What’s Your ROEE?

What’s Your ROEE?

by | Dec 14, 2016

What’s your ROEE, return on energy expended? We often think about ROI, return on investment when considering for example what to buy. Will the amount we spend/invest yield more than we are paying because if it doesn’t it is probably not a smart investment.

However, how often do you focus on how much energy you are expending in your business. After all, like time, your energy is finite. You only have so much of it. Sure we would all like to be super woman (or superman) and have the kryptonite factor that makes us invincible but the reality is, as far as I know, we don’t.

Time and time again I come across business owners expending loads of energy into their business and yet ironically not getting the results they want. I know that has been the case for me this year. It seems like I have been working harder than ever and yet the results I desired have not materialized. And this got me to thinking why this is happening. It is certainly not my lack of effort or commitment but somehow the energy I’m putting in is not manifesting out the other end. Something needs to change but what is it?

As I watched my VIP clients during an Unbridled Success Leadership Day I suddenly gained the insight I needed to solve this challenge. These VIP clients come every year to work on their next year goals and gain clarity and insight on how to approach any upcoming challenges. They were doing an exercise leading the horse through an obstacle course towards their 2017 goal. My client made in through the course and reached her goal but as I observed her leading my pony Thistle it looked like such hard work for both parties. The energy expended felt disproportional to the result. So I asked the client what would need to change to make the exercise easier?

After reflecting she said that doing the exercise with her business partner would make it easier. So as her business partner was also part of the workshop she joined in and sure enough they both completed the course with Thistle, and it was way easier. Now as these clients primarily work with groups I decided to up the game. I gave both clients two horses to lead around the obstacle course and asked them to follow each other around. Wow, what a difference. In this group setting the energy changed again. There was laughter and fun and the horses all upped their pace and trotted around the course. It all looked so effortless as everything happened in collaboration. The goal was accomplished easily and the clients had so much fun.

The learning we all took away from this exercise was that you need to find the best way for you to work where it is fun and seemingly effortless. You need to find a space to work in where you are in flow. For these clients working in a group as a team is their optimal way of working and when in this situation the positive, creative energy expended didn’t feel wasted. It was almost as if the energy expended created momentum rather than when working alone when the energy was almost putting a brake on proceedings.

So if you want to discover the best way for you to work and where your strengths are and how you can get into flow, then connect with me for complimentary consultation. Don’t spend 2017 expending your energy on tasks that don’t serve you but rather find your flow where you get a great ROEE.

Are You Ready To Unchain The Elephant?

Are You Ready To Unchain The Elephant?

by | Dec 7, 2016

We all have doubts, fears and disappointments in our lives. We’ve all had times in our lives where we felt bound by our past and our fear of failure. We know we should change, but…we can’t. Can you relate? I know I can!.

This weekend I’ve been reflecting on my business and life and the changes I need to implement to make 2017 the best year ever. The challenge is that in order to change it means I need to alter my thinking. I need to “unthink” my past and eliminate fear in order to unleash my hidden potential. And unthinking my past is not something I’m relishing. I’ve invested loads in my past (both financially and emotionally) but I know that in order to grow I need to release some of this old thinking and create the space to make new decisions from where I am now.

So how did we create this thinking? This story of the elephant describes the situation so well. When an elephant is born into captivity, the owner ties the animal to a tree or post with a thick chain to prevent the 250-pound infant from escaping. During the first few weeks of his life, the small elephant tests the chain that binds him, again and again, in an attempt to free himself and wander as his nature urges him to do. His efforts, however, are no match for steel links. Over the course of a few weeks, he eventually learns that his resources are no match for the hardiness of the chain. He gives up any further attempts to free himself, and thus relegates himself to a life within a small circle.

As an adult elephant conditioned by a past experience, he can now be tethered to a small tree with the thinnest of ropes or, in some cases, no rope at all. He makes no attempts to wander because he carries with him, for life, the belief that he does not possess the power to break the ties that bind him. The adult elephant could easily snap the rope or uproot the tree to which it is attached, but he makes no such effort, because early in life, he was taught that true freedom was not available to him. For the remainder of his life, he is tame and nothing like the captivating, powerful creature he was born to be.

Can you sympathize with this story about the elephant? Do you feel your life has been shackled by what you were conditioned to believe when you were young? Maybe the conditioning was even more recent than that. Whatever thoughts came up for you as you read this I urge you to stop and reflect on whether your current thinking is serving you now. And if it is not then maybe you want to unchain your elephant and let it run free.

I’m off to do some elephant unchaining of my own. Are you going to join me?

Potential Is Always Bigger Than The Problem

Potential Is Always Bigger Than The Problem

by | Nov 30, 2016

Wow, I can’t believe that it is the last day of November. Christmas is just round the corner, closely followed by the start of 2017. Are you prepared? If not now is a great time to begin planning for the best 2017 ever. I recently learnt that we are at the end of a 9 year cycle which means that 2017 is a fresh start for all of us.

Make sure there are no negative influences and unfinished projects you are carrying into the next year, or else I am told they will stay with you for another 9 years and none of us want that, do we!. To help you get 2017 off to a flying start I’ll be running a workshop to help you Get Your Business Off To A Flying Start in 2017. It will be on Friday 13th January, which I think is a pretty auspicious date. More details to follow.

This weekend I was tidying my desk and I came across this quote from Dr. Michael Beckwith “Potential is always bigger than the problem” which that I wrote on a post it note some time ago. What struck me about this quote is that each of us has within us all the resources we need to be successful. We all have access to untapped potential but often we allow our problems to consume us and so we don’t access this potential.

What if actually our problems and challenges were the activators that helped unleash our potential?. Would you then regard problems and challenges from a different perspective? How would it be if these problems and challenges were actually just highlighting the areas where we are failing to live our purpose and where we are limiting ourselves in both life and business.

This is a great time of year to refocus and reset exactly what your purpose is for your business. WHY are you doing what your doing, is it working, is it turning out as you planned for 2016, if not why not?. What impact do you want to make.? If you haven’t achieved the results you desired in 2016 then maybe it’s time to reflect on whether you are building the right thing, or is it time for a pivot.

Once your WHY is clear again, move to vision. What does 2017 look like and feel like?. You should be able to paint it on the wall. Make it vivid and make it epic, if it doesn’t get you excited, it doesn’t inspire you then you’re building the wrong thing. This is also a great time of year to create or redo your vision board.

Finally, all this reflection and planning is great but you need to take action and this is why you need a strategy. A vision without a plan is a mere dream…. you have to bring it to action. What are the missing strategies in your business?

  • Marketing
  • Sales
  • Operations
  • Cash or
  • Talent.

Where are you weak? Where do you need education? Where is change impacting the most? These are some of the questions we will be answering on the Get Your Business Off To A Flying Start in 2017 on Friday 13th January. Get on the early bird notification list right now.

Time Secrets of 6-figure Entrepreneurs

Time Secrets of 6-figure Entrepreneurs

by | Nov 27, 2016

In my last post I asked you “are you wasting time or investing time?”, and the resounding feedback from people was the very realisation that they are in fact wasting time.  Time is such a valuable resource. It is added to our invisible bank account every day, and yet if we don’t use it all up it disappears at the end of the day.  Now I bet if instead of time being deposited in the imaginary bank account everyday it was cash, and you were told to use up all the cash every day or else it would be taken away. Then come hell or high water you would find a way to use up all that cash

No matter how much you may believe in abundance, time is the one resource that is non-renewable. Every moment is precious and once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Which is why the biggest shift you can make to grow your business is to get a handle on how you spend your time.

Most entrepreneurs waste tons of time on tasks that don’t add to their bottom line and only serve to deplete their energy.

Why? Fear of:

  • creating boundaries
  • someone feeling uncomfortable
  • saying no
  • being visible
  • failing (or succeeding!)
  • not being good enough
  • being too busy
  • what others will say

The bottom line is, these are all excuses or distractions to keep you from taking a powerful leap forward.

So let me share with you my personal favorite time secrets with you.  By implementing even just a few of these strategies you’ll see a remarkable up-leveling in your energy, your sense of freedom and in how much you easily get accomplished every day.

  • Hire someone to run errands, clean your house and do your laundry.
    Even if you feel a little guilty at first, I know I did, you’ll thank me once you’re freed up from routine tasks that are so easy to have someone else take care of for you.
  • Delegate email to an assistant.
    This was the first task I hired a virtual assistant to do and it saved me hours every week. Remember, you can’t be both the assistant to your business and its leader!
  • Schedule specific times each day to respond to email.
    Allocate 15 minutes in the morning and another 30 in the afternoon. As a result you can keep your inbox to less than 30 items
  • Give up your to-do list. Seriously!
    Schedule all of your projects and activities into your calendar, just like appointments. This one action helps get me ahead on my projects.
  • Use time-blocking to free up your time and give you focus.
    Schedule regular tasks such as writing your ezine, serving clients, giving Discovery sessions, paying bills, etc. for the same days of the week, from week to week. Just watch out for any “I can’t because…” excuses, as they are a clear indicator of where you need clearer boundaries.
  • Create a weekly marketing action list so you know your priorities.
    Deciding in advance how many contacts you’ll make and how often will keep you from procrastinating on the tasks that will ultimately add the most cash flow to your business.
  • Turn your mobile phone and email notifications off during focused time.
    Trust me, the world WILL continue to run even though you may be offline for an hour or two. And you’ll be happily surprised at the peace of mind and freedom you gain from this one simple action.
  • Designate your mornings for marketing.
    Investing just 60 minutes each morning creates the momentum you need to increase your income. Time spent reaching out to one new potential joint venture partner, writing a thank you note to someone you just met, writing a promotional email, placing a call requesting a speaking opportunity … and more … is a great investment in your business.
  • Get accountable to a coach or a colleague who won’t let you slide.
    Imagine telling someone every day what you’re going to accomplish and by when. Enough said.
  • Be aware of when others’ priorities are colliding with yours.
    Whether you need to create a “do not disturb” sign for your door or get a sitter for your kids during work hours, what’s critical is to realize that growing your business serves your family and serves the people you’re meant to help.

So what strategies are you going to start implementing right now?  Just starting with one strategy will free up your time and give you more focus as you start investing your time in growing your business.  And the more time your invest, the better your results will be and so it becomes a self-fulfilling circle.

Are You Wasting or Investing Your Time?

Are You Wasting or Investing Your Time?

by | Nov 23, 2016

Don’t you just love it when you think something and then it happens. Well that very nearly happened to me this morning. I woke up at 5:30am, nearly 3 hours before my train to London and firstly decide that as its cold outside I won’t go on my morning run. Then I wonder what would happen if I fall asleep and miss my train. The good news is that I didn’t fall asleep but the bad news was that I nearly missed my train. I got on the train with just 20 seconds to spare. Now I wish I had had better thoughts this morning than missing my train!!!.

Reflecting on the situation I am reminded of this great quote from Roger James Hamilton. “if we waste money, we can always make more, but if we waste time, it’s gone forever”. This is exactly what happened to me this morning. I wasted time checking my email, catching up on facebook and looking for my misplaced mobile phone, and as a result I nearly missed my train.

Time is actually the most valuable commodity we have in business. We all have the same 24 hours in each day but it is how we use this time that determines our success. Do you spend hours cleaning your house and running errands, or do your outsource these activities so that you can spend your time on high, income generating activities that grow your business?.

All the successful people I have ever met or studied have mastered the art of leading their time. They treasure every second they have and use it wisely. They invest their time rather than spend it. Now that’s an interesting thought. Investing in time rather than spending time. Typically when I work with business owners to help them grow their business, their wealth and time mindset are two areas that we start with, because until you value time you will always be chasing your tail.

When you master leading time your days become more effortless, as you are crystal clear on what you are doing when. You make better decisions and don’t get distracted by the bright shiny object syndrome. And when you value time, others around you start valuing their time too. They recognise the implications of being late for meetings and you start not tolerating behavior that in any way under-values your time.

I would like to invite you to track your time for an entire week. Create a spreadsheet or grab a sheet of paper. Draw seven columns – one for each day of the week – and then break each day down into 30 min segments and then track what you do during each 30 min segment (You can change this to 10 or 15 mins increments if you prefer but 30 mins works well for me). Make sure to note the times that you eat, sleep, bathe, work out. In fact everything that you do. At the end of a week you will some great insights into how you spend your time, and then you can assess how much of your week are you investing your time and how much you are spending your time.

When I did this exercise the results were illuminating. So don’t delay start today by really valuing your time and stop wasting it. If you need any assistance with mastering your time mindset then please book in for a complimentary chat and let’s explore what is possible

If You’ve Never Failed…….

If You’ve Never Failed…….

by | Nov 16, 2016

There is a great saying that goes “if you’ve never failed, you’ve never tried anything new” and I’ve been reflecting a lot on this over the past week. Before I launched my own business I was very proud of the fact that I had never failed at anything. I saw only being successful as a good trait. After all why would you want to fail. I had been brought up only to be successful and in fact failure was seen as a negative thing. It meant you were stupid. So I only ever put myself in situations where I could succeed. I’d study hard for my exams to be successful. I’d work hard to be in all the school sports teams and now I realized I would avoid activities where I had any fear that I might not succeed.

Fast forward seven years of running my own business and I realize that a flawed belief that earlier thinking was. Since running my own business I have had more failures than I care to imagine. Its been really humbling at times, as well as frustrating as very failure has initially seemed like a barrier to my success. And yet what I have learnt from these failures has been the magic dust that has helped me become more successful.

In fact the only failure is not to learn from the failure. This is because there is a lesson in everything that doesn’t work out as you expected. Recently I was speaking to my friend who rather sheepishly admitted to me that she had quit her part time role. She was embarrassed and ashamed by this as she simply could not complete the work required in the two days a week she worked. To try and push on would have been in conflict with her values of integrity and delivering excellent service. So she gave in her notice. When I chatted with her about this I asked her what was the lesson she learnt from this experience and she shared with me that intuitively she had had reservations about taking the role. So the lesson she learnt was to listen more to her intuition. What a great lesson to learn.

Increasingly I have come to realize that life is just one big lesson and that each and every day we are presented with opportunities to learn more about ourselves. Sometimes we might not like the lessons but each of us is given the lessons we most need to learn. And you know what. If we don’t learn the lesson, the universe delivers the lesson more profoundly and acutely, until such time we get it.

That was the case for me with boundaries. I kept avoiding dealing with this issue, which had been presenting itself I now see for decades, but more recently I was literally slapped around the face with this lesson. The universe had quietly been delivering her lesson but since I had been avoiding it the universe crescendoed up the volume until I couldn’t fail to take action.

There are many examples of successful people that have not been discouraged by their failures and these include:

· Albert Einstein – he wasn’t able to speak until he was almost 4-years old and his teachers said he would “never amount to much”

· Michael Jordan – after being cut from his high school basketball team , he went home, locked himself in a room, and cried.

· Walt Disney – fired from a newspaper for ”lacking imagination” and having “No original ideas”

· Steve Jobs – at 30-years old he was left devastated and depressed after being unceremoniously removed from the company he started

· Oprah Winfrey – was demoted from her job as anchor because she “wasn’t for for television”

· The Beetles – rejected be Decca Recording Studios who said “ we don’t like their sound – they have no future in show business”

In each case they took the lessons they learnt from their so-called “failed experience” and used this to fuel their success.

So where in your life and business are you being shared lessons that you are failing to take heed of? What do you need to acknowledge and learn, to move forward with more flow.

A simple exercise to do is to make a list of all the failures (or opportunities that did not work out as expected). Write these down the left hand side of a page and then on the right hand side list what the gift was for each of these experiences and now knowing this what can you do differently to move forward.

If you need any assistance with mastering your growth mindset then please book in for a complimentary chat and let’s explore what is possible

Wishing you an amazing aligned and flow filled Wednesday

Not All Actions Are The Right Actions

Not All Actions Are The Right Actions

by | Nov 9, 2016

I really hope you are having a great week. I’ve just returned from a four day immersion training with my mentor Clinton Swaine, which once again was incredibly powerful. That’s why I love experiential learning. It really helps you embody the feeling of the situation and you can’t help leaving feeling changed in some way. Reading the Facebook comments of my fellow students I know we all experienced profound shifts in perspective on this programme, and as always it seems the right message always comes at the right time. Spooky how that happens!.

Now, if you have been following me for a while, you will know that if we want to achieve success we have to take action. Nothing’s going to happen for you if you just sit around waiting for something to happen. But not all actions are created equal. Not all actions are the right actions. I’m sure you can relate to that. Just think about it. Two people are given exactly the same resources to lets say launch a business and one is successful and one is not. On paper they both seem to take the same actions and yet they get very different results. How can that be?

Well, it’s all to do with alignment. You have to take action that’s in alignment with your core values and beliefs because unless you do your actions don’t resonate with others, and they fail to connect with what you are saying and doing. And the result is frustration and exhaustion. You can feel like you are stuck on a hamster wheel, running and running but not making progress…Maybe you can relate to this?

