success

Measure, measure, measure

I had the opportunity this week to listen to a very successful entrepreneur from my local area named Bob Johnson. He owns Scratch Bakery in South Portland, Maine and is famous for his incredibly, delicious bagels. People come for miles (many 15-20 miles) and wait in line on a Saturday or Sunday morning to pick up their bagels.

One of the success tips he shared with the group was around measuring where you are in your business, which is one of the things I teach my clients.

It’s not always something I’ve been good at, in fact, in the past it’s clearly one of my big weaknesses. Because it’s not always fun, or pleasant to measure where we are in our business at any given point.

So if you were like me, perhaps you are sticking your head in the sand around how much you are actually bringing in for receivables. Or maybe you know you might be spending a bit too much on your expenses, but you don’t know exactly how much, so you think it’s probably better not to look!

Or perhaps you’ve put a new product or a new promotion in place, or maybe you’ve upgraded your website or Facebook page. But, you aren’t looking at your analytics to see whether any of your investment made a difference or moved the meter.

In order to have a successful business, you must measure a certain number of things on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Here’s a list of the minimum number of things you need to measure in your business:

1-Receivables–How much money are you bringing in on a daily (yes, I said daily) basis? You must know at the end of every day, before you go home, how much money you brought in that day. This is a must-do daily discipline.

2-Expenses–How much is going out on a daily basis? One could argue to look at expenses on either a daily or a weekly basis (weekly is the minimum). You must know how much is going out on a daily or weekly basis and to whom and where. Expenses can creep up on us, and it’s important to keep on top of them and be sure expenses are justified and well spent dollars.

3-Customer Satisfaction–are your customers happy with your product or service? Do you have a way to measure that satisfaction? Perhaps you don’t have the most sophisticated means in which to measure this, but you must have something in place, a way to communicate with customers on their experience with you, your product or service.

4-Website and Social Media–we are all spending a lot of time and money on our website and social media, but are we measuring what kind of return we’re getting for it? Do you measure how many likes you have, how many people are viewing your website on a weekly basis, what blog is the most popular, what page on your website, do people spend the most time on? What social media is driving the most people to your website? There are lots of things to measure here and you don’t have to do everything. But I would suggest you pick the top 5-6 things that matter most to you and your business and put a system into place to start measuring them and studying the results.

5-Your current growth goals for your business—I’m sure you’ve put some thought into your goals for this year, including how much you’d like to grow in your business. Are you measuring your progress to your goals?

It’s so important to look at these areas of your business and set up a system to measure them on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I have seen the most transformation amongst my clients who implement a measurement system for their business. It’s amazing to see the growth, progress and success of entrepreneurs who start paying attention to their numbers on a regular basis. And I hope this will include you!

Mandy works with talented, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” right down below.

Challenged with Staying Accountable to Yourself and Others?

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

One of the most common issues that entrepreneurs often speak to me about is the ongoing challenge of staying accountable. Most of us have no trouble in coming up with the next “great idea” we want to implement in our business, but when it comes down to actually implementing it and sticking with it, well, that sometimes is where the challenges come into play.

This week, I spoke with several potential entrepreneurs who were all looking at making an investment by hiring a coach for their business and ALL of them talked about the challenge of staying accountable on a daily basis. It is hard, particularly since many of us work alone or in a small group and we don’t have someone asking us each day, “Where are you on this?” “Have you completed that?” Or, “What! You’re going to start doing that, before you’ve finished the last thing?”

It can be challenging staying accountable to ourselves on a daily basis. Here are some tips that might help you stay accountable to your goals and intentions for 2014.

1-Don’t have too many goals

People find it easier to stick to things if you have a shorter list. Developing a list of 3-5 goals for 2014 will help you feel less overwhelmed and more likely to stay accountable and focused than if you have a list of 10—20 items.

2-Find an accountability partner

Find someone who will NOT let you get away with anything! Firm and tough, not sweet and nice! You want to share with them your goals for the year-so they have a good understanding of the big picture. Make sure you take the time for this part. Then figure out a schedule as to how often you will touch base with them, whether daily, three times a week, twice a week, whatever works for you. Then STICK WITH IT! The phone calls (and I strongly suggest phone calls-much easier than trying to meet in person) only need to be 5-10 minutes max. If you have the right partner, this is a great way to stay accountable.

3-Publicly announce what you’re going to do

Publicly announcing your new idea on your blog or social media sites is a great way to “put it out there”. Then, there are lots of people who will want to hold you accountable!

Staying accountable is absolutely necessary if you want to have a successful business and there are lots of ways to do it. What works for you in your business? Please share it in the comments section below! Also, if you would like to have a complimentary session with me in 2014 to see how we can help you be more accountable and exponentially grow your business, please click here to set up your appointment!

Congratulate Yourself!

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
Oprah Winfrey

This time of year it’s natural to start looking ahead at the New Year and thinking about making plans and intentions in order to have a more successful business and/or life.

But before you start doing that, one of the things I’d encourage you to do is list your successes from 2013. Take the time to look at what worked for you in your business and in your life, congratulate yourself and take those things into the plans you’re making for the New Year.

We spend so much of our time looking at and complaining about what’s not working in our business, that we overlook the good things that we’ve accomplished.

