Podcast appearances and mentions of ray bard

Twenty-nine years ago, Carl Sagan wrote a book called The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995).One of the observations Carl shared in that book is particularly troubling:“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”Twenty-nine years later, half the nation is traumatized by an old white guy they believe will destroy America. The other half is traumatized by a different old white guy they believe will destroy America.When did old white guys become so scary?Why do we have these feelings of impending doom?During the Covid crisis we lived in an unfamiliar world for more than a year, a world of continual anxiety.Half of America was traumatized by the threat of vaccines and masks. The other half was traumatized by the people who rejected vaccines and masks. All the places that made us feel normal were closed. Restaurants and churches and schools and movie theaters and sporting events and theme parks and weddings were memories of a past life.When our circumstances returned to normal, we, ourselves, did not. The boat was gone, but the wake remained. It is hard to swim in rough and choppy waters.According to mental health professionals, the wake of that boat is a condition called hyper-vigilance.Think of it as a sort of PTSD. Even now, something inside us remains crouched, ready for danger. Are you beginning to see why so many people are anxious and uncertain?I never experienced hyper-vigilance until I was 40. When I had completed my second book, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, I began to spend countless hours revising and rearranging it. In the mornings I would eliminate a comma, and in the afternoons I would put it back again.Ray Bard saw what was happening and spoke wisdom into my life.He smiled and said to me these words,“Roy, you're not making your book any better or worse. You're just making it slightly different. It's time to put down the pen. What you are experiencing happens to writers who take their craft seriously, and you obviously take your writing seriously. You are a wonderful writer. You have written a great book. But now it is time to lay down the pen.”Three weeks ago, I told that story to a close friend of mine who was trapped in a never-ending loop of revisions to a project he had been working on for more than a year. My friend is not a writer, but his project is just as big as mine, and his identity was all wrapped up in it, just as mine had been. He listened to my story of Ray Bard and the Pen and saw himself in it.I was able to open the door of his cage, just as Ray Bard had opened the door of mine.Whose cage door will you open today? Someone else's, or your own?Roy H. WilliamsBernie Madoff perpetrated the biggest Ponzi scheme in human history, and before he died in prison in 2021, he met Richard Behar face-to-face 3 times, had more than 50 phone conversations with him, and exchanged more than 300 emails. How did Bernie Madoff pull it off? Who were his accomplices? Why were his investors so gullible? And how can you make sure it never happens to you? You'll hear the answers to these questions and others, plus a couple of recordings of phone conversations between the two men, as investigative reporter Richard Behar reveals The Real Bernie Madoff to roving reporter Rotbart on this week's edition of MondayMorningRadio.com

You see a photo of a man in a blue jacket standing in front of McDonalds. That photo contains at least 3 pieces of information.Information is content.1. Man2. Blue Jacket3. McDonaldsContent without context is boring.That photograph was taken to encourage you and elevate your hope.Does that surprise you? It should, because you haven't been given any context.The man in that photo, Brian Scudamore, was a 19-year-old kid sitting in his car in exactly that spot in that McDonald's drive-thru line when he noticed a ratty old pickup truck that had rounded the corner a few vehicles ahead of him. Spray-painted on the side of that truck were the words “Junk Hauling” along with a telephone number. Brian thought, “I could do that,” and as those four words echoed in his brain – “I could do that” “I could do that” “I could do that” – the world's largest private junk removal service was born.Brian's company is about to break through the clouds into the sunlight of one billion dollars in annual revenue. Just below the bottom frameline of that photo, the logo for 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is monogrammed on that blue jacket.Ray Bard retired a few years ago, but people still speak in hushed tones about his genius.Brian Scudamore has that same kind of genius.Ray Bard put it into words for me several years ago while we were having lunch. He said, “Every dazzling success is made from four components, and everyone, everywhere has the first two.”I raised my eyebrows to indicate that I was listening.Ray said, “Number one is a Big Idea. Everyone has a Big Idea. Number two is Nuts & Bolts; the step-by-step, the how-to, along with a few examples that demonstrate the Big Idea. Everyone has a Big Idea and some Nuts & Bolts.”“Okay, what are numbers three and four?”“Number three is Entertainment.”I raised my eyebrows again.“Entertainment is the currency that will buy you the time and attention of a too-busy public. Information is the medicine they need, but entertainment – wit – charm – enchantment – are the spoonfuls of sugar that help the medicine go down.”“And number four?”“Number four is Hope. People don't just need advice, they need genuine encouragement. When you give them a glimpse of a future that is better than the past, when you help them see a tomorrow that is better than today, and they see it is within their grasp, you have done the only thing that any business ever needs to do.”Ray stopped talking and just looked at me.I looked back at him, waiting for him to continue. It was one of those moments when time stands still. I honestly can't tell you whether it was 15 seconds or 3 minutes, but it felt like forever.He finally said, “Roy, the objective of every business is to make someone happy.”Brian Scudamore knows that, and I think he may have been born knowing it.And now you know it, too.So here's the question: What are you going to do to make someone happy?Roy H. WilliamsPS – If information is content, then context is the framing of that information; the presentation of it, the backstory, the angle of approach that makes the information interesting. Your goal as a storyteller is revelation and delight, to pull back the curtain and reveal a mystery.

When a quality publishing house releases only one book a year, you know it will be a blockbuster. That's always been the case with award-winning Bard Press, which has brought out 18 business bestsellers over the past 25 years. This year the business boutique imprint has tapped authors Ed O'Malley and Julia Fabris McBride. Their book, When Everyone Leads: The Toughest Challenges Get Seen and Solved, offers a revolutionary model that allows everyone to claim the mantle of “leader,” no matter how high up or low down they are on the organizational chart. In When Everyone Leads, the authors lay out their five core tenets of leadership. Leadership is an activity, not a position Anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere Leadership starts with you and must engage others Leadership is risky Leadership is about your toughest challenges Ed and Julia know the genuine mechanisms of leadership. The two authors honed their insights into leadership at the Kansas Leadership Center, which they launched in 2007. Ed's background was in government and politics. Julia was an actor turned leadership coach. Working from the premise that the quality and quantity of leadership is the key determinant to prosperity, health, and success for organizations and communities, under their guidance the Kansas Leadership Center has empowered more than 15,000 individuals to set aside outdated concepts of leadership and anoint themselves pathfinders. As Ed and Julia explain to host and award-winning author Dean Rotbart, anyone can lead, anytime, anywhere. Is it your turn to step up? _____ Bard Press — founded by the incomparable Ray Bard and now piloted by veteran author, literary agent, editor, and blogger Todd Sattersten — picks winners. Among its most-recognized titles: The Gift of Struggle: Life-Changing Lessons About Leading by Bobby Herrera  The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness by Jeffrey Gitomer The Wizard of Ads: Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires by Roy Williams When Everyone Leads will soon take its place among the pantheon of Bard Press success stories. Photos: Julia Fabris McBride and Ed O'Malley, When Everyone LeadsPosted: January 30, 2023Monday Morning Run Time: 50:49

