More Than WE Know

What have you written in your Journal today?

You do have a journal don’t you?

You don’t?

Well then, where do you write down your ideas, observations, questions, and thoughts???

You don’t try to keep them all in your head, do you?

Oh.

Oh, no.

Well, today I am going to give you an idea of why keeping a Journal can be a great competitive advantage for an Entrepreneur.

In case you think the idea is only for beginners, consider this quote from Richard Branson, owner of an international conglomerate of 350 small to large businesses under the Virgin brand, with a combined total sales of $8 billion.

“I keep a notebook in my pocket all the time, and I really do listen to what people say, even when we’re out in a club at 3 a.m. and someone’s passing on an idea in a drunken slur. Good ideas come from people everywhere, not in the boardroom. ”

So.

What do you put in your notebook?

Here are some recent entries in mine. As you can see they are jottings that really only make sense to me. They are inspired by observations while surfing the web, running errands, or talking to clients.

Feedburner has an email subscription option - need to add to site - what about at the end of each post?

Article series on WAHMS…..balance, belief, business.

Grocery store has rental car, starbucks, bank inside - appealing to convenience factor - how to align similar small businesses for convenience of customers - i.e. shopping and shipping? haircare and daycare?

Sometimes I don’t know why I am writing down what I am writing down - I don’t have a clear idea of how or when I will use it. But after it’s had a chance to live in my subconscious for a while, an idea will appear, fully formed.

If I hadn’t written it down, it probably would have been lost forever.

Here’s an example of an article I wrote on building customer loyalty based on observations in my journal.

And here’s another on turning marketing obstacles into opportunities.

And here’s one on the challenges of networking from a conversation with a friend.

And one on situational shyness based on my experiences at an event.

And you’ll notice that I was motivated by my scribbling to take action. I followed through and added a way to subscribe to a feed of this blog in your email. You can now have it delivered to your mailbox every day (see upper right corner of the page).

So, grab a piece of paper and a pencil - write this down.

To Do:

1) Buy a notebook.

2) Carry it with me.

3) When I have an idea, see something unusual, interesting, fun, or exciting - write it down.

4) Review once a week

5) See what happens!

Do you keep a notebook? How has it helped you? What ideas have you gotten? How ofen do you write in it? How often do you review it?

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