You Want To Quit? Why?

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4.8.15One of my clients just realized one of his biggest intentions.  He has been accepted to show his work in a prestigious art festival.  It is a juried show; has hundreds of applicants from across the United States; and fewer than 20% of the applicants are accepted.  He sent me an email announcing his win with a cartoon doing a happy dance.  Indeed!  Time for celebration!

This intention has been on his list of things to be accomplished for several years, but he has never been selected, or judged by this show panel—not because he isn’t a good artist, but because this was the first year he applied for acceptance.  You see, he always quit before he tried to enter.  He didn’t think he could ever make it in so he just didn’t enter.

So, what are you holding back from doing?  What is it that is on your to be accomplished list that has been there forever?  What is it that you don’t think you are good enough to accomplish even though you would be thrilled if you did?  Why?

I am not being bad with you when I ask the question Why?  I would really like to know and I think that your answer to that question does beg to be examined.  In fact, usually your first answer to that question is never really the answer.  It takes asking that question 5 times, always going deeper with each answer, to really find out what is happening with you that is keeping you from moving forward toward that bright dream you are afraid to reach for.  Usually what you find out is that what is holding you back is so small and doable that you will then forge ahead.

Try this Why exercise for yourself, with something that you really want to accomplish, and see what happens.  Most likely you will discover that what is holding you back disappears.  You might even discover an easy way to win just as my client did.

 

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    No Joke!

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    4.1.15Happy April Fool’s Day!

    This day is favorite for pranksters and jokesters to have some innocent fun with their colleagues.  The day was created in the 16th Century.  It is not an official holiday in any country, however, it is enthusiastically celebrated throughout Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and the United States.  I do hope you have a prank up your sleeve so you can have a good belly laugh with your friends.

    What is not a joke is measuring for results in your business.  If you do not do this one simple thing, it is highly unlikely that your business will achieve the success that you want.

    What is it about measuring for results that keeps us from doing it?  Is it fear of failure?  Of not measuring up?  Somewhere along the line we decided it is better not to know if we are succeeding than it is to know that we haven’t succeeded.  Also, measuring for results then has us be accountable for what we said that we would do.  In order to avoid the domination of accountability, we just simply do not report or measure for our results.  Consequently, we walk around in the fog of not knowing what we are achieving and making ourselves wrong for not achieving it.  This is a formula for insanity.  Really, when you think about it, why would we do that to ourselves?

    The best way to train yourself to measure for results is to set up a daily game.  In this game you name just one thing that you will do to move your business forward that day.  Write it down and make it measurable.  An easy example of doing that is to design the number of sales calls you will make for that day.  At the end of the day, write down what happened.  Boom!  You have measured for a result in your business.

    If you analyze why it happened or didn’t happen, you will be one step ahead of learning what works and doesn’t work in the daily practice of your business.  Keeping in mind that zero is a number, and there is nothing wrong with zero.  After all, it is a starting place.

    This practice elevates your understanding of what works and what doesn’t.  You will develop more strength in managing your business for success.  Who doesn’t want that?

     

    Image courtesy of Taesmileland at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

     

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      This Is A Great Time To Begin

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      3.25.15Spring is the time of plans and projects.

      Leo Tolstoy

      No matter where you live, and what the climate is like right now: rain, snow, sleet, winds, sunshine, it really doesn’t matter does it?  It is Spring.  Spring!  Even the word sounds hopeful, fun, exciting, energetic and makes you hum a little.

      Today’s topic is “time to start your new plans and business projects”.  Imagine my delight to see that Leo Tolstoy also thought the same thing.

      April is the beginning of a new business quarter.  It is also the time to formulate and implement new business projects and/or plans that you have been thinking about.  Given that you have reviewed the success of the first quarter, you know where you want to spend your time creating something new, or if not create something new, how you want to refresh and improve what you are already doing that is working.

      There is much about your business that is successful.  How do I know that?  I know that because you are in business.  So, this week, if you look at what is working well in your business, look at that component and see if it needs any trim tabbing.  The term “trim tab” is a nautical/aeronautical term relating to a small supplementary rudder that is attached to a boat or an airplane that keeps the direction steady without the pilot having to continue to apply pressure to control it.

      If you look at what’s working in your business, you will know if it needs a “trim tab” so that it essentially runs itself.  An example of this is adding a virtual assistant to your staff for publishing your blogs, hiring a web designer to refresh your web site or a bookkeeper to do your books.  You get the idea.  How can you make small changes that will free you up for creating new projects that will make your business even better?

      Since your list of new projects could be very long, it is important that you choose one to work on that will have measurable results and that you can realistically put a “by when” date on.  And, I suggest that you work on one project at a time.  Please do not overwhelm yourself with several projects at once.  You will make more progress when you follow a new project to completion.

