Have you ever noticed that there is no shortage of people willing to give you advice, whether or not you asked for it? I’ve developed some simple rules about from whom I will accept advice and suggestions.
I do not ask for heath advice from people who are sick, I do not ask for financial advice from people who are broke and I do not ask for business advice from people who are not in their own business.
Over the years I’ve watched hundreds of people go into a business venture and excitedly tell their family and friends about their new enterprise. Big mistake! How many of your friends and relatives own their own business? Probably few or none.
While they may be well intentioned and have your best interests at heart, their lack of knowledge and their own fears can sabotage your new venture.
If you want advice or input about a business, find someone who is successfully running their own business and ask them. Ask several people so you can obtain an objective view. When your choosing mentors or role models, be sure to seek out those people who have been there. Chose people who have “walked the walk” and have succeeded in doing what you want to do.
This applies as much to health, finance, education, relationships and pretty much any area of your life. If you want to be fit and healthy, do not seek advice from someone who is overweight, a smoker, and sick all the time.
Find a fit and healthy person and model them. I know this sounds overly simple and obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how many people are listening to and even following the advice of people who do not know what they are talking about.
They are sadly listening to the person who is stuck in a dead-end job telling them why a business idea will not work.
They are listening to an overweight, sick person who is telling them that taking vitamins is a waste of money and they are listening to the person who is living paycheck to paycheck telling them how to become wealthy.
To ensure your success, make sure your role models are demonstrating in their own lives, the qualities you seek to develop.
With the current economic challenges we’re all facing, too many small business owners are finding their business moving in the wrong direction.
In many cases, what were once growing, thriving businesses are now heading into a downward spiral of cutbacks, layoffs, and, in too many cases, bankruptcies. Owners are watching as their customers dwindle and revenues drop.
So, what can a small business owner who is trying to prosper in today’s climate do to turn things around?
While you may not be able to do much about the nation’s economy as a whole, there are proactive steps you can take, regardless of outside circumstances.
Following are three steps you can use to get started turning your business around and moving, once again, in the direction of growth and prosperity:
1. Change Your Focus Beginning immediately, stop talking about anything that is not working. Stop defending and justifying why you’re not doing better. Stop blaming the economy or whatever else you deem to be the cause of your troubles. If something is not working, continuing to talk about it will cause you to start seeing more things going wrong and continue the downward spiral.
Ask only, “What’s working?” and continue asking every day. Make a list of what is working and have your team do the same, individually and as a group. Change the tone of your meetings. If you understand that you get more of whatever you focus upon, it’s obvious why you’ll want to do this.
2. Mine the Gold That’s Already in Your Business Every business has “hidden” opportunities which can be mined, usually by either developing new markets for your products, creating new products, leveraging the relationships you’ve built, and joint venturing with colleagues, suppliers, customers and, yes, even competitors.
Ask yourself what new opportunities you could tap into if you expanded your e-commerce offerings and maximized the technology that’s available today. Does your Web site give visitors a compelling reason to subscribe to your mailing list? Are you utilizing email marketing and auto responders to their fullest? What about social media, social bookmarking, video, podcasting, blogging, and other “Web 2.0″ tools?
Your greatest opportunity for business growth, regardless of the economy, are the assets you already have in your business. From personnel, customers – past and present – relationships with colleagues and suppliers, and other “people” assets, to your investment in equipment and technology, the assets you’ve already built represent your greatest opportunity.
And the really good news is they will require the least in either time or money.
Of these “hidden” assets, your customers are the easiest and most obvious place to begin. Do you know who they are and why they do business with you?
This may seem like an obvious question, however, many businesses do not know who is buying from them or why. Once you’ve ascertained this, you’re in a position to explore how else you might serve them.
One of my favorite questions has always been, “is there anything else I can help you with?” This simple question can increase your business tenfold.
A friend of mine is a graphic designer and print broker. One day she asked her client this question to which the client replied, “Yes there is. Can you help us get some of those imprinted jackets with our logo on them?” She happily replied that she could and took the order. (hint: if you own a small business, the answer, within reason, is always, “Yes.” You can figure out later how to deliver.)
