Sunday, May 20, 2012

Getting Others to Do Your Work For You

by Paul Serwin on December 2, 2010

How to Make Sure the Work You Delegate Gets Done

Photo Source= jon_a_ross

Time is a precious commodity. There are only 24 hours in a day, and unless you can get by with no sleep, odds are you will have to outsource some of your tasks to either an employee, contractor or vendor. (For a list of comprehensive benefits on why delegating work is right for you, read my post from a few weeks back).

The problem with delegating work to others is that sometimes you are going to have to step in and clean somebody else’s mess. Either the job won’t be done to your standards or something unforeseen will prevent the job from being done.

The problem with not delegating any work to anybody (and trying to get everything done yourself) is that it leads to the downfall of many small businesses and executives. If you stretch yourself too thin, you can’t spend enough time on increasing your revenue and growing your business.

When you are in a position to delegate a task or a project that you need done, you have to understand not only the task that needs to be done, but also the skill sets of your team. I’ve found that before I delegate a task to someone I have to focus on two things- Defining Success and Assessing the Qualifications Necessary.
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DEFINING SUCCESS.

In order to make sure you can properly prepare someone else to do your work, you have to be able to determine and communicate what success will look like when the task is finished. There has to be some sort of deliverable, that you can check, to make sure that the task has been completed to your satisfaction.  An effective leader will assign tasks to the workers or contractors that you know will be able to succeed.

If you can’t identify the successful outcome of a task, how can you determine if a worker is capable of performing it? The failure to define success turns delegation into a gamble, rather than a prediction.

As an effective manager, you will predict success based on the skill-sets of the employees you have as well as the requirements necessary to get the job done.

If you just have work that needs to be done, but don’t know what success looks like with the completed task, you will ineffective at not only managing your people, but also at running your business.

You want to clearly define and communicate the outcome of the task to the person you delegate it to. You want your workers to have a crystal-clear understanding of what you require of them to get the job done. That way, they can focus their entire efforts on the important activities to carry out the job efficiently. Another advantage of clearly defining success is that it will help you be a more effective coach to your team, developing them towards becoming more productive for your company.

ASSESSING THE QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED

After you know what success looks like you will need to assess what qualifications will be needed in order to reach that success.

What kind of person do you need to do the job? What skills will they need? How much time will they need to get the job done?

A few months ago, a client I was coaching was facing a dilemma. He was pursuing a customer, that if he landed, would double his profits for the year. He had his best salesperson working on this potential client for a few months. Unfortunately, things weren’t working out, and it seemed like he was about to lose the job to a competitor.

My client, not one to give up, decided to reassess the situation. After thinking things through, he thought that maybe the gung-ho take-no-prisoners approach of his top sales agent was not the right approach for landing this new customer. Instead, he opted for the laid-back approach of one of his newer salespeople to deal with this potential client. After two weeks, the sale was closed, and everyone was happy (even the original salesperson, who was given a tremendous bonus for his efforts in trying to close the deal.)

Prior to making the delegation, you should reflect on the desired outcomes from assigning the task (e.g., increased sales, decreased complaints) and the types of processes (e.g., better client education, greater empathy) that might be needed to produce the desired result. After you understand what skills you need, you can go ahead and match them to the skills of your team.

Whether you want to free your time, or you want to simply get more done in your business, delegating work to others is a tremendous benefit to growing your business. Make sure when you assign tasks to others, that you can define what success will look like when the job is done. Also evaluate the qualifications that are necessary to get the job done, so that you can match them to the competencies of the people on your team.

If you let your team know what results you expect (and that you focus on results) you will be able to focus on creating those results.

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How Being a Failure Got Me To Taste Success

by Paul Serwin on November 23, 2010

Getting Past the Fear of Failure and Turning It into Triumph


(Photo: Powerhouse Museum Collection)

How many of you are scared of failing? Have you ever passed on an opportunity because you were scared of being seen as failure? Have you ever put an idea on the backburner because you thought that it would never work?

When I first decided to tell people that I was starting my own business, nobody congratulated me. In fact most people that I told all warned me about how risky it was to start a business. A few wished me luck, despite warning me that most new businesses fail.

The truth of the world is that almost everybody that has tasted success has also definitely tasted failure countless times.

Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times in order to hit 714 home runs. Michael Jordan had to fail at making his high school varsity team before fueling that failure into becoming the greatest basketball player of all time. Steve Jobs got fired from the company he started, Apple, before coming back and growing it to the largest technology company in the world.

When you are getting ready to start a new business, or even grow your own business, at some point in the process the fear of failure will kick in. It’s a natural reaction whenever we evaluate whether or not we should take the next step. A lot of times the fear of failure will cripple our ambition to go further.
One thing that separates a great small business owner from an Entrepreneur All Star is how we decide to deal with failure.

First things first, we need to stop the fear of failure. Failure is a good thing. If you fail at something, it means that you tried. Just trying and taking action to make a difference is an accomplishment in itself. The fact that you tried all ready proves that you’re not a failure, even if things didn’t go as you had planned.
In order to make it further in business, you must learn to have the fear of regret. Have you ever passed on an opportunity that now, in hindsight, you realize would have been very lucrative for you now? Do you regret not jumping at that chance?

Whenever you are contemplating whether or not to take the next step, imagine the best case scenario outcome of what you are trying to accomplish. Now imagine 5 or 10 years down the road, how much you would regret not taking action. This should be your first negative emotion when evaluating a new decision- The Fear of Regret.
Now failure, even though it is a negative outcome to your circumstance, shouldn’t necessarily be treated as a bad thing. Like in the examples I stated above, the champions of the world are able to learn from their failures and shortcomings. What’s going to separate us from the rest of the chumps out there is how we deal with failure.

Some people deal with failure in a way that will only breed further incompotence. These people feel that the world is to blame for all of their problems, and never take responsibility for their circumstances. If these people taste success, it’s usually only because they are at the right place at the right time. They will never be successful over any stable period of time.

The people who make a difference, the people who change the world are the ones who can quickly adapt and learn from their failures and mistakes. These are the people who understand that failure is what makes them grow.

Instead of letting failure frustrate and paralyze you, you can turn this into an opportunity to profit from your painful experience. Failure allows you to learn valuable lessons that you could not learn any other way.

Should you encounter a setback, the most important thing to do is to be able to put it into perspective. Immediately try to analyze the situation and whether or not there is a lesson you can learn from this going forward.

Try not to look at the failure as too negative of an experience, or else it can drag you into a long-term rut (and believe me, nobody wants that!) Instead of looking at it as a failure, look at it as an area of opportunity.

Whenever you fail, try to be objective in your analysis. Try to understand why things didn’t go as planned. Being as clear as possible to the reason why you failed will help you to not only move on quicker, but it will also allow you to avoid the same mistake again.

If you are ready to accept that failure is sometimes a byproduct of trying to make a difference, it won’t have as negative an effect. Besides giving you experiences that finally tune your business skills, failure can also build a stronger resiliency and sense of pride within you.

If you can learn from your failures and incorporate those lessons into your everyday life and business experiences, you will have a clearer vision of the big picture. You will be less likely to feel the stress and the pressure of your everyday decisions. By accepting the chance of failure, you won’t be sweating the small stuff as much as concentrating on solving the bigger problems in growing your business.

Success is a reward for hard work. It’s the hard lessons you learn from your mistakes that will allow you to grow as an Entrepreneur All Star and as a person.

What lessons have you learned from mistakes that you have made in the past? How have they helped improve your future results or get you to where you are today? Leave your feedback in the comments!

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Why I Don’t Do Everything Myself

by Paul Serwin on November 18, 2010

3 Benefits of Delegating the Work that sucks your time dry


(Photo: Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane)

The greatest attribute than an Entrepreneur All Star can have is DESIRE. Napoleon Hill said so himself in Think & Grow Rich. When you have that fire in you, the motivation to spread your message to the world is unstoppable. Sometimes though, we fall into the trap of being TOO AMBITIOUS.

When we run our own company, obviously we want things done our way. We want our business to successful so we demand the highest quality of work to relay our company’s message to the public.
You have a strong desire to get things done yourself in your own way.

I’m a perfectionist. I can’t help it, I’ve been one my entire life. A lot of times I truly believe that nobody can do a better job than me. And up until a few years ago, I’d do any of the work that I knew that I was capable of doing.

