Leadership Lessons

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on December 23, 2011

Jingle All the Way: Serendipity Happens

Way back before Arnold was Governor of California, he starred in a Christmas caper called “Jingle All the Way.” As workaholic Howard Langston, Arnie races all over town on Christmas Eve, in search of the blockbuster toy “Turbo Man,” which he promised his wife he’d pick up months before. Since it’s the only present on their son’s Christmas list, the need is dire.

In his quest to find the perfect toy, Howard fends off advances from a psycho mailman, a vengeful cop, and his lugubrious neighbor who’s bent on moving in on Howard’s wife, usurping his role as husband and father.

After hours of careening from store to store, Howard finds himself in the town’s annual holiday parade, dressed up as – you guessed it! – Turbo Man. All ends well when his wife and son realize his heart is in the right place. Don’t you just love happy endings?

You may think there’s no lesson here for a business owner, but there are plenty. We could talk about work-life balance, or the importance of keeping your commitments, but the main one to highlight is the role that serendipity plays in business.

Many successful business owners will tell you that the second they became crystal clear on their objectives, things just seemed to fall into place for them. Sure, they faced some obstacles along the way, but somehow the person they needed to meet or the book they needed to read or the lesson they needed to learn fell into their path.

Preparation is a great thing, and it’s necessary for day-to-day success. It’s what gets us through the tough, repetitive and sometimes boring stuff. But often the big leaps forward in our business occur because of some force stronger than us that’s at work in the universe.

Consider this quote from renowned poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” Even if you aren’t the “woo-woo” type, it can pay to be open to seemingly miraculous coincidences and occurrences.

Some people consider these types of coincidences to be signs that you’re moving on the right path. But whether you believe in the “great divine” or not, smart business owners will take advantage of any opportunities, regardless of source. And the more clear you are on your end goal, the more you’ll be able to recognize these opportunities.

Holiday Leadership Lessons: Share Your Gifts

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on December 23, 2011

The Little Drummer Boy: All Gifts Are to Be Honored

Even if you haven’t seen the animated special, you’ve probably heard the story or the song. But here’s a recap if you’re unaware: The three Wise Men and the shepherds are heading to see the Baby Jesus, and the little drummer boy comes along for the ride. He is embarrassed when he has no gift to offer the newborn Savior.

Finally, he learns that his only skill – playing his drum – is enough.

Maybe you’ve felt this way: You take a skills assessment or strengths finder, or ask your friends and family what they turn to you for. The answers are less than stellar. Instead of being a powerhouse leader, or an inspiration, you come up as a great administrator, or… the Drummer Boy equivalent of today, a good listener. What are you supposed to do if you’ve got mad skillz as, say, a babysitter or folding paper airplanes? Can you possibly make a business out of that?

Well, the short answer is, yes, you can. Whatever your skill, there is a market for it. Follow these tips to make sure you find your business home:

Don’t underestimate yourself. So you can imitate cartoon voices. Big deal. No one will pay for that…. Or will they? Sure they will! For presentation narration, video games, films… you name it. If you have an above-average skill, someone out there will pay for it. If you doubt this, go to Fiverr.com and take a look at the kind of things people are shelling out money for.
Get yourself out there. Standing in the back of the crowd, quietly tapping on your drum, is not going to do anything for your popularity. You need to put yourself in front of people who can help (if you get nervous, just think back to the Little Drummer Boy. If he could approach Mary, the mother of Jesus, you can probably get up the courage to launch a podcast or website).
Hone your craft. If your skill really is folding paper airplanes, then make yourself the very best paper airplane folder out there. If you are skilled at cleaning toilets, then keep your finger on the pulse of the toilet-cleaning industry and be a leader in that space. Just because you’re naturally gifted doesn’t mean you can coast; you must keep making yourself better and better.

When you have a gift, it is truly that – a present bestowed upon you. It is your responsibility to make the most of it and share it with others.

An Ode To Entrepreneurialism

Posted by Articles on December 19, 2011

Here’s to the brave and the free who are represented in the entrepreneurial spirit. To the ones who made something we dreamed of, but never dared try ourselves. To the ones who endured the ridicule of others for the sake of their own dream then decided to share their ideas with the rest of the world. To the ones who spent sleepless nights coming up with solutions instead of contemplating the sheer force of the problems they faced. To the ones who never gave up when that was always the easiest option. To the ones who could envision a day when there would be satisfied customers at the end of this leg of the journey. To the ones who discovered there was a thin line between a foolish dream and common sense.

You, brave soldiers of entrepreneurialism, are heroes and destiny changers. You are doing what most cannot. You see here are the valiant men and women who produce the goods, polish the ideas and sell the services that make our lives easier and more fulfilled. They have captured an elusive bug known as entrepreneurialism and it infected every aspect of their life view. They wish others understood, but they’ll walk the road to success alone if they need to. These are the hearty souls who get distracted at lunch and figure out how to take the next step by simply doodling on a restaurant napkin ?then frame it when the dream comes true.

These individuals may not care much for a dress code, standard work hours or common themes of success. They care more about taking the things they care most about in life and seeing where they can go when infused with the ability to dream. Often these individuals invite the rest of us mere mortals to come to their proverbial tent in the center of town for a delightful game of show and tell.

Entrepreneurs are the misunderstood and often made fun of, but there comes a point when their genius is evident to all. Don’t be surprised if they refuse to hold a grudge or point out how right they may have been. The article was written by a web designer Auckland who’s become an entrepreneur in the fields of computer repair and internet marketing.

Ten Simple Ways to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Posted by Bizology on November 4, 2011

Ten ways to make your site mobile friendly

Be Minimalistic — A flashy website is not going to translate well on a mobile device. Stick to the basics, and remember the acronym you’ve learned before. K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple silly)
Consider how mobile readers see your content — Check for yourself on the mobile device that you are targeting with your content to assure yourself that the mobile content translates well to the device. You can’t be sure without looking.
Cut down on ad clutter — You may find that you need to move your ads to other areas that work better with mobile devices. Having ads in the middle of content might not work well with a mobile device like they do on a regular website.
Detect platforms that are viewing with proper coding — Learn about special coding that you can do for your content so that it detects what device is looking at the site, and appears in the best format for that device.
Lots of navigation — For a mobile device you likely need more navigation than on a website. Consider using shorter drop down menus, and think of ways to drill down to the minute information on your site with more menus.
Make short links - As we know, typing on a handheld device is not fun or easy. So make links as short as possible so that no one throws their mobile device across the room in frustration when trying to view your site.
One post or set of content per page — this goes back to being minimalistic but keep the content to one post per page for easier viewing.
Put content front and center — Instead of having an entry page, put the newest content front and center so that mobile content viewers see what is important right away.
Put links under content and within — reconsider how you put textural links within a post. While this is great for a website viewed on a webpage it might work better to put links under the post as well as within the text for easier navigation.
Use drop down navigation or hover navigation – This type of navigation saves a lot of space on the mobile device and makes it easier to actually click it to move to the mobile content that the visitor wants to view.

What Happens When You Put Off Leadership Development?

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on August 26, 2011

Leadership development appears to be one of those luxury items, something that the company can live without. And it is, or is it? What happens when you have leaders that need to develop good skills and the resources are just not invested? Employees these days are not willing to work in poor work conditions. Despite the current economy and unemployment rates, employees are still willing to give up a “good job” when they feel they are treated well by managers and leaders. The cost to the company can be huge.

Over the past few articles I have outlined the impact of not addressing poor leadership, employee turnover, reduced productivity, and poor team performance. I’ve outlined the potential costs to the company and impact to the bottom line. Recently, I talked with a company where this is exactly what happened. They decided to not invest in leadership development. The work environment continued to deteriorate for employees and turnover has occurred. The result: an open position on the team, lowering the ability of the team to complete jobs and meet deadlines; the need for leaders to invest time in hiring and retraining; and ultimately more loss for the company and the delay in having a fully functioning team.

Had the investment in leadership skill development been made what could the outcome have been? Higher performance of the entire team, improved work environment and culture, and reduced turnover. A stronger company and stronger bottom line result.

For many leaders or business owners, leadership skill development is viewed as a perk, a non-essential investment, but the impact of failing to make this investment can be devastating to work teams, especially when an unskilled leader or manager is involved. Some leaders have pretty natural skills, while others have never been in leadership before and have had poor role models. These folks need skill development. They need to understand their role and the impact that they have on the workforce.

When organizations do invest in leadership development positive outcomes are achieved for both the company and the individual. Leadership skill development can occur in house or via training and executive coaching. Executive coaching helps to solidify skills once they are learned. The coach can provide feedback and additional opportunities for learning during skill acquisition and retention.

A leadership budget should take both parts of the puzzle into account. Leadership skill development and monthly executive coaching. Costs can vary from a few thousand per year (4000) per staff person to 25,000 or more depending upon the level of training and coaching. When evaluating the investment consider the impact of the loss of just one staff person. Using the 150% of salary – just one employee leaving the organization that is a $35,000 per year employee can cost the company $52,500 in replacement and retraining costs, as well as time lost from leaders and other employees due to the shortage. The savings that could occur by investing upfront in leadership development using these numbers could be $25,000 to 48,000.

Business owners that fail to see the value of investing in leadership development for their managers and growing leaders kick themselves later when costs come back to the company.

Creating a strong leadership development program within your company is a wise investment and in the long run saves money and increases income with increased team performance and productivity.

Manager Demands Negatively Impact Employee Performance | performance improvement

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on August 25, 2011

A small company had a staff team that was dedicated to their work, but challenged by their manager/business owner. His expectations were high but his ability to communicate effectively about expectations low. Instead of clearly communicating what tasks needed to be completed in advance he would outline tasks at the last minute without enough time left to complete the job in a quality way. The staff felt that they had to get the job done, that there wasn’t any option. They bent over backwards, worked extra hours, came in on days off to complete the work. And, despite new tasks being thrown in along the way they completed the work. And as quickly as it was done the next unreasonable task was on the table. There was no acknowledgement that they had gotten an impossible job done, just the high expectation for the next.

What happens to your workforce when you fail to acknowledge or thank them? Work forces decrease performance. Research on worker performance has consistently indicated year after year that money is not the number one motivator for staff, but rather social praise, success, acknowledgement rate higher. When business owners and leaders demand, demand, demand and never acknowledge that the staff met deadlines went above and beyond is demoralizing to staff. Staff become frustrated that no matter how hard they work it is never acknowledged. Frustration leads to anger and they wonder why they continue to work so hard.

Simple steps can be taken by managers and owners:

Set reasonable goals
Agree with staff what is doable
Empower staff
Acknowledge staff through thank you’s and recognition

Using these simple steps managers can improve the workplace environment and overall work performance. Having a positive, engaged workforce improves the bottom line.

Using an effective employee performance improvement system is another strategy for developing a fully engaged worksforce. Staffs that meet with their manager in a positive improvement system are responsive to manager coaching and feedback. When coming out of an environment that has not been positive or acknowledging managers will need to build trust and rapport.

The employee performance improvement system works with employees to develop a goal plan to improve performance and focus on top goals for the company. Managers shift their management approach to one of coaching staff. This shift begins a full company culture shift. A positive engaged employee work culture improves overall business results. The benefits to the organization are tremendous.

The employee performance improvement system involves:

Performance improvement planning workshop
Manager training in coaching skills
Plan review with manager
Online tracking of goals and goal progress
Monthly coaching with manager, scoring of goals and review of goals.

This results in increased performance productivity and results. It also results in decreased stress around performance appraisals through the monthly coaching process.

Monthly coaching gives managers an opportunity to provide regular feedback, appreciation and acknowledgement. Teams become highly productive and responsive.

