Ten Secrets of OUTRAGEOUSLY Successful Business Owners

MINDSET SECRETS


1. *EXPECT* TO WIN... *EXPECT* TO SUCCEED
While we all experience highs and lows in our business, outrageously successful enterprises EXPECT to succeed over the long run. For such enterprises, SUCCESS is the ONLY option.


To what extent do you EXPECT to succeed in your business? What less empowering expectations currently undermine your success? Make a *decision* today to succeed. “Cut the cord” on all other possible outcomes.


2. LIVE AND BREATHE YOUR MISSION STATEMENT
While most businesses have crafted a mission statement, it is not enough just to have one. Outrageously successful enterprises live and breathe their mission statement ... in every goal, every strategy and every project of their business. It is the life force and the reason for everything they do.

Do you have a compelling mission statement for your business? Do you communicate it - both in words and actions - to every client, every prospect, every employee? If you asked any one of these stakeholders what is your mission, would they know what to say?

Post and read your mission statement daily. Include it in all your collateral materials. Live and breathe your mission statement in every goal, decision and action. This one principle will make your business a compelling magnet for greater and greater levels of success.


3. ALWAYS ASK THE MILLION $$ QUESTION:
***** “Where is the opportunity in this situation?” *******


Within *every business challenge,* there is an extraordinary opportunity for a HUGE breakthrough. Even with the most difficult challenges, outrageously successful enterprises never see challenges. They ONLY see opportunities. They constantly ask: “Where is the opportunity in this situation?”

Where is your focus right now in your business - on the challenge or the opportunity? Make it a habit with every challenge to ask: “Where is the opportunity in this situation?” that one question will blow open the doors to new solutions, new strategies and new possibilities to take your business to the next level.


4. BECOME THE ULTIMATE BUSINESS “ROMANTICIST”
Outrageously successful enterprises are constantly “IN LOVE.” Yes, that’s right. They LOVE their customers. They LOVE their employees and vendors. They LOVE their visions. They LOVE everything about their business.



This principle is not something you get from a book. It comes from the very heart and soul of why you are in business. When you are “in love,” it shines forth in every client interaction, every exchange with a prospect, every dealing with a peer or vendor. Remember the old cliche, “People don’t care what you know; they want to know that you care.

Are you “IN LOVE” with your clients and prospects? Are you “IN LOVE” with the benefits you offer? Are you “IN LOVE” with every aspect of your business? If not, why not? What do you need to change about your attitude, beliefs or actions to become the “Ultimate Business Romanticist.”


STRATEGY SECRETS

5. LOOK AT MARKETING AS A *CONTINUUM*, NOT AN EVENT.
to conventional business thinking, marketing does not end with a sale. Outrageously successful enterprises know that marketing is a perpetual process. And, contrary to most business practices, these enterprises focus more than 50% of their marketing efforts **after the sale** -- such as ‘post sale” follow-up, repeat business incentives, backend selling, referral marketing, etc. They know that the greatest revenues are generated *after the sale.”

How do you see and practice marketing in your business -- as an event or a continuum? What *post sales* and prospect follow-up activities can you incorporate as the focus of your marketing efforts? This one shift n your marketing focus alone can increase your revenues 100%, 200%, even 500% ... more than any marketing action you take in your business.


6. CONSTANTLY “MARKET UP”
Within every target market, there is a high end and a low end market and everything in between. Million $$ enterprises constantly stretch their marketing sights and target prospects that most businesses would think impossible to acquire as clients. They constantly “market up” to high end prospects ... a strategy that catalyzes their business to a much bigger game.


What specific prospects ... or kinds of prospects ... would you love to have a clients or customers but think it is impossible? Think out side the box and think BIG. It could be celebrities, politicians, admired companies or CEOs, leaders in your community, rolemodels, etc.

Pick one high end prospect to start. Build a marketing campaign to reach that person or company. This strategy requires persistence, yet is well worth it. From my own first hand experience, ”marketing up” can skyrocket your revenues and business exposure instantly and multiply your profits for years to come .


7. MAKE “ADDING MORE VALUE” YOUR #1 CRUSADE.
Outrageously successful enterprises are in the business of creating value. They have a strong conviction to contribute to more and more richness to their clients’ lives and businesses.


In everything they say and do. they let clients know “you matter. Your well-being and success is important to us.” They focus on “what do I have to give?” ... NOT “what do I have to do to get a sale?”

Where is your focus right now --- on adding value, or making the sale? Make a list of at least 10 ways yo can increase the value of your products and services. Implement the easiest one ideas ... starting now. Make “adding value” a routine business priority. When you do, your products and services will sell themselves.


PERFORMANCE SECRETS


8. OPTIMIZE, OPTIMIZE, OPTIMIZE
Outrageously successful enterprises are masters at achieving the greatest return at the lowest possible risk. They constantly look for ways to reduce the amount of time, money and energy to achieve their ultimate goals.


They take what works and see if they can make it better, faster, cheaper. They know the “what if” implications of every new strategy, goal, product or service. They are pros at maximizing performance tradeoffs.


Do your know the profitability of each product or service you offered? Do you know what clients are the most expensive, demanding or time-consuming to serve? If you doubled your client base, do you know the implications on costs, revenues and the operations of your business?

To optimize your business results, think highest and best use of your time, energy and money. ALWAYS THINK HIGHEST AND BEST!!


9. MULTIPLY PROFITS THROUGH THE POWER OF LEVERAGE.
Most businesses build their enterprises in a haphazard way. Outrageously successful businesses grow their businesses from a place of leverage. They look for new ways to convert their current assets, strengths and opportunities into new revenue streams. They constantly take inventory and seek ways to profit from untapped capabilities and underutilized resources. They integrate marketing activities into a single business strategy to maximize results.

How can you leverage?

*** your current assets (eg., your client base, employees), *** your current strengths (eg., your knowledge base, processes), *** your current resources (eg., your business network, capital), to quickly grow your business?


How can you revamp your marketing activities so that your products and services sell each other? Leverage is one of the most under-utilized principles for multiplying profits in business.


10. DEVELOP A BIAS TOWARD ACTION
Outrageously successful enterprises understand that, in today’s economy, windows of opportunity are often measured in months ... not years and decades. They know they cannot wait for the perfect strategy, the perfect solution to capitalize on these opportunities. They must act quickly if they want to thrive in these highly changing times.


What new projects, strategies or opportunities are you stalling in order to achieve perfection? What new practices, support structures or habits will accelerate your bias toward action?

Achieve Your Dreams

Six Steps to Accomplishing Your Goals and Resolutions

• You need to deeply desire the goal or resolution.

• Napoleon Hill, in his landmark book, Think and Grow Rich, had it right. "The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat. "So, your first step in goal setting and achieving your dreams is that you're got to really, really wants to achieve the goal

•  Visualize yourself achieving the goal.
• Lee Iacocca said, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." What will your achievement feel like? How will your life unfold differently as a result? If the goal is a thing, some gurus of goal setting recommend that you keep a picture of the item where you see and are reminded of it every day. If you can't picture yourself achieving the goal, chances are - you won't. 

•   Make a plan for the path you need to follow to accomplish the goal.
• Create action steps to follow. Identify a critical path. The critical path defines the key accomplishments along the way, the most important steps that must happen for the goal to become a reality. Stephen Covey said, "All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation of things. You have to make sure that the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want, that you're thought everything through. Then you put it into bricks and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. you begin with the end in mind." He's right.

•  Commit to achieving the goal by writing it down.
• Lee Iacocca said, "The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen." Write down the plan, the action steps and critical path. Somehow, writing down goal. the plan and a timeline sets events in motion that may not have happened otherwise.

• Establish times for checking your progress in your calendar system, whatever it is: a day planner, a PDA, a PDA phone or a hand written list. 
• If you're not making progress or feel stymied, don't let your optimism keep you from accomplishing your goals. No matter how positively you are thinking, you need to assess your lack of progress. Adopt a pessimist's viewpoint; something will and probably will go wrong. Take a look at all of the factors that are keeping you from accomplishing your goal and develop a plan to overcome them. Add these plan steps to your calendar system as part of your goal achievement plan.

•  Review your overall progress regularly. 
• Make sure you are making progress. if you are not making progress, talk to a coach, tap into the support of loved ones, analyze why the goal is not being met. Don't allow the goal to just fade away. Figure out what you need to do to accomplish it. Check the prior five steps starting with an assessment of how deeply you actually want to achieve the goal.

From "Achieve Your Dreams: Six Steps to Accomplish Your Goals and Resolutions" by Susan M. Heathfield, About.com guide.