But not anymore. These days, I delegate absolutely everything that I possibly can. If you are one of those who believes, “I can do it faster myself,” you will find yourself getting into trouble faster. Even though you’re capable of doing things yourself, it’s going to be more profitable to you to delegate tasks to your contractors or employees as much as you can.

Yeah, you’re gonna spend money on paying somebody to do your work. But, you’re gonna save a ton of extra time in your HECTIC day to really focus on the tasks that are making you the most money. If the time you spend growing and developing your business is worth more that $10 per hour (MINE IS- HOW ABOUT YOU?), then why would you spend an hour doing a task that you can pay somebody to do?

Here’s 3 incredible reasons how delegating work will improve your business:

• Other people possess skills that you may not have, but require
As a small business owner, you wear many hats. You have to be a manager, a leader, an executive, a marketer, a sales person. Some of your skillsets can be stronger than others. To help you streamline your techniques, you have to identify what you’re good at, and work on that.

Odds are, you’re going to encounter things in business that you don’t have the slightest clue about. Maybe you don’t know anything about graphic design. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be beneficial to make sure somebody else handles your visual business solutions? If you’re good at writing speeches, but not so sharp at creating power point presentations , then you should delegate the presentation to somebody that can.

This creates a higher quality of work across your enterprise.

Only do the tasks that you enjoy and that you do well. Make sure that these are the tasks that are related to increasing your business. Focus on doing the work that no one else can do, and delegate the rest. As your business grows, those delegated tasks will be handed down to new team members, and ultimately you’ll have many with cross-trained capabilities who you can shift around as needed.

• Increase Efficiency in your company
Given the hectic nature of entrepreneurship, time is a precious commodity.  Delegating work improves your personal time management and reduces your commitments and your stress.  You now can focus more time and energy towards growing your business.

Not only will there be an improvement in the quality of your offering, but your projects are going to be completed a lot faster.

Effective delegation frees you to focus more of your time on developing your overall strategy.

You will also benefit tremendously from the development of your team’s skills. With a more highly skilled workforce, your team will have more flexibility in making assignments and will be more efficient decision makers. Managers who develop their workforce are also likely to have high personal power with their staff and to be highly valued by their organization.
• Build a Team of Cheerleaders for Your business
Showing trust and assigning responsibility gives people pride in their work. The people you assign tasks to will learn new and valuable skills when they work on a task that that they have never worked on before. Once the newly delegated tasks don’t require any training or supervision, you’ve increased the productivity of the entire team.

The key is to hold your employees accountable for the tasks you assign to them while instilling a sense of pride and ownership in their work. You have to get your employees to buy-in on the importance of the assigned task. Empower them to make any decisions that may arise from completing the task.

When you get your team’s buy-in, and you are running a productive force, your team can toot your horn louder than anybody. Like I always like to say to my coaching clients, just because you are in business for yourself, doesn’t mean you have to be in business by yourself.

The success of your team will ultimately rub off on you. When you are capable of creating a team that shares the same desire which got you to start your own business, you will have a solid structure of people than can help you grow your business exponentially.

What additional benefits have you found to your business by delegating work to your team?

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Discover The Fortune Hidden in Social Media

by Paul Serwin on November 15, 2010

Get More Customers and Higher Profits Through an Online Presence


(Photo: UW Digital Collections)

For many small businesses, times are tough right now.  The businesses that are finding the greatest success right now are the companies that are keeping up on the latest technological tools available to us. The internet has really changed the landscape of how to run a business in the 21st century.

Over the past five years, a wonderful thing happened.  The rise in social networking and smartphones has created not only unprecedented marketing opportunities, but also the chance to bring a more personal style of service to the consumer.

Whether you are trying to promote your business on a local or global level, you must establish an online presence.  You should set up a website letting your customers know about your business, as well as be involved in the social networking mediums that your target market uses.

Being online is absolutely a requirement for an Entrepreneur All Star in 2010.  Here’s five advantages that your business will have from leveraging social media and the internet.

  • Reaching a Larger Crowd

Historically, most businesses have been set up with a local focus in mind.  Thanks to the internet, geographic restrictions are no longer a barrier to making money.  You can develop relationships with vendors who are halfway around the world.  You can market to customers anywhere in the world, with greater exposure than ever before.  With a tweet, you are able to respond to customers anywhere in the world quicker than ever.

