I’m not sure what the history of "excuses" is, except to know that a majority of the time excuses equal some sort of self-dishonestly.
They’re part of what we thought we "should do" vs. being a "must do"! Excuses come from us not being able to take our own "no’s". They’re what we say to people so that we "don’t hurt their feelings". Excuses are what we say so that others don’t hurt us. Excuses are part of what we’re tolerating in our life (that which draws out our energy and squashes it)!
Excuses come back to haunt us unless we look at them as gifts from clients or friends or even ourselves. Have you ever received an excuse for "something" and thought — Is that person kidding with that excuse? Why didn’t they just say NO? OH! … I am doing the same thing to "so and so".
Say NO!!! Sometimes saying "NO" to someone means saying "YES" to someone even more important — YOU!
What can you do when you give someone a "no" that they don’t accept? Take the time to think about what type of answers you can give and things you can do to protect your boundaries so that you can raise your standards. Check out these Top Ten Lists about boundaries. They are just wonderful! "Things to say pleasantly when people attempt to invade your boundaries" by Coach Diana Robinson, Ph.D. www.topten.org/public/BG/BG1.html and another wonderful Top Ten by Coach Dennis Tesdell www.topten.org/public/BN/BN1.html
Integrity Lesson
This month, write down all the excuses you hear yourself giving others and giving yourself. Look for the patterns. Are you not setting boundaries? Are you setting boundaries and the person isn’t listening? Are you setting boundaries and you’re not enforcing those boundaries? Or what other patterns do you see.
And remember: Yes, No and Maybe are all complete sentences.
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Savvy business owners can not only survive bad times, but also position themselves for future growth and prosperity. How can you do it? In a word: focus. Focus your energy on trimming the fat in your business and measuring the value of how, and with whom, you spend your time. After you assess which activities add value to your business, eliminate time and energy wasters. Here are some ways you can narrow your focus and enhance your efforts to grow your business:
Networking events: If your goal is to improve the overall caliber of your clients, you need to be at events where you’ll find better ones. Don’t continue your memberships in organizations out of habit. The smarter option is only to participate in those that provide great contacts and actual business. To figure out which networking events are most worth your time, ask yourself, “How many events do I attend where the majority of the attendees are my ideal clients?” And don’t be afraid to be the only one in your industry at a networking event. If your ideal clients are attending specific events, it only makes sense for you to be there, too. For example, if your ideal clients are high net worth individuals, consider attending philanthropic advisors’ meetings, or if you have a printing business, join a group of marketing professionals.
Business friends: Have you been spending social time with the same colleagues for years because you’re comfortable with them? Are they at the same level of business you are? Cultivating business relationships is like playing tennis. If you “play” with people who are better than you, your game will improve. If you associate with people at your level or below, your game will plateau and there’s no forward motion. The people you’re meeting for coffee, lunch, and so on should truly add something to your business and vice versa.
Social media: There are about a zillion social networks out there and you can spend half your day Twittering your every move, posting interesting comments to Facebook, and searching for new Linked In contacts. While these are legitimate online marketing opportunities, be realistic about your objectives and make sure they can meet them in the Web 2.0 arena. For example, use Facebook to advertise free or low cost teleclasses, webinars, or products; use LinkedIn to advertise association conferences or post your articles.
Newsletters: Recently, I realized that I was receiving too many e-newsletters simply out of habit that were cluttering up my inbox. Now, as newsletters arrive in my inbox, I ask myself. “Do I depend on this newsletter for useful information that I can apply to improve my business? Do they have a business that is on a level where I want to be in a few years? Do I often learn how to do business better from them?” If the answer is no, then I unsubscribe. Also, consider subscribing to newsletters from people outside your field or industry who may provide new strategies for approaching common challenges all business owners face.
Clients: This is a hard cutback to make, especially in this economy. However, marketing guru Seth Godin recently wrote a blog post in which he talked about how pandering to the masses and casting a wide marketing net leads to “dumb” customers. Dumb customers don’t spend as much, don’t talk as much, don’t blog as much, and don’t evangelize on your behalf as much as you want them to. It is hard to turn down money, especially in this economy, but dumb customers may take more of your time and energy than the account is worth. One step you can take to make sure you don’t attract the wrong clients is to have a clear vision – in writing – about your company and your ideal client. When you have a written vision of where your company is going and know everything humanly imaginable about your ideal client, you’ll be less likely to dumb down and much more likely to start attracting more high-quality clients-those who know what you do and value the results you produce for them.
The more fat you trim from your daily schedule, the quicker you’ll be on your way to growing your business. By taking charge and focusing on the things that add value to your business, you might even enjoy your work more, delight in your clients, and make the money you deserve.