Don’t fall into the trap if thinking just because you’ve been around a while that people know everything you do. Often we “ass-u-me” that our customers know what we do.
Leverage
You can grow your business by leveraging your relationships with colleagues, suppliers, distributors and yes, even your competitors.
Several years ago I attended a demonstration at a local copier supplier. It was a huge success as a herd of people roamed throughout the building seeing live demos of the latest in office copiers.
While the local business hosted the event, their supplier provided the factory trained experts on hand to answer people’s questions.
Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Saks have regular “trunk shows” and make-up events to attract customers, again with the expertise provided by the manufacturers.
Faith Popcorn pointed out in her landmark book “The Popcorn Report” that people like entertainment while they shop.
What about your colleagues? Could a carpet or home cleaning company team up with a caterer and offer a holiday special?
Might a lawyer, accountant and banker put together a free event for their business customers? What could you do to leverage your business?
Do you have underused equipment sitting around? Many local newspapers whose presses are only used for a few hours a day, will take on outside printing jobs. Your typical weekly paper is most likely being printed on a daily newspaper’s presses.
Opportunities on the internet. I’ve saved the best for last. If there is one area that is underutilized by small businesses, it’s your website. Ninety percent or more of local business websites that I’ve visited are nothing more than online brochures. I call them “Tombstones in Cyberspace.”
Contrast this against the sites used by internet marketers. Internet marketers, people whose business profits entirely or in part online, engage the customer with an array of techniques designed to keep them coming back, refer them to friends and leave them wanting more.
The typical offline business gets little if any internet traffic, mainly because their sites have not been setup properly or not even optimized for search engines.
What is even sadder is that if someone does manage to stubble upon their site, they have no way to connect with the visitor and develop an ongoing relationship.
Other than SEO, the easiest thing that you can do is set up some sort of “capture mechanism.” A simple subscription box connected to an auto responder will enable you to begin building a database of your customers and potential customers.
As my friend Vic Johnson, a highly successful Internet marketer who sells personal development information, said, “He who has the biggest list, wins! Or, as every online marketer knows, “the money is in the list.”
The really good part Once you have put in place your strategy for developing your customer database, you can communicate with them at virtually no cost.
Compare this to the costs of direct mail, display advertising, radio, or TV and the advantages to email and other types of online communication are obvious.
A heating oil company, with a database of 600 prior customers, can blast an offer for a spring special to jump-start sales during their slow season, at practically no cost.
The restaurant owner who’s experiencing a slow Wednesday lunch business, can test offers for specials early that morning by sending to their database. Chances are, they’ll see an increase in business almost immediately. All at little or out of pocket expense.
If you can’t go into your business tomorrow morning at 7:30, create a special offer to jump start sales, and have it out to a list of several hundred or thousand customers by 9:00, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Go here if you want to learn how you can grow your offline business with online strategies.
3. Develop Systems and Follow Through Hire a business coach or appoint someone in your organization to be your team’s “accountability partner” to ensure your renewed vision is being carried out and that you are steadily moving in the right direction.
A business coach provides a fresh viewpoint and can often help by not being bogged down in the day-to-day running of the business. They are objective and not invested in the politics if your company. The best business coaches contribute knowledge acquired from a variety of situations in any number of industries and employs specific strategies to help you make quantum leaps beyond what you may have thought possible.
Regardless of the specific actions you take, it is important that you do something proactive. Don’t just sit there complaining about the economy with the rest of the crowd. Above all, don’t wait for it to turn around by itself or, worse yet, expect the government to fix it. You have within you the power to change your life and your business, so go and do it.
While most of us would like to experience more abundance in our lives, we become conflicted by the mixed messages we receive from society and the media.
We are steadily bombarded with messages telling us that, in order to be happy, we have to be driving a certain type of automobile, look a certain way, wear a particular brand of clothing, and so on. We are told that, in order to be a success, we must earn a certain amount of money.
On the other side of the coin, we are being given negative messages about wealth. The news media loves to tell, in great detail, stories about business leaders who are greedy and going to jail or the latest antics of some overindulged celebrity.
The problem is that, as we are being fed a not-so-subtle message that rich people are bad, we are told through advertising, that in order to be happy you need to be rich.
With our natural tendency to want to be decent people, it’s easy to see why so many of people are confused and, often, sabotage their best efforts.
So, how do we change this?
We do it, like most things in life, one step at a time.
One simple way is to find new references for what wealth represents to you. For example, two of my favorite authors, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, tithe a percentage of sales from their hugely successful Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books to charity. This is just one great example of sharing the wealth. Personally, I’ve been tithing for years and, as a result, watched my own success grow.
There are more people doing good with their wealth than the other type. These are the “Enlightened Millionaires,” as defined by MV Hansen and Robert Allen in One Minute Millionaire. Their definition is a person who comes from abundance, adds massive value, gives back and leaves a lasting legacy. What more could anyone ask for?
Next, begin to see yourself as a positive, generous, wealthy person. Affirm, “I am wealthy and use my wealth for good for myself and others.”
Get used to being around the finer things you’d like to attract into your life. For example, if you want a luxury automobile, start getting used to the idea by going to a dealership. There’s no charge for walking around the dealer’s showroom. As a mater of fact, you can usually get a complimentary cup of coffee there:-)
If you want to upgrade your wardrobe, you can begin by spending time shopping in better quality stores. As a matter of fact, you can buy expensive clothes for less by shopping the “reduced for clearance” racks, Outlet stores or even high end designer consignment shops. These, by the way, are tricks I learned from my wife:-)
Do something luxurious for yourself.
It does not need to be expensive. Just take some amount of m*ney, whatever you can afford, and splurge on something nice for yourself. It could be something as simple as a manicure or massage, or even an ice cream sundae.
For many people, this can be a major breakthrough. My mother, for example, would never consider spending on herself, although she splurged on her children and grandchildren. Does this sound like you?
While it may be “better to give than to receive,” it’s still pretty nice to receive:-)
Study your prospective target carefully Sometimes, I’ll sit and watch one of our cats tracking its prey. Since they’re indoor cats, it’s usually a bug that found its way into the house. The cat will sit and watch, tracking the bug’s every move, studying it carefully; waiting. We can do the same thing and learn everything we can about our prospect before making a move. This has become a fairly simple task using the Internet and social media. Look at the person’s Web site, read and follow their blog and connect with them on Facebook or Linkedin. Follow them on Twitter.
Wait for the perfect moment The cat will wait until all the conditions are just right then, and only then, it will make its move. Too often, we go in shooting from the hip and blow our only opportunity. Before you make the first contact, make sure you have everything you need and are armed with the necessary facts about your prospects business.
Make your first shot count Cats rarely get a second chance at their target and neither do we. A cat stalking a bird or mouse either gets it on the first try or goes hungry that day. We usually get only one chance to make the right impression. Make it count. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of asking the person if now is a good time to talk. If the telephone people who call during dinner learned this, they’d make a lot more sales.
Learn to relax You never see a cat frantically running around looking for something to eat. Why then do you fuss and worry about where your next client or customer is coming from? Set your goals, plan your work and take consistent, inspired action. The rest will fall into place.
Expect the best In ancient Egypt, cats were considered royalty. Cats have not forgotten this. They expect to be treated like kings and queens. They expect the best. We should expect the best too and expect things will work out favorably for us.
Stretch yourself daily Stretching keeps a cat limber and quick. We can stretch ourselves too. Make a habit of doing something each day that causes you to stretch out of your comfort zone. Maybe it’s making a cold call. Perhaps it’s going up to a stranger and getting to know them. Whatever makes you stretch, go and do it. Everything you desire is out of your comfort zone. If it was not, you’d already have it.
Ignore rejection Have you ever told a cat no? If you have, you know it’s a waste of time and energy. Cats have mastered the art of ignoring people. When you hear a no from a prospect, just say, “Next” and move on to the next person. Pay no attention to it. It’s part of the game. If you can overcome the fear of rejection, you’ll be on your way to success in business.
Stay alert to new opportunities Cats are always hunting, looking out for whatever might be around the next turn. You can do the same. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Learn to listen to what people are telling you. You never know where an opportunity is going to come from.
Remember, sometimes you need to just sit in the sun and rest.
Excerpt, Don’t Let an Old Person Move Into Your Body
A butcher for most of his adult life, Jimmy Smith was content with living a modest, middle class lifestyle. He was a happy man blessed with a loving wife and six children, until at sixty-two years of age he had the rug pulled out from under him. Due to his failing health and being unable to stand all day cutting meat, he was forced to leave the job he had held for most of his life.
While this is surely something that would be a challenge to anyone, in his situation it could have been devastating. Fortunately, for Jimmy, a friend introduced him to the network marketing industry, providing him an opportunity for self-employment and a chance to build a business of his own.
After being in the business for a time, Jimmy Smith found his passion in both the leading edge products and the business opportunity offered by Isagenix International, a company whose vision is to make a positive impact on world health and free people from physical and financial pain, and in the process create the largest health-and-wellness company in the world.
I have personally experienced the Isagenix products and found them to be one of the highest quality nutritional products available as have two of my colleagues John Gray and Jack Canfield.
Jimmy had found his calling. With the the health benefits he realized from taking the Isagenix products and the business opportunity it provided, he was on fire and ready to tell the world about his new business.
When I met Jimmy Smith, a few years ago, he was turning eighty and had the energy and stamina of a man half his age. Not only does he look and feel great, he went on to become the top earner in his company, making himself and his family very wealthy, while building a lasting legacy for his children and grand-children.
Perhaps what best describes Jimmy’s energy and passion for what he is doing is the experience that I had while attending an all day event with him. I was leaving the event after being in the hotel for over 12 hours. Riding the elevator down to the lobby with Jimmy’s daughter Grace, talking about what a long day it had been, I asked where her dad was. “Oh, he has a few more meetings,” she replied. We both laughed at the fact that while we, decades younger, were both ready to call it a day, Jimmy the Butcher was still going strong.
Jimmy Smith is the perfect example of what can happen when a person’s passion is ignited by something larger than himself. If you ever have the opportunity to meet Jimmy Smith, by all means, do so. It’s a life changing experience. Excerpt, Don’t Let an Old Person Move Into Your Body
“While being young is an accident of time, youth is a permanent state of mind” Frank Lloyd Wright
Have you ever noticed that some people age well, becoming older with grace and dignity, looking vibrant and alive and remaining physically and mentally active well into old age? Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted above, was still designing when he passed on at 92.
Others, it seems, begin getting old in their youth. What makes the difference?
Why is such a large portion of our society aging so poorly? Why are hospitals and nursing homes overcrowded and many older people just barely alive?
Is this a natural progression or can we actually alter the way we age?
The Bible teaches us that we have a natural life expectancy of 120 – 150 years. Many of the people written about in the Old Testament lived to be over one hundred, and in some parts of the world today, entire villages live well beyond one hundred years of age.
What are the secrets of a long and productive life and what can you do about it? More importantly, how can you live your life to the fullest, enjoying an abundance of health, wealth, and happiness? How can you make the most of your life, for however long you are here?
How can you live, laugh, and love more? What steps can you take, starting now, to achieve the best level of health and fitness you are capable of reaching? How can you get back in touch with your dreams and desires and begin to experience them? How can you learn to age with passion, purpose, power, and prosperity?
In Don’t Let an Old Person Move Into Your Body, you will be asked to reevaluate and question the preconceived notions you have about aging and the commonly accepted beliefs about health. You will be asked to examine your attitudes and beliefs and come to understand the important role they play in how we age. You will learn ways to age without becoming old.
You’ll be introduced to people who have aged successfully and learn their strategies. You will learn about the latest developments in the field of longevity and identify ways you can minimize, even slow, the process of aging. You will create a compelling vision for your future and a plan for a long, active, and prosperous life.
I invite you to join me in this exciting journey into aging and learn how you, too, can develop your personal plan of aging with passion, purpose, power and prosperity, and make sure you don’t let an old person move into your body.
It is your God-given birthright to have a life of joy, happiness, health, love, fun, prosperity, excitement, abundance, and all the other wonderful things life on earth has to offer. To accept less is to shortchange yourself and your loved ones.
