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 The friendliest, most people-loving tech guy you'll ever meet! |
Ivy Lee gave Charles Schwab a blank sheet of paper and told him…
That is the simple time management system Lee gave to Schwab for his managers to use. After a 90-day test period in which Every Single One of the managers had massively increased productivity, Schwab voluntarily paid Lee $25,000 (over $200,000 in today’s adjusted dollars)! It boils down the most important items that you can find in entire chapters of time management books. It’s actually quite simple: 1) Prioritize. 2) Do the work! I understand the Law of Attraction and I’m a HUGE fan Positive Thinking. But, my life changed when I finally got it through my head that success comes from consistent hard work.
As I’ve said a few times here before, it’s important and more fun to have a great perspective on your work; be inspired to keep working. But, no matter what game you create for yourself to do it, what matters is that you actually get things done! Try Ivy Lee’s formula for success OR as I like to call it 6ccess. Pick your most important tasks for tomorrow and then work through the list. You may be amazed at how much you get done this week.
I’ve been a member of this group since it started and it’s amazing! You can get your questions answered there and some really great support in getting it done. There are so many helpful, giving, and Smart people in this group, I am constantly impressed! It consists of people at all levels; brand new folks can ask questions that will be answered by people 1 or 2 steps ahead of them in the game AND top level professional bloggers. Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, Sonia Simone , Brian Clark, Johnny B. Truant and many others are on all the time asking provocative questions, answering requests for help, and creating a great welcoming atmosphere. You’ll learn about marketing, blogging and business, copywriting and you can join some great brainstorming sessions. Besides the fantastic and always busy forum, there are monthly seminar calls where you can hear interviews of successful, money-making folks. And, you get to ask questions in the forum for them to answer on the calls, too. 
If you are looking to have a better online presence and get visible, then you should definitely check it out! It’s one of only 2 membership sites that I am in and recommend. I’ll write about Dave Navarro’s program once he opens it up again for new folks. Check out the Third Tribe!
I get a daily newsletter from gaping void that shows Hugh Macleod’s cartoons. I think that they’re fun and often thought-provoking. Today’s cartoon, entitled Successful grabbed me enough to go to the site and peak around. (Further testament that email marketing and sending newsletters works!) While I was there I ran across this article: random thoughts on being an entrepreneur I think everyone starting a business should print this out and refer to it at least once a week. It can help you get through the rough times and inspire you to keep going. Some of these may not apply to you, but I would bet that at least half will. Perhaps you don’t have a product yet, you just coach one-on-one. You need a product, too! Find a way to make money while you’re not working directly with a client.
Be in contact with your clients outside of your normal coaching schedule. Send a hand-written note for a birthday or holiday. Make a drop-in call that they didn’t request and create a deeper connection, or maybe send them a resource for something other than what you’re working on. (You know them enough to know what’s valuable to them.)
Sure, there are coaches with more clients, making more money, coaching from the beach… So what? You do the best you can for the people that you work with. That is all. I’ve talked to many coaches that seem to understand this principle in many areas of their lives. They don’t compare themselves to their friends, to their own past career, or their contacts in other businesses. But, in their business as a coach, somehow it sneaks in! We surf the net and talk to other coaches and that insidious little voice points out how much better those “other” coaches are doing. How much money they’re making, how many products they’re selling, and look at all those nice testimonials! They’re not better than you and it doesn’t matter anyway. Be great with the people that you serve and you will be as successful as anyone.
 As a coach, you are an entrepreneur and you’re running a business. If you’re not running it like a business, then you won’t be one of those “golden” 6-figure coaches. Get contracts, a business plan, marketing and financial plans.
