In principle you only need to market your product or service if supply consistently exceeds demand. Yet, so many businesses invest heavily in unnecessary and often costly marketing, simply on the basis that they ’have to’ because that’s what everybody does. Really?

For those that are not natural conversationalists and don’t know how to ‘work a room’, it’s tempting to see online business networks as a great substitute to face-to-face networking. After all online takes less effort, is less time consuming and you can do it at any time of day or night to suit you from the comfort of your office or home – no more social awkwardness or ever having to meet people ever again, it sounds too good to be true.

Motivated reasoning is a phenomenon studied in cognitive science and social psychology that uses emotionally biased reasoning to produce justifications or make decisions that are most desired, rather than those that accurately reflect the evidence. It’s something we experience every day.

Tennis players know the importance of finding the sweet spot, a place on their racket where a combination of factors ensures the maximum speed of the ball for the effort expended. Yet it is surprising that few in business take the time to understand or capitalise on their company’s sweet spot.

Sometime around 350 B.C. the Greek philosopher Aristotle observed that people find it easier to remember things in threes. Over two millennia later it’s surprising how the ‘rule of three’ affects our everyday lives and businesses.

When it comes to selling there are those that believe it is all about a slick pitch and a winning personality, to push your product and close the sale by persistence and countering any objection along the way.

We have all spent time creating and sending emails that fail to get the response we wanted and in some cases no response at all. Asking ourselves, what went wrong? So, how can you avoid your emails falling into the abyss? Here’s a few tips to getting your emails noticed.

Running a business or going through life without a plan is like setting off on a journey to an unknown destination, without a map. Whilst you may eventually get there, you are highly likely to get lost along the way and waste a lot of time (and money) in the process.

We live in a world where we want everything now, where we never have to wait for anything. But we can’t have or accomplish everything now - we are limited by our time, talent and money. Something which highlights a fundamental tension in humans between seizing rewards in the present, and being patient for the rewards of the future.

In this highly competitive world, we prize success but hate it when mistakes are made and things go wrong. Nevertheless there is real value in using our mistakes to achieve ever-greater success. Because, if you do it right, embracing failure can become a launch pad for positive change.