I know I do. For some time I have had a deep, inner feeling that everything has not been aligned. My head, heart and gut have in some way been dis-connected, and yet I haven’t been able to figure out why. It has been a painful time, knowing something is misaligned and yet not knowing what. These times have led me to face uncomfortable truths about my life and start examining facets of it that quite frankly I had not been willing to look at. The truth remains unconscious, until the pain of denial becomes stronger than the pain of facing up to it.

The AHA moment that I had on my immersive training is that I have been conning myself that if I have the right knowledge (after all I am the course junkie!) that I would succeed, and yet I had forgotten that you have to take responsibility to get your mindset, programming and influences right first. When we trip up, it’s usually because we jumped to the knowledge and action part before we have sorted out our mindset, subconscious programming and external influences first.

Once I realised this I was mad at myself until I remembered that of all the successful and abundant people I’ve met, many of them did go through tough times due to misalignment, before having an “aha” moment and breaking through.

So, my question for you today is where are you misaligned? Where are you experiencing any incongruence in your business or your life? I now know what has been holding me back, so expect to see some changes in my business over the next few weeks, as I get more aligned and congruent and stop doing what everyone tells me I should do rather than what feels right to me.

The horses are masters at alignment and sensing when your head, heart and gut are not aligned, so if you’d like them to act as your barometers to get you back on track just book in for a complimentary strategy session and we can get a session booked in for you.

Wishing you an amazing aligned and flow filled Wednesday.

The Five Success Cornerstones Every Business Needs

The Five Success Cornerstones Every Business Needs

by | Nov 6, 2016

“Without solid foundations you’ll struggle to create anything of lasting value”

Many of us are familiar with the story, from the Bible, of the two men who built houses. One built his house upon a rock and another who built his house upon sand. The house built upon a rock weathered the storm, and the builder was called wise; but the house built on the sand collapsed during the storm, and the builder was called foolish.

The meaning of this parable is quite obvious: proper foundations are necessary. With a literal house, it is unwise to build on sand, because the foundation will be unsteady and the house will eventually suffer some kind of damage. This will waste resources, and all the time and work put into building the house in the first place will have gone for nothing. In contrast, it is wise to build one’s house on a sure foundation; anchoring to bedrock makes a building withstand the test.

And so it is the same in business. Oftentimes we get so excited about starting our business that we fail to put the proper foundations in place, and the result I come across time and time again is that whilst the business is prospering there is little or no negative impact, but when the tide turns and the storm comes in, orders dry up and cash flow is tight, then the unsteady foundations of the business start cracking and in many cases the business doesn’t weather the storm.  It’s so sad to see this as some well thought out structured planning at the outset could have prevented this and ensured the business would survive and thrive.

Many of you will be familiar with how I like to relate everything in business to nature and the natural world and the foundations of your business are no different.  There are five natural elements found in nature and they each represent a different season of the year and provide a different business focus which is critical to creating the foundations of your business.  These elements and their seasonality provide us with a foundational blueprint of how to run our businesses by keeping our people, teams and processes in flow.  Each element is inter-dependent on each other and this is why we must have all these five elements aligned if we are to create solid cornerstones for our business.  This can be clearly seen in the diagram below of the Five Element Business Focus Model.

5 Elements of Business Success

Water Energy (Mission):
Water energy has a duality in that it can be fast flowing  and powerful or still and peaceful. The water element is associated with the season of winter and is always asking us the question Why?  The key business foundation that the water element seeks us to get clarity on is why we are in business. What is the business mission and what is the real purpose of the business. For every business it is essential to have clarity of the mission and why you are in business, as this is the fuel that keeps you going when the going gets tough.  Today more than ever customers are seeking to do business with purposeful organisations. Companies that know why they are in business and the real impact they want to make in the world.  And interestingly for all these companies it is not profits, although interesting all the research shows that companies that focus on their purpose and impact actually generate 10 times more profit than companies that just focus on this metric.

Wood Energy (Merchandise):
Wood energy is associated with Spring which is a time of new beginnings. It is the season in which we ask What are we doing. In business this relates to what merchandise will be selling, what innovation and products and services will we be offering.  It is essential that every business has clarity on what they are offering, because without this clarity the customer doesn’t know what they can buy and so can’t make a purchasing decision.  In my experience at the outset keep things simple and just focus on a few key products and services. Get known for delivering these well and then you can expand your product offering. All too often I come across companies with a plethora of diverse merchandise and this just confuses the customer.

