The Secret of 4 Obvious Choices
What are you doing to drive the success of your business? How many minutes or hours have you wasted sitting and staring at a monthly report hoping and wishing the bottom line was different? How can you get your business to be more profitable? How do you get your team fired up to look for the many opportunities that are just waiting to be taken advantage of? No, your phone will not magically ring with brand new customers calling nor will your e-mail box fill up by itself with business requests. What is the secret to success? If only you knew the secret that everyone else seems to know but you.
There is a risk in telling you the secret - the risk of exposing all those self-help writers out there who continue to make money by selling versions of what they believe the secret might be. These writers have painted success as a mystery and then conjured up some magical formula to satisfy the mystery - just like a magician. And, why should a magician reveal his secret when we all know it is just an illusion with the sole purpose of entertaining us? I will tell you the secret; but first, I have good news for you: You can get fired up right now and you can succeed. It's your choice.
The power of choice is a wonderful gift we have all been blessed with. You can choose to be excited or not. You can choose to be proactive or not. You can wait for the phone to ring by itself or you can pick up the phone. You can either sit on your rear-end or you can get up and get going. (And, by the way, one of those 5-hour energy drinks is not the answer; you'll get fired up all right, and then drop like a stone.) The choice is yours. Here are three options to help you choose:
1. Do nothing, just sit and wait. Nothing will happen, but you can blame me as I told you to do nothing.
2. Get up and leave. Go do something that has nothing to do with work. I'll wait for you on the first tee.
3. Decide on the outcome and results you desire. Focus on what you expect and then commit to achieving today that which moves you closer to your vision. Ask yourself: What do I need to do different now to get the results I desire? And then just do it. It's that simple and you're the only one who can do it for you.
4. Did I mention there is a fourth option? There is. Shut up and fail. You'll be broke, of course; but it is a valid choice. After all, isn't that what you've been focusing on lately?
If there is a secret to success, here it is: You have now (and always have had) a choice. Choose action and you'll succeed. Action is better, and will always outperform a wish list.
Learn about top motivational speaker & coach, Jim Jackson.
Realize Your Dream or Put out Fires.
There's an old saying: "You can never plow a field by turning it over in your mind." You must take action.
Now keep in mind, you first have to think about your goal so you can get to that action. You need a vivid reality, a vivid picture of what you want your goal to look like. It's like teaching a baseball player to hit a ball over the fence. First, the player sees the ball fly over the fence in his mind, and that's great. That's a start; but it's not enough. At some point, the player has to step up to the plate and take a swing!
One of the hardest parts of goal setting is taking action. You know how we say, "Get ready... Set.... Go!" Well, the truth is, most of us tend to say, "Get ready ... OK. Let's get ready... And let's get ready and let's get ready." And that's it. We over-process things. We over-analyze. We never finish. So there's never any "Set." And there's never any "Go!"
Rather than set the goal, we worry and stress about how to put the action phase together. The truth is, you don't have to worry about how to put it together. If you let your reticular activating system work and you set your goals properly, your goals will directly turn into actions.
But first, you have to work on your belief system. You need to control your self-talk. You need to affirm what it is that you do want - not what you don't want. You need to have high expectations. You need to expect great results from your goals. If you've always set goals and they've never worked, you can just stop this process right now and say, "Hey, I don't need to do this!" But if you want to change, it takes the discipline and focus to put them into action.
Three Types of Action
There are generally three types of actions relative to goal setting:
1. PRO-Action
2. RE-Action
3. IN-Action
PRO-Action
The first type of action is PRO-action. A PRO-action is when we focus on what we want to have happen. We're going to take PRO-action, be PRO-active in what we want to do.
RE-Action
The second type of action is RE-action. In other words, we react to something. We react to the situation. If I go to the doctor and she says, "Hey, Jim, if you don't lose that extra weight, you are going to be very ill." I can then choose to react and I goal-set to change.
IN-Action
The third type of action is IN-action. We do nothing. It's much easier to whine and complain and say it's not our fault. It's the government's fault, it's our parents' fault, or it's somebody else. We become a victim and justify all the reasons why we are the way we are. It's called IN-action. It feels safer to be inactive because all the reasons why we're not getting any positive results are someone else's fault.
What Do You Want?
What type of action does your organization take? If you find yourself having to constantly put out fires, chances are you a reactive manager. Always under pressure to meet the numbers and, as a result, you are always on everyone's back. You keep asking the question: why don't things change? What is it like where you work?
