Becoming Essential   How marketing really works.

Nigel Clayton is the best business coach there is, period.

I just did a new website for him that tries to capture the essence of who he is, what he does, and, most importantly, how it helps.

I’m a devout follower of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, as are many. The book is 267 pages long. That’s about 266 and a 1/2 too many.

Here’s the whole thing:

Don’t keep track of anything in your head.

For example, when you speak to a client and need to follow up in a week, don’t try to remember to follow up. You need to create a reminder for a specific time a week later and put it into a system that INTERRUPTS you. Putting the reminder in a day-timer that you don’t examine at least several times per day won’t work. Instead, put the reminder in your PDA, your laptop calendar, or a computer program that waves its arms in front of you via email, SMS, etc. I recommend two options:

If you are a PC user or web-centric: Remember the Milk

If you are a Mac user: OmniFocus

Now, go out and read 266 and a 1/2 pages of something frivolous.

I designed a quick website for a friend recently. She’s a great gal, but a devout price shopper. The short term cost of the thing is what’s important to her. She doesn’t think of spending money as an investment; she thinks of it as a drain.

Price shopping is a disease that will lead you to ruin: don’t do it. I’m not talking about seeing if you can find a $1200 designer suit for $200. I’m talking about budgeting $200 for a suit and then going out and buying one that lists for $200 retail. If you are hard up, don’t buy a $200 suit. Figure out what type of clothing ensemble you can wear that’s well-made, elegant and that meets your budget. Maybe it’s a simple pair of slacks and a really nice sweater.

Don’t be a price shopper.