Category: Planning
It's simply amazing how quickly time slips away. Especially for a business owner. The plans that we have, and the best of intentions don't always guarantee follow-thru and success.
I realize today that it has been over 6 weeks since I posted to my blog. I'm pretty sure that in July when I last posted, I would put something on the site weekly. Turns out it's more like WEAKLY!
The snag for us business owners is: we don't immediately pay the price for not following through with some of our best intentions. We're busy. Things are getting done. Sometimes it is only the absolute essentials that get done.
So let's take a step back. Knowing that everything comes and goes in cycles, and knowing that summer is playtime for a LOT of us, maybe time didn't actually slip away. Maybe it was put to very, very good use.
That said, I'll reset my intention of writing weekly, and know that if it doesn't happy - well - that's just fine too....
I wish you every success,
Jerry
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The First Two Years
I attended a networking event in Hartford a couple of months ago. At this event I met a business owner who said: "One of the first things I ask a prospective vendor is how long they've been in business. If it's anything less than two years, I refuse to do business with them." I pressed him for more details. "People in their first two years of business just don't have it together. They promise what they can't deliver. They're impossible to deal with. They don't have their processes down yet. I just won't work with someone who is still trying to cut their teeth. I just can't afford to do business with someone who will probably be gone soon."
It's a sad commentary for new businesses. And unfortunately, the numbers back it up.
Every year, some 1 million people start a business.
By the end of the first year, at least 40% of them will be out of business.
Within 5 years, more than 80% of them 800,000 will fail.
We don't have to look very far to find success stories to balance off this First Two Year idea. Some businesses come right out of the gate and start building their success. What is it that separates these companies from the failures? In the last newsletter I wrote about the Seven Reasons Small Business Fail, and if you were to address each of those issues, you'd be in pretty good shape with your new business. But there was something that I didn't mention last time: Unstoppable Belief.
When a business owner has an Unstoppable Belief, it's the same as having "Unlimited Funding". That belief alone can make everything happen. Often the people around them think that they're crazy for even starting their business, but they do it anyway.
Here are three examples of Unstoppable Belief, two from my hometown, and one you will already know:
Ron Nodine built a small smokehouse in his back yard, a quarter mile down the street from my parent's house in Goshen. Everyone thought he was crazy. That was in the early 1970s. The business has grown and flourished. It now supplies specialty stores around the country.
Bud Wright was a farmer in Goshen. He had this dream that he could turn a great portion of his land into a resort lake (mind you, this was all dry land with a stream running through it). People would drive by and watch him work that bulldozer, clearing land day after day. Today, Woodridge Lake is a thriving, gated community that has beautiful homes, tennis courts, and a luxury clubhouse.
Do you recognize the name Korczak Ziolkowski? He's the sculptor that had the Unstoppable Belief to create the Crazy Horse Memorial. Although not complete, it's well underway, and was his life's work. Since he started working on it in the 1940s, and knew that he wouldn't finish it in his lifetime, do you think that his belief was an important part of his ability to carry out this work? You bet.
In closing, whether you're in your first two years of business, or your second decade, make sure that you've got that Unstoppable Belief in creating the perfect business. I promise that it will serve you well.
Till next time.....
Jerry
PS - I've just changed over my contact lists to a new format. I've tried my best to only send this email to people who have received it in the past. If I've sent you this email in error, please accept my apologies and simply unsubscribe by hitting the button at the bottom of this page.
2003 Jerry Wistrom and All Out Coaching, LLC
All rights reserved.
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My Daughter's Plan for Getting Into College
Take SAT Tests
Sign up for SAT Exam
Sign up for SAT Prep Course
Attend classes
Do Assigned Homework
Investigate Colleges
Determine What is Important to look for in a College
Visit Colleges / Take Tours
Review price tags with parents
Revive Parents with Smelling Salts (Remember to purchase at drug store)
Have Parents Fill Out FAFSA Forms
Determine Amount of "Contribution" that is expected
Revive Parents again
Acceptance
Prior to acceptance obsess about being accepted
Receive Acceptance Letters
Go To Dinner to celebrate each acceptance
Pick College to Attend
Have Parents Send Money to College
Have Parents Send More Money to College
Have Parents Send Every Last Dollar to College
Have Parents Take Loans to Send More Money to College
Have Parents Sell Home to Send Money to College
Go To College
Come Home on Holidays to ask parents for Money
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First of all.....Happy New Year! I hope that 2004 is your best year yet. Let's get going on making that happen.
