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,

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,

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