The power of Intention

Now we are a well into the New Year I wonder how many people have made ‘resolutions’ to achieve something but have already broken their goal?

This highlight the danger of resolutions as often people associate a resolution as an absolute must do and always do. Yes, this is setting the bar high and for a few, they may well succeed. However, for many, they will get disheartened from not keeping to their resolution and give up on their goal.

If you instead start the year (or any personal project) with what you intend to do you give yourself the option of picking up and starting again if something rocks the boat and you miss a day or so of whatever your intention was.

Scenario

If I resolve to walk every day of the year and stick to a keto diet, I do not provide for any hiccups along the way. If after three days I have chaffing (ouch) and my legs are too sore to walk the next day, in fact, I will do more damage if I keep walking -then I am stuck. Result: I break my resolution before the first week has passed.

If however, I intend to keep to a keto based diet and walk every day in January, I give myself the option to take a days break if I need. If I am invited to a friends birthday and socialising means I may stray a little from the diet and that is OK. It is OK because through the power of intention I can start again guilt free.

The power of intention enables us to be kind to yourself while also urging us on to success in our goal. The key to the power of intention is the understanding that ‘shit’ happens and it does not matter, no stress just start over. You can get back on track the next day, or week if you need to.

So, if in 2019 you have a resolution and are struggling for whatever reason, simply change it for ‘Intention’ allow yourself the opportunity to correct your course and get back on track.

I sincerely hope you have a great 2019 and achieve all that you wish to achieve.

I hope you found this article helpful

Nga mihi

Tony C
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital w. tonycuttingdigital.com
w. tonycutting.com

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

January 6, 2019 0

IS YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVING OR THRIVING?

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

In New Zealand, we are known for our ‘number 8 wire’ mentality. We are great at survival. “She’ll be right, I can do that”.

What we tend to be is poor at thriving. Knowledge, as we all know, is a powerful thing. Unfortunately, a little knowledge can leave us vulnerable especially to competitors who use their smart thinking to engage people with exceptional knowledge to do tasks that are not “core business”.

The investment return of this approach is simple. Having smart people to call on in areas you are not exceptional is the entrepreneurial skill used by business owners to ensure their business thrives rather than just survives.

Yes, gain knowledge so at least you have the baseline to understand great from the good.

However, invest in knowledge and skills from specialists and significantly increase your business’s chances of thriving.

Spend your time learning your craft, and learning how to manage these assets, that is how to ensure you have the essential skills that build your personal brand and respect from your customers and staff. Forget about the ‘number 8 wire’ attitude and get great at what you do. hire resources that add to your skills and practice the same approach as you i.e. they focus on being great at what they do.

By adopting this tactic anyone who really wants to thrive will.

I hope you found this helpful.

Tony C
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital w. tonycuttingdigital.com
w. tonycutting.com

November 29, 2018 0

YES, Build your online footprint!

It has never been a more important time to develop an online footprint.

Whether you’re looking for business or looking for that next job you need to understand that being accessible online is becoming more and more crucial each day. Most business people have understood this for a number of years, unfortunately for them, many business people fail to execute a decent online footprint. These are the same people who talk about market downturns while their competitors who are taking advantage of the exposure and reach the online world provides us. I also laugh at the number of business people who proudly say that get all their business from referrals, yet when you dig a little deeper they just don’t understand how to make the digital world work for them.

In terms of people who would rather be employed than take the ‘Risk’ of being self-employed or building a business. Building your online presence is also extremely important.

WHY?

The why? for people who want to be kept in mind for new employment opportunities is simple. More and more employers & recruiters are using digital to search for, research and validate people they may wish to approach for an opportunity. With websites like LinkedIn now dominating as online ‘talent pools’ or ‘marketplaces’ finding great people from all over the globe has just got easier. Although we still apply for many jobs, over the next ten years I am picking that practice of advertising jobs is going to decline and search is going to increase.

Why? Because advertising creates more work and takes a lot longer especially when you can go online, and cherry-pick the talent you want, while also checking them out before you approach them.

LinkedIn is a must if you are serious about your career. You also won’t be throwing away your CV and not applying for jobs yet. However, there is something else looming that is even better than LinkedIn. The web itself. By either building your own personal website or working with someone like me through http://www.jobcafe.co.nz we can help you create an online footprint that anyone using Google (or any other search engine) can use to find you. Unlike LinkedIn which requires you to be connected, invest a load of time building connections, doesn’t make sense to build an online profile which can be accessed easily.

