BOOTSTRAP: A FORMULA FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

Did you know that there are seven formulas for business success?

Number one, set a specific goal and visualize it as a reality. Play the picture of your goal as already realized on the screen of your mind over and over again. Number two, look for a problem you can solve with a product or service that is high quality and good value. 

All successful businesses are based on products or services that are high quality and good value. Number three, start small and learn your business thoroughly. Be patient. Invest time rather than a lot of money.

Bootstrap Your Way To Success

One of the best ways to build a business is to start off on a bootstrap. This means that you start off with very little money and you grow your business with the money that you earn in the business, rather than outside financing, borrowing, loans from friends and so on.

Test, Test, Test

Number four, test every major move before you invest in it. Test, test, test. Don't plunge into a business. Move ahead carefully, one step at a time.

Number five, expand on the basis of your successes, out of your profits, as you move along. In other words, only expand your business on money that you've earned in the business, not on borrowed capital.

Pick Your People Carefully

Number six, carefully select the people to help you expand and grow. The biggest mistakes you'll ever make will be in picking the wrong people to work with, so be very, very careful in picking the people you're going to work with in your business.

Use Financial Leverage

And number seven, use financial leverage. Financial leverage is business borrowing, lines of credit from the bank, which are based on the cash flow from your successful business.

The whole aim of starting a business is to develop a consistent, predictable source of cash flow in excess of cost and expenses and then to hold to the money. Banks will lend you all the money that you can service as debt with your cash flow.

Start Off Part Time

One final thing that you can do, and I've recommended that many people do this over the years, is if you're starting off with no money, go to work part-time for a business in a field that interests you. It's a great form of on-the-job training. Work evenings or work weekends. Or work on your holidays if you like.

Sometimes a business that looks big from the outside will look terrible once you start working for it. But sometimes when you start working for a business, you start to get a great understanding of how it works and you get insights on how you can improve it.

Learn What You Need To Learn

Remember this, though, most businesses fail because of managerial incompetence. So take the time to learn what you need to know to succeed. Be patient. The time you invest before you start will pay off over and over again in the months and years ahead.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to implement these formulas for business success:

First, be prepared. The number one reason that people succeed in starting their own businesses is that they have the knowledge and experience, in advance that they need to succeed. Do your homework.

Second, start small. Some people think that they can be successful faster by putting all their money up front at the very beginning. The opposite is true. Start small and grow out of your cash flow from successful operations.

THE JOY OF SLOW CHANGE

Most people want success NOW! Or at least they want to
achieve their goals and enjoy the fruits of victory as soon
as possible. Wiser heads, however, understand that
sometimes change takes time.
We live in an "instant" culture. Life moves quickly and
everyone wants instant relief and immediate gratification.
We want to get ahead, make money, make the sale, lose the
weight, or take next year's vacation as soon as possible. I
sometimes think we move so fast that eventually we may even
get ahead of ourselves!
This week I talked with a potential client who fears life
has passed him by. He would like to open a business, make
some "major money and retire while I can still enjoy it."
He sees younger people passing him by and he wants a coach
because he "can't wait another year or two." He wants
financial success and he wants it "now." The man is 26
years old.
That call left me sad and even a bit confused. At more than
twice his age, I wondered if there was any future for me at
all!
Now, before we go too far down this path, let me affirm
that rapid success is a good thing. In fact, I'm all for
it! If you have a chance to make major advances, I suggest
you do so! Seize opportunity whenever you can! When there
are legal, ethical and legitimate ways to take giant steps
forward, you should go for it. Like "Duh!"
But in her wisdom, I think Mother Nature has something to
say about the more ordinary path to success. Healthy,
organic change usually happens slowly.
When plants or animals are taken out of their traditional
environment, most of the time they don't do well. Rapid
changes in climate, diet, or other environmental factors
are usually harmful. Veterinarian even recommends that
we be careful about changing dog's diet from one brand of
dog food to another so as not to upset his system. (This
for a dog that eats anything!)
Even kids who have dreamed of college can suffer home
sickness. People who have saved for years and eagerly
anticipated a visit to another culture can still be
disoriented by language or customs they didn't expect. We
know that people who "win the lottery" often experience a
myriad of problems adjusting to their new situation.
Rapid success is not always a good thing.
That's no reason to slow down! It is, however, a reason to
persist, to be wise, and to "keep on keeping on" if your
success is arriving slower than you would like.
It's a complicated thing. On the one hand, we want to be
quick and efficient. I love being a coach precisely because
it DOES bring success more quickly and more easily. At the
same time, too often we become impatient and easily
discouraged. Sometimes, I suspect nature and life are
teaching us vital lessons while we impatiently climbing the
ladder of success.
We all know that "over-night success" often takes 20 years
or longer. I encourage you to move forward as quickly as
you can, but also to accept that whatever is happening is
apparently the way it should be, at least for the moment.
If you can safely and legitimately speed up the process, go
for it! Learn new skills, get a coach, form a team, "make
it happen." But. "Patience is a virtue" and few of us have
mastered it. Sometimes "over-night success" takes time and
life can teach us important lessons along the way.
Persist. Work hard. Be patient. Never, never give up! Look
for a better, faster way, but in the meantime, trust that
life is unfolding as it should and that in time, you will
get there. "Inch by inch, anything's a cinch."

DO WE HAVE ENOUGH YET?

This week I've been focused on how quickly life passes, and
thinking about the things we will do "some day," as if the
future will magically be more luxurious than the present.
While we can all hope that "some day" things will be more
relaxed and less stressful, I have my doubts.
I recall John Lennon's observation that, "Life is what
happens while you are making other plans" and the oft-
quoted comment that, at the end of life, "no one ever said,
'I sure wish I'd spent more time at the office'." My
belief is that, as a culture, we do too much!
I think there's a useful distinction between ambition and
greed, or between desire and addiction. These may not be
formal distinctions, but I hope you'll bear with me for a
moment.
Ambition and desire, it seems to me, encourage us to be
active, curious, creative and productive. I'm saying that
ambition and desire are not just "good," they are GREAT!
They keep us moving forward, they encourage us to invent
and build, and that's the story of achievement and
satisfaction.
Greed and addiction, however, keep us working long after
the necessity for hard work is over. Greed not only works
us (literally) to death, it prevents us from enjoying the
fruits of our labor along the way. How tragic is that!
Imagine being among the wealthiest people in all of
history, having access to education, travel, medicine,
transportation and entertainment that is the envy of the
world -- and not being able to enjoy it because we want
"more!" Isn't that where some of us find ourselves?
Now, I know it's a delicate and very personal thing. Anyone
who's ever had children, started a business or committed to
any of the other "big things" in life knows how many hours
are required. For many years, I put in 50-80 hours a week,
working full-time while going to graduate school. Trust me,
I remember those long days and sleepless nights! Some things
are important and they require all the time and hard work we
can muster.
So it's not easy to cut back. I understand that. But the
thought of not having time to read, or to exercise, or play
with our children is too high a price to pay for "just a
little bit more." I'm convinced that, as a society, we have
become "addicted" to busy-ness and have succumbed to "greed"
too easily.
I come back to my question, "Have you had a summer yet?"
Have you taken the kids to the beach, climbed a mountain or
played football? Have you read a book in the shade or gone
fishing? How about a nap in a hammock, or reading the
Sunday paper (including the comics) as a family?

LONG TERM SELLING RELATIONSHIPS

Did you know that building and maintaining long-term selling relationships is the key behavior and skill of the Top 10% of all money earners in sales? 

If you could take everything we know about communications, put it all in a large pot, boil it and distill it down into its critical essence, it's about the importance of relationships in successful selling.

The Reason for Success

Most of your success in life will depend on your ability to get along well with other people, and on the quality of your relationships. Psychologist Sidney Jourard, found that 85 percent of a person's happiness in life comes from happy interactions with other people. The reverse holds true as well: 85 percent of a person's unhappiness or problems in life comes from difficulties in getting along with others.

Sell to Many People

Anyone can sell to a few people, some of the time.

But only the very best human relations experts can sell to a wide variety of people, and sell to them repeatedly. The only way that you can make the kind of big money that you desire is by selling more easily, and more often, to the prospects you talk to -- then having those prospects open doors to others through testimonials and referrals.

All top salespeople build and maintain high quality business (and personal) relationships with their customers and sell to them repeatedly year after year.

Decide Emotionally, Justify Logically

We are all sensitive to the quality of our relationships with other people. We are primarily emotional and we make most of our decisions on the basis of how we feel inside.

We may carefully consider all of the logical and practical reasons why or why not with regard to buying a product or service, but in the final analysis we tend to go with our gut feeling. We listen to our inner voices. We obey our hearts. We buy on the basis of how we feel about the relationship that we have with the other person. Where there is no relationship, there is no sale.

Focus on the Key Variable

Everything that you ever learned of value in the profession of selling, regarding your product or service, or personality, is only helpful to the degree to which it contributes to the building of high quality relationships with customers.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, become a relationship expert in sales. Focus first on the relationship, above all, and the sale will take care of itself.

Second, take care of your relationships once you have built them. Never take them for granted.

WHAT'S IN YOUR FUTURE?

My observation is that people tend to live their lives in
one of three time zones, the "past", the "present" or
(rarely) in the "future."
Living in the past, either glorifying the "good old days"
or replaying some terrible past event over and over again
clearly limits us and doesn't work very well. Fortunately,
not too many people do this.
Most of us tend to focus on the present, and that's both
good and bad. Years ago, Ram Das made his famous
recommendation to "be here now." We are often reminded that
the present is the only moment over which we have control,
the only time in which we can take positive action. We
cannot change the past, and while we can influence the
future, obviously we cannot control it. Living in the
present and making every moment count makes sense and I
highly recommend it. Carpe Diem-"seize the day!"
At the same time, however, it's critical to notice that too
many of us live ONLY for today. We keep our lives so full
and so busy that getting through the day is about all we
can manage. Some live for "experiences" and become addicted
to drama and excitement, or to simply being "busy" all the
time.
As consumers, some of us over-spend and fail to save. We
are urged to "fly now, pay later" and while that can be fun
in the short-term, it is a tragically narrow focus that
distracts us from creating the future we want.
The average American saves less than two percent of their
income. In 2001, while the average homeowner had a median
net worth of over $171,000, the average renter had a net
worth of less than $5000. Yes, renters tend to be younger,
but that's an astounding difference! According to the
Employee Benefit Research Institute, less than a quarter of
Americans use a 401(k) and less than 15% have an IRA!
According to cardweb.com, the average American family has
seven credit cards and owes about $9000. That's incredible,
and frightening.
One of the great predictors of future success is the
ability to delay gratification.
Successful students study now to pass the test at the end
of the quarter. Successful entrepreneurs work long hours
today to enjoy the fruits of a successful business for the
rest of their lives.
Creating wealth is largely the ability to live (and act) in
the present while keeping one eye focused on the future.
Sure, winning the lottery or inheriting a fortune is always
a "possibility" but the surest way to create wealth, retire
comfortably and leave a legacy is to delay gratification,
live below your means, invest for the future and reap the
rewards of compound interest.
The winners in life have always known how to live full-out
in the present, while also planning (and acting) for their
future. They know how to enjoy the moment, while resisting
the temptation to act impulsively. They know how to plan,
and how to implement the plan day by day. They know the
future is "where it's at." They know the future will not
take care of itself unless they plant the seeds and prepare
in advance.
Save for your future. Live within your means. Use credit
wisely. Use tax-advantaged savings and retirement plans to
create the future you want. Buy your own home. Put the
miracle of compound interest to work FOR you, rather than
having it work against you.

10 REASONS WHY TOP SALES PEOPLE ARE SUCCESSFUL

1.Top Salespeople Do What They Love to Do

All truly successful, highly paid salespeople, love their sales career. You must learn to love your work and then commit yourself to becoming excellent in your field. Invest whatever amount of time is necessary to improve your sales career; pay any price; go any distance, make any sacrifice to become the very best at what you do. Join the top 10 percent.

2. They Decide Exactly What They Want

Don’t be wishy-washy. Decide exactly what it is you want in life. Set it as a goal for your sales career and then determine what price you are going to have to pay to get it. According to the research, only about 3 percent of adults have written goals. And these are the most successful and highest-paid people in every field. They are the mover and shakers, the creators and innovators, the top salespeople and entrepreneurs.

3. They Back Their Sales Career Goals With Perseverance

A key to success in sales is to back your goal with perseverance and indomitable willpower. Decide to throw your whole heart and soul into your success and into achieving your sales career goal. Make a complete commitment to improve your sales career and become one of the most highly-paid salespeople. Resolve that nothing will stop you or discourage you.

4. They Commit to Lifelong Learning

Your mind is your most precious asset, and the quality of your thinking determines the quality of your sales career. Commit yourself to lifelong learning. I cannot emphasize this too often. Read, listen to audio programs, attend seminars, and never forget that the most valuable asset you will ever have is your mind. As you continue to learn, you will eventually become the one of the most valuable salespeople in your company. The more knowledge you acquire that can be applied to practical purposes, the greater will be your rewards and the more you will be paid. Be sure to check out my favorite sales training programs if you need resources.

5. Top Salespeople Use Their Time Well

Your time is all you have to sell. It is your primary asset. How you use your time determines your standard of living. Resolve therefore to use your time well. Begin every day with a list. The best time to make up your work list is the night before, prior to wrapping up for the day. Write down everything that you have to do the next day, starting with your fixed appointments and then moving on to everything you can think of.

6. They Follow the Leaders

Do what successful people do.  Follow the leaders, not the followers. Do what the top salespeople in your company do. Imitate the ones who are going somewhere with their lives. Identify the very best salespeople in your field and pattern yourself after them. If you want to become one of the best salespeople in your company, go to the top earners and ask them for advice. Ask them what you should do to improve your sales career. Inquire about their attitudes, philosophies, and approaches to their work and their customers.

7. They Know That Character is Everything

Guard your integrity as a sacred thing. Nothing is more important to the quality of your life in our society. In business and sales success, you must have credibility. You can only be successful if people trust you and believe in you. In study after study, the element of trust has been identified as the most important distinguishing factor between one salesperson and another, and one company and another.

8. They Use Their Inborn Creativity

Think of yourself as a highly intelligent person, even a genius. Recognize that you have the great reserves of creativity that you have never used. Say aloud, over and over, “I’m a genius! I’m a genius! I’m a genius!” This may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn’t. The fact is that every person has the ability to perform at genius levels in one of more areas. You have within you, right now, the ability to do more and be more than you ever have before.

9. They Practice the Golden Rule

Practice the Golden Rule in all your interactions with others. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Think about yourself as a customer. How would you like to be treated? Obviously, you would want salespeople to be straightforward with you. You would want her to take the time to thoroughly understand your problem or need and then show you, step by step, how her solution could help you improve your life or work in a cost-effective way. If this is what you would want from a salesperson selling to you, then be sure to give this to every customer you talk to.

10. They Pay the Price of Success

Finally, and perhaps more important than anything else, resolve to work hard. This is a great key to success in life. The key to success in selling is for you to start a little earlier, work a little harder, and stay a little later. Do the little thing that average people always try to avoid doing. When you begin your workday, resolve to “work all the time you work.” Don’t waste time. Get going. Move fast.

FEAR OF FAILURE

Did you know that the fear of failure is the single greatest obstacle to success in adult life?

Taken to its extreme, we become totally pre-occupied with not making a mistake, with seeking approval for security above all other considerations. We are essentially paralyzed from moving forward or taking action.

The experience of the fear of failure is in the words of "I can't", "I can't."

We feel it in the front of the body, starting at the solar plexus and moving up to the rapid beating of the heart, rapid breathing and a tight throat. We also experience this fear in the bladder and a feeling of needing to run to the bathroom.

The Fear of Rejection Holds You Back

The second major fear that interferes with performance and inhibits expression, is the fear of rejection. We learn this when our parents make their love conditional upon our behavior. If we do what pleases them, they give us love and approval. If we do something they don't like, they withdraw their love and approval-which we interpret as rejection.

The Roots of Type A Behavior

As adults, people raised with conditional love become preoccupied with the opinions of others. Many men develop Type A behavior which is characterized by hostility, suspicion and an obsession with performance to some undetermined high standard.

This is expressed in the attitude of "I have to, I have to," and is associated with the feeling that "I have to work harder and accomplish more in order to please the boss" who has become a surrogate parent.

The Most Common Trap

More than 99 percent of adults experience both these fears of failure and rejection. They are caught in an endless cycle trap of, "I can't, but "I have to," "I have to," but "I can't."

The Key to Peak Performance

The antidote to these fears is the development of courage, character and self-esteem. The opposite of fear is actually love, self-love and self-respect. Acting with courage in a fearful situation is simply a technique that boosts our regard for ourselves to such a degree that our fears subside and lose their ability to effect our behavior and our decisions.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to increase your self-esteem and self-confidence and overcome your fears.

First, realize and accept that you can do anything you put your mind to. Repeat the words, "I can do it! I can do it!" whenever you feel afraid for any reason.

Second, continually think of yourself as a valuable and important person and remember that temporary failure is the way you learn how to succeed.

BRIDGING THE GAP: FROM THEORY TO RESULTS

This week I've been struck by the huge gap between what we
know, and what we do. I was walking through the self-help,
how-to, and "recovery" sections of a local bookstore and
there must have been over a thousand titles, although I
didn't try to count them all.
It hit me that we are far more willing to study "what to
do" or "how to do it" than to truly rock the boat of our
own lives. Theory is always so much easier than action.
Now don't get me wrong! You earned three Master's degrees,
then kept going for  Ph.d. Read every
day and you love books. I love learning! In IMPACT I'm constantly
encouraging you to attend the seminars, hire the coaches,
and do whatever it takes to learn the skills you need.
But the fact remains that knowing "what" to do is very
different than actually doing it.
Sometimes I think there must be a million books and tapes
and classes for sale on the Internet, every one of them
promising to teach you the "secrets" or the "path" to
riches or instant success of one kind of another. And if
you truly do not know the skills or do not have the tools,
you should make the investment.
But. Most of us already either know, or at least have some
clues about what we need to do. How can we get ourselves to
do what we already know?
First, get familiar with the difference between
"Intelligent Choices" and "Automatic Choices."
Intelligent Choices (IC's) are the things you know you
should and ought to do. They are the steps and actions, the
decisions and practices that will take you toward your
goals. They are the steps you wrote down on your goals
sheet, the plans you made, the dreams you dream. They are
easy to think about; but they are NOT habits. They may not
be easy, at least at first. They are obvious, but not
necessarily easy.
Automatic Choices (AC's), on the other hand, are very easy.
They are familiar habits and you've been doing them for
years. Your family and friends "expect" them of you. They
don't cause problems and they don't upset anyone. They
involve no risk, except that they keep you trapped in your
familiar rut.
An IC is to save some of your income and invest for the
future. It's "hard" and may seem uncomfortable. It may
involve sacrifice, but it's a smart thing to do. In
contrast, a common AC is to whip out a credit card for an
impulse purchase, or to pick up take-out because you're
"too tired" to cook.
Here's a suggestion: First thing every morning, take ten
minutes to decide on a few IC's you will do today. Write
them down. Don't make this hard. Rome wasn't built in a
day. Jot down three or four smart things you want to do
today. Then at the end of the day, calmly review your
actions to see if you did them. Be honest. If you didn't do
them, do not beat yourself up! Just tell the truth and re-
commit to doing them tomorrow. If you did them,
congratulate yourself!
Remember, AC's keep us trapped in the "same old, same old."
IC's are the keys that unlock the future. IC's are the
building blocks, the steps or path or recipe to everything
you want in life. Understand the distinction and use it to
your advantage.

WHAT IS YOUR GREAT STRATEGY?

Your "strategy" is simply the plan or steps, or blueprint,
you will use to achieve your goals. The biggest problem I
see as a coach is that most people have wonderful goals but
match them with a terrible strategy! Let's talk about that.
The talk-show host, Clark Howard, quoted a survey
that found almost 20% of Americans feel the "only way to
achieve financial security is by winning a state lottery."
As Clark points out, that is a terrible strategy because
it's flawed on so many levels.
First, you can't win the lottery! Why would anyone play a
game that is scientifically designed to make sure that over
the long-run, you CAN'T win?! And yet gamblers the world
over keep right on playing. (Isn't human behavior
fascinating?)
Secondly, there are so many other strategies that actually
work! Saving ten-percent of your income and investing in
boring old mutual funds will work. Improving your skills
and increasing your income will work. Starting a small
business often works. There are literally millions of
opportunities to become wealthy and they are all around us.
So, what's your strategy for financial independence? Is it
working?
Or, here's another example: Shedding those extra pounds.
The most common strategies I see are: (1) eating less, (2)
eating differently, (3) exercising more, or (4) a
combination of the first three. Any of these strategies
will work, although dieting seems to have the lowest long-
term success. The key question is simply, what is YOUR
strategy for achieving your goal?
Most IMPACT readers know to write down their most
important goals. We have goal-setting books and seminars
and every business focuses on them. Unfortunately, fewer people
follow-up by defining an efficient and effective strategy
for success.
For each of your critical goals, ask yourself these
questions:
1. How have other people done what I want to do?
2. What beliefs, skills and tools did they use? Do I have
(or can I get access to) similar beliefs, skills and tools?
3. Who will help me along the way? Do I have a MasterMind
Alliance to support me?
4. Given my current situation, what three steps can I take
today? How can I get started?
You may want to think about the most difficult problem
you'll face and make plans to over-come it. You may need to
acquire capital or other resources. How will you do that?
Let me repeat, many people have wonderful goals but use
ineffective strategies to pursue them. I like the saying
that "hope is not a strategy," and similarly, I observe
that counting on "making a killing" or waiting for "luck"
to come your way is rarely effective.
Take time to develop an elegant strategy. Get a coach or
mentor to show you the way. Use a map, or design a
blueprint. Whatever you call it (I sometimes use the term,
"recipe") figure out how you will get from where you are to
where you want to be a year from now. Then, day by day,
work your plan. I know of no other reliable way to
transform your life.