Change! 

It’s a word and an entire subject.  It’s frequently talked about, relentlessly pursued but seldom achieved.  It’s what we’ve all been conditioned to expect from other people or from things around us.  We want to lose weight but we look to books and trendy diet plans to do it.  We want to get in shape so we look to purchasing a gym membership or buy exercise equipment off the TV.  We don’t like our jobs but we stay there because enduring the unhappiness is easier than looking for a better one. 

It’s no different in business.  We’re not getting enough sales from our website so we consider paying someone to build us a new one.  Our employees aren’t performing as we wish so we decide to do their jobs ourselves.  It’s an endless list of unfulfilled expectations and the only area we seldom take a real close look at is ourselves. 

When 2012 was ushered in with the usual fan fair, the typical mindset was one of “I hope this year is better than last year”.  Or “Man, I’m glad 2011 is over.  Maybe things will turn around in 2012”.  See how it works?  Our subconscious is so trained to look for change to happen everywhere else, we completely disregard the need for us to change how we think, what we do and how we do it. 

Right about now, most of us have fallen into the patterns we are most comfortable with.  We may not like the outcome or the current circumstances but its familiar territory so we put up with it.  Only when something serious happens or we find ourselves gripped with a new found passion do we launch ourselves in a new direction and in fact, change our course.  

What’s Really Required for Lasting Change? 

Change is not an easy goal.  It requires a fundamental desire for something better, more fulfilling or more productive.  The phase ‘I want to give back’ has become all too common as people make decisions about doing worthwhile activities, even if it cost them to do so or they receive no compensation in the process.  So the first thing to understand about ‘change’ is that you need to have a vision of what you want to change to.  Wanting to rid yourself of bad habits like smoking, poor eating or no exercise are powerful motivators for starting but they are insufficient to keep you on track. 

My Recipe for Meaningful Change 

So, what do you want to change to?  If you own a business, what about your business do you want to change?  Whatever it is, it will have to start with you.  Wholesale change in your daily routine will most likely cause you to abandon your efforts.  Small but significant changes can have huge benefits and move you quicker to your desired outcome.  Here are four things that have worked for me.  

1.  Decide what you want from your business and write it down.  Be specific and leave nothing out.  Make sure you include personal rewards like income levels, time off or a favorite charity you want to support.  Write what’s important to you, not what you think you can achieve based on your current status. 

Now, format your goals and print them out so you can display them and look at them daily.  Your subconscious cannot tell the different between current and future events or between reality and dreaming so getting a daily visual dose of these goals will help you align your actions with what you want to accomplish. 

2.  Look at how you spend your time.  How much of your time is spent on truly meaningful endeavors as opposed to minutiae.  Sure, little things have to be taken care of but without a realization of what’s important, many people will work endlessly on minor things and never get anything important done.   

Time is our most precious resource and one we cannot replace.  If you identify your highest priority tasks and devote time to them, you can actually get more done in less time.  In order to do this, you must recognize how you use your time so you can develop the discipline to focus on different more important tasks. 

3.  Take stock of your strengths and weaknesses.  Are your strengths supporting the real drivers of your business?  Are you focused on things you are weak at instead of finding others who can do them better?  Your business will change into what you want if you match your core strengths with your highest priority tasks. 

The reason so many business owners continue to do the same things over and over again is because it’s what they know.  If your highest priority areas are things you don’t know or are weak at, getting help is far better for achievement than trying to master them yourself. 

4.  Invite feedback from others you trust.  Ask people who know you or that have expertise in the areas you want to change to give you critical feedback.  If they are really there to help you, they will give it to you straight.  Take this opportunity to listen.  The value of doing this can be life changing.   

A few years ago, I asked 10 people I knew to look at a project I was working on and give me their candid opinions.  The feedback from 7 of them was brutal but eye opening.  One of them wrote me an 8 page letter which blew me away.  I have never forgotten that experience or the lessons it taught me about what can be learned from people outside my business. 

