What This Guy Knows About Making Money Can Help You Make Some, Too

Fred Berns’ 2007 New Year’s Resolution was to “invest my time in things that will make money.” Pretty simple. Did he succeed in staying true to his money making resolution? Might his experience this past year help you make some of that cold hard cash, too?

Fred is one of two featured speakers at the Colorado Chapter of the National Speakers Association, which is coming up this Saturday, December 8, 8:30 AM at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver. The other speaker is Doug Stevenson – more about him soon in an upcoming article.

Fred took time from his money making schedule this week to talk about how his New Year’s Resolution worked out.

Michael & Sheryl: We do want to hear about your successes, but first, what were the setbacks to achieving this New Year’s Resolution about making money? Were there any roadblocks? Was it all smooth sailing?

Fred: The biggest setback was that for the first few months I didn’t have my eyes properly on the prize. I made the New Year’s Resolution with all good intentions, but I then I kind of filed it away. Later, I took out my resolution at mid-year and reviewed it. After that, I reviewed it each and every week – and never filed it away again. That made all the difference. You have to keep your goal in front of you.

Now, every time the phone rings, if that speaking or consulting offer won’t help move me to my ultimate goal, I’ll refer them to another speaker. In the interior design industry there is always enough work to go around.

Michael & Sheryl: OK, tell us about the main successes from your New Year’s resolution.

Fred: As I said, halfway through the year is when it really began to jell for me. That’s when I also came up with what I call the “McLaren Concept.” Ever since then, I’ve been developing “McLaren Thinking” – which is based around focusing on the most we can offer our clients. Or, to put it another way, how do we create a “Platinum Package” for our clients.

I’ll talk more about this on Saturday – and give the details of the McLaren Concept – but it’s really only up to your own imagination to decide what your “platinum package” could be. The sky is the limit and the one thing we know for sure is that you can’t sell it if you don’t offer it. As Wayne Gretzky said, “you miss 100% of the shots you never take.”

Michael & Sheryl: You’ve got us interested in this McLaren Concept. What other successes did you have?

Fred: I finally took the message about passive income to heart. I still have a long way to go, but I was successful in really developing my product descriptions, improving my online shopping carts and generating income from my product base.

What’s amazing about this is that I’m finding every week I get orders that I have no idea where they came from. These are online sales that didn’t follow up on one of my speeches or one of my ezines. These customers literally found my products and bought them on the web without my having ever met or interacted with them.

I’ll talk more about this, too, but I’d say take the products you have now and literally and figuratively shrink wrap them together. Call it your “Platinum Package.”

Michael & Sheryl: What one thing will those who come to hear your speak at NSA take away to help them make money in their speaking business?

Fred: If you think big and develop McClaren Thinking you can dramatically increase your income.

Michael & Sheryl: Thanks, Fred, for taking the time to talk with us. By the way, you can also learn more about Fred’s ideas by going to his blog at InteriorDesignBusiness.net.

Or, as we always say, “Don’t slog thru the blogs!” Add the word site: to your search and find out what Fred has to say about the things you want to know – perhaps “money,” “income,” “cash” and “profit.” You will want your searches to look just like this (and it works in any of the major search engines):

• money site:interiordesignbusiness.net
• income site:interiordesignbusiness.net
• cash site:interiordesignbusiness.net
• profit site:interiordesignbusiness.net

Sorry, but we already tried the one below and Fred’s blog is silent on the topic. You’ll just have to come to the NSA Colorado chapter meeting on Saturday, December 8, to hear more about:

• “mclaren concept” site:interiordesignbusiness.net

See you there.