I know you just want to get to the good stuff; working with people. But, if you skip the business parts, then you’ll have less opportunity to do so. Read Hugh’s article and get back to me and tell me what the impact is on you. Thanks!  Pic by Ocva @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocva/ When I start a project, I just naturally start with the end in mind. What will success look like? Who will be there? How will we celebrate? Who benefits? This includes lot’s of different sensory inputs so I get the feeling of success. That’s what pulls me forward when things get rough or annoying. I am driven by inspiration. And I just assume that is the way that many other coaches and speakers do it, too. That’s been my experience. If you haven’t been doing this, then try it out; write down the whole picture of how it’s going to be when it’s complete. If you find that hard to do, get a coach! We’re all about creating futures and then working with you to make it happen. Positive thinking is not some hokey, new age-y dream. Being positive gives you energy and lets you see the success and drives you towards it. Being negative (or “realistic”) drains your energy. And really, if it’s probably not going to work out in the end, why should you work too hard on it? (Say that line in your best Eeyore voice.) I understand that it’s not always easy to do this. It’s my natural tendency. I do it almost always without any contemplating whether or not I should be positive or not this time. (This relates to my post Building a Cathedral in that the key to success is in your perspective.) Most contributors are “people people” they’re not “technology people”. I would guess that, if you’re reading this, you know the joy and excitement that comes from helping someone get around or through something. It’s the juice that keeps you going. You’d coach 8 hours a day everyday if it was just that; working with the people. You’d spend months writing and rewriting a speech just to get that hour or two in front of people and the chance to change their lives. But, there’s more that needs to be done. It’s a business and a business requires some other tasks to be handled. if you haven’t already, then you need to go read The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. My focus, of course, is getting your website up and working for you. Stop putting it off! Stop worrying about how it’s not quite right. And really, don’t pay someone thousands of dollars to get it built and then rely on them to make simple text changes on their schedule.
It’s not hard and it’s not scary. And remember these really are just some simple steps you have to take in order for you to get out in front of the people you want to help. Go now. They’re waiting for you! “Be A Winner By Being Well Advised. Seek Wise Councel.”Listen to Over 100+ Audio Interviews Of Real-Life Legends & Mentors (Plus Worksheets And Transcripts)Listen above to the 7-minute sample clips from some of these interviews. Then, claim your unlimited 7-days free trial of ALL the interviews, each about an hour long, in full, over here while this offer lasts… Yes. I am an affiliate and I completely believe in his message and methods! David Cameron Gikandi is creative and wise. I think his book A Happy Pocketful of Money should be read by everybody. Even if you join the Free version of his offering, you’ll get that book for free, too. That alone makes it worth it! So, I am a tech guy and I think pretty linearly. I look for elegant answers to complex problems. AND, I’m into relationships, too. As a matter of fact, I’ve been with the same woman for more than 18 years. I know that people have been searching for this answer for years. And this topic has been the basis for hundreds of jokes by stand-up comics. But, I have a valid solution and I hope that everyone will take this to heart and create happiness and peace in their relationships. I offer you the “magic bullet” to making relationships work! Look at this diagram: Yes. You will have to open the toilet every time you need to go.
This is an excellent little movie about how some people have re-created their lives. http://www.hulu.com/watch/120840/lemonade
The people in this film, and more than a dozen that I have personally spoken with, exude joy and love to say that the day they got fired was the greatest day of their lives. Not that they thought that at the time! By having the “safety net” taken away and being thrown into the world and told, “Make it!” these folks did what felt great to them. Gary Vaynerchuk said that someone that is “bat-shit crazy” about coffee and blogs like mad and just LOVES everything about coffee is going to be huge. The guy in this movie, with his coffee roaster and mobile shop, made me think of that again. I promise that you love a thing and you love to research out it and find out everything you can about it, you’ll find others that love what you do. They are your people, your tribe. I bet they’re waiting for you now.
Are you wearing a mask?? Could it be that your mask is just that you’re not showing up to be seen?? There are tons of ways to be out there on the Internet: websites, blogs, FaceBook, Twitter and about a million other forums, groups and apps. Each has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. But the one thing that they all offer is the opportunity to put yourself out there, to get you seen and recognized by thousands of people that you would otherwise have had about a 0.1% chance of connecting with. Lots of folks are confused about the value of some of these tools, so here’s my spin on the big players in Social Media. (And, no. I am not calling myself a Social Media Guru, like every third person on Twitter.) Let’s talk about blogs, FaceBook, and Twitter with a nod toward the common website. Website: Yes. You need one. And it’s amazingly easy.