  • Allowing More Local Targeting

Circulation of the Yellow Pages is down compared to ten years ago.   Google is still the most used search engine on the internet.  Have you ever looked up a local business online?  Do you see how Google puts up a map on it’s results page showing you where the business is located?  You can set your business up on Google Local absolutely free.

In October 2010, Google also refined it’s service to more tightly integrate location into searches.  So if you’re using a newer browser, and you type the term “car repair” into the search engine, it will show you the local results for “car repair” first.

  • Building a New Soap-Box

Social media is a new medium in marketing.   Through your website and your social networking you are developing a new way to reach out to your customers, while giving them even more ease-of-access to doing business with you.  Even if you are just a local firm, your online presence will allow you to be competitive with national companies.

You can also set up an online storefront .  Imagine selling your products, merchandise, services 24 hours a day, whether you are there or not.

  • Building a Community with Your Customers

The best form of marketing is word-of mouth, right?  Developing a brand online allows you to create a community with your target market and your customers.  Making a Facebook business page, and encouraging your customers to Like your page whenever you interact with them allows them to deliver word-of-mouth for you online to all of their friends, followers and subscribers.

  • Cutting Costs

A basic social media strategy can be set up for free, in a matter of minutes.  You can set up a Facebook fanpage in the time in takes to read this post.  The same can be said for registering your business with Google.

Your online presence will also reduce promotion costs.  Because you can market to a more targeted audience, you can cut your marketing expenses while increasing your results.

I do offer a service, where I can help you develop and execute an effective social media strategy and campaign for your business.  For more information, email me Paul@profitoutbreak.com.

My challenge to you is to a survey of your customers.  Find out how many of them are online and how many hours they spend each week.  Ask them what their favorite websites are to visit, and what they like about them.  Find out if they visit any local websites.  With this information, your customers will tell you what they are looking for from YOUR website.  Find out what these sites have in common, if they have similar color palettes, how are they set up.  Also if they tell you they like to use Facebook or Twitter you have the opportunity to engage with these customers on the social platforms they are most passionate about.

What’s been your greatest success in using the internet to grow your business?  What are ways that you use social media with your business?

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Why You Have to Quit Your Job!

by Paul Serwin on November 11, 2010

(But Why You Should Launch Your Business Part-Time)


(Photo: New York Library)

When you’re starting your own business, one of the biggest decisions that you’ll face is whether or not to launch your business full-time. Leaving the comfort and convenience of a steady paycheck in exchange for the lifestyle independence of running your own business always seems like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

But unless you understand all the risks involved and are entirely prepared to weather any storm, I highly recommend that you consider launching your business part-time.

Obviously, certain ventures might require you to be fully involved in your business. And maybe being stuck in a dead-end job and working to pay for somebody else’s dream is the reason why you are driven to be an entrepreneur. If you are stuck in a job that you dread going to, if you are spending all of your productive time at a job that drains your passion for life, I highly recommend you quit your job. You should be seeking a different opportunity.

Don’t sacrifice your sanity in exchange for money. It’s not worth it. It’s also not worth it to quit your job if you don’t have a backup income that will cover all of your expenses-both for your business as well as personally. The stress will pile up on you faster than the bills if you can’t afford to pay them. (I’ll be going over different ways to raise capital for your new business in a special post on this blog in a few weeks.)

Starting out part-time has some great advantages. The stress factor of starting a business is not as great, as you have the steady income and benefits coming in from your job to support you and your family. You can also focus more on developing a strategic plan in how you develop and grow your business.

Starting your business while keeping your job really limits the liabilities you face, while giving you the opportunity to get your feet wet and establish your company. But just because you’re working part-time on it, doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard. You are going to have to bust your ass during every precious minute that you spend focused on your business.

You also have to realize that if you are working full time, running your own business on the side is going to be a tremendous new time commitment. You have to be able to make sure you have enough time to take care of your marketing. You need to be capable to handle any customer service issues that may come up.

To accomplish all this, you will need an abundance of self-discipline, as well as the support of your loved ones. Putting in the commitment of a part-time business also requires a sacrifice of your personal time. This sort of sacrifice can cause strain on relationships you have, if you and your family don’t understand the value of the time you spend working on your business.