Dr. Nick Grant, a psychologist, Dr. Mike Metzger of Clapham Institute, and Ray Bard my publisher, each taught me about water.Life is a journey on water. Your conscious mind is above the waterline. Your unconscious is beneath.That weightless, magical world below the waterline is fundamentally different from the world of facts, figures and logic that hovers above it.The arts are an invigorating plunge into the unconscious, that part of your mind that understands the languages of color, shape, proximity, radiance, shadow, silhouette, pitch, key, tempo, interval, contour, rhythm, and frame-line magnetism.Our relationship to the unconscious is like our relationship to water. We need it by the cupful to survive, but if you stay underwater too long, you will drown; a psychotic break.Life is a journey on water. To better understand this Jungian journey, watch Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in the 1990 film, “Joe Versus the Volcano.”Nick Grant made me aware of the symbolic nature of water.Mike Metzger taught me how to look at water in a second way:You meet four people on the Ocean of Life, but you meet them again and again. The first person you meet is drifting, pushed each day by the winds and waves of circumstances. The drifter always goes with the flow. You know you've met a drifter when they say, “Whatever. It's all good.”The second person you meet is surfing. They seem to be having a good time, but they never really get anywhere. They mostly paddle around in the ocean, looking for another wave to ride. The surfer is always looking for “the next big thing.”The third person you meet is drowning. Lots of people “go under” once or twice in life and need a helping hand. They may need rescue financially, or chemically, or relationally, but this is normal.There are also professional drowners: “It's been the worst week of my life, I don't know what I'm going to do.” So you come to the rescue… but the next time you see them, “It's been the worst week of my life, I don't know what I'm going to do.”The fourth person you meet is sailing. Confronted by the same winds and waves that controlled the drifter, surfer, and drowner, the sailor navigates. “If I turn the rudder and adjust the sails, this wind will take me wherever I want to go.”You cannot navigate by watching the wind and waves. You must have a fixed point, a non-negotiable guiding light that does not move. The North Star – Polaris – is perfectly aligned above the axis of the earth. It is that guiding light around which the whole world revolves. What is your non-negotiable, your star that does not move? When you have found it, you will always know where – and who – you are.Ray Bard taught me a third way to look at water. When you're writing a book or considering a business venture, it is essential that you discover two things:1. How widespread is the public interest?2. How deep is that interest?If public interest is neither widespread nor deep, you're looking at a puddle. Never invest time or money in a puddle.If interest is widespread but not deep, you're looking at a bayou. Be careful. A bayou looks like an ocean at first because the interest is wide, wide, wide. But that interest is not deep enough to drive action. You can go broke when you see a bayou and think it is an ocean.If interest is narrow but deep, you're looking into a well. You can draw a lot of water from a well. “The Care and Feeding of Quarter Horses” held no interest for most readers, but those who owned a quarter horse had deep interest. The book was successful.If public interest is wide and deep, you're looking at an ocean. But you're going to need a boat – a platform – on which to navigate your ocean. If you don't have a platform,...

Business book publisher Ray Bard says all bestselling books share 4 traits:1: A Big Idea2: Nuts and Bolts3: Entertainment4: HopeThese 4 elements are applicable to your advertising, also. Nuts and Bolts seems to be the one that most people get right away. A Big Idea often shows up. But, conspicuously missing are Entertainment and Hope.In this episode of The Wizard's Roundtable, Chris Maddock and I recap our recent Martinis and Marketing class at Wizard Academy where we spent a good deal of time talking about Hope.

The beagle who lives in the right hemisphere of your brain has an entirely different set of skills than the nerd who lives next door.The beagle in my brain is named Indy.  What is the name of the beagle in yours? Your beagle gives you impulsive intuition and instinctive insight.  Your beagle gives you romping recklessness, gut feelings and hunches. Your beagle has a bitterly sharp, piercingly beautiful sense of global pattern recognition which triggers the occasional premonition. Poindexter is the nerd who lives in the other half of my brain.  He is forever having to push his glasses back onto his nose. What is the name of the nerd in yours? Poindexter uses Google.Indy uses Giggle.My Poindexter is a friend of Mr. Peabody, the smartest person in the world. Do you remember Mr. Peabody and his adopted son, Sherman, from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show? If not, Indy has a video on page 4 of the rabbit hole that will joggle your memory. The interesting thing about Sherman and Mr. Peabody is that Jay Ward reversed their roles. It is the human, Sherman, who is naïve about science, and Peabody, the beagle, that is the uptight nerd who leans on cold deductive reasoning. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Cold deductive reasoning has its place, but the golden fire of inspiration and the money-green glow of innovation come from that piercingly beautiful sense of pattern recognition that sees the relationships between all the parts. Your intuitive beagle sees what is and isn't there. And it sees what could be added or left out to make a thing more elegant and beautiful.  This fabulous pattern-recognizing beagle lives in the wordless right hemisphere of your brain and it notices more than just visual patterns. It notices patterns of behavior, patterns of history, patterns of music and speech. And it recognizes the shapes of problems and the shapes of their solutions.  Shapes are merely patterns. This is why jigsaw puzzles are calisthenics for your beagle. The shapes of the pieces and their patterns of color and the position of each piece on the table as you begin is pattern, times pattern, times pattern, times the number of pieces in the box. (Ray Bard, that was for you.) Your right-brain beagle is the heart and soul of inspiration and innovation, and its only food is play. Reckless, intuitive wandering, that artistic, purposeful wasting of time, that thing you do because you want to, not because you have to.  Play is what recharges your batteries. What, for you, is the highest form of play? More importantly, how long has it been since you've done it? Go. There you will find your answer. Roy H. Williams

Twenty-one years ago I got a phone call from my publisher, Ray Bard. “Roy, a man in Denver just bought 350 copies of your book from a bookstore in Denver and then faxed the receipt to my office with a question scribbled on it.” “What was the question?” I asked. “He wrote, ‘Is this enough for you to arrange a meeting with the author?'” A couple of weeks later, the man arrived in Austin and we spent a day talking about every subject on earth. I was glad I met him. That night, Pennie asked, “What does he do for a living?” That's when it occurred to me that I knew almost nothing about the man's personal life because every time I asked him a question about himself, he would take our conversation in a new direction. A few days later I received an email from my mysterious friend. “Cancel whatever plans you have for March 10 and be in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York at 7:00 PM. Trust me.” We had no idea what we were walking into, but Pennie and I decided it would be a fun adventure, so we flew to New York. A small army of security men stood guard at the doors of the Grand Ballroom as hundreds of tuxedos and long-gloved evening gowns flowed like water across the lobby. We were given a small book with twelve hundred names listed in alphabetical order. It was a seating chart. Barlett, Donald L. – TIME Behar, Richard – FORTUNE Bloomberg, Michael – Bloomberg News Brady, Ray – CBS Through the open doorway I saw an arctic plateau of crystal stemware and white china on snow-white tablecloths. Pennie placed her finger in a precise spot on page nine. “This is the place where our names should have been.” We stared at that spot for a long time and waited for our names to magically appear alongside a table number. An insert fell from the booklet onto the floor. I picked it up. It was a note from Bill Clinton, President of the United States. “Pennie,” I whispered, “I just realized something.” She looked at me. I continued. “There was no salutation on that email. It didn't say, ‘Dear Roy and Pennie.' It just started with the words, ‘Meet me.'” Pennie had a question mark in her eyes. “I think he clicked my email address by mistake.” Everyone else was in the ballroom now and we, conspicuously, were not. Pennie smiled and said, “No problem, we'll go have a nice dinner and then have a few days of fun in New York.” Not wanting to attract attention to ourselves, we began moving quietly toward the door that led onto the street. That's when we heard a shout. “Pennie? Roy?” We froze like we'd been hit with a spotlight while trying to sneak over a prison wall. With all my heart I expected him to say, “What are you doing here?” But what he said was, “Did you have a good flight?” Before we could reply, the air sang the song of a wine glass being struck repeatedly by a butter knife. That's when our friend grabbed Pennie's hand and said, “Follow me.” He led us to a table on the stage where the trophies were to be presented. It was like sitting onstage during the Academy Awards. Pennie and I were the guests of honor at a dinner party Roving Reporter Rotbart was throwing for all his journalist friends. The next year he threw his party on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and the year after that it was at NASDAQ. Twenty-one years later, when his daughter Avital needed to design a book for her senior thesis in college, I happily volunteered to let her prepare our long-overdue guidebook, Secrets of the Wizard Academy Campus. We will be distributing copies during https://www.wizardacademy.org/product/2020-academy-reunion-may-2nd/ (our extravaganza on May 2nd.) The roving reporter says he's planning to be there. Are you? Roy H. Williams