The Real Secret to Sustainable Change 

In the end, it’s all about changing the way you play your game.  When sports professionals have poor seasons, they usually make changes including their playing strategy.  When movie actors start to decline in popularity they usually change their direction as a way to build a new image with the hopes of rising again in the future. 

Ultimately, your desire for real change boils down to your commitment to do the things that produce different, better outcomes.  Most people will try and ‘tough it out’ by themselves with the all too familiar return to the ‘old ways’.  A few people will get serious and get help.  These are the folks you read about who made miraculous achievements and realized their dreams. 

Want to change your game?  Don’t just treat it as a word or a topic of conversation.  Treat it as the key to your future and get serious about achieving what you really want! 

About the Author:

Steve Smith works with small business owners and entrepreneurs to help clarify their direction and improve their decision making abilities so they can take action and move forward with confidence.  If you have a question about an issue or important decision in your business and you’d like Steve’s council, go to http://bit.ly/Need-Answers-Ask-Steve for answers that you can work with.

Most business owners today aren’t happy with the amount of revenue their business is generating. They’re working longer hours, applying greater effort, spending more for marketing and receiving lower revenue. So what’s going on?

If this is happening to you, it’s important to remember that those results are in direct proportion to the actions you’ve been taking? If you want different results, then you MUST take different actions.

So if that’s all that’s required, why don’t business owners just do that? The answer may shock you. They can’t stop repeating their past patterns of behavior. Their past patterns have become ingrained into their subconscious mind and have established themselves as habits.

How This Works:

Have you ever listened to art experts accurately identify a recently discovered painting as belonging to a specific artist such as Rembrandt? How can they tell who painted that picture? Patterns… that’s how. Even though the painting may look completely different than all the others that artist painted, his or her patterns, sometimes referred to as their “style,” continuously comes through with each and every painting.

The exact same thing happens to business owners as well. All of us have been mentally conditioned to perform our daily activities in a certain way. These activities have become habits through constant and daily repetition. The problem is that the majority of these habits… more than 80% of them… are non-productive. They simply don’t contribute to the generation of revenue for your business.

Imagine Your True Potential!

Imagine what would happen to your revenue if you could reduce that 80% down to 60%. If you replaced that 20% with revenue producing activities, you would DOUBLE your income? Do you know how easy it is to reduce that 80% down to 60%… or even down to 40%… which doubles revenue again? Exciting, isn’t it?

So, what is the cost to you and your business if you fail to change this behavior?  What if you could devote more time and take action on more revenue producing tasks?

What if you could remove the mental barriers that may be sabotaging your success?

What if you could get laser-focused on your highest revenue -producing activities?

How can you learn to do all of this?  Join me on my upcoming webinar ‘Change Your Game in 2012’ and have your best year ever!  I’m going to show you what to look for that’s holding you back and preventing you from having the kind of business success you truly deserve.  I’m also going to show you how to establish a systematic way of running and growing your business so 2012 doesn’t end up being a repeat of 2011!

Why am I doing all this and not charging for it?

My past 25 years of management, marketing and sales in some of America’s most successful companies has given me a wealth of experience (and hard knocks) on how to effectively and profitably build a business and sharing it with committed business owners is the least I can do to support the small business community.

If you want to participate, simply follow this link http://bit.ly/ChangeYourGamein2012  and register.  I can only accommodate a certain number of people, so sign up today.  Additionally, you will receive my e-book on the 17 tops ways to grow your business just for registering for the webinar.

Changing the way you think starts with taking action on different things.  Committing yourself to learning a new approach to business building is a great way to begin the new year!

Ever thought about why you started your business?  Was it a family operation and you were the next in line to take the helm?  Or maybe the idea that starting your empire was burning inside you as a young person and you were encouraged to follow your dreams?  Maybe it started as a hobby and some well meaning family member talked you into turning ‘your spare time love’ into a going concern.  Whatever the reason, you now have the ultimate responsibility for producing your own paycheck, possibly a payroll and hopefully the profit needed to develop your business into something that will help you achieve your future financial goals. 

