Good business leaders know, and will readily attest to, the power of setting goals.  Employees are often well versed in the mission, purpose, and goals of their company.  But how many people set intermediate goals?  As I’ve learned recently, not many; not nearly enough of us.

In this day and age of thinking big and visualization, we often get more discouraged than our “old-school” counterparts.  Why is that?

While it’s true that the universe will yield to you anything that you want, however big it might be, as humans, we can’t usually go from thinking small to thinking big all at once.  (It happens every once in a while and is usually referred to as a life-changing moment.)

Most of our desires are things that are very tangible – to lose 30 pounds, make more money, have more free time, etc.  While I do teach to visualize the ultimate result, I often forget to teach students to picture in their minds the little steps along the way – the 5 pounds, the 10% raise, the better offer/stepping stone position, the job closer to home with less of a commute – you get the picture.  (Oops – sorry about the pun!)

Why is that important?  Because we need a way to quantify our journey.  It is how we turn around the thought of, “Look at how much more I’ve got to lose,” into, “but look at how much weight I’ve lost from where I started.”

It’s the same concept as, “Wow, we’re making good time,” when you’re on a trip.  You have a destination, you know how many miles you’re going to travel, and you usually want to be at your destination by a certain time.  If you’re ahead of schedule, you say, “we’re making good time.”  If you’re behind schedule, you say, “Oh, well, we’ve made several stops and I’m glad we made them.  I’ve enjoyed this trip more because of those extra stops.”

How often do you take that attitude on your way to more money?  On your way to losing weight?  Or any of your other goals for that matter?

Setting interim goals will help.  Five pounds in seven days, just to see if you can do it.  If you don’t, oh, well, you’ll have a better idea of how to set your goals.  You’ll know more about your body and what it can handle.  You’ll know more about yourself (your mind) as a result as well.

Enjoy the journey, and as always,
I Invite you to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

If you’re like most business professionals, your business is seeing the belt tightening affect of a tough economy. Maybe it’s manifesting as declining sales. Or, perhaps tight budgets mean cutting back on purchases. Whatever, the cause, tough times don’t have to hinder your sales power. In fact, when your competitors are feeling the effects of belt-tightening, your business can be booming!

A business colleague of mine, Steve McCann, has recently written a book “Client Conscious Prospecting” which is a wonderful book that will change how you think about selling, even if you’re scared to death of initiating contact with potential clients. This book is a must-read for anyone who is contact dependent as part of their job responsibilities.

On March 10, 2009, Steve is offering all of my subscribers an exclusive bonus package valued at over $5,000 when you purchase his book. Now couldn’t be a better time for you to enhance your business building library, and grow your business to boot!

Pick up your copy of Client Conscious Prospecting and retrieve your bonus package valued at over $5,000 by visiting:
http://www.stevemccannpro.com/offer/

Until next time,
I Invite you to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

I’ve just started teaching a new communications course for a local company and was reminded of one of the key traits of successful business owners – an excellent grasp of conversation.

The art of good conversation centers very much on your ability to ask questions and to listen attentively to the answers. You can lace the conversation with your insights, ideas, and opinions, but you perfect the art and skill of conversation by perfecting the art and skill of asking good, well-worded questions that direct the conversation and give other people an opportunity to express themselves.

Ask Open Ended Questions
Ask open-ended questions that cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Open-ended questions encourage the speaker to expand on his thoughts and comments. One question will lead to another. You can ask open-ended questions almost endlessly, drawing out of the other person everything that he or she has to say on a particular subject.

Be Content to Listen
In order to be an excellent conversationalist, you must resist the urge to dominate the discussion. The very best conversationalists seem to be low-key, easy-going, cheerful, and genuinely interested in the other person. They seem to be quite content to listen when other people are talking and they make their own contributions to the dialogue rather short and to the point.

Share the Opportunity to Talk
In fact, good conversation has an easy ebb and flow, like the tide coming in and going out. Whether it is between two people or among several, the conversation should shift back and forth, with each person getting an opportunity to talk. Conversation in this sense is like a ball that is tossed from person to person, with no one holding on to it for very long.

If you feel that you have been talking for too long, you should stop and ask a question of someone in the group. You will be tossing the conversational ball and giving that individual an opportunity to converse.