“The rest of my life has passed quite suddenly. Around ten or twelve I fell into the inevitable logarithms of time. It seems to go faster and faster. I wonder now why we have to have Christmas so often.” – Kary MullisOur friend Kary Mullis died on Aug. 7, 2019, at the age of 74. His first trip to Wizard Academy with Nancy was more than 15 years ago. They were in the same class as (L to R) Chris Lowry of Savannah and Mike Greene of Asheville and Jane Fraser of Halifax (in teal, below Chris and Mike) along with 20 other delightful people. Kary's colleagues in science called him “an untamed genius.” His discovery of polymerase chain reaction in 1983 opened the door for us to study DNA and won him the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. I agree with Kary's observation concerning the inevitable logarithms of time, don't you? Wasn't it just a few months ago that you and I walked across an open field and spoke of what we would build together? That campus is nearly finished now. Do you remember when 106 of the cognoscenti of Wizard Academy worked together on a book called Accidental Magic? I pulled my copy off the shelf just now and marveled at it, as I have done at least once a year for the past 18 years. I do the same thing with your book, People Stories: Inside the Outside. Your talent continues to amaze me. Do you remember when Ray Bard arrived with those 200 hardbacks of Accidental Magic just as your book-release party began in 2001? You had already landed in Austin and were on your way to the Academy while Ray was still sitting anxiously at the airport, waiting for the first printing of your book to arrive. This summer, Avital Rotbart worked nonstop for several weeks on our long-promised book, Secrets of the Wizard Academy Campus. We hope to have those available on May 2, but as we have learned, printers often have schedules of their own. Likewise, we expect to be able to unveil The Ad Writer's Masters Class. Working at the speed of light, a person could – in theory – complete that class in a year, but in reality, it will take most people two years. You will instantly be able to recognize an Ad Master when you meet one. I'll tell you how on https://www.wizardacademy.org/product/2020-academy-reunion-may-2nd/ (May 2 when we gather) for an unforgettable campus tour and celebration. It will be epic. We'll feast like kings. When a person reminisces as I have done in today's Monday Morning Memo, we usually assume they will soon be departing and are singing us a soft goodbye. Let me assure you this is not the case. We're simply hosting a catered half-time show. Let us know if you plan to come. Roy H. Williams

In his new book, The Gift of Struggle – out today from Bard Press, Bobby Herrera tells the true-life story of how the hardships he faced as one of 13 children in a Mexican migrant family, provided him the drive and backbone to make possible the impossible. More importantly, Bobby shares specific life-changing lessons about leadership that turns conventional wisdom on its head. It is the formula that Bobby used to launch Populus Group in 2002 and build it into a $500-million-a-year HR services company – one of the fasting growing such concerns in the United States. What makes Populus Group a role model for many businesses – large and small – is not its size, but its culture. As Bobby details in The Gift of Struggle, after a rocky start as CEO, he learned to foster a sense of purpose, mutual trust, and community among his employees. Bobby is an evangelist for compassionate leadership. A key characteristic of compassionate leaders, he tells host and award-winning journalist Dean Rotbart, is recognizing that everyone struggles – from the migrant workers of rural America to the silver-spoon babies of the Ivy League – and that at the end of the day, we all – more or less – strive for the same thing: to believe our lives matters. Rotbart, who doesn’t just read the books of guests who appear on his program, he devours them, says he scribbled notes throughout The Gift of Struggle, including on many pages that provided him actionable steps. Bobby, soon to be a bestselling author, is only the latest in a long line of popular authors published by Bard Press, headed by the incomparable Ray Bard, and deputy publisher Todd Sattersten. Among Bard’s best-known titles:  The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan; Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Selling; Nuts! – the story of the legendary Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines; The Wizard of Ads Trilogy by none other than Roy H. Williams, and Fired Up Selling, Ray Bard’s own collection of wonderful quotes designed to inspire, energize, and succeed. It is so common in life to conclude that our struggles are what hold us back. Without them, we tell ourselves, we could accomplish so much more. But Bobby explains that such thinking is erroneous. Adversity, properly harnessed, can become the rocket fuel of personal and professional growth. Purchase your own first-edition of The Gift of Struggle by clicking here. Photo: Bobby Herrera, Populus GroupPosted: June 3, 2019Monday Morning Run Time: 50:37  

Do you wake up every single day to trade your life for your job? If so… are you getting the good end of that deal?   If you ever want to achieve extraordinary results and true wealth, you will have to change your actions – and to accomplish that, you will have to transform the way you think.   To help us accomplish that mindset transformation, we’re talking to Nik Halik and Garrett Gunderson, the co-authors of 5 Day Weekend: Freedom to Make Your Life and Work Rich with Purpose. We were first introduced to Nik and Garrett because 5 Day Weekend is the newest book published by Ray Bard, publisher of The ONE Thing, who only publishes one book every year (obviously, he has an incredible track record).   We recorded this conversation as part of our monthly ONE Thing webinar series. Every month, we feature an incredible author so that you can learn directly from them and ask questions. If you want to sign up for our next FREE monthly webinar, head over to the1thing.com/webinars.   In this episode you will learn... [8:30] Why your current financial situation does not dictate your future wealth. [15:15] The five steps of the 5 Day Weekend. [20:50] ONE thing you can do to transform your financial life. [31:00] The limiting beliefs that we tell ourselves about generating wealth (and why they’re not true). [34:50] Why you’re only ever ONE idea or ONE relationship away from the next level of prosperity. [39:00] How you can invest $5,000, today, and get a good return on your investment. [42:10] Why you and your significant other should have ONE meeting, every week, about your shared vision (check out Garrett’s weekly agenda at freedomfasttrack.com/marriage).   The ONE Thing to Implement From This Episode: Stop making excuses about why you are not taking action to achieve financial freedom – the first step is to keep more of what you’re making right now.   Look at where your money is going and identify what expenses you can cut, and only after that should you start looking at how to generate more money.   If you trust the domino effect, keep your lifestyle where it is, and trust the 5 Day Weekend model, your passive income will rise over time – until you can wake up and choose what to do every single day. Get your own copy of the book at 5DayWeekend.com.   Links & Tools From This Episode Unlock your 5 Day Weekend at 5DayWeekend.com Get more tips about improving cash flow at wealthfactory.com/podcast Connect with Nik at nikinspace.com Connect with Garrett at wealthfactory.com   AWESOME FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU! Get more support & accountability: Join the Living Your ONE Thing Community The Kick Ass Guide To Accountability Form your first power habit with your 66 Day Challenge Calendar --   We are HIRING!   We are hiring an amazing Community Manager, and we would love for that person to come from this community.   If you are someone, or know someone, who loves to create amazing content, engage with a community, and wants to manage all of the content for the business, please go to the1thing.com/jobs. -- The ONE Thing is produced by Podcast Masters

Journey with us as we revisit the 10 most popular podcasts of the year – with stops including the North Carolina truffle miner; the entrepreneurial coach…to 5-year-olds; the business lessons of the Chicago Cubs’ World Series victory; the quote book that will inspire and energize you; and the little free wedding chapel that could. Which was your favorite episode? Guest Host: Maxwell Rotbart The 2017 countdown is hosted by entrepreneur and radio veteran Maxwell Rotbart, who for three years hosted a weekly half-hour public affairs program on 990 KRKS AM Radio in Denver. Maxwell, 25-years-old, is the son of Monday Morning Radio founder and executive producer, Dean Rotbart. Launched in June 2012, Monday Morning Radio was downloaded more than 350,000 times in 2017.  Hear highlights from the Top 10 episodes of year, or click on the links below and re-listen to the entire episode.    10 The World’s Most Costly Business Utterances http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Expensive_Sentences.mp3 9 Along Your Path to Success, Avoid This Excursion: The Ego Trip http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Todd_Lemense.mp3 8 Thanks to Sarah Cooper, This Week’s Show - Objectively Speaking - is the Best Ever http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Appear_Smarter.mp3 7 The Amazing Tale of the Chicago Cubs World Series Championship as Told by a Master Storyteller http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Go_Cubs_Go.mp3 6 If the Whole Leaf is not Your Cup of Tea, You May Be Missing a Great Business (and Health) Opportunity http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Tea_Spot.mp3 5 The UnBusiness Story Behind Chapel Dulcinea http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Chapel_Dulcinea.mp3 4 The Wisdom of Teaching Your 5-Year-Old to Think Like a CEO http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/VentureLabs.mp3 3 Setting Business Goals and Scoring Them http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Renee_Lopez.mp3 2 It Took This Entrepreneur More Than a Decade To Prove Her Concept http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Nancy_Rosborough.mp3 1 Ray Bard’s New Book is Intended to Help Salespeople; But Don’t Be Fooled http://traffic.libsyn.com/mondaymorningradio/Ray_Bard.mp3 Photo: Maxwell Rotbart, Guest Host Posted: January 1, 2018