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Sarah Hughes, Gold Metal Skater, had hers at age six. Joseph Campbell, folklore author, found his after visiting the Museum of History in NYC. At age 4, Oprah Winfrey remembers watching her grandmother washing clothes by boiling them – Oprah “knew” then her life would be different. They all found something that raised their inner vibrations, their passion — and created a vision.
People who live their visions always seem to have time to do the things they want to do – we often call them “go getters!” They’re focused, make decisions easily and smile often. And they’re flexible – they don’t get “stuck” in their vision and miss better opportunities. As Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
And you’re not limited to just one vision. People are living full lives into their 80s and 90s, something unheard of just a few generations ago. With continued opportunities to grow and evolve, we may create several visions over a lifetime. I can give you an example…I loved working on a trading desk on Wall Street and couldn’t see myself doing anything else. But 20 years later, I’ve found another passion – consulting and coaching – and perhaps in another 20 years, there’ll be another passion that calls to me – I can’t wait!
If you want to live in a way that empowers and motivates you, it’s time to create a vision. Make it simple but remember that the hallmark of a vision is that it promotes action. You must get it out of your head, onto paper, and into your life! Here are some ways to create a vision.
Create a theme for the year. Make it specific and based on what you want to accomplish during the next twelve months. Choose 1-4 words that will motivate you, for example: Simply Wealthy, Big Leaps of Faith, Be Present, Present Be. Write your words on index cards, or create a banner with your theme on it!
Design a dream board (or treasure map) — a collage of images of what you’d love to have and make of your life. Why not host a Dream Board Party and ask your friends to bring magazines from which everyone can cut pictures?
Fashion A Mind Map. Originated in the late 1960s by Tony Buzan, millions of people use Mind Maps for the purpose of visioning. Draw a circle the size of a quarter in the middle of a sheet of paper and write “YOU” in the middle. Then draw a line coming out of the circle for each area of your life — Relationships, Family, Romance, Friends, Professional, Personal/Spiritual, Finance & Money, Physical Environment, Health, Play & Recreation. These lines can be short or long, straight or squiggly, and you can use as many colors as you like!
Out of each of the primary lines, create more lines with ideas, or draw some pictures about the topic. A mind map’s purpose is to visualize what’s important to you, why it’s important, and to create a plan to help you reach your goals.
Construct A Vision Statement. In the late 1970’s, I learned about setting SMART goals and I think it’s a great system. SMART is an acronym for a goal-setting technique: S(pecific), M(easurable), A(chievable), R(ealistic), T(ime-frame).
Let’s say you want to create a vision for your business. Come up with one or two sentences that include the “time frame” for the vision, a company name, an adjective that best describes what you want to accomplish, what your business is about, who it’s for, where your clients are located, describe your products and, of course, include how much you want to make – net or gross, your choice.
Use your vision statement to stay focused. If an opportunity comes your way, look at it in light of your vision, decide if the opportunity is in line with – or better than – what you want, or if it’s really something to say “no” to.
Finally, update your vision or theme yearly – the beginning of the New Year is a great time to do it! Your vision can be much more powerful and last longer than a list of resolutions. Remember that vision statements are dreams with a well thought-out, deliberately created plan behind them. So take your vision and fly in 2004!
Excellent quotes on vision statements:
“Having a clear vision, especially during difficult times, will set your business — and your leadership — apart.” – Mike Lipton
“You cannot be successful if you have no vision or if you don’t feel worthy of success.” – Stedman Graham
“A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.” - Ralph Lauren
“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” – Jonathan Swift, English satirist (b. 1667)
“When you follow your bliss… doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn’t be a door for anyone else.” – Joseph Campbell
Small Business Owners: Reach & Attract Pre-Qualified Prospects with Teleclasses
You are probably already using a variety of the tools in your marketing toolbox – a website with fresh content, regular emails campaigns, strategic media placements, quality networking. But have you considered the underutilized marketing goldmine of a teleseminar?
These education sessions are an inexpensive and easy option to reach large audiences right over the telephone. Only you will know for sure if this tactic has a place in your marketing plan. But as with every element of your plan, you must first determine the goal in measureable terms.
Do you want:
• more visibility for you or your business?
• more newsletter subscribers or twitter followers?
• quality and strategic joint ventures?
• more subscribers to a longer and paid series of classes?
• MORE EARNED OR PASSIVE INCOME?
