Last friday marked the one month anniversary of my new, improved website. It’s been a truly fantastic month of connecting with new friends and clients, all over the world. The stats are in, the ROI has been measured and I’m declaring it a victory!

To celebrate, I’m giving away free (very valuable) stuff! To you! I’m also kicking off a breakthrough blog series on the Psychology of Selling. Free stuff and sales – somehow all connected. Read on to find out what it’s all about…

The art and science of persuasion is an interesting topic because the biggest fans of “persuasion techniques” are usually scumbags, looking for ways to brainwash prospect customers or the opposite sex, for nefarious purposes.

On the other hand, persuasion used to further positive business goals, put win-win deals together and create impact can only be a good thing.

I put the word “Jedi” into the title of this post for the following reasons:

1. Jedis are all-powerful and can convince anyone of anything.
2. Jedis play for the “light side of the force” and believe in doing the right thing.
3. I’m a closet geek and grew up wishing I had my own light saber.

So today I’m going to share a psychological strategy for persuasion, that only works if you’re using it for the right reasons. It’s also the most powerful persuasion technique of them all.

“If you know what to do, it’s easy. If you don’t know what to do, pretend it’s easy.”

This article explains how I learned that bullshitting yourself through the scary moments in life and business is a rockstar tactic that practically guarantees success. How did I arrive at this conclusion? I’ll tell you…

This post connects the dots between fire-breathing lizards and a psychological issue that holds entrepreneurs back from their biggest goals.

I’ve wanted to write a post about dragons for a long time. Weird as it sound, dragon’s fascinate me. Not in the lame dungeons and dragons way either. By the time you’re done reading this post, dragons will fascinate you too. I guarantee it.

When I was a young and innocent I attended a cheesy, guru-ish personal development seminar where I was taught about the power of goals. Up until then, I had just bumbled through life satisfying my wants and needs.  I had never really got strategic about setting goals for the future.

Sitting in this seminar, watching this guru talk about the law of attraction and the power of goal setting… blew me away. I have never experienced anything like it. This guy was promising the secret to creating the future and it could be any future I desired!

Welcome! At last, the new PeterShallard.com site is alive and kicking.

For those of you who have been waiting patiently for an email update, thank you for your continued interest. For people checking out this site for the first time, it’s great to have you here!

Building this site has been the most fun I’ve had in a while. Half the fun is stretching myself to do something new and different, and the other half is that in order to focus, I took a blogging sabbatical and moved to the snowy mountains of New Zealand.

Hi readers and subscribers,

First off, a real big thank you to those who have subscribed – my clients, fellow entrepreneurs and surfers of the net. Blogging is still something I feel I’m just getting started at (and still learning about) so I appreciate your fantastic support and feedback.

Though the subscribers list to my blog is fairly small, I’m lucky enough to have over 80% of all my subscribers open every single email. In this day and age of info overload, I consider that a big deal. I also get a kick out of all the emails, tweets and other feedback you guys send me.

Why am I telling you this?

These days most entrepreneurs are blogging (if not, why not?) and all business owners regularly have to write other significant *stuff*. Just the other day, I helped a client write a job advertisement (using psychological tricks) to attract super-awesome candidates, for example.

Writing is important. It’s one of the most significant and common “acts of business” we have to perform. We all have varying levels of skill as writers, but we can learn better strategies at any point.

Despite the importance of writing and despite the ease of up-skilling, hardly anyone knows how to get in the zone to produce top quality written material. This is about having the state of creativity (or productivity, or whatever is relevant) on tap… ready to go, when ever you need it.

Sound like a skill you’d like to master? Use these 7 Psychological tips to flip the switch and turn on top-notch writing at will:

Successful entrepreneurs, the true rockstars of business, all share certain habits that set them apart.

The most significant of those habits is the way great entrepreneurs approach their work.  There are two fundamental styles:

1. Flat out, fast paced and crazy
2. Zen-focused, thoughtful and introspective

Do you fit into one of these categories? Let’s find out why and how you’re conditioned to work (and what you can do about it).

All entrepreneurs experience a period of inconsistent and irregular financial performance. If you run or own a business, you’ll know exactly what it feels like.

One month, you’ll be on top of the world thinking “I’m rich!”. You’ll barely be able to resist the impulse to go out and eat at five-star restaurants, order leather furniture, cuban cigars and hire a full time clown… or is it just me who wants entertainment staff who juggle??

Next month, you’ll be on the bones of your ass, eating bread dipped in anything runnier than bread. Meals with two colors in will seem gourmet!

Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating. It’s probably not that bad. And yet, all entrepreneurs experience a period of up and down financial performance.

So what is it inside our brains that makes this bull**** happen?