Fire Energy (Magnetise):
Fire energy is associated with summer when there is lots of movement and connection. In business the fire element relates to Magnetise and who are the clients you are seeking to attract.  Knowing who you want to serve is a key cornerstone of any business and one that often gets overlooked. All too often new business owners want to serve everyone and in the process serve no-one. Getting clarity on your ideal client and niche is of paramount importance in creating a sustainable business. The other advantage of being niched and serving a specific target audience is that you can more easily position yourself as an expert and so command higher fees. Simply by niching you distinguish yourself from the crowds and so avoid your products and services becoming commoditised and therefore competing on pricing with others.

Earth Energy (Monetise):
Earth energy is associated with late summer, a time of slowing down and also of expert timing, of knowing how long to leave the crops until they need harvesting.  The earth element is always asking the questions when and where and in business this translates to knowing how to monetise our products and services.  Where and when should we be selling and at what price.  These are key business decisions that can impact the business success and which we must be continually striving to master.  Discount a product too early and we lose valuable income, whilst leaving a discount running too long also has the same effect. The challenge here is to learn how to master the art of distribution so that you maximise the return on your assets.

Metal Energy (Mechanise):
Associated with autumn metal energy is super efficient and effective. It is always asking the question How can we make things more effective.  How can we change our procedures to get a better result?. How can we Mechanise operations so they are as streamlined as possible, and so they can be automated.  How can we organise things and what systems and metrics do we need in place to monitor performance?.  Implementing systems is oftentimes the area that many business owners overlook – after all it is not the most sexy of activities – and yet time and time again systems can save the business time and money when created in a structured and well thought out manner.

Each of these energies and its corresponding “M” activity are key cornerstones to ensure the success of any business. Just like in nature, these cornerstones need to be aligned to keep the business in harmony and when one or more of these cornerstones is missing this is when poor performance and trouble can occur.  Just like the house built on the sand when these cornerstones of Mission, Merchandise, Magnetise, Monetise and Mechanise are out of balance then when stormy conditions arrive the business is more likely to implode.

If you’d like help creating solid foundations for your business then why not book in for a Joined Up Business Strategy Consultation with me and lets see what needs to happen to get your business back on track.

How To Stand Out From The Crowd

How To Stand Out From The Crowd

by | Nov 2, 2016

I just love this photo I came across this week, as it so clearly demonstrates how to stand out from the crowd. We live in exponential times and the pace of technology is accelerating. Consumers are drowning in technology overload from emails to social media posts. At the same time business competition has never been fiercer and the challenge for all business owners is how to distinguish themselves in a crowded marketplace.

Welcome to the world of disruptive marketing. A world where innovation, creativity and out of the box thinking reign. A world where imperfect action is better than no action at all. A world where speed is of the essence and where organisations need to be agile to be able to respond On-The-Hoof to changes in the marketplace.

As Richard Branson notes: “Disruption is all about risk-taking, trusting your intuition, and rejecting the way things are supposed to be.”

Uber and Airbnb are two companies that between then have changed the face of hospitality and travel industry over the last couple of years by being disruptive. What is amazing is that neither company has any assets, but rather they have both created a platform to connect users to a service that didn’t exist before. In the case of Uber you can easily locate and book a taxi with a few clicks on your phone, whilst with Airbnb you can find quality accommodation to stay in when visiting virtually any location. For many the idea of staying a home, either on a shared basis, or alone, provides a refreshing alternative to traditional hotel accommodation solutions.

Here are five things you can do to make your business stand out from the crowd:

1) Be Authentic

Whatever we say people buy from people who they know, like and trust, so make sure your brand truly reflects who you are and your personality. This is an era where quirky is good. Share your vulnerabilities and stories so that people can really connect with you. Showing that you are not perfect can make you more likeable. Share your vision and why you are really in business. What impact you want to make. All the research shows that the more purpose driven your company is, and the more your customers relate to this, the more successful you will be.

2) Focus on the Customer Experience

The reason people will stop doing business with your company is because they have a bad experience, so focus on wowing your customers with great service. Get to know your customers so you can deliver them promotions customised to their needs. Make then feel special, and really get to understand their motive for buying from you and the solution you are solving for them. This customer feedback is gold dust and enables you to be able to shape your offering quickly and so stay on the innovative edge.