A pleasant surprise is the beginning of delight.You surprise and delight your family by listening to them. You surprise and delight your friends by being interested in what they say. You surprise and delight your customers by giving them your full attention. That's why everyone likes you.Ray Bard is the ringmaster of http://www.bardpress.com/main/book/6 (untamed quotes, captured in the wild.) Crazy quotes you've never heard before; frightful, delightful, insightful. One of my recent favorites is by Lisa Kirk, “A gossip is one who talks to you about others. A bore is one who talks to you about himself. And a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself.” Lisa Kirk's observation applies to ad writers and online content writers as well. A gossip trashes competitors. A bore talks about their company and their products. A brilliant writer talks about how they hope to improve some part of your world. That's you in 2018, improving some part of everyone's world.2018 is going to be wonderful for you, because you have the courage, confidence and compassion to make every person you encounter a little happier. Even when they don't deserve it. Your attitude springs from your gratitude, like water gushing up from an artesian well. You are thankful for all the good in your life. You find interesting ways to celebrate the ordinary. Lunch with a friend. Making a new co-worker feel welcome. Remembering others by their best moments. You have chosen to be grateful because gratitude makes every weight feel lighter. Gratitude drives away depression, just as light drives away the darkness.That's you in 2018: a beam of light! Making others feel special by listening to them, being grateful for all the good in your life, finding ways to celebrate the ordinary. You're really lucky to be you. I'm glad I know you. Roy H. Williams

Ray Bard is one of the most successful business publishers in the world. He published The ONE Thing and the best-selling sales book of all time, The Little Red Book of Selling. Ray's newest bestseller is Fired Up! Selling, a quote book for salespeople.   We talk about what it takes to create a bestseller, and you get a peek into the mind of a marketing genius. Ray's insight goes much deeper than writing – it applies to any business, product, or service.   We recorded this conversation as part of our monthly ONE Thing webinar series. Every month, we feature an incredible author so that you can learn directly from them and ask questions. If you want to sign up for our next FREE monthly webinar, head over to the1thing.com/webinars.   Time is running out! Join us for our first live event: What: The ONE Thing Goal-Setting Retreat When: November 30th, 2017 - December 1st, 2017 Where: Austin, Texas How: the1thing.com/event     The ONE Thing to Implement From This Episode: This conversation isn't just about books – it's about business and serving people at the highest level. When you look at what you do, is there a deep-felt need? Is it a small market or a big market? Are you selling hope?   And out of everything you heard today, what is the ONE thing you can take action on today?   Open up your calendar and schedule 15 minutes so you can create a plan for putting it into action.   In this episode you will learn... [3:30] Why Ray focuses on publishing just ONE book at a time (compared to the average publisher, which releases 2-500 books a year). [9:00] Why you have to "create" a bestseller – you don't just write one. [12:00] How you can assess the size of a market (number of potential customers) and a market's depth (the strength of the felt need), and then leverage that information to market your product or service. [24:10] What you need to ask yourself (and do) before you start creating a new product or service. [35:20] Why all you need to have a successful and thriving business is 1,000 raving fans.   AWESOME FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU! The Kick Ass Guide To Accountability Check out our awesome blog! [FREE Training] How to Start Time Blocking TODAY!   Links & Tools From This Episode   Learn more about Bard Press   Join the Fired Up! Selling Project: FiredUpSellingProject.com   The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer Fired Up! Selling: Great Quotes to Inspire, Energize, Succeed by Ray Bard   Read: “1,000 True Fans” by Kevin Kelly --   Do you ever feel like you’re so focused on the future that you forget to be present in the moment?   We know that stopping to celebrate the moments that matter is required, and that’s the purpose behind JavaPresse Coffee Company. Everything JavaPresse does is designed to help you enjoy a moment that you craft for yourself, every day, and their coffee is unique because it’s organically grown, ethically sourced, and roasted fresh to order.   To craft your next moment that matters, head over to the1thing.com/coffee and use the coupon code ONETHING to get 15% off your first three months of shipments. --   Production & Development for The ONE Thing Podcast by Podcast Masters

When you're trying to transfer a thought or a feeling to someone else, the impact of your communication will be determined by the following equation:How big is the thought in your mind, or the feeling in your heart? How quickly can you transfer it? The Law of Impact (or force,) documented by Isaac Newton, applies to communication as much as it does to physics: impact is the product of mass (size and weight) times acceleration (speed.) How massive is your thought or feeling? How quickly can you transfer it? The works of illustrators like Norman Rockwell and painters like Andrew Wyeth are often criticized as being “too obvious.” But the visual communications these artists produced were among the 20th century's most recognizable works of art. Rockwell and Wyeth became famous because they were able to communicate big ideas clearly and quickly. Today I'm going to help you do the same with words. Have you ever noticed how short quotes pack a greater punch than long ones? The fewer the words, the greater the impact. Shorter hits harder. Boring people take too long to say too little. Interesting people know what to leave out. The best way to get good at this is to fill your ears with it. As you read, so will you write. If you read the writings of long-winded people, you will learn to wrap a great many words around a small idea. But if every day you read big ideas condensed into few words, you will soon be able to speak and write with greater impact.“The best way to become a successful writer is to read good writing, remember it, and then forget where you remember it from.” – Gene Fowler (1890 – 1960)Ray Bard published my Wizard of Ads trilogy 19 years ago. We made the New York Times bestsellers list together. The second book in that series became the Wall Street Journal's #1 business book in America. More than 50 percent of the books published by Bard Press have become New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. No other publisher has achieved even 10 percent. As a young man, Ray sold books from door to door and he's been collecting quotes about selling for more than 40 years. His jury of more than 1,000 quote judges spent an entire year evaluating and voting on the best-of-the-best from Ray's collection. Today, August 7, 2017, is the day these quotes are finally available. Maximum thought in minimum words. Fired-up! Selling. https://smile.amazon.com/Fired-Up-Selling-TM-Energize/dp/1885167830/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501509292&sr=8-1&keywords=fired+up+selling+quotes (This small book) is a gorgeous work of art. It looks like embossed leather but Ray swears no animals were harmed. Three silk placeholder ribbons. Full-color on every page. The distilled essence of a lifetime collection. Think of it as a textbook that teaches you how to say big things quickly. Roy H. Williams

Ray Bard is the founder of the business publishing house Bard Press. Over the last 30 years, half of Bard Press's books have been on bestseller lists, including The ONE Thing with over 1 million books sold and the all-time bestselling sales book in history, The Little Red Book of Selling with over 3 million sold. He came on the podcast to talk about his own new book Fired UP! Selling: Great Quotes to Inspire, Energize, and Succeed as well as to share the 4 things every business book must sell.

One of Ray Bard’s favorite quotes in Fired Up! Selling, his compilation of great quotes out today (Monday, August 7th), comes from comedian Steve Martin: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”     Which, says host and reputation coach Dean Rotbart, is an apt description of every book that Ray and his Bard Press publishing house produce, including bestsellers The ONE Thing; The Little Book of Selling; and, of course, The Wizard of Ads Trilogy, by Roy H. Williams. In asking more than 1,200 quotes judges to help him select the 324 quotes used in Fired Up! Selling, Ray’s intention was to inspire, energize, and help salespeople succeed. But as Rotbart and Ray demonstrate on this week’s special edition of Monday Morning Radio, Fired Up! Selling is overflowing with wise words to motivate us all. To order your copy of Fired Up! Selling right now, visit www.TinyUrl.com/RayBard.   Photo: Ray Bard, Fired Up! Selling  Posted: August 7, 2017 Monday Morning Run Time: 42 minutes 42 seconds 

