Archive for the ‘Success Strategies’ Category

You have seen an iceberg, right? It looks huge, commanding, a big mountain of ice that seems immovable and unconquerable. 17% of it is what you see above the surface. The other 83% is below the surface and you won’t even notice it (until of course you crash into it like the infamous Titanic disaster). And it is a perfect example of what I call The BARE Cycle™. To fully understand The BARE Cycle, let me first explain the science behind how vicious cycles are created.

What most people see are the results we produce. Now what most people do when they don’t like the results, the 17% visible effect of their actions, is they change the actions. All results are lagging indicators of something else. Every result you have generated in your life is an effect of an action you have taken. The balance on your bank account is a financial result of the revenue-generating actions you have taken. The degree of love and intimacy in your relationship is an emotional result of the actions you have taken in your relationships. The degrees or certifications conferred to you by higher learning institutions or professional development organizations are the results of the learning- and proficiency-demonstration actions you have taken. The weight you carry around, your blood cholesterol level, the flexibility of your muscles, all are results of the diet and exercise actions you have taken.

Results are a lagging indicator and personal score card of how well you perform in that domain of your life.  This is “what you got.” The leading indicators are the actions you have taken, the practices you engage in… in other words, the DOINGNESS or “what you did to get it.” We tend to think we A.R.E. what we do and the consequences of our actions (read the big bold letters in the cycle above clockwise). Every result of your life produces a particular experience: It might be a thought, a feeling or a physical sensation, but you experience SOMETHING.

For example, you take the action of eating burgers and donuts every day for a month. The result is weight gain (or worse, health damage). Your experience might be lethargic physical energy and your clothes do not fit as comfortably, feeling self-conscious about looking overweight, or thinking “how the heck did I let myself go like this?!”

And you might find yourself saying, “Ok, then I’ll take different action so I can get different results.” Sounds logical, right? But how many times you or someone you know go to take different action, and it works for a little while, but then it snaps back to same ole’ same ole’ and the results never change. So we struggle with the actions or the behavior. A part of you says, “I know if I take new action, I will create new results.” But then the part of you that gets you off your butt does… nothing… And then you feel bad about your lack of action, or procrastination. There’s this struggle, or internal conflict, and what happens is that your actions become sporadic, haphazard, and half-assed. You are never really consistent. You do it one day, and you’re excited that you are keeping your word, if only to yourself. Then the next day you slack off, or there’s a fire to put out, or an emergency with the family, or an argument with your spouse that leaves you depleted so you sleep in because you deserve to sleep it off… Whatever… But then you feel really bad that you are slacking off, and you begin to reinforce all the negative thinking, and ultimately the results never change.

This is because there is a missing piece to who you “ARE”… And that is your beliefs:

The reason is all the 83% you don’t see – the beliefs, the assumptions, the identity you’ve declared you are that will not allow you to be, do or have anything beyond whatever is consistent with your beliefs, assumptions and your identity will allow. How you see yourself, what you believe is possible for you in the future, and who you believe you are in the past or right now – whether by yourself, a cheerleader or a critic – you will never be able to exceed the image you have of yourself internally. Ever.

Yes, ever!

It is literally psychologically impossible.  Because who you say you are – your self-identity – impacts your thinking. Not just what you think, but how you think. A negative identity creates a negative structure of thinking (how you think) which creates negative thoughts (what you think).

See, most people ask “What are you thinking?” I would challenge you to start asking “How are you thinking?” The structure of your thinking impacts what you think, how you take the action you take, and ultimately how you experience the results you generate.

When you choose a different COME-FROM, you get a different OUT-COME. The come-from is the beliefs, the identity, the assumptions and judgments you have made about yourself and your place in the world. You can change all the actions in the world. But that’s like rearranging the chairs in the Titanic.  Ultimately, it’s bound to crash and burn, because the come from of the captain was “I know better, I know what I’m doing, nobody and nothing can tell me what to do – not even the instruments on my dashboard telling me we’re headed for an iceberg.”

The results is the feedback system right back to your identity – it’s the ‘I told you so’. That’s why I work on myself every single day. You have to stop looking for someone to give to you what only you can give to yourself, which is your true identity. You can’t wait for someone to give you permission to succeed because most people won’t see possibility for you where they don’t see it for themselves.

(excerpted from my book, “On Fire: 7 Steps to Ignite Your Business and Light Up Your Life“).

This past week I have been in conversations with my private coaching clients. For these advanced business owners, the question is not how to get MORE clients: they know how to do that, and have plenty. The challenge for them becomes, how do you GROW and double your business, say from $250,000 to $500,000 or from $500,000 to breaking the million-dollar-revenue mark, when you are still the bottleneck in the business? Even with team members in place!

So, I asked, “What would happen if we doubled the number of clients you had, starting tomorrow What would happen to your business?

The answer… every time… was some version of “OMG, my business would implode!”

See, it’s a noble goal to want to double your business each year (that’s a benchmark goal I aim for with my clients, and accomplish within our company, virtually every year), but you can’t wear the big-man clothes if you don’t have the big-man foundation. If your current organizational infrastructure, team, systems, and operations aren’t set up to handle the extra volume, or the higher caliber of clients, you won’t be able to handle the new business. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men”, “You can’t HANDLE the growth!”

So what should you do? Where should you focus?

Business Building Block #1 – The Right Systems

I know, this kind of thing is NOT ‘sexy’. None of it is, and if you’re anything like me, you come up with lots of new exciting ideas all day long and the LAST thing on your mind is creating Systems and changing the Organizational Infrastructure of your growing business.

But without these, you can’t HANDLE the growth.

Systems are the reliable processes and procedures that empower your business to consistently produce an excellent result for your clients.

They’re documented best practices that increase your company’s efficiency and reduce costly mistakes; the checklists your shipping clerks follow to ensure that all orders are shipped correctly; the orientation process for all new clients when you begin working together; and the standardized contracts you use with all your new hires and vendors.

Business Building Block #2: The Right Support Team

Every business needs talented people to help make it successful. My insistence that your business’s success be independent of any one person does not mean your team is unimportant. On the contrary, the only way to build a successful business is to have great team members who consistently perform for your company.

It’s critical, however, to ensure that it doesn’t rely on the presence of any one individual. Instead, capture critical know-how in your systems.

Business Building Block #3: Intelligent Business Controls

Controls are the intelligent processes, procedures, and safeguards that protect your company from uninformed or inappropriate decisions or actions by any team member.  They also are your business’s way of making sure that key work is getting done on time and the right way.

There are three main types of business controls: Checklists/Visual Process Controls; Scorecards/Metrics; and “Embedded Controls”.  (Heads up: I talk about all three of these in my upcoming webinar, “Laptop to Leads“, where I share 5 specific controls that we use inside of our companies and how you can apply the concepts in your business.)

Business Building Block #5:  Scalable Solutions

Have you ever watched the television show This Old House? Imagine you’re on it, working on a 75-year-old house with its original electrical wiring and plumbing. What would happen if you plugged in a full complement of modern electrical appliances? You’d blow your fuses, not to mention create the potential for an electrical fire to break out.

And what would happen to your plumbing if you went from a well-water system to tapping into the higher pressure of city water? (Can you say rain gear?!)

Likewise, too much growth that makes increasing demands on old, outdated systems is what causes most growing businesses to fail. The systems that worked for a $500,000-a-year business are no longer sufficient to cope with a $5 million business, and not even close to being adequate for a $50 million business. At first, the additional sales will cause a few “leaks,” but before long, your business will have burst pipes and water everywhere! That’s why this business building block of implementing scalable solutions is crucial.

Scaling your business requires building it in such a way that your business model and systems can be rolled out and replicated on a much bigger playing field. This also means when you’re solving a business challenge, you look for solutions that can be scaled.

In essence, building with scalable solutions mean that the systems, controls, and team solutions you choose are ones that can handle multiples more volume.  For example, this could be outsourcing your shipping to a third party fulfillment company.  Or this could mean choosing your database solution based on your future needs and not just on today’s costs.  Or it could mean tweaking your business model so that your service is more scalable and not so dependent on one or two key people.

Take time today to run an audit on your own business. Where are you performing well? What could you be doing differently? Better?

Your thoughts? Post them here and I’ll respond.

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