      Enjoy the new energy that Spring brings to you!

       

      Photo courtesy of Cliff Thorbes, Vancouver, B.C.

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        Call Me…

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        3.18.15Like most of us I like hearing good news, and I love hearing breakthrough news from coaching clients.  Yesterday, I heard breakthrough news that is so exciting and over the top that I am sharing it with you.  One of my clients just closed a quarter million dollar contract.  She was excited.  I was over the moon pleased for her.

        This contract wasn’t just going to happen.  This was not a lucky break.  She made it happen.  And she made it happen just like you can with taking the steps that are necessary to provide world class service to your clients.

        Here are the qualities that produce breakthrough results:

        • A passionate belief in yourself and your ability to provide the services.
        • A clear vision of the core services you provide.
        • The ability to communicate clearly about your core services.
        • A continuing dedication to education about the latest developments in your field.
        • Knowing your target market like you know your best friend.
        • Keeping your word.
        • Planning your work and working your plan.
        • Communicating fully and honestly if you cannot keep your word.  Renewing a new “by when” for keeping your word.
        • Being willing to create a measurement for your results which includes “by whens” and promises and “go fors”.
        • Being willing to fail and to learn from the failures.
        • A refusal to be a victim of failure.
        • An unstoppable tenacity and persistence.
        • Having someone you trust hold you accountable for results.

        Again and again I see these qualities in clients.  They are the people who have extraordinary results in their lives and in their businesses.

        If you feel stuck.  If you feel like you can’t reach high enough for the breakthrough results you are longing for, please call me.  Together we can make your intention come true by clearing away what is holding you back from making that same kind of excited triumphant,” I did it!” telephone call to me.

        I will look forward to hearing from you.

         

        – Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

         

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          How To Start Something – Anything

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          3.11.15It doesn’t matter when we start, it doesn’t matter where we start, all that matters is that we start. -Simon Sinek

          Last week we discussed the importance of performing your business’s first quarterly review in 2015.  Most likely you were pleasantly surprised by some of the results and disappointed with others.  And now you are probably a little stuck on where to begin to correct the areas where you fell short.

          Sinek tells us that it doesn’t matter where you start.  What matters is that you start.  Starting something is the place where many people are hesitant.  They are plagued with doubt; the specter of failing again looms over them like a dark cloud.  I do think it’s good that you question yourself.  Although the questioning can last way too long and become the reason not to start something.  Lingering in self-doubt is your clue to begin doing something now.

          Instead of failure being the be all and end all of your business, it is the beginning of creating newly, of coming up with brand new answers to the questions you have.  If you can flip failure into telling you what doesn’t work, you are free to discover what does work.  And how else would you know if it works unless you get busy and try it out?  By starting something—anything—you will learn something new about your business.  You will be engaged; you will move forward.  The inertia will disappear; it will become the energy of forward momentum.

          In order to start something, first you need to say that you are going to do it, whatever it is.  Put in a “by when date” and also a measurement of the result that you intend to produce.  Then tell someone, one of your circle of people who are the cheerleaders for your success.  You know who they are: the ones who, after you talk with them, you feel lifted, energized, ready for the next challenge.

          By following those steps, you will start something.  And it will be great whether it flops or is a success.  Either way you will be moving.  That certainly beats the alternative.

           

          Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

           

           

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            Spring Forward!

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            3.4.15March signals the end of the first quarter of your business year.  This is a good time to review the status of your business and see if you are hitting the targets you set at the beginning of the year.  Is your business on track?

            I know many business people who either do not do this, or they reluctantly review where they are.  Usually this is because they do not want to know the results.  I can get it.  Who wants to see what doesn’t work?  However, if you don’t, it will come back to bite you big time.  It is better to correct the course of your business, quarter by quarter, making changes as you move forward, than it is to salvage a disaster later on.

            To make this review as powerful as possible, write out the answers to these questions and then share them with a trusted colleague or with your business coach.  Together you will find new answers to your most vexing business challenges.

            Overall, what is the best thing about your business?

            What is the worst thing about your business this quarter?

            What can you do differently to turn around the worst to being the best right now?

            What have you accomplished?

            What have you learned?

            What do you need to improve?

            What challenges have you had? What did you do to meet the challenges?

            How are your relationships with your clients, staff, and contractors?  How can you improve your relationships?

            Have your offered any new products?  What was the market response?

            What has worked with your marketing efforts?  What do you need to change?

            What product is selling the most right now?  The least?

            What can you do to now to improve on the least selling product?