Once your purpose is clear, you can then consider format and venue. Do you want full interaction with your participants, or would you prefer limited interruptions? Will the list of participants be available to all callers, or will they remain anonymous? Because your teleseminar will technically be held in cyberspace, venue refers more to delivery options. Teleseminars are hosted over the phone; the education leader has a main call-in number and participants each call from their respective location. To include multi-media, such as a PowerPoint presentation or streaming video, a wealth of web technology is available to convert your teleseminar into a webinar or webcast.
With a clear end-goal in mind, next outline your key message and all supporting messages. Be careful about making your teleseminar too much of a sales pitch. You should certainly give your company name prominent mention throughout the call, but you risk alienating participants if there isn’t any perceived value they can immediately take away. You don’t want to “give away the farm”, but strike an appropriate balance to show you know the subject matter. It also never hurts to hint that you have lots of other good information up your sleeve, to entice attendees to join you again.
Aside from the pure educational value you will provide participants with your content, there are many other benefits inherent for participants to join a teleseminar. Be sure to mention these when marketing your session to participants:
• Convenience – participants can join in from anywhere, no travel time or commuting required. No need for meeting space or a conference room, attendees can join right from their desks.
• Cost effectiveness – a flat fee pays for unlimited attendees at one location
• Interaction – participants help create the class with their questions
• Recall – attendees can obtain a recorded version of the teleseminar to review information any time
• Sustainability – sessions are inherently “green”!
Attendees aren’t the only ones on the receiving end of a long list of benefits. Teleseminars may be an even bigger bang for the buck for hosts than attendees, given all these reasons:
• Visibility – unlimited geographic bounds means you can reach a wide audience, even go global
• Longevity – taped audio/video of your session will have an afterlife
• Outreach – use participant sign-in info to build your email list
• Credibility – as a host you get name recognition and can earn expert status
• Practice – if you get nervous in front of a “live” crowd, this can help ease the anxiety
• Compilation – edit together a series of seminars to write a book
• Sales – create products to sell online, create products or packages of products for back of the room sales
• Upselling – an initial free/low-cost intro session can be followed by a more substantial series
• Visibility – in addition to exposure to attendees, you can increase search engine rankings if you decide to post your teleseminars to your site
• Status – deliver a quality teleseminar and you become the subject matter expert
• Exposure – it’s a simple way for a prospects and potential joint-venture partners to get to know you better
• Affordable – no need to travel to reach a large group, there are no printing costs, the company gains “advertising” by having its name in a variety of promotional venues
Your topic doesn’t have to be rocket science (unless of course you are a rocket scientist!) Chances are you have skills you take for granted, but are invaluable to others. Think back to learning to drive a car. It seemed overwhelming and scary at first, but once you learned the basics and got behind the wheel with a trusted instructor by your side, it just became a matter of becoming proficient. As a teleseminar leader, you are imparting advice on a topic you already know very well with an audience who wants to hear it.
If you’re still undecided about whether to host a teleseminar, here are other reasons, courtesy of my long list of LinkedIn friends and small business owner clients using teleseminars with great results:
• Webcasts held build business and provides speaking confidence in the person giving them,
• You’ll attract your target market/build a targeted mailing list
• Increased retention of training received.
• Attendees learn about a firm’s expertise firsthand.
• A teleclass is a step on your marketing funnel.
• Teleclasses ranging from freebies to various costs are all a part of “getting to know you, like you, and trust you.”
• It helps others become more comfortable using technology, opening up a new world of possibilities.
Now that you’re ready to lead your first teleseminar, be sure to read my companion article on Teleseminar Etiquette just to make sure you don’t inadvertently step on any toes during the session.
So what are you waiting for? Consider your end goal, craft a compelling session, deliver on your value proposition, and watch your business take off!
Special Mention:
Thanks to everyone at Linkedin.com who provided me with their suggestions on how teleclasses have helped them in their business.
About the Author:
Maria Marsala, Strategic Business Advisor, Author and Speaker at Elevating Your Business, conducts highly interactive, content-rich workshop where attendees learn to increase their sales, be more productive, maximize their company’s performance, and live a high-quality life. he has been a certified teleseminar leader since 2000 and has led more than 200 sessions in that time, reaching tens of thousands of participants. For a schedule of upcoming teleseminars and workshops visit http://www.ElevatingYourBusinessU.com
Business Good, But You Want GREAT? Then It’s Time To Kick-Start Your Business
Businesses can do well without planning, many do. However, to become a high performing organization, to grow rapidly, a company really needs a planning and monitoring process. Got yours? I sure do have mine!
Back in 2000 a major shift in my business occurred when I came across the One Page Business Plan® process. Now, don’t let the simplicity of the name fool you. While the process helps you create a business and marketing plan – its much more.
·Help you diagnosis how every area of your business is doing.
