How to Stay Motivated Until You Succeed (and Beyond)

Keywords: motivation

Motivation has several faces...some good, some not so good.

Some motivation is like a pep-rally: We go to the meeting, listen to the tape or read the book and get all revved up. Unfortunately, this type of motivation fades pretty quickly, and has to be replenished often.

Another face of motivation is negative motivation: Guilt or fear nagging us on to carry out tasks in a begrudging fashion. "You ought to..." is often the cry of this motivator.

A third type of motivation is group motivation: We do what everyone else is doing. This is why our teenagers choose the same "non-conformist" clothing all their friends are wearing.

All three of these have their place: Sometimes "pep-rally" motivation becomes "inspiration", moving us to our highest acts. We apologize and change our behavior in response to appropriate guilt. We obey the law due to fear of consequence. Fitting in is an important part of social adjustment.

But there is a fourth type of motivation, a type of motivation you must have in order to succeed-whether it is in business or in more important areas of life.

Ten Crucial Questions for Your Business Future

Keywords: Business Planning

As a business coach I specialize in asking questions.

The right question asked at the right time can effect your business future more than you can imagine. It has the power to completely and instantly shift your mental activity, your entire thought pattern, and ultimately the actions you take. Over the last fourteen years I've asked hundreds of small, medium and very large business owners endless questions which have helped them achieve far greater levels of success than they would have had thinking the way they were -- only moments before.

While the following may not be the only ten questions -- or even THE ten questions, they are ten questions that you must answer if you want your business to flourish. The right answers are critical to your company's future.

1. How many un- or underserved prospective clients are in your target market?

The number of prospective clients - prospects -- available to you relates to two key considerations: the total revenue possible from this client base, and what kinds of marketing tactics will be most cost-effective. If yours is a 'mass market,' advertising will almost certainly be part of the your marketing mix. By contrast, if your market is very small (I once sold software to the top-50 international banks) you can contact each and every prospect individually.

19 Questions to Supercharge Your Business Plan

Keywords: Business Plan

Whether you are seeking capital for your company or are optimizing your business strategy, the most important element - particularly for outside investors - may be your written business plan. You can tune-up and supercharge your plan using this 19-step checklist. When your written plan firmly answers yes to each of these 19 questions, your market/product strategy is in terrific shape plus you increase the odds of attracting investment capital.

If you don't already have a written business plan - write one! Your business plan is a blueprint for your whole company. It describes in detail your goals, the financial and technical viability of your goals, and the strategy you will use (or are using) to reach those goals. And your business plan is a working tool - it is a yardstick to measure your progress and a compass to keep you on course.

Must a business plan be written?

Yes! A plan which is not written usually has not been thought through fully. And despite what you may have read, it is doubtful that any business ever attracted capital on the back of a napkin.

Use this checklist as a way to identify where your strategy, as spelled out in your business plan, needs work. Each of the questions below highlights an area considered critical to technology investors.

How To Be Motivated To Create The Life Of Your Dreams

Keywords: Motivation

When it comes to motivating yourself to be a better person, to do better at work or to create a happier family life you need to understand the importance of taking control of your self talk.

Do you ever pay attention to the thoughts inside your mind? And more importantly do you ever notice the way in which you talk to yourself?

Here are three tips you can use right away to motivate yourself:

1 Talk To Yourself The Way You Talk To Someone You Love

Be honest! Is it true you sometimes insult yourself, curse yourself and say horrible things about your abilities?

If you spoke like this regularly to the people you care about they would leave and never talk to you again. There is no excuse for treating yourself so badly.

Talk to yourself the way you would talk to someone you deeply love. Be respectful, patient and understanding. Be slow to anger, quick to praise and grateful for the opportunity to listen.

Sorry, No Customer Service After 4:00 P.M.

Keywords: Customer Service

A few months ago, I wrote about ingenious styles of customer service that every business should know about, mostly because their employees were inflicting them on their customers. For instance, I warned about "in your face customer service" and "run for cover customer service", two equally effective opposites...like pouring too much sugar on your Cheerios one day, and pouring too much cayenne pepper on them the next. I also warned about "do-it-yourself-extortion", "consistent filibuster customer service", "Invisible Man customer service", "present-at-attendance customer service", "customer service on steroids", and "satirical customer service".

You will have to read about these clever anti-sales pitches at: http://www.thehappyguy.com/customer-service.html , because today I want to tell you about a 100% revolutionary approach to customer service that my wife and I discovered in a village high up in the mountains.

We were on our annual honeymoon, a three-day escape from parenthood to lick our wounds and give our tattered spirits a chance to recuperate.

To tell the truth, the weekend was more like a marriage encounter. It gave me a chance to find out just who is that strange woman passing me in the hallway at full throttle, pinching her nose and radiating the sweet smell of mushy diaper as she whooshes past. And it gave her the chance to discover the even stranger man who blows a muffled "Oof!" every time Little Lady invents a new "Hop On Pop" dance move.

