TO DO – Make a WILL DO TODAY LIST

How can we best start the day off right? How can we win the daily war against distractions and interruptions which unfortunately abound? How can we reliably get more of what matters to us actually done each day? 

Simple…make a WILL DO TODAY LIST every day and stick to it. A WILL DO TODAY LIST is a short list of just a few important things that you will do without interruptions today. This really helps a lot.

Start by listing ALL THE THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO DO, all of them. This list could turn out to be several pages long. Next, transfer the most important of all those things to a second list called MUST DO. Finally, transfer a few of those items, a manageable amount, to your WILL DO TODAY LIST.

Do this last transfer to the WILL DO TODAY LIST at the end of the previous workday, just before you go home. Then when you start your next workday, keep your WILL DO TODAY LIST right in front of you, where you cannot miss seeing it, and start working through it. Start with the most difficult item on it and move to the next most difficult and so on. This way you’re always going from hard toward easy which helps cut down on procrastinating.

After a few days, based on actual experience, you will determine just how much or how many things you can predictably accomplish in one workday. And from then on you can realistically create your WILL DO TODAY LIST comprised of just enough things you predictably can get done in one workday. Now you’re set. Now victory can occur more often. Simple and neat huh. Yup.

We like positive habits. We don’t like negative habits. Positive habits are good. Negative habits are bad. Everyone understands this. Make the DO TO TODAY LIST a new habit. You’ll be glad you did. 

HOW TO LEAD PEOPLE SUCCESSFULLY 

Adapted From Many Sources And A Boat Load Of Common Sense

A Small Business Is Not A Little Big Business. It’s a lot different. Home Town Bank is not a little Wells Fargo. Mike’s Corner Store is not a little Safeway. Coffee Shop Cute is not a little Starbucks. There are huge differences between small businesses and big businesses.

In a big business management and leadership are very different animals. In the realm of big business, leadership is about formulating the vision, defining where the enterprise is going and how it will get there. While management is about taking raw talent (the employees) and turning it into performance aligned with the vision as set forth by the leader. 

In the realm of small business, leadership and management is one in the same. The small business owner does it all. He leads and manages at the same time. There’s no choice about it.

If you run a Small Business, you must IMMEDIATELY rid your mind of the word “manager” and replace it with the word “leader.” Now let’s look at LEADERSHIP and get a new understanding of what that’s all about.

I define leadership by talking about what a leader does. 

A LEADER GETS PEOPLE TO WILLINGLY AND SUCCESSFULLY—AND WITH A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF SUPERVISION—START AND COMPLETE THINGS THE LEADER WANTS DONE.

WHAT KIND OF THINGS? THINGS THE LEADER'S PEOPLE MAY ALREADY BE DOING, THINGS THEY MAY NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF, THINGS THEY DON’T THINK ARE POSSIBLE, THINGS THEY THINK OTHERS CAN DO BUT THAT THEY CANNOT, THINGS THEY’RE AFRAID OF, THINGS THAT WILL MAKE THEM FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE, THINGS THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO, THINGS THEY FEEL MIGHT RESULT IN THEIR HUMILIATION OR EMBARRASSMENT, THINGS THEY MAY FEEL ARE UNETHICAL, IMMORAL, OR ILLEGAL, THINGS THAT THEY FEEL ARE TOO DIFFICULT OR TOO DANGEROUS, OR THINGS THEY JUST PLAIN DO NOT WANT TO DO AT ALL. A LEADER GETS PEOPLE TO WILLING AND SUCCESSFULLY START AND COMPLETE ALL THESE KINDS OF THINGS. [Note: Hopefully when you lead, you will not ask or insist that your people do things that will actually result in their humiliation or embarrassment or that are indeed unethical, immoral or illegal.]

ONE OF THE HALLMARKS OF A WELL RUN BUSINESS IS THAT THE LEADER CAN LEAVE HIS ENTERPRISE IN THE HANDS OF HIS EMPLOYEES FOR HOURS, EVEN DAYS OR WEEKS AT A TIME…WITHOUT WORRY.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT, AND CANNOT AT PRESENT, DO YOU AT LEAST KNOW HOW TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN? YES OR NO.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO LEAD SUCCESSFULLY? IT TAKES ACCURATE PRODUCTIVITY-MONITORING SYSTEMS. SKILLED EMPLOYEES YOU CAN TRUST. AND CONSISTENT COMPETENT EXECUTION OF WELL-CRAFTED GAME PLANS WITH AUTOMATIC COURSE CORRECTION PROCEDURES IN PLACE.

TAKEN TOGETHER AS A UNIT THESE KEY THINGS CREATE A NO-WORRY-WALL BETWEEN THOSE WORKING ON YOUR BEHALF AND YOU, WHILE YOU ARE OUT FISHING OR DOING ALL SORTS OF OTHER THINGS OF YOUR CHOOSING WHATEVER THEY MIGHT BE. WE CALL THAT NIRVANA.

So let’s look into the HOW a bit more.

Leading is about Motivation: When you are leading people you must find all sorts of ways to get your people to become motivated and stay motivated so they can to do their jobs well and with pride. This means you must inspire, encourage and coach with words and show the way by personal example.

You must have a Clear Plan of what must be done…and Identify Your Goals: What are your specific measurable goals? Do you have hourly, daily or weekly targets your team must meet? What about your new goals such as reviewing productivity? Write down everything you want done and post this list prominently so there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind about what you want. This will be your checklist. Of course this list will change over time, it is a living document. Some things may stay the same, but others may change depending on a whole lot of things. Review your list frequently, with a critical eye, and revise it when necessary.

Communicate your Expectations Verbally but also in Writing: Little memo forms are great for doing this, each individual on  your team gets a copy and so do you, do you can keep track. Solicit feedback from the people you’re leading. Know what they expect from you too. Address any discrepancies immediately and clearly. And should you discover that you have a disruptive personality or person who fails to perform up to your expectations and who cannot be rehabilitated, you must take all steps to get rid of him or her as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Don’t fall in love with your team members.

Know your team: You need to know individual strengths and weaknesses for each team member. John works extremely fast but occasionally misses some of the details. Jane is incredibly thorough but has issues with the volume of work processed. Bill has spectacular customer relationships but can never say “no” to people whereas Mary has excellent technical skills but falls short in people skills. You really need to know all this very, very well. You will use this knowledge to balance the productivity of your team.

Meet with your team members: YOU MUST TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE. This takes time but it a MUST DO. Regularly occurring one-on-one meetings are critical to good business performance and profitable growth. Your meetings provide you with opportunities to:

• Give feedback on job performance: Discuss the previous week’s objectives including what went well, what areas might improve for next time and how that improvement might be obtained.
• Outline the goals for the next meeting: These are typically referred to as “action items” and will form the basis for the next weekly production review.
• Learn about staff issues: Once in a while you’re going to be a bit out of touch. And you absolutely must realize that. The only way to keep track of issues that affect the performance of your team is to meet and talk with your team.
• Ask for ideas: Your staff wants to feel engaged. Without exception, the number one motivating factor behind people leaving a job is poor leadership–and that very often stems from people feeling ignored.
• And conduct a regular Monday Morning Huddle with everyone who reports to you.

Document team activities: The performance of your business will be determined by your team’s performance, so make sure you keep a written record of issues and accomplishments. This will be especially important if there are significant issues that arise. Problems are expected. How you and your team handle those problems must be a focus of your efforts.

Show up in their workspace: Employees expect you to stay in your seat. Don’t. Once a day, get up and walk over to the desk of someone you haven’t spoken to recently. Take two minutes to ask her what she’s working on. Once she’s done answering, respond “What do you need from me to make that project/transaction successful?” Message to employee: I know who you are, I’ve got high expectations—and I’ve got your back.

Look for the Pirate: The Pirate in the room questions the status quo and provides ideas on doing things differently. The Pirate has a loud and bold voice that unflinchingly challenges authority, and every time he opens his mouth you can count on at least one third of the people in the room rolling their eyes. It sometimes seems like the Pirate brings every single issue up for debate (whether it needs to be debated or not) and takes personal joy in being on the opposite side—simply to champion an alternate point of view. He enjoys rocking the boat because he feels he’s doing the company a favor by not letting everyone get too comfortable and complacent. A ship might be safe in the harbor, but that’s not why ships are built. The Pirate can be an invaluable source of insight and information for you. Pay attention to your Pirate.

Reward Performance: This doesn't always mean money. Money is nice, but it’s not a primary motivator for on-the-job performance. Recognition is much more effective. If you can, grant performance leave (an extra day off for doing something exceptional). Make the rewards regular and make them attainable but not overly difficult to achieve. When you give a reward, make it well known. Smile and say “thanks a lot,” a lot.

Be Decisive: When asked for your opinion, you should have it well thought out and present it persuasively. Waffling and stalling is no good. For big decisions, set a deadline and meet it. If someone offers an argument that convinces you to change a decision, acknowledge it and embrace the new idea completely.

Be Consistent and Flexible: As a leader your actions and reactions must be consistent. You don’t want to be the type of leader that everyone asks what kind of mood you are in before they approach you with an issue. Being flexible is important too and it does not conflict with being consistent. You must remain flexible to change directions, change rules, and change resources to remain competitive.

Job Descriptions Matched To The Work To Be Actually Performed: Jim Collins, author of “Good To Great,” tells us that our people come before assignments, that we must get the right people on the bus before we start the journey. Therefore, you will need crystal clear descriptions and clarifications of what you want done, specifying the talents, attitudes, experience and education you require from your employees to make that happen. These descriptions must be precise, pristine, accurate and kept up to date. Remember, a positive attitude with poor skills is more likely to help your success than great skills with a poor attitude. Get this right. Then hire slowly, take all the time you need. Go for good quality people. Never offer a job to anyone until you do a thorough background check, both criminal and credit. Never settle for less than what you truly require or you will be disappointed.

AND, have as much fun as possible all the time. Work is work but everyone ought to have as much fun as possible. 

MARKETING:  MAKE YOURS WORK BETTER

What is the most effective, most inexpensive, most personal way to market your offerings you’ve found to work for your business so far? What is that that thing you do that attracts prospective buyers to you every time you do it and results in profitable new sales? What method, modality or avenue makes sales happen in your business? To win consistently in your business you must figure this out.

Let’s look a bit deeper.

1. What’s one thing you’d like to focus your marketing on selling more of right now?
2. What’s the compelling benefit buyers would enjoy when they buy that?
3. What positive emotions go with that benefit?
4. What words and images or sounds take and hold people’s attention to that benefit?
5. What supportive testimonials do you have for proof?

To make more money as soon as possible your marketing needs to work splendidly. Big true fact and no secret either, most business owners have no marketing plan, nothing written, no measurement system, no testing, nothing. Most do not even have testimonials from satisfied buyers.

Where should you start? Well, it would be wise to answer a few elemental marketing questions such as the following.

1. What do you sell? 
2. What are the benefits? What’s your proof?
3. Who are your buyers?
4. Why should people buy from YOU?
5. What’s your Compelling Marketing Message?
6. What are your options for attracting people? 
7. How much can you afford to spend?
8. How much of your time? What should be your marketing schedule? 
9. How will you track results?
10. What’s missing? How can you close the gaps?

Start generating answers to these questions then tackle the money thing. Instead of spending a lot of your money on advertising, invest your time instead. Put on an event. There are some costs associated with this but not as much as a full page yellow pages ad. Conduct a survey at your front counter or over the phone. Cross sell and up sell, you should be doing this all the time already. Offer incentives to current clients and customers. Solicit recommendations. And systematically go after referrals. All these activities ought to personally involve YOU and ought be performed and evaluated systematically.