Ahhh New Years, what a celebration!! New Year's Eve parties. Watching the ball drop at Times Square. Parades on TV. And then the inevitable question: "What's Your New Year's Resolution?" At the beginning of 2003 I hired an independent research company to poll the masses for the answer to that very question (data available on request). The results fell into three categories: Alcohol, Diet and Finances. It seems that upon further research, the individuals whose answers revolved around Alcohol had a very bad experience with the substance the night before (or that very morning). That leaves us with Diet and Finances. The survey teams found that those who responded "Diet" and "Finances" had made this very resolution on other New Year Days in the past (averages were 23 years for "Diet" and 35 years for "Finances"). I had the same test population re-polled in early February of 2003 regarding how their New Years Resolution was coming along. 91% responded "What New Years Resolution?", 8% responded "Go Away", and 1% didn't respond, instead... they began to weep. There is even an internet poll that suggests that the "average" length of time that someone keeps their New Year's Resolution is only 17 days!
This is NO WAY to bring in a New Year, dear readers. So again I say "Forget Your New Year's Resolution". That's right. Drop it. Forget about it. Walk away. But let's replace it with something new and better. Ready to play along? Good. Just follow these three easy steps.
Step One: Fast-forward to the end of 2004. Now that you're there, look back on the year. What was the ONE THING that happened during the year that you're very, very happy about? What happened in your life or in your business? What happened in terms of your health? What is that ONE THING that you're reflecting on that has given you great pride and joy? This should be an accomplishment. Examples of business oriented accomplishments: Beating last year's revenue by 25%, Opening a new location, Bringing a new product line or service to market. Personal accomplishments: Taking that Vacation of a Lifetime, Quitting smoking, Having more free time.
Step Two: Now think about that accomplishment, and make a list of all the things that had to have happened for that to occur. Some of these things could be very specific, and some more general. For the ones that were general, continue to explore the very specific things that happened for them to come true. When you've got everything down to specifics, put the actions into present tense and map out what has to occur to make your year-end vision happen along with dates.
Step Three: Follow the actions and dates that we created in the last step to accomplish your goal for the year.
We just replaced your New Year's Resolution with an Action Plan for 2004, centered on the one thing that would make you most proud and happy with the year. There wasn't enough room in this article to give you a full example of this technique for planning, but I did put a great example on my website. Click on January 2004 Newsletter Example to see my plan for sending my youngest daughter to college. I think you'll enjoy it.
Till next time.....
2004 Jerry Wistrom and All Out Coaching, LLC
All rights reserved.
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THOUGHTS, QUESTIONS AND FEELINGS
I went to an event recently and asked if anyone had an idea for this month's submission for the Business United. I had a number of people give me some ideas, but one really had an impact on me. A Financial Service Representative wrote this on the back of his business card: "I'm disappointed in the behavior of sales people which promote fear and distrust in prospective clients". Reading between the lines, I guess he must be meeting a lot of people who distrust sales professionals.
There were so many ways to go with this observation, but I've decided to use it to illustrate the power of our thoughts, questions and feeling. When this professional, who I know has a lot of personal integrity, wrote this note, he must have been feeling one or more of the following feelings: frustration, anger, despair, sadness, or some other feeling that we would consider to be a "downer".
There are two problems with this. First, a sales professional can't have any of the emotions of fear, frustration, anger, doubt, or any of the down emotions and be able to service their customers well. The customer can pick up on this emotion, and the sale doesn't happen, which feeds the emotion, which makes more sales not happen. Nasty cycle indeed! The second problem is that if they're having these thoughts, they're not looking for a solution.
Ask yourself these two questions, and compare what happens in your mind as you ask them:
"Why do so many sales people promote fear and distrust?"
"What can I do to help my prospective customers trust, really trust me quickly?"
Did you notice how the first question brought you down, while the second opened up a possibility to a solution?
Our experiences, our lives, our moods, our very existence depends on the thoughts that we have, the questions we ask, and the feelings we have as we think or ask them. I just read some research that the average person thinks between 12-50 THOUSAND thoughts per day! How many of yours make you feel good? How many make you feel bad? Let's try a couple of examples.
How do you feel as you ask yourself the following question:
Why am I so unhappy? (Notice how the answers take you backwards, looking for proof that you really are unhappy?)
Now how do you feel as you ask yourself this question:
What should I do so that I can really have a SUPERB weekend next weekend? (Did your eyebrows just shift up as you considered the possibility? - You're on the right track!)
What about these two thoughts:
I HATE going into the office day after day. (That would make anyone feel down!)
I can't wait to see what happens at the office today. (OK, so I'm stretching it a bit here. Just play along! Put your own positive thought in about your work.)
Last words - Watch those thoughts! Careful of those questions! Listen to the feelings from them! Guard them all.
Till next time,
Copyright 2005 Jerry Wistrom and All Out Coaching, LLC
All rights reserved.
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| | Business GPS System - Last month I wrote about the importance of goals, and how to develop a set of strategies, and from those strategies, create your action plan. I wanted to follow up that message this month with a crazy idea. Once you've developed the plan, Don't Foc
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