Learn to Listen Well
Listening is the most important of all skills for successful conversation. Many people are very poor listeners. Since everyone enjoys talking, it takes a real effort to practice the fundamentals of excellent listening and to make them a habit.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

1. Develop the habit of asking good, open-ended questions of others in every conversation and in response to problems or difficulties. This shows interest and increases your understanding.
2. Relax, take a deep breath, and let the other person talk more. Practice over and over until you become an excellent listener.

Until next time,
I Invite you to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

When you talk about going into business for yourself, everyone asks, “Do you have what it takes?”

Okay, but now that you’re in business, are you doing what it takes?

Consider these two quotes I found recently:

“Everyone starts from scratch, but not everyone keeps on scratching!”
–Author Unknown

The first part of success is “Get-to-it-iveness”: the second part of success if “Stick-to-it-iveness.”
–Orison Swett Marden, Editor, Success Magazine

More to come . . .
Until next time,
I Invite you to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

Build Your Own Business
The road to becoming a self-made millionaire in America is starting and building your own business. If you’ve tried this endeavor already, you know that it’s not as easy as it sounds. Most businesses started by inexperienced people fail, but this is good news.  Why?  Because you can get the experience you need to succeed.

Probably the primary reason why people don’t start businesses is because they’re afraid that they’re going to lose their money and for good reason. 99 percent of businesses started by people lacking business experience fail within the first two or three years.

Why Businesses Fail
And why is that? It’s because they don’t know how to succeed. They haven’t the slightest idea how to make a business successful. They may have an idea for a product or service, but they don’t know all the things that they need to know to run a successful business.

Why Businesses Succeed
However, surprisingly enough, 80 percent of businesses started by experienced businesspeople succeed. Now why should this be so? The reason is because experienced businesspeople know what to do. They know how to purchase their products and their services. They know how to negotiate with their suppliers. They know how to raise money. They know how to negotiate leases. They know how to sell and to market. They know how to manage their finances. In other words, experience is the key. In order to start your own business and succeed, you have to learn how.

Competence Makes the Difference
Now according to Dunn and Bradstreet, 96 percent of businesses in America that fail, fail because of what is called “managerial incompetence”. Managerial incompetence means that the people running the businesses don’t know what they’re doing. And here are the two critical areas of managerial incompetence that cause business failure.

1. Lack of sales and marketing. Forty-eight percent of businesses that fail in America fail because the business cannot sell enough of its products or services. Very few businesses fail when they have high levels of sales and revenues coming in.
2. Lack of cost control.  Forty-six percent of businesses that fail in America do so because they don’t manager their expenses.  They may be selling enough on the front end, but they’re losing so much on the back end that they go broke anyway.

Sales, marketing, financing and cost control, all require experience and on-going research. If you’re serious about becoming financially independent, you simply must learn everything you can about these aspects of your business.

Put Luck On Your Side
Business success is not a matter of luck. Business success is a matter of application. It’s a matter of ability. It’s a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. Energy and enthusiasm go a long way, too, but that’s another post!)  You can start by learning through on-the-job training. Most successful businesspeople become successful because they get all their training by working for someone else at first.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to make sure that your business succeeds greatly:

1. Take the time to get the knowledge and experience you need in business by working for someone else where you can learn a lot in a short period of time. Go to work in an area in which you are interested and learn everything you possibly can.
2. Read and study in business, especially entrepreneurial business, all the time. Read one or two business books per week and read every business magazine that is published on your subject. Never stop learning and growing.

Until next time,
I Invite you to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

“There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living”
– Nelson Mandela, 11th President of South Africa

“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”
– Paul Valery, French Poet

“I have failed over and over again in my life. And that’s precisely why I succeed.”
– Michael Jordan, basketball player

As always,

Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

People who want to be their best often seek out mentors – people in their profession who have “been there and done that” and are willing to share their experiences to the end of shortening the learning curve for the seeker.

Mentorship programs abound these days, especially on the internet.  I’ve recently entered a mentorship program and it has caused me to have greater clarity on this subject.  So today, I want to share with you the qualities that make a good mentor.  Unfortunately, you often don’t know whether the mentor has these qualities before investing in the program, but if you ask around about the reputation of your potential mentor, here are some things to consider.