            What is your first quarter gross profit, expenses and net profit?

             

             

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              How To Make Lemonade Out Of A Sour Lemon – A Business Lesson

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              2.25.15The disaster began with a telephone call.  The caller told my client that the primary insurance product my client sells, was not paying the caller’s claims.  He went on to say that the insurance company was being black balled by a major medical service provider.  When he asked the caller, “Why?” all he got was, “I really don’t know.”

              My client was devastated.  Almost immediately, several users of the service started canceling their memberships.  He was presiding over a train wreck.  And with each cancellation call, he was losing money.  He did what he knew to do—he started writing emails to the insurance company to see what happened.  They did not respond.  He then began a chaotic downward spiral of useless activity.  He started looking for a new product sell.  Then, finally, he contacted me.

              After listening to what happened in detail, I suggested that his first step was to step back.  There was something about this scenario that didn’t make sense to me.  It was all too sudden.  What I suggested that he do is to check out the current ratings of the product’s performance on the internet.  And, talk to someone who could make a difference at the company to see from their point of view what happened to make the end user blackball the service.  His reply was that he did email them.  I repeated what I said, talk to a decision maker at the company.  Stay on the telephone line until you reach a decision maker.  Do not leave a message; stay on the line.

              My client did what I asked him to do.  He talked to a decision maker at the company.  The man was aware of the problem; however he did not know that his company was being blackballed by the user.  My client’s action caused a turnaround in the company.  The decision maker could see that he needed to take immediate action in order to resolve the end users complaints.

              There is not yet a conclusion.  However, there will be a change in the relationship between the two companies.  It was caused by my client.  He was willing to take a stand for his product, and he had the courage to demand that attention be paid to the problem.

              So what’s in this for you?  You have the right to stand for what you believe in.  When something is not right, you have the right to bring attention to the problem and ask that it be fixed.  This is how good business practices happen.

               

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                When NOT To Use Email

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                2.18.15Think about this the next time you send out an email: there are 294 billion messages per day, which means more than 2.8 million emails are sent every second, and some 90 trillion emails are sent per year.  Around 90% of these millions and trillions of message are but spam and viruses.  The genuine emails are sent by around 1.9 billion users. (Source: Radicati Group)

                And yet, it only takes 1 email to ruin your day or week.  One email that shouldn’t have been sent.  One email that was misread or misinterpreted can ruin a relationship or keep you up at night worrying about what you said or did not say in the email.

                I know I don’t have to preach to you about being appropriate when you write an email.  You are professional and smart, and caring about your relationships.  And yet as a coach I frequently hear about a devastating aftermath of the one sent or received email that has ruined your business day and your relationship with someone you work with or work for.  I think it’s time to stop the email torture.

                What I suggest to you is that you think about how you are using email and what you want to accomplish with it.  Email is tremendously useful in setting appointments, exchanging information, photos, and commenting on ongoing projects.  It allows for rapid information giving and receiving.  It allows us to go around the world in a few seconds.  What it isn’t useful for is handling sensitive and/or important topics that require your presence.  By presence I am talking about you listening and exchanging ideas with another human being.

                If you have something sensitive to say, give people the respect they deserve by either meeting with them or by calling them on the telephone.  When you talk to someone in person there is something about being present, and even on the telephone, that can soothe hurt feelings and also give both parties an opportunity to work with each other instead of against each other.

                 

                –Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

                 

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                  Four Practices Of Successful Entrepreneurs

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                  2.4.15In order to succeed in business, and in life, we need basic practices that become valuable, dependable allies when our problems loom larger than we are.

                  Every person has a set of default practices that he has learned over the years.  They usually remain in the background until we are faced with a challenge; then they come forward.  These default practices are seldom what is needed to succeed in business.  You may want to adopt some new ones.

                  Here are the practices I use every day. They are effective and powerful.

                  • Keep your word.  Communicate immediately if you cannot.
                  • Claim responsibility when something goes wrong.
                  • Measure for results and include a “by when” date for the results to occur.
                  • Have someone you trust hold you accountable for these results.

                  When business people use these practices there is a certain ease about them.  They are trust worthy.  If they make a mistake, it is easy to forgive them and carry on.  In short, on the playing field of business, these practices go a long way in having people be respected and successful.

                  They are not always easy to adhere to.  It is easier to remain silent (rather than communicate).  It is always tempting to blame someone else (rather than take the responsibility yourself).  And the safety of not telling anyone what we intend to do (in case it doesn’t turn out).  Haven’t we all done that?  In the end, the easy way bites us, causes more problems, and makes us seem untrustworthy.

                  Being conscious of using the practices gives you the opportunity to stand out, be respected, and trusted.

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