Fuel Your Passion, Ignite Your Profits

Passion is something within you that provides the continual enthusiasm, focus and energy you need to succeed.  True passion does not come from those “feel good” emotions you get from external sources, it comes from within, an almost spiritual force.

The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek word entheos, which means “to be filled with God.”  When you are filled with spirit, you are naturally inspired and passionate.  Sometimes that passion expresses itself in a dynamic and energetic way and other times it expresses itself in a more peaceful and calm way.

Passionate people are enthusiastic about life and work.  They can’t wait to get up in the morning and get started.  They are eager and energetic.  They are filled with purpose and totally committed to their mission.  They enjoy what they do!

Create a plan for your business that incorporates the passions you have for life.  Let your Marketing Plan include people and places that you want to do business with.  Without identifying what you are passionate about,  you might find yourself  "a little asleep at the wheel."

Passion is a powerful tool for success and deserves to be an area you consistently work on.  Passion makes your days fly by!  It helps you get more done in less time.  It helps you make better decisions.  And it attracts others to you.

Spend more time doing what you love to do.  Discover and reconnect with your purpose for doing anything that you do.  Realize everything is a choice.  And when those choices are connected to your purpose that’s when your enthusiasm will build.

Here are some thoughts to explore:

How can you develop and maintain a passion for the most important areas of your life?

How do you know when you have a true passion and purpose for something?

When you express your passion and enthusiasm, you will become a magnet to others, who will be attracted to your level of energy.

Discover Your Best Self

This means something different to all of us.  But one thing remains true, in order to understand your life's purpose, you must first come to understand yourself.  In order to achieve success in life, career and relationships you need to discover your best self!  That allows you to live your best life!

Living your best life means understanding and living out your life's purpose.  It means creating harmony within all parts of your life.  It involves more celebrating and less worrying.  It's joyful not stressful.  Your best self thrives when you are living your best life.

It all sounds so easy doesn't it?  But how to get there?  How do we discover our best self?  First, we have to make the decision to look for her.  Then we have to make a commitment - a life long commitment to the discovery because your best self is not a destination - it's a journey.

To help guide your journey to Discover Your Best Self, consider the following as part of your road map:

Choose Happiness - Be happy for no reason.  Create a state of peace and well being that isn't dependent on external circumstances.  When you are happy for no reason you bring happiness to your outer experiences rather than trying to extract happiness from them.   Live from happiness, rather than for happiness.

Own Your Happiness - Accept that being happy is up to you and that you have the ability and the power to be happier by changing your habits.  Respond to people and events in your life in a way that supports your happiness.

Appreciate Your Trials - The tough times in our life often become the blessings in our life.  Those tough times make us grow up, it develops our character.  Your most difficult times in life are usually the foundation for everything good in your life.

Have a Thankful Attitude - Be grateful!  Appreciate what you have rather than complain about what you don't have.  Gratitude is your ability to show thanks.  Consider everything you have, everything you get to do as a gift.  It will allow you to receive more.

Have a Positive Attitude - Your attitude belongs to you and only you.  No one can make you have a bad day.  To be your best self - look for the best in others and in every situation.  Think in terms of possibilities rather than problems.

Stop Complaining - It won't fix anything.  Complaining is a garbage magnet!  All you do is call more complaining and negativity into your life.  You can not be your best self if you are always focused on negativity.

Make Peace with Yourself - You can only know your best self when you make peace with yourself.  We all have things in our past that didn't go so well.  Blaming yourself robs you of happiness.  Make peace with yourself, free up your energy and accept yourself for who you are.

Celebrate Your Birthday - Celebrate your birthday in a big way every year!  The day you were born was an awesome day and should be celebrated!  It is not just another day.  It is your day.  It is a celebration of life and life is a gift.  Express gratitude for it.  Recognize all the wonderful things that make you uniquely you on the one day a year that is all about you!

Don't Be Ruled by Guilt - We are not built for guilt.  Haven't you noticed how yucky you feel when you allow guilt into your life.  Our system doesn't handle it so well.  How much time do we waste on feeling guilty.  Instead of feeling guilty, make good decisions and have confidence in your ability to do so.

Do What You Love and Love What You Do - What makes your heart expand?  What makes your soul sing?  Don't allow yourself to be so busy going through the motions of the day that you don't pay attention to what truly brings you joy.

Spend Time With Yourself - How can you be your best self if you don't know anything about yourself?  Claim 30 minutes a day as your own time to be with your thoughts. Perhaps read a book or meditate.

Practice Forgiveness - To be your best self you can not walk around angry at someone.  Practice forgiveness.  You can't be truly happy until you forgive.  Feeling hatred, anger and resentment toward someone who wronged you is not a way of punishing them.  It is punishing you and holding you back.

Respect Your Body - Nourish it properly.  You can not solve all your problems by eating happy meals!  Energize your body.  Get out and move around. Exercise regularly.  Love your Body.  Stop looking in the mirror and pointing out all of the things you don't like and wish you could change.  Come to love yourself for who you are and stop focusing on what you aren't.

Filter Out the Negative - Learn to filter out negativity in all its forms.  Negative thoughts, negative words and negative people.  Surround yourself with people you admire, with people who believe in you and want you to be your best self.

Being yourself takes time, courage, commitment and faith.  It is a process of letting go of many false beliefs that we have picked up along the way.  To be your best self means ultimately to love yourself.  You are a wonderful creation.  You can be, do and have anything you want and I want only the best for you!

You become what you think, so think positive!

You have the power to think and be positive and the power to think and be positive will change your life.  People who think positively can see potential in even the most challenging and discouraging situations. In contrast, people who think negatively usually only see the problems and limitations in any situation rather than the solutions.

Negative thinking distorts reality.  Your ability to think negatively or positively is a choice.  When you see things through the glasses of negativity it is impossible to create rational solutions.  Problems seem bigger and harder to get through than they really are.  You begin to feel like nothing can go right.  Negative thinking becomes negative talk and negative actions.  You can not attract good things into your life with bad thoughts.

The alternative is to tap into the power of positive thinking.  That's a choice too!  Understand your thoughts and beliefs and allow positivity, happiness and optimism to be your focus.  When your thoughts are limited, your beliefs are limited and so are your actions.  Until you make positive thinking a way of being, doing and having you will always experience a disconnect in your life, your work, your relationships and in your ability to fulfill your very purpose.

To start living the life of your dreams,  you only need to do one thing ... change your state of mind.

Believe that you have the power to create the results that you want in your life - in large part to the way you respond to the events that are occurring in your life.  Good things are yours to have and nothing is impossible if you have faith and believe in that the Universe is here to support you.

Don't let anyone else stop your flow of positive thoughts.  Protect them and your ability to be positive from the negative thoughts of others.  Don't let anyone else's limited thinking limit you.  Always focus on the solutions and sometimes the very blessings to come from any challenges.

Being positive is a choice, and it requires practice and dedication to the process.  Train your mind to think positively in every situation.  Train your thoughts to be kind and supportive, especially to yourself.   Train your voice to always speak with positivity and encouragement to others.  Focus on all the things in your life that are good because what you focus on expands.  Express gratitude for what you have rather than discontent for what you don't have.

Think highly of yourself!  The world takes you at your own estimate!

Is your list too long?

How do you know what to do first?  How many things can one person do in a day?  Well, many successful people have mastered the ability to get more done by doing less!

It’s a well established fact that the average person cannot successfully handle more than six or seven things in their minds at one time. Yet, we try to do it all the time. One simple method will help … write it down!

This will do more than just create a to-do list. Writing things down is the process of down loading.

The strategy is to keep a short list in order to narrow down what’s truly important to do each day. And writing things down helps you summarize the details and envision the tasks already done.

The next step is to rank those six items in order of their importance. Anxiety can be caused when we have too many things on our minds or when we feel our “plate is full”.

Once you have the list, develop your focus and only keep one thing in the forefront of your mind – the task at hand.

Is it possible, that if you create this list the night before, you might even sleep better? Your subconscious mind will work on preparing you for the tasks of the next day while you sleep. You will find yourself waking up not only refreshed from a good night’s sleep, but also with great ideas for accomplishing the day’s tasks.

Caution!
Don’t assume that the list will allow you to accomplish 12 hours of work in an 8 hour day. Know your limitations. The goal is to have a smooth-flowing productive day, not a day crammed with so much activity that you have nothing left to give your personal life. After all, why work hard to earn an incredible income if your health will be too poor to enjoy it.

Overnight Success

Is it possible to just be in the right place at the right time and boom ...you're an overnight sensation? ... an instant success?

Hmm ... probably not.  The belief that success can happen over night is a myth.   Please don't buy into the images of success you see in the media when you look at athletes, entertainers and highly successful entrepreneurs.  All we see when we look at those individuals is their status, their current level, their income and their fame.  Rarely ever do we stop and think or even try to acknowledge the long road they had to travel to get to this moment in time.

Success takes time and it takes patience.  It also takes hard work, practice and a vision of what is to be achieved in the long term.   When we admire some one's success, or even our own, we often focus on the end result and not so much on the effort (and time) that it took to get there.  We begin to develop unrealistic expectations, and some of us even assume that "they must be lucky!".

Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it!  To make it today, you have to have a "no quit" attitude!  Being successful doesn't mean you have to be a superstar, it just means you have to remain committed to your goals.   Be consistent in your efforts, stick to it and over time you will see results. Failure only exists in the minds of people who quit.

Success is built on a foundation of bricks called "little events and achievements".  Sometimes these small achievements can seem to take an eternity and those little events often include a few disappointments along the way.   They can challenge everything about you to the core - your stamina, courage, integrity, and even your willingness to keep going.

But if you focus on what's not working, you will likely become frustrated as your mind wraps around all that is wrong.   You may even have negative thoughts like "I'm not good enough," "It will never work," or "Something must be wrong with me."

The key is to focus on what IS working.Celebrate every step along the way.  Recognize your growth as future milestones.  A simple practice to help you keep your focus and record these smaller accomplishments might be to maintain a journal.  It is a great way to steer your attention to the positive and continually renew your vision for yourself.   Start each day with reflections on what you are grateful for in your life (list them out!) and end each day with notes on what went right (again, write them down), however small they may seem.

So what happens when you have done all that and you are still not seeing results?  I'll ask you then, are you taking real action? In order to achieve your goals and feel the success you wish to define for yourself you must understand it's not what you say that will get you there, it's what you do!

Now, you may be taking the actions you are used to taking.  But if you keep doing what you've already done, then you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. It's a matter of practicing some new behaviors. Shake things up a bit and see if you can take new actions or modify existing ones.

Every day do five specific things that will move you closer to your goals.  Change up the five actions regularly and be open to feedback so you know when you're off course.

It's natural to underestimate how long a certain goal can take, especially a profound one.  Patience is a virtue.  But keep at it, and in no time, you'll be only one week, or one day away from your ultimate success.

Be GRATEFUL, reflect on what IS working and continue to take ACTION!

22 Ways to Generate New Leads!

Generating new and constant leads should always be the #1 priority of every business owner.   It is how you support the continued growth and prosperity of your business.  

Without the ability to meet new people and create a constant flow of leads where will your next business opportunity come from?  

New customers or leads are everywhere and you can never get enough!  You come in contact with so many people every day and who knows who those people know!  You can find ways to generate new leads everyday, as long as you make it a priority.   Face it, if you don’t think about it or plan for it, it doesn't happen.  

But, lead generation doesn't have to be something you turn on and off .  It is as easy as saying hello to the person behind you on line at the grocery store.  It can be fun and easy, just be yourself and look to create connections with new people wherever you go.  It can happen quite organically.  Yes it can be as easy as striking up a conversation there are also lots of creative ways to increase your market.  Here is a list of 22 out of the box ways to help you generate more leads and grow your business: 

1.  Be visible everywhere you go and be sure your company name is too.  Wear a name tag or clothing with your company's logo as often as you can. 

