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Is an Idea Ever Too Big? 3 Steps to Tell
When working with clients who come in frustrated and ‘stuck’ in taking their business forward, I often find it’s because they know what they want but they are afraid to say their ideas are too big. They usually state that their idea is ‘ludicrous,’ or ‘stupid’ – no one will get what I want to do.
Personally, I don’t ever believe that one’s idea is too big or stupid. We wouldn’t be sitting here with electricity or air conditioning, nor would be driving cars or flying in planes. Everything that we have today was born out of someone’s ludicrous idea. It’s just that the people whose ideas we are using today were brave enough, and passionate enough, to do something about them. They were willing to risk the time, the money, the failures, and the laughter that followed them around.
But, somehow, through this perseverance, the laughter died down and genius was accepted. Did they have a fear of failure – yes. Did they worry what other people thought of them – yes. But their passion for their idea was stronger.
If you’re sitting on the fence with an idea to either start or grow your business, I’d tell you to make the leap and jump off – NOW! There is no better time to take your idea and make it become a reality. People are hungry – it’s just finding the right market. Here are three tips to help you make the leap:
- For the idea you have, you may have to do some more research: has this been done before? If so, how have they branded and marketed the idea? What do I know about it and what do I need to learn? This is the time to mindmap your idea, which basically is putting the idea in the middle and then outlining all the steps you think it would take to make it a reality. This is a great exercise to tap into the right, creative side of your brain – no limits or judgements allowed
- Now that you have those ideas on paper, prioritize the steps as to importance; I recommend using the principles of Kaizen and start with the least threatening to override any fears that may arise. List out actions you can take, people or resources you need to make them happen
- You may need to ‘sit’ with these to take them in and get comfortable, which helps to override the fear. Talk to someone about what you’ve uncovered, which could be a supportive family member or friend, or a business coach who can listen with no judgement and give you the encouragement you need to begin
For now, this is about nurturing your ideas, no matter how big, and looking objectively for how they can become a reality. As I say, your possibilities can become your reality; getting the possibilities out is the start.
Summer’s Here – Is Your Business Ready?
It’s so hard to believe that we are already at the last day of the May – as cliched as it sounds, time is really flying by and much too quickly for me. This means that June is upon us and the start of summer season. For us here in Florida, it’s also starting our rainy and hurricane season. This is typically the time when kids are out of school and people have scheduled vacations.
This can mean a slowing of business for some so the question becomes: Are you prepared for this slowdown? How will you ramp up your marketing efforts so you won’t feel the ‘pinch?’ We all deal with it but, if you’re prepared and have a strategy in mind, then the pain should be less if you take consistent action.
Here are some quick tips to ensure your business is ready for any potential downturns and to ensure you’re bringing in clients/customers:
- Review your past practices to see how you survived in previous times; if you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, then don’t. Look for patterns that may have occurred and interventions you took that got you through
- Determine your numbers: money you want to make each month, then break it down to how many clients you need to see at the current rate you are charging for your products or service. You can take this down to your hourly rate; it will all depend on you price your services. For example, if you want to make $5000/month, and you charged $100/hr, then you need to have 50 people paying this number. If you broke that down to weekly, you would need to have roughly 13 clients. This will give you a number to shoot for as a target. You also may want to think about raising your prices; another might be to run the numbers if you did a ‘sale’ on your services to get twice the number in
- Now you need to create an action plan for how you will market and attract these clients, again looking at past practices and what has worked best so you will keep consistent in these practices. You also need to look at past clients – can you go back and reup them as these people already know you, who may need you again or who can refer you to someone they know.
- Determine how you will attract new clients to you and your business – social media, writing articles or a blog, speaking at events, holding your own events, doing a teleseminar or webinar, sponsoring an event and so forth; choose one or two of your top activities and streamline your focus and attention there for the next 90 days
- Be sure to look at your personal/business finances to ensure you can weather the storm and see what you may have to cut back on (eating out, cable, etc.). Look at your spending habits and how you can bring more money in
As our economy is doing better, overall spending has increased which is the good news. But, realistically, these few upcoming months are historically a slow-down for some businesses who need to be prepared and ready to take alternate action. Doing so will ensure you enjoy the summer months both happier and more profitable.
Time to Review Your Accomplishments
It’s that time of year – the review of your yearly accomplishments, of all of the tasks and activities, actions and goals you’ve achieved throughout the year. The benefit of doing so is showing that you can and have taken specific action to get things done as well as highlighting your strengths and forward movement in your life.
How often do you feel that life is passing you by, that you are no further ahead than you were last year? How often do you think ‘ if only I had done…., I’d be ….. (you fill in the blanks)? As time passes, it seems we tend to put the past behind us which then leads to feelings of frustration or disappointment that we did not follow through on things we said we wanted. That is why reviewing what you actually did get done may spark those past memories and create ‘aha moments’ of clarity.
As we are moving toward another new year, which is also the time to plan and prepare for all you want to achieve, you can’t move forward if you don’t know where you’ve been. You can’t make new goals or feel good about the direction you’re moving to if you don’t recognize your past actions and accomplishments.
