There is one definite inevitability in life and that is, of course, death. Not usually a topic that most people want to talk about or frankly think about, but, nevertheless something that we cannot escape. Personally, my consideration of the concept is something that has given me an incredible amount of strength thus far. Whenever I have a desire to do something there is the almost immediate reaction from my mind. Sometimes it tells me why I can’t do it, sometime why I shouldn’t, sometimes it just laughs at my plans. I’ve heard many theories about why this happens, why do we get in our own way, why would we stop ourselves from giving something a try? We shouldn’t! We have to go for it!

When I watched the below video I was further convinced. The man on the video has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only months to live. In this, his last lecture, he gives a moving, practical, matter of fact speech about how and why to live a life in pursuit of your dreams. There is no time to put things off – we have to pursue those things that we have a desire to!

A version of Randy Pausch’s last lecture as seen on Oprah

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

There is lots of buzz out there about how you need to create a relationship with your customer (true) and the key to successful selling is to be able to uncover their needs and provide a solution (true).  Unfortunately some companies out there have implemented customer service training programs that have their staff asking customers questions to uncover needs and then ignoring what the customer says.  Here are a couple of examples I heard about recently:

• A business associate got a call from his bank customer service representative, asking in a cheery voice if there was anything his bank could do for him.  His reply – reduce the interest rate on my credit card.  Her answer – no.  His next requeest: was there any way to reduce his bank fees?  Her answer – no.  Why bother making this phone call – window dressing?
• A client of mine who has run a financially successful business for 5 years and is now expanding her business operation called her large global bank about gettin a line of credit for the expansion.  They told her it would be no problem – come in and see us and we will get it set up.  She goes for the meeting and finds out they are happy to extend credit to her through a credit card with 29% interest attached!  Needless to say she has moved to the competition.

In the Ghost CEO coaching program, we teach all our clients that Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability are keys to business success.  Both of the banks above lost credibility by asking customers whay they could do better without ever intending to deliver anything different.

If you want to succeed in business, mean what you say.  If you genuinely want to find out what your customer wants and you are prepared to improve your product or service, then ask.  If you are just doing it because it seems to be the thing to do, don’t bother.  You’ll keep more customers and credibility that way.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

We don’t always appreciate what we have, whether at home or at work. That angst that fights against complacency is actually a good thing – the sense that the grass is always greener on the other side is what makes us jump into new opportunities. That said, making a team work together with real synergy is not an everyday feat. Learn to spot the successes in your collaborations, so you can replicate that synergy elsewhere.

Does your team actually seem to enjoy working with each other? Happy people are productive people. If you find yourself actually looking forward to seeing the people at your office every day – well, that’s no small thing.

Then there’s the skill set. With an optimal balance where everyone is assigned tasks and workload according to their talents rather than which person has the smallest stack of projects on their desk, you’ll get real productivity.

Next, look at how your group talks to each other. If discussions are fluid, with plenty of back and forth, engaging ideas, and everybody listening to what other team members are saying, you’ve got something special. Far too many groups are dominated by someone with a forceful personality rather than expertise in all areas that the team has to work in. Freedom of speech and thought are not just good for civil society – they make businesses work better.

If you do recognize your team is functioning very well, analyze what it is about this group that works well. Often, it is based on good habits rather than some innate ability to work well with others. Try to transfer these habits to your other collaborative activities and watch your successes add up.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”Joyce Brothers

I love this quote!  And how true it is.  I really only accomplished amazing things in my life when I started thinking of myself as a success and just going for it, rather than giving myself all the reasons why it might now work out.  Thanks to a very inspiring business woman – Karen Engelage – owner of Beauty Solutions for today’s inspiration.

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

Looking back on your business campaigns over the past quarter, you get a cold feeling in your gut. The numbers don’t look good. All that effort…and for what? The returns are so meager that you may not even show a profit. Don’t get discouraged.