If you want change in your gross profits, then set specific action-oriented goals. Become proactive and choose the type of business you desire. If you choose to have a great business then you need to set proactive goals that are consistent with that level of success. Proactive people never complain, they simply look for a path around the challenge. What are you like as a leader? Do you focus on the problem or do you figure a way to remove the obstacle and inspire your people to go where they didn't think they could go?
Or maybe you're like water taking the path of least resistance and doing nothing. Just sitting and waiting is called in-action. Do you wait for the customer to drive onto your lot? Do you wait for that top salesperson to show up? What are you waiting for? Maybe you're waiting for me to call you.
The choice is yours. In my book, "Power to Change" I teach you step-by-step how to change your thinking. Get coaching from someone who has wisdom and knows how to succeed. Join a business devekioment group or call me to set a time when we can discuss your dreams and how to make them a reality. Someone helped me, let me help you. You can call me at 702-644-8326 or buy my book "Power to Change" at Amazon.com.
Learn more about motivational speaker Jim Jackson.
Twitter, FaceBook, blogs, grapevine. Of these four choices, which do you think has the potential to provide tremendous growth in leads? If you said Twitter, FaceBook and blogs, you’re right. And, for the record, I don’t care how many “friends” I accumulate on FaceBook, or how many Tweets follow me, they’ll never compare with the familiar and soulful sounds of The Miracles singing “I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (Motown Records, 1966). There was truth and simplicity in lyrics back then. But, I digress and I sound like my parents! Until a few weeks ago, I had no idea what Twitter or FaceBook meant. However, I’ve been reading and listening and learning: The next big wave in business success is social networking via the Internet.
I had a million questions about this new computer stuff. Even the words sound funny: Twitter and Tweets. What does Twitter mean? How do you get started? If I have a FaceBook profile, will I get a truckload of spam in my in-box? Does anyone in the business world really read those things? Isn’t this computer stuff really just for the young people? I know many of you reading this are asking yourself the same questions.
I am a Baby Boomer and, not to date myself, but I remember watching TV on a small black and white television set (with no remote control!). When I revealed this to my 30-year old nephew, he rolled his eyes and chuckled at such a notion. He then asked me if I still had a land-line into my house. Yes, I do. He asked why and I gave him the standard “in case of emergency” refrain. He was now laughing at me. “Uncle Jim,” he said, “Don’t you realize they have GPS on your cell phones now and can even get satellite images of your house within seconds?” You see, he grew up with computers in every classroom. This group of 30-somethings has never known the reliance upon newsprint advertising or the delay of waiting weeks or even seasons for marketing plans to be realized. They know no real privacy (remember hand-written letters and phone booths?) or ownership of ideas. Their world is instant and in full view. In other words, they have instant access to each other and to singing lessons, pot roast recipes, editors, job opportunities, cancer research, film archives, dating advice, antique appraisals, dog sitting services – even where to find a new car. They are finding new ways in the art of communication and business through current technology and their networking.
Many of your employees are in that same group. The preferred way to communicate now is by texting. They find it more efficient to text someone down the hall rather than get up and go talk directly to them or even talk with them on the phone. But don’t for a minute think that they don’t have immediate access.
It seems the world is changing faster and faster. Maybe all progress is viewed that way from behind the curve. Learning how to adapt to technology is essential to prospering and growing your business. Here is the reality: You’ve got to jump into this technology with both feet and jump now. I promise you, your competitors are thinking the same thing, and we all know that whoever is first to the market wins the biggest.
I am always looking for new ways to learn and improve my own business. I just finished reading a book entitled “World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories” by David Meerman Scott (Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated, March 2009) http://davidmeermanscott.com/resources.htm This book helped me understand about this new technology and something called inbound marketing or, how to get people to call me. Let me say that again: Business prospects will call me instead of the other way around!
This is a huge idea and a major shift in the business of sales. Like many of you, I came up in the sales culture where one had to make numerous calls every day to be successful. This new book (and this new idea) is telling me the opposite is now true. As I read this book, I thought of car dealers and the challenge of letting go of some of the old ways. I’m not saying all the old ways of getting people in the showroom are useless; but, imagine a day where the customers eagerly seek you out instead of the other way around. Very few people even read a newspaper anymore let alone the ads and fliers that get thrown away immediately from the mailbox. Instant access, instant communication, and inbound marketing. It’s the difference between a friendly stream and a powerful tidal wave. It’s the World Wide Rave.