Take time now to sit and reflect on what you’ve done:
- work accomplishments – include any projects you’ve worked on, new people you’ve met, new skills learned, classes or trainings taken, promotions earned, increases in compensation or earnings, or recognitions
- personal accomplishments – what have you achieved in your home life, family, relationships, health, finances, spiritual, or personal development, or, did you volunteer or give back in some way
- business accomplishments – did you start or grow you business, did you earn your set-point, make new contacts, spoken on the stage, connected to an organization, published a book/ebook, or built a fan base on a social media platform
I think this is a great exercise to really prove to ourselves that we can and are accomplishing daily. If you haven’t been writing them down, or keeping them in a jar, this could take a while but it will be so worth it. Don’t wait until the end of next year to do a review – start today in recognizing all that you do. Life will be that much better when you know you have and you can.
If you’d like help in uncovering your worth and how it relates to moving forward in your future, contact us today for your Complementary Discovery Session to get started; don’t wait until the new year – get started today! http://www.cyscoaching.com
It’s the End/Beginning of the Month – Time to Review & Plan
So here we are on this last day of November – how did it go? This is a pivotal question to answer as it can help you to move forward to tomorrow, which begins another new month. When I start this way with clients, they are always confused with this step first: “shouldn’t we set goals first?” ‘aren’t we supposed to set new goals first?”
While planning involves setting new goals, I don’t believe you can move forward with knowing how things have been first. If you were planning to take a trip, you wouldn’t just pick a location, get in the car and drive off; you would have to get a map or GPS, research the location for how long it would take, where to stay while there and what to do once you are; you’d have to pack appropriate clothes and ensure you have enough money, etc. When looking at goals, there are many components that go into thinking and setting them, in addition to acting on them – the review is the best place to start.
The benefits of reviewing the past weeks include: seeing your wins and what has worked well; seeing the challenges and what has not worked or gone well; finding opportunities either you took advantage of or you missed and why; contacts you’ve made; meetings you’ve attended; projects you’ve worked on – successfully or not; money you made or lost. Depending on your situation – working, not working, or small business owner your review categories may vary but I think you get the overall picture in order to determine your life over these past 30 days.
Armed with this valuable information, you can now look at: the wins so you can continue on; the losses so you don’t make the same mistake; people you’ve met or connected with so you can nurture those relationships; the projects or work you’ve done so you can set the bar for yourself to keep achieving and doing good work; set your money goals for both saving it/budgeting or how much you want to make. These will be the basis for goals you set but now you will be armed with ‘good’ information so your goals will be more manageable and powerful. December can be your best month ever!
IF you would like help on setting and achieving your goals, contact us today: http://www.cyscoaching.com; take advantage of Cyber Monday special today and save!
Biz Planning Made Easy
Now that the end of the year is coming in fast, how prepared are you to take your business forward in the New Year? While most large organizations have been preparing, I find most small businesses have not. Some wait until the end of December to map out their strategy while others wait until that new year has begun. Sadly, there are some who just keep doing what they’ve been doing without a plan (and then wonder why they are getting the ‘same old thing’).
I recently participated in a two-day strategy session to help with my planning, recognizing that I was just given the tools to begin but all the rest is on me. Here are the lessons and strategies I have come up with and hopefully they will help you too:
- Decide – I had to make the decision to begin to plan for 2016; this is often a big key in doing anything but particularly when it comes to mapping out activities and strategies for growing your business. Once you decide, then you can start the dreaming and planning stages
- Prepare – as I’m a very visual person, I like colors and the like that stimulate my brain. So one of the first things I did was buy a really attractive planner; I find it moves and inspires me to use it, which is the purpose of planning. Find one that works for you and your needs, but that has all the key ingredients to motivate you
- Solitude – in order to stomp out all the ‘noise’ in our heads we need to take time to just relax, as this opens the senses up and allows those creative ideas and solutions to come. I would recommend going to a place that gives you this type of peace, such as being at the beach or somewhere outdoors, or it could be a cozy corner in your office or den
- Review – a great first start is to review the past year; why keep on doing actions and activities if they’re not moving your further ahead or are profitable. Go back to your previous planner and look to see what meeting you attended, people you’ve connected with, money you’ve made (or lost), and the wins, such as projects, speaking or presentations you made, any media or accolades, etc. Also review any deficits that may have occurred, i.e. financial losses, projects that you didn’t get, customers you lost, poor reviews and the like. This will give you the big picture on how to move forward
- Map out – armed with all the information you’ve taken time to think about, it’s now time to map out your strategies for what you want your business (and your life) to look like in the coming year. One thing I like to do is set a theme for my business – this can be phrase or word that inspires you; some of mine have include Carpe Diem (Seize the Day), Inspire and Focus Forward. Plan out: money goals (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly); what your priorities are in both your business life and your personal life; books you want to read or write; conferences or events you want to attend; any projects you want to create; people you want to get connected to; incentives or rewards you plan to give to clients or referral partners; social media activities; books/articles/blogs you plan to write; help you plan to take on, such as virtual assistant or social media guru. There may be more for you but mapping out activities in these areas will help you to list specific steps and strategies you plan to take and lays it all out there for you; you will now have your year on paper, which should have a calendar that you can schedule in the days of the week for each activity. Transferring these on to a white board will make them more ‘alive.’
Planning for your business is good business, so to speak. Taking the time to do so will give you the direction you will be taking so on January 1 you are hitting the ground running. Doing this work now will help you feel less-stressed and you can enjoy the holidays more. Let the planning begin!
If you would like help on planning your business for 2016, contact us today at http://www.cyscoaching.com to get started. Let’s rock your new year on the right foot.
