ideas: allowing your product to advertise itself - We have all seen those great word of mouth campaigns that pay off huge for the creator of whatever was being talked about. The latest of these was The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.

Stop throwing money at marketing - And start changing the way you go about marketing.

My one month test and a new Marketing Ideas newsletter - Over the last month give or take I have been running a test for this blog to determine what kind of traffic and visitors I would receive if I put the least amount of effort into running my blog.

Are You Taking Advantage of Auxiliary Services? - There’s a very simple question that many marketers and businesses fail to ask themselves: “What do people need?”

The rainy day marketing strategy - As I write this blog it has been raining in the state of North Dakota. You wouldn’t know it but old man winter is already beginning to show his face around here. Not to mention that he left about 3 months ago. That got me thinking of a marketing idea that I would try if I owned a more traditional brick and mortar business.

How to market yourself - I got a comment recently from Jacqueline who mentioned that she had no problem marketing other people’s products and services but lacked in marketing her own. Since I am actually planning on talking about this subject with local business owners, I figured I might as well start practicing here.

3 Lessons of marketing deployment - I put together a short list of things I need to remind myself from time to time. These are just a couple of examples that make business, marketing and products all the more better when done right.

Is it your first time here? And another marketing idea. - Welcome to TEABERRY! As some of you know, I write to you primarily from Fargo, North Dakota, and like to share some marketing ideas I can easily take pictures of. This brings us back to TEABERRY in downtown Fargo.

Effective Marketing Online - Anybody with millions of dollars in their advertising budget can run a huge and effective marketing campaign, but how do you run an effective marketing campaign online for free? First off, none of these marketing techniques are new by any means, but they do sometimes get overlooked. So without further adieu, I present my top 5 effective marketing tips online.

We have all seen those great word of mouth campaigns that pay off huge for the creator of whatever was being talked about. The latest of these was The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.

Everyone knows the cast was loaded with amazing actors but due to the untimely death of one of them, the film received a tremendous amount of publicity. The turn of events that took place shot the movie to a huge opening that will remain on the top 10 list for a very long time.

Advertising budget spent on a better product

I mention Dyson on here from time to time because I feel it went the route of product innovation vs. mass advertisement. Dyson’s sell themselves. It’s true. People are completely convinced paying a couple hundred dollars more for a Dyson is money well spent, even the people who only vacuum once a month. What is the cost break down per use at that rate I wonder?

Sacha Baron Cohen up to it again

Every time Sacha Baron Cohen starts a new project, we hear about it. He goes on crazy antics that get him thrown out of stadiums, pulls one over on celebrities, gets sued by college kids, you name it. The fact that his name is in the news only enables more and more people to learn about his upcoming projects.

Lines at Apple stores nationwide

We have all seen the news on the day or night before the launch of a new Apple product with lines that wrap around the block. Everyone gets so excited they can hardly wait one extra day to beat the madness or not be one of the first to own their shiny new ______.

Giving your product legs to walk with

The key is the ability to give your product or service legs to walk with. Some great ways to enable word of mouth to spread is to give people something to talk about. Tie your product in with a charity event or organization. Have an impromptu contest around some special occasion whether it’s a holiday or an internal celebration. Perhaps, allow a specialized coupon to leak to others. Remember when Starbucks offered friends and family of employees a free coffee and everyone forwarded the email on to everyone else in the world? I am sure it was all planned. Be creative and have fun, make people smile, think and share their experiences.

*Note: do not read this unless you want to hear a lot of griping, I mean a lot.

In the last two weeks we have seen the most handouts ever given to a bunch of private investors in our country to make up for the investors’ mistakes.

(Gripe time)

This is a bunch of BS! If you and I make a bad investment mistake, no one is going to cover our losses. But the idiots in charge of our country throw out crazy statements like: “The investors are too big to fail” or “We have to protect the market.” Then they turn around and do the worst thing possible, BAIL THESE COMPANIES OUT!

I am going to go and bash my head against the wall for a minute. Be right back.

Whew, now I feel a little better. All of these bailouts are done with our (taxpayers’) money. This might be ok if there was any say in the matter, but there isn’t. I can’t go to a town hall meeting and state my position, nor can I write my representative or senator and gripe to them. In the end, there is no oversight on how the government chooses to spend OUR money.

During the last two weeks we have seen approximately $400,000,000,000 (Yes, 400 BILLION) used to bail out the banks, insurance companies and investment firms, including adding liquidity to the market (meaning: giving these same people cheap, cheap money, the same cheap money that got us into this mess to begin with). This means every man, woman and child in the United States is now $1,333 more in debt in addition to the $88,000+ that each family is in debt already. Who gave the government the right to decide what to do with my money and my future?

In reality, the government has no money to loan to these companies, so instead the government borrows money from the PRIVATE federal reserve (it is neither federal nor does it have reserves) at interest and bails out the investors with that money. This means our income tax and debt burden just increased because a small group of people made some very bad investment decisions. Am I the only one going crazy here?

Next time you are paying $4.00+ per gallon of gas or milk you can thank our own government for the mess. Regardless of what anyone says or who they blame it on, it is our own fault for electing people into office who don’t care about any of us.

Now that is over. Here are some videos people might find interesting.

Dollar Collapse - Peter Schiff - Freddie And Fannie Socialist Bailout = Hyperinflation

Listen to Peter Schiff the voice of reason.

History of the federal reserve

Money, Banking and the federal reserve

85 Billion Bail Out for AIG

AIG Bail Out: Another After-Hours Party as the Fed