In any kind of business, there will come times when the returns just don’t measure up to what you expected. I’ve felt this. Everyone who stays in business long enough goes through it.

Often, the problem is external – just as a rising tide floats all boats, the reverse is also true. Few types of businesses are recession-proof.

If your analysis shows that the downturn for your own business was related to overall business conditions, and those conditions appear to be alleviating, then the answer is clear: you have to go back and replant those seeds of growth.

Go back to your customers and remind them about the value you’re offering. Relaunch your campaigns, get your business cards out, meet and greet the connections that can lead to bigger opportunities, and keep doing the things that helped your business grow in the first place.

Keep your workspace organized, manage your time effectively, and don’t forget to breathe – you can’t afford to burn out just as the upturn in the economy gives you a chance to make good your losses.

Times may seem tough right now, but very few people go into business with a get-rich-quick mentality. You’re in for the long haul, and that will mean riding out some rough patches. Cultivate your business, focus on those long term goals and your harvest time will come.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

We’re heading swiftly towards the last quarter of the year and it’s time now to start to assess the year thus far. Thinking back to January when you set you business goals and objectives, it’s now time to make sure you’re on track to achievement. You’ve heard us harp on all year about measurables and this is why. When you set goals for your business there has to be an accompanying action plan – without it you surely won’t succeed in reaching your targets – and more importantly a way to measure whether or not you are on track. Using revenue as an example, if you set a goal of grossing $200 000.00 in sales this year then you will know:

Quarterly Target – $50, 000

Monthly Target – $16, 666

Weekly Target – $3, 846

Daily Target – $769

Hourly Target (based on 8 hours) – $96.15

By breaking down your goal into these measurable chunks it’s easy to keep you finger on the pulse everyday as to whether or not your on track. Take a look through your 2009 goals and measure your progress against your goals. How are you doing? If you’re off target, think about your strategy for the last quarter. What can you do differently? What can you kick in to high gear to finish strong?

Everything you do in business has to be measurable. It’s the only way you can stay on track to reaping what you sow.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit – Aristotle

Human beings in and of themselves operate on autopilot for much of their day. We complete daily activities like, showering, brushing our teeth, drinking coffee, reading the paper, with little or almost no thought about what it is that we are actually doing. These habitual behaviours add up throughout the day and by the time we go to bed, somewhere between 75-80% of our activities were exactly the same as yesterday and will be exactly the same as tomorrow. This can’t be possible you think – take stock – I guarantee you’ll find what I’m saying to be true.

This month we’ve been writing on ways you can automate your business so that you don’t have to be the one doing all the work in order to be successful. Today, I want to draw your attention to your own personal autopilot mechanism, known as your ‘habits’, because, as positive as all the tools are that we’ve been sharing with you all month, your own personal habits can be equally as detrimental to your success.

For example…

Almost every person that I know, with the exception of a few, and especially entrepreneurs, complain that they don’t have enough time. It’s become somewhat of an epidemic. Stock answer to the question ‘how are you doing’ has become ‘busy!’. People are running around like mad men, always in a hurry and rushing. Not to mention what these raised levels of cortizol and adrenalin are doing to your body, how is this ‘habitual way of operating’ affecting the success of your business?

Being in a habitual state of ‘busyness’ is doing nothing for your health personally or professionally and if this describes you in any way, it’s time to take a step back and reevaluate. There is no way, at least that I’m aware of, to add hours to the day, so the 24 that you’re working with, is all you have. How you spend those 24 hours, however, is directly reflected in the results you are achieving in your life.

Go back to you goals for 2009 and read them over. Are you getting closer to accomplishing? If not, it’s time for you to take a look at your habits. What are you doing everyday and how is that contributing to the achievement of your goals? If you’re doing things that are not contributing, time to ditch those activities. Getting what YOU want in business and in life is 100% up to you, if you’re willing to take responsibility for your own success. The actions you take in your life are producing your current results. If you don’t like what you see, time to change your actions.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

At a time when cutting costs makes more sense, outsourcing some activities may seem counter-intuitive. After all, outsourcing means money going out, not going in. But it’s essential for businesses that want to put their operations on autopilot and create conditions for success when the overall economy starts moving again.