Your personal online presence can be designed in such a way to make it really easy for that star employer to find you and all the details they need to validate you. The easy it is for this to happen the better chance everyone has to make a connection. Simple. Advantage you.

As for contractors and business people, the same thing applies. Build a responsive profile will help you win more business. People do business with people so take advantage of the fact. Using blogs, write guests posts, articles thus improve your personal web ranking, your profile may just be the site that next client hits before checking out all your services on that business website you invested on years ago.

I set up Tony Cutting Digital to help both business people and those who would rather work for someone else take full advantage of what is happening online.

The world is so connected and the impossible is becoming more possible every day. Why reduce your chances of landing that dream job? or unlikely business lead?

Hope you found this helpful.

Have a great day

Tony C
Personal Coach/Digital Marketing Expert
http://www.tonycutting.com
http://www.tonycuttingdigital.com

October 24, 2018 0

Life – Why it has to change.

When a major change in your life hits you, some people handle it well and others at times struggle. The fact is life is always changing, and well, it kind of has to. If it wasn’t so big or so shocking, we probably would not call it a change at all.

These changes often represent the defining points of our lives. The older I get, the more I realize that life is all about change, and how we deal with it plots our course. No one can predict the future, but we can learn how to deal with change and understand that it is always coming.

As someone who has experienced great change recently, I wanted to make sure I handled this change in the most positive way possible.

How did I deal with this change? By being grateful. Weird right?

Not really when you realise that changes are an opportunity to get your life back on track, reassess and design a future ‘you love’.

In time you will wish the change had happened earlier. I guess what has helped me in recent times is having the knowledge deep down that a major change is good for me, it may still come with some emotional pain (this is natural) but I know from previous experience and a whole lot of learning – change is good.

This knowledge did not come quickly, it has taken several life-changing events for me to be able to see the progress I made from those changes. I have become a better person with every change. I also go into the future with much greater knowledge and skills. I understand I am totally responsible for my life (the good and bad) and there is no-one else who is designing my life.

To move forward quickly, forgive yourself, forgive others, be grateful and look forward to the new life you can create. If you need help to seek it – get help, the faster you can get back on track the quicker you will see what a gift that change was for you.
Over time you will learn to embrace change and take much better care of yourself.
I hope you found this helpful.

Tony Cutting
Personal Coach
+6421911722
E. tony.cutting@peoplenet.co.nz

August 4, 2018 0

Develop your ‘search’ skills to find people who can help you succeed

How this all started. I was recruited into the recruitment agency world in the early 90’s and this was my line of work in some shape or form for the next 25 years. In fact, still today I use many of the skills learnt during this period to help me provided services to my clients and to grow my own business. I was lucky as I was employed to recruit people with information technology skills. My natural way of working is to get to know people really well and totally understand how I can help them. This helped me to develop some great relationships with some very smart technical people, these relationships helped me to develop technical knowledge and skills that helped me be better at my job. I built a career and then a very good business with these skills.

One of the key skills I developed was how to use ‘Forensic Search’. On a basic level, most people know how to search Google and they may even have a LinkedIn account that enables them to reach several people every month. You may even know how to do a basic Facebook search for people?

Using these skills, you can find people to help you in your business. Whether that be to find great staff, clients or my favourite ‘collaborators’.

Collaborators understand the value of building large internet connections where they can either promote themselves and their work or do the same for their clients. Those that provide services for clients are often called ‘Digital Marketers’.

By working in partnership collaborators and/or digital marketers can create large networks that can be used to promote whatever the client is looking for.

However, for those who have another career they can use these tactics to develop personal networks, groups and connections that will help them advance their career. This works by connecting with other people in your industry and setting up ‘groups’ and meetups where you and your collaborators can invite your networks to share their details with a group or even attend a meetup. These meetups allow you to build relationships, some of which will be key contacts that help you build your career.

For those of us with advanced forensic search skills, we have the ability to reach into the internet and find anyone on any site simply using code that interrogates the website and brings up profiles that meet your search criteria. A skill I use to promote client’s jobs directly to the people they may be looking for in a service I developed that promotes jobs rather than engages in direct recruitment.

For those of you interested more in the mechanics here is a great place to start https://www.lifewire.com/web-search-tricks-to-know-4046148

Of course, once you have mastered searching a site that is the first step. The second is to master how to communicate with people when you find them. That’s another skill which most of us Digital Marketer’s prefer to keep as our own IP (Intellectual Property).

