Since I last shared my thoughts and articles with you all sorts of things have been brewing. Vacationing, conferencing, and business launching have had me oh so busy.

In July I launched NichelessNoMore.com to help folks sort through all they know, identify the marriage between their expertise and what their ideal clients are seeking.

I also attended Joel Bauer’s Passion2Profit workshop and had all my hesitations about speaking from the big stage erased permanently. (I’m really looking forward to attending the next one in November – will I see you there?) AND I’m taking his weeklong training in January.

It’s actually quite new for me to know what I’ll be doing that far ahead!

And on my own business building front, I’m working with Nancy Marmolejo and Natasha Allrich in their Soft Selling With Social Media program. I know it’s going to help me speak the fabulous results my clients and students are getting from working with me… so that others will know if it resonates for them as well.

BY the way -

I just got an email asking if it’s too late to join Nicheless No More (my 4-week webinar course on finding and leveraging your niche in your marketplace) – and IF YOU JOIN TODAY you’ll be able to get full value – all the first week information is waiting for you – webinar, members area, action guides. And our 2nd webinar is tomorrow. I’m spacing them two-weeks apart to give you all the time you need to work with the action guides, clarify what you are offering your own ideal clients, and get answers from me.

There’s nothing more exciting to me than helping you grow your business, sharing every thing I learn for my self to help you accelerate yours!

And there are weeks left to this summer – what a blast!

Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry

Over the years of consulting and coaching business owners and entrepreneurs, I’ve uncovered quite a few ways to mess up your efforts. Below you’ll find the top 7 ways to mess up, and what to do about it.

Top 7 Ways To Screw Up Your Business

1. It’s all about you – most people believe they‘re in business to sell what they’re interested in putting out in the world. Do you think your buyer really cars about this?

What to do instead – Your business is all about your prospective customer and what is in it for them. Tell them.

2. Being a “Do It All” – I also see professionals and business owners try to do everything so they’ll know it was done right. Silly idea.

What to do instead – Leverage others. Hire others to hand off lower level work so you can focus on business building.

3. Being a “Know It All” – I’ve seen people assume they know how to do everything. Yep, even thought they have no way of knowing the new and improved technique that might be out there.

What to do instead – Hire for the experience and expertise people have gained in other companies. Now that’s leverage!

4. Meeting hell – Yep, I’ve seen 100s of companies waste 1000s of hours of people’s time, energy and intelligence in worthless meetings. C’mon, you have too.

What to do instead – Never start a meeting if you cannot describe the single result you want to create by the end.

5. Ad Hoc Hell – I’ve seen it. People letting themselves be interrupted constantly by others who have ‘just a quick question.’

What to do instead – Use time blocking and create uninterruptible slots at least 3 times every day.

6. Technology Interruptions – Just because someone invented email and cell phones doesn’t mean they should command your attention.

What to do instead – Turn off both for 2 hours. Then check and answer what needs your attention AND turn them off again to keep working.

7. Getting lost in To Do’s – All too often our personal list becomes a mile long and swamps our attention.

What to do instead – Pick 3 to 6 items that will be the focus or your day. Delegate the rest.

Technorati Tags: Meeting Management, Productivity, team building

Amelia Earhart

The following steps can be used with each member of your team, in each and every functional area:

1. Pick a single topic – Work with each person to identify some aspect of the business, be it products, services, or processes, that they are effective at.

2. Tell team member that you’re going to work with them to develop a talk on that topic and the time and date for it.

3. Coach them into outlining 10 to 20 things they know already.

4. Have them send a quick survey to their ‘customers’ (others in the company) asking them what their “Single Biggest Question Is” about that topic.

5. Have them compile the answers and identify “The Top 10 Questions”.

6. Have them develop their answers to those questions into a 20-minute talk on that topic that can be shared at a team meeting, a company-wide brown bag lunch talk and so on.

7. Have them deliver their presentation at least 3 times. This can be to their peers, to the entire company, and even to customers.

Bonus Tip 1 – Have each person create a tip sheet on the topic for people to refer to. This might be other employees, or as a customer download from your web site.

Bonus Tip 2 – Record the presentation and make the recording available on your web site.

Bonus Tip 3 – Send an email to your customers and prospects letting them know they can ask their questions of your expert on the topic.

Each of these steps boosts your team members’ expert status, not only in their colleagues eyes, but also in their own. Once you’ve used all these steps on a single topic, you can now ask each member of the team identify if there is another angle on their topic that they can use that will increase their expertise further.

You can make this cycle an annual process and repeat all the steps.

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.

Technorati Tags: small business marketing, team building

Julie Andrews