Title: Growth Club 90 Day Planning Workshop
Location: NC Wesleyan College – 2000 Perimeter Park Rd in Morrisville
Description: Growth Club 90 Day Planning Workshop for Triangle Business Owners is scheduled for Friday September 23 at 8:30am at the NC Wesleyan College – 2000 Perimeter Park Rd in Morrisville.

Has 2011 been a banner year for you?
End the year with the results you want!
Join the Triangle ActionCOACH business coaches for a workshop dedicated to helping you establish your
Q4 Goals, the strategies necessary to achieve those goals and the actions you must take to make it happen!

One Day totally dedicated to working ON your business!

Invest in Your Business – Reserve your seat NOW!

Email me directly or call me at 919-529-0616 to reserve your seat
Start Time: 08:30 am
Date: 2011-09-23
End Time: 3:30 pm

Five Top Selling Books for Business-Minded Improvement

Posted on www.aboutbradsugars.com

In the next two blogs we’ll take a look at 10 of the top selling business books ever written, a couple of which have been helping people since before World War II and are still relevant today. If you haven’t read any of the books mentioned, or just need another copy, just click on the title to buy your own.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich is a motivational personal development and self-help book written by Napoleon Hill and published in 1936, during the depths of the Great Depression. It is still a must read today, if for no other reason than to understand the foundation on which most other books of the genre are built. The title implies that this book deals only with how to achieve monetary wealth, but the author explains that the philosophy taught in the book can be used to help individuals do or be almost anything they want in this world. At the time of Hill’s death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold 20 million copies and it remains the biggest seller of Hill’s books, and a perennial best-seller after nearly 70 years.

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, was published in 1998. It is a business fable by Spencer Johnson that describes how four characters deal with change in their work and life. Each character represents one of four typical reactions to change while they hunt for “cheese”. Who Moved My Cheese? spent five years on the New York Times Best Seller List and more than 23 million copies have been sold. While we may not all like parables, this book resonates to this day thanks to the easy to understand story that puts most people’s troubles into perspective.

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

The Secret became incredibly well known when Oprah featured it on her television show. Soon after, it reached the top of the New York Times best-seller list and, to date, has sold almost 20 million copies. The Secret isn’t strictly a business book, but instead teaches the reader how to think and visualize in a way that leads to prosperity and growth. It was written by Rhonda Byrne and based upon William Walker Atkinson’s, The Science of Getting Rich, published in 1910. The Secret is somewhat controversial because many claim that the book misleads readers into thinking positive thoughts can influence a reader’s life and real-world outcomes, but there are many successful people that believe in The Secret and one can’t dispute its status as a best seller, no matter what they think of the text.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, was first published in 1989 and is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey. To date it has sold more than 15 million copies in 38 languages. In this book, Covey presents an approach for being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself with what he calls “true north” principles of a character ethic that he presents as universal and timeless. This book has been highly influential since its publication, especially in the way it has advanced the idea of the “abundance” mentality for both people and businesses. ActionCOACH, for one, takes great pride in its mentality of abundance, even making abundance one of the company’s 14 Points of Culture.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

How to Win Friends and Influence People was written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936. Over the decades it has sold more than 15 million copies world-wide. While the book has been updated and changed periodically (the Seven Rules for Making Your Home Life Happier, as well as other sections were omitted from later editions) it still contains some timeless lessons about creating and developing a persona that helps you work with people in a more productive and profitable way. Like many classics, its message still resonates, as networking and dealing with people has never been more important than it is today.

Are you busy? Of course you are.
Do you have too much to do and not enough time to do it?
Have your productivity processes become stale?

As a business person, all of us are aware of the impact of how much we accomplish and how fast we accomplish it effectively. Multi-tasking is a way of life. Many of my clients face the same dilemmas, and as a result I created a class for my Profit Clubs entitled How to be more Organized, Productive, and Effective. In my pursuit of discovering ways to help them, I revisited a technique that I use to employ but moved away from while tweaking my time management efforts.

I was listening to a book the other day that talked about multi-tasking. It reminded me of how I have designed my days to significant blocks of times to focus on the same major business functions: selling, marketing, coaching, networking, etc. Yet at the same time, many of the other things I use to be on top of, including personal endeavors, were not getting accomplished. Why was this happening? Because I was focusing on the priorities of course – yet my blocks of hours sometimes found me losing focus, going off on tangents, occasionally becoming board, creating fatigue and expanding my hours.

As a result of this “self coaching,” I decided to set my watch every hour and to shift projects/focus every hour as the alarm sounded. What I discovered was that I did, in fact, increase my total productivity significantly. Instead of spending 4 hours on a project, I spent an hour, then moved on. As a result, I stayed fresh for each endeavor, was able to concentrate and focus on that project, with minimal distractions, and work on each item with enthusiasm. For the major 3-4 hour and more projects, it helped me remember that “the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”

Of course, if I am very close to finishing a project, report, etc. I took the additional 5 to 10 minutes to finish, then cut the next task to the remainder of the hour, striving to keep the integrity of the hour in place. And, there are those to do things that do not take an hour, that can be easily used in these cases. Yes some meetings, and calls may take more than an hour, yet you can treat this as an exception and you control getting back on track.