2. Make a habit of staying in touch with past clients.  Call them to "check in" – thank them for their business.  Find ways to keep in touch in order to build relationships.  It is much easier to ask  for referrals when you speak to your customers more frequently. 

3.  Take a look at some of the other professionals you know.  Who can you partner up with when it comes to marketing?  Who has a business that pairs well with yours?  If you are essentially marketing to the same people why not work together and create special events to attract new customers.

4.  Attend seminars and workshops that will not only provide you with personal & professional growth but will also give you an opportunity to meet new people.  These new connections can result in new customers and referrals.   Business building seminars will have other professionals in attendance and that can lead to new connections for referrals and additional co-marketing opportunities.   

5.  Participate in Trade Shows/Home Shows  as a vendor to promote your business but also make a plan to attend them as well.  You will meet tons of people at events like these! 

6.  Host client parties with the purpose being to say "Thank you.  I appreciate your business."   Your customers will feel special, they will want to continue to support you & you WILL be thought of the next time they hear of someone looking for the service or product you offer.   Client parties can be done as small intimate groups periodically throughout the year or as big customer appreciation events.  The ideas and themes are endless ... host a summer bbq, tea party, ice cream social, brunch, wine & cheese,  holiday party …. Whatever your budget allows!

7.  Attend Networking events, but keep a few things in mind.  First, choose the right ones.  Many mixers and networking events can be fun, but always validate your time there by asking  "Am I making valuable contacts with the right people?"  Second thing to keep in mind, don’t just show up, engage!   Make connections with people, be yourself, have fun, make small talk then discuss what you each do for a living.  Make genuine connections before you start passing out all of your business cards.  

8.  Host your own networking event!  You know lots of other professionals.  (Probably from all the other mixers you go to!)  Choose the people you really want to get to know better.  Keep the number small, maybe 10 or 12 so you can really spend time talking with each other.  Choose the people who can really impact your business.   Have a mixer of your own, hold it at your office, home or local restaurant.  This is a great way to learn more about each other’s business and how you can refer work to each other.  As the host, you will be sure to have the stage for a portion of the night so everyone there will get to learn about what you do.

9.  Give back to the community and attend Community events.  Join Civic groups such as the Lions  Club, Kiwanis, or church, etc.  Get involved or become a sponsor.  You will usually have a way to advertise your business & people will have an opportunity to see you in a positive light!

10.  Get in the habit of  ASKING  for Business!  Expect business when you give business.  Don't be shy about handing 5 business cards to your hairdresser or dry cleaner and saying something like, "I appreciate your service and always look forward to coming here.  I am a business owner too.  Here are some of my cards.  Would you be willing to share my name with your friends as I often do the same for you."

11.  Become an expert and show what you know to others.  Share your knowledge.  You can write a blog, or an article in a paper, magazine or online version of the same.  When you can become a trusted resource of information pertaining to what you do, your customers and potential customers will see a deeper value in doing business with you.

12.  Sponsor or create informational and FREE seminars for people.  For example if you are a Realtor, put together a Home Buyers Seminar.  Share valuable information that will let these prospective clients know you are the right choice to do business with.  Give yourself even more leverage and invite other professionals from industries that also relate to first time home buyers like mortgage lenders, home inspectors, moving professionals and stagers.  By inviting these professionals to speak at the seminar (even if it's only for 10 or 15 minutes each) will also deepen the professional relationship between you and them. 

13.  Create reasons and opportunities to call people in your data base.  For example, special invites to some of the events we mentioned or to share newsworthy info, even just to remind them to change their clocks! (that's always a good one because they will hear from you at least twice a year!)   

14.  Hold monthly or quarterly prize giveaways.  Post a trivia question on your Facebook page or email it or include it in your newsletter.  When it comes time to notify the winner, Call them!  It's a reason to speak!  

15.  Create and send a newsletter to everyone in your database on a quarterly or monthly basis.   Share valuable tips and ideas, don't just make it a sales pitch.  You might also ask other vendors to contribute to your newsletter with their own articles and information.  Co-marketing can be great!