Once you have these skills the world becomes a much more exciting place, you can use forensic search skills for a wide range of activities, but my favourite is helping people to build their business or develop a career network.

If you are interested in learning how to develop your search skills or your staffs’ search skills please feel free to contact me.

Tony Cutting
Personal Coach / Digital Marketer
m. +64 21 911 722
e. tony.cutting@peoplenet.co.nz

July 10, 2018 0

Over 50? Whats next?

So you are getting close to 50 years old or maybe you are like me and now into your 50’s?

Life is definitely for the living and if you haven’t already leveraged yourself, the time is now. Over 50 you should be living a lifestyle of your own design. Much easier if you have made the leap into self-employment during your 40’s but maybe you just need more security so you kept working for someone else. What scares me about that is the number of people I chat with who have been made redundant, hit a health issue, or are still raising a family and struggling to make it week by week. That’s just not living.

So, what do you do? If you have been good and saved heaps of money you might buy a lifestyle business. One you know you will love that will give you the time and income to live the life you love. If this is you, you might as well stop reading.

If however, for whatsoever reason you are approaching 50 or clicked over this mark and you still have not leveraged yourself for a better life then here are my tips for you.

You have skills and experience others should be interested in.
By now you should have an idea of what you love to do.
The kids should have left home or at least be earning, freeing up some cash for you. If not, seriously consider downsizing, you will need some cash-flow while you redesign your future.
. You possibly already know people who would appreciate your skills. Start to have conversations and making plans.
Find a personal coach to guide you so you accelerate your plan and navigate through those first years of whatever it is you decide to do. You should not need a lot of guidance if you are making choices based on things you love to do.
Your biggest market is possibly other ‘over 50’s’ just like you so make connections, join appropriate network groups and start building or rebuilding your personal network.
Start to read positive books that inspire you to learn and go for your goals.
Your health and happiness is now the number 1 priority.

So it’s simple. Build your own business and preferably one you love to work in. Ideally, you should have thought about this in your early 40’s but I know, you were just too busy then.

If your cash position is poor, downsize. Rebuild a life that makes sense the next 50 years should be the best of your life. Money is not more important than your health. You have the knowledge and there are plenty of peers out there you can tap into for support. The sooner you take this step, the sooner you will get to a place that you love, dealing with people who are also passionate about living a life they love and designing the life you have always dreamed of.

I wish you all the best.

Tony C
Personal Coach.

June 23, 2018 0

What is Digital Marketing?

Hi, my name is Tony Cutting and I am a personal coach and a digital marketing specialist. I can help you learn how to build your brand using digital marketing or help market you, your business or your jobs using my Digital Marketing network throughout New Zealand.

What is Digital Marketing (DM)

Digital marketing is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts. Businesses leverage digital channels such as Google search, Adwords, social media, email, and their websites to connect with their current and prospective customers.

The reality is, people spend twice as much time online as they used to years ago and the time we are spending online is growing at a phenomenal rate. People around the world are building their dream businesses faster and with more efficiency simply using digital marketing.

The key to your success using digital marketing is to promote your own profile as much as your business profile. People connect with people and on many social media sites only your personal marketing campaigns will work. The good news is you can be who you want to be, social media is about promoting the authentic you.

Where should you market

Well, you can check out who is using what platforms and see if they are your target audience or you can start using a number of platforms and over time (6-12 months) figure out which ones work best for you.

Marketing has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the right time. Today, that means that you need to meet them where they are already spending a lot of their time: on the internet.

The Social Media Bible

Crushing it by Gary Vaynerchuk is my reference book for those people serious about building their brand through social media. If you are in New Zealand I recommend you order it through Mighty Ape (I got my book in 2 business days). Hit the link on the book image below to be taken to the Mighty Ape store.

Tony Cutting – Coach (Digital Marketing)

Whether you are wanting to learn about Digital Marketing to build your own DM business or you want to understand it and use it to build your own brand or business I have the skills and experience to help you. I provide 1:1 coaching and/or you can join one of my Marketing Mastermind Collectives / Business Networks in Wellington or the Kapiti Coast. I also run JobCafe a digital marketing solution that promotes jobs and people here in New Zealand. During 2018 I will be setting up other groups throughout New Zealand. IF you are interested in joining one of these please feel free to reach out and let me know who you are. You can do this through the project site www.kiwibusinessnetwork.com

Other project links

www.wellingtontoday.co.nz
www.kapitinow.co.nz
www.jobcafe.co.nz
www.kumaravine.co.nz

Hope you found this useful – Tony

Tony Cutting
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist

Contact Me

Please feel free to contact me for a FREE 15-minute consultation if you are interested in using my Digital Marketing services or training.

