The Drawing Power of the Mind

 

 While I was mentoring an advisor the other day the whole idea of goals and focus came into questions. WHY, was the question she asked… “Why is it so damn important to set goals?”

 

I told her why,,, and here is what we discuss:

 “Whatever the mind can conceive it can achieve.” – W Clement Stone

“Your thoughts attract people, objects and circumstances that closely match those thoughts.” - Ralph Marston

“When our attitude towards ourselves is big, and our attitude toward other is generous and merciful, we attract big and generous portions of success”. – W Clement Stone

There is a science to/of thought. Through thought, controlled and mastered, you mold your life.

 

If You Want Something

1. SEE IT: Your mind is visual and creative. Depending on your abilities create either physical or mental images of what you what to have, be, and accomplish.
2. BELIEVE IT IS ALREADY YOURS: Have faith that what you want, and are visualizing, is coming your way already… in your grasp.
3. RECEIVE IT: Be open and ready for it to be yours and show appreciation even before it arrives.
4. ACT: Focus your thoughts into actions toward your desire/goal.

Why think on what you want in such detail?

 Just as with a talented musician, trying to master or attain a level of proficiency, practice and repetition will make it so. The musician goes over and over the piece and in doing so they focus their thoughts and their talent to learn it.

 Likewise as you crystallize, believe and accept what you desire you are focusing your mind and your thoughts to make it so. And it will be so.

Regards,

Eric

Eric W. Leaman

Trustee
Organization for Entrepreneurial Development
Unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit.
Change your mind ... and EVERYTHING changes

 

Why Good Companies Go Bad

contributed by Bill Donnelly, Bac2Profit LLC

What is it that makes good (and by that I mean profitable) companies, growing with a good future, go bad? Some will point to the economy and how tough it is. Some will cite pressures brought to bear by customers’ need for better prices and faster delivery. Others will blame the rapid changes occurring in their business and industry..

Although all of the foregoing are symptoms, I would suggest that the real challenges reside at a much more basic level. Think about the entrepreneur who starts a company on a shoe string. He/she fights for every sale, fights to save every penny and fights to keep the dream alive. Fast forward to success! The company is profitable, growing and has a management team and employees.. The founder now has the nice house, company car and the exclusive clubs. The future’s so bright everyone’s got to wear shades!!!

Business is a series of highs and lows, and my experience has taught me the following:

• Nothing lasts forever.
• Most owners and their management teams live off their past successes.
• There is no clear vision of the future.

I’ve seen a lot of examples, like the owner who:

• Used only his income statement to measure business performance and could not understand how the bank moved him to workout
• Invested so little in technology that he lost customers  
• Thought his customers were the problem. Allowed deliveries and quality to be so poor that it cost the company 1/3 of its business.

The words that come to mind are arrogant, ignorant, denial, lazy, sloppy and asleep!

The irony here is it is more difficult to manage a growing company than in managing a turnaround. A successful turnaround is done for the collective benefit of all involved while a growing company will begin to show signs of personal agendas and individual successes as things “get better.” Leadership becomes more about what you have acquired instead of what you have accomplished.

What every company needs, in no certain order, are:

• A vision for tomorrow that avoids relying on past successes.
• Profitable customers who are loyal.
• Investments in technology.
• Accountability and results.
• Actionable plans and goals.

There is a quote I heard recently that says, “Tomorrow is the day when failure will succeed.” If you are comfortable that you finally made it, procrastinate and deny what is happening around you, and think you can wait it out and it will get better, you are three feet from failure. Good companies go bad due to leadership failure and then market forces.

Wake up, get engaged and go back to the future! Things don’t have to go bad! If you are interested in talking about your future, send me an email to set up an appointment.

Thanks to Bill of Bac2Profit. Check out his blog at: OakandApplePartners.com and OED's Community at http://www.oedmembers.org/ for more operational tips and insights.

Business Woes

Þ    out of 3 business startups will close the doors within 6 months.

Þ    out of 4 small to medium sized businesses will fail within 5 years.

Þ    out of 10 small to medium businesses will eventually close.

What can the entrepreneur lose?

Everything! Their savings, their family car and yes, even their home. But even worse than the material items, they can lose their  self' esteem. They can work hard again and recover from economic losses, but sometimes the loss of belief in ones self can be the worst to recover from.

Why the high failure rate?

Because they have to have knowledge of all of the activities in their business. They must be the CEO, Treasurer, production supervisor, marketing specialist, insurance expert, legal critic, etc.:. They may hire people to help them with these jobs but the buck stops on their desk.  They have to be responsible for all of the decisions made in their company. And if they drop any of the balls they are juggling, they could be one of the above statistics.

The Difference? Business Knowledge!

The difference between success and failure in small business is business knowledge!  They cannot fly by the seat of their pants anymore. That worked back in the days of "build a better mousetrap, " but not in the 90’s and beyond they must have business  knowledge to succeed.

OED strives to:

1.    Reach these small business owners in need of assistance.

2.    Make them aware of the training and support available.

3.    Show then the value of learning and implementing what they learn.

Regards,

Eric

Eric W. Leaman

Trustee

eleaman@oedglobal.org

http://twitter.com/oed4smallbiz

Organization for Entrepreneurial Development

Unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit.

Change your mind ... and EVERYTHING changes

Both Sides Now

Follwoing is a post by Sandy Riser, originally published at The Next Level Business Solutions. Thanks, Sandy, for pointing out to us the need to view things from all directions!


Some of us remember that song from Joni Mitchell in 1969 – check it out here. She talked about looking at love from both sides. Believe it or not, marketing is like that – you need to look at it from both sides.

Most of us only look at our view of our business, but it much more vital to look at it from the eyes of your prospective customer. What do you want them to see? Do you really show them in what you do what you are about as a business? Is the “it” about your business evident? The thing that makes you special.

So much of marketing is copycat. What is at the true core of what you do that no one else does? Your marketing needs to reflect that – not that you sell pens, provide accounting services, or help people find a new home. Lots of people do that.

Look at it from both sides – which one really counts?

Guerrilla Marketing Basics

Deborah Bifulco of The Coach Academy brings us basic Guerilla tips for small business:

Most of my work is with start up businesses in the professional practices field, so Guerrilla Marketing is the most used tool in my arsenal.  And, frankly, Guerrilla Marketing is a lot of gun – it uses creativity, time and imagination in place of big bucks.  But before the creative part of the marketing occurs, some basic “grunt work” has to be done.  And, one of the areas entrepreneurs seem to struggle with the most is translating their services/products into customer-oriented benefits.

Most of us have a tendency, when asked what our company does, to talk in terms of features.  For example, if you own a landscaping company you might lead off with something like “We mow lawns.”  Seems simple enough, right?  But “mowing” isn’t what customers buy.  Customers buy solutions.  So, what problems might be solved by mowing?

o        The homeowner will have more time

o        The yard will look good and reflect well on the homeowner

o        The homeowner will have more time for (fishing, golfing, family time, etc.)

Ideally, one of the first steps of any good marketing plan will involve listing out every single thing your company does/sells and them coming up with two to three benefits for each.  If you are having a hard time translating your features into benefits, try asking your customers what they get out of their relationship with you – what problems have you solved for them?

Once you’ve got a good list of clearly stated benefits, start using these in every single element of your marketing … emails, advertising, newsletters, website, etc.   And, remember, people buy solutions.

One Page Planning

One Page Planning - A Process that Works

Here's a framework that successful business people use that works and is VERY manageable in beginning the/a planning process.

The "1 Page Plan."
Simply stated, a "1 Page Plan" is a plan that you create on a single sheet of paper… using the front only! It provides brief answers to key questions you need to answer to be successful.

A 1 Page Plan helps you develop the fundamentals of your planning process that can then be expanded as need.

A "1 Page Plan" is especially useful as a format for basic business and marketing planning. In addition, successful entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners simply don't have the time to over-plan. They need a simple, useful plan -- and then they need to act on it.

If you can't develop the basics of a plan (or almost any specific business activity) on single sheets of paper then your plan are most likely unworkable.

Using a 1 Page Planning will focus you and take advantage of one of the most solid business principles around… KISS!

From the Blogosphere: Social Media- Debunking Myths

We love the use of Social Media by small businesses. You can network, access vendors, touch prospects, and get answers to an amazing range of questions. There are also a slew of stats and over-hyped statements milling around to freak out the average small business owner.

Here's a post from Forbes.com that may help settle your nerves AND get you moving in the right social direction!

ps. Almost forgot... don't forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn ; )