Making the Calls

A part of the way I work in my field is I write letters and then the week later I follow them up with a call. Come call time there is a natural inclination to find myself busy. However, if I discipline myself to make the calls I am rewarded.

Have you heard the phrase 'Prime the Pump'? Well how it works is you do what you have decided to do, regularly, almost in rote so that you get the results. Now the results don't always come from the place where you put in the effort but they do come.

I remind myself not to be disappointed by the No's but realise that the results will come. Just as throwing the ball into the air knowing it will not sty there but indeed fall so will doing the stuff bring the right results. It is called 'making good habits'.

I am currently marketing to Tasmania of all places and really enjoying it. I have a policy that if I see movement at the station (client base) I call. Now people are not used to being called so promptly and they either enjoy it or are challenged to think by my actions.

Be proactive, make it happen! Do it!!!

What DO You Watch?

If you watch the news and the stock market report your emotions will go up and down. Do you watch the bottom line on your bookkeeping? What do you watch?

I remember a story about a man who sold hot dogs by the roadside. He had a good manner and his hot dogs were very tasty. His sales grew and so he bought a bigger cart and more hot dogs and again his business grew. His son was away at unit studying business. When he came home he was horrified. 'Dad haven't you seen the news? We are in a recession. You can't plan to expand anymore.'

 His father thought because his son had been to uni he must know what was going on so he started to cut back and sure enough his sales fell. He said 'my son must have been right.' His son was not right and the father listened to the wrong advice. Because he began cutting back his standard dropped and the customers became dissatisfied and went down the road.

Yes you have to be aware but not influenced by the news. Remember the news is based around sales and the news reporters know bad news sells better.

So again I ask you, 'who are you listening to?'

Network

If you are in business and not in a franchise then you need to find somewhere to belong. Preferably a group in the same industry.

When I was a broker in Sydney I wrote business through an aggregator. The aggregator invited me to training days and events. This helped me belong.

Why do I need to belong? Belonging help the psyche, belonging keeps you updated, belonging keeps you honest, in touch etc

If you are in an unique industry where you are the forerunner then you need peers in business around you who you actually talk to, not bluff, or try to bluff.

Your peers can be a part of a local business group, they can be your accountant, solicitor, you financial planner or all of these, but you need them. We can become out of touch with reality unless we are grounded by belonging.

If we don't belong we find ourselves taking shortcuts, deceiving ourselves that what we are doing is ok. We all see the businessman or politician who believed they were above reproach and ended up with mud on their faces or worse in jail.

Today decide to belong, find a group to belong to, and make sure it is a legitimate group and not a bunch of thugs.

Technology

I am enjoying the path of discovery I am on. I thought creating  business Facebook page was all I needed but hey there is more so much more.

I have trialed uploading documents to a yousendit.com box that was fantastic. I watched a webinaire on creating and storing videos on-line. I am now using cloud technology to store all my data, I have published a book on-line and yet there is so much more that clever technos are creating. I am loving the experience.

Learning is a key to life. If you enjoy it rather than resent you have to do it life takes off.

I admit I have been a Start Treckie in the past. Mind you I don't watch much of anything these days, I prefer to investigate and learn.

Technology can open the way to better business. Technology will definitely leave us behind if we don't get on board.

If we, the business people, learn technology then we will stay in business and be on the forefront of business.

Buy a ticket to the future today, decide you will embrace technology and win!

Oh dear the Blog spell checker needs a ticket, it doesn't even recognise Facebook.

Opportunities

Opportunities are around but are we ready? It is not being in the right place at the right time or knowing the right people that is important but are we ready.

How do we get ready? How does an athlete get ready for a chance at gold? Although an athlete is not chosen to represent their country at any time they may be called upon to step up to the plate, they must be ready not sitting around in attitude or slothfulness.

There are stories told of athletes from different countries who were not on the original team but because they were ready and called upon did an amazing job.

Being ready means having done the study; sat the exams; passed the exams; having the cash; having the systems in place; doing business with a good attitude.

I remember listening to a CD by a speaker who was given an opportunity to take over a car sales lot, not because of his experience in car sales but his diligence in his existing field and his great attitude. He had the ability to raise what it cost him, a mere $50,000 compared to it's worth.

Others are watching you even when you wish they weren't. You ways are being observed. What do people see?

Disaster PLan

Last Friday I wrote out my disaster plan. What would I do if....... Yesterday I had a chance to test my plan. My computer crashed.

I followed the plan, tested it. I found areas that needed fixing. I realised that my second laptop was needing to be brought up to speed and be able to function just like the first one. I also realised I needed phone numbers in my IPhone that I had relied on finding on the Internet.

It is good to have a plan that is documented and tested.

I had only just organised a 'cloud provider' to do data backup for me daily and had just purchased a separate external hard drive. I do the plan, I backup as planned.

As it turned out the problem was not major and was fixed within hours. I did not need to full plan to be implemented but I was ready.

I am about to move into a new office and will need to extend that disaster plan. New elements will come into play. There is another person involved now and he will need to be involved in that plan.

It is important to have a plan and to work the plan.

Do You Do Deals With the Devil?

What do I mean? Have you been backed into a corner and made believe there is only one way out and that involves compromise?

Hang on and look for the right way. Don't sell yourself short. You will be found out and what will that look like? How will it affect your family? Will it cause you to lose them forever? Is it worth that?

You might be saying but you don't know what I am up against? Don't I? All of us are in a corner at least once in our lifetime and all of us are faced with the hard choices.

If you have an addiction to gambling, drugs alcohol, get help and sort it out. Your business needs you to be clean, your family need you to be clean. Look down the years and see your children grown. Will they be saying 'thanks for your example', or will it be 'I don't know you, go away'.

Make the hard choices, get help and get into a network and move on. Sure you might have a lot of hard work ahead, you may need to take on another job as well but it will be worth it.

I made the decision that I am going to live without a credit card. There are times when I don't have the money to do what I want to do. I have to wait. There is nothing wrong with waiting. Waiting is good for the character. Fast money destroys character.

Persistence

Thomas Eddison is recorded as saying: "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration'. If this is the case giving up does not comes into the equation.

Those who birth new ideas struggle under a cloud of self-doubt and criticism from others. They are loners, often not by choice but by necessity.

They become labelled dreamers by colleagues. Comments like 'he always has his head in the clouds', follow him from the armchair critics.

What does the dreamer have to do? Develop a tough hide and put the energy he would use in verbal assaults to good use, work.

If you have a dream don't give up on that dream, walk towards it daily while working out the processes you need to understand to get there. If you persist you will make it!

Attitude

How easy is it to spit the dummy? Pressure mounts and if we feel it and grumble and continue to complain then we create a bigger mess. Suddenly the bad situation becomes a monster all fed by the words of our mouth.

I found myself in this place. I was struggling to break through with the creation of systems and it was painful and so when I was asked 'how are things going' I would go to the complaint when really the problem is only small and when solved the end product will be fantastic.

Suddenly I was covered with a black cloud and I found myself wondering why is this problem so huge? The answer is 'I created it!'

Words have power so we have to be careful with what we say. The better way to go would be to look beyond the problem and speak out what the end looks like, glorious.

If I had spent my time speaking out the end result I would have enjoyed the process more and probably have been more creative.

We know what the end will look like so why not speak it into being and give ourselves a break.

The Power of Words

Don't forget relationships! Don't become so engrossed in the business that you are consumed and fail to see the people. People are customers and customers buy your product.

Last night I was making customer calls and found a man who was so frustrated because he could not find anyone to help him. He was alone! We all know that feeling and how good is it when someone comes along to lift the burden, help solve the problem.

The man vented out his frustration and I asked if I could help. He was so far under the problem and had not had anyone come along and say let me help, he did not know what to do with me.

Now I may not be able to solve his problem but I can walk beside this man who is a client I have just inherited. He is now my responsibility.

Difficult people are difficult because they are going through difficult circumstances. It is not about us it is a cry for help. If we have the ability and expertise to help then we will have won a customer who will talk. All customers talk. He was talking down AMP to me and I now have to show him a better way.

I have a neighbour who became very upset with me for a careless comment I made one morning while taking out the bins. Careless comments can affect and hurt others.

My words can bring healing and life or destroy, I have to use them wisely.

Decisions

What provider of services should I choose? Do I go with the one who says they are the best and charge the most? I do I ask around to find out what others are doing? How much time do I put into the discovery? Do I just make a choice and move on?

I am currently looking at cloud technology and AMP have a preferred provider who is much more expensive. My accountant colleagues uses one much cheaper. Both are good and both are efficient, but who is more efficient? Probably the most expensive but do I need all the bells and whistles, now? Probably not. I will not know until something goes wrong.

An informed decision is a must but move on I must. I cannot procrastinate forever. After all lessons will be learned whichever road I take.

Proverbs says a host of counsellors is good. I have endeavoured to find counsel but most says something that shows me they have not gone where I am going and so I must ask each provider for a reference.

Today is the day for decision!

Beyond Failure

Have you failed? Failed big time? Are you facing bankruptcy?

Do you know how many greats fail many times before they succeed?

The key is to keep trying, keep learning.

As children we know how to do this, we want to ride that bike so much that we keep getting back on it, skinned knees and all.

The horse rider who is throw again and again wants to ride so passionately they keep getting back on.

In business, if at the core of who you are is a business person then get up, dust yourself off and go again. This time with wisdom from the lessons learned.

If wisdom is present so is humility. Perhaps you now view that stodgy old person differently? Perhaps you can now hear what your father was trying to say. Sure he might not light the sky with his business success but he is still in business, what is his key? Ask the question!

Humility will enable to to go further, don't waste time blaming others, find the truth, walk in it and open your eyes, ears and heart to those you had blocked out in the grandiose design in you mind.

Results

Do you run hither and thither looking for answers? Or are you settled and working the plan?

Yesterday I arose at 4am and drove 4 hours to Melbourne for a meeting that was barely useful. If I was not able to secure an appointment with the marketing department I would have wasted my time.

After driving 4 hours home and consuming many coffees and energy food to stay awake I resolved that I would not be going again, not for what evolved.

I had felt obliged to go because I am beginning a new practice, however, I have been involved in two other practices and what was being offered I knew. All I gained was making contact with colleagues.

I could have stayed and used my time more wisely and saved myself the physical tiredness and financial cost.

I have to now step out and believe, it is time to do the stuff, to act and bring in the harvest.

Get Up Early

In wanting success we must be prepared to pay the price, get up early, get organised. While we can work all night the fresh perspective of morning after a night's sleep (and coffee) is the best.

Planning the day the put the plan into practice gives a sense of accomplishment and well being.

What is important today? Not what is demanding. Try to look at it this way. You have a demanding child insisting on his own way, do you give in just to keep him quiet? No! You deal with his behaviour, same with business.

The young business is immature and lacks experience and wisdom, so treat it that way, don't spoil it by destroying yourself to bend over backwards to yield ground.

Keep to the programme, keep a cool head! and win!

Get Ready

When an elderly man turned 90 he went and rented a huge hall for his 100th birthday, he was asked, "wasn't that a little presumptuous?" He replied, "No I know that what you are ready for generally shows up."

What you may be doing right now, may be unseen and go unnoticed but if it is building habit patterns for the day when the increase comes, it will come. If you build a dam then the rains will come.

Habits are best started early, while there is time to think and plan. There will come a day of business when there is no time and if all the processes and procedures are in place you will fly, if they are not you will stumble and the small hole in your plan will grow to a huge black hole and it will consume you.

Begin early, don't look around and fret about what is not happening, be glad and plan, stay focused.

The List

Are you bogged down in the doing? Do you feel hemmed in by a plethora of things that need attention? Write a list! Tick off one thing at a time and don't panic, chose the most important, not most urgent and prioritise the list accordingly.

This is good medicine. The actual ticking off of things on the list give a sense of achievement and watching the list shrink quietens the troubled soul.

Write down the list on something that you will follow. Nowadays most of us have IPhones or something similar and they have a function of a note page. They also have calendars, calculators, alarms etc. These are handy tools that we can carry anywhere and use almost any where. We can carry our office in our pocket, almost. The IPad probably carries more.

For those of us who commute the IPhone and IPad are a great tool to organise our day while in transit.

No I am not being paid by Apple to say all this, there are other alternatives.

Remember the list!

Keeping the Balls in the Air

Juggling all the areas of business can be an art, a challenge and a commitment. We cannot afford to just focus on one area all the times and neglect others or clients will go elsewhere.

I am discovering people will not wait anymore. They want instant answers, instant provision and if you do not provide it they will find someone who will.

This does not help if you are caught in having to work on one particular area of your business. For example you are extending into another area and this takes a whole lot of time, money and focus. However while you are preoccupied clients continue to have needs and will go and get them fulfilled elsewhere. The risk we take is that they are gone forever.

How do we keep all the balls in the air? it takes practice, staff and systems. If you are a sole operator then you are it and this is when it can be particularly challenging. Don't assume that clients will be faithful to you, not even friends will be faithful if you fail to deliver.

Don't lose heart by being disappointed that friends and family do not wait, understand that is business. Keep you eyes open and keep the relationship sweet so that when you are ready they may try again.

Blockages

If I buy a hose and attach it to the tap I expect water to come out. I bought a business and expected increased cash flow and increased numbers of clients. What I got was blockages. Let me explain.

In setting up a business we need accreditation, systems, software, practices, support. When I paint a picture I can firstly put down the rough outline, (the business plan). I then have to take the time to fill in the spaces with colour, clients. To do this I need tools.

In my case I found that to do business I needed authority to do it,(accreditation), I needed policies and procedures to govern and software to do the business with, I needed programmes that would care for my clients, remind me when services are due, send them birthday cards. I needed Internet platforms that would process the business.

I am wanting the house called business but first must lay the slab, create the frame, then clad the walls. Not until all the basics are done can I decorate. All I received when I bought the business was the piece of land, it is up to me to construct.

Now I can see where value in a business comes from, the bit that you don't see unless it is not there, the hard work is in the establishment not in the running.