3) Stay Visible To Your Customers

One of the most common problems I come across with my clients is that they fail to stay visible with their customers. They assume that because the customer already knows what service they provide or has already brought from them that they will automatically remember them in the future. Incorrect. Customers are overloaded with marketing messages so unless you remain front of mind with them they can easily end up buying from your competitors – not necessarily because they intended to but rather your competitor happened to send them a promotion on the day they needed that service, so they took the easy option and used the solution that was right inf front of their nose. Combat this problem by providing your customers regularly with value added materials that they can use so that you stay front of mind.

4) Have Absolutely Clarity On Your Niche

Now I know many of my clients resist niching but the reality is you can’t serve everyone and if you do you are a generalist not a specialist and so you can’t command such high rates. You end up in a commodity bidding war for work and that is just not a great place to be. Just think about it. If you need heart surgery do you go to your GP or do you go to a heart specialist.? Who do you think would charge the most? It’s the same in business. It is actually easier for customers to purchase from you if they know you are the expert in X, and because they know you are the expert they are also willing to pay more for your services. So what could you become a real expert in? Getting clarity on this and then ensuring all your marketing collateral supports this will automatically help you stand out from the crowd.

5) Add Value In Ways That Might Not Be Obvious

Find innovative ways to make your product or service different and more luxurious from the others in the marketplace. Simple things you could do include sending gifts to customers on their birthday; packaging additional services together so for example if you are a hair dresser you could offer all your clients a glass of champagne with their haircut. One thing I do is send all my clients a picture of them with one of my horses after their Unbridled Success VIP Day. It gives the client an immediate reminder of the experience they had and helps them embody the learning as every time they look at the picture, they recall what they experienced. It also proves to be a great marketing promotion for me as they tend to show the picture to their friends and the photo has my website address on it so my business stays front of mind with them. It is simple add on’s like this that help retain customers, flood you with referrals and allow you to charge higher prices.

So how are you going to start standing out from the crowd.? I’d love to hear about the disruptive strategies you are using. And of course if you need any help just book in for a complimentary strategy session so I can help you decide on the way forward.

The Power of Team To Create Time

The Power of Team To Create Time

by | Oct 26, 2016

As you know I have been on the road over the last few weeks. Firstly I had a week unplugged Musketeering in the south of France and then I had a whirlwind trip to San Francisco to attend the annual conference of the Association of Horse Assisted Educators. So time has become an even more valuable commodity to me than usual. Of course, we all have the same number of hours in the day, so I got to reflecting on how come some people seem to achieve more than others.

When I dug into this further I realised that those that get more done have an amazing team supporting them. One of my mentors used to live in a small town and what she realised was that: in a small town:

  1. You don’t have every talent and skill you need to do well, or even survive
  2. Few do
  3. Even those individuals who (seem to) know how to do everything don’t have enough time to do it
  4. If people work together, talents and time can complement each other, then the whole can be stronger than the sum of the parts
  5. By working in teams, you learn how to teach people how to treat you, and how to treat others with respect

When people collaborate together as a team, they collectively can achieve more and as a result everyone gets more time. Just think about the millions of tasks you do everyday as a business owner. I’m sure there are some you love and some you’d rather not do. I know that is the case for me. In fact, have you ever noticed how you procrastinate about the tasks you hate doing and then how they take even longer than you thought!!!

How would it be if that task that you hated doing someone else loved doing? You could outsource the task to them and hey presto you have created more time for yourself. Now when I suggest this to my clients the initial comment is often: “Julia, I can’t afford to do that”, and my response is, “You can’t afford not to”.

Just think about it like this. Say your time is valued at £100 per hour and it takes you three hours per month to do your book-keeping. That’s a monthly cost of £300. Do you think you could outsource it more cheaply? I bet you could, and the best thing is that the book-keeper would probably take less than three hours to do it. Now, what else could you do with that time? If you use it to do revenue generating activities, not only have you created time but you have also created the revenue to pay for outsourcing. It becomes a win-win.

So how are you going to start leveraging the power of team to help you create time.? If you’d like my help with this then please book in for a complimentary strategy session to explore the best activities for you to outsource and how you can find the best team members to help you grow your business.

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