Are you planning your business or are you planning your growth?

Keywords: Business Planning

If you are like many high-performing business people, you have an annual ritual to set your plans for the coming twelve months. Some people do it in December, others at weird, miscellaneous times of the year, but most--me included--tend to do it the beginning part of the New Year.

It doesn’t matter exactly when you do this, but it is important you do it sometime soon. It has been said all the way back to the time of the ancients: goals and written plans for their attainment are the surest way to speed up your accomplishments. So skipping this step is not an option!

As you buckle down to this critical task, consider: are you planning for business as usual or are you planning for wonderful, extraordinary, growth? Many people feel kind of beaten down by the past three years of economic mis-performance and think a year in which profits don’t retreat will be a good year.

Others--most people--will plan to do something very much like they did in 2003; perhaps they will try to do it a bit better. They may look at the surplus resources they have available (if any) and try to figure out how they can eke out a little more performance, profit and revenue--without taking any big risks or doing anything radical. And for the most part, it will be business as usual.

Ho hum...

Don’t be either of these types...

Plan to do something extraordinary!

Plan to extend or expand or excel.

What One Thing

Keywords: Time Management

A few weeks ago I asked my readers what the most important issue was in their business. Hundreds responded with a variety of answers, but one of the most common was, "How do I get everything that needs doing done?"

Happily, I have an answer for this question, but like many things in life, it carries both good news and bad news. The good news is, if you are one of those fortunate few with access to unlimited resources, you can get everything done.

But that's really the bad news, isn't it.

Because among all the people I know - not a single one of them - not one - has access to unlimited resources. Even executives I work with whose budgets run into the hundreds of millions - even they do not have unlimited resources. Even they have to make choices and trade-offs.

Earl Nightingale once asked the question, "What one thing would you do if you knew you could not fail?" And Jack Palance's Curly in City Slickers, asked a similar question: "What is the one thing?"

Their questions contains seeds of the answer to this quandary.

Because all things on your plate are not created equal. They are not all important. They do not all have the same impact, the same dependencies, the same possibility of reward.

And even if you think they do, upon close examination you'll find they do not.

The trick of course, is to figure out the one thing that matters most...

Quality Customer Service

Keywords: Customer Service

What does customer service mean to you and your business on the internet? How do you satisfy you customers? What can you learn about customer service from the ‘big boys’?

Customer service is about satisfying your customers expectations and providing your customers with low stress options for doing business with you. Take this example; If you walk into one of the ‘big box’ retailers that are springing up all over North America and are greeted by friendly, courteous and knowledgeable staff that are only all to happy to lend a helping hand and make your shopping experience as painless as possible are you more likely to go back to that store for further purchases? Probably. The other thing that this type of customer service does is provide it’s customers with a reason to promote that business via word of mouth. If you are happy with the customer service you received you are more than likely to let others know how much you enjoyed shopping at this particular retailer.

The flip side of the above example; If you walked into a competitors place of business and there was no one to greet you or no assistance was offered, would you still shop there? You may if the price is right. These types of retailers use sales and other promotional ideas as a way of providing customer service.

Design Your Business The Way You Want

Keywords: Motivation

Whether you're starting a new business or developing an existing one, if you want to build it up, first you need to design it. This design should not only attract success but 'fit' for you personally. Instead of moulding yourself to fit your business and conform to a particular way of doing business, you can design your business so that it is unique to you.

If you think you can't design your business the way you want it to be, it's possible that conventional thinking and some of your ingrained beliefs are getting in the way. Most things are possible. You just need to shift your thinking out of the box and look for possibilities. Force-fitting yourself into how you think your business 'should' be will often result in discomfort. It's like being a square peg in a round hole. Instead, design your business to be unique and personalised to you so that it enhances your life, instead of torturing you.

Too many people go into business for themselves and then find that somewhere down the road they've lost a big part of themselves to their business. The reason may be the long hours they're working or they feel stuck and frustrated by how the business has turned out. Whatever stage you're at with your business you can choose to design it the way you want. On a blank canvas, lay out the foundations, the structures and the finished result.

A key to designing your business is to get in touch with your authentic self, focusing internally and trusting yourself, then identify what you truly want from your business. When you've got it designed, you'll be ready to take the steps towards making your business as you see it. You'll need to go to work on your business, not just be working in it, to fulfil this design. Working on your business means you must stop regularly, take a couple of steps back and look at the whole of your business objectively. This gives you an opportunity to assess, evaluate and identify new improvements, possibilities and ideas.

Business is About Making Money

Keywords: Successful Businesses

Ask most people why they are in business and they will give you any number of reasons. Things such as wanting to improve the lives of others; make the world a better place; provide for their family; have more free time; the list goes on and on.