I always look forward to my lunches with Ray Bard because he teaches me valuable things. He doesn't intend to teach me things; it just happens.Our short lunches last 3 hours. Our record is 6 ½. Ray is my publisher. During our most recent lunch, Ray said – and I'm inclined to agree with him – there are only three sources of wealth: Luck, Accident, and Desire. If you inherited the money, married the money, won the lottery, bought the right stock at the right time, or went to work for the right company and were given a pile of stock options, you were lucky. I don't say that to make you feel small, but we shouldn't pretend you can teach someone else how to do what you did. Picking the right stock or going to work for the right start-up seems like an easy thing to do in hindsight, but I've never seen it happen using foresight. If you're an artist, a writer, or an inventor who got rich, you were probably never really in it for the money. You got rich by accident. You always knew money was a possibility, but you chose to do what you did because you love it. It scratches your itch. It makes you happy. It makes you feel alive. So again, if we're being honest, your advice about how to get rich would probably sound like this, “Be good at what you do. Study, experiment, refine your craft. Follow your instincts. Trust your gut. Be true to yourself. Break the rules. Blah, blah, blah.” I can say this because what little I've acquired has come to me in exactly this way. And that advice you just read – including the blah, blah, blah – is exactly what I tell people when they ask me how to “get to the next level, financially.” I tell them this because they would be disappointed if I told them the truth, that I am a writer because I am embarrassingly self-indulgent and I love to write. It is something I let myself do. But nearly all my wealthy friends got rich intentionally. It was their lifelong desire. They could teach you how to get rich, too, but only if you have sufficient patience, discipline, and desire. Getting rich is like losing weight; rarely does it happen by accident.How to lose weight isn't a secret; you've got to consume less calories than you burn. Millions of Americans want to lose weight and they're convinced they have the patience and discipline to lose weight. But the only ones who lose it and keep it off are the ones for whom the desire to lose weight is so strong that the pain of staying as they are is greater than the pain of doing what they need to do. Likewise, how to get rich isn't a secret; you've got to do things other people aren't willing to do. You've got to swallow your pride, restrain your spending, make hard choices, say no to yourself, get back up when you're knocked down, and learn from your mistakes rather than defend them. But most important of all, you've got to patiently, relentlessly, obsessively keep your eye on the prize. Are you beginning to understand what I said about patience, discipline and desire?I met a successful man who spent 3  hours telling me about the biggest failures of his career. At the end of those 3 hours, I knew his blind spot. His failures had a common root: this otherwise brilliant man believed that any intelligent person who has been taught the right thing to do, and who truly believes it's the right thing to do, can be counted upon to do the thing they've been taught. His successes, on the other hand, did not count on people doing anything other than what they preferred to do. Knowing why to do it – and how – is not the same as doing it.To be unable is to lack the skill. To be unwilling is to lack the desire. Don't they lead to the same place? Intelligent people like you can easily be taught. But let me see the depth of your desire – your willingness to do what you don't want...

People are being caught off guard by the quirky tale of Sunshine and Poobah.Evidently, reading it cover-to-cover is a much different experience than reading it one chapter at a time. This funny little book is rapidly gaining a life of its own. This is the backstory of how – like Frosty the Snowman – it came to life. Jeffrey Eisenberg gave you the beginning of the backstory on the final pages of the just-released hardback, https://smile.amazon.com/Be-Like-Amazon-Lemonade-Stand/dp/1932226052/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496267203&sr=8-1&keywords=be+like+amazon+even+a+lemonade+stand+can+do+it (Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It.)“A few months ago we sought the advice of our good friend and mentor Roy H. Williams. We spent an entire day with him presenting the content we wanted to include in the book. We wanted to avoid the complexity of our earlier books, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? and the textbook feel of Call to Action. While these books were both New York Times bestsellers they weren't a fun or easy read. By the end of the day it was obvious to Roy that despite our best attempts to simplify and prune our content we were writing another textbook…. Roy reassured us that we had the right elements. He asked us if we trusted him to write the book for us. We did… By telling the story of Poobah and Sunshine's road trip, he avoided getting bogged down in the details a nonfiction book drowns in. He didn't do it with a simple parable. He did it by creating an entertaining story with realistic dialogue and character development that Bryan and I are incapable of.” Here are a few tidbits Jeffrey failed to mention:1. The original title was Brand Like Amazon. When our friend Ray Bard sent an email arguing strongly in favor of the name Be Like Amazon, I forwarded Ray's email to Jeffrey and immediately bought the domain name. 2. I said, “We need to mention a Norman Rockwell ‘All-American' business to give the title a visual anchor.” Jeffrey said “lemonade stand” and the title began to sparkle. 3. The Brothers Eisenberg presented a Powerpoint and we wore microphones so our conversation could be recorded and transcribed. That transcript is 40,324 words. The book is 22,961. 4. Jeffrey and Bryan provided all the Amazon research, the four pillars, and the principles that needed to be taught. I simply added the stories. 5. The cognoscenti will recognize the writing style of the book as “Robert Frank.” There is no omniscient narrator to tell you why a person said what he said or how it made the other person feel. Instead, simple nouns and verbs give the reader the raw material of an experience. Like an eavesdropper, the reader must figure out for themselves what is happening and why. When writing “Robert Frank” you must choose: How to End     (Begin with the end clearly in mind and carefully select the details to be covered.) Where to Begin (Choose an interesting angle of approach.) What to Leave Out (Never say what people already know or can easily figure out for themselves. Your story accelerates when you say things in the fewest possible words.) 6. I knew I was going to have to fight for the story in chapter 3 about Moses ben Maimon, a Rabbi who lived about a thousand years ago. Knowing the brothers would be hesitant to spotlight the basic humanity and wisdom of Jewish business principles, I sent them this email before I let them read that chapter: When you read Chapter 3, you'll notice the old man talks briefly about Maimonides. He's speaking from the perspective of a non-Jewish person who has Jewish friends and business associates. It fills an important hole in the narrative, so I'm going to veto your veto in advance, okay? A 7. I give a nod to Cervantes in the closing scene when Poobah describes the book he has just finished reading – the

When I was a boy, I wanted an older brother.Not just a year or two older, but six or eight or ten years older. I wanted to be able to ask him things and trust the motives behind his answers. Over the years, I've been lucky enough to accumulate seven older brothers who speak wisdom into my life. These brothers give me the benefit of all their experiences – their successes and their mistakes – and help me remember who I am. I've never told you this, but I like to think of myself as your older brother. I try to give you the benefit of my experiences, if indeed there is any benefit to be found. Today your brother needs a favor. Will you indulge me? I've always been proud and ashamed that I never went to college. So when a group of scholars – department heads of major universities, mostly – asked me to contribute a chapter to their book about what Don Quixote means to the average person in the 21st century, well, I jumped at the chance. And then I put off getting started. And now I need to get it done. That's where you come in. Will you write me a sentence or two or twenty about what Don Quixote represents to you?It doesn't matter whether or not you've read the book. Your thoughts and feelings will come from wherever they come from. That's the beauty of this project. You don't have to defend your opinion, you only have to have one. Every generation for the past 400 years has seen Don Quixote differently. How do you see him today? What do you take from the story? Who is Sancho Panza and why does he matter? Who is Dulcinea and what does she mean to you? And if you are familiar with any of the other characters and elements of the story, I'd love to hear your thoughts and interpretations of those as well. How do you see Don Quixote? Your response can be as brief or as in-depth as you choose. Twenty different Cervantes scholars will each contribute a chapter to the book. I was the nineteenth person to receive an invitation, but at least I got invited. It means a lot to me. My chapter is supposed to be 5,000 words, so I need to hear from a lot of you. And please remember to give me your first and last name and your permission to publish what you send me. Also, tell me what you do for a living. Indy has volunteered to help me by collecting your emails at IndyBeagle@WizardOfAds.com Two of my older brothers, Ray Bard and Don Kuhl, have already contributed their thoughts and will definitely be represented in my chapter. I'd love to see your name alongside theirs. Roy H. Williams

