Is Overwhelm Sabotaging Your Success

How to get reduce everyday overwhelm and thrive in business

Remember when you first started in business, you thought it would be the most rewarding thing you’ve ever done. My guess is it’s also one of the hardest things you’ve ever done. At times, owning and running a business can be daunting, stressful and outright overwhelming and for some it becomes all too much. When you have more on your plate than you can handle it can derail even the best of us. If the overwhelm continues you can get to a point of really feeling stuck. 

Owning a business can doesn’t have to be this way. Some people say success is easy, you’ve got to know what steps to take and in what order to take them. When it comes to franchising you’ve been told it’s as simple as “following the system” but what if you’re doing all of that and you’re still stressed, filled with fear, worry and everyday overwhelm? How do you get out of overwhelm and into a place where both you and the business can not only survive but thrive.

It’s one thing to get overwhelmed, its another to stay overwhelmed and as much as we can probably admit to feeling stressed, overloaded and in a state of overwhelm more than once, what we don’t realise is staying stuck in overwhelm is literally robbing you blind of trying to achieve the dreams and goals you’ve set for your business and for yourself.

Overwhelm is simply a state of mind that can sabotage your long-term success. If you are someone who finds yourself very smart and capable but constantly in a state of stress and overwhelm then you are probably doing one of the most common triggers that cause you to become overwhelmed and keep you overwhelmed.

What I’d like to share with you today is 4 key triggers that cause you to get you overwhelmed and the things that keep you there, which ultimately can sabotage your success and then some ways you can overcome everyday overwhelm in your business and your life.

OVERWHELM TRIGGERS

1.     Busyness Addiction & Over Commitment. In other words biting off more than you can chew.

Busyness is literally when you are doing everything you can to move ahead, you are so driven and so compelled to do more and have more that you literally fill your life up with stuff

The key to stopping the busy addiction, is to understand the difference between being busy and being productive. Somewhere in your subconscious mind you haven’t realised that being busy isn’t getting you anywhere and being productive is what it’s going to take to move ahead. People who are busy addicted have a bad sense of time for themselves, they have low boundaries and have no system for doing or completing tasks and projects. Where do you need to say no and make a start to taking bite size chunks? You wouldn’t shove a whole block of chocolate in your mouth would you? My guess is you would break a square or two and eat it in smaller bit size chunks.

2.     Doing it Alone

When we start in business we can be wearing up to 10 or more various hats. We are looking after lead generation, sales, fulfilment, accounts, customer care, marketing and management and more. We become stuck in a rut and want to do it all ourselves and then when it comes to the time to recruit staff and delegate tasks and activities sometimes the mindset of “no one else can do it better than me” can lead to overload and overwhelm as we are trying to be everything to everyone. It’s important to understand that there will always be more to do than you alone can ever get done.

Doing it alone is one of the biggest triggers to overwhelm

Doing it alone for too long costs you and costs the business. It takes it s toll on you, your mind your body – your business. If you’re doing it alone and your business grows rapidly then it will implode on you or it doesn’t flourish because there’s so much going on and you’re doing it all yourself.

3.     Clutter and Disorganisation

If you’re currently spending countless hours looking for something in your office or desk or your environment is messy, cluttered and has no system or sense of order to it chances are you are overwhelmed in some way shape or form. When your environment is cluttered it’s like everything that’s going on in your environment is pulling at your eyes, there’s simply no opportunity to give your mind a break and work with ease.

Clutter in general can create chaos in your mind and your environment. That chaos is one of the biggest contributors to feeling overwhelmed. Take a quick look at the filing systems that support you both electronic and paper filing systems and be sure you make some shifts to clear up the clutter as your environment is dictating your outcome.

4.     Boundary Issues

One of the biggest triggers to overwhelm is not being able to say no and having weak or no boundaries. We do see this mainly in service based businesses but it can also happen in multi location businesses where the owner is managing more staff, attending more meetings etc.

When you don’t value your time, or what’s important to you its easy to lose your boundaries. They can get stretched or worn completely thin. Lose or no boundaries can lead to busyness addiction, complication and extreme overwhelm. There is an easy solution to this and that is stop being a yes person and know when its ok to say no.

 THE FASTEST WAY TO GET OUT OF OVERWHELM

 Overwhelm happens to all of us. What you do when it strikes you starts to sabotage your success. Let’s explore some ways you can eliminate everyday overwhelm:

 ·         Create space and stop overcommitting.
If you make a standard in your business that you only have a certain number of meetings a day or you only work a certain number of days or certain times, then you will become more productive in the time that you do work.  Stretching your commitments out by a day or two will have a massive impact on your levels of overwhelm and will certainly make a big difference in your everyday.

 ·         Learn when it’s ok to say NO .One thing I learned  in business is the more disciplined I am with my time, the more I get done. It’s important to know where your boundaries are being stretched. Most of us have very loose boundaries. New business or marketing ventures and other commitments require time and focus. If you have too many things to manage all at one time you simply won’t be at your best. Spread them out and be clear about how many you will say yes to in a month. Here’s a tip: ask yourself; “If I say Yes to this, how is it going to get me closer to my ultimate goal? How will this make me money? What will I be saying NO to if I say YES to this?”

 ·         Set Higher Standards and Value You

A commitment to high standards will always serve and support you.

  • Self-care & Time Out. Make sure you get enough sleep and fuel your body with good nourishment and exercise every day.
  • Systems. Systems are essential to reducing overwhelm for you, your team and the overall business. What systems do you need to support you in operating at a higher standard
  • Under commit and over perform. Be willing to start under committing and you will be amazed at how your performance levels will soar.

          Stop Doing it Alone –Stop wearing all the hats in your business and be willing to get the right help to take the pressure off. Having others support you in the day to day operations of the business will support faster growth, increased profits and a reduction in overwhelm.

 ·         Set realistic expectations for how much you can get done. One of the Overwhelm Triggers is thinking that you can get everything done in a short period of time. Start looking at what’s already on your calendar BEFORE you set deadlines for yourself. If you have to double the time estimated on all tasks until you start truly knowing how long things actually do take then do it.

 ·         Simplify how you run your business. If you have a habit of complicating things then you might need help with simplifying your operations. Complication leads to overwhelm so it’s time to get back to Keeping It Simple Sweetheart. J Sometimes the simplest solution is often the best.

 ·         Schedule tasks in your calendar. Develop a habit of scheduling your tasks from checking email and voice mails to completing other tasks. This will prevent you from running your day from your To Do List or worse still your INBOX.

 ·         Release things that no longer serve you. Letting things go be challenging until you realise that if it’s no longer in serving and supporting your bigger vision then it’s just holding you back. This can be staff, your emotions, your habits, your clients and even your family and friends.

 ·         Start your day off right. One of the best ways to prevent overwhelm is to start your day with a exercise and or meditation. When you set your mind and body on the right frequency for the day your brain will hone in on better choices and your body will feel energised.

 ·         Take time away from your business to recharge every week. One of the best ways to prevent overwhelm is to make you take time out every week to really to recharge your batteries.

 

The Balancing Act

How to cr eate balanc e in the franchisor /franchis ee relationshi p It’s one of those areas that we know will never be perfect, and it’s one of those areas that if not right in the early development days of your  franchise network it can spin out of control quite
quickly with some, all or usually with just a select few.

