Marketing in the era of $3 gas is here. Increasing demand and limited natural resources are increasing expenses and changing purchasing preferences.
	Marketing in the age of terror, chaos, clutter, and faster information flow is here. With these come fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. It’s harder than ever for your products and services to be distinctive and heard above the noise.
	Marketing in the epoch of increasingly harsh and devastating natural disasters is here demanding fast business response, realistic contingency planning, and the ability to adjust to changing geographic markets.
	Marketing in the generation of instant anywhere communications is here with virtual online transactions, instant messaging, podcasting, blogging, webinars, teleseminars, and wireless everything. Fewer people are reading papers and printed books. New ways are available to reach and service the market.
	Marketing in the period of global sourcing is here leading to relentless competitive pressure and challenges in multicultural working relationships.
	Marketing at a time when corporate growth conflicting with the reality of consumer debt is here. Companies press for continued growth, while their customers suffer from increasingly higher burdens of debt.
	Marketing in period of change is here, where people — your current and potential customers, employees, investors, and partners — are asking themselves, “Is this all there is? Why bother? Where is my passion? How can I make a difference?”

The Challenge

The marketplace rules are changing. How to survive, thrive, and overcome? Just as Thoreau moved backed to the basics at Walden Pond, it’s time to move back to the basics in your Marketing approach while doing so in line with market trends and realities.

Practical Pointers for Proactive Strategic Marketing

The new paradigm is “Change or Die.” If your business is operating from a marketing plan with strategies and tactics designed for the 90’s, good luck! But luck and hope, while very helpful, are not sound business strategies. It’s time for some proactive remodeling. Here are a few of the vital steps:

	Assess. Act, don’t react. Now is the time for assessment. Do a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). What is the real situation? What market factors are likely to change? Understanding where you are now is the foundation for building a winning plan to get to where you want to go.
	Know the Organization. Reaffirm your core. What are your core competencies? If you had to cut the extraneous from your products and services, the core is what would be left. This provides a stable center to weather the turbulent storms of uncontrollable market factors.
	Align Your Core with the Market Hunger. Understand your customers and their needs — the most critical P of your Marketing Mix must be People. Even if you are focused on B2B (Business to Business), realize that it is people within those businesses that make the buying decisions. Who are they? How can you reach and touch them most effectively?
	There is much more. TMSworld can help remodel your Marketing and Sales programs and produce extraordinary results.

The W in Sunflower

Passionate Pursuers — people who successfully find and pursue a worthwhile purpose with intense interest, enthusiasm, and dedication — have nine winning traits. Consistent with the bold flower on the cover of Pursuit of Passionate Purpose, each trait aligns with a letter in the word SUNFLOWER. Over each of nine months of 2005, this newsletter is highlighting a “Sunflower” characteristic. Take the Self Inventory on page 54 of Pursuit of Passionate Purpose to assess how well you are doing with these traits.

W – Wholeness. Passionate Pursuers appreciate and unify all aspects of their nature, especially head, heart, and hands. When you are whole, you are connected to your inner self. The internal and external worlds are coalesced into oneness to create stability and strength.

Wholeness may mean different things to different people and organizations. Consider Andre’ Pettigrew, whose story is shared on pages 152-153 of Pursuit of Passionate Purpose. As a successful entrepreneur, he was paying a huge price for the success of his business because his family life was suffering. “I knew I was disconnected from my family. There was a decision — family or business? I chose my family. I know I made the right choice.” Wholeness for Andre’ meant embracing and unifying both work and family into his life.

Upcoming Events and Media Interviews

Saturday, October 8, 2005. Workshop and book signing at the Mountain Desert District Unitarian Universalist Association, Annual Conference, 11:00 AM – 12:10 PM MDT at the Twin Rivers Convention Center, 159 Main Street, Grand Junction, CO. Visit www.mdduua.org/AC2005/ for information.

Monday, October 10, 2005. Theresa’s TV appearances in Grand Junction. KJCT (ABC) Ch 8 at 6:15 AM, KREX (CBS) Ch 5 at noon, KKCO (NBC) Ch 11 at 3:45 PM. All times are MDT.

Monday, October 10, 2005. Mini-seminar and book signing at 5:30 PM MDT at Borders at 2464 Highway 6 & 50, Suite 132, Grand Junction. Call 970-255-8655 for more information.

Friday, October 28, 2005. Webinar for the Project Management Institute’s Information Systems Special Interest Group (PMI-ISSIG) entitled “A GOOD Project or a GREAT Project? Ways to Have More Fun and Produce Extraordinary Bottom-Line Results.”

Be the BUZZZZ

Be a BUZZ AGENT about Pursuit of Passionate Purpose and the work of TMSworld. Please keep me in mind for speaking and consulting relating to your business, organizational events or media opportunities.

TAKE ACTION!

Don’t Just Wish for a Prosperous Year. Remodel your Marketing and take your business to the next level. Let TMSworld, the catalyst for your extraordinary results, help you and your organization thrive in these challenging times.

Give the book, Pursuit of Passionate Purpose, as a present. It is available wherever books are sold including: www.PursuitofPassionatePurpose.com.

Thrive in 2005,
Theresa M. Szczurek, Ph.D.
CEO, entrepreneur, and author

P.S. Pass it on. Feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues.