Professional development Archives - Page 2 of 91

The secret sauce you were looking for, is here

By Jim Connolly | April 15, 2026

Secret sauce, secret sauce success, secret sauce business, what is the secret sauce

Photo by Walls.io on Pexels.com

A while ago, I was hired by the owner of an office supplies company. He told me that for years, he had been trying to figure out why his main competitor was so successful. He wanted to know what he referred to as their secret sauce: the secret ‘something’ that led to their ongoing success.

He found it. And I’m going to share it with you. Why? Because it applies to all small businesses, including yours and mine.

After years of wondering what his main competitor’s secret was, he discovered it by accident! One of his small team retired, and was replaced by a guy who used to work with his super-successful competitor. He then discovered the root of their success. It wasn’t any one thing or secret sauce, which made that competing business so successful.

No.

It was the combination of lots of little things, which prospects were attracted to and customers remained loyal to. Small adjustments in important areas. Minor differences that compounded to create a major impact.

As he said at the time, ‘Jim, I wasted years looking for a mountain, and totally missed the molehills that made them successful’.

What can we learn from this?

We live in an era, where success is marketed to be just one hack or AI prompt away.

We have influencers selling the dream of a tactic that they claim earned them (for example) $100k in 30-days. Often more. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to know what that magic is? In the current economy, these $100k in 30-days type videos are watched by millions of small business owners looking for hope. After all, even if it was possible for the hack or AI prompt to make $20k or $10k fast, that would be very useful for many of our fellow small business owners right now.

The core lesson here is that real, genuine success isn’t the result of a trick or secret tactic. It comes from doing lots of small things, correctly. Doing lots of small things correctly IS THE SECRET SOURCE.

What next, Jim?

Bear with me. Every edition of this newsletter is read by thousands of people in almost every industry, and its readership is worldwide. This means as always, I am forced to answer using broad brushstrokes.

This is a basic, almost universal framework you can use.

List every element of your sales, marketing, customer service and other key areas of your business.
Select the first one that you believe can be improved. Even if it’s only a small improvement. This is really important. Minor improvements of only a few percent, applied to multiple elements of your business will have a compounding effect. Think of it like compound interest. The returns on that compounding is what causes the kind of top competitor effect, which I mentioned earlier.
Then, look for the next, and the next, and the next, applying an improvement to each one. Repeat the process.

Don’t let the simplicity of this idea cause you discard it. It isn’t buzzy. It doesn’t promise you a fast fortune. But it is logical. And it is proven.

As always, I hope you find this useful.

Be optimistic. Because all this is true

By Jim Connolly | April 2, 2026

Photo: Shutterstock.

You should be feeling optimistic about your future. Not by forcing yourself to ignore reality. But by embracing cold, hard facts.

You are just one email away from a great client (or customer) enquiry. Just as you were the last time it happened.
You are just one idea away from a major, positive breakthrough. Just as you were the last time it happened.
You are just one conversation away from converting an enquiry into your most valuable client ever. Just as you were the last time it happened.
You are just one decision away from an amazing opportunity. Just as you were the last time it happened.
You are just one meeting away from your largest ever project or order. Just as you were the last time it happened.

None of those are Pollyanna thoughts or wishful thinking.

They’re facts. Facts you know to be true, based on what you have already experienced.

Smile: There’s an answer to your challenges

And you know what? You don’t need to figure it out by yourself.

Why?

Because whatever problem you’re facing right now, has already been overcome by countless other people. Some of these people have written books about how they did it. Some have given talks about it, which you can listen to. Some, like me, provide a free newsletter with the answers you need.

The core thing to remember is that the answer or answers you need are already out there. If you haven’t found them yet, don’t despair. Keep looking.

To speed up your search, you’ll find this helpful.

Instead of asking yourself ‘how do I solve this problem?‘, ask yourself ‘where can I find the answer?‘.

Do the reading. Do the listening. Ask people you know, who have overcome similar challenges.

The answer is closer than you think.

It might be sitting on a shelf in your local book store or library, waiting in a podcast episode, or living in the mind of someone you could call today. The only thing standing between you and a solution is the willingness to seek it out.

So take a breath, smile and start looking.

Let’s get things back to normal for your business

By Jim Connolly | March 19, 2026

Photo by Visual Tag Mx

I’ve heard numerous business owners ask the same question recently. They want to know when things will go back to normal.

While you can’t go back in time without a time machine, you can GET things back to normal for you and your business.

Back to normal

So, what does your version of normal look like? You’ll typically find it was the way things felt for you at a certain point in the past. Usually this is a sense of confidence, stability and security. Plus, a feeling that things were more predictable and consistent, less volatile.

Whatever normal means to you, write it down.

Once you have your very own, unique picture of what normal means for you and your business, you can start to build it. Your picture becomes the equivalent of an architect’s drawing. You use your picture to guide you, as you put the pieces into place, so your sense of stability, security and predictability are back to normal.

How?

While your competitors are waiting for the impossible, you get to work. You start by thinking what things you will need to have around you, to create your feeling of normality. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Stability and security

These are radically improved when you have the required finances in place. So, decide what’s your figure. Ask yourself, how much would you need behind you, for you to have the same feeling of stability and security, as you had when things were normal? Next, get the best advice you can regarding building your wealth.

Then, make a plan. How many additional sales do you need to make, or how many new clients do you need. Even better (because it’s faster and easier), what new products or services could you develop for your existing customers or clients.

Predictability

Even when things were normal for you, you couldn’t predict everything. No one can. However, you can predict your future even better than before, by making it happen. This means planning for it and following your plan. So, what would you love to happen over the next 30-days, 6-months, or the next year, 5-years or decade? Write it down. First steps first. Make a plan.

[Note. Don’t let the idea of making a plan put you off. You do not need a perfect plan. Just a basic plan. A basic plan is a thousand times better than no plan at all].

This isn’t difficult. Seriously. You’re smarter, better looking and your jokes are funnier than people who’ve already done this.

Additional benefit

There’s a fast and extremely valuable additional benefit from working on getting things back to normal. Very shortly after you begin making your plans, you’ll start to feel less stressed and more positive.

You’ll have a greater feeling of control, because you’ll actually be in control. That feeling of positivity and being in control is invaluable. It provides you with increased optimism, greater enthusiasm and more energy.

Exactly what you need in order to succeed. (Hey, that rhymes)

When people say you’re too expensive, do this!

By Jim Connolly | March 12, 2026

fee sensitive, price sensitive, selling by price, marketing,

Photo by Kaboompics at Pexels.com

When you ask why they didn’t buy from you, prospective customers or clients often say that your prices are too high. And it could be true.

However, it usually isn’t. Here’s what you need to know to overcome price/fee resistance.

Let’s start with some far more likely reasons for their decision.

What makes them say you’re too expensive?

Your marketing could be suffering from Toxic Complexity. This is dangerous and extremely common.
You might be marketing to the wrong people.
You could be contacting them at the lowest point of their cash flow cycle.
You could be asking people to make a decision before they have all the information they need.
Your marketing could be failing to clearly demonstrate enough value, making your price seem higher than they expected.
Your marketing promises could be too similar to those offered by your lower priced competitors.
Your payment terms may not be flexible enough for them.
Your branding could be positioning you as a lower priced provider than you actually are.
You could be responding to enquiries too slowly.

And there are lots of other reasons. None of which have much to do with your prices or fees, and more to do with your marketing and how you sell your products or services.

Solve the problem. Win big!

Lowering your prices can be tempting. It’s a quick and extremely easy way to make your products or services seem better value. But it’s a trap. A trap you need to avoid. A trap that can put your business in a dangerous race to the bottom. You do not want to be in a race to the bottom!

A far better alternative is to find out what’s actually causing people to think you’re too expensive. And to massively improve in those key areas. The least expensive way, the fastest way and the clearest way, is this way.

If you’re not sure where to start looking for answers, the brief list above is a useful place to begin. Try to look at each item on that list from the perspective of a potential client. Remember, most prospects will have done at least some research. So check your competitors to see how your; services, marketing, payment terms, promises, guarantees, branding and response times, etc., stack up against theirs.

And make lowering your prices the very last thing you consider.

Massively increase your sales with tiny improvements

By Jim Connolly | March 4, 2026

increase sales, more sales, marketing tips

I have a beautifully simple, yet powerful marketing tip to share with you today. It’s all about how you can spectacularly increase your sales, by making some tiny improvements.

Let’s go!

Though it was years ago, I vividly recall speaking with the owner of an office supplies company. I’m going to call him John. He was introduced to me after a talk I gave and said he had something he’d like to share with me.

He explained that for years, he’d been frantically trying to work out why his biggest competitor was doing so well. That’s because on the surface, they seemed very similar to John’s business. And yet they’d grown 5 times bigger than John’s business, serving the same marketplace.

Then he discovered their secret!

John hired a former employee of his successful competitor. He quickly discovered the root of their success. It wasn’t any one thing or tactic that made that competing business so successful. Instead, it was the cumulation of lots of little things. These little things compounded, just like compound interest. It resulted in an outstanding difference, which their customers adored and their prospects were attracted to.

It was also undetectable to the competition, including John.

John had been looking for a mountain and totally missed the many molehills, which made all the difference. With a large number of relatively small improvements, John was able to significantly increase his revenues and profits.

In short, if you create enough molehills, you end up with a mountain. By looking for small improvements to the way you look after your existing customers, and the way you attract new customers, you can achieve spectacular sales results.