So how do you achieve balance within your franchisor/franchisee relationship and how do you close the gaps in your current foundations to ensure the existing network of franchisees and your new incoming franchisees experience that same or similar relationship and culture?

Th e power is in your house!

Have you ever really taken the time to look at a light bulb that’s turned on at your front door or porch? What did you notice? I’m sure you would see what I see, an array of bugs and moths flying and crawling around the light? Have you ever wondered why they do that? It’s simple. They are attracted to the light. The brighter and more powerful the light, the more bugs and flying insects you will see around the light. In other words the bigger and more powerful the light in your business, in your team
and in your franchise network culture, the more positive people you will attract.
All too often I come into a franchise group and see and feel too much negative energy.

When negative energy takes too much power from your light, not only do you fail to attract good things, you are also pushing away or rejecting or even leaving no room at all for the good energy. When you apply negative energy in your network or when you fail to recharge your network with positive energy, you become disempowered and you also disempower people in your network.

When you intentionally apply positive energy in your franchise network, you become empowered and you also empower your franchisees who are attracted to and want to tap into your positive light.

So how do you keep your light bright? How do you maintain that positive bright energy within you and your franchise network as a whole?

The main thing to remember is that you must stay consistent in being empowering with everything you do. Simply by being empowering, you are generating more positive energy and adding more power to your light. Empowering is not something you be, it’s something you do every day – that’s blended into every interaction you have with your franchisees, colleagues and more.

It’s your ultimate responsibility as a franchisor to make sure that your batteries are always full of power so you can keep your light bright. Always remember: it takes energy to maintain energy, so if you are not adding to your positive energy, it’s automatically seeping away. WITH GREAT POWER COME S
GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

Understanding the three dominant relationship types

Before you can move into building and maintaining the ideal franchisee/franchisor relationship, it’s important to understand and identify with the three primary relationship types.

The dependent franchisee /franchisor relationship

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By looking at the illustration, the two lines represent two people in the relationship – usually the franchisor and franchisee. The dependent relationship is where one person is constantly holding up the other person and when one person places responsibility on the other person to fulfill his or her needs.

Generally, in a franchise relationship, this is usually the franchisor holding up the franchisee and the franchisee placing full responsibility on the franchisor for his or her success.

The franchisee becomes demanding and negative and nothing ever seems to please him or her. Over time the franchisor discovers there’s just not enough energy (time, money and resources) to hold the other person up because the dependent person is disempowering. No matter what the franchisor does, the dependent franchisee will still always place the responsibility on the franchisor for their overall success.

The franchisor generally feels the need to move away from this situation as a result of continual frustration and overwhelm, and support the franchisees that have a better attitude, a better commitment to the network and more positive
energy.

The challenge with this is, if the disempowered franchisee remains in the system, they will eventually steal and drain the energy from others within the network. This drain usually impacts other franchisees which results in total unbalance – not just in the initial franchisee/franchisor relationship but total unbalance in the network. So what’s the solution with this type of relationship? It’s important for the franchisor to start adopting more ways to empower the head office team in order to help empower the franchisees who are dependent to take responsibility for their overall success and happiness.

It’s also a good idea to review your recruitment process and truly identify who your ideal franchisee is so that these naturally disempowering franchisees just don’t make it
through the recruitment process.

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franchisor relationship
Now we know a dependent relationship is when one person places responsibility on the other person to fulfill his or her needs for success

What if both people in the relationship depend on the other person to make sure everything happens smoothly and everyone’s happy. This is a co-dependent relationship. The two figures in the illustration represent the franchisee and franchisor existing in a co-dependent relationship.

The challenge with being in a co-dependent relationship is that it doesn’t stay in balance. The illustration looks balanced, with each person holding the other up, but that’s not what actually happens.

One person is usually more demanding and needier than the other at different times. So
both sides are constantly drawing energy from the relationship, which is weakening it from both sides These are the franchisee/franchisor relationships that feel if they each give 50 per cent to the relationship, then their relationship will have 100
per cent. Here’s the problem with that: there’s still 100 per cent missing. What it really means is that there are two disempowering people in the same relationship.
To move past this stage of a relationship, you must again review your foundations of
expectations, the consistency of ongoing support and training and where the co-dependency started.

Perhaps it started with a lack of communication, perhaps a lack of follow through with regards to compliance or perhaps as a result of not setting the expectations and empowering each party to be responsible for the part they play in the relationship.

The empowering franchisee /

What makes a strong franchisee/franchisor relationship work is when you have two
empowering parties who take responsibility to make sure they are happy within themselves and are responsible for the part they play in the relationship.

The franchisor is responsible for ensuring they are empowering the network, fulfilling their responsibilities, following through on their word and their actions and ensuring they are coming  to the party when it comes to providing the right amount of support, ongoing training, tips, knowledge and insights.

The franchisee, on the other hand, is responsible for the part they play in the relationship. They have bought into a system, it is their responsibility to implement and follow that system, take the necessary actions consistently every day to ensure their success and to achieve their outcomes.

Just because the franchisor has provided the system doesn’t mean that the franchisee will be instantly successful. The franchisor fulfills his responsibilities in that role and then the franchisee must fulfill his responsibilities in his/ her role. You will see in an inter-dependent relationship there is a connection, there is a balance and each individual is responsible for the energy, the attitude and the actions they bring to the relationship.

Each individual is 100 per cent responsible for their role, duties and obligations in that
relationship. By empowering yourself and then empowering others to be 100 per cent
responsible for the energy they bring to the relationship and for the actions they take which are necessary to create successful outcomes, the relationship becomes more balanced and sets a solid foundation for a long and happy journey.

So as a franchisor, how do you move towards creating more balanced inter-dependent
relationships? Well the only thing in the entire universe we have control over, is changing ourselves. So it starts with you.

Ti me to Ta ke Action

In order to move towards building and then maintaining empowering franchisee/franchisor relationships, it’s important you get started straight away, taking the right actions and steps in the right order.

If you are an established franchisor it’s important to look at this from two viewpoints. Firstly, in the franchisee recruitment phase when you first start to engage with your prospective franchisees and secondly, with your current network of franchisees. As a new franchisor this will be something you must embrace right from the get go.
1. Review what is! Looking honestly at your franchise network, it’s important you identify exactly what types of franchisor/franchisee relationships exist within your network. Once you have identified what is – it’s important to then;
2. Decide what it is you want! How do you see your future relationships with your franchisees? How do you see the dynamic between each franchise unit? How can you empower your franchisees more to assume responsibility for the part they play in the relationship? How can you do the same with regards to the part you play in the relationship? Be sure to write this down or pop it up on a whiteboard with your team.
3. The difference between what is now and what you want to exist in the future is what we call the GAP. Knowing your GAP is vital in determining what steps you must take and in what order, and at what time you take them.
4. Re-educating your existing franchisees and introducing a new relationship culture won’t happen overnight, it’s therefore important you prepare a 90 – 180 day action plan that incorporates the delivery of some new innovations, communication and support models that encourages responsibility, empowers and inspires action and reduces reaction among the network. Your action plan should also allow for a complete change in your recruitment process, to ensure the new incoming franchisees are developed in an empowering way and understand the dynamic and type of culture you have right from the time they first make their enquiry with your franchise group.
5. If you feel the GAP between where your current relationships are and where you want them to be is large, then give priority to revamping your franchisee recruitment process with a vision of getting it right at the beginning of the relationship for new incoming franchisees.

6. Once you have a plan in action for your new incoming franchisees and your existing
franchisees, then may I suggest you put in place a 12 month change management, training and support program to ensure you create a long lasting result. It’s not always going to be perfect but I guarantee that you will create more balance within your network as a whole. A balanced and more empowered network will
ultimately influence the net worth of your group, so it’s something that’s well worth spending some considerable time on this area.

Personal Attributes For Success

If you were given a magic wand and had the opportunity to wave it over your  business and your life what would you change? What things would stay the same?

Most successful people when asked what the secret to their success has been have responded with: it’s in the uncanny ability to channel focus in a singular direction. To focus is a two-part process: it’s a clear vision, and it’s waking up as the person who can make the vision occur.

Lets explore some of the key personal attributes for success.

Know what you want

It appears to be an obvious one however you would be surprised to learn that a very small percentage of business people know exactly what it is they want and stay focused to it’s achievement.  Most have a few options available to them and therefore fail to take the necessary actions that help them realize their goals faster. Not being 100% clear about what you want can open yourself up to falling short.

The first place to start is take a pen and paper and write down exactly what it is you want. Be sure you write down what you want in all key areas of business and in life. It’s important to be balanced in this. Writing down what it is you want will help clarify and solidify in you heart and mind whether it’s really what you want.

The best way to predict your future is to create it!

How you write down what you want is very important, so as you begin the first step of writing down your goals, make sure your outcomes meet the CREATE Critera.

C- Clear and Concise

R-Realistic

E-Ecological

A- As if Now

T- Timed and Toward What You Want

E- End Step/ Evidence

In short it is important what you want is expressed in a clear-cut way. It must be clear, specific and concise. Remember we don’t get what we want, we get what we expect, so it’s important when writing your goals be sure you set ones that are realistic and you know you can achieve them. It is a good idea to run an ecology check on your goals, which simply means looking at the consequences of achieving that goal. You can do this simply by asking yourself: is this outcome good for me, good for others and good for the planet?  Be sure to always write goals in the present tense as once the mind has fully imagined something, it makes it far easier to accomplish it. Although you will write your goals in the present tense you still must put a future date or time to your goals to indicate when you wish to achieve this outcome, even if it’s tomorrow or something small. The T in CREATE also stands for toward what it is you want. Your goals should always be stated in a positive way. State what you want rather than what you don’t want. Finally it’s important to know what the end step is for your goal. The end step or evidence is the last thing that has to happen so that you know for sure you have achieved your desired outcome. E.g. by 31 march 2014 you want to attract a new client therefore you may see yourself signing the agreement and banking the deposit.

Now that you  have clarity around how to write goals it’s time to implement it. Take action and come up with a good two week, one month, three month, six month and 12 month goal that will move you closer towards your vision and achieving what it is you want.

What You Focus On Really Determines Your Reality

Warren Buffet, believes what contributes to overwhelming success is…. “what we focus on and equally important what we choose not to focus on contributes to whether one achieves success or not.”

A successful person is one who has developed the ability to focus and maintain that focus on clearly identified and specific goals. Successful people also understand that for them to reach their targets they need to take consistent action to bring them closer and closer to where they want to be. Without action, nothing will be achieved.

Success is always in the follow through. How well you plan wont determine your success. Your success will always be in how well you execute and implement your plan.

You’re results are clearly determined by what you focus on.  This means you have every opportunity to change any and every aspect of your life, starting right now!

You Must Assume 100% Responsibility For Your Success

If you want to be successful, no matter what success means to you, you have to assume 100% responsibility for everything. There are no excuses. There may be set backs or economic down turns, or problems that affect your business. There may be situations you don’t like, peers within the network may irritate you, and the direction of the business may turn a corner in the opposite direction you were hoping for. While those things definitely have an impact on you, the way you do business and the sales you make, it is important to realise that regardless of everything, it is up to you, and you alone, to accept responsibility for the success of your business and do what it takes to make it a success.

Who are you blaming right now for your short falls? We never want to look at where the real problem might be, but it’s important to start to realise that your attitude towards your success starts with you.

Take some time right now to think about yourself just for a minute. It’s time to stop looking outside of yourself for the answers. What you sow, so shall you reap. If you are reaping well from the seeds you have sown then that’s fantastic. Think of some new ways to challenge yourself and reach new heights of success. If you are just not happy with what’s happening in your world right now, you MUST assume 100% responsibility for everything; your attitude, your beliefs, your actions, your wins and your shortfalls.

 

Model The Change You Want To Be

Modeling is something you have been doing your whole life without being aware of it. The only problem is that most of us model haphazardly without conscious awareness.

There are two types of modeling: inside and outside modeling. In the simplest form modeling allows you to access the tools, strategies, and mindsets of successful people so that you can expand your references and play a different game of life on a larger and more exciting playing field. Fake it til you make it is a long held paradigm for success. Far from being dishonest, this principle simply harnesses the power of the mind for accelerated change. Your mind does not know the difference between something that has happened and something you vividly imagined. By identifying new beliefs, values, attitudes and decisions that have already worked for someone else you get the inside knowledge of the rules by which to play your new game. Then you can set out to master the same skills and employ the same strategies. Why reinvent the wheel when you can learn from the best? These individuals have become masters because they have crafted their rulebook and congruently communicated their vision to the world. They have been clear about who they are, whey they stand for, and what they want to achieve, and they have confidently expected to achieve it. You can do the same.

Discipline

Once you have decided what it is you want to achieve, you have your vision in place and you know how you are going to achieve it, a disciplined approach must be part of your every day.

Have you ever wanted to shift a few kilos, get fit or accomplish some other goal, only to find you have lacked the discipline to see it through? We expect everyone else to be disciplined in their workday so that they can achieve as much as they can, so it’s important to expect it from yourself.

Daily planning will help you maintain discipline. Knowing what steps and actions you need to take and knowing they are moving you closer to achieving the bigger picture (your desired outcomes) will make it easier to stick to your plan.

Adopt An Attitude For Gratitude

One of the best ways to start changing your attitude is to start adopting an Attitude for Gratitude. It’s very hard to bring good into your life if you are not grateful for what you already have. There is always going to be someone else in this world worse off than you are. They may be a competitor, a friend or a complete stranger. Start each day by saying thank you! Giving thanks for what you already have will open the doors for you, and faster than you think.

Being critical of others, blaming, complaining, feeling tension, rushing, choosing to be in a bad mood are all signs you are not being grateful. Gratitude can transform your life. Stop allowing minor things to get in the way of your transformation and the life you deserve.

Adopt Unwavering Self Confidence in Yourself

Most successful people have a certainty and willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve success, however it often comes across as brash. Success has nothing to do with luck, to be extraordinary takes vision and a willingness to work harder than most people would ever dream of doing. This is the attitude of every highly successful person. What people might perceive as arrogance isn’t always boasting. It can come from a strong commitment to yourself and to your dreams. That’s the foundation of your certainty, your belief, and your patience. The key of course is to balance it all with humility.

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

Now I am not just throwing this phrase out there because alot of gurus use it. Fear is a real contributing factor to many business owners not realising their true potential, including me. What is important to realise is FEAR is simply False Emotions Appearing Real. Once you acknowledge that, and take control of those emotions and manage your way forward through that fear to a place of power, energy, enthusiasm and success, you will never look back.

It’s important to also let go of all fear-based attachments. I have been working on this with one of my own coaches and it’s one that successful people before me have done. To be successful it’s important to release the fear-based attachment to certain outcomes and of being, doing or having anything that you don’t perceive to be currently in your world. It’s about releasing the fear and having patience, living in the moment and pouring your passion into every minute of the day.

TIME TO TAKE ACTION

Define what success means to you.

Decide what it is you want.

Be sure to write it down clearly and concisely.

Start catching your ANTS- automatic negative thoughts.

What new attitudes can you adopt? Write them down.

Adopt an Attitude for Gratitude. Start keeping gratitude journal and write in it daily.

Be clear about your vision.

Be sure to write it down clearly and concisely.

What can you do to ensure you stay disciplined and focused on achieving your desired outcomes?

What actions will you take over the next 30 days to help you move closer to your dreams and goals?

Maximising Your Potential in 2014

For some, 2013 was a year to forget and for others it was a year where businesses flourished and business owners achieved more then what they had anticipated. Now is the time to start planning what your year will look like in 2014

So why did some slow down? Why did some fall over completely, and how are they different to those who managed to maintain momentum in the turbulent waters and even thrive in such an uncertain time?

Working with many business operators both in and out of the franchise sector, we have noticed that those who consistently do the right things, in the right order, seem to stay on track to building the business of their dreams. So I thought I would take the opportunity in this article to briefly share some of the key areas that seem to help business owners maintain momentum and help close the gaps between where you are and where you want to be, FASTER.

Remember though, knowledge is all but useless unless it’s applied. So may I encourage you to implement what you read, or, if you have in place most of the points outlined in this article, may I encourage you to review these elements of your business and work towards strengthening them as much as you can to help you maximise the potential in your business. Not just today, but over the next year, two or three.

I have come to realise there are two types of business people in the world today – one is committed to their success the other interested in success. Those who are interested simply do what is convenient to them. Those who are committed to their success do whatever it takes to succeed – no matter what.

Which one are you?

Vision

“A vision without a plan is just a dream. A plan without a vision is just drudgery. A vision with a plan can change the world.”

-Old proverb

No matter where you are and what stage you are at in your business, it’s important to have a strong vision. A vision paves the way, provides clarity of where you are taking your business. Without a vision, there is no focus and without focus it is easy to get off track and start heading in a direction that can set you back months and sometimes even years.

Building the business of your dreams starts with creating a big enough and bold enough vision. If you have never sat down and taken the time to create a clear vision for your business and your life, then may I encourage you to take some time to create a clear direction for where you want to go in your business. This is the first step in creating a solid foundation for your future success. It is the core centre that provides the direction and purpose for the entire business. For those who do have a vision in place, be sure to review it to see if you are on track or if it or the actions you are taking need revising.

TIME TO TAKE ACTION

• Review or create your vision. Be sure it’s big enough and bold enough and something that’s worthwhile.

• Be sure to write your vision down.

• Be sure to set a clear plan of action to take so that you do, in fact, achieve your vision.

Taking 100 per cent responsibility for your success

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. “ -Jim Rohn

If you want to be successful, you have to take 100 per cent responsibility for everything you experience in business and in life. This seems simple – but for most of us we have been so conditioned to blame something or someone outside of ourselves for all the shortcomings in life and when things just don’t go right. With such a long term conditioned habit, it’s sometimes hard to look at perhaps the real problem – ourselves.

As a franchisee you have bought into a system and a brand. In order to be successful and truly build the business of your dreams, it’s important to partner with that system and brand and take consistent daily action to produce the results you want. Spending so much time and energy on focusing on what’s not working will only result in poor results. Maximising the time you spent on taking daily action, focusing on income producing activities, focusing on going the extra mile with your customers and assuming 100 per cent responsibility for your success will produce the long term results you want and is the very reason you bought into a franchise in the first place.

TIME TO TAKE ACTION

• It’s time to stop looking outside of yourself for the answers.

• Give up blaming and complaining.

• Start assuming 100 per cent responsibility for your life and all your results – both successes and failures.

• Learn to replace complaining with making requests and taking action that will achieve your desired outcomes.

Adopting a mindset for success

Your mind is a lot like a parachute. It works much better when it’s open. If you were to take an honest look at your life and your business, is it everything you had planned, imagined or hoped it would be? In order to start building the business of your dreams, it’s important to create a mindset for success.

Once you have started to assume 100 per cent responsibility for your results, you can move into looking at your thoughts and beliefs. Our mind is the most powerful tool you have. It can either work for you or against you.

Successful business people all over the world have mastered how to develop and maintain a positive mindset so that it works for them.

New thoughts lead to new actions. If you are not happy with your current results, then it’s important to understand that how you think, what you believe to be true and your existing habits have all got you to where you are today. If you want to change your results, you’ve got to adopt a positive mental attitude, some new thinking habits so that you will take some new actions in order to produce different results.

Small business owners have been mentally conditioned to behave a certain way. They have specific beliefs such as: ‘in order to make more money, you have to work harder’;

‘Money is the root of all evil’; ‘No pain, no gain’; ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees’; or, ‘If I don’t do it myself, it will never get done.’

Their belief leads to a specific action which is to work more hours and put forth more effort in a vain attempt to increase revenue and profits. That leads to specific results, which are feelings of being overwhelmed, anxiety and frustration, so more and more effort is required, even though results don’t seem to appear.

If this sounds like you, then may I suggest you start to change your thinking. Once you understand how to change your thinking you will be amazed at how quickly your results will change.

The easiest way is to start to focus on what you want rather than on what you don’t want.

Now it’s not enough to think new thoughts – you have to be sure to take consistent daily actions. Be sure you focus on income producing activities and not just any activity.

Try delegating the activities that don’t earn you money, or you are not good at, and it will free up your time so that you can focus on the activities that do produce income and that you enjoy. A key point to make here is that there are people who play and activities that you have to work hard at.

Delegating these tasks will free up your time and your mind which will ultimately allow you to build momentum in your business faster.

TIME TO TAKE ACTION

• Start becoming aware of your ANT’s.

Automatic Negative Thoughts.

• Learn to create Automatic

Positive Thoughts.

• What do you WANT? Once you know, write it down review it daily.

• Start focusing on What You WANT! Do not focus on what you do not want.

• Start saying ‘positive statements’ daily like I am a successful business person.

• Start taking ‘Consistent Daily Action’ so you can achieve your goals.

• C all Vision Alliance for additional support.

These are just the first key areas that you can start focusing on over the next couple of months. By the time the next issue of Business

Franchise arrives you will be ready to move onto the other key areas. Key areas that will continue to help you maximise your potential including: Your Ideal Customer, 7 Ways to Increase Profits & Networking for success

Get More out of Business and Get More out of Life

How much do like what you do right now to make money? Do you wake up at three in the morning, and can’t sleep because you are just so eager and excited to get going on your work? Such people are happy people, and very often they get either rich, famous, or both.

If you don’t have this kind of passion for what you do, you’re wasting your time and your life. Even if your job pays well, hating that job is like living a kind of ‘half-life’. You suffer through the work week and live for the weekends.

I urge you to quit the job you have right now, or sell your business if you hate it, and find something you can be passionate about. If you are just not in a position to move on from the business you are in then I urge you to find the passion within what you are currently doing. Re-ignite it. They say if you do what you love, the money will follow.

Even if you don’t really hate your job or your business, but don’t particularly care for it either, I still say you’re wasting your time. You’re merely ‘running out the clock’ on your life as you wait for retirement. It is said that an artist never retires. Why should they when they love what they do? Their work is their play. But it shouldn’t be true of only artists. The world of business can provide all the fun, creative stimulation and joy an artist gets from his or her work.

All this leads up to an important business concept I’m going to tell you about right now. It’s this: You must be aggressive and proactive, rather than passive and reactive, in order to create higher levels of success. A passive business owner may have a steady supply of customers who support the business, but that business never really takes off to achieve spectacular sales and profits. A reactive business owner only makes a change when something negative happens. They react and sometimes not to their best advantage. If things are going along fine, they’ll just continue to go through the motions.

A proactive business owner never settles for ‘good enough.’ Even if business is brisk, the proactive entrepreneur takes aggressive action to make things even better. For example, a proactive business person makes a single successful sale to a customer, he won’t rest until he does everything he can to make second, third, fourth, and maybe even more sales. That means he or she has to take action. They’ve got to develop new products for those new sales. They’ve got to reach out to the customer with direct mail, a phone call, or key advertisements. They’ve got to come up with a ‘can’t refuse offer’ for those additional sales. They’ve got to test the market to find out where more business can be squeezed out.

I have mentioned this before and it’s worth mentioning again. There are two types
of business people I have found over the years of consulting and coaching. Those
who are interested and those who are really committed to their success. Those who are interested will do what is convenient to them and they wonder why they don’t seem to progress as fast as others do. Those who are committed do whatever it takes to realise their dreams and goals and more.

Time to Take Action

Why not get out your customer list right now? Select the names of 20 of your best customers. Instead of just waiting for them to come in again—get proactive and go after them. Give them a call to thank them for their business, and then tell them about the new product or service you know will make their lives better. Or send them a postcard with a hot offer. Send them a sales letter or send a live person out to visit them. Whatever you do, don’t lay back and be passive. Sure they might come in again and buy from you, at some time on some day, whenever! When you take a proactive stance, you can’t stand waiting! You go out and get them!

I promise you this ‘20 Customer’ exercise will open your eyes. You’ll be amazed at how many extra sales you get, sales you might not have had without taking aggressive action.

The only fuel for a proactive, aggressive business stance is passion, a love for what you do. If you hate your job or the business you are in, you may get aggressive and proactive for a while, but you’ll quickly burn out and go back
to ‘dull normal’ mode.

So do whatever it takes to shake up your life and get passionate about what you need to do to make money. When you do, you’ll make money, and better yet, you’ll have fun while you’re doing it!

Whatever You Do, Stop Wasting Time

Why do you think banks traditionally placed clocks outside their buildings? Because they know that time is money. In fact, it’s with banks that this whole idea of calculating interest rates, based on time, got started. If you have a loan, it’s that inevitable, unstoppable ticking of the clock which is determining how much money you owe in interest payments.

If you really want to look into this more deeply, read up on the history of capitalism and banking. You’ll be amazed. Our entire monetary system rests upon a modern concept of time, which was given to us by astronomers, such as Copernicus, Galileo and Newton. Indeed, it is Sir Isaac Newton’s ‘clockwork universe’ that has shaped our modern conception that time is money, perhaps more than anything else.

Ever wonder why we say: “How do you plan to spend your time?” It’s because time and money are intimately tied to each other. Okay, had enough of the history lesson? Want me to get to the point? The point is that the statement that time is money is far more than a cliché. It’s a basic reality because of the fundamental way we do things.

And I can’t make this statement strongly enough: NOTHING IS MORE VALUABLE THAN
YOUR TIME! At the start of each new day, you are issued a fresh 24 hours, that’s 1400 minutes and 86,400 seconds. If you think of each of those hours minutes and seconds as having a monetary value, and they do, every one you waste is money lost forever. You must start paying attention to your time each day, and how you spend it.

How much actual time do you commit to making money with your business? You don’t know if you don’t pay attention. If you start keeping a daily log of how much time you actually spend on money making activities, you may be in for a surprise. What about all that time spent chatting around the water cooler or the coffee machine? It can be nice, but it earns you nothing. Do you waste time with people? Most do. If you decide to spend 15 minutes shooting the breeze about the World Cup, even if it’s with a client, that time is lost money. And we all know people that are what I call ‘dumpers.’ These are people who call you up or visit personally and steal 20 or 30 minutes just telling you about their problems. It’s great for them because they feel better after unloading on you, at the expense
of your precious time. But you get nothing, except for the reputation of being a ‘good listener.’

There’s nothing especially wrong with that, but when it’s time to conduct business, then you should be doing business. I suggest that no less than 85 per cent of your day be focused on making money, and making things happen for your business. The biggest reasons people waste time is because:

A. They have not internalised and do not remain conscious of the fact that time is money.
B. They simply aren’t paying attention to where they spend their time

Time to Take Action

Play a mental game with yourself, starting at minute one of your next day. Every 15 minutes or so, stop and ask yourself: “Is what I am doing right now moving me forward toward my earning goals?” Do it every 15 minutes.

Set an alarm clock if you have to. A wrist watch with a timer on it that beeps is great for this or even your blackberry. The idea is to shake up your conscious and unconscious mind. Wake yourself up as to how you’re spending your time! Put yourself on notice: “I will stop wasting time!” or “I always maximise my time!” The thing about wasting time is that it’s insidious. It creeps up on us while we’re not paying attention. Before we know it, days, weeks and months are lost in nonproductive activity. You can really get on top of this by keeping a time log for a week or so and recording every activity you do in your business and the amount of time it takes. You will be amazed about how much time you really do spend on non-productive tasks.

Once you get aware of this, once you awaken to the idea that every moment counts you’ll stop wasting time, and you’ll start getting things done twice as fast, three times as fast, or even faster. When that happens, I promise you that you’ll notice a magical effect. You’ll start getting a lot more done and again, this
will seem magical you’ll start making a lot more money and start enjoying a lot more time freedom!

Managing your time during work actually frees up more time to spend with family, loved ones and your favourite non-work activities. So stop wasting time. Ultimately, you’ve only been allotted a certain amount of time on this planet, so why waste it?

Navigating the Rapids of Business

Navigating the rapids of business

Have you ever been white water rafting? in 1994, my late husband and i decided to be adventurous and give white water rafting a go.

We were on a short holiday. After all, we couldn’t take too much time off as we were  in business for ourselves and there were only  so many days we believed we could be away from the business before things would surely go wrong. This was our little getaway so whilst in the midst of relaxation and “away time” we decided to experience the thrill and excitement of white water rafting.

Now as beginners, our job was to sit in the raft, hold on tight, use the oars when we were instructed to, scream a little, feel terrified and experience a sense of thrill at the same time. Whilst we navigated our way around the rocks, through the rapids, we had one ultimate objective: stay in the raft until we made it to the calmer waters below.

At one point our raft did tip and after those few panicking moments we all eventually managed to get back into the raft, coughing and splattering as we climbed back in. It was terrifying, yet we found ourselves laughing with adrenalin rushing throughout our bodies as we got back in the raft secretly wanting to do it all over again.

As a team we had to work together, aligning our actions and our focus directing the raft and maneuvering it through to the calmer waters below. Every action required quick thinking, clear strategy and zero procrastination. Yes, at times we were uncertain, not knowing what would come next and whether the next move would take us further out of our comfort zone.

At other times we were on top of the world and Masters of white water rafting. Once in calm waters, we wanted to do it again and take our experience to the next level. “Okay, who’s ready for the next level?” the instructor would ask. There was no turning back once we had made the decision to go for it and give the next level a go. We were fearful of what the unknown adventure would be like, but moving to the next level requires a certain type of attitude – ‘Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway!’

Operating a business is a bit like white water rafting. At times it’s scary, hectic, and sometimes unbelievably out of control.

It takes you out of your comfort zone and pushes you into very unknown waters. At other times, it’s exciting, challenging and ultimately rewarding.

The key to navigating your way through business successfully is the same as navigating your raft through the rapids.

Once you know how and what to do, it’s important to be sure you implement that knowledge so that you arrive at calmer waters with confidence and without too many knocks, bumps, cuts and bruises. It’s about making the right moves at the right time and in the right order, so that when you are ready to move to the next level you can do so with confidence.

One of the keys to success in business is how you handle each stage of the journey. In our case, with white water rafting, each stage represented the starting point, the rocky road of the rapids, the free falling down the dips, and the calm waters below. Success was achieved as a result of many things aligning together, the quick maneuvering, the quick decisions and action-taking before arriving at your destination. The destination is not the end of course; it is just the beginning, as you take your experience to new and higher levels. Business is the same. Once you reach a certain goal, milestone, or outcome, it’s not the end; it’s just the beginning of something bigger, better and more exciting.

Doing the right things in the right order is crucial to success. Being sure you take consistent action every day and with a big focus on income generating activities and not just any activity is a key component to building the business of your dreams.

I believe one of the key elements to achieving success is having an open mind and being committed to doing whatever it takes to learn new skills and knowledge, and following through by implementing that new found knowledge and skill set.

What is your motivation? What is your motive for action?

Growth starts to happen when you extend yourself beyond your comfort zone and beyond the edge. You must lean just over the edge every day to achieve exactly what it is you want. Extend yourself. Have the courage to push yourself beyond your own fears, embracing them so that you can make your life and your business phenomenal.

Make a commitment to develop yourself and learn whatever is necessary to be the best. Strengthen every weakness until they become your greatest strength.

Stop Blaming and complaining and Just Get on With it!

Have you ever been in a position where it was easier to blame outside circumstances or someone else for your shortfalls? It is unfortunate that for most of us it is quite a natural habit to blame outside circumstances and events for our lack of results. Because of our past programming and conditioning, many are living a very average way of life because they have chosen to accept that this is just the way life is. If you are someone who is convinced that your circumstances are because of the actions of others or outside circumstances, may I encourage you to open your mind and be prepared to make a decision today to change that level of thinking or to change your current circumstances.

Think about it. How would your life or business change if you knew you were the only one responsible for your success? Not your franchisor, not anyone else, just you.

There would be a lot more doing and a lot less complaining and blaming, wouldn’t there? There would also be a lot more people living the life they truly deserve.

Learn to replace complaining with being proactive and taking action. If you find yourself in a situation that you don’t like, either make it work or simply leave. The worst thing you can do is stay and then complain later about it. Stop missing the pieces of the puzzle! They’re right in front of you.

You are the only one responsible for your success! If you don’t have all of the pieces yet to build whatever it is you want, then it’s your responsibility to acquire them. The world doesn’t owe you anything. You have to create what you want.

Knowing you are responsible for your success and doing what it takes to be a success are two different things. In the past I always knew what I had to be doing to achieve higher levels of success, though

I found myself not always doing those things consistently enough to produce the consistent results I wanted. My results would either be fantastic or just plain average. I started to see a clear pattern forming and it was a pattern I didn’t like. I set out on a path to really make a change in what I was thinking and doing so that my business and my life could progress forward and produce the consistent results I wanted every day. This was the time I truly took ownership of building a new foundation, taking a new direction and committing to taking consistent action towards the success I desired.

What can you do right now to take true ownership of the direction and success of your business? Taking your business to the next level need not be complicated nor does it require excessively long hours or extremely hard work. What it does take is a commitment to your success, a commitment to taking consistent daily action, and doing the right things in the right order.

Your Beliefs & Thoughts Affect The Results in Your Business and Life

Your Beliefs & Thoughts Affect The Results in Your Business and Life.

They say if you believe you can, you can, and if you believe you can’t then you’re probably also right.

I am sure most of you have heard this before. However, what are you doing to improve and change your beliefs and thoughts in order to bring about different results in your business and your life?

Everything you do in life will create a result. Even if you do nothing you will still get a result. Our beliefs which have been formed over short and long periods of time determine the actions we are taking in our business on a daily basis. These actions be that positive or negative is what is ultimately determining the results we have in our business today.

How happy are you with the results your business is currently producing?

Most of us associate positive thinking and changing daily habits with our personal life and forget to transfer those positive habits, thoughts and daily actions into our business. For some it just seems too hard. These are all excuses. If this sounds like you (someone making a lot of excuses) it’s these excuses that have produced the results that are your current reality.  It’s vital you don’t let your past results dictate your current thoughts though. If you do, your results will repeat themselves.

If you are not currently happy with the results you are getting in your business then perhaps it’s time to consider bringing about change to your daily thoughts, feelings and actions. You are going to have to change the thoughts first in order to change your results. You will be amazed at the difference just this change can bring to your business and your life and you will wonder why you didn’t focus on it sooner.

We have become such busy beings in such a busy society that we tend to be just doing and talking about what we don’t want rather than focusing on what we do want. It takes a lot of discipline to focus purely on what you do want, however I can guarantee you once you do just that you will be happy with the results you start to see.

The average person has 25,000 thoughts every day. Unfortunately they are the same thoughts day after day after day. Have you ever had a day off and found yourself automatically driving to work? It happens and all to often I must say. This is because most of us live a habitual life and you don’t have to put much thought into a habit. So make a commitment to changing your habits. Drive a different way to work. Change some ways you do things at work, and start being aware of your thoughts and feelings. By changing consistently your results will also change.

So here’s my first tip for you in creating better results in your business and also your life.

Focus on what you want, rather than on what you don’t want.

Slow and steady will win the race, so go easy on yourself in the first few weeks or even months, if you find yourself falling back into some old habits. Acknowledge them and move forward, is the best way to deal with them. They say Rome wasn’t built in a day so I encourage you to set yourself daily targets for improvement. These could be on a personal level and also in some areas of your business. No matter what area they are in, it’s the Daily Consistent Improvement that will make a difference to your long term success.  1% improvement every day will produce a 365% improvement over the course of one year. The challenge so many of us face is we do nothing at all and wonder why we are in the same position we were in a year before.

With all this said you have to be willing to change and willing to learn new habits along the way.

I have this quote by Albert Einstein” on the wall in my office as a constant reminder that if I want something to change in my business I must change my level of thinking first.

“All conditions and all circumstances in our lives are a result of a certain level of thinking.

When you want to change the conditions and the circumstances, we have to change the level of thinking that is responsible for it. 

Here’s some ways you can start making a change in your business and life.

The 7 Steps To Achieving What You Want

  1. Change Your Thoughts First In Order To Change Your Results
  1. Know What You Want!   Confucius says, “ man who aims at nothing is sure to hit it!” be sure you know what you wanting to achieve in your life and in your business.  Make sure you write down your goals.
  1. Know Why You Want It.  If the why is strong enough the how will fall into place.
  1. Create A Plan Of Action
  2. It’s important to chart your course of action. By creating a plan of action you will go in the direction of your goals a lot faster.  Make sure you have a time frame for what you want. This will ensure the actions you are taking every day are in fact taking you closer to your goal and not further away from it.
  1. Take Action  You will be surprised at how many people create action plans for their goals and then fail to take the necessary action required to see it come to reality in their life. Take Action, you will be amazed at how much you will achieve.
  1. Monitor and Measure By monitoring where you are at with the attainment of your course you will be able to adjust your course of action where necessary. By not knowing where you are going it’s very difficult to make a change if and when it’s needed.

A friend of mine says: “Sleeping is for dreaming , being awake is for living your dreams”

I encourage you to start focusing on changing your thoughts, taking the necessary action and living your dreams today!

Don’t Just Set Goals, Achieve Them!!

“Goals give your business and your life direction.
Taking consistent daily action at the right time and in
the right order will then help you achieve your goals
easily and effortlessly.”
Tania Allen, Founder,
Vision Alliance.

We are all familiar with the art of setting goals.  Like most business owners, I’m sure by now you may have set some goals for the next six or 12 months.  You have made a promise to yourself to do things differently, work more efficiently perhaps and of course make more money.  Setting goals is the easy part.  So how do you go from being a goal setter to someone who actually achieves their goals easily and effortlessly?

Achieving your goals comes easier when we know where we are heading.  Goals are like a destination.  They are where you want to go.

Without goals, you simply cannot arrive at a destination, and if you don’t know where you are going then how will you ever know what actions you need to take to achieve higher levels of success and achievement.  It would be fair to say then: Goals give your business and your life direction.  Taking consistent daily action at the right time and in the right order will then help you achieve your goals easily and effortlessly.

If you look around you, you will notice successful people have very different habits.

They think, and do things differently.  They are however no different to you or I.  We can achieve what they do and more.  They just have particular habits that anyone can apply.

Here are some key essentials to help you build the momentum so that you get closer to realising your full potential and getting  closer to achieving your dreams and goals.

Know your why

Why you want to achieve your goals will always play an important role in whether you will achieve them or not.  When setting your goals the stronger your why, the more committed you will be to doing whatever it takes to achieve them.

Set holistic and balanced goals

Successful people set goals in all areas of their business and life.  When working on your goals be sure you develop goals in six areas of life: relationships, spiritual, contribution, financial, health and business.

By pursuing goals in each area, you will create a more balanced and integrated life.

Be clear about what you want

All goals must be clear and concise, so when setting your goals be specific about what it is you want.

Aim high

Most of the time we are all aiming too low.

It’s time to get out of your comfort zone.  As the now-clichéd saying goes: Shoot for the stars, if you miss you’ll still be on the moon.

Make your goals slightly unreasonable; in other words, don’t allow your (perceived) limitations to get in the way.  Don’t allow your old conditioning to stop you from going after what you really want.

Write your goals in detail

Just the act of writing down goals sets the process in motion, so be specific.  The more information you include the more probable the final result will be.  By being as accurate as possible you invoke some of the natural laws of the universe in your favour as well as getting your brain to work for you in the most efficient way possible.  It’s always a good idea to follow the SMARTA criteria

(Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time bound Actionable) when setting goals and be sure you always set a date for achievement.

By writing your goals down you will be much clearer on where you are heading.

Look at it every day, stick it on your fridge, or your computer, it can be a picture, the words, whatever will motivate you to keep striving to achieve your goal.

Make your goals consistent with your values

Most people don’t do what they value first and therefore find themselves stressed and out of alignment.  Create a list of your highest values and then create your goals around them.  This will give you a sense of being on purpose consistently.

Know the consequences

It’s very important to look at the consequences of achieving the goal.  Ask yourself when setting your goals: “How will achieving this goal affect me or others?  Is this outcome good for me and others.”  Not all goals will have positive effects on others so it’s important you understand the positives and possible negatives to achieving your goals.

Review your goals daily

This is an important part of achieving success and must become routine.  Review your list of goals each morning when you wake up.  Visualize your completed goals and how your life looks and feels as a result.

Each night before you go to bed, repeat the process.  This is a great way to train your brain to expect your goals to materialize.

Create a Plan and take Consistent Daily Action

This is in fact the most important element to achieving your goals.  It’s okay to know where you are headed and what you want to achieve however if you don’t get off your backside and take the necessary action to make it happen then nothing will happen at all.  Be sure the action you take is consistent.  Get into a daily habit of knowing what actions you need to take and in what order you need to take them in order to move closer to achieving your goals.

Take some time now to get clear on your goals and create a plan, once you have your goals worked out you need to ‘reverse engineer’ them starting with the end in mind and working back to the starting point.

Check your Progress and Celebrate your Wins

Goals by nature are high achievements in life, and sometimes it can seem too hard to reach them, we lose motivation and give up!

Break your goals into smaller ‘milestones’ so you can celebrate your wins along the way.  It’s important to measure your progress to determine if you have gone off course.  Measuring your progress regularly will enable you to shift back on course quickly with minimum disruption to your momentum.  Keeping a check on your goals is also important as sometimes goals change so you can bend and flex where you need to, moving the goal to meet your changed conditions, requirements or intentions.

Don’t get discouraged

You will either achieve your goal, or you will gain insight into whatever is in the way of its achievement.  This is not a setback; rather, it is part of your forward progress.  Stay focused on what you want to achieve and you will find ways to solve difficulties or break through barriers.  Celebrate every success and before you know it, you’ll have to make a whole new list for ‘next level achievement!’

Finally, be committed!

There’s a big difference between being interested in achieving your goals or being committed to their achievement.  Those who are interested tend to do what is convenient, what is easy and what everyone else does.

Those who are committed will be able to achieve whatever it is they want no matter want, because they will learn what they need to learn, they will rehearse what they need to rehearse, they will practice and they will do whatever is needed to be done.

Committed people don’t have excuses; they relentlessly give up all their excuses and the reasons why they don’t have what they want.  They get rid of their excuses and they stop blaming  their outside circumstances and  put their attention on how they will and how they can achieve their goals.

So the most important question I encourage you to ask yourself today is: Are you Interested or Committed in Achieving Your Goals?

If you need some help and support in gaining clarity around setting and achieving your goals, email tania@vision-alliance.com to receive a Complimentary Goal Achiever Pack valued at $97.

 

Generating Leads

Your aim is to generate leads and opportunities and convert these into increased revenues to your business. This article outlines some of the challenges you may be already facing and highlights some quick simple steps of how you can generate more leads into your business.

In my experience one of the fundamental challenges most business owners face is not being able to generate enough leads into the business. Without a consistent supply of leads into any business, the business is usually faced with poor cash flow and finds it difficult from one month to the next.

You may have already experienced this and you now can be in a position where you have the opportunity to change what’s going on.

If you want to create amazing results in your business, and want to turn your vision into reality, the only way this can happen is if you are fully accountable for your success and are responsible for the actions you take on a daily basis.

Leads are prospects or potential customers.

It’s important though to attract quality leads into the business and not just any lead as this can waste your valuable time and money.

Your marketing efforts will determine the quality of the leads you bring into your business and the challenge businesses face in this area is 80% of all marketing doesn’t meet the expectation of the business owner.

Try not to limit yourself when it comes to advertising and marketing your business.

Traditional marketing methods include local paper advertising and emailing.

Opportunities let outside the square and can include strategies such as, building your referral networks.

Ads and direct mail are only the beginning!

They are important, however they should not be the only source used for generating leads for your business.

Not all lead-generating techniques are created equal either. Some techniques will work well for a certain business, and those same strategies won’t work for another. Much is dependent on your type of business, your location, timing, how well you apply the lead generating strategy, and a host of other variables that tend to make marketing an inexact science. Therefore it’s important to test and measure each strategy to find out what works, and make it work.

So here’s a brief look at what you can do to start bringing more quality leads into your business.

Firstly start thinking WHO, WHERE, WHAT, HOW & WHY when it comes to marketing your product or service.

Who are my ideal clients / market?

Understand who he/ she is and why.

Where are we going to find our clients?

Why will they buy from me? What makes us unique? Remember people shop on value and emotion.

Now you know who you want to target,

Create a Lead Generation Action Plan for the month

  • Listing at least 2 to 6 different lead generating strategies,
  • What steps you need to take to implement the strategy.
  • Who will complete the task/s required  to complete the strategy, and
  • Be sure you also have a Due date for the activity so you stay on track for the month.

Daily Consistent Action will produce results in your business that you need!

Here is an example of a lead generation action plan. (Click the image for a bigger version)

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4 Simple Ways to Build Consistent Success

If you are like most business owners, you are striving to do things better this year. You want to make more money, you want more bottom line profits and I can also probably guess you want all this and more without having to work longer hours, with less overwhelm and zero headaches.

So how do you build a more efficient and consistent business? Well the answer to that question is quite simple. It’s about doing the right things in the right order and taking consistent daily action.

Here are 4 areas you can focus on quite effortlessly to ensure you build more momentum over the next 12 months.

Create your outcomes

Now I’m sure you are all familiar with the tradition of goals setting. We follow the smart criteria we learnt in our management and business training and then we hope that when we review those goals we have achieved them. Well if you want my honest opinion, for the majority, goal setting just doesn’t work. It’s a bold statement but true. Your focus should be on achieving your goals not just setting them, so that’s when I changed the acronym to SMARTA to include that all important element – ACTION. Unless you take the required action, your goals will simply remain your wishes and desires. So how do you CREATE your outcomes so you can move closer to where you want to be? As Peter Druker once said, “The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

The first step is to decide what you want. It may sound simple but most don’t even get this far. I believe success starts with a decision. Regardless of whether you have small or big goals you must decide what you want.

How you write down what you want is very important so as you begin the first step of wiring down your goals, make sure your outcomes meet the CREATE criteria

C- Clear and concise in other words be specific about what you want to achieve

R – Realistic Remember we don’t – get what we want, we get what we expect. So set your outcomes in alignment to what you expect you can achieve. Once you start achieving your goals, stretch your expectations and yourself.

E- Ecological – running an ecology check on your goals is always a good idea. This simply means looking at the consequences of attaining that goal. You may ask yourself, is this outcome good for me and good for others etc.

A- As If Now – it is vitally important you write your goals in the present tense. This is because once the mind has fully imagined something, it makes it far easier to accomplish. So your goal must be written in the present-tense language, as if you are achieving the last step right now in this moment.

T-Timed and Toward What You want – even though you are going to write down your goals in the present tense, you must put a future date or time to your goal to indicate when you wish to achieve this outcome.  The T also stands for toward what you want; this just means it’s important to express your goal positively rather than including negative language about what you don’t want.

E- End Step – evidence Procedure – always include the final step that lets you know you have actually achieved your goal. This is the event, situation or result that would occur in order for you to have attained your outcome. 

Take Consistent Daily Action & Improvement

They say success is in the follow through and therefore Action is an essential element to success, but how do we maintain that action on a daily basis and focus only on the high income and high impact activities that will help us move to achieving higher levels of success.  The average person over estimates what he or she can do in a day, a week or a month, and they under estimate what they can do in a year, five years and a decade.

Most of us associate action to taking big leaps and bounds which is not always possible to maintain every day. So to get started with building more consistency in your efforts, try focusing on achieving consistent daily improvement. We all think we have to improve by 20% or 50% or 100% in one leap. Why not make the decision to commit to improving your business, your sales, how you interact with your customers, your staff etc. in fact everything you do, by only 1% – but do this every day. At the end of every year you will be at least 3665% improved in many areas of your business and your life. Think about how much closer you will be to achieving your goals and outcomes if you are achieving those kind of results consistently.

Develop a prospect mindset & keep them for life

When you develop a “prospect mindset,” you’ll begin to understand what your customers want… specifically. You’ll understand how to clearly identify the problems, frustrations and concerns they typically experience when they buy what you sell. These frustrations, concerns, problems and fears are what we call HOT BUTTONS.

If you can discover what your ideal customer wants, and then provide them with solution to their wants, they will buy from you each and every time.

Once you completely understand how and why human beings make decisions, you can then begin to create persuasive and compelling marketing messages that are so powerful they practically force your prospects to buy what you sell.

Become an Automatic Smart Networker

Though it may be hard to grasp, networking is much easier than you think. Forget the myth that

you need to be an extrovert to network well. You don’t. Or that you must network nonstop.

Absolutely not. Or that networking is all about working the room at a big event with a big fake

grin plastered on your face. Far from it.

You might be waiting for a bolt of confidence to strike before you get up enough courage to put

yourself out there, but confidence doesn’t magically appear. Instead, confidence comes partly through knowledge, being able to see what the process looks like, trusting yourself and taking a deep breath and plunging right in. It also comes from knowing what to say to people when asked …”what do you do”

In short:

AVOID Telling People WHO You Are

  • I’m an accountant
  • I’m a plumber
  • I’m a florist
  • I’m a business coach

Tell People WHAT You DO & Show Them How Your Solutions Matches Their WANTS!

  • I help people become financially successful
  • I help people with all their plumbing needs
  • I bring joy and happiness to peoples day
  • I help business owners get more from their business

Once you have the experience of communicating this well and find that networking is not so daunting after all you will wonder why you ever waited so long to get started

Remember you must network the smart way which will include both face to face networking and online social media. Not enough people view social media as a form of networking, but it’s a must if you want to leverage your opportunities through your connections.

Smart networking

ü  Is driven by purpose. It starts by defining your goals. These goals should then determine whom we ought to have in our network, which in turn, should help us decide where best to meet them. This means you are just not wasting time at the wrong events or in following up when it’s not the right fit.

  •  adds value and removes pressure as it places a deliberate focus on the needs and feelings of other people first.
  •  leverages tools that multiply our productivity. Rather than meeting people and interacting with them one-to-one, smart networking takes advantage of online tools and services that help us reach people on a one-to-many basis.

Time to Take Action

Remember success in in the Follow Through so take some time right now to

  • Decide what you want & create your outcomes for the year.
  • Commit to consistent daily improvement
  • Match your solutions to your customers wants
  • Become an automatic smart networker