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Simple Systems – How to Avoid The Perpetual Time Crunch as Your Business Grows

August 11, 2016 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

business foundation You wouldn’t build a big house without a detailed site plan, so why would you build a business without one?

Unfortunately, many business owners do. Before you decide to grow your business further, check your foundation. I recommend assessing your current operations to identify what could be systematized, delegated, or automated.

Many of my clients want to move quickly on their initiatives to expand but, like any system, if the foundation is broken, you’ll be adding to an unsteady infrastructure. You’ll then waste endless hours trying to fix it as you go along.

The first step is to assess your current systems. In my Profitability Lab: Introduction, we start with assessing the 7 Profitability Systems. My clients are surprised to discover the systems that are missing or half-implemented. This gives them a starting point.

One of the easy systems-thinking approaches I teach and use to avoid the perpetual time crunch is to schedule your monthly meetings on the same date and time each month. This approach creates efficiencies on many levels.

When you use this approach, you don’t waste valuable time scheduling the next meeting. I schedule my Profitability Labs on the same date and time each month. This approach creates efficiencies for my clients, my team, and other support activities.

First, systematizing the Profitability Lab date makes it easy for my clients. They use recurring feature to plug in the dates creating a commitment to work on their business.

Second, this approach assists my team and other support activities that intersect with the Lab meetings. It makes scheduling the conference room a snap. This is especially helpful when you have multiple people using the same room.

You can also systematize the caterer or other support activities. With technology, you can include your caterer on the calendar invitation so if the meeting gets changed or cancelled, they and other support services are notified.

Third, and maybe one of the most important points, you can be more strategic with your time and effort. Since my clients drive in for the Labs, some many miles away, they schedule other business around the date of the Lab. By systematizing their schedule, they maximize their time efficiently. They simply schedule their other prospecting calls and visits to expand their business on or around the date of the Lab.

Where in your business could you create efficiencies by systematizing your schedule, automating, or delegating?

clap-sm To attend one of our Profitability Lab: Introductions, visit http://www.profitabilitylab.com.

To learn more about Lead Generation System, attend our free webinar livestream, Automatic Lead Generation 24/7.

Details at: https://excellerateassociates.com/free-webinar-automatic-lead-generation-247/

This Might Be the Reason You’re Not Achieving Your Goals

November 13, 2014 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

Approximately 80 percent of people never set goals for themselves. Even more surprising, of the 20 percent of the population that does set goals, roughly 70 percent fail to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. Yet, most business professionals claim to understand the importance of goal setting.

It may not be surprising to you that even when you do set goals, you may stop at some point during the year from reviewing them. You might start off the year with an intention to meet them, but find yourself at the end of the year falling short.

At the Excellerate Success Institute, business owners find that using an existence system essential in meeting their goals. We call it a Business Blueprint.

An existence system is more than just a list of goals, objectives and action steps. It’s a methodology of looking at the whole business and an actual system in having your goals shift into existence.

Their existence system contributes to the quality of their business and has a profound impact on creating a profitable business and life they love. When business owners use their existence system paired with an accountability mentoring program, they are more than five times more likely to achieve their goals than those who do not.

Why?

Because having a system for goal achievement opens up new and innovative ways of thinking, being, and doing. It also creates an integrated and systematic way to achieve both professional and personal goals with greater ease, leaving you empowered and in action in all areas of your life.

Everyone has his or her own relationship to an existence system. Some don’t use them, some resist them thinking they are restricting, some are inconsistent with using them. The ones that use them are empowered by them.

I recommend developing and creating a systematic way to incorporate your existence system. When you have a systematized way to keep your goals into existence you keep them present. Keeping to this kind of approach to achieve your goals gives you the power to create the amazing impact you want to have on your community.

Since my clients are up to making a big impact, there’s a significant loss when things slip through the cracks. Keeping their vision and plan present is valuable.
Because they have a map that guides them each and every day and work under the context of their vision (versus constraints of their business) they more effortlessly grow their business and enjoy a rich and satisfying lifestyle.

The other benefit of having an existence system is that it is a clear map so they quickly assess their return on investment of their time, effort and money. As you master the use of your existence system, it’s a huge win. It expands your capacity to produce results.

This is just one of the many best practices we dive deep into with the students of the Excellerate Success Institute, for entrepreneurial and leadership development – the premier training business school for high-achieving entrepreneurs looking to build a profitable business they love. Inspired to find out more? Call (734) 223-3938 to set up a Discovery Session or join us at the Wake Up Profitable Boot Camp for Business Owners on April 28-29, 2015 in Hawaii.

How to Systematize Your Business to Attract More Clients and Make More Revenue – Step 5

February 20, 2014 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

This week, I cover Step Number 5 in How to Systematize Your Business to Attract More Clients and Make More Revenue.