So was it a good business decision?  All you wanted was the opportunity to do it your way, right?  Just a little slice of that American dream you heard so much about.  No one told you about all the things you would have to know and do? (government regulations, IRS rules, accounting details and employee problems to say nothing of competition and market changes).  It’s enough to make you want to go back to work for someone else- well maybe not! 

Seventy percent of all jobs in this country are created by small businesses.  And yet, over 60% of small businesses go out of business within 4 years of operation.  By year 5, the closure rate has climbed to 85%!  Can you image what it’s like now after 3 years of recessionary cloud cover!

 The fact is the reason most people start or own their own businesses is contrary to what it takes to run a successful business.  Want to see how this works?  Ask yourself 3 questions:  I call it the ‘Why’ factor.

1.  Why did you decide to start this business?

2.  Why do you run this business the way you do?

3.  Why should customers buy what you have to sell?

Answers could vary widely but should fall into 2 groups; inside answers and outside answers.

Inside answers are responses directed towards your internal needs; your income, your idea, your business, your way, etc.  Answers like these suggest that your main reason for having a business is largely self-serving.  As long as you’re happy, the rest of the world can take it or leave it.  I was going to say ‘eat cake’ but that expression may not be recognizable to most people today.

Outside answers suggest your motives are directed towards something larger and more important than yourself; filling a consumer need, providing for an under-served segment of the population or following a passion to make other’s lives easier or more convenient.  Having a desire to support something greater than you can be a powerful motivator and commitment to succeed.

Take a look at some examples:

 Question #1:  Why did you decide to start this business?

Inside answer:  I couldn’t find a job and I needed to make some money.

Outside answer:  My friends and acquaintances keep asking me to provide (X) because they say they can’t find anyone who can do this.

Observation:  There is certainly more to evaluating the long term success of a business idea or your own personal skill at doing what others can’t find anywhere else.  If you charged your friends the going rate for your service, would they still ask?  Is the market viable; meaning is there enough of a market to build a business on?  Finally, do you like providing this thing you do to such an extent that you could do it all the time, everyday, all year long?

Question #2:   Why do you run this business the way you do?

Inside answer:  It’s convenient for me to operate this way and it doesn’t get in the way of my daily routine.

Outside answer:  I started quite differently but I kept listening to my customers and they told me what was best for them.

Observation:  As a small business owner, your number 1 role is to grow your new found business until it meets or exceeds all the goals you have for it- revenue, income, size, staff, facility, client count, equity value so you can eventually sell it.  Unless you want part time results, you’ll need to think about how to make your routine work with your business.  Good customers will be patient but not if they think you are not committed to their needs.

Question #3:  Why should customers buy what you have to sell?

Inside answer:  Everyone needs this.  I should have no trouble getting everyone I know to buy this!

Outside answer:  I’ve looked at how my competition delivers this service and I can add lots of value to my service so people will see the difference.

Observation:  This is the big question many new business owners never think about.  If you doubt me, ask someone at your next networking function why their product is different than other providers and see what response you get.  Consulmers have more choices about where they get products and services from than ever before so you must be able to demonstrate (and communicate) your value to prospective customers immediately.

Now try this yourself.  See what your responses are to these questions.  The answers will tell you allot about your motives and your eventual success.  To be sure, there are always exceptions to every trend, rule or best practice.  Are you the rare exception or are you one of the 60%+ who will be working for someone else within 4 years of your new venture’s birth?

Here’s my point.  Find a very successful business owner and you’re sure to find out that the thing that drove their success was the passion, the desire or the need to serve someone else.  If you keep this thought in mind and go back and ask yourself the three questions above, how different would the answers be?

Food for thought.  Cake, if you’re feeling nostalgic!

Additional resources to help you with this topic:

If you are on your way in your business but are concerned about what might be missing in your approach and want to find out from a professional coach who can give you some objective, candid feedback about what to do, visit my site at http://www.growthsourcecoaching.com/Need-Answers-Ask-Steve.html and ask your question.  I’ll give you some insights and ideas that will help you make better decisions and be able to move forward.

Originally posted 2011-10-03 09:04:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter