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Surrounding yourself with like-minded, success-driven entrepreneurs is a MUST.
Constantly learning and evolving is also just as important.
That said, I have been reflecting back on some of my greatest lessons learned from both hosting and attending business building conferences.
So, I am going to share with you some of my greatest lessons, condensed into some bite-sized nuggets you can use.
1 - Ask yourself this question - "Are Your Goals Worthy of You?" Read it and ask it again. It is the opposite of what 95% of people ask - they switch the words and ask if they are worthy of their goals. WRONG ! You need to have confidence in yourself and in your vision in life. Are your goals big enough and grandiose enough? Make them so. Dream big … really, really big. And then ask again - is that goal worthy of you?
2 - Start working in time chunks. Set aside 2-4 uninterrupted hours for your projects. Most people will start a project and deal with interruptions as they come through the door, or e-mail, or phone. WRONG! You are now a time-chunker – and people around you need to understand this is the way you now work. Get used to this way of working and you will accomplish amazing things.
3 - Start seeking the valuable lesson in everything you do, hear, experience and pass by. No matter if the project fails or succeeds – write down what you learned from it. Every person you meet and everything you do – has a lesson you can learn. It is up to you to find out what that lesson is, though. And do it before you forget. Write it down in your journal (if you do not have a journal – go get one).
4 - Read your lesson journal – Which lesson can you apply today to your next project? Or your next problem? Then do it. Find a way to apply and use that today – do it and record your results.
5 - No matter what your business is, get your journal out and write down this question at the top of the page - "How can I personally make my clients’ lives better?"
A simple question but very powerful. Think about it – how many companies that you deal with – offline or online – apply this model? Less than 10%, I bet. Most of them are out to get the sale and then move on to the next "prospect." If they actually considered how they could help your life be better – how effective could they be?
For example – there is a company that I personally dealt with offline that sell kids’ educational products. I spent $2,000 on their products about a year and a half ago. And never heard from them again. If they had thought about how they could help me and my kids have a better life, they would quickly realize that they could offer me products to help us at least monthly. I would gladly spend $100/month on my kids’ future and success. And yet, I have never heard from them again. Do you know anyone like this? How does it apply to your business?
6 - Always have your antennae up. Look and listen for ideas, insights, and concepts that you have never thought of. Write them down. Talk to anybody and everybody you run into. Ask them what they do, how they do it, why they do it, what could make their jobs better, their offerings better … what are their dreams and aspirations?
7 - Ask yourself – "What don’t I know that is absolutely critical to my success?" Then decide where you can find that information quickly. Start writing down ideas on how you can work with people that have that knowledge. If you do not have money to pay them for their expertise – how else can you work with them? Any way you can trade services for services or services for products or products for products?
8 - Start writing a book … on whatever you are good at, or whatever you want to be good at. Start researching the industry and successful businesses in that industry. A book is one of the most important tools for building your credibility and for creating publicity for your business. The book does not necessarily have to be one you sell – it can be a bonus for prospects or clients to show them you know what you are talking about.
9 - Find or pick a charity that you deeply believe in. How can you help them accomplish their goals? Possibly volunteer your services or donate products they can auction off to raise funds. Donate a percentage of all revenue you receive to the charity. Find multiple ways to help them, and you will quickly find opportunities knocking on your doorstep.
10 - Start building a dream team. These people can be people in your life now (if they are motivated and positive people) or people you would love to work with. If you do not know them now – think of ways you can give back to their interests, passions or charitable causes they are interested in. Start interviewing these people and find out what makes them tick.
11 - Create your stadium pitch. Get some paper out and think about your product or service. Imagine you have a stadium of 50,000 people at your beck and call. You get 30-60 seconds in front of the audience to convince them of you and your offering. What would you say? How could you get your point across so convincingly that they would be stupid to say no? Now consider the fact that any one of them can walk out at any point in time and do not have to listen to your pitch. Would your pitch change? What can you say to make them stay? What can you say to make them buy?
12 - Consider that there are only three ways you can grow your business. You can increase the number of clients, increase the average sale price, or increase the number of times they buy in a year. Most people (90%) focus in on increasing the number of clients – and it is the least effective and the least profitable. So what can you do to increase the other two methods?
13 - Use a shotgun approach to marketing your business. Think of multiple ways to promote your offering – and have them all happen at once. A very similar strategy to war – air, land, water attacks, each of which has multiple resources and firepower coming at the target (the customer) at once. How does this apply to your offering? What types of firepower will you use?
14 - Test all of your crazy ideas. No matter how crazy they sound – try it out. Find out which ones work. Then optimize how effective they are. Test all of the variations of that idea. Find out which variation works best.
15 - Think of the offering your prospects see. What can you do to educate your prospects to the extreme that they know everything there is to know about what you do? If you are an expert (which you need to be) in your business – how can you show your clients how they, too, can be an expert – before they purchase?
16 - What is your "magnificent obsession"? You must have a passion so deep that everyone who you talk to understands what you stand for and what you want to accomplish. When you build your obsession and ingrain it into your soul – nobody will be able to derail you from obtaining your goal – no matter how negative they are.
17 - A 30-second personal drill you must do. Ask yourself – am I having fun? What could you do to enjoy your life more? How big or small of a company do you want to run (two people or 200 to manage)? What would happen to your business if you decided to take a month off? Once you have these answers, you now understand areas you MUST start working on immediately.
18 - Your customers are marketing geniuses – They know exactly what they want and it is your job to find that out. Find ways to phone, e-mail, fax or talk to them about their needs, wants, desires, passions, concerns, etc. When you know what type of a company they want to deal with – you have your ticket to fortunes. People deal with you because they want you to change their life – do you deliver on their wants?
19 - Always follow your gut feelings, intuition and instincts – They will lead you in the right direction. If you do not know how to tap into these resources or want to build on them to strengthen them – learn how. There are a multitude of resources out there that show you step-by-step how to build on them.
20 - What would you do differently in your business if it was treated like a movie theatre? Admission is charged at the door, and word travels quickly if it is a box office hit or a box office flop? How would your movie be received?
21 - Referrals can be one of the most important tools you can use to exponentially grow your business. There are hundreds of ways to generate referrals. Do you use any of them now? How could you reward people to refer others to your business? If you have not done your job on making your clients happy – you cannot ask for a referral. Are you comfortable asking?
Some of the tools available to generate referrals; pay them per lead, ask your competition, bribe people in a fun way, ask your vendors, automate the referral process, donate to charity, be outrageous, put on an event, publicity, conference calls, ask family and friends, and there are many, many more. The key, though, is to start writing down ideas on what works for you. Then start doing it.
22 - Think about the lifetime value of your clients. Maybe your frontend sale is $40, but how many times will they buy in a month, a year, a lifetime? Add the numbers up – what is one client worth to you in a lifetime? How much do you spend to obtain one new client? Do you see the difference here? Most people spend under $10 to obtain one new client and yet the lifetime value of that client is $1,000. Do you see the problem? For every $10 you invest, you receive $1,000. How many $10 bills will you now invest in client acquisition?
23 - Ask – "Who else does business with my ideal client?" Now go talk to those people – competitors or not. Explain your mission in life and the goal of your business. Find out how their business is doing and if they are looking for new ways to generate business. Start finding ways to deal with everyone that your clients buy from.
24 - What can you say to your clients or prospects to make them ask, "Huh, what did you just say?" Make your statements so outrageous that they ask you to prove it. And then prove it.
25 - If you are in a retail business (which is really what a Web business is) – do not sell the products. Sell the experience of your store. This is the biggest reason retail business go out of business so quickly – they are there to discount products – and that is it.
26 - Set the buying criteria for your prospects. One they have seen your offering, they have to re-evaluate how they decide who to buy from … because you made them realize you are the only one that provides an experience as high-quality as you do.
27 - Plan your long-term strategies before you plan your tactics. Strategy shows where you plan on going, who you want to be, and what types of clients you want as your friends. Tactics show how to get all of your strategy accomplished.
28 - Use risk reversal in your offer. Make it so your clients come out so far ahead by dealing with you they would be stupid not to. Even if they decide that your product is not for them and they return it – they still come out of the deal with the refund and many bonuses that they never had before dealing with you.
Most importantly – TAKE ACTION TODAY.
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