Recovering from Business Disaster | best year yet

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on August 25, 2011

Well, its been a week and half since my business experienced a HUGE business disaster. After having experienced many problems with my hosting company in July — all of my sites were offline for a week in July and my email didn’t work for two weeks. Trying to resolve the whole mess while on vacation was a real drag. My hosting company NEVER responded to a phone all or email or support ticket. So, when they finally popped back up and I was home again I decided to move the entire operation — over 16 sites in total. Well, I made mistakes. I didn’t get my backups right away.

I did a backup and didn’t download it right to my computer as soon as it was ready. I moved to the next site and started the backup.

Well, what happened in the long run was in setting up new hosting and trying to migrate everything from one host to another my original host deleted my entire account. I have been absolutely sick. I lost everything. With older backups I was able to get my main sites back online. I lost my entire list of 10,000 subscribers. I am still working to recover that but so far haven’t been able to.

Lessons learned:

Back Up Regularly and store your own backups.

Even though my host said they had weekly backups, when it came down to it the back up they were able to provide to me was over one year old and they thought I should be thankful that they had a back up.

I am considering moving some sites to different hosting companies. I used to do this but last year moved everything onto one host. If I had left things dispersed I would have not lost it all.

So what good is coming out of it all?

I have taken time to reflect on what my priorities are. What do I want my business to look like? With the destruction that occurred it was time to really take a look at things.

I redid my Best Year Yet plan. I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at a BIG meeting here in New Jersey. I spoke on goal setting and it made me look at my own vision and goals. It all comes back down to the basics. Vision, values, goals — all the things we talk about in strategic planning with Best Year Yet.

I looked at what went well and what my disappointments were and are. And took all of that to develop my significant life lessons for the upcoming year.

I love the Best Year Yet planning system because it is so on target and gets right down to it.

There is always good that emerges from disaster. Its not why the disaster happens but is an outcome, often unexpected. But we have to turn things around.

So, I am moving forward with Compass Rose Consulting — a revised vision, a new plan and new initiatives and focuses.

I look forward to sharing them with you over the next few days and weeks.

If you want to join me for a Best Year Yet planning session yourself. I invite you to take a look at the opportunity to just that in early September.

Happy New Year: Planning 2010 for Great Success

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on January 6, 2010

Happy New Year!

What a wonderful start to the year with fresh snow, happy kids and a bit of time for reflection. Compass Rose Consulting, is geared up for 2010 and I am very excited about all that is happening! I want to welcome you to 2010 and I look forward to our journey together this year, because I see it being a very great year! CNN just reported that it is The Year of the Entrepreneur!!! A good year to go into business and a good year to BE in business! That is us! And we are each going to see growth.

Each year, I start the year with a time for visioning and “envisioning” and I invite YOU to join me, next Thursday January 14th at 12 Noon EST. I will share my visioning process and guide participants through a powerful process of envisioning 2010.

This year I am adding live events each month, here in northern New Jersey, webinars for those that can’t make the “live, in-person” events and Entrepreneur’s Talk Radio is back online!

My goals for 2010 and to support you in building greater and greater success. Please read through all of the opportunities that are here right now!

In this issue:
Entrepreneur’s Talk Radio
Envision 2010 Webinar
List Building Intensive Webinar
Bizology.Biz LIVE
Bizology.Biz Membership
Article: List Building: I’m an Entrepreneur, Do I Need a List?
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Entrepreneur’s Talk Radio: Mind, Body, Business: Putting It All Together

Tuesday January 12th 1:00 PM- 2:00 PM EST

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/entrepreneurs-talk

Susan Creal is a dynamic entrepreneur who helps mom entrepreneurs give birth to their businesses, teach them how to love and embrace what they do and celebrate their phenomenal success making more money than they thought was possible. She educates, inspires, has a gift of getting right to the issues while bringing fun and play back to business!

Susan and I will talking about how to put it all together based on her. unique Mind, Body, Business lifestyle model and approach to building success. Join Susan and I for a fun filled conversation.

Visit Susan’ Blog at:

http://transformingwomennow.com/blog/mom-entrepreneurs/

Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (718) 664-6194 The live, Internet talk radio show will stream from the host page at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Entrepreneurs-Talk

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Envision 2010 Webinar: January 14th 2010: 12:00 Noon EST
Visioning is one of those vital steps in building your business success. Maybe you had a vision when you first started out, but have lost touch with it; or maybe you didn’t take the time to really site down and write your vision down. During Envision 2010, I will guide you through process of envisioning your business for 2010.

To regiser: http://www.envision2010.eventbrite.com
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List Building Intensive Webinar

No matter what type of entrepreneur you are, you need to be building a list. During this three week series I will teach you how to build a list and how it really integrates into your business plan. In addition, we will explore WHAT to do with the list once you have it, and how to convert prospects into clients. You will have a chance to mastermind with other participants in weeks two and three. You will receive an incredible workbook and other materials that will give you detailed information about how to build a targeted list.

Three Thursdays starting: January 21st

http://www.listbuildingintensive.eventbrite.com

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Bizology.Biz LIVE

January 20th 2010 9:00 AM – 12:00 Noon EST.
Located in Sparta, New Jersey

Join me for an incredible live workshop: Bizology LIVE to put together your powerful strategic plan for 2010. Beyond the vision, you need to have a plan. A plan that you can work and that you can accomplish.

http://www.bizologylive1.eventbrite.com

Bizology.Biz The Science of Building Thriving Businesses
Bizology is now available in a couple of different formats!!
The published version is NOW available as a complete home study program. It includes all of the workbooks and audios and even the 9 special reports. They are shipped from the publisher to you and you are able to work in the area you want, skip around or go sequentially through the program. As I have edited it for the final print version, I have, myself been working through the program because it is GOOD. It guides you step by step through building your business success.

http://www.bizology.biz/bizpackage

And it is still available online in as a membership program that provides to you two lessons or workbooks each month. You are able to go through the program step by step.

http://www.bizology.biz/membership

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I am an Entrepreneur: Do I Need a List?

No matter what your business is you should be building a list of contacts and prospects. Entrepreneurs and small business owners need to be as diligent at this as Internet Marketers are. What Internet Marketers have demonstrated time and again is that a list of prospects and contacts CAN build great business success. A list in essence is a business’ “bread and butter”. The list is what become your valued customers and clients.

Whether you are a “brick and mortar” business or an online business, you need to building a list. Many, many offline businesses fail to effectively build a list online. Most businesses can use an online list. The idea of building a list is that you are “capturing” contact info for your website visitors. These visitors are so important to your business. But when they come and go without leaving you their contact info you have no way of following up, staying in touch or being “front of mind” when they change over to a “buyer” instead of window shopper.

List building is the first, most important and most constant of all the tasks that entrepreneurs should engage in. Maybe you don’t see it now but staying in touch with people consistently increasing your likelihood of converting a person into a client. Many believe that their business just doesn’t exist without their list.

You might see people saying that list building just isn’t that important. But the reality is that it is essential. When you have a list of targeted prospects you have the ability to continue to build your relationship and rapport. Not collecting contact information for your customers and contacts is a dangerous business decision. Even if you have a store front, you should be collecting valuable info from you customers.

Email gives us all the ability to easily stay in touch with people. But it is vital that your email has true value. People’s email boxes are full and you need to stand out. By offering real value with each email you will.

Think about it, someone comes to your store, you collect their contact info, and you are able to let them know about special events, sales and online opportunities to do business with you.

The CAN SPAM act of 2003 made is illegal to send bulk marketing emails without the consent of the recipients. That is the law. The penalties for disobeying this law are tough! You can be fined up to $11,000 per unsolicited marketing email that you send! You must be sure that you are collecting permission as well as email addresses. Even in your store you can have people sign up on your email list. Just keep the log of sign ups. You can personally add them to your list and that is okay.

There are many good ways to build your list. List building is an art, and at the same time the steps are easy to do. You can build a targeted list in person and online. Everyone on your list will be a valued subscriber, just on the verge of being a valued client.

If you are an entrepreneur you need to be building a list of contacts and prospects that you can continue to stay in touch with. Whether you are online of offline a list can be the “bread and butter” of your business, and its ability to weather the ups and downs of the economy and business environment.

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As you can see there is a lot happening here at CRC. I hope you join me on the journey. Pick the right program for you, right now, in your business, but pick one, because each is designed to help you, the entrepreneur, to build your business.

Happy New Year!
May yours be happy and prosperous.

All the best,
Donna

Donna Price
Compass Rose Consulting
973-500-8094

Business Owner Commitment and Determination Create a Solid Foundation For Success

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on December 8, 2009

As a business owner, your commitment to the business and your determination to succeed build your solid foundation for success. But there are challenging times when you might need an extra dose of determination and commitment, as your personal supply dwindles..

There are hundreds of stories that model this type of determination and success. The “Chickn Soup for the Soul” book series was submitted to many, many publishers that turned it down. Each of those publishers later kicked themselves, I’m sure. But it was the determination of the authors that kept them sending it out one more time. Or the actor, accidentally discovered while waiting tables or by a fluke ended up at a talent search.

Determination, commitment and belief are often at the core of these stories. It is the passion and belief in your own abilities that moves you into continuous action, and then determination keeps you there.

Your positive attitude exceeds just a “we can do this” type of attitude. But rather it takes your belief and passion, or your love of what you do that helps you to see it through to the end, your success. For many that means taking that leap to move into the realm of success and turn your business into one that thrives, using all of the resources at hand to get you there.

The technology of the Internet adds massive resources for all business owners. The Internet is a resource for networking with your target market, building your expertise and market your services or products. Using the Internet can be a low cost option if done correctly. You can use the Internet as your market place or as an additional market place for your business. It gives you the ability to quickly do research on your business, your market and how to access them.

It is all there and it is easily accessible.

Despite What You Might Want, Marketing IS a Requirement

With business, it is rarely, “If you build it, they will come”. Usually, they only come to your business when you market the business and tell people about it. You have to build a reputation and rapport with your clients and prospects in order to build your business. Marketing is a requirement, and a passion for marketing will help. If you hate marketing, then you will struggle with effective marketing. If you can find a way to become passionate about marketing, just like you are for your business you will do better. Whether you are an online business or an offline business, you HAVE to market.

The Internet offers many marketing resources, but there is also a learning curve that for some will be mountainous. But it is worth the effort in the payoff.

Personal Development Keeps You On The Cutting Edge

Your positive attitude most likely also gives you a passion for learning. In the world of business it is important to be open to new technology, new ideas and new strategies. By remaining open to learning about each of these you stay on the cutting edge of business. Increasing your knowledge gives you advantages over competitors. Your knowledge makes you valuable to the business, but also to your colleagues, clients and prospects. People will seek you out.

When you learn new skills and tasks it gives you more information for outsourcing each of these eventually and the ability to be effective in working with specialists. It also enhances your confidence.

Profitable businesses take time. Staying the course through this development timeline is the challenge. As a business owner you can become weary. But when you have a foundation of your passion and positive attitude you are stronger in the business environment. With determination you can see your business succeed.

Keeping a focus on your business vision gives you energy for continuing to do the work each day to build that success. With a clear and compelling vision that you are tied to makes you even more determined.

Business Owner Commitment and Determination Create a Solid Foundation For Success

It is all there and it is easily accessible.

Despite What You Might Want, Marketing IS a Requirement

The Internet offers many marketing resources, but there is also a learning curve that for some will be mountainous. But it is worth the effort in the payoff.

Personal Development Keeps You On The Cutting Edge

Mistakes Can Be Magic

Posted by Business Success Coach, Donna Price on December 4, 2009

If you are like me, then you are human, and you make mistakes. Mistakes, however, are an opportunity if you seize that opportunity; and by doing just that you can become a master at overcoming your mistakes:

• Take the time to evaluate the mistake and then learn from it. A great way to evaluate is to look at what went right and what didn’t.
• Take ownership of what you did that was incorrect or wrong.
• By taking ownership of your responsibility you are able to accept that you made the mistake.
• And finally, you can use your evaluation and learning to better yourself.

When you truly acknowledge and accept your responsibility and role in mistakes can you access the magic or treasure of the mistake.

As an entrepreneur, I am sure, you are more than familiar with mistakes. You probably have made both small mistakes and BIG mistakes along the way. Mistakes may, for some, put them right out of business or scare them out of business.

When you are in business, it is like walking through the jungle. You have to be prepared to be in the jungle and survive. You have to have thick skin, courage, perseverance and more. I bet you have had some customers that were close to totally impossible. Or a competitor that always seemed to be 3 steps ahead of you. If you do any marketing – well, then you have made many mistakes. Because marketing success is all about learning from what didn’t work.

This is the joy of an entrepreneur: the excitement of learning, the control to make mistakes and the willingness to be courageous and take risks. You persevere and you learn, continuously. Your positive attitude is essential in building a thriving businesses and enduring the lessons that you have to learn along the way.

Mistakes Can Be Spun, Magically Into New Income, New Revenue

One way to do this “spinning into money”, is to share your experience with others. Other people can benefit from your learning and their tension eases as they realize that they are not alone. You can also create your own coaching program to provide coaching, based on your experience to other businesses. An entrepreneur that is courageous can share their own personal mistakes, pointing out the challenges that they faced and how they overcame them, creates a synergy with other business owners. Suddenly, you are a speaker and coach, and people are following you, because you have risen to the level of expert.

Connect, Connect, Connect
As an entrepreneur, you have to connect with other people. Your contacts and connections are vital when you see your sales slowing or if you decide to start a new business venture. Networking is just part of business. It gives you additional venues for sharing your expertise and sharing your advice.

WOW, The Customer
It is critical throughout your business to WOW your customers. WoW is all about service delivery, quality and customer service. Maybe you have had a challenging staff person that wasn’t especially good at customer service. You know that that is essential for your long-term success. You have to take action with the employee to improve their performance, or change their responsibilities.

It becomes an opportunity to update your customer service policy and to re-train staff. You can also evaluate what can be automated: answering services, Q & A page on your website, automated messages.

Mistakes and challenges make it impossible for you to not look at your business. By taking on the opportunity you are able find the magic of the mistakes. What can you improve? Systems? Process? Policy? Operating a business with a constant process for improving your services, your products and your business, creates a thriving business. Use each mistake to review the process or policy and make the changes you need to, to improve it.

Your Magical Mistakes can set you apart from the competition. Customers will appreciate that you are constantly making your business work better. Using excuses instead of making magic will stall your business. You won’t stand out as a mover and shaker. Of course, we would all like that perfect business model and business operation – but the real way to get there is just what we have discussed here. Take mistakes, evaluate them, take out the lessons and improve yourself, your business, your operations, and a s result you will thrive!

Archive for: Business Coaching

Leadership Lessons

Jingle All the Way: Serendipity Happens

Related Reading:

Holiday Leadership Lessons: Share Your Gifts

The Little Drummer Boy: All Gifts Are to Be Honored

Related Reading:

An Ode To Entrepreneurialism

Related Reading:

Ten Simple Ways to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Related Reading:

What Happens When You Put Off Leadership Development?

Related Reading:

Manager Demands Negatively Impact Employee Performance | performance improvement

Simple steps can be taken by managers and owners:

The employee performance improvement system involves:

Related Reading:

Recovering from Business Disaster | best year yet

So what good is coming out of it all?

Related Reading:

Happy New Year: Planning 2010 for Great Success

Related Reading:

Business Owner Commitment and Determination Create a Solid Foundation For Success

Related Reading:

Mistakes Can Be Magic

Related Reading: