Business Strategy Coach - Now is the Time to Plan for 2010!

I am totally blown away by the many business owners who do not actually have a business plan. We know the quote "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail." However, with every client that I coach and consult with one of the first things I ask them is what goals do they have for their business. The business strategy plan is the tool that will help you stay on tasks. It is basically your compass to make sure that you are reaching your goals.

Many people I speak to become overwhelmed by the process of creating a plan. There are many great softwares that you can use for example BizPlan Builder is an amazing tool to use to help you through the process.

So let's get started. These are the 3 major components your plan must have:
(1) Income Goals - How much money do you want to make for 2010? What is the total gross revenue? What increase do you want for your business? Begin with knowing what type of lifestyle you wish to live.This will help you in planning your income goals.
(2) Budget - What are your planned expenses for 2010? How much are you allocating for advertising/marketing? Do you have a budget for education/training for yourself and your staff? Are there some expenses that you need to cut for 2010?
(3) Marketing Strategy- Do you have a 6 month marketing strategy in writing? Do you know who your ideal client is and how to reach them? Are you planning on using social media, print, direct mail? Do you have a referral program or affiliate program? What is your expected return on investment (ROI) for the marketing you plan to do? Do you have a tracking mechanisms to gauge your results?

It may seem challenging and daunting but with the right support and a well thought out strategy you will create a "working" plan to accelerate your business.

Coaches Tip: Start NOW and work on one section at a time. By December 31st, you will be ready to take your business all the way and please know we will love to help you on your journey.

Business Strategy Coach - How to Build a Vision for Yourself

If you are someone that needs to find a vision for yourself you will want to make sure that you are following through with what life has in store for you. There are endless possibilities for everyone. If you are looking to make something great of yourself then you will need to set some priorities and goals for yourself so that you are well on your way to a better and bigger future.

When you are looking for something to keep you motivated, you need to first think, about what you are doing for your own life. What are the most important things to you? Are you satisfied with everything that you are doing? Are you ready for a change in your life? If you are answering these questions truthfully, you will soon realize that maybe you are not living life to your full potential and maybe there is something better out there for you.

Make sure that you are thinking about your goals and dreams in life. You need to think about what you want to do in your future. Setting goals for long term and short term is going to be one thing that makes your life so much better and easier because you are going to have something to look forward to in the end.

Never give up on something that you really want. If you have goals set for yourself you will want to make sure that you are doing everything possible that you can so that you can feel good about who you are. Be prepared to work hard at your goals. There is nothing that should ever stand in your way. You need to recognize that you are the one that is going to be in control of your life. When there is something that you really want to have, you should try to find different ways to go about them. Finding motivation is one part of it. When you are energized and motivated to make something happen you will get there.

Think about what you are doing and then you can move on to something else. You can build up your own goals in life by thinking about what you need to do in order to improve your own goals. Thinking about something that makes you happy will help you get to where you need to be. There is nothing wrong with making choices that fit your needs. Do not be afraid to go out there and make things work for you. It is going to take time but you will see in the end that you are going to improve your life by a lot and find ways to make things different. You have to be willing to provide yourself with a set of goals that are going to work for you and all of your needs.

Try to find a way to see into your future. You have to be ready to take on challenges that are going to help you become stronger and more together. You should always know that you are going to be in control of a situation. When you are not happy with something that you are doing you should go out there and make your life just how you want it to be.

Do not be afraid of who you are and what you do in life. There are so many good ideas out there for you to choose from. Make sure that you are creating the goals in life that are going to help you be more productive and more enthusiastic about what you have in mind. There is nothing out there that should stop you from being who you want to become in life.
Think about your attitude and how far it has brought you. There is nothing in the world that you should think about more than where your life is going to end up. Success is something that you should always have on your mind. It is up to you to go after your dreams.

Business Strategy Coach - 10 Strategic Ways To Be Time Rich And Stress Free

1. Retrain your self-talk, to remove selfish from your vocabulary and replace it with self-care. In order for you to take care of the people you love you need to take care of yourself first. Friends, family, loved ones look to you as a model, make sure to model self-care, taking time to play, relax, and read. This is especially important for parents; this will give your children the confidence to have the same healthy behaviors.

2. Give yourself time for delays and unexpected events. When mapping out your day add an extra hour cushion to your schedule. This extra time will keep you stress free and running on time if some of your appointments are delayed, or if you run into someone you haven't seen in a while, so you can enjoy a spontaneous conversation without the guilt of running behind schedule.

3. Balance out your commitments. A great way to cut down on a hectic schedule is to balance out all new activities by removing an old activity. Don't add anything new, work, classes, volunteer activities, etc unless you first remove something from your schedule to balance it out. This will help you to let go of projects and time wasters that no longer serve you.

4. No is not a bad word, in fact, it's not only a complete sentence it's a great stress reducing word. There is no need to justify or explain when you say no to someone's request. Just give them a friendly smile thank them for including you and tell them you can't do it this time. If you are having trouble getting used to saying no right away, tell the person you need some time to think about it, then call them later and decline to be involved this time.

5. Maximize your commute and errands. If you have errands to run for business or home combine them to one trip. Make doctor’s appointments for yourself or your family members back to back and see if you can get appointments first thing in the morning before the doctor is running behind. Order you business supplies online to save time, most business supply websites can store your most frequently ordered purchases in a file so all you have to do is select the item you want and have it delivered with just one click.

6. Improve your home environment one room at a time. Even if you have the budget for a complete makeover, remodeling and redecorating can be very time consuming and stressful projects. Try working on just one room at a time. Pick a few rooms in your house that you enjoy the most and spend most of your time in when your home. Select your favorite and create an environment that is pleasing to the eye and gives you comfort and positive energy. This will give you a haven in your home and the encouragement to tackle another room when you're ready.

7. Being spontaneous is a very exhilarating feeling that gives you a real sense of freedom. Make sure to leave time in your life every week to be spontaneous. Cutting things out of your life that are time zappers and stressful will also give you the energy to be spontaneous. Keep at least two weekends a month free from scheduled activities. Then you can decide to take a short trip, have a date with your partner, a special family event, or kick your feet up and do absolutely nothing and feel wonderful about it.

8. Highlight those time wasters. Instead of just making up another long to do list so you can beat your self up about all the things you didn't and couldn't possible have accomplished in one day. Make a realistic to do list. Put the things that are most important to YOU on the top, then next to each item list the amount of time you think it will take to get it done. This will help you get your important things done and show you where your time wasters are.

9. Under promise and over deliver. This is very useful in business and in your life. By selecting reasonable deadlines you avoid the stress of crunch time, use your time effectively and you will be able to finish ahead of schedule giving you satisfaction for a job well done and turned in early.

10. Define what life and work without stress would look like to you. Describe what your ideal schedule is, what leisure activities you want to do and who you want to spend time with. By creating a detailed image of what a stress free schedule looks like, you can begin to take the steps necessary to clearing out the stress.

Business Strategy Coach - Maybe Now Is the Time to Reinvent Your Business

You have to realize just how important your business is to your personal success. You will also find that there are times where you are going to have reinvent your business. You need to keep in mind that if you really want your business to work out then you are going to have to constantly be looking at ways to innovate your business. You also want to make sure that your business reflects everything that you would like people to think when they hear about your business.
When it comes to the times when you are going to have to re-invent the business you will find that it may be when the profits stop coming in as fast or just after so long when people have gotten comfortable with the business. You will also want to make sure that you have everything that you offered in the beginning, but you re-invent yourself and the business through many techniques so that you can build on the business.
You will find that a business innovation involves the use of new products, new business goals and plans, new business models, new communication and marketing techniques, and so on. You will find that it is important for you to constantly work and change your communication ways so that you can make sure that you are on the way to becoming a household name.
One of the biggest changes that you are going to have to deal with is the change of competitive advantage. You will find that your competitive advantage will make a huge difference in the company and you are will also notice a change (positive or negative) in the profits of the business. You will want to make sure that you think about all the changes and their consequences, because you will want to make sure that you are making the right changes and also that you can make more of a profit. You will also want to consider the changes and how the public will react. You need to make sure that you get a positive rise out of your public and out of your potential customers.
You will need to consider the fact that you are working on a piece of art. Every now and then you will think about things that you can add or change to make it better. This is exactly how you will approach your business. You will need to take inconsideration that there are going to be some problems, but you will be able to work through all the issues and bring in some potential customers. You will need to think about your business as something that is forever growing.
Take inconsideration that there this some general knowledge of the business and there is a general knowledge about your clientele that you are going to have to use in order to decide if your business ideas are a go or a bust. You will want to make sure that you do all the appropriate research so that you can take care of all of the business decisions, but also feel confident in your business decision-making.
If you are looking to re-invent your business you may even want to get a professional business coaching company to consult with. You will feel a lot better about making decisions when you get the opinion of a professional. You will want to consider doing what you can to make the best decisions possible. You will need to set some personal business goals so that you can have some sort of direction and reasoning to the re-invention of your business.

Rae A. Majors-Wildman is an international business strategist and results coach. She is the CEO of the strategic consulting and training firm All the Way Success, Inc. Rae hosts the blogtalk radio show Coach Rae and is working on her first book, Success Is Not Optional. She can be reached by phone at 760-290-7111 or by email at rmajorswildman@allthewaysuccess.com

Business Strategy Coach - Blast Through All Barriers to Reach Your Goals

One of the reasons we do not face our goals is because when we are faced with an unexpected barrier that we're unsure how to deal with, we shut down. We become discouraged, we start making excuses, and we allow ourselves to back off of our original plan. While this is a human and natural tendency, it's not conducive to success.

An important step that you can take to avoid this barrier blunder is that of carefully planning your goal to include backup plans for all those little "what ifs."

"What if I don't pass the prerequisite course?"
"What if I don't get the loan?"
"What if I run out of time?"
"What if the marketing doesn't work?"
"What if I just don't feel like it?"

These are all very real barriers that keep us from realizing our life dreams. By preplanning for them, we greatly improve our chances of succeeding and experience the power of being unstoppable.

What kind of barriers can you preplan?

Internal Barriers
Internal barriers include the thoughts you have about your goal, success, and yourself that keep you from being successful. They include your personal fears, motivation, self-esteem, and paradigms.

"What if I just don't feel like doing my assignment?"
Solution - commit to working on it for at least 15 minutes. Then take a break and come back to it later

"What if my fear of the phone keeps me from following through on my marketing campaign?"
Solution - have a friend help me make phone calls. It might not be so bad if I'm not alone.

"What if I find myself procrastinating?"
Solution - ask a friend to call me every day to remind me to spend a little time on my goal. Work on my goal first thing in the morning to get it done and over with. Better yet, hire a business coach such as All the Way Success who is committed to helping you reach your goals.

External Barriers
External barriers include barriers such as money, time, other people's reactions, resources, and results. We are not in direct control of them, but we can affect how they work and we can still plan around them.

"What if the client turns down my proposal?"
Solution - ask questions to find out why, and resubmit it.

"What if I forget the worksheets?"
Solution - fax a copy to the hotel and get new copies made.

"What if the landscaping blocks don't come in on time?"
Solution - pad the timeline and notify the client of this possibility in advance. Realign timeline to work on other projects until the blocks come in.

Practice this technique with even your small, short-term goals. It feels great to know that when a brick wall appears in your path, you have the perfect solution for getting around it and getting back on the road to achievement!

Business Strategy Coach - The Buck Stops Here...A Leader Should Be Willing to Take Responsibility

A leader should be willing to take responsibility. Who would forget the ever-famous line of Peter Parker’s grandfather, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The society expects Spiderman, a comic book, TV, and movie superhero, to be responsible for saving his town, or even the world, in some instances, from evil because he has super powers.

From all the episodes he appeared in, he never let us down. With the power he possesses, he makes sure to be responsible in using it for the good of the people around him.

Leadership is not at all different from being superheroes. Yes, you may not have super powers like Superman and Spiderman, but you have the authority to lead other people towards success. This is so much greater and stronger since it is a power that can be used by real people in this real world.

Hence, being a leader requires great sense of responsibility, the second quality a successful leader should attain.

The power to lead your people towards aiming your vision comes with responsibilities like making sure they are on the right direction, being aware of each and everyone’s tasks and mistakes, and putting them back on the right track when they get lost.

Who said it is easy to be a leader? Well, it is not…It comes with tons of responsibilities. True leaders are willing to accept them all.

There are instances where sometimes it makes us feel better to blame somebody or something else when something goes wrong in a task. However, this should not be practiced, especially by a good leader!

A leader should take full responsibility of a task - not just before he accepts to take it, but also after it has been accomplished. As much as he is responsible for his team’s success, he should also be responsible for any failure. He represents the whole team so whatever happens to it, he is the one responsible.

Making excuses and blaming something or someone else for failed jobs is not a quality of a good leader. What he should do, instead, is to accept the fact that something went wrong with the organization, even if it is not his fault. It is normal to make mistakes. In fact, mistakes are opportunities to learn something better. As a leader, he must ensure that the team members learn from these mistakes and that these errors will not be repeated next time.

You may not have full control over other people and are not expected to have full control over their actions, but you have full control of your own reactions. Knowing what to do over unexpected and unpredictable situations will make you responsible, hence giving you the feeling of power.

Business Strategy Coach - Driving to Your Goals..3 Steps to Get You Where You Want...

Every time you get in your car to go anywhere, you are working on achieving a goal. There is somewhere you want to be, so you take action to get there. The three major things that get you where you want to go when driving are a specific destination, directions for getting there, and a way to track your progress. You must also have these three things to achieve any goal.

1. Specific Destination

Before even getting into your car, you must know where you are going. Unless you have a specific destination, you're just moving the car and wasting gas. There isn't anything particularly wrong with this; some people enjoy just driving around and looking at the scenery. But if you want to get somewhere, you must know where you are going.

When setting your goals, you must know exactly what it is that you want. Get a clear picture of it in your mind. If it's a new job, picture yourself in that job. If it's more money, visualize that monthly bank statement. Imagine what you will feel like when you reach whatever it is you are striving for. Write it down, like you would write down the address of a house you are visiting for the first time.

2. Directions

If this is a destination you've been to before, you don't need directions. It's automatic, like tying your shoes or chewing your food. But what if it's somewhere you've never been before? How do you get there?

You ask. You ask someone who's been there before. You pull out a map. You check the Internet. The directions may not be perfect, and often they aren't. "It's either the second or third light, I can't remember which," is something often heard when getting driving directions. But you get the best directions you can.

Goal setting is the same. You get in touch with others who already have what you want. You read books, you listen to tapes, you attend seminars, or you hire a “results coach”. You get as much information as possible that will assist you in reaching your goal.

3. Tracking Your Progress

You know where you are going and you've got your directions, so now it's time to take some action! You hop in the car and you're off!

But wait! It wasn't the second or third light, it was the fourth! So what do you do when you realize you are off course? You check your map, you pull into the nearest gas station, or you make a phone call. You try to get back on track. But you don't give up! You don't turn around at the first closed road and go back home, saying "I didn't really want to get there anyway." If this were to happen, you'd never get anywhere you hadn't been before, and your life would be pretty limited. Even if you have to head all the way back home, you start again. Eventually, you get to that destination, and isn't it even more exciting when you get there after a difficult journey!

You may get sidetracked on your journey. If you get hungry, you stop for a bite. If you need to use the restroom, you stop to take care of that. But do you stay stopped? Do you sit in the restroom all day, wondering why you aren't where you want to be? No, you do what you need to do and continue on.

Don't quit on your goals, either. There may be setbacks, dead ends, even car accidents. But don't forget that you'll never get there if you don't keep taking action and moving towards your destination. When that prospect says no, it's not a failure; it's another mile under your belt. When nothing seems to happen for a long period of time, you're just getting closer to that next landmark. If you're not sure what to do next, don't be too embarrassed to stop and ask for those directions!