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I love the new year! I love resolutions, and I love the optimism and possibility thinking that goes along with them. I have seen many times that they can work and believe in making them. Just like in your personal life you probably have some ideas for what you want to be different this year in your business.

As you make resolutions and do your business planning for this year, apply these principles to ensure that your business is more solid, more prosperous and running smoother this time next year.

Know The Truth
Often times business owners make plans and set goals before they have sat down and taken a good look at the truth of what really happened in their business for the proceeding year. Do you know your cost of goods sold or how many marketing dollars it takes to acquire a new client? Can you say what percentage of your business is repeat business? Are you aware of what percentage of your revenue was generated by which products or services? These are just a few of the many questions to answer to better formulate your goals and plans for this year.

Be Optimistic
If you are a positive person, an optimist, you might even be avoiding planning right now because you do not want to set any goals because of you is afraid you might not achieve them due to the current economic reality. Plan and set goals anyway.

Attitude matters a great deal in business. Everyday, make sure you and everyone you work with has a positive disposition. It will result in more productivity and a better business experience. Hold the intention to be positive in the running of your business. You will feel better and have more fun.

Cultivate a Team of Super Stars
To truly have a business breakthrough, most businesses would benefit from focusing on this area. Are you happy with your webmaster, your accountant, your strategic alliance partners, your business coach or consultant? Can you say that they are doing a great job for you? If you are not thrilled with everyone that helps you meet your business objectives, then make a change. Finding good people who are experts at what they do, who do their work with a positive attitude and who genuinely care that you are successful, are the kinds of people you want on your success team. Do not settle for less because you are too busy to find someone better. It will be worth you’re the investment of your time and attention.

Thinking and Planning
Taking time for thinking and planning is key to moving your business forward. Thinking and planning should be a daily success practice: something you do everyday to have a productive day today, while also moving you toward your longer-term goals. Find your optimal time for thinking and planning. Both the beginning and the end of the day work great. Choose one and stick with it.

Review Regularly
When I ask a client what there goal is for an area of their business – sales, new clients, new products – and they have to find their goal sheet or file before they can answer my question, I know they are nowhere near their goal even before they respond. I have seen this hundreds of times. You want to review your mission/objectives/goals and plans at least daily – twice a day is better. The more your goals are in your head as well as on paper, the more momentum, focus and great ideas will flow to support you in getting where you want to go.

Minimize The Grabbing The Shiny Objects
One thing that happens when you are a successful business owner is that everybody wants to partner with you, offer you a business opportunity, share their latest venture with you and get you somehow involved.

Even though sometimes you might say “yes,” learn to say “no.” Remain focused on what you have set out to do. These exciting opportunities can be considered if they are in alignment with your mission, vision and goals. You have to be diligent in determining if an opportunity is something that will help your move forward or if it is something that is clearly a distraction.

Follow The Energy
Everything you do takes not only time, it also take physical energy, and mental brainpower and focus. The more things on your plate, the more mentally scattered you could feel. That’s why too many things on your plate can be a deterrent to your business success.

The other thing about energy is that you want to pay attention to what in your business draws you. What you go to first, what you do with enthusiasm and what feels like a struggle or hard work.

Energy is a great assessment tool. Use it to determine the truth about where you should put your energy in your business and where you should take your energy and attention off to maximize your effectiveness.

Stay the Course
One of the great things about having your own business is that you can change something in your business in an instant. You can add or subtract a new product or service rather quickly.

This can sometimes be a big mistake. If you try something once and it is not a huge success, do not scrap it. Instead upgrade it from what you learned the first time and try it a couple more times to get a true read if it is right for your business. What have you done in the past that deserves another shot?

The Old Adage Still Applies
There is a lot of talk about work less – make more, and ways to build a profitable business in only a few hours a week.
I love the concepts and principles and they are worth exploring and applying to your business as appropriate.

The old adage that there is no substitute for hard work still applies. Hard work still works. You do have to show up most of the time to accomplish what you want in your business. Hopefully, you love your work so much that there are times it feels more like a privilege then work. This is the place you want to get to. I mean, really how long can you lay on the beach with an umbrella beverage before it feels boring? I give it a week –maybe 10 days.

Apply the principles outlined above and you will find that this time next year you are happier, wealthier and ready for your next resolution.

There are some key and fundamental business practices that are rather boring, that you must embrace in your business to reap the rich rewards that come with building a profitable and sustainable business.

#1 Evaluate The Numbers
Do you know how much revenue each of your products and services generated this year and the last? Do you know what your average earnings was per client? Do you know where most of your business came from? How about how much it cost you to close a new client? What percentage of your business is from repeat clients?

There is no place where the saying “information is power” is more applicable then in your business. Answer the above questions and use this information to determine if you should continue to offer all your existing products and services. Use this info to reduce the cost of adding new clients and to increase the amount of money each customer spends with you, and of course to increase your repeat business.

#2 Learn the Difference Between Now Money Now
and More Money Later and Develop Both
This is another one of my favorite business building concepts. Now money now is when you provide a service and get paid for that service right away. More money later is when you invest time now in developing a product or service that will pay you much more in the future for the time you are investing now, like when you write a book, or write a training program or a software program. A sustainable business needs both now money now and more money later.

In a service-based business you are trading your time and expertise for money. You want to make sure that you have other ways of generating revenue that do not involve to much of your time. With each passing year you are in business you want to increase the products or services you offer that do not involve your time. This is another key factor in building a sustainable business.

By the way this is something we cover extensively in the Business Breakthrough Program.

#3 Create an Additional Revenue Source
As you evaluate the numbers also assess what else your company can offer in the way of products or services. Determine if there are other needs your clients have that you can provide. The more ways your company has to generate revenue the more sustainable and profitable and secure your firm will be. For example if you provide image services, also consider providing company training, webinars, information products perhaps a line of accessories or even top notch briefcases for your executive clients. These ideas may or may not be right for you still you need to come up with more than 1, 2, or 3 ways to generate revenue for your company.

Again we cover shine the spotlight on this in the Business Breakthrough Program.

#4 Get Credit, Increase Your Credit
A business needs credit. Cashflow is key to fulfilling your marketing and business plan and ensuring delivery of your products and services. Too many times I have seen business owners embarrassed and paralyzed because they can not pay their bills while waiting for their clients to pay them. Also your business will be severely limited if everything has to be paid for with cash on hand all the time. Consider that most businesses have high and low revenue producing periods throughout the year and at these times you still have to keep things moving.

A lack of credit indicates a lack of professionalism and business acumen. If you need to start at getting your credit score in order do it. Then start with the largest line of credit you can get. Then use it and each year focus on increasing it. One client recently got her first line of credit for $1000.00. I told her that was fantastic- you start where you are and increase your credit line as you can. Do not over look this important business fundamental strategy.

#5 Use Value-Based Marketing
Today’s marketplace is crowded and today’s potential clients are bombarded with marketing and advertising messages at unprecedented numbers. To make your marketing messages stick and actually be welcomed you have to always be providing value through your marketing while establishing yourself as an expert. A few of my favorite value-based marketing methods are speaking, teleclasses, articles and webinars.  For more on value based marketing read The Expert Advantage – How to be Recognized as an Expert in Your Field.

By the way we cover value-based marketing extensively in the Business Breakthrough Program.

#6 Put Together a Marketing Plan, Calendar and Team
If you have been around me for a while you have heard me say it a thousand times – consistency over time creates results. If your marketing plan lacks consistency it will be ineffective. That is why your marketing calendar for what you are going to do when for the next 12-18 month is key to your success.

By the way, make sure your value-based marketing plan has variety. You should be doing at least three things consistently, plus some things added in as you can. For example, you could write your blog every week, send out a value-based email with an offer twice a month and write an article once a month for a newspaper or magazine. Then you could speak to groups of your potential clients occasionally, and do radio interviews occasionally and send out a value-based direct mail piece quarterly.

Once you have your activities, decide when you are going to do what, what needs to happen beforehand and who is responsible for what to fulfill your calendar. Again, this is not innovative stuff, and it is what works effectively to attract clients.

#7 Put Together Your Daily/Weekly Productivity Plan
Now here is a concept that any success expert since the beginning of time will tell you is a must for your business – and it’s something you know. Yet, are you doing it?  You significantly increase your productivity when you have a routine.

Decide when are you seeing clients, when are you focused on marketing, when are you focused on sales, when are you doing your business planning, when are you taking some time off?  Yes, I know that you will not always be able to stick to your plan, yet not having one at all will result in your business running you – not you running your business. You will be reactive to the challenges du jour, rather than being pro-active and moving your priorities forward.

Okay! There they are – your boring business ideas that will reap you exciting business benefits in 2009. Get busy!  There is not time to waste.

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