·Clarify your thinking and focus on the elements that are the most critical to your success.
·Test your ideas without having to put large amounts of cash at risk.
·Help you to boost the profits and performance of your small company or department.
·Be ready to be used over and over again.
If you’re on a budget, as many new business owners are, you can purchase the workbook that includes the Entrepreneur Toolkit CD (for PC and MAC use) at your favorite bookstore, although it’s easier to find online. It includes systematic, practical, interactive exercises and templates, worksheets, powerful sales calculators, mini-sales budgets, one page performance scorecards, sample plans, and bonus tools! All created in programs you usually have on your computer — MS Excel and Word files.
If you’re a more seasoned business owner, department manager or executive, you can sit down at your PC to create your plan in courseware called Point, Click, Plan! Your solid draft will be complete in 1-2 hours.
Together with reading the E-myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber, creating a business plan are “mandatory to do’s” for all business owners. Why? because the E-myth shows you what happens when you don’t have a plan and systems and how much better off you’ll be with them. And the One-Page Business Plan processR helps you simply create your plans and systems to monitor your progress. Creating a plan now, will save you hours upon hours worth of your valuable time and will help you make fewer large and costly mistakes.
Isn’t that what you need as a business owner? Systems that work and more time to do what you’re passionate about? Below are 10 key elements of any process. Most are taken from the One-Page Business Plan® workbook, by Jim Horan.
1.It helps you choose opportunities more wisely and waste less time because you have a plan in place.
2.A single page can contain all the elements you need to tell your employees, board of directors, potential partners or banker where you are taking your business and how you are going to get there.
3.The most important reason to have a business plan is to clarify your thinking, regardless of the size of your company.
4.Knowing where you’re going creates hope and enthusiasm about the future.
5.It facilitates creating and analytical thinking, problem solving, communication, and teamwork.
6.It also brings out procrastination, frustration, differences of opinions and possibly anger.
7.Somehow writing initiates the transformation from idea to reality.
8.Writing allows others to participate in your dream and give you feedback.
9.You review it each day to create the day’s priorities and make decisions about your business.
10.The CD which comes with the book, including scorecards, templates, budgets, and bonus tools to help keep you on track!
Business plans – easier than you think, critical to prolonged success—and on one page!
Failing to plan is planning to fail. This simple and straightforward adage really says it all. Why don’t business owners plan? Smart people, ambitious people, people who are excited and passionate about creating their own mini-empires – don’t create plans! Why not? Well, beyond the basic “don’t know how” and “why do I need it?” reasons, here are other common scenarios:
1. Avoiding pain? For some people, the idea of writing a business plan makes them long for something less painful—such as a root canal! Most small business owners keep their plans in their own heads instead. But working through a planning process, such as the One Page Business Plan®, doesn’t have to be painful. It can even be fun! Putting your plan on paper is the first step towards making a dream “real.”
2. Write it down. If your want your business to grow beyond your capability to keep track of every little detail, you’ll have to provide written plans for someone else to follow. Take a vacation? Retire or sell your business? Can’t happen if everything needed to run your business resides only in your mind.
3. Overwhelm. It’s a buzz word right now, but it speaks to a large group of people who suffer from not enough time, not enough money, too many commitments, too much stress. They have no balance between their personal life and work life; it all blends together. Almost invariably, these folks don’t have a formal plan, or if they do, they created it once and never looked at it again. A business plan is a blueprint for the success of your business. Creating and using your business plan will also help you distinguish between pipe-dreams (in your head) and the goals that can make your business a reality.
4. Goals. Also known as “objectives” in business planning, goals are what keep you going on a day you just don’t want to go into the office. They are realistic and achievable and will compel you to try new things or continue doing what’s working. Eventually, you’ll be able to use your business plan to make decisions and set priorities just by looking at your plan every day. Plan NOT to fail. Create your business and marketing plan this month and if you already have one that’s fallen into disrepair, use the one-page format to fix it! Let this useful, living, breathing, document put you on the road to success.
(c) 2008 Maria Marsala, founder of Elevating Your Business, and a licensed One Page Business Plan® consultant draws on her Wall Street trading experience and 30-plus years of business success to help business owners nationwide. Her specialty is helping business owners build bigger, better businesses by streamlining the parts of business they choose to ignore—planning, administration, operations. Maria’s written more than 200 business and Internet articles and has appeared on TV & radio shows on both coasts. Her most recent venture is the CD series “Corporate Secrets Marketing System”, a self-coachingsystem in a box. Visit us at http://www.ElevatingYourBusiness.com and http://www.BusinessAndMarketingPlan.com
