We all began this year at GO, and all roads lead to a final rendezvous; the difference is what we’ve done en route. Goals set, actions taken, and results realized determine if you get to call this year a success or not.
September 23rd is an important date as it marks the 100 day countdown of 2009. I wanted to share with you an exciting opportunity to finish the year strong?it’s called the 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge!
Gary, The Goals Guy, is offering a powerful special report for free which is titled: How to Create Your Own Big Bang!
This report in my opinion is worth its weight in gold as it shows you how to create monumental performance gains. I encourage you to get your copy right now.
So what are you waiting for? The clock is ticking and if you want to seriously improve your life and corresponding results, I encourage you to check out the 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge today as it will be one of the smartest decisions you’ll make all year. www.goalsguy.com
It seems like almost everyone I talk to has some “can’t miss” idea for a new business. Yet, I rarely see any of them actually following through on their idea. That used to puzzle me, until I started studying successful entrepreneurs versus “talkers.”
After spending several years observing all types of people, I came to the conclusion that there are four essential traits required for a person to be a successful entrepreneur. There is great satisfaction to being a successful business owner, but it is important to understand the personal traits that contribute to success.
Guts!
Some call it chutzpah, but to be successful as a business owner you have to be able to handle the ups and downs of running a business, especially a small business. It is inevitable that there will be troubles along with successes, especially in the beginning. The true entrepreneur is one who can stomach the bad times and contain the good times, keeping everything in balance. Someone who can keep their burning dream alive even during difficult times.
Flexibility
This is very important. Most successful business owners are very quick thinkers, and are able to change their plans on a dime if need be. There are times when a situation will arise where the best laid plans completely fall apart and the business owner will have to “wing it.” This skill is especially appreciated by customers and clients when things get dicey.
Another area where flexibility is important is when new products or services enter the market making existing products or services obsolete. The business owner must be able to anticipate and accommodate the changes in the market to keep the competitive edge. It is important to understand the difference between flexibility and the next essential trait, Focus.
Focus
This seems like a contradiction to number 2, yet it is important to understand the difference between the two. The successful owner has a single focus on the goal of creating and maintaining a profitable business. Ultimately, the overall focus of the business must remain relatively unchanged, even if underlying processes or products are changed. Continuity is important both to assure your customers or clients that the business is stable as well as your employees and vendors. The overall focus of a business can change, but the change should be well planned and orchestrated over a period of time to ensure everyone feels confident that they want to continue doing business with you.
Ability to see opportunity
How many times have you looked at a new service or product and asked yourself “why didn’t I think of that?” The successful entrepreneur can see what others can’t, which allows them to take advantage of new products or services early on. This gives them a competitive edge before others start jumping on the bandwagon of his/her success.
Another aspect of seeing opportunity occurs when a person identifies an improvement of an existing product or service. That person can then provide an existing and established product or service and set themselves apart by offering an improved version.
After a little self-assessment, you will have a good idea of whether you have the four elements required for success. If you are lacking in any of the areas don’t despair, you may be able to find a business partner with the trait(s) you are lacking. Combined, you could have the four traits covered leading you to business success.
To your success,
Swanie Brandt
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Do you find yourself constantly juggling deadlines, never seeming to be able to “catch up?” Do you put off starting new projects because you are so far behind on existing projects? Are there times when you just want to find a time machine to give yourself more hours in a day to finally get on top of all your projects?
You are suffering from Procrastination!
Procrastination is the largest contributor to lost productivity and missed deadlinesthere is. If you want to get out of your procrastination sinkhole, here are seven steps to help you become a productive, reliable and calm person.
1. Create daily schedules – This is so important! Create a daily schedule for yourself which outlines routine tasks that must be done on each day. We always have tasks that must be completed by a certain time. By setting up a specific time of day or week to complete these tasks, you will no longer have them hanging over your head, nor will you have to worry that you could inadvertently forget about them, and their deadlines would come and go. Use a journal, organizer, or calendar to help you plan and schedule your tasks so you can start them promptly and finish them on time.
2. Long-term goals list – Take time when you will not be interrupted and make a list of the projects that have been assigned to you or that you want to tackle but just never seem to be able to fit into your day. Ask yourself some very important questions for each item: Will this bring value to my life or job? Am I doing this because it is easy and I want to or because it will bring value? Should I delegate this item to someone else? Be sure to take into consideration all the people included or affected by the project. After you have made your list, prioritize it.
3. Start thinking proactively – As soon as you receive an assignment or decide on a project, start planning how you will complete that task. Take out your calendar and set mini-deadlines. If there are other people involved in the project, coordinate with them and set up the schedule together.
4. Break large projects into smaller ones – The larger the project, the harder it is for people to get started simply because they are overwhelmed and they don’t know where to start. At the beginning of the project, take time to break the project down into its basic elements. If other people are involved, work together to identify each sub-element. It is important to remember that some sub-elements may rely on the completion of other projects or sub-elements done by other people. Now is the time to make your schedule with everyone’s input.
5. Review your progress and schedule periodically – Set up a time, either by yourself if you are the only one working on the project, or with others involved to review your progress and schedule. It may be necessary at this point to make changes to the schedule based on your progress so far. Don’t insist on sticking to a schedule that is unreasonable, your chances of a successful completion are much greater if you remain vigilant but flexible.
6. Reward yourself – It is important to reward yourself after completing difficult tasks, even if it was only one of the many tasks in the overall project. Small rewards are important to keep everyone involved and to stay motivated. Everyone likes to have a treat once in awhile, and this is a great time to do that. You can base the type of reward on the difficulty of the tasks completed.
