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  • ABOUT LINDA FEINHOLZ “Your High Payoff Catalyst”

IS IT TIME TO “RESET” YOUR BUSINESS?

© 2008 Linda Feinholz

When is ‘too much to do’ finally enough? I mean enough to have you reach out and slap your personal and business ‘reset’ button?

I was working with my client, Brenda, last month when she looked me dead in the eye and said “There’s no way to get out from under this list of what I need to get done.”

We could have gone on and on about prioritizing her lists, rank ordering them by fit with her strategy or sorting by the highest payoff at the bottom line. She could have found relief by delegating to her staff the 80 percent that really doesn’t need her involvement to get things accomplished. We could have spent a lovely hour talking about techniques to get over procrastination. And that would have missed the point entirely.

All the business management practices in the world won’t solve matters if the real issue is feeling stretched to the breaking point. She was feeling overwhelmed, worried and incompetent to run her own business.

Why? Well… Read more

BRING YOUR PASS*I*ON TO WORK

© 2008 Linda Feinholz

What do you do with your passion?

Ralph passed his on through his art and through the skills he taught his students.

Ralph Bacerra passed away at age 70 this past month.

His death has had me thinking about passion and dedication.

As an artist, Ralph was passionate about clay, glaze, form and design. He was renowned for several philosophies in ceramics: simplifying the complex by

• making something difficult to accomplish done easily,
• taking out what is extra rather than adding, and
• recognizing that at times something cannot be ‘repaired’, and one should just start over fresh.

His work demonstrated his mastery of ‘layering the elements.’ He combined as many as 7, 8, 9 firings to create his desired effects.

Those elements may sound simple, but each of us so often become immersed in what we are trying to accomplish that we make it more and more complex, and push relentlessly to make situations conform to our vision. And many times, that’s exactly when we need to step back and simplify or take a completely fresh start to a situation. Read more

Use ALL Your Brain In Business

Change 1 Thought And You Can Change It All!

I shared with you the 3-minute Service Movie video at SimpleTruth.com

Did you watch it? You can watch it here.

This time, as you watch it, think about the reaction you had when Johnny identified one action he could do.

When you have, come back here and ask yourself:

“What is an action I say I cannot take with MY customers?”

List all the ideas that come to mind. Now think about reasons that you’ve used to bolster those ideas.

When you’ve run dry listing all your “can’t”s take one those ideas and list 3 simple steps you could take to just do it.

It’s the second step to designing High Payoff customer contacts you can use in the coming year.

USING THE HIGH PAYOFF PERSONAL TOUCH WITH CUSTOMERS

© 2008 Linda Feinholz.

When was the last time you looked in the mirror, really looked, and saw how you show up for your customers?

I ask because it’s been a subject that has come up repeatedly for my coaching clients, my MasterMind buddies, and myself the past couple of months. We’ve faced how we were showing up, and changed our results as we made an important shift.

My client Susan serves the legal community… as a marketing consultant. Her personality is very different than that of her clients. And her expertise at increasing their presence in the marketplace is what they need, what they want, but what they are uncomfortable spending time or money on.

One of my MasterMind buddies, Bonnie, is a career coach. For years she’s helped people forced into career transitions to take a fresh look at their capabilities. And then she teaches them to use specific interviewing techniques that have their next employer clamoring to bring them on board.

And as for me? Well, I came out of the world of mega corporations and work with a diverse group of professionals and business owners who want to grow their business, while doing it easier and faster. My expertise is in getting people crystal clear about their goals, getting all their distractions handled and out of their way, and sharpening their attention on their High Payoff Activities.

Each of us faced the same challenge: How to differentiate ourselves from others saying they produce great results for our clients.

The single spark that changed our own results is stepping into our authentic selves and connecting with our clients from that place.

For Susan, that means showing up as a bright, successful professional woman, and modeling the very marketing activities she’s asking her clients to invest in. The marketing activities at professional conferences, the artful and eye-catching way she distributes articles and tip sheets, the way she gets herself quoted in the media are all models of the High Payoff results she’ll create for her clients.

Susan models how to inject a personal flavor in professional marketing so her clients can trust how they’ll show up as well. Susan shows them how to preserve their own personality while building their professional presence.

For Bonnie, her relaxed personality blended with all her expertise are a perfect style for working with the younger generation, just as they enter the work force. She invites them to grow a powerful sense of themselves, and teaches them how to navigate finding their first jobs and any employment changes they make next.

Bonnie coaches her clients into new skills in connecting with their own personality so they practice them, use them adopt them in their interactions the rest of their lives.

And for me, my ideal clients all share a common characteristic - they are ‘doers’ challenged with stepping out of the ‘doing’ and into the leadership and management activities that feel constraining to them. Each of them is afraid of disappearing as person and becoming a robot if they focus on ‘management.’