Do you as a leader create rave about your business? Maybe you can’t even imagine anyone raving about your business. How do you tell people about your offerings? How do you get people excited about buying, and then wanting to buy from you first? Odds are you use the old fashion way: TV, newspaper or some kind of direct mail.
A World Wide Rave is when people around the world are talking about you, your company, and your products. It’s when someone eagerly links to your Web site. It’s when viral marketing and social networking drives buyers to your Web site. It’s when customers visit your Web site and your blog because they genuinely want to be there.
A word of advice: there are some rules, etiquette, if you will in this new world. For me to explain each one of these rules would take more space than the editor will give me. You can buy a copy of David’s book or download a free eBook at http://davidmeermanscott.com/products_ebooks.htm Next you need to sign up for Twitter (a simple process) and start following others. (Note: “following” is a phrase used in Twitter loosely meaning that you, and others, are communicating by “following” a line of information.) You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jacksonlive Get on FaceBook and you will understand more as you read World Wide Rave. You can join me on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/ just search for friend Jim Jackson. LinkedIn is http://linkedin.com/in/jimjacksonlive
You need to learn about utilizing the new technology trends to grow your business. Inbound marketing and the World Wide Rave are big and they’re happening right now. I have a client in Houston who estimates that maybe 140,000 cars drive by his business every day. Billboards, TV ads and the newsprint aren’t making them stop. He could build a community social site on the Internet sponsored by his business – a site where locals post what is happing in his neighborhood. Second, once registered on Twitter and FaceBook, he’ll invite every customer and all his friends and neighbors to follow him. In my community site, we have a local taco shop owner who Twitters meal deals once a week. Last night was “dollar taco night” – guess where I had dinner and the restaurant was packed.
The key is to use technology to get people familiar with you and your brand. A great example of who is using this technology is Auto Dealer Monthly. Their site, autodealerpeople.com, anyone can participate in a discussion on what is relevant that day in the automotive world. You could easily start there or create a similar site for your business.
Your challenge right now is to decide whether you’ll step into the next big thing or hang back and do what you’ve always done. I promise you, if you do what you have always done, you may get left behind.
Here is how I started my own “Grapevine.” After much research and some frustration, I aligned my company Web site http://jimjacksonlive.com/ with http://hubspot.com/ I made this decision for two reasons. First, HubSpot is an Internet marketing site with a very successful track record. Second, was Jennifer Snyder (%28http://jsnyder@hubspot.com.). Jennifer Snyder may be HubSpot’s most valuable commodity. Jennifer was willing and eager to answer every question I had for her. And, on the rare occasion when she didn’t know an answer, she quickly had her boss on the line to answer my questions. It was the perception of value they gave me as a prospective client. It has all worked better than I expected, and I anticipate the relationship to continue for years. By the way, what we’re doing right now, you and me, is a known as viral marketing or the Internet “Grapevine.” We’re talking about HubSpot and we’re networking, communicating quickly and efficiently.
If you want to understand more about inbound marketing click on this link and read for yourself http://www.inboundmarketing.com/ I stress it is not just blogging, Twitter or FaceBook, it is about creating a World Wide Rave about you, your company or your cause – your own “Grapevine.”
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What Does It All Mean?
At the end of the day, the quality of your life has been determined completely by you. You don’t always have control over the situations you encounter, but you always have a choice about how you react to them. You can wander through your life, putting one foot ahead of the other, investing as little energy as possible, just getting by. Or you can make the choice now to do whatever it takes to live a meaningful life. It’s up to you.
Take the time to seriously consider what matters to you. Don’t stop until you identify your true purpose in life. Then take that one step further: Use your imagination to see a vision of how that will play out in your life. Ask yourself: What happens on an ordinary day when I’m living a meaningful, fulfilling life? What am I doing? What does my life look like? And how do I get there from here?
Once you know your purpose, your vision and your values, you can create the action maps that will take you to your goals. That is the way to living a life that has meaning, a life with purpose, vision and value.
It’s entirely based on your own choices. When you start to get a glimpse of the amazing power that gives you, you’ll feel a rush of excitement that will blow you away. Because that will be the day that means anything is possible in your life.
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