At ActionCOACH, we establish 10 things to accomplish every day. This technique of hourly focus helps tremendously to ensure time is devoted to self development, working “on” your business, making calls, sending notes, reviewing your 90 day plan, and other items in your business and in your personal life.

As the old saying goes, “variety is the spice of life.” Utilizing this productivity technique will improve your results, help you get more accomplished without expanding your hours, and serve as a daily sharpening of the saw.

The Economic Spring is right around the corner.

Are you ready for it?  2009 is over.  Have you finished your Annual goals for 2010?  Have you developed a 90 day plan that will set you on the course to make your 2010 goals?  Do you have a strong marketing plan?  Is it designed to take advantage of the economy bouncing back?  Have you finalized your expense budget and does your marketing plan achieve what you will need to cover your expense budget?  If not, why not – to all of those questions?  If you are serious about moving your business forward in 2010, you need to answer those questions now.

For the past 15+ months we have been living through an economic Winter.  Despite the deep freeze that is currently gripping most of the country, there are definite signs of an economic Spring.  The stock market has made back much of its losses.  Retail sales have been better than expected.  The next step is putting America back to work.  Once unemployment shows significant signs of improvement, then you will see the big bounce back.  Are you ready for it?  Are you prepared to take advantage of the up tick in demand for your products and services?  Those are critical questions that you must answer – now.

Read more »

Recently I have spent a lot of time thinking about the power of referrals.  On the surface, I think everyone understands the need for receiving referrals, however I am not sure everyone truly understands the power of referrals.  I believe that many think of referrals as a name and number of someone who might be a prospect.  That is in fact a piece of referrals, but it is such a small piece of it.

Referral sources are part of your sales force and need to be educated in your product, service, or business just like those you pay directly.  Many of us do not do the simple thing of simply asking for referrals, or even telling your referral sources what you are looking for.

It has been said that marketing is math.  That being said, the marketing strategy of referrals can be mind boggling.  If you are a member of a referral/leads group that has approximately 40 members, ask yourself how many leads you are getting from them.  If it is not very many, you need to ask yourself why.  In fact, the entire group needs to do this.  Basic math will tell you that you should be getting something from everyone in the group, not just their business, but the people they know business. Read more »

“What we have here is a failure to communicate”. One of the truest statements ever made on the silver screen. Recently I have noticed significant issues with basic communication that has allowed problems to develop, incorrect assumptions to be made, and frustrations to occur. As long as I can remember communication or lack thereof has been at the forefront of many, many, issues. Much has been written about communication. Libraries are filled with books about this subject. Now it is my turn to make a few comments. This is too small of a forum to do this subject justice, however this gentle reminder may make a significant difference in your business.

I have two clients that service each others businesses. One client had a computer fixed by the other client. Some files were missing from the returned computer. The repairer was made aware of the issue, but did not convey when he would fix this issue. The owner of the computer became more and more upset as the days passed, however did not make the effort to call and find out what the delay was. The repairer was not aware of the urgency (although he should have been) and did not make resolving the situation a priority. Days continued to pass without resolution. A quick call from the owner expressing concern and urgency, or just a courtesy follow up call from the computer repair company to the owner of the computer would have solved the issue. If I had not been made aware of the situation and prompted communication between the two, the issue would still probably be unresolved. As a result, of this “failure to communicate” has resulted in the owner of the computer not using the computer company to build their website.

I ran across another situation with a web designer and a merchant. The merchant was forever complaining that his web site was still under construction. Whereas, the web designer was waiting for content from the merchant to post on the web site. Again, if either bothered to talk to each other – one expressing concern or the other following up for content, the frustrations would have been eliminated.

Over the years, I have learned that communication is critical to success. You just need to open your mouth and take responsibility for the communication. Many years ago, I was the General Manager for a big box retailer and we were going through a remodel. The chain had over 200 stores, of which 6 were being remodeled. Anyone who has ever tried to remodel a large store while keeping it open for business knows how tough of a task this is. It just so happened that my store continued to run sales increases during this remodel whereas, the other stores going through the remodel were posting significant decreases. When we analyzed the results we discovered that the key element was that my employees knew what was going on with the remodel, whereas the other stores were not as effective communicating what was happening. I conducted daily update meetings with the managers and followed up with a full store meeting on Friday and Saturday, to ensure all associates were well informed as to what we were currently doing, what we were going to do next week, what the long term vision of the outcome was, and most importantly why we were doing what we were doing. The result – I got promoted to multi-store management. People are much more motivated when they are “in” on what is happening.

Communication is the key. Get the message out. Talk with each other. Follow up. Do not assume. Shout it from the roof tops. Take the posture that whoever you are working with, is the most informed person because you have communicated. Never let it be said of/to you that “what we have here is a failure to communicate”.

The answer to that question should be obvious, but how many of us really put it into practice.

The weather is changing. Monday I was incredibly productive from 7am to 6pm. Like most small business owners working a half day is 12 hours. As the evening hours approached, I became chilled. No doubt due to the weather change and the fact that my wife loves to keep the heat off until absolutely necessary. I was so chilled that Monday night was spent trying to warm up, drinking orange juice, and unproductively watching tv.