Fact is business is about making money, which means the bottom line is the bottom line. Many business owners, managers and sales people seem to forget this. If you don't have a strong bottom line you cannot continue to do business for very long. And if you can't continue to do business you cannot achieve the other primary reasons you do what you do. The way you get a sturdy bottom line is to understand some basic truths about business.

A few fundamentals to running a successful business are to know what your product or service is, who your customer is, who you are, what drives you in business, and what trends are impacting the economy and marketplace.

Many people run their business without these key ingredients. Sure, a company can survive, but is survival all you are seeking? Don't you want more? As previously mentioned, most people are in business to design a certain lifestyle for themselves and their families. Many are in business to create an experience for their customers. Still others are in business to improve the quality of their community. Unfortunately, many miss the mark by a long shot.

How to Maximize the Value of Your Time

Keywords: Time Management

How is your business doing? Is it growing, stagnating or losing ground? If your business is not growing, it could be the result of a poor business idea or plan, a lack of advertising, or the mismanagement of your business' resources.

Let's face it. Running a successful business enterprise is not the easiest thing to accomplish.

Your struggles could be the result of factors beyond your own control or factors within your control --- your own actions and decisions.

FACTORS OUTSIDE YOUR OWN CURRENT CONTROL

If your business is stagnating or dying, there are several factors that could be the cause of your current financial discomfort:

· Your local economy could be suffering stagnation or negative growth.

· Your competition might be fiercely competing for your customer base.

· Local residents might see the building, into which you have signed a lease, as the home of businesses that fail, so they will not support you until you have proven your long-term viability.

· You could be in a terrible location and trapped by your lease.

Get Your Office Schedule Back on Track!

Keywords: Scheduling

After the long, lazy, summer you may have let your office schedule slip--
follow these great tips and get YOUR office schedule back on track!

Clear out your desk and files

Make way for those exciting new projects that have been put on the backburner over the summer. I recently did this and apart from getting rid of four grocery bags of papers, I felt much more motivated to start those projects that had been lurking for months! And it's amazing what you come across too!

Set up a Resource Folder

Keep track of those all-important pieces of information that you come across
daily. How? Create a Resource Folder:

:: on your PC--store all those downloaded documents and create a shortcut on
your desktop so that you can easily access your information. Go one step further and create folders within your folder, each relating to a specific topic, i.e. industry news, marketing, accounting--decide what works best for your business!

:: in your Favourites Folder in your web browser--bookmark those web pages
that you find useful so that you can easily access them again. Create subject specific folders within the main resource folder.

How to Maximize the Value of Your Time

Keywords: Time Management

How is your business doing? Is it growing, stagnating or losing ground? If your business is not growing, it could be the result of a poor business idea or plan, a lack of advertising, or the mismanagement of your business' resources.

Let's face it. Running a successful business enterprise is not the easiest thing to accomplish.

Your struggles could be the result of factors beyond your own control or factors within your control --- your own actions and decisions.

FACTORS OUTSIDE YOUR OWN CURRENT CONTROL

If your business is stagnating or dying, there are several factors that could be the cause of your current financial discomfort:

╥ Your local economy could be suffering stagnation or negative growth.

╥ Your competition might be fiercely competing for your customer base.

╥ Local residents might see the building, into which you have signed a lease, as the home of businesses that fail, so they will not support you until you have proven your long-term viability.

╥ You could be in a terrible location and trapped by your lease.

5 Easy Steps to Staying Motivated

Keywords: Motivation

It's a typical evening... you've just come home from your "Day Job" exhausted from a long day; your significant other wants to spend time with you, maybe you have kids that need your attention, you have bills to pay, chores to do, dinner to make, and sleep to get before getting up and doing it all over again tomorrow! What a grind!

You know that you want to build your own home-based Internet business so you can get out from under your daily grind and live the life you are dreaming of. So how in the world do you motivate yourself to find the extra time every
day to build your business??

You are in luck, because this isssue of our newsletter will give you some quick and easy steps to help you to find the time to work on your business and still have time for the hundreds of other things you need to do!

The process starts with knowing what you need to get done. Since you are reading this newsletter, we'll assume that you've already got a business idea in mind and that you have a specific goal in mind. Probably something like
making more than you spend every month!!.

Why Your Brick-and-Mortar Biz Needs A Website

Keywords: Websites

The internet has taken over our lives with a vengeance, and has changed the way many of us do business. More and more consumers are now doing their shopping online and, unfortunately, some business owners have felt the pinch.

But there are many small businesses that have been virtually unaffected by the internet boom. Those professionals in the more service-oriented fields - veterinarians, chiropractors, beauticians, dentists and more - do almost all of their work in what's now affectionately know as the brick-and-mortar
business, and as such can never be fully replaced by internet technology.

However, many of these businesses, from tiny mom-and-pop stores to small health care centers - have yet to merge onto the information highway, and it's costing them plenty; of customers, that is.

That's because, although traditional advertising (phone books, flyers, radio ads, etc.) are still widely used, there is no doubt that the most effective advertising now takes place online.