The Invisible Mentor

Archive for June, 2009

Note: Based on research, this is my attempt to get into the head of Estee Lauder, a truly remarkable woman and a pioneer. Estee would have been a great blogger and Invisible Mentor. The steps she took to achieve success can still be applied today. As an innovator and marketing strategist, she created many techniques for promoting her cosmetic line, which many believe are novel today. These promotional techniques include “Tell a Woman” Campaign, known today as viral marketing, get others to talk about your products, known as raving fans.

When reading today’s post, read actively, and think of ways you can apply the information to your unique situation. As I was reading up on Estee Lauder, my creative wheels were spinning rapidly inside my head and I have ideas on how to better promote my products. When we study the past we are often better able to understand the present and the future.

Influence: Uncle John Shotz, a chemist

Big  Break: Came in 1946 from Saks Fifth Avenue and paved the way for product entry into other retail stores such as Neiman Marcus and Marshall Field’s

Regret: Not balancing work and family

Quotable: “Measure your success in dollars, not degrees.”

Estee Lauder’s Success Tips

1. Pay close attention to the quality of your products
2. Offer a gift with purchase
3. Send samples by direct mail
4. Think creatively instead of thinking competition. Which non traditional market could benefit from your product or service (How about tapping hotels to purchase business books for their executive guests as a welcome)
5. Carefully recruit and train all sales representatives on how to give excellent customer service (Have product demos)
6. After you achieve success with your product, expand the product line and brand
7. Have raving fans: Give your friends who have influence samples of your products to carry around
8. Use viral marketing (Similar to “Tell a Woman” Campaign)
9. Trust yourself and your instincts
10. Focus, be aware of the world around
11. Know your customer, know your niche
12. Persist and have ambition

Which success tip can you apply? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Resources

Builders & Titans: Estée Lauder by Grace Mirabella

Encyclopedia of World Biography on Estee Lauder

Estee: A Success Story, Estee Lauder

Estee Lauder Beyond The Magic , Israel Lee

Estee Lauder by Sara Alpern

Before you answer this question, you have to understand how I define Invisible Mentors. Here is my definition of Invisible Mentors from my concept paper.

“An Invisible Mentor is a training tool as well as a different way of thinking, to move professionals from one stage of their life to a higher one through the systematic use of books, interviews, conversations and articles.  An Invisible Mentor awakens the “sleeping” genius within. To achieve this goal requires reading the right books, listening to the right interviews and conversing with the right people.”

So, who are your Invisible Mentors? My Invisible Mentors are:

Julia Conn Watt (She taught me to be a better listener, which is a critical skill for success)

Jim Rohn ( I have learned a lot from his books and training programs)

Earl Nightingale (His training programs – Lead the Field and The Strangest Secret have inspired me)

Key to Yourself (This book by Venice Bloodworth profoundly impacted me)

The Magic of Thinking Big (This Book by Dr. David Schwartz is another that profoundly impacted me)

As I grow and evolve as a person, and unleash more of the genius within me, I suspect that my Invisible Mentors will change. At this point in time, who are your five Invisible Mentors and why? Let us learn from each other!

Photo Credits: Avil Beckford

Very Old Tree in China

For the past few weeks, I have been thinking about people who have died, who would have been great bloggers, as well as great Invisible Mentors. These people were innovative thinkers and ahead of their time. I will present their names in this post and in subsequent weeks, together, we will learn more about them, and their contributions to humanity.

At a later date, I will present other innovative thinkers and we will go through the process again. This is an excellent way for us to expand our thinking.

1. Estee Lauder, Cosmetic Maven and Marketing Strategist
2. Margaret Mead, Anthropologist
3. Earl Nightingale, “Dean of Personal Development”
4. Mary Wollstonecraft, Writer and Philosopher
5. Thomas Edison, Inventor
6. Napoleon Hill, Author
7. Francis Bacon, Philosopher, Scientist and Lawyer
8. Benjamin Franklin, Inventor, Scientist, Author, Printer and much more
9. Plato, Philosopher
10. Simone de Beauvoir, Writer and Philosopher

Why would these innovative thinkers be great bloggers? They knew how to create value, they had a willingness to share with others, they had great lessons to teach and they sometimes went against the grain for things they believed in. We will also look at ways to use what they had to say to apply to our unique situations. Next week, we will start off with Estee Lauder.

What kind of books do you enjoy reading? And how many books do you read each month? How do you carve out the time to read?

A few years ago I read that it’s important to read a book each week, and I took the information to heart. Every month I would diligently read four books until I decided to raise the bar. Now I read about eight books a month, and I read broadly. But this month I am struggling because there is a lot going on in my life.

Since the beginning of June 2009,  I have managed to only read  The Dip by Seth Godin and I really enjoyed it. I have started Cluetrain Manifesto and I am hoping that I will complete it this weekend so that I can review it for this blog. As I write this blog I realize that I have to be much easier on myself, because my reality is that I have already read over 60 books since the beginning of 2009.

Why do I read so much? Reading gives me pleasure and I love to learn new things. And the more I read, the more creative I am. I also use books to mentor me, is that a surprise considering the name of this blog? When appropriate, I apply the information to my work and life.

What are you reading now?

If you do not read books, perhaps you could start reading a book a month and start off reading up on a topic that you are interested in. Are you interested in golfing, health and fitness or history? Start there, and you could even start with a novel. Well written novels often have life lessons that you can learn from. I have found that to be true for me.

Happy reading!

5 Novels That I Really Enjoyed in the Past Year

Away: A Novel, Amy Bloom

The Tenderness of Wolves: A Novel, Stef Penney

Gilgamesh: A New English Version, Stephen Mitchell

The Outcast: A Novel (P.S.), Sadie Jones

The Courage Tree, Diane Chamberlain

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Turning Things Upside Down

Do you embrace your uniqueness, or do you subscribe to the herd mentality? What would it take for you to accept you as you really are? To unleash your inner genius you MUST embrace all of you.

Write down five things that make you unique.

Here are five of the many things that make me unique:

1. I make up words. When I was writing my book Tales of People Who Get It, I created the word Itness, and I talk about ItnessPoints, Itness Continuum and Itness Funnel. Creating a new word in that instance simply made sense to me and I did what worked for me
2. I easily make connections among seemingly unrelated information without even thinking about it. I took it for granted until a friend told me that it’s a skill that most people don’t have
3. Whenever people make suggestions to me, I respectfully listen to what they have to say. Later I process the information objectively, and if it doesn’t work for me I toss it out and move on
4. Whenever necessary, I go to that place within, shut out the world and find a moment of peace. This works wonders for my sanity
5. I read actively and interact with the words on the page. This is not always good because I get so emotionally involved when a character upsets me that I want to rip up the book

How is this for exposing myself? Do you dare share what makes you, you?

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Photo Credits: Avil Beckford