1. Authentic – the mentor “practices” what he “preaches.”  A good mentor will not only tell you what the best approach is, but is utilizing the approach himself.  He doesn’t send you in one direction while he goes another saying, “you have to learn the hard way.”  The purpose of working with a mentor is to learn from his mistakes.
2. Personally Involved – the mentor should take a personal interest in the mentoring relationship.  She should get to know you, how you work, what your goals are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and any other pertinent information that you (the mentee) believe to be relevant.
3. Listens – a good mentor will genuinely listen to your concerns and not be eager to get the conversation over.  You shouldn’t be a list item on your mentor’s day sheet.  He should know your current projects by name and be able to ask you, first hand, how things are going.
4. Continues to Learn and Grow – a good mentor knows that he couldn’t possibly know everything there is to know in any given field today – the world has become much too complex.  Things change, people change, circumstances change – and it’s all great.  A good mentor will remain open to new ideas and even try them.
5. Assumes You’re Great – a good mentor doesn’t assume that you’re a loser just because you are coming to him for advice.  He recognizes that you have talent and are successful already, (otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to afford his fee!).  At the very least, he should see your potential or otherwise not take you on as a mentee.
6. Builds You Up – A good mentor is tuned in, tapped in, turned on, and in their wholeness, they will uplift you.  When someone fosters insecurity in you, they are not tuned in, tapped in, turned on, and they’re not a good mentor for you in that moment.

Before entering any mentorship/coaching program, ask for references and query them on these 6 attributes.  If you’re not comfortable with the answers you receive, run, don’t walk, as fast as you can in the opposite direction!

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Motivation

As a woman business owner, the most important skill you can develop is leadership.  The most important quality of leadership is extraordinary performance, with the goal of achieving extraordinary results. These results then serve as an inspiration to others to perform at equally exceptional levels.

1. Why People Respect You We develop great perceptions of those men and women we can count on to help us achieve what is important to us.  The most common success in business concept is, “To get what you want, help others get what they want.”  It doesn’t matter what line of business you’re in, this rule nearly always applies.  Men and women who make great sales and provide excellent customer service, develop influence in the minds and hearts of their coworkers and customers. They are spoken about in the most positive way.
2. The Halo Effect Men and women who are responsible for companies or departments that achieve high levels of profitability also develop charisma. They develop what is called the “halo effect.” They are perceived by others to be extraordinary men and women who are capable of great things. Their shortcomings are often overlooked, while their strong points are overemphasized. They become charismatic.
3. The Source of Charisma Charisma actually comes from working on yourself.  It comes from liking and accepting yourself unconditionally as you do and say the specific things that develop within you a powerful, charismatic personality.  Staying focused on results and controlling your thoughts are crucial.
4. Be Determined and Purposeful When you set clear goals and become determined and purposeful, backing those goals with unshakable self-confidence, you develop charisma. When you are enthusiastic and excited about what you are doing, when you are totally committed to achieving something worthwhile, you radiate charisma. When you take the time to study and become an expert at what you do, and then prepare thoroughly for any opportunity to use your knowledge, skill or experience, the perception that others have of you goes straight up.
5. Accept Complete Responsibility When you take complete responsibility and accept ownership, without making excuses or blaming others, you experience a sense of control that leads to the personal power that is the foundation of charisma. When you look like a winner in every respect, when you have the kind of external image that others admire, you build your charisma. When you develop your character by setting high standards and then disciplining yourself to live consistent with the highest principles you know, you become the kind of person who is admired and respected everywhere. You become the kind of person who radiates charisma to others.  Why?  Because being consistent with who you want to be makes you feel powerful and in control.  (And, in fact, you are in control of yourself and your future.)
6. Focus on Results Finally, when you concentrate your energies on achieving the results that you set for yourself, you develop the reputation for performance and achievement that inevitably leads to the perception of charisma.

You can develop the kind of charisma that opens doors for you by going to work on yourself, consistently and persistently, and becoming the kind of person everyone can admire and look up to – the type of person that everyone wants to be around. That’s what charisma is all about.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

1. Ask yourself every day, “What is the one thing that I and only I can do, that if done well, will make a real difference to my company?” Whatever your answer is, go to work on that.
2. Decide upon the most important results you can get for your company and make sure that you and everyone else is working on those results every hour of every day.

Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Education, Leadership, Motivation, Success

It is a well-known fact that whatever you dwell upon grows in your reality. You create your entire world by the things you choose to think about and how you choose to think about them.

It just so happens that wealthy, successful people fill their minds with thoughts, words, pictures and images of wealth, affluence, success, productivity and solutions to problems in the marketplace, most of the time. These thoughts trigger the reticular activating cortex, the part of the brain that makes you more alert and sensitive to things that you have decided are important to you.