This is your place that you put your official marketing stuff. It’s your company billboard/brochure. It’s relatively static and you can sell like crazy here and have optin boxes and whatever else it takes to get people into your funnel and have them buying your stuff. Blog: Setup is the same as above:
Here is where you get to show your personality for your business. Let people get to know you. There are many levels of personal revelation available, from “What goes on behind the scenes in our workplace” to “I love cats!” People get to know you as a person ongoingly. They get to like you because they know you. And people will always buy moer from people that they know, like, and respect. FaceBook: Some will cry foul, heresy, or stupidity about this one, but… FaceBook is for personal contact. I have nobody on my FaceBook that I don’t really know. I talk to them weekly, or have done business with them, or I went to high school with them… some number of years ago. Yes, I have done business with some of those folks. But, now I know them. They’re not just prospects. I could call any of them and they’d answer. (I hope!) There are fan pages for doing business on FB, but something about being fans annoys me. <shrug> That’s just one of my things to work through, because I know a lot of people are using FB fan pages and it wroks for them. So, go ahead and market like crazy through a fan page, but keep your personal account… personal. I like the idea of having a place where I am never selling and I am just connecting with people that I know and like. Sharing life’s little suprises and wisdom. Twitter: Ah, Twitter! At first, like everyone else, I said, “Who cares about what I had for lunch?” Then one day, I had a great conversation with social media socialite, Tia Singh. (I don’t think she calls herself that, but she’s super friendly and knowledgable about these things, so I’m calling her that!) I had a great shift in thought about how Twitter lets you join in on conversations with people, in practically real time, about the various things I’m interested in. Here is a great article from the NY Times about Why Twitter Will Endure. Read that and understand that Twitter is changing customer service, too. My true Twitter story I had just read that article a week or two ago and when I had a problem with my bank (Suntrust) this week. I tweeted about it and I got results too. I woke up on Wednesday after a holiday weekend. I needed to check one of my personal bank accounts and to my horror that I was massively overdrawn. There was some confusion due to the way that the website reported transactions and how soon deposits clear. Combine that with the holiday effect and it all added up to calamity. When I called, the rep explained to me why I had 11 overdraft charges at $36 each. GRRRR! After checking my account, I was told that since I have been such a “good customer” for so long that he’d be able to refund one of the charges. I felt like I was told I was a “good doggie” and then thwapped on the nose! After tweeting my disgust at Suntrust, I was contacted by their Twitter folks and given a different number. Apparently this was a hotline for the disgruntled. I spoke with a soothing, apologetic, nice woman and I was refunded more than half of the charges. Not all of them, but they hoped I’d understand that it wasn’t really a bank error and I might need another way to track my accounts than the website, which might not always be real time. (I swear I usually do, but just upgraded OS and computer parts and had let my receipts accounting fall behind.) So, yah. Ultimately it is my problem and they Could have given me nothing. But, by using Twitter and treating people like people, Suntrust saved my accounts from being moved (I have 4 accounts there… still). Companies are starting to see the value of having people on Twitter, FaceBook and other social media channels in order to show a human and humane face. Soon, all business will go that way. Take off the mask! So just like maybe 8-10 years ago, you couldn’t understand why anyone but drug dealers and doctors would need a cell phone… you might consider getting your Twitter and other social media outlets working for you! Jump in and play the game, not behind some mask, but as you; the real, authentic you. Share as much or as little of the details of your personal life, but be honest and tell your truth. That is how you get to know people, enroll clients, and get more business. As a bonus, you may meet many other really great authentic people that are creating greatness in the world. Maybe you’ll meet new business partners or even friends! I invite you to start with me! Please follow me at http://twitter.com/TobyMartini and join the conversation! |
 I was really overwhelmed with all of the choices in front of me about how to move my business forward technologically.
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Sadly most people don’t think about taking control of their own destiny until the winds of change force their hand.