Remember, marketing is everything you do in your business and it must work or you will not be happy. It’s not rocket science. It takes careful planning and systematic implementation. And even though you probably did not go to school to learn marketing, you can still master it.

To Win, Make it Personal, Inexpensive, And Keep At It. 

DOUBLE AND HALF

Let me put this as simply as I can. If you own a small business... and if your business is viable, that is... if you can answer a resounding YES to 13 Simple Questions, then you are poised and ready to... wait for it... DOUBLE YOUR INCOME and cut the time you spend working in HALF. 

We absolutely, positively know how to make this happen. In any economy in any kind of business. 

There is no mystery here, no big secret. Doubling your income and cutting the time you spend working in half requires the application of strategies that are known to work and nothing more. And we know what those strategies are. We do. 

The hard work part of making this happen is getting a resounding YES answer to the 13 Simple Questions.

And once poised and ready, it will take you about two to three years to get there, to DOUBLE and HALF. But, don't you think it will be worth it. Of course. So why not? Why not now? Why not you now?

MARKETING 
MAKE YOURS WORK BETTER

Our CHALK TALK for October is entitled “Marketing - Make Yours Work Better.” It is true that if you put your offer forward, out into the market place, eloquently enough, your stuff will sell big time. But if you’re like most small business people, you do not have a college degree in marketing. So what are you to do? You certainly want to sell more stuff. But how? What are your best marketing options, the ones that will make your marketing work better?

When you can SHOW your target market that what you do solves a problem, makes their life easier or gives them pleasure in some way, sales will happen and your business will take off. 

But if that’s not happening for you now, here are some underlying causal factors that may be holding you back. 

• No written marketing plan
• No clearly identified target customer or client
• Offer is vague or not compelling
• No measurement or accountability
• Not enough time or money budgeted
• Poorly organized
• No follow-through
• Too often caught up in the tyranny of the urgent
• Don’t know how to talk (negotiate) so as to close enough sales

Any one of these things can kill your marketing before you start. If you have one of these issues or more than one going on, then you've found your place to begin making improvements. 

Bottom line, your marketing message must do three things. First, it must CAPTURE ATTENTION. There’s a reason why people will spend thousands of dollars on a TV commercial or on a logo design. These things have to work, to almost instantly grab the attention of whoever see, hears or experiences them in some fashion. 

Second, your marketing message must CLARIFY. It must show what’s unique or special or how what you offer will help or solve a problem or give pleasure to the buyer.

Third, your marketing message must COMPEL. It must be crafted in such a way as to make it so some people, hopefully a lot of people, respond to it by calling or by coming in or by emailing or by visiting your website and eventually, again hopefully, buying from you sooner rather than later.

If the topic "Marketing - Make Yours Work Better" is of interest to you, and you’d like to attend the October meeting of the Master-Mind Alliance as a guest and listen to what we have to say about all this, call us and we’ll make it happen. Who knows, it could change your life.

INTEREST & AMBITION TOO

INTEREST: Most people like doing whatever it is that they do for a living. Some love it. Can you imagine a carpenter not liking wood or nails or an accountant not liking precision with numbers? No. “The most important thing in life is interest.” John Houston, the famous Hollywood movie director said that. So if you own a business, and plan to work at it for years and years, two things stand out. First, you’d better find it interesting. Second, you’d better like it huh. Yeah.

And…similar to INTEREST…we have AMBITION.

AMBITION: How bad do you want that thing you find interesting? Whether it is building the business of your dreams, making a million bucks, becoming famous, finding eternal beauty or just having a few moments of serene peace and quiet, ambition is a part of that. Ambition drives us all…it's what the first psychology teacher in the United States, William James, called the worship of the Bitch Goddess Success.

Here’s the whole quote taken from a letter William James wrote to HG Wells, September 11, 1906. “The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess success, together with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success, is our national disease.”

Now Freud would have us believe that all drive stems from the libido. Sorry Sigmund, success is biologically determined by one’s own ability to stay focused on a task and persistence is a function of an active limbic system. Focus and persistence are influenced by desire and training and practice and discipline and determination and so on.