A developer is someone who wants to build a house in the woods. An environmentalist is someone who already has a house in the woods.”– Dennis MillerWe think everyone else sees what we see. How could they not? And we think everyone would believe what we believe if only we could explain it clearly. But this is almost never true. Two people stand shoulder-to-shoulder observing a scene. One person sees pain and injustice and despair. The other sees opportunity and purpose and adventure. The first person sees the second as an impractical dreamer. The second sees the first as a complaining pessimist. Every person has a schema, a belief system about how the world works. Your schema is the lens through which you see and feel the world around you. It dictates your perceptual reality. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying your schema changes the facts. It just changes how you interpret them. Twice a week for the past several weeks, Ray Bard has been sending out clusters of about 20 quotes to more than 1,000 quote judges so that we might help him score their impact. Last week, Ray told us something every ad writer knows. There's always some surprises about which quotes score the highest. But there's one thing that doesn't surprise me anymore. It's the range of opinions. For example, in the last Collection someone said: ‘Seems like you're scraping the bottom of the barrel for quotes,' and the very next person commenting said: ‘So many great quotes. All winners for me.'”If your message has the power to move people, you can be certain that it won't move everyone in the hoped-for direction. If you're not prepared to smile your way through negative backlash from well-meaning friends, employees and associates, you're never going to craft a message that will pierce the clutter of this over-communicated world. Ninety percent of all the books published each year are non-fiction. But the fiction books – the 10 percent – comprise 90 percent of all book sales. In the words of Tom Robbins, “People write memoirs because they lack the imagination to make things up.” Fictional characters in movies, novels and TV shows seem real even when we know they are not. We know fiction to be untrue, yet we treat it for a time as if it were true. We are simultaneously naïve, believing what we are told, and savvy, aware of the deception. Seven weeks ago I told you about a persuasion researcher, Maria Konnikova, whose work is being funded by two universities, Harvard and Columbia. Maria says the more a story transports us into its world, the more likely we are to believe it. The sweep of a story overcomes the facts of logic. When we are entertained by a story, we are likely to agree with the beliefs the story implies. In short: a story can reshape your schema. It is no accident that Jesus taught in parables. Most of us enjoy being pulled into a story. But some people have no taste for fiction or whimsy or wit. What you're about to read is real and it happens all the time. My friend Jerry received this voicemail just last week: I am embarrassed for you because of your turning your business over to such a young person that has such a voice that I have to turn off the commercial. I have to go to my radio and turn it off. It hurts my ears. And the commercials are just childish. They are not professional. No, they are not professional. I would not use your company for anything. I am regretful I have used you forever. I told the world to use you. I've gotten you a million customers. I'm embarrassed and ashamed. And I'm sorry I have to make this phone call.”Would you like to know what triggered such heartfelt concern? [SFX – crickets, trucks driving past] ANNCR: Two people wait for the telephone to ring in an Allbritten Heating and Air Conditioning truck. JERRY: Uhhhh, Andrea? ANDREA: Yes Dad? JERRY: I...

The Fired Up Selling Project is a nationwide campaign to identify and showcase the top 300 statements ever made for brightening the spirits and focusing the minds of sales professionals and entrepreneurs. Would you like to be one of the judges who gets to decide which quotes make that list? Ray Bard, the owner of Bard Press (and the first-ever chairman of the board of Wizard Academy) is inviting you to help him select the final 300 quotes that will be published in 2016 and sold in bookstores nationwide. Ray tells reputation coach and Monday Morning Radio host Dean Rotbart all about it this week. You’ll be glad you listened. And you can quote us on that. Photo: Ray Bard, Bard PressPosted: November 9, 2015Monday Morning Run Time: 34 minutes 38 seconds Want to learn how to generate free publicity and social media "buzz" for your business?  Schedule a one-hour FREE phone consultation with Monday Morning Radio co-host Dean Rotbart: 1-303-296-1200. Limited slots now booking for November and December 2015.   

Each of us has one secret to unlocking our true potential in business and in life.  In their new business book - The One Thing -  bestselling authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan chart the way for busy people to identify the one area of their lives that will allow them to accomplish much more by doing less.  Their book is published by Bard Press. On this week's Monday Morning Radio, Jay talks about the advantages of having a one-track mind.  It helped Jay's co-author, Gary, build the largest real estate franchise in America, Keller Williams Realty.  What's Your One Thing?  Listen and you may very well discover your unique key to extraordinary results. Of yes, if Bard Press sound familiar, it's because Ray Bard is also the publisher of the bestselling Wizard of Ads Trilogy.  All told, tiny Bard Press has brought 15 national bestsellers to market, earning it the title, "America's Best-Selling Business Book Publisher."   Jay is interviewed by Wizard Academy faculty member Dean Rotbart, who along with wealth management expert David Biondo co-hosts the weekly Business Unconventional radio news magazine broadcast on 710 KNUS AM in Denver. Be sure to follow B. Unconventional on Twitter: @BUnRadio and subscribe to Roy H. Williams's Monday Morning Memo.  The best things in life really are free! Monday Morning Radio Run Time: 26 mins and 03 secs

A brief summary of this episodeTo See a Better Outcome Things depend on how you look at them. Through what lenses do you examine possibilities? The first 2 lenses are intellect and emotion. Sometimes you use one, sometimes the other. This is normal. Intellect employs hard facts and cold logic. Emotion relies on soft intuition and warm connections. Will the first impression be made in the head or in the heart?    In all your communications and attempts at persuasion – especially in your advertising – be careful to make a deep, dual impression; one track in the head and another in the heart. But what happens after that first impression has been made? Are there other, smaller lenses that read the second, third, and fourth impressions? Ray Bard is a quiet genius who speaks into my life. I walk away from each encounter a richer soul. Ray recently told me that a careful examination of all the biggest nonfiction books of the past 50 years revealed 4 common characteristics. Ray is like that. He sees patterns that others miss and solves riddles that few have ever considered. Unless you're a nonfiction author, you don't really care what makes a nonfiction book successful, do you? But what if I told you these same 4 characteristics are the keys to successful advertising? I saw that. Your ears perked up like a German Shepherd. Communication, to be highly successful, must have: 1. A Big Idea Concept Insight Information 2. Nuts & Bolts How To Step-by-Step Instructions Examples 3. Entertainment Writing style Anecdotes Adventure Surprise 4. Hope Visualized Happiness Promise Inspiration (1.) The Big Idea and (2.) Nuts and Bolts, are more about the writer than the reader. Yet these are the only things every writer of nonfiction feels a need to share. And now you know why we churn out more than one million dull new books each year and why most of our advertising is gruel. Dull communications are about the speaker, the author, the product, the advertiser. Lots of examples supporting a big idea are merely white noise when there's no entertainment and no hope; the sound of traffic in a too-busy world. Successful nonfiction – including highly effective advertising – is about the reader, the listener, the viewer, the customer. These beloved messages deliver (3.) Entertainment and (4.) Hope. Ray Bard shared with you and me his Big Idea. We can use it to lift the effectiveness of our advertising to new heights. This should give you Hope. But if you want 2 days of Nuts and Bolts examples and Entertainment beyond compare, arrange your schedule to be at Wizard Academy April 10-11 to learn https://wizardacademy.org/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=236 (How to Write for Radio and the Internet,) the highly heralded class of Christopher J. Maddock and Jeff Sexton. I plan to add a few modest examples and I'm working to get the elusive Ray Bard to make an appearance and share additional wise-ard insights with you, though I can't yet promise he'll be there. But I do have Hope. Roy H. Williams  

I concluded a recent Monday Morning Memo entitled http://mondaymemo.wpengine.com/newsletters/melvin-the-lion (“Melvin the Lion”) by saying, “We won the game when we picked the wiener dogs. This is the dirty little secret of advertising: you determine the success of the campaign when you pick what you're going to promote. Have you been settling for precision lawn chairs and lawnmowers? Repent of your sin. Demand the wiener dogs. You'll be amazed how much better your ads work.”   An old friend emailed me the next day to say, “Please forgive me for being grumpy… but in the memo you gave no explanation on how to distinguish between wiener dogs and lawnmowers.”   My friend makes a good point. Not every idea is a wiener dog. Sometimes it's just a dog.   Each of us has 2 kinds of blind spots. The first blind spot is a negative trait of which you are unaware. Everyone around you sees it, but you don't. The second blind spot is a talent or gift you assume to be common to everyone, but it isn't. It's your gift and yours alone.   I've always been able to spot a wiener dog. My ability to pick the winning idea from a shuffled deck of mediocre ideas is so completely intuitive and effortless that it annoys me when other people can't do it. Even more annoying is when they ask me to explain how I do it. “It's a wiener dog! Can't you see it? Open your eyes, man! It's a freakin' wiener dog!”   The bottom line on the home page of the Wizard Academy website says, “The faculty of Wizard Academy studies what gifted people do when they're feeling inspired so we can reverse engineer their unconscious methods. We teach you how to do consciously what a gifted person does unconsciously.”   I've spent decades studying other people's gifts but I never once considered I might have a gift of my own.   The day after I received that email from my friend, I met Ray Bard, my publisher, for lunch. Ray immediately bopped me with the same question. “Roy, when I read the memo this week I couldn't help but notice that you never told us how to spot the wiener dog. Why did you leave that part out?” Part of me stood up, clenched my fists and screamed in frustration. But that part of me is invisible.   The visible part of me said, “Ray, you gave me the formula for spotting wiener dogs 10 years ago. Don't you remember?” Ray looked at me quizzically, so I continued. “Puddles, Bayous, Wells and Oceans… Question 1: How widespread is the interest? Question 2: How deep is the interest?”   Ray got it and smiled but I was on a roll, so I continued, “Spotting the winning idea is all about identifying (1.) Defining Characteristics and (2.) Limiting Factors.”   The Defining Characteristics of the Precision Lawn Chair Drill Team idea were irrelevant because the Limiting Factor was that each team would need a talented choreographer and members who were willing to practice relentlessly. And we know that's not gonna happen. The Precision Lawn Chair idea was a puddle. It could never trigger more than narrow, shallow interest.   The Defining Characteristics of the Riding Lawnmower Races were (1.) gasoline and (2.) testosterone, so basically, it's a poor man's NASCAR. As such, it would trigger deep interest, but only to a narrow section of the population. Riding Lawnmower Races were a well.   The Defining Characteristics of the Wiener Dog Races were (1.) Dogs. Everyone loves dogs. Kids love dogs. Families have dogs. Dogs have personalities. They're cute. People love to show off their dogs and don't hesitate to spend money on them. (1a.) The dog is usually considered a member of the family. (1b.) Dogs don't have to rehearse to be dogs. (1c.) Long and skinny on short little legs, wiener dogs are funny...

The Full Plate Diet is Everywhere You're about to begin seeing The Full Plate Diet everywhere you look; bookstores, grocery stores, airports, wholesale clubs… everywhere. This is an interesting story. I think you'll enjoy it. Especially since you're a big part of it. Read on. Ray Bard served as the first chairman of Wizard Academy, a 501c3 nonprofit educational organization in Austin, Texas. He's also the most successful publisher of business books in the world today. No brag, just fact. More than half the books published by Bard Press have been Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestsellers. No other publisher has had even 10 percent of its titles reach bestseller status. So yes, Ray is a very big deal in the world of publishing. A little more than a year ago, I asked Ray to look at a manuscript written by 3 students of Wizard Academy. Ray agreed to do it because I'm one of the few people in his life who NEVER ask him to look at books written by my friends. Like all successful publishers, Ray Bard is relentlessly pestered by would-be authors who use Ray's friends to get to him. But I was one of the few “safe” people in Ray's life. I was spending valuable currency just to ask Ray for this favor. He liked the book. Naturally, Ray kept me involved in most of the discussions about the book's title, graphics, photography and narrative style. Nearly 5,000 of you received a free copy of a test version of The Full Plate Diet several months ago. Much of the book has been altered since then. It's even better. The final hardcover is glossy and lays flat when opened, like a cookbook. And it overflows with lavish, full-color photos that extend all the way to the edges of the page. About half the content has also been changed. It's more interesting, more useful, more fun. Ray did 2 things on the test cover to get your attention: 1: The cover photo of the empty plate contradicts the title above it: The Full Plate Diet. This subtle dissonance works like magic because it's resolved within the first few pages. You get to fill your plate with whatever you like. 2. The test-cover photo also had the spoon on the wrong side and the edge of the knife turned outward. This caused such anxiety among readers that we put the silverware into its proper place on the cover of the final edition. The backwards silverware wasn't just attention getting; it was a distraction. AIf you were one of the 5,000 Monday Morning Memo readers to receive a free test copy of The Full Plate Diet, I'm hoping you'll do a couple of things for Ray and me: 1.   Go to the Full Plate Diet Page at Amazon.com and write a review of the book. Don't wait until you have enough time to do a 1st-class job of it. Do whatever you can do in 60 seconds, but please do it right now. This is much more important than you might suspect. 2.   Buy a copy while you're there. You're going to be deeply impressed with the final product from Bard Press. Amazon's release-week discount brings the $20 cover price down to http://www.amazon.com/Full-Plate-Diet-Great-Healthy/dp/1885167717/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262440487&sr=1-1 (just $13.22). You're going to be glad you bought a copy. This diet works. 3.   Mention the book this week to your network of friends. More than one million dollars in printing and promotional costs are on the line. The authors and the publisher are people we really care about. They're part of Wizard Academy. Besides, it's fun to say, “This bestseller was written by some doctors who go to the same business school I attend. And here's a copy of the test book they sent me half-a-year before the final book was released. Notice how the silverware is in the wrong place. They decided not to do this on the final cover because…” If enough of us buy a book this week, your...

A Look at Management vs. Leadership A group of students from the University of Texas recently asked Corrine Taylor to set up an interview with me on the subject of leadership. My schedule hasn't allowed me to do that interview yet, but their request did trigger some thoughts on the subject. Maybe I'm splitting semantic hairs, but businesspeople who say “leadership” usually mean, “being a good manager.” But leadership and management, in my experience, are virtually opposite skill sets. Management requires wisdom, patience and strength. Basically, it's parenting, bringing forward the best of the past, enforcing the status quo. Leadership requires independence, audacity and courage. It's inherently defiant, questioning the past, challenging the status quo. And then there are those perky Chihuahuas barking “Leadership! Leadership! Put me in charge! I'll tell everyone what to do! I'm a trained leader, I've been to a seminar!”No, you're just a weasel who wishes he were the furry-hatted drum major of a marching band. (Yes, I have a prejudice against self-styled leaders. Does it show?)True leaders require no authority. They think their own thoughts, make their own decisions, carry out their own plans. They say, “This is what I've decided to do.” And then they do it. Others see them doing it and decide to follow. Leaders lead from the front. Managers manage from behind. Alexander the Great was always the first over the wall of an enemy city. Whether his men followed him was up to them. Alexander was a true leader. “I'm going in, boys!” Geronimo, the famous Apache leader, was not a tribal chief but a spiritual advisor, a historian of the people and a protector of their beliefs. He said, “I have something I need to do.” And when the other Apaches saw what he was doing, they decided to help him. The Architect of the landmark buildings at Wizard Academy, Marley Porter, is a true leader. Those of us who love Marley know he is barely passable as a manager but when it comes to visionary architecture, few architects are in his class. In fact, most architects have never even glimpsed his class. Who but a leader says, “Let's build the chapel over the edge of the cliff.” Then, when the real estate agent pointed into the rocky crag below that cliff and said, “Those 7 acres are throwaway land. Basically, you're getting those acres for free,” Marley Porter said, “That's where we're going to build the student mansion.” When I said, “We need a classroom tower,” Marley finished the sentence, “with an underground entrance.” Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous design, Fallingwater, is a home built over a waterfall. Any architect might have drawn it, but none had the courage to suggest something so absurd. Every American architect studied Frank Lloyd Wright in college but few of them will ever draw anything like Fallingwater. These architects have intellect, training and talent. What they lack is the audacity. How about you? Do you have the audacity to do your own thing, go your own way and ride your own bullet without ever looking back? A Marley Porter building doesn't require a lot of money, but it does require a boatload of courage. Fortunately, our board of directors has that in abundance. Oz Jaxxon, Corrine Taylor, Ray Bard, Mark Fox, Jodie Gateman and Nick Grant are a constant source of inspiration to me. Maybe boldness is genetic. Maybe it's a product of environment. But I think it's just a choice. But I wasn't at all surprised to learn that Marley's mother's mother was a Hancock. Yes, from that line of Hancocks. This boldest of American architects is a direct descendant of the man whose very name is synonymous with boldness. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” and then, in an unmistakably large, sweeping script, Marley Porter's grandfather flipped King George a polite bird. John Hancock was willing to pull the...

and Get Real Skinny The Full Plate Diet is an incredibly cool book. And because you're a friend of Wizard Academy, you can have a no-charge advance copy. That's right. No charge. Nada. Zero. Zip. The publisher – Wizard Academy board member Ray Bard of Bard Press – is giving away 20,000 pre-release copies to trigger a nationwide buzz. The Full Plate Diet will be in every bookstore in America in January but you can have your advance copy today. It's even okay to tell your friends how they can get a no-charge copy, too. I highly recommend it. FLASHBACK: A young man starts a newspaper that becomes extremely successful. He sells the company and then he dies. His last will and testament stipulates that the money – a mountain of it – is to launch a non-profit organization whose only mission will be to create a healthier, happier, slimmer America. The man's dying wish became the Lifestyle Center of America. Its board of directors built a multi-million dollar medical facility and hired the Who's Who list of medical research doctors in America. The chairman of the board is Dr. House. I'm not making this up. The first thing the medical marvels created was a diet that reverses Type 2 diabetes. But that didn't fulfill their mission. The newspaper mogul's dream was to touch every American, not just diabetics. So the Lifestyle Center contacted Corrine Taylor and mailed her some money to set up a meeting with me. My team and I spent a day talking with the Lifestyle Center people and then agreed to work with them. That was a little more than a year ago. Toward the end of the day my 290-pound media analyst, Joe Hamilton, asked, “Would the diet you talked about work for someone who isn't diabetic?” The doctors said, “Absolutely. It's how human beings were meant to eat.” A few days later I told Ray Bard what the doctors had said. He seemed mildly interested. And I mentioned it to a couple of my out-of-town partners. A couple of months later I was pouring a cup of coffee when Joe Hamilton walked into the room. I looked up and said, “Joe, you're losing weight.” Joe said, “I've been doing what those doctors talked about and I've lost 35 pounds.” By the end of that year, Joe had lost 90 pounds. No exercise. And he hasn't gained a bit of it back. (See before-and-after photos of Joe at the bottom of this page.) A couple of weeks after I saw Joe Hamilton I saw Ray Bard and he had never looked better. “Roy, I did what you said those doctors talked about and I've dropped 30 pounds. I'd like to meet them.” Then, at the partner meeting, one of the partners I'd told about the diet said he had done what I described and lost 20 pounds. The other partner had lost 24. The Full Plate Diet is not a deprivation diet. There's nothing you “can't have.” And you'll never go hungry. I use the Monday Morning Memo to promote classes at Wizard Academy, a 501c3 https://wizardacademy.org/scripts/openExtra.asp?extra=1 (nontraditional business school), but I never use the memo to sell things and I'm not selling you anything today. But you really ought to look into this diet. You can meet 3 of the doctors in a fun, online video produced by Sunpop Studios and request your no-charge advance copy of the Full Plate Diet at http://www.fullplatedietbeta.org/ (FullPlateDietBeta.org) Next week I'm going to tell you a true story that will blow your mind. Your mind will be blown. You'll be walking into walls. Boy Scouts will have to hold your hand when you cross the street. After hearing this story you'll need to lay down and put a cold rag on your head. The story begins in 1519 and it involves Wizard Academy. And you. Roy H. Williams

About 10 months ago Mike Metzger flew from Clapham Institute in Annapolis to spend a day with us in Austin. “You meet 4 kinds of people on the ocean of life,” Mike said. “Those who drift just go with the flow. The wind and the waves control their speed and direction. The drifter quietly floats along and says, ‘Whatever.'” “Those who surf are always riding a wave, the next big thing. They stay excited until the wave fades away, then they scan the horizon for something new. Surfers don't usually get anywhere, but they make a lot of noise and put on a good show.” “Those who drown seem to stay in the center of a storm. It doesn't matter how often you rescue them, they'll soon be in another crisis, crying, ‘Help me, save me, it's been the worst week of my life. I don't know what I'm going to do.'” “Those who sail are navigating toward a fixed point. They counteract the wind and waves by adjusting the rudder and shifting the sails to stay on course. But without an immovable, fixed point in your life, there can be no sailing. There's nothing for you but drift, surf or drown.” Can you name the fixed point in your life, your immovable object? Metzger's metaphor reminded me of something Ray Bard once taught me. Bard, that legendary publisher of business books, speaks of 4 kinds of opportunities: “When you're thinking about writing a book on a subject or considering a business to go into, it's essential that you find out 2 things: 1. How widespread is the public's interest in it? 2. How deep is that interest?” “If interest is not widespread and not very deep, you're looking at a puddle. Never invest time or money in a puddle.” “If interest is widespread but not very deep, you're looking at a swamp. Be careful of swamps. They look like oceans at first because everyone is interested. But that interest is shallow, not deep enough to drive action. Investors go broke when they see a swamp and think it's an ocean.” “If public interest is wide and deep, you're looking at an ocean. But you're going to need a platform on which to navigate your ocean. If you don't have a platform, you'll drown. And you're going to need a plan or you'll drift.” “If public interest is narrow but deep, you've got a well. Don't underestimate it. You can draw a lot of water from a well. I once knew a writer who wrote a book called The Care and Feeding of Quarter Horses. The book held no interest for readers who didn't own a quarter horse, but those who did had deep enough interest to buy the book. It was extremely successful.” Are you in a puddle, a swamp, an ocean or a well? Are you drifting, surfing, drowning or sailing? Fifteen months ago I taught a student and her daughter how to go sailing in a well. https://wizardacademy.org/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=169 (They wrote me recently) to say that their family business has since “exploded.” You may recall that I mentioned Dixie Huthmaker as a “doer” in the PS of last week's Monday Morning Memo. Those who clicked that link were told they could join the Ocean's 11 and experience a 3-day brainstorming session with the Wizard of Ads. All 11 seats were filled in just a few hours, so we scheduled a second class for October 2-4, 2007. https://wizardacademy.org/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=169 (You coming?) Yours, Roy H. Williams

People have said for decades, “Word-of-mouth is the best kind of advertising. That's the best kind: word-of-mouth.” You hear this so often when you sell advertising that my friend Bob Lepine used to joke about opening The Word of Mouth Advertising Agency. He said he was going to hire people to sit at bus stops and ride the elevators in tall buildings and say to people, “Have you tried that new restaurant over on Fifth Street? It's GREAT!” The funniest part of Bob's idea is that it probably would've actually worked. The power of the buzz – word-of-mouth advertising – lies in its credibility. But the only way to create buzz is to rock a person's world so hard that they can't help but talk about it to their friends. I'm going to try to do that today. Ray Bard of Bard Press, the publisher of my bestselling Wizard of Ads trilogy, looked at the new hardback book about to be released by Wizard Academy Press and wrote me an email. (I was walking out the door to meet Ray for lunch when a boxful of advance copies arrived from the printer. On impulse, I grabbed one for Ray.) These comments by email were completely unsolicited: Roy Great to see you and catch up yesterday. And, thanks for the new Wizard Academy Press book. I usually refrain from providing comments about books after they're published (I've made enough mistakes myself over the years) but there is one issue that may deserve attention. When I got home last night I gave the book a quick look. It felt good in the hand and the inside contents looked good. Although the title sounded like a political book and provided no information about the content, I know that it can get by as it is. The other, more difficult issue, is the price. When I first saw the $13.95 I thought it was a mistake but noticed it was printed in two places. The last time 300 page hard cover business books sold for $13.95 was probably 30 years ago. The retail price is a statement of what you think the value of the book is. When most similar business books are selling for twice as much today, you can see the message this sends. If the publisher is pursing a strong merchandising strategy with lots of face out retail space I recommend pushing the retail into the “value” category. Unless you have a new distribution effort, I would not recommend it for this book. And, the $13.95 is way beyond “value” pricing. For what my opinion is worth, I would have priced it at $30. and sold it at $20 for special customers. I think you can see the difference in psychology. Again, I regret bringing this up now, but I know the book will be used in the company's marketing efforts. And, as it is, the price sends just the opposite message you want. Ray Ray Bard is America's most successful publisher of business books. He is responsible for putting two of my books on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list and one on the New York Times list, so I listen carefully to what Ray says. He's right. Thirteen ninety-five is way too cheap for a 314 page hardback containing this kind of detailed information about how to make online marketing actually work. These pages are chock full of little-known techniques for improving online marketing results. More than a dozen Fortune 500 companies have paid the authors huge amounts of money to learn this stuff. That's why our plan all along was to price the second printing at 25.95. But this first printing exists only to create a buzz. http://www.calltoactionbook.com/ (That's why we're giving you 2 additional copies for each one you buy at just $13.95.) We know you'll give them to friends. We know your friends will be rocked. We know your friends will talk about it to their friends. It's all about the buzz and this book contains some fabulous honey. By the way, shipping is free if you live in the US, so you'll have a grand total of only 4.65 per book in each of your 3 hardback copies. Wizard Academy Press is gambling that the information...