Some of my Entrepreneur All Stars have found great joy in getting their family involved in their business with them. Having them help stuff envelopes, answer calls, or relay messages not only tightens your bonds, but also helps you get more accomplished while you’re getting off the ground.

You also can’t sacrifice your production at your day job. The trick is to focus on the task at hand. When you are at work, do your work. It’s very easy to get distracted about your business. While you’re depending on the income to take care of you, it’s wise not to get fired.

So when should I quit my job?

This is a question I get all the time. The answer is not the same for everyone. This decision has to come from a place of peace, because once you take that plunge, there’s no turning back.

Your best assessment is that when you are starting out your business, really envision the type of lifestyle you want your business to provide for you and your family. Clearly define what the lifestyle looks like to you. How much will it cost to live that way? What milestones must you accomplish you obtain profits like that? Work towards obtaining these goals and they will be within reach. Once you can cover your current expenses, including securing your own benefits, then you can afford to quit your job and focus on your business full time.

Whether you quit your job tomorrow or just start your business part-time today, the secret to success is assessing your goals and your commitment level. Regardless of whichever way you choose, remember that nothing happens until you step up and take action!

Did you start your business part time or did you quit your job to start your business? What obstacles did you encounter on your path to success? I’d love to hear your experiences!

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Podcast #2- The Ultimate Marketing Tool for Your Small Business

by Paul Serwin on November 10, 2010

The Unique Selling Proposition


(Photo: Library of Congress)

Click here to download this episode as an MP3 file.
This episode is about the single biggest strategy in business that gets widely ignored by most companies- A Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

On this episode I cover how to find customers that are craving to do business with you by creating a USP that will identify and sell your company to your customers. I not only explain how to create a compelling USP , but I’ll also give you examples of different ways you can strategically implement it into your marketing strategies to make more money.

This is a topic I’m very passionate about. I really believe that having a strong positioning statement to identify your brand and your way of doing business is integral to your success.

Leave examples of your USP or your favorite USP’s in the comment area of the blog.
We also value your feedback in the comments section. If you think you’d make a great guest for my podcast, feel free to email me directly at Paul@ProfitOutbreak.com . You can also find me on Twitter @LeverageSuccess.

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Find a Hungry Crowd in a Feeding Frenzy

by Paul Serwin on November 8, 2010


(Photo: State Library of New South Wales)

4 Things to Consider When Picking a Target Market

No matter how effective your marketing skills or your sales strategy are, you’re probably not gonna be able to sell meat to a vegetarian. (Though I’ve met a few guys that claim they can).

One of the first things I learned in business, is that regardless of what industry you are in, or whatever products you sell, you have to clearly identify who your Ideal Buyer is. Who are the people that need and want what you have to offer?

One of the greatest marketers ever, Gary Halbert once posed the question- If you were going to open a new hamburger stand in town, what is the one thing you would want most? Most business owners would want a high traffic location, some would probably want a better-tasting beef.

Gary’s answer, however, was a “starving crowd.” Your target market are the people are hungry for your product- the people who can afford to do business with you over and over again.

Here are the 4 things that Entrepreneur All Stars consider when choosing their Target Market, as well as some tools to help you take action in identifying your Ideal Buyer.

  • You have to identify your target market

What kind of person uses the product or the services that you sell?

These are the customers that are going to sustain our business, and these are the people that we need to get in front of to be successful. We all have to pre-define who our perfect customer is and develop a profile of your hungry crowd.

I recommend getting as clear and specific when identifying your target market. Throughout this entire process, imagine your ideal client as a real person. Identify who they are and what kind of work they do.  If you’re a business that depends on customers living near you, identify where you need to put your business to give your target market the best access to you.

There are also people that your services are not going to be good for.  So, it’s also important to consider the people that are not ideal for your success.

  • You have to understand the value of your target market.

This goes beyond just how much money your Ideal Buyer earns in a year. You must also understand and identify how much that particular customer is worth to your company over a year’s time. Knowing this, figure out how many of these customers you need in order for you to live the lifestyle that you want.

Don’t get me wrong, though.