Taking an example from my own business, I’m passionate about helping my clients get out of chaos by providing them with strategies for things like organizing their workplaces and homes, time management and work-life balance.

This is the work that I love to do. I’m excited every day when I start work, knowing I’m doing exactly what I want to do, helping people achieve better balance and reach their goals.

Bookkeeping, on the other hand, is not my passion. Neither is spending long hours undertaking a rigorous hiring process targeting candidates from across BC who might be a good fit for my company. Same goes for making sure my website is patched every month and the code shows up like it should on every web browser. Cold-calling, administrative support… there’s an outsourcing solution for just about anything.

These are all tasks that must be done for my business to operate, but they’re not what I’m passionate about. It makes way more sense for me to hire people who are passionate about these things to do them for me. There is a cost attached to this. But compared with your bill-out rate and where you might better make use of your own expertise, it just makes sense to outsource. Find the right people, put the process in place, and you’ll find that you have more time to get down to the business you love to do.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve” – Napoleon Hill

We’ve talked a lot about taking full responsibility on this blog and in order to go all in, you must be able to first contemplate the end result you are looking to achieve. You have to be able to ’see’ yourself doing, or being, or having whatever it is that exemplifies your ‘all in’ position. Most people (admitting gross generalization here) contemplate all the things they don’t want, the things they are afraid might happen, they imagine results that deter them from going all in.  So, as a little exercise this week, try this:

1. Make a list of the things you want, to be, to do, to have.

2. Write out the excuses that you’ve made as to why the above list is not a reality in your life.

3. Ask yourself if your excuse is true?

4. Is it also possible for your excuse to not be true?

5. What would be the direct opposite of your excuse?

6. Is that true?

7. Is it possible for it not to be true?

*so if both your excuse, and the direct opposite of your excuse could both be true, why don’t we focus on the latter?  - Good question ehh?

Here’s one of my examples:

1. I want to write a best-selling book

2. One major excuse I’ve used is that ‘I don’t have time’

3. Yes, this is perceptually true.

4. Yes, it’s possible for it not to be true.

5. The opposite would be: I have more than enough time in the world to write a book.

6. Yes, this could also be true.

So, starting tomorrow, the new thought I will contemplate is the ‘completion of my manuscript’.  Then I will ask myself “how can I build time into my schedule to work on the book?”

Take the first action step in the achievement of your goals by focussing your thinking on what you do want, not, what you don’t.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

Going all in can be a scary concept. It’s a stretch for your comfort zone, as we discussed last week, it’s a stretch for your ego (anything outside of what you’re doing today is ‘dangerous’ as far as your ego’s concerned), it can be a stretch for your bank account in some cases and even personal relationships can be stretched as a result of going ‘all in’. That’s why your 100% commitment and passion is required, otherwise it’s not a big enough goal, dream or aspiration. If you aren’t ready to go full out, no matter what to accomplish whatever your ‘all in’ is,then don’t start in the first place. 

I remember my coach years ago saying to me “most people tiptoe through life, hoping to make it safely to death” – what a great statement, and it’s so true. Most adults are so stuck in their comfort zone, afraid to make a mistake, choosing caution at every opportunity that they safely end up at the end of their life. RRSP’s in tact, house paid off, 365 papers read/year, ok, so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but, you get my point.

Human beings are driven by energy and energy comes from passion. Get clear on the things that excite you, don’t get talked out of going ‘all in’ by your ego or those in your life who can’t see your vision. Commit 100% with the knowledge that if you make a mistake, get hurt, lose money, whatever it is that you fear might happen, you can pick yourself right back up and keep on going.

Death is inevitable, but, how you live while you’re alive is YOUR choice. Are  you ready to go ‘all in’?

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.