One of the questions I am asked over and over by radio and TV interviewers and reporters is “How can a person motivate themselves?”
While there are no simple answers to this question – we all develop methods that work for us – we can use a powerful technique known as leverage. Archimedes said he could move the world if he had a big enough lever.
In the case of self-motivation, the leverage comes from having completed a commitment exercise. If you have not yet done this, it’s quite simple.
Choose the particular goal or area of your life in which you need motivation. Take a page in your journal and write down everything you will gain by taking the action.
In the case of building your business, your list might include financial freedom, more time with your family, freedom to live and work wherever you choose, the opportunity to work from home, the opportunity to do work that you love, being able to make a difference in people’s lives, and on and on.
Write down as many things as you can think of. List every benefit, reward and pleasure you will receive from reaching this goal. This is your carrot.
Next, write down everything you are presently giving up and missing out on by not already having reached this goal. Things like working at a job you dislike, being away from your family, not having enough money, not being able to give your family what they need, always being behind on your bills, and on and on.
Write as many negatives as you can. What is the pain you experience by not having already reached this goal? This is your stick.
You can use the power of the carrot and stick to motivate yourself to action. When you feel yourself slacking off or procrastinating, or even if you feel like giving up, take out your lists and reread them.
These whys will remind you why you are doing this in the first place. Tony Robbins taught us that everything we do is either to gain pleasure or avoid pain. You can use this pain and pleasure - carrot and stick - exercise to keep yourself on track.
Keep your eye on the goal and keep reminding yourself why you want it. Doing this will keep you taking the actions necessary to reach your goals and live your dreams. Remember, you can reach any goal if you have a big enough why.
As my friend, John DiLemme said with the title of his wonderful book, Find Your Why and Fly
If you’re in the US and celebrating the Fourth of July, Independence Day (or even if you’re not), here’s something else you can do besides shoot off fireworks and barbecue.
Declare your own independence.
- Declare your independence from allowing outside forces to determine how you feel.
- Declare your independence from allowing the stock market or other economic indicators to determine your financial health.
- Declare your independence from allowing advertisers to determine how you should look and what you should eat.
The only one who can determine the conditions in your life, including how you feel and how much money you have or do not have, is you. You are responsible for your own life, and the sooner you realize this, the sooner you will have the power to change what you want to change.
Your thoughts create your life experience. Whatever you are experiencing in your life right now, is the result of the thought patterns you’ve had in the past, either consciously or unconsciously.
The Bible tells us that As a man thinketh, so is he. This idea has been repeated by every spiritual teaching for the past 2,000 years or more. It’s time we honored it and took back our own personal power. It is time we took back control of our thoughts.
Begin today to take an active role in creating your life. Choose your thoughts intentionally and with care. Monitor your self-talk. Affirm your dreams and goals daily.
Final sale days through July 4th weekend
This fourth of July weekend will mark the end of the special sale pricing for my multi-part audio programs so if you’re thinking of grabbing them, now’s the time. I assure you they will never be available at this price again.
With so many people concerned about the economy, I want to make sure you know about some of the simple, low cost resources that you can use to spark your creativity and explore additional income streams. Don’t just sit there watching the news, lamenting about how “bad things are.”
Refuse to be a victim. Take decisive action and you will immediately feel better, plus you will be increasing your income. Instead of worrying about where you can cut expenses, ask yourself what you can do to increase your household income.
A lot of smart people have used the 20 Ways to Make $100 per Day Online ebook to help them get new ideas and add income. If you missed the earlier information about this simple, yet powerful product.
Learn to put your skills, free time and mind set to work for you. Grab a copy of 44 Unusual WaysMoms are earning money in their spare time – and you can too.
Here’s a short (5 minute) video recorded for broadcast in Nigeria and on Mind TV by my friend, Patricia Omoqui. In it, I explore what stops most people from having what they want.
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Have you ever noticed that some people age well, becoming older with grace and dignity, looking vibrant and alive and remaining physically and mentally active well into old age? Frank Lloyd Wright, quoted above, was still designing when he passed on at 92.