7. Be kind to yourself – If you are like most people, you didn’t become a procrastinator overnight, and you won’t stop procrastinating overnight either. There will be times when you fall off the wagon and find yourself in a crisis situation again. That’s ok. Just take a moment to reassess and learn from your mistake. Get right back on it and don’t look back. Remember, you are getting rid of bad habits and are setting up new, beneficial ones. Habits take time (at least 25 to 30 days) to be established.
Although it may seem like a daunting task, you can conquer procrastination by consistently following the steps outlined above. This is something that is definitely achievable.
Finding the right business for you. Some of you may know exactly what kind of business you want to start, or you may have already started it. Others may have an intense desire to start a business, but they don?t know what type of business. Deciding what your business will be is a critical step in your journey to business and financial success.
To begin, take a piece of paper, a pen or pencil, or open a word processing document and start listing all of your skills and talents. What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What skills have you learned throughout your life? And most importantly, what are your passions?
It is important to be objective because often we don?t give ourselves credit for the skills and talents we have. We just assume that if we can do it everyone can. That is definitely not the case. If you are having problems doing this ask family members, coworkers or friends to tell you what your skills and talents are. We are seen much differently by others than we see ourselves.
Once you have determined what your strengths are, it is important to truthfully identify your weaknesses. We all hate to admit we are not good at something, but when it comes to running a business, it is critical for everyone to know what they are good at and where they need some help. No one can be good at everything, so admitting a weakness has no relevance to whether you will be successful or not. In fact, by admitting and accepting your weaknesses you can proactively find alternative solutions to handle that area and you can focus on your strengths.
Something else to consider is your risk tolerance? Are you pretty cautious with your money and are looking for a lower rate of return for your business but a higher chance of success? Or, are you ready to take more risk for a higher rate of return? That is a personal decision and neither is right or wrong, it just depends on you.
It is important at this point to honestly determine how you are going to finance your new business. Are you going to finance your business from savings or from your current salary, or do you plan on borrowing money from a bank, friends or family members? Or maybe you are taking on a partner, giving them a percentage of the company in exchange for startup capital.
How much money do you have to invest? I guarantee what you estimate you will need to start your business will be at least 25% short if not more. So, when determining how much money you need be sure to overestimate. If you are borrowing money from friends or family it is a good idea to have the agreement in writing in case there are any discrepancies in the future. It is much better to lay out the agreement in the beginning than to try to piece it together after there has been a misunderstanding and feelings are hurt.
The next step is to do some research. Take a look at the types of businesses that match your skills or talents. Take some time to research the market for these products or services. Is the market young or mature? Is it under or over developed? Are there changes that can be made to existing businesses to improve the market or service? Don?t be afraid to be creative, but do market tests before committing to something entirely new.
You can also look at prepackaged business or franchises. For example if you want to invest at least $1 or $2+ million, you could open a fast food restaurant and everything would be laid out for you. Of course you would have to find a location, have the building either built or fit out, hire employees, learn how to run the business per the franchise rules, etc.
If you decide to open a shop or restaurant on your own you will have the same issues as above, plus you will be completely on your own in regards to purchasing merchandise, marketing, policies and procedures, hiring employees, etc. This can be a very rewarding experience, but make sure you have the capital, a great idea, stamina, and business acumen to be successful.
If you are looking for something smaller, there are many opportunities in direct sales and multi-level marketing (also known as MLM or network marketing) that can generate a good income if you devote the time necessary. These are generally a small, home based business which you can run out of a bedroom or den in your house. Additionally, many of these opportunities are now internet based business opportunities so there are no meetings to go to or inventory to manage. This is nice because it cuts down drastically on your overhead costs and gives you flexibility on how you spend your time.
Unfortunately, these businesses have gotten a bad rap lately, not due to the businesses themselves, but because too many people were promising great income generation without having to lift a finger. Well, we all know that work is required to be successful in business. If you are dedicated and committed to building these opportunities then you will prosper.
Ahhh, that illusive term, Success. What does success really mean? Does it mean the same thing to everyone? Of course not. Each of us is an individual, and because of that, each one of us has a different concept of what it means to be successful.
Hmmm, what determines how we interpret success? Well, it could be how we were raised or the things we enjoy. Maybe it’s what we learned in school or church. Whatever it may be, our interpretation of success is personal to us. No one else can tell us what success is in our mind.
Now let’s take that a step further and apply our interpretation of success to our profession . . . business success. I caught some of you on that, didn’t I? If you are like me, you immediately associate business success with success in general. But, others may look at a broader picture. They may look at how successful their family life is, or their hobbies, or their relationships. Maybe they base their success on popularity or how many widgets they have collected. You see, it doesn?t matter what we identify with when we think of success. As humans we all are driven to some extent to achieve it.
Back to our profession. This is probably what the majority of people think of because we put so much emphasis on our careers or our professions, how much money we make or who we know based on our job. In the United States there is a strong emphasis beginning in early childhood to be productive and to develop a good work habit. As we grow into adults, that translates into our career, job title, or profession.
Unfortunately, as we are being taught to have a good work ethic as children, we aren’t taught some of the fundamental elements of business success. Some people are lucky and come by it naturally, while others struggle continually making small advances but never reaching their full potential. Fortunately, there are many tools available for people who want to improve their existing place in the business world or move into an entirely new career. But, it takes a commitment and time to make that happen.
If you are struggling and not reaching the success you desire, it may not be your fault. But, YOU are the only one that can change your results. You can take responsibility to make the changes needed to reach your full potential and become the person you were meant to be.