I show them how to preserve their drive and individual style while connecting with and leading the people who now need to be the team that achieves their vision.

You don’t have to wait until your clients signal you to take step into your own authentic self. The fact is for Susan, Bonnie, and me, the moment we allowed ourselves to just show up, as we are, our clients relaxed and stepped up too!

So here are 3 High Payoff Steps that bring your authentic self into your business:

Greet everyone with a SMILE

People cannot connect with you or listen to you if you’re just a ’suit’ sitting across from them. Your clients are stressed and feel vulnerable. They want you to solve that stress AND reassure them it will happen with ease. If you’re not smiling, you’re in your head rather than in your heart. And the person sitting across from you knows your attention isn’t on them and their challenges. Your smile instantly lets them know your attention is on them, and they’ll relax and breathe.

Focus first on THEIR issue, not your solution

You’re already an expert. You already know one, or six, or even twenty ways to solve their challenges. The more you focus on probing how they understand what needs solving, the more natural your conversation with them will be. And immediately your true personality can come into the conversation so they see you, in your own unique brilliance. And your individual personality, added to your proven ‘Know How’ is what will cement the relationship.

Champion the result THEY want

Our greatest gift is in helping people succeed on their journey. Yet our greatest challenge in life is to help others along the road they want to travel, rather than the path we’d take “if we were in their shoes.”

So take a look in the mirror and see how you’re showing up. When you use these three steps your clients will be begging for more of you. Now that’s further, faster and easier, isn’t it?

Change 1 Action And You Can Change It All!

I shared with you the 3-minute Service Movie video at SimpleTruth.com
Did you watch it? It’s time to take a second viewing of it. You can watch it here.

This time, as you watch it, think about the first reaction you had when Johnny thought there was no action he could do. Then think about how it felt to hear his idea. And lastly think about how it would have felt to be one of his customers.

When you have, come back here and ask yourself:

“What simple action could I take to connect with MY customers?”

List all the ideas that come to mind. Now think about actions that you’ve heard or seen others use. Which of those ideas would you like to consider as well?

Carry that list with you and start putting notes next to each idea to flush them out. It’s the first step to designing High Payoff customer contacts you can use in the coming year.

© 2008 Linda Feinholz

HOW TO LEVERAGE THE WRITER’S STRIKE IN YOUR OWN BUSINESS

By Linda Feinholz, “Your High Payoff Catalyst”

It may not be immediately apparent to you, yet the Hollywood Writer’s Strike of 2007 has lessons and opportunities for you in your business.

The event has filled the news for months. Over time, the reported stories have shifted from the repetitive newscasts of who fed donuts to folks walking in circles to who negotiated special deals.

Those special deals have been interesting on their own merits and for the speculation and gossip they generated among the public. What’s hidden from view are the opportunities faced by people whose lives are being thrown into turmoil by the labor union’s strategies.

This situation might be considered “special” or “unusual” - if it isn’t quickly resolved, people whose livelihoods are placed at risk by the strike will find themselves forced to examine what they’ll do to rescue themselves.

You don’t have to wait until your survival is threatened to take a fresh look at your business. The fact is this is your chance to leverage their self-examination and see what opportunities you may have been missing.

So here are 5 ways you can use the Writer’s Strike to take a new look at your business:

1 - Buyers Will Change HOW They Use Their Time

Television viewers are going to be looking for other uses of the time that the Strike has freed up. That means they’ll be reading more, listening to more audio material, and having more conversations. And some of those people are your customers.

How will you maximize on the attention that has been freed up? How can you tease people into giving you that attention? What experience can you give your clients or prospects? What information do you want to put in front of them? What could you invite them to?

2 - Sellers Will Have More Time On Their Hands

Just as the Hollywood writers will have time to work on scripts, you’ll have more time to work on your business. Instead of the hours spent watching television, you can invest them in getting your High Payoff activities completed and accelerate your results.

What are the Top 3 challenges you can give that attention to?

3 - Suppliers Will Be Threatened Economically

Not only are the Studios and the Writers affected economically, so too are thousands of vendors to the industry. Staff, crew, drivers, gaffers, caterers, dry cleaners, set designers, hotels… I could go on. They may “know” that it will eventually turn around. Yet the actual future results is unknown. And they may be out of business before then.

If you considered the impact on your business of changes to your suppliers and vendors and associates, what contingency plans would you put into place today? If your business depends on those same people’s success, how might you work to assure their success in order to stabilize your own?

4 - People Will Re-examine The Future They’re Building

Many of those striking writers are looking at their bills and their family and weighing how long they’ll hold on to their ambition as writers. That means they’ll be taking a hard look at the goals they thought they were aiming for and deciding if those goals still hold true.