It’s often been said that you can’t manage what you can’t measure, and without a metric, it’s difficult to align your goals, monitor progress, and fix problems.

Speaking of fixing problems, when one of my new clients landed a gig as a columnist for a major website, I asked him how his new assignment impacted traffic on his website, especially since he was able to place a link back to his website.

He was silent for a second while viewing his website report.

Then, he gasped. He was shocked. Visitors galore!

A major missed opportunity:

He had no system to engage with them on his website. No way to welcome them. No way to cultivate the relationship by giving something of value to his visitors. So, they would visit his website, look around…and leave. Needless to say, he corrected what was missing right away.

Click on the video to learn Step 5 to Systematize Your Business:

Help! I Want to Start a Blog, But What Do I Write About?

September 19, 2013 by Lisa Mininni Leave a Comment

One of the most popular words on the internet is blog. With more and more consumers looking online for their solutions, an increasing number of entrepreneurs are integrating blogs into their marketing to drive traffic to their business and stay in touch with their prospects and customers.

As I mentioned in last week’s article, a blog is simply an online journal or articles for your community to read. A blog can also be used to facilitate a conversation online.

As a marketing tool, blogs are filled with lots of potential for your business. With our mobile society, the advantage of having a blog is that it can be read from anywhere. It can also help your ideal prospects find you when they are searching online.

The other advantage is that a blog is a great way to regularly and inexpensively connect with your audience. Nothing can facilitate conversation, educate, or bond a community more than blogging.

If you don’t have a blog associated with your business, now may be an excellent time for you to start one. The question I always receive is, “What do I blog about?”

Once you determine your marketing strategy and system for staying in touch, there are many ways to integrate blogging and develop content. Here are some ideas:

Your Opinion. One way to attract your ideal clients is sharing your opinion, especially if you have a unique approach or viewpoint that sets you apart.
Repurpose. If you have a special method, formula, or signature program, a blog is a great platform to repurpose your content while adding tremendous value to your community of readers. Sometimes people need to see something over and over before they integrate it or “get it”. Although you may think you’re repeating yourself, many people in your community may be seeing it for the very first time.
Educate. Use simple tips, changes occurring in your area of expertise, upcoming events, and other high-valued content your community can read and use.
Guest Bloggers. You also may want to have guest bloggers or ask for quotes from others who would love to contribute to your blog. You don’t always have to be the author. I’ve done this with a special online community I set up for cancer conquerors who want to reclaim, reshape and renew their life after cancer.

Your blog articles don’t have to be long to be effective. Short, easy, implementable tips or articles can be just the ticket to engaging your audience and adding value. Add a video (to have a vlog or blog combination) so your audience can see your personality and for another way to connect with your community.

3 Steps to Living a Life You Love

September 12, 2013 by Lisa Mininni 1 Comment

As a business owner, you are responsible for everything. The buck stops with you especially the quality of life that you create. Every action you take, every decision you make and how you show up is up to you.

Many business owners forget about their quality of life, until they don’t have it – then it becomes important. You get busy with building a business, and forget the underlying reason why you started your business in the first place.

The good news is that you always have the opportunity to decide at any time your quality of life. Whether you want a flexible schedule, establish a mobile business you take anywhere, or work intermittently, you get to decide.

Recently, I received a question from a member of my community who also expressed her frustration with not knowing how big she wanted her business or how busy. She went on to describe how she loved the freedom of living her day in nature and garden as she intuitively saw fit. In reality, she began to describe what was most important to her.

How would you describe what quality of life means to you? After reflecting on what you want for your quality of life, if there’s a gap between your description and the life you’ve been living then consider these steps:

First, ask yourself if you’re focused on what’s most important. It’s easy to get distracted on growing your business and forget to focus on those very things that give you that quality of life. Like anything, if you don’t have an internal system or process to focus on what’s most important, it doesn’t happen. Whether it’s exercising to keep fit, getting more clients, or generating more income, it can be as simple as scheduling an appointment. If it’s important, you’ll make it a priority. Keeping one calendar will also help you to determine what needs to come off so you can focus on what’s most important.

Second, change your perspective. It’s easy to compartmentalize your work and personal life yet you may be missing opportunities to integrate. Integration involves looking at the connections. Someone in your personal circles may be the very person to assist you in your business. Someone in business circles may be able to free up your schedule, like becoming your personal grocery shopper so you shift your focus on other things that you have identified as most important.

Third, consider where there is leverage. There are lots of ways to leverage your life:

Hire someone to take a task off your plate, like housekeeping
Automate an existing manual process so it happens even when you’re not there
Systematize aspects of your business and life to create that quality of life, like creating a regular date night with your spouse

Whether you want to spend more quality time with your children while building a business, take more vacations a year, or design a mobile business, take these steps with your quality of life in mind.

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