"The challenge of any organization is to build a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another - because the question is not how well each person works, but how well they work as a TEAM!"
CONTEST RESULTS !
The "Three Birds" Problem
In the January 3 edition of the Big Dogs Bulletin, we announced what I THOUGHT was gonna be a simple, little contest to get the ball rolling for the new year and to test your powers of abstract thought. The first five Big Dogs to answer the riddle correctly would win a twenty dollar bill.
Here's the riddle.....
"There are three birds sitting on a telephone wire. Two decide to fly away. How many are left?
Explain your answer."Of course there were a few rules of participation as well. These were.....
(1) In order to qualify, you must be an ACTIVE Big Dogs member. In other words your $10.00 monthly Big Dogs Admin Fee must be current.
(2) Don't give JUST a number as your answer. You must also explain WHY you chose that particular number.
(3) To make the contest fair for ALL of our Big Dogs in ALL 24 international time zones, any entries received BEFORE Saturday, January 4, at 9:00 AM Eastern time, USA, will be disqualified.
(4) Include with your answer your full first and last name and your PayPal email address.
All four of the rules for participation are pretty much common sense, but pay special attention to Rule # 3. Why do we have it there? Well, back in the "dim mists of antiquity," when we were first running these little contests, a whole lot of our people never got a chance to participate. Why? First of all, it takes our mail server approximately 3 1/2 hours to email out the Bulletin to all Big Dog members. Thus we found that the people at the beginning of the list were submitting contest entries sometimes hours before the people at the end of the list even knew there WAS a contest. Secondly, since we have Big Dog members in all 24 international time zones, some were receiving the Bulletin in the middle of their work day, when they weren't near their computers, while others were receiving it in the middle of the night when they were asleep. So...to try to make things fair for everyone, all of our contests now require a "waiting period," to give EVERYONE chance to participate.
But, geez, people just don't follow directions do they!? (Bad Big Dogs! BAD Big Dogs!)
We received over one hundred and fifty entries well before 9:00 AM on Saturday, and as a result, these entries had to be disqualified. Y'see, it pays to R-E-A-D!
Now, let's get to the riddle itself.....
"There are three birds sitting on a telephone wire. Two decide to fly away. How many are left?
Explain your answer."Now, first of all, sports fans, you should have guessed that the answer to the riddle had SOMETHING to do with Internet marketing. Nevertheless, here are some of the (wrong) answers we received:
"The answer to the riddle is 'none.' Once the first two birds decided to fly away, who would the other birds have to talk to?"
"The answer is 'zero,' because a hunter shot the other bird which made the other two decide to fly away in the first place."
"The answer is that there are NO birds left. When two decide to fly away, the remaining one follows because birds flock together."
"The answer is three. One bird is sitting on the wire and two are in flight."
"There were NONE left. The majority decided on an action, so the action was implemented."
So, congrats to the following Big Dogs who not only had the RIGHT answer, but also read the directions and followed the rules:
- Mike Rogers, from Ohio, USA
- Bob Hubbard, from Florida, USA
- T C Bradley, also from Florida
- Claude Vinet, from Quebec, Canada
- Charlie Cory, from Great Britain
And just what IS the right answer? Well, let's ask the riddle again, with a little emphasis to give you a clue.....
"There are three birds sitting on a telephone wire. Two decide to fly away. How many are left?
Explain your answer."Ah, hah! NOW do you get the picture!? NOW do you see how it applies to Internet marketing!?
Y'see, making the DECISION to fly away, and flying away are two totally different things. Merely making the DECISION to be successful is NOT the same thing as taking the steps required to be successful. No one wakes up in the morning and makes the conscious decision to be a failure, do they? I would be safe in saying that most everyone starts the day deciding to be successful. And yet not all of them acquire success. Why? Because making a conscious decision to achieve a goal (success) is only the first step in a three step process:
Step 1: SET a goal (the decision)
Step 2: ESTABLISH a realistic way to achieve the goal (the plan).
Step 3: LIVE your plan on a consistent basis (the action).So.....You've decided that you want a thriving Internet business (Step 1). You've established a realistic and proven plan - the Big Dogs program - to achieve that goal (Step 2). Now, my friend, now you need to put that plan into action on a consistent daily basis.
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