Find me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tonycuttingdigital/
Website: tonycutting.com

Email. tony.cutting@peoplenet.co.nz

Mobile. 021 911 722

June 15, 2018 0

‘Kāore te kumara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka’

Kia ora Koutou,

I was raised on Hongoeka Marae. One of the first things I learnt while growing up in my community is you get more respect being humble than you do ‘showing off’.

There is a famous Maori proverb “Kāore te kumara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka” translation – The kumara (sweet potato) does not say how sweet he is

This proverb accentuates the value of humbleness.

Maori and Pasifika people are extremely humble and I know as a fact they have missed out on opportunities because of this. In a previous life, I spent many years in recruitment and have sat on New Zealand recruitment panels both in government and private organisations and have been involved with selection processes (designed by so-called experts who do not have humility as a part of their culture) and witnessed Maori and Pasifika candidates being marked down ‘because they did not speak up or sell themselves”.

In my case, I have been able to point out the situation to people on the selection panels about the prejudice of this selection criteria. However, given nearly 80% of all recruitment panels do not have people who truly understand this cultural difference, how many Maori and Pasifika are missing out on jobs, and for organisations how many great people have they missed out on due to these very common practices.

The scary thing is I have witnessed many HR and Recruitment people, even after I have pointed out what is happening, fervently state that if a person is not able ‘to stand up for themselves’ or ‘show leadership’ they should not be hired regardless of their culture. This has to be stopped.

In a world that is rapidly demanding that people speak up and promote themselves both in person and in digital form, how do Maori & Pasifika deal with this dilemma?

They go against their own values and ‘become’ a self-promoting ‘pakeha’ when looking for a job or pitching their business. Not an option for many.
They work hard and hope that someone recognises this. Not really a practical solution, given the current situation with recruitment processes and the global trend to grow your personal brand if you truly want to accelerate your success.

There are really only three real practical solutions.

Education. Organisations need to either train staff to better understand this situation (a difficult solution right now, given the amount of prejudice throughout New Zealand and the world). So they must include people in the recruitment selection process who understand this and will ensure a fair playing field for all applicants.
Consultants like myself are engaged to help with a recruitment or procurement process.
Marketers like myself become champions for people who find it difficult to self-promote and help them work out how to do this while also remaining humble. Then executing a strategy that builds their brand using a third-party approach.

This issue is the reason I have adapted my consultancy services to help both employers and people who struggle in this world of self-promotion. My goal is to help educate organisations in New Zealand on this serious problem while also teaching those who want to remain humble how to do this, and still build the dream life they deserve.

I hope you found this information helpful.

Nga mihi

Tony Cutting
Consultant/founder The Kumara Vine
www.kumaravine.co.nz

June 10, 2018 0

Happiness

How do you feel right now? Are you happy? If not it is time to make some changes.

The psychological and philosophical pursuit of happiness began in China, India and Greece nearly 2,500 years ago with Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, and Aristotle. We can find remarkable similarities between the insights of these thinkers and the modern “Science of Happiness.” – Source http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org

Let’s face it, if we are not happy then we are wasting our time aren’t we?

I grew up in the greatest place on the planet, Hongoeka Marae. Every one of my cousins that I grew up with will tell you the same thing. We certainly did not come from families with money but we did come from a community that loved and cared for each other. As kids, we were enabled to explore our talents, we were encouraged to get outside and play, we all had a roof over our heads and food in our belly’s. We learnt from all our whanau (in my case my Mum, Nana, Poppa, Nane and many Uncles and Aunties who lived in Hongoeka Bay). We were very happy and that is what everyone wanted for everyone (well most of the time anyway).

When I was older and study organisation and management I discovered Maslow’s Theory and the first thing they came to my mind was that we had all the elements of his pyramid. We may have not had much money but we did not even realise this because we were rich in all the elements that create a great life – We were happy.

Maslow’s Theory

As you can see from the image above there is no mention of Money.

In January 2015 I was diagnosed with a brain tumour, luckily it was benign and it would be removed via brain surgery in June 2015. The next three years I have been recovering from this surgery which has resulted in an expected complication, damage to my pituitary stalk. This means I take a number of drugs on a daily basis to help replace the hormones which would normally be regulated from this area.

I am the father of four, my wife works but her salary alone does not cover all the bills. Our savings and insurance claim ran out within 18 months and we were struggling.

I was not happy nor was the rest of my family. At Fifty Four years old I have made the biggest decision in my life, to return to the happiness formula I knew so well when I was younger.

First things first. Get as fit and healthy as I can. Gym five days per week and eat healthy for at least six days per week. Build a business I love (Personal Coaching and Digital Marketing) I love technology and using it to help people grow.

Create experiences and memories and spend time with both my loved ones and my wider whanau and friends. Meditate. Help others in my community as much as I can and be grateful for the skills I have and the people around me. Collect experiences not things. Grow. Try new things and just enjoy myself.

I am back on track, I hit Fifty-five years old this month, with the rest of my life ahead of me. I have a plan and its foundation is happiness. I have ambition and will make more than enough to pay off the credit cards and reduce the mortgage which has been leveraged to help us get by. But money is not my driver – Happiness is.

I hope you find this helpful.

Tony Cutting

Personal Coach /Digital Marketer

June 5, 2018 0

The 5 essential ingredients for success

Kia ora Koutou,

Throughout my life, I have been successful in many ways. I have genuinely succeeded in most things I put my heart and soul into.

At a young age, I was a very happy kid and I was a good sportsman and during my school years fell in love with cross country running (I know, what was I thinking?), but I truly did. In standard three (year 5) the school had its annual cross country races and to my complete surprise, I managed to come in 2nd place, to my schoolmate Richard Barlow. During that year I would try my hardest to beat him but I would suffer from stitch and could never seem to take him albeit he would only beat me by a few metres in the end.

I was playing football and my grandad would travel 40 kilometres to pick me up and take me to my games. During our conversation on the way to football, grandad asked me how school was going and I told him about my stitch. he smiled and simply said, “Start singing while you run” and “train harder”.

The following week I did what grandad had told me. I was pretty fit anyway but I started to run more and during my runs, I would sing “Waltzing Matilda” a song my grandparents taught me, which seem to work. Singing helps you to regulate your breathing and it’s a great way to prevent stitch.

The next week I beat Richard by a decent margin. I went through Plimmerton School as a champion at cross country and even in the first form (year 7), I was fastest in the school being able to beat all the kids in the year above. At the regional competition, I run for the school as a senior during both my First and Second forms (year 7 & 8) and won my races by a few hundred metres each time.

The reason I was so good was pretty simple, I loved what I did, I received great advice, I trained well, I was lucky to be in a school that encouraged kids to run cross country and I had some competition to keep me sharp, I was a very happy kid.

This is very similar to the Five step formula, I and many other coaches will tell you, to be successful in life.

#1: Do what you love
You spend a lot of time at work, it is so important you do what you love or over 50% of it is wasted.

#2: Just do it
As Nike tells us to. Find a way to follow your dreams, the fact you are following your own plan will make you happier even though you may need to work for someone else or work towards the career you will love. Don’t wait for the stars to align, they only align when they know from your actions what you want to do. Make it clear to them and they will respond in kind.

A little bit of planning is good, but that’s all you need. Passion and positive actions will do the rest.

#3: Surround yourself with success-minded people
One of the reasons I set up my business networking groups in the area I live is to ensure I am working with like-minded people. When you are surrounded by successful people you can learn from each other and gain the knowledge you need faster than you can by yourself.

Celebrated success expert Jim Rohn, who is no longer with us, used to talk about something he called the Law of Averages – average the income of the five people you hang out with the most, and that’s what your income is likely going to be.

This is because the way that people tend to think is contagious.

Ensure you spend regular time with people who are positive and looking to achieve BIG dreams, they support you and your dreams, do this and your clients and your business or career will benefit!

#4: Don’t stop growing
Don’t settle for what you have in life. Demand more of yourself think of ways you can not only continue to grow yourself but help those positive people around you. Learn and help others, If we all did this, the world would be a much better place.

#5: Smile
People love to deal with happy people. Whenever you are feeling a little lost, take a good look at yourself and start working on getting your smile back. Make the changes you need in your life to bring back the happy you.

My biggest success is my family, they not only make me proud to be their dad they also help me smile when times get tough. I am very grateful to have been blessed with such a wonderful whanau.

Arohanui

Tony C
Personal Coach
.

June 3, 2018 0