So INTEREST and AMBITION…what can we say about these two concepts? 

AMBITION fuels our desire for success and INTEREST steers us in a direction in which our success can be achieved. We can say this because it’s true. One the down side, some people are cursed with ambition, it ruins their lives, for they have no interest in anything else, like relationships and love and family. But for most of us, ambition works just fine.

If you’ve ever been in a job interview you may have heard a question like the following. Can you give a brief outline of the tasks which have your specific interest and ambitions? If you are unprepared to answer a question like this it can be devastating, and your chance for a job offer...gone in a hurry.

Then there is this wonderful little question. What would you do IF you knew you could not fail? And if you can answer that, then there is this follow-up question. What should be next? In other words, once armed with the answer to the first question how will you change your life?

Okay, you say, so what now?

Well now we can ask what would make a person with a certain ambition and interest enjoy that particular interest even more. Well, a person with a certain interest might enjoy that particular interest even more if he or she got better at doing it, don’t you think? Sure, that’s logical. They would derive more intrinsic pleasure if they could pursue their interest more successfully or simply…do it better. When they would perform the activities fundamental to their interest flawlessly, that would give them temporary or even lasting moments of joy, right? Yup. They might also enjoy their interest more if they were rewarded for doing it more dramatically, as with a round of applause or more financial remuneration, you know, more money. That would probably make them happier, don’t you think? So let’s talk about how an ambitious person with a particular interest might pursue it more vigorously and successfully, and if it’s business related, make more money doing that thing they love.

Here are a couple of things that come to mind.

Create And Keep A Morning Phrase: “Today I will get all my important stuff done…before noon in fact.” Whatever you say to yourself in the morning, if you sincerely mean it and if you stay focused on it, it will most likely come true during the day. Why not taking advantage of this? Create a simple morning phrase and say it to yourself first thing in the morning and a couple of more times during the morning. Is that simple?

Change Your Work Space: Clean up your desk. Re-arrange the furniture. Add some color to that space. Make the place where you work really enjoyable. So enjoyable that work there won’t be perceived as work anymore. It will be something you love to do.

Let’s do one more.

Wake Up Early: This is not a habit, this is a lifestyle. Don’t just wake up early without a purpose. Be early. Be there before others, while it’s still and quiet. Decide what matters most to you that day. Write it down. Look for new opportunities and embrace them. Waking up early means keeping your eyes open to every available opportunity…and pursuing all your interests with all your might. 

THE 5 MINUTE RULE

We like positive habits. We don’t like negative habits. Positive habits are good. Negative habits are bad. Everyone understands this. We also know that we don’t like wasting time when we’re trying to be productive. I’m not talking about procrastinating, that’s a subject for another article and I have a great deal to say about that. I’m talking about distractions, going pulled off on a tangent or being interrupted. Distractions that take our attention off something we consider important abound. In fact life is one great big hailstorm of distractions…and they can ruin an otherwise productive day or string of days. Ugh! 

The 5 Minute Rule is a Get-R-DONE Habit designed to keep you on the path to success every day. Here’s how it works. 

A few times a day, you stop what you’re doing, pause, take five minutes, and ask yourself this question. What Am I Doing? If the answer is—just what I want to be or should be or planned to be doing—then keep on doing that. But if your answer is—something urgent but not important, or I’m chasing something that has distracted me and working on it is keeping me from being productive, from pursuing what will make my day today a success—then stop doing that thing and refocus your attention and concentration on the important things you have to do or should do with the rest of your day. 

This simple little habit can be one of the best focusing and re-prioritizing routines you've ever embraced.

Now, here’s what some people do make this work splendidly. We all have computers and many of us have smart phones. It is eminently possible to make these devices remind us, with a friendly beep, when it’s time for an appointment or some such thing. So, I recommend you set your computer or smart phone to beep you twice a day, at 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM. The beep is your cue to stop what you’re doing and ask yourself the What Am I Doing Question. 

The rest is easy, refocus and get more done that day.