Identifying how much they earn is important too. In 2010, the amount of millionaires in the world increased by almost 20%. (If your target market is millionaires, your target market grew by 1/5th!!)

By knowing how much money your Ideal Buyer makes in a year, you can figure out whether or not they’ll be able to afford your services (or how much money you’re going to be able to charge them).

  • You have to know how to reach your target market.

What associations or clubs are they members of? If you can clearly identify what other businesses they might be spending their money with, you might find certain joint venture opportunities available to you.

Try to think about why your customers do business with these companies.  What sort of campaigns do these other businesses use to market to your target market?

When you’re developing your Ideal Buyer Profile, consider what books, magazines and publications your ideal client would read. What kind of programs do they watch? If you can identify certain behaviors of your Ideal Buyer, then you can identify where to focus and prioritize your marketing efforts so that you can effectively reach your core customer over and over again.

  • You have to craft a compelling message to your target market.

Listen to episode 2 of the Improving Business Results podcast, where I explain how a smart USP will get you more of the customers that you want to attract. I also give you the tools and a complete strategy for you to create an Entrepreneur All Star USP that will give you all the advantages over your competitors. The episode will be posted this Wednesday.

The clearest way to develop a position in the marketplace is through a solid Unique Selling Proposition.

All of your communications with your customers must explain not only what you’re selling, but also any benefits of doing business with you. What problems do your customers have, and how do you solve them? Explain how other people, just like them, solved similar problems.

After identifying your target market, explain to them how you provide tremendous value by fulfilling their needs. What is your level of service? You have to position the value and the expertise that you provide for your customers, and how it differentiates from your competitors.

There’s no better time than right now to really evaluate your business strategy for the next year. Download the Ideal Buyer Market Profile and fill out the checklist to identify your target market. You can fill out most of it in the next few minutes. Remember to get as specific as possible. After you listen to the podcast (or while you’re listening to the podcast) develop a Unique Selling Proposition to help expand your marketing strategy.

It’s a feeding frenzy out there.  Depending on what kind of business you have, you probably have competitors that are reaching out to your potential customers every day.  To be more effective in reaching your Ideal Buyer,  you have to know exactly who they are.  Once you can identify your Hungry Crowd, you can begin to feed them.

Here’s a question to all my readers- What other things do you guys consider when researching target markets? What tools do you use to help you find out about your Ideal Buyer?

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How to Start a Business the Easy Way

by Paul Serwin on November 1, 2010

A Look Inside the Secrets of a Business All Star


(Photo: The Library of Congress)

My favorite time of year is football season.  With 16 games in the season, the window of opportunity for each team’s success is very slim.  Each player has to be prepared to make a dynamic impact on every play in order to be recognized as the best.

The same holds true to you if you are planning on starting your own business.  You have virtually no margin for error, because any loss that your business suffers can critically affect your future success.  As an entrepreneur, you have to bring your best game each and every day.  You have to maximize on every opportunity that may come up to increase your profits.

Just like the All-Star players in football lead the league in multiple categories, to be a true Business All Star you must be a champion (or have one on your team) in a variety of categories.  Here are the 5 most important skillsets to master to Leverage your success towards becoming an Entrepreneur All Star.

Sales- Entrepreneur All Stars understand that there’s a science, or some even call it an art, behind making a sale.  You have to understand how to position your company or your product in a way that your customer can understand the benefits that doing business with you offers.  “The fact is, everyone is in sales. Whatever area you work in, you do have clients and you do need to sell.” — Jay Abraham, a Business All Star as a Business Strategist, Consultant and Marketing Guru.  You have to sell to your boss the advantages of giving you a raise.  You have to sell your wife on the idea of where you want to go on vacation.  In order to make money in business, you have to make a sale.

Marketing- Entrepreneur All Stars all know, that no matter what business  you are in, you are in the marketing business.  Nobody will ever come into your store if you don’t have a sign out front.  Nobody will ever call you with an order, if they don’t know your phone number (or even worse-that your company is even out there).  Marketing is the key to bringing awareness to your company.  Entrepreneur All Stars are always capitalizing by presenting their message to their customers whenever their customers need to see it.