So here are some suggestions you might want to consider doing before you start making your 2014 plans:

1-Make a list of all of your successes in 2013. Take the time to sit with your list and read it! Feel good about all that you did do and accomplished this year and congratulate yourself!

2-Share your list with at least three people. Other people like to hear success stories and enjoy being part of something good. Share your successes with others!

3-Start keeping a daily list of your successes-keep these in a success journal. Then next year-it won’t be so challenging to think of all of your successes-you’ll have them right in your book!

4-Reach out and thank everyone who supported you: Customers, employees, family members, friends, community etc. This is a great way to celebrate!

5-Treat yourself to something really nice-something that’s meaningful to you. Whether it’s something expensive, a vacation or spa treatment, or an afternoon to yourself-take the time to rest on your laurels!

These five steps can really help you get clear on the things that are working for you and that you’d like to do MORE of in 2014. Figuring out what’s working and making you successful and building on those successes is what’s going to make 2014-your best year ever!

And by the way, CONGRATULATIONS for all you’ve accomplished this year! Great job!

How to Double Your Success Rate

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

One of the most frequent questions I get from clients and prospective clients is, “How do you get everything done on your to-do list?” It’s a challenge, for all of us, there’s no question about it.

I recently came across some really interesting statistics from the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) about the probability of completing a goal:

You hear an idea (10%)
You consciously decide to adopt it (25%)
You decide when you will do it (40%)
You plan how you will do it (50%)
You commit to someone else you will do it (65%)
You have specific accountability appointments with the person(s) committed-95%

These statistics are tremendous evidence of the power of purposeful decision making, planning, commitment and accountability. Most entrepreneurs get stuck at planning how they will achieve their goals. But as you can see, planning is not enough.

However, accountability programs, like engaging a daily accountability partner will DOUBLE your success rate.

Over the years, I have had one, sometimes two accountability partners. We commit to connect by phone for no more than 5-10 minutes a day to share with each other what we intend to get done that day. I can attest that it does work, and really helps keep you continuously accountable.

So if you’re someone who gets derailed from your to-do list, or can’t seem to complete the goals you’ve set for yourself and your business, I strongly urge you to find an accountability partner and give it a try.

It is important to find the right partner, someone who will hold you accountable, ask the tough questions and not let you get away with excuses.

Imagine what your business and life will be like when you consistently set and achieve 95% of your boldest goals!

5 Key Steps to Impact Our Happiness

by Mandy Schumaker Leave a Comment

I’ve always been fascinated with what makes people happy and successful. This week, I came across a great TedX video, by Dr. Shawn Achor on “The Happy Secret to Better Work”. Shawn is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class at Harvard, and has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success.

His TED talk is one of the most popular of all time with over 4 million views, and he has a new lecture airing on PBS called “The Happiness Advantage.”
Shawn explained that our society’s most commonly held formulas for success are broken. Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy. We think, “If I can just find that great job, or win that next promotion, lose those ten pounds, or (fill in the blank), then happiness will follow.”

But Shawn’s extensive research and other recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is completely backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around.

When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn’t just an empty mantra. This discovery has been borne out repeatedly by rigorous research in psychology and neuroscience, management studies, and the bottom lines of organizations around the world. Shawn now spends his time teaching, advising and lecturing at top organizations on how we can – in five easy steps — reprogram our brains to become more positive in order to gain a competitive edge at work and create more success, happiness and reward in our lives.

Dr Anchor maintains happiness is choice. I hope you’ll make yours today!

Are You Celebrating Your Successes?

by Administrator Leave a Comment

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”

Oprah Winfrey

I had the opportunity to catch up this week with my friend, Tania, who I had met several months ago at an event in Florida. She and I had each chosen different coaches to begin working with in the fall and periodically connected with one another to compare notes on our progress with our businesses. When I spoke with Tania this week, I took the opportunity to bring her up to speed on things in my business. While I shared some of the successes I’d had in the past couple of months, I mostly focused on the things I hadn’t gotten to yet. Things that I had hoped to complete before year’s end. She immediately picked up on this and said, “Have you made a list of all the successes you’ve had since we met four months ago?” I mumbled something like, “no, not really”. And she said, “Well, you need to, because I can’t believe the things you’ve accomplished, and I’m so impressed!”

Tania made me realize (and I did sit down and make my list) how important it is to stop and celebrate the things we are doing right. To acknowledge the things that are working in our business. The accomplishments and successes we have achieved.Celebrating success is a way of building self esteem, joy and optimism.

Here are some suggestions you might want to consider:

1-Make a list of all of your successes in 2011. Take the time to sit with your list and read it! Feel good about all that you did do and accomplished in the last year.

2-Share the list with at least three people. Other people like to hear success stories and enjoy being part of something good. Share your success with others!

3-Start keeping a daily list of your successes-keep these in a success journal. Then next year it won’t be so challenging to think of all of your successes-you’ll have them right in your book!

4-Reach out to thank everyone who supported you: Customers, employees, family members, friends, community etc. This is a great way to celebrate!

5-Treat yourself to something really nice-that’s meaningful to you. Whether it’s something expensive, a vacation or spa treatment, or an afternoon to yourself-take the time to rest on your laurels!

And by the way, CONGRATULATIONS for all you’ve accomplished this year! Great job!

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