Today I’d like to share with you four key ways I have found to turn my thoughts consistently toward wealth.

1. Activate Your Reticular Cortex For example, if you decide to invest in a mutual fund, you will start to see news and information about mutual funds everywhere. Mentions in newspapers and magazines will jump out at you. These notices have always been there but now you have sensitized your brain to pick them up and draw them to your attention with far greater frequency and vividness. This is the function and power of your reticular cortex.
2. Avoid Poverty Thinking On the other hand, what do poor people think about most of the time? Unfortunately, poor people fill their minds with thoughts of scarcity, lack, poverty, being unable to afford things. They are always thinking and talking about how little money they have, how much things cost and how they wish things could be better financially. What they think about most of the time is how little money they have.
3. Think Like Wealthy People Think Wealthy people from an early age think about how much they have, how much they want and all the different things they can do to acquire and earn the money and things they desire.
4. Find Out How Rich People Think Here’s a rule for you. If you want to become successful, find out what failures do and don’t do it. If you want to be wealthy, find out what poor people think about, and avoid thinking in those ways. Instead, find out how wealthy people think. Find out what they read. Find out how they spend their time. Study their lives, read their stories and autobiographies and listen to their words when they are interviewed and on tape. The more you find out what financially successful people think and talk about most of the time, and do the same things, the more rapidly you will enjoy the same rewards that they do.  You’ll find this much more interesting than watching the daily news!

Action Exercises
Here are three things you can do to put these concepts into action:

1. Make a decision today that from now on you will think and talk only about the financial success that you desire. At the same time, you will refuse to talk about or dwell upon your financial problems.
2. Instead of saying, “I can’t afford it,” instead ask the question, “How can I afford it?” When you think of something that you want or need that you don’t have the money for at the time, the only question you ask is, “How?” How can you get it? What can you do to achieve it? What are your options? How can you get from where you are to where you want to go? This type of attitude will change your life.
3. Sign up for my free report on “The Science of Getting Rich,” which discusses in further detail how wealthy people think and control their thoughts.  It comes with the original text, written by Wallace D. Wattles, and my 10 best success “secrets.”
   

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Until next time,
Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Law of Attraction, Motivation

I don’t know about you, but two of the biggest challenges I face on a daily basis are procrastination and distraction.  Today, I want to share with you 5 principles that I’ve learned that significantly help with these two issues.

1. Have Everything At Hand - One of the best ways for you to overcome procrastination and get more things done faster is for you to have everything you need at hand before you begin. When you are fully prepared, you are like a cocked gun or an archer with an arrow pulled back taut in the bow. You just need one small mental push to get started on your highest value tasks.
2. Clear Your Workspace - Begin by clearing off your desk or workspace so that you only have one task in front of you. If necessary, put everything on the floor or on the table behind you – out of sight. Gather all the information, reports, details, papers, and work materials that you will require to complete the job. Have them at hand so you can reach them without getting up or moving. Be sure that you have all writing materials, computer disks, access codes, email addresses and everything else you need to start and continue working until the job is done.
3. Make It Comfortable - Set up your work area so that it is comfortable, attractive and conducive to working for long periods. Especially, make sure that you have a comfortable chair that supports your back and allows your feet to sit flat on the floor.  The most productive people take the time to create a work area where they enjoy spending time. The cleaner and neater your work area before you begin, the easier it is for you to get started and keep going.
4. Assume The Position - When you sit down, with everything in front of you, ready to go, assume the body language of high performance. Sit up straight, sit forward and away from the back of the chair. Carry yourself as though you were an efficient, effective high performing personality. Then, pick up the first item and say to yourself, “Let’s get to work!” and plunge in. And once you’ve started, keep going until the job is finished.
5. Dress the Part - Sometimes, if I’m feeling really ornery, it helps to put on a business suit.  Even if I’m working at home and would love to be in sweats, there’s something about that outfit that says, “work!”

Action Exercises
Here are 3 things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

1. Take a good look at your desk or office, both at home and at the office. Ask yourself, “What kind of a person works in an environment like that?”
2. Resolve today to clean up your desk and office completely so that you feel effective, efficient and ready to get going each time you sit down to work.
3. Develop a wardrobe that’s comfortable but serious at the same time.  You know what I’m talking about.  There’s nothing like “putting on the uniform” to get your psyche in gear!

Until next time,
I Invite YOU to Live Joyfully!

Posted under Conscious Creation, Leadership, Motivation, Success