What goals have you been holding for your business? Did you have a clear Vision you were aiming for these past years? Or did you just sort of fall into the work you’re now doing? If it were all likely to disappear, what would you turn your attention and efforts to? If that’s so, why not focus there now?

5 - The Internet Will Get More Attention Than Ever Before

Entertainment, personal and professional development, alternative business models and much much more are all thriving on the Internet. Writers have the opportunity to become direct suppliers of material in this growing medium. Whether in copy writing for web sites, scripting blog entries, developing learning materials, running webinars, these folks are skilled with language and this is a land of opportunity for those who want to explore it.

How might you increase your online presence to build your business? Are there ways of attracting new clients, providing services to prospects and customers, or staying in touch that you’ve not given much thought to? Are there technological systems that you’ve been pooh pooh-ing and missing out on using, such as an emailed newsletter? And what about videos to provide sales support or ongoing customer service information?

Don’t just watch reruns… and don’t keep living them in your business! The Strike is offering entire industries a chance to examine the risks and rewards built into their business model. It’s an opportunity for you to embrace as well, before your favorite shows put out new episodes.
This is your chance to re-envision the business you’re in, the opportunities in front of you and even make leaps right past others staring at the news an muttering to themselves.Take the time newly available to you to focus on breaking out of the business assumptions you’ve been holding and refresh your future.

Change 1 Insight And You Can Change It All!

I truly believe that living from our Gifts creates the best world we can have.

When we recognize that unique aspect of ourselves and use it on purpose, the work we do becomes play, the conflicts we run into become interesting challenges, and the people we work with become teammates in creating a vivid, exciting world.

Someone you work with is unaware of their Gift. Yet you see it. You see it and your blessing in their life is to tell them so this week.

Take a sheet of paper and ask yourself:

“Who do I know that does something with such ease…

and they’re unaware that it’s a gift?”

List all the people who come to mind, and what it is that they do so easily. Remember, what you acknowledge in them enables them to offer it in greater abundance.

Now drop them a quick not and tell them of the Gift they’re bringing to your world, whether at work or outside it, and how much it’s appreciated.

HOW TO MAKE 2008 THE YEAR OF YOUR IDEAL LIFE

By Linda Feinholz, “Your High Payoff Catalyst”

I truly believe that each of us can create and live our ideal life.

Our Ideal Life is the life that meets our Core desires, and provides an outlet for our Gift - our innate skills and intuition. It’s the life that allows us to recognize our unique gift and use it - to purposefully choose work that lets us live our deepest self. It’s the life that inspires those around us to do the same with theirs.

Can you describe what yours looks like? Would you say you’re living it now?

All too often we have a clearer sense of our Core Desires when we’re children, yet loose track of them as the world around us bombards us with messages full of “should” and “have to” and “can’t”.

We have hints of our Gift, using it unconsciously and tune it out, waving it out of sight because it’s so easy for us to use. It doesn’t look anything like the effortful activities we’ve been told any valuable effort must be.

Imagine the life you’d create if you founded it on having every one of your Core Desires, and using that effortless Gift. Wouldn’t that be a fabulous life? I think so!

You don’t have to walk away from the life you’ve built to live that Ideal Life. My client Shannon felt out of sorts most of the time – dealing with complex international business logistical issues and fractious personalities from three different generations. She’d risen in her career based on opportunities that presented themselves and she was ready to walk from it all.

When we uncovered her Core Desires to be a peacemaker and to nurture people early in their career, she deliberately shifted her focus from managing the logistics of an international business, to solving strategic partnership challenges for the company and mentoring new members of the team.

The High Payoff results were that Shannon loved her work, the company saw turnover drop 30 percent in the first year among junior staff, and management was able to retain all the knowledge and experience Shannon had built in her career.

As for me, my Core desires are for health, continuous life long learning, and companions to share the journey. I’ve built a life that brings me each of those, and that let’s me use my gift for cutting through chaos and confusion to get to the core issues and find practical, easy, High Payoff solutions to them.

So, tell me, are you living your Ideal Life now? Or, have you spent a lifetime being sent off down other paths?

Fear, opinions of others, self-doubt have gotten in the way of your living your ideal life with ease. They’re no longer reasons for suppressing who you are. Think of them merely as the creative entertainment provided by the society you live in.

If you have fear or doubts about living from your Core, tell yourself “Fear is no longer an excuse.”

You have a purpose in being here and your only responsibility is to bring your gifts to the world to enrich it and create a vibrant life for yourself and for others.

If you’re ready to bring you Core Desires and your Gift into focus, here’s a technique I use with my coaching clients and MasterMind members. It will take you less than 1 hour and can unveil the stepping stones to your Ideal Life.

• Take 2 pieces of paper and something to write with. Divide each piece of paper with a line down the middle, top to bottom.

• On the first page, label the left-hand column “What I loved at that job…” and the right hand column “… because it let me…”

• On the second page, label the left-hand column “What I hated at that job…” and the right hand column “… because it prevented me…”

• Starting with your first ‘job’ fill in all 4 columns. Do all four columns for each job you can remember right up to today. If you need the space, carry your notes over to additional pages. Even if the answers seem similar from one job to the next, write it all down.

• When you’re done writing, read your answers out loud and listen to the pattern that will reveal itself in the answers you’ve recorded.

Even better - take this exercise into a group of others who know you well, to do it as a group. Pair off and have one person prompt the second person with the phrases over and over and act as the scribe of what is said out loud for them. Then reverse who is talking and who is scribing.

Then, as each person reads their own responses out loud, as partners you can listen and suggest patterns you’re hearing. The listeners will ll also be able to suggest what they’ve experienced as the other person’s Gift – “the thing you do with such ease that is so uniquely you.”

Engage your Core, your Gift, your entire self and watch what you can create in this life, through your work, our relationships, your play.

I so want to live in the world you’ll help create for all of us.

THE 10-PERCENT KEY TO CREATING A HIGH PAYOFF LIFE

By Linda Feinholz, “Your High Payoff Catalyst”

It’s not at all unusual for my coaching club members to feel their life is a bit out of balance. Taking the time to get back in touch with their goals can completely re-orient how they use their time and efforts, and the success they create.

Working with new clients this week got me to thinking: why not give a “coach’s challenge” to my newsletter readers to get back in touch with their own Goals. This challenge can help you focus your personal and professional time for a month, a year, and beyond.

If you’ll set aside 10 minutes today to read through this list of 10 areas in life, and set a goal for yourself to increase your attention and energy by 10 percent in any or all of them, it will lead you on the golden road to a High Payoff Life!

Ready to get started? Here are 10 Key Areas that help you create that High Payoff path.
1. Health. What attention do you give to creating health in your life? Do you have an image of what you’d like your health to be? Setting aside all the exercise fads and diet programs, do you choose ‘health’ when you select your food? Do you move your body beyond the floors of your home or office? Do you spend even eight hours a week breathing air that hasn’t been re-circulated?
2. Family. Do you have your soul fed by ‘family’ time? For some of us that means parents and children, brothers and sisters and cousins. For others it’s the family we create with the people we share our lives with. How much of your life contains life’s celebrations and comfort with family?
3. Friends. How much time do you spend with others who share your interests? Do you actually have interests beyond your profession, your job, your career? The creativity and solutions we find in our work life are often found in through rest of our lives. The richer we make our relationships, the richer our ability to revitalize the rest of our life.
4. Finances. Do you look money straight in the eye? So many of us are taught to avoid looking at our finances as if it’s the luck of the draw what we earn, what we keep, how we use money. The clearer you set your money goals, the easier it is to lay out the systematic steps that will give you the power over money in your life..
5. Career. Were you aware you make most of your life a career? You spend your weekday daylight hours out in the world on a professional path. You may do it as an employee or employer. Whether you make your mark as an entrepreneur or professional, or as a business owner the goals you set are the goals you achieve
6. Learning. Do you gift yourself with life long learning? Learning comes in those moments when you ‘stretch’ yourself beyond the familiar. Learning may come to you through conversations with others, sports activities, books, magazines or even deliberately listening to talk show hosts you don’t agree with!
7. Recreation. How do you play? I mean do you ever let loose in ways that let exuberant energy flood you and burst out in laughter? At times it may be physical play through sports, or mental play through attending concerts, lectures, theater. Hike, bike, dance, picnic, rent a horse or paint a house.
8. Community. Do you have a connection with the people living around you? More than saying “Hi!” to the checker at the grocery store, have you let yourself become part of the web of connections at your local schools, library, or recreation center. The more people you connect with, the more avenues you create for yourself to build relationships in all the other areas of your life.
9. Giving. When do you turn your attention from acquiring for yourself to helping those in need? Donating your time, attention, energy and intelligence is often as valuable as your funds. Your community is filled with organizations designed to offer assistance. You can join as a board participant, an advisor, or even as an event volunteer. Every one of those activities can be gifts that reshape the world.
10. Spiritual. Do you feed your spirit? For some of us it’s found though joining people in organized religious participation. For others it’s in quiet moments in nature. There is even the opportunity for connection within our daily routine through meditation, singing, and other pursuits.

Set a goal to add just 10 percent more in any of these areas. Share this list with others in your life and create the shared goals that will build a rich life for years to come.

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