The answer

To achieve more of what you want, you will need to form stronger and more powerful habits. Habits are dictated by the nonconscious brain but the conscious brain is the guard at the doorway of your mind. The brain has an infinite capacity to become more creative and intelligent right throughout your life. But you must take control.

The human brain processes more than four hundred billion bits of information each and every second. Yet from that massive smorgasbord of data, you are usually aware of only about two thousand items. The rest get filtered out automatically as being irrelevant to what’s important to you. The decisions about what to notice and what to ignore are made by a part of the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS) – sort of like an internal search engine like Google in many ways.

“This amazing ability to sort through an ocean of information and find the one droplet of water you’re looking for can function as a blessing or a curse, depending on what you’ve entered into it as your search string. If your RAS is not programmed for what you really want, then no matter how diligently you pursue a goal, you’ll miss all the clues in your environment and overlook the resources, connections, and other pieces of the puzzle that might help you realize that goal. Or if you program your RAS with what you don’t want, then that is precisely what you will find, and you’ll keep finding it. This is why so many people seem to make the same mistakes over and over, whether it’s in business, in love, in health, or anything else. How do you program your RAS with what you don’t want? Simply by focusing on it, thereby creating a habit of thought around that thing.” – John Assaraf and Murray Smith

If you’re trying to enhance your financial performance, nothing much will happen unless and until you impress that new intention on your nonconscious brain. To significantly increase your income, you need to recalibrate your thinking. If you don’t do this and try to work only with your conscious mind, then your brain’s internal mechanisms will kick in and you’ll find that you keep returning to your starting point. Willpower and conscious effort can have a short-term impact but they are unsustainable over the long haul. You need to have your RAS on your side.

Neural programming is a transformative process aimed at reconditioning the nonconscious brain to support personal goals, effectively turning it into an engine for great achievement. This inside-out approach to success involves six key steps. First, it's essential to create a new vision that is vivid, emotionally charged, and crystal clear. This vision should be dwelled upon often, with its details written down in descriptive language to specify the dream life one aims to achieve. Second, crafting powerful affirmations that support this new vision is crucial. These affirmations should be bold, positive, clear, and stated in the present tense, such as "I am a brilliant and street-smart businesswoman" or "I am confident in my ability to generate a high income."

Third, developing emotional anchors links new beliefs with existing feelings. This could involve visualizing the sensation of holding a wad of $100 bills or the smell of sitting in a new Ferrari for the first time, incorporating emotional trigger points into the statements of belief. Fourth, preparing imprinting materials in various formats like written statements, audio recordings, subliminal materials, or vision boards helps bombard the mind with sensory clues about one's goals on a daily basis.

The universe operates on immutable laws, and understanding these principles is crucial to the success or failure of any business venture throughout the history of commerce. By aligning your life with these four foundational laws of achievement, you can achieve anything you can conceive. The first law, the Law of Attraction, posits that you will attract into your life what you focus on most. There is a connection between the tangible world and an unseen realm beyond our physical senses. Events in the tangible world are outcomes of thoughts and energies in this unseen realm, where everything originates. Utilizing the Law of Attraction allows you to harness the power of the intangible world to create your ideal life and business in the physical realm.

This law operates through resonance and cause-and-effect, not just in the physical world but more potently in the intangible world, where ideas possess immense energy. Introducing a new idea into this realm is like planting a seed that draws all necessary resources to grow. Once matured in the intangible world, the idea manifests physically, whether as a business, capital, patents, or copyrighted works. Embracing this law can transform your life and business, as noted by John Assaraf and Murray Smith.

In the film industry, the phrase "Lights–Camera–Action" is iconic. Its business counterpart, "Vision–Focus–Action," encapsulates the essence of corporate success. To excel, one must maintain a broad perspective, concentrate on pivotal actions critical to success, and then diligently work to ensure the right outcomes. Implementing systems to guarantee these outcomes is crucial. Vision is about cutting through the clutter to identify the key actions that will determine whether your business thrives or fails. Three tools can help maintain this focus: Gap Analysis, Revenue Plan, and Sales Process Map.

Gap Analysis is a chart that shows where your business currently stands versus where you aim to be. It encompasses both financial and non-financial aspects, helping you quantify the growth needed to achieve your future vision. The Revenue Plan outlines the strategy to transition from your current state to your desired future. It details whether growth will come from acquiring new customers, raising prices, or increasing sales to existing customers. It should address how to increase profit per sale, attract more customers, and diversify to boost sales.

Pareto’s Law suggests that a significant portion of business profits comes from a small fraction of customers. By identifying and focusing on these ideal customers, businesses can significantly enhance their growth. Unfortunately, many companies lack a clear understanding of who their ideal customers are, missing out on opportunities to attract more of such customers. Creating profiles for both current and ideal customers and comparing them can provide insights into how to bridge the gap between the two. This approach not only helps in attracting the right kind of customers but also in making the business more efficient and profitable.

Customer profiles should include demographic information like gender, age, marital status, and location, as well as psychographic information, which delves into the reasons behind customers’ purchases. Understanding customers’ goals and unmet needs can lead to the development of additional products or services, thereby differentiating the business from competitors. Ideal customer profiles are invaluable in various aspects of business, including product development, customer service, sales and marketing plans, and employee training. They help in identifying decision-makers, influencers, and users, which is crucial for targeted sales and marketing efforts.

Your business's DNA is its Unique Selling Proposition (USP), the cornerstone of all your activities. It's the primary reason customers choose you over competitors. Before anything else, define your USP in detail. It's the key benefit you offer, encapsulated in a phrase or sentence, highlighting what you do and its importance. A well-crafted USP can make or break your success in the market. Your USP should clearly communicate how your product or service satisfies customer needs and stands out from the competition. It should permeate every aspect of your business, influencing all actions and communications. To leverage your USP effectively, do two things:

First, create an elevator speech—a succinct catchphrase or slogan that addresses the problem you solve, like Wal-Mart's "Save money. Live Better." or Lexus's "The Pursuit of Perfection." It should be customer-centric and engaging. Second, integrate your USP into your business rationale. It should attract the right customers and be the focal point of your marketing efforts. Understanding your ideal customer's wants and needs is crucial before developing your USP. Over time, be prepared to refine and enhance your USP, taking advantage of new ways to reach customers.