16.  Set a daily goal to exchange business cards with at least 5 people.  

17.  Look for Free radio spots to promote yourself.  You can be an in studio guest or call into a show to provide tips, information or ideas that support and enlighten what you do for a living.

 18.  Offer to be a guest speaker at business meetings.  This is a great way to show what an expert you are and promote your services in an in-direct way.

 19.  Use Social Media to expand your reach.  Not sure how?  Find someone who can help you.

20.  Have a great website and be sure to update it regularly.  Provide valuable information in addition to solid marketing.

21.  Create video blogs, instead of the usual written blogs and emails.  You can start your own You Tube channel to host these blogs and you can also link tehm  to your social media sites like Facebook as well as your website.  Be creative, mix valuable information about your service or product as well as entertain and delight.  So for example, if you own a cafe, don't just say please join us for lunch.  Instead, video the prep and cooking of one of the lunch specials!

22.  Provide good service.  Be professional at all times and always respectful.   Think of your clients needs and deliver what they expect.  Treat them the way you would expect to be treated.  Clients will be loyal to what you represent.  Remember that professionalism extends past business hours too, so be sure to always be consistent in your behavior even when the customers aren't around. 

When it comes to growing your business and developing a marketing plan do what feels right and do what will move you closer to your goals.  And also think without fear, without limits and try new things – think out of the box… today to be successful – you must stand out from all the rest! 

Modest actions = Modest results

Not one of these ideas alone will work to grow your business.  You need to diversify your marketing approach and try multiple things to cast a bigger net and gain more customer leads.

Don't be anti-social

Any business who does not have social media as a part of their marketing plan today is quite possibly committing professional suicide. 

I know it is a strong statement.  But think about it for a minute.  Social media is not the next big thing, it is the here and now.  Face it, we live in a social media world.  It is not the future, it is today.  

Social media provides entrepreneurs and businesses with an opportunity to communicate and engage with existing customers like we have never had before.  It also provides us with a way to meet and attract new customers all at the same time. 

Statistics don't lie, according to www.mashable.com  online users spend 22.7% of their time on social networking sites.  That’s twice as much time as we spend on any other online activity.  Consider where people are getting their news today.  More and more, it’s not through direct sources like USA Today, The New York Times, or TV broadcasts, but through social networks.  True for me, I learned about the BP Oil Spill, the death of Steinbrenner and Michael Jackson all from Facebook first.

Face it, we live in a social media world.   So why shouldn't social media and a strategic plan to use it be a part of everyone's marketing plan today?   Industry is social.  In the future, every company, no matter how small or how big, will be influenced and impacted by social media internally or externally.  

The Internet represents one of the biggest shifts in how we do business and social media provided an additional movement.   An entrepreneur or business should be working to create and develop a personal brand regardless of how you deliver it.  It can be done through various ways - online, blogging, tweeting, posting ... but one thing to keep in mind is consistency.  Show up the same way in all ways.

Another thing to consider when developing your online brand especially on social networking sites like Facebook is to show up as a person first and sell second.  If you want to sell wine, teach people how to select it, buy it, and serve it first.  Provide value and you will build customer loyalty. 

Success in social media is about how you build relationships.   Same rules apply online as they do in "real life" .  The way you "show up" on Facebook for example should be the same way you would act in the office or at that mixer you go to once a month. 

For a business to gain credibility in social media - it requires a degree of sweat equity.  You need to put the time in to interact with others online.  Build rapport that leads to relationships.  Be dedicated to the process.  The interesting thing about social media especially Facebook is that it provides a valuable marketing opportunity.  It is a tool in your kit to continue conversations on line with the people you meet in the real world who with time can become valued customers.  It allows you to be where the people are.   In this case, there is something to be said for the statement, "Everybody's doing it".   Facebook alone has over 540 million registered users, chances are the people you want to do business with are there too, right?

During the workshops I teach regarding social media sites like Facebook, I talk about the importance of using these sites to deepen professional relationships.  However, I caution you to maintain a balance of time when networking online.  You want to use social media to support your marketing efforts not sabotage your productivity.  And it should never replace the importance of face to face marketing and networking.  A business can not be developed and grown by never leaving your office.