Leadership- Effective leadership and management is the single-biggest key to growing  your business.  Every great football team has always had a great leader, someone who’s standard for excellence sets the example.  Every single successful corporation has been run by an Business All Star, someone that can identify the qualities and characteristics that are necessary in order to grow their companies.  Running a business based on a set of personal and corporate values will produce unparalleled results.

Philosophy/Mindset- All Stars are consistently performing at the highest level at all times.  It all begins with your personal philosophy.  In order to be a champion, you must first believe that you are a champion.  The confidence that you bring to the table is what will separate you from everybody else.

Time Domination- To live the lifestyle of a Business All Star, you must gauge the true value of your personal time.  You understand how to prioritize the things that you need to focus on in order to make yourself and your business more profitable.  You must be effective and efficient at dominating time, and understanding how to leverage it into making more money.

These are the cornerstones upon which Business All Stars thrive.  Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be sharing more strategies with you on how to conquer each of these areas in your business. Please check back as I give you a sneak peak into the personal playbooks of the Business All Stars, the peak performers that are in the top 3% of earners.

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Improving Business Results Podcast- Episode 1

by Paul Serwin on October 27, 2010

8 Critical Mistakes that Entrepreneurs are Making Today


(Photo: Library of Virginia)

Right click here to download this episode!

The first episode of the Improving Business Results Podcast is now available!  In this episode, Paul Serwin covers the 8 biggest mistakes that business owners are making today which are preventing their businesses from growing.  He covers different ways to identify, avoid, and overcome these obstacles.  Download it today, and let us know what you think!

Please post your comments, suggestions, or questions below!

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The Trail to Tremendous Wealth

by Paul Serwin on October 25, 2010

Begins with Offering Tremendous Value


(Photo: The Library of Congress)

Every business starts with an idea.  Once an Entrepreneur decides that there’s a possibility of becoming wealthy with their idea, they begin to plan towards starting their own business to be able to monetize off their idea.

Think back to when you started your own business.  When you had the idea of how you would run your company, you also imagined all the money that you would be making.  You envisioned how rich your idea would make you, right?  We all feel that way when we first start out, or it wouldn’t be worth the time (the 65+ hour work weeks) or the effort to pursue it.

We grind away pursuing our passion in the hopes of one day accomplishing the success that we envisioned for ourselves.  Often, we’ll reach that level of prosperity and hopefully even surpass it.

But at an ever increasing rate, there are businesses of all sizes truly struggling. Some only survive for a few weeks or months before disappearing.  Just setting up shop won’t guarantee you’ll make money.  Just having the entrepreneurial spirit won’t guarantee you a spot as an Entrepreneur All Star.

The world of business is very competitive and getting more competitive by the day. In order to see tremendous wealth, you’ve GOT to be in a position that you offer Tremendous Value.  As I say to many of my business coaching clients, a sale is made when the perceived value is higher than the price that you’re asking for.

Customers everywhere LOVE Tremendous Value. A customer will pay MORE MONEY for a product if they can see the value that they’ll be receiving out of it.  When you offer Tremendous Value to your customers, word of mouth will spread so quickly that it may surpass any of the other marketing that you do for your company.

So, WHAT constitutes Tremendous Value? I’ve put together the 3 components that most prospects and customers use to identify whether you’re offering Tremendous Value.

1. It raises their standard of living. Folks have to be able to clearly see they will make more money or live better after they buy from you.  If it is something that will raise their status (something that gives them “bragging rights”- even better).

2. The learning curve needs to be painless. Look, the world we live in is complicated enough. I can’t stand it when I buy something that I want, and then have to spend 3 days pouring through the owner’s manual just to figure out how it works. If it’s too complicated, or even worse-if it SEEMS complicated- the customer is going to look for something easier to spend their money on. Show a prospect that it’s easy and it’ll often be easier to make a sale.
3. It helps people relax and simplify. What your offer should do is help make the customer’s life easier.  When a customer gets a product that changes their life, that makes them think about how they made it through their lives before they had your product, that’s what brings the highest level of Tremendous Value.  Like I said, the world is getting complicated.  If you can make life easier for somebody, Tremendous Wealth lies ahead.

This week, have your sales force evaluate how the value of your offer can be reinforced with these 3  components.  Plan out how you raise the standard of living of your customers, how painless it will be for your customer’s to use your services, and how they most benefit the lives of your customers.

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