Tuesday I awoke feeling fine, prepared for a Business Expo I was participating in. Around Noon, my right leg became very stiff. Evidently, I twisted it badly. After struggling through the afternoon on a concrete floor at the Expo Center, I packed up, went home and crashed in such pain that I did not even check email.

The next morning, I went to my 8am meeting, only to discover the meeting had been canceled. If I would have felt better I would have read the email postponing the meeting. Frustrated about how my health betrayed me – kept me from having a moderately productive evening, and going to a meeting that did not happen, I began to wonder about the impact of Health on Productivity. I am not talking about sniffles here, true pain and illness. Since I truly believe rest impacts health, I added it into the equation.

As stated earlier, the answer appears obvious – of course health and rest impact productivity. Yet for as long as I can remember, I have tried to fight through pain and illness to be productive, to get work done because it needed to be done, or to not fall further and further behind, which would cause me to put in more time and effort to catch up. In fact, over the years, I know of many of my friends and colleagues who do the same – try to fight through it.

Where did the work smarter, not harder thought process go? If we are sick or in pain, the likelihood of great effectiveness is limited – yet we believe we can be effective. Would you be much more effective if you are not encumbered by pain or illness? Would you produce at a much greater capacity if you are on top of your game health wise? Of course, you would. I know I am much better, much more effective, much more productive when I am free of pain and illness. Why – because I am able to be much more focused and results come from being focused.

It has been said that even when I am tired, sick, and/or in pain, that my abilities to focus take my mind off the illness or pain. That may be true, but what is the toll it takes.

I recently talked with a Health Coach about my thoughts and she fully endorses my belief that adequate rest and exercise are the cornerstones of wellness, productivity and effectiveness. Of course, she also endorses eating right and taking proper vitamins and nutrients as well as power naps (which is hard to do in a corporate setting).

Ah, exercise. We all know exercise is important. We learned that growing up. Exercise plus eating right is what helped develop our bodies and mind. Yet as we get older, we find less and less time for exercise. Between our never ending jobs, family, bills, keeping up with the Jones’s, exercise too often falls by the wayside for many. Yet, most of the top executives in the world do find time to exercise. I remember one of my secretary’s once telling me about her husband’s lack of exercise. His philosophy was that he would exercise when he was retired, then he would have time for it. Isn’t that interesting?

The question remains – why do we try to be super human and fight through illness and/or pain? Is it the thought of making it to the weekend, so you can have some time to yourself and your family? Is it the fear of losing your edge and possibly your job? Is it because you are trying to set the standard for your subordinates, who would also be much more productive if they are well physically and ready to handle the tasks at hand?

I will leave you with 1 additional thought. Do you think your in box or email in box will be empty when you die? Of course they won’t be empty. Life is a gift and we need to enjoy every day. To do that we need to exercise, get plenty of rest, stop trying to be superman at work by trying to work through pain and illness. In fact, if/when we take proper care of our bodies and listen to our inner voice tapping us on the shoulder when we are in pain or sick, we will produce significantly more, enjoy our work more and achieve stronger results.

I am going for a walk.

What do you do when opportunity comes knocking?  Do you even notice it?  Are you skeptical?  Are you a dream stealer?  What do you do?

Fairly often I am presented with some sort of opportunity.  Most I dismiss immediately because I am somewhat of a skeptic.  However, every once in a while an opportunity catches my attention.

Why do some opportunities catch my attention?  Is it my mindset when I come across it?   Is it the pressures on my time that make me turn away?  Is it the presenter/sales person demeanor?  Is it my inner voice?  All of these questions have been haunting me lately as I was presented an opportunity recently, that under normal circumstances I would have dismissed.  This time I looked under the hood and see it as a true opportunity.

Read more »

Last night I was watching the end of the movie “The Magnificent Seven” and took great interest in the Eli Wallach character questioning Yul Brynner “You came back, why?  Men like you (Brynner, Steve McQueen and the others were gunslingers hired for virtually nothing to protect a village from bandits but left, then returned to rid the village of the intruders) to help a village like this – why”  It made me think of something I learned a long time ago.

Why do you do what you do?

Why do you work so hard?

What is the true why for you?

Do you have clarity for why you do what you do?

Why are you in business?  Why more money?  Why more time?

What is it that pushes you to the next level?

Read more »

Business is tough.  Increasing sales is tough.  The current state of the economy has not made this any easier.  Businesses need to constantly implement strategies and make adjustments to move their business forward.  They may focus on getting more leads, improving their rate of conversion or increasing the money they get from every transaction to achieve their desired results.

With competition increasing and more entities vying for the same dollar the chances for increased traffic, even in a strong economy, is minimized.  What is a business to do?  One of my favorite and relatively inexpensive strategies is to focus on driving up the average transaction – the amount of money you take in on each sale.  In fact, if you do this right, you have every right to believe that you will increase your profits significantly at the same time.  Why do you think McDonald’s has made it an art to ask – “will you have fries with that” and “would you like to super size it?”  Add on selling is just one method of increasing your Average Transaction.

Read more »