Small Business Management – Is This Your Solution To The 5 Things You Need To Be Successful In Business?

You basically need just 5 things to thrive in business. Focus, leverage, leadership, management and passion The really good news is that everyone can master these just by giving them your attention.

Focus
Being able to stay focused is the first key to small business success. There will always be new options, new opportunities, new markets you ‘could’ take your products and services to. The quickest and easiest way to build success is by having a clear focus and checking to make sure all your efforts are aligned.

There is always more that could be added to your To Do list, but are those tasks adding value? Double check daily that the actions you’re giving your time to will build the business results you’re aiming for.

Leverage
One of the ongoing challenges for every small business is getting it all done. If your vision is to grow your business, you need to practice ‘not doing’ – not doing it all your self, not doing what doesn’t actually need doing. Leverage means setting up systems for how things are best done, so that they can be handed off to other people.

Another form of leverage is hiring others, whether part-time or full-time, to take over those systems and activities. Using both of those forms of leverage will free you up to be doing exactly what you need to accomplish on behalf of your business.

Leadership
How do you envision your role in your business? Is it as a team member or a team leader? If it’s the former you’re playing small. Every team needs great members, but team success depends on a leader who make sure the resources the teams needs are available, and the obstacles get cleared out of the way. Be the leader.

Management
No matter the size of your business, you need to carve out time for working ‘on’ your business rather than ‘in’ it. That means putting together the plans that will be road maps for everyone’s efforts. Once you have those plans, it’s your turn to make sure you’ve got the resources your business needs to get the work done. And as work is taking place, you need to monitor how things are going so you know what to adjust.

Passion
Let’s not forget, as you become absorbed in the doing, you need reminders of why you’re in business in the first place. Keep your life vision and your business vision in your line of sight on a regular basis so that you can draw on the inspiration to sustain your balance!

And one way to grow your business to the next level is to join the Business Accelerator TeleSeminar Club at http://www.TheBusinessAcceleratorClub.com – come on board and join for $200 savings the first month.

Come join me and like-minded business builders and learn all about how to run your current business ever easier, AND how to take your experience & expertise and turn it into – Programs, Products & Services Your Clients Are Hungry For – with all the how to’s set out for you.

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April 17, 2009 | Filed Under Inspiration, Leadership, Managing, Productivity Tools | Leave a Comment 

Fear Is NOT A Growth Strategy

© 2009 Linda Feinholz.

Businesses are not build on fear – they’re build on optimism.

Moreover – the companies that succeed, that thrive, and that last over time are those run by people who can separate out the noise from the naysayers chatter and locate the opportunities that surface.

As Amy C. Crosper, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur magazine puts it, “It’s bad enough that Detroit is wheezing and Rome is burining and all hell has broken loose, but what’s worse is that the situation is making normally rational people act like loonies.”

You and I have been here before – fear makes us irrational. I’ve listened to business leaders declare that cutting is the strategy to follow, instead of growing. They are not equal choices in business. Never have been. Never will be.

And people who pour their time into rationalizing cutting are often missing their golden opportunity to Be The Game Changer.

When I talk about changing the game with my consulting and coaching clients, I come at it from Read more

January 31, 2009 | Filed Under Inspiration, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Creating Appreciation In Your Business

© 2008 Linda Feinholz.

So often our focus is on what’s ‘not yet’ done, what is sitting on our To Do list, and what we ‘ought to’ be getting to but haven’t yet completed.

Children have a great deal to teach us about what motivates our hearts and gives us the impetus to put our energy into growing our businesses. They remind us that our strength in life comes not from what’s missing and undone, but rather from what we’ve accomplished.

My 6-year old nephew reminded me of this as we were celebrating the holidays. His joy as he calculated 600 times 600 in his mind and got it right is his motivation to keep learning how to work with numbers. His glee at that power is a great pointer for all of us to deliberately take stock of what challenges we’ve taken on, what we’ve learned this past year, and now can use it.

Here are some of my favorite accomplishment prompts that I use with coaching clients and participants in my programs: Read more

December 27, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

Reminders From Young Children

I LOVE this time of year. The world gets still and quiet with everyone pausing for holiday celebrations. The city grows calmer, and so do my internal rhythms.

That makes it all so perfect – perfect for refelcting exactly what HAS been accomplished the past year.

My niece Emily and nephew Evan are getting The Game Of Life this year – and I know they’re going to have a blast with it.

So I thought I’d share with you a set of questions that will help you awken to a new sense of appreciation for what you HAVE achieved, and apreciate it.

It’ll make a wonderful foundation for your deciding what game you’d like to play and what success you plan to build this coming year.

December 25, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

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

July 20, 2008 | Filed Under Inspiration, Productivity Tools | Leave a Comment 

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

July 9, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Inspiration | 1 Comment 

Use ALL Your Brain In Business

Have you given thought to how to use ‘all’ of your brain, your mind, your capabilities in designing and achieving your life?
Synchronicity is FABULOUS!

I spent this week coaching two executives on how to take control of their personal power in meetings in order to get greater participation from others. One element of our discussions was a technique that quiets the Left Hemisphere of the brain and all it’s chatter, and shifts thinking over to the Right Hemisphere.

TED Jill Bolte TaylorAnd there in my email was a link to a wonderful, profound, moving presentation by neuro-scientist Jill Bolte Taylor. Jill’s presented her personal experience and discoveries when she experienced a stroke – a stroke that forced her out of her left brain and into her right, involuntarily.

She’s recovered from it and used her acute skills as an observer to create a presentation about her experience at the TED Conference.

I’ve followed the TED (Technology, Entertainment & Design Conference) since the early 1990’s. And now that technology has enabled them to post the contents of this invitation-only $6,000 event on-line where you can view it for ***free***. Well… honestly I think everyone should watch one of their recordings every single week – but I’m biased… I believe in stirring up new perspectives and new possibilities on a regular basis!

Jill delivered her experience in a fashion that every viewer – that’s you and me – can apply to our lives. So watch it and let me know what it says to you about what you can create – in your business and your life – using the opportunities presented by both halves of your brain.

This video will transform how you thing about the possibilities and start you on the path of actually accessing the ‘rest; of what your mind is just waiting to offer you.

Tell me what you think of it.

June 23, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

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.

January 21, 2008 | Filed Under Goal Setting, Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

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?

January 19, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

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

January 8, 2008 | Filed Under Goal Setting, Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

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