Posts Tagged ‘entrepreneruial thinking’

Over 79 million people will start a home based business this year according to Forbes magazine.  Yesterday I wrote an article on Steps to Start a Small Business.

Starting a small business from home has positives and negatives.

Positives:

1. You do not have any additional rent for your business location.
2. You do not have any additional utility expense for your business.
3. You do not require any travel time or expense.  A 30 second walk from your bedroom to your office does not count as travel time.

4.  In the initial stages you will probably not have any employee expense

Negatives:

1. You work from home.  You have all of the distractions of home life which makes it more challenging to focus and concentrate on business tasks.
2. You have to do all of the tasks.  You place the ads, you call the people, you do the  training, you do the record keeping, you do the short and long range planning and you do your own research to learn more about your new business
3. Wow.  After all of that you are probably thinking about a nap.  No can do.  Until you start making money in your new small business, you are probably still working your day job.  Plan at least 20 hours a week for you new business.

Being health conscious and an exercise-a-holic, I am not telling you to give up your sleep, give up healthy eating, or give up exercise.  It will be more challenging for awhile to accomplish everything.

Oh, your sanity is in the mix somewhere as well.  I am not telling you to give up your spouse, your kids or even your tennis racquet.  You WILL have to focus your time and energy carefully.  No more wasted time.  Carefully examine your schedule and make every minute count.

Weigh the time freedom, lower start up cost, convenience, and unlimited income potential against the discipline, time, initial investment and learning curve required for entrepreneurial thinking.  Do you have what it takes to be successful?

You may be thinking, “What if I fail?”  The best way to overcome your fear of failure is to make your desire for success more powerful than you fear.  What is your “why?”  What is your powerful reason to push through any obstacle until you reach success?

Every business requires a powerful “why,” but a home based business seems to require an even stronger why than a brick and mortar business.  Maybe it is because there is a lower investment or because it is easier to quit.  You do not have a lease to break or contracts to renegotiate or transfer.  Work from home business ideas sound great and they are great.  The catch is the follow through.

If you have the discipline, determination and “why,” your odds of success just skyrocketed.

If you would like individual coaching or more personalized guidance on your steps to start a small business, contact me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

Want to make it easier on yourself to get out of bed in the morning?        How would it feel to be excited about your work?  Imagine being more excited about Monday morning than Saturday morning?

You will always be more productive, more profitable and more emotionally satisfied when you are working in your passion.  When you are passionate about what you do for a living, it is easier to get out of bed in the morning.  You are actually eager to get to the office.  Does that feel like traveling in a foreign land without a map to you?  If being happy about your career is totally foreign to you, then it is time to seriously examine your career choice.

Remember as a child how you had wild and wonderful dreams about how life could be when you grew up?  What happened to that childish wonder and excitement?  As a child did you imagine yourself as wealthy?

Examine your wealth builders blueprint.  Did you forget to even make one or is it covered with years of dust?  Unfortunately, it is probably not gold dust.  Time to dust it off and reinvigorate your dreams.  Your dreams are the first step in your wealth builders blueprint.

What is a dream anyway?

D – Decide what you truly want

R – Refine it down to a specific goal

E – Examine all of the factors involved in making it come true

A – Action plan to achieve

M – Maintain consistent, persistent, focused action

Deciding what you truly want can be accomplished by paying close attention to your energy.  When do you feel the most invigorated and inspired?  What are you doing when time just flies by without glancing at the clock every five minutes or having the overwhelming urge to jump up and get another cup of coffee?  When do you feel the greatest sense of satisfaction?  Where does your mind wander to in your daydreams?  All of these are clues as to your passion – your area of highest productivity, profitability and satisfaction.

Refining all of these thoughts, activities and “what if” ideas into the one most important goal is a process.  Be careful not to talk yourself out of your dream by saying it can’t happen.  Approach the process as if EVERYTHING is possible.  When you want something badly enough and really focus on it, there is usually a way to achieve it.  Napoleon Hill said, “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

Examine all of the factors involved.  Do you need more training?  Do you need to tap into a positive mastermind group who share your quest for achieving a dream?  Careful, no bar room benefactors, they tend to be negative; they are dream stealers.  Look at finances, education, and skills.  You will have to move.  Move your mind in a new direction; move your time priorities; move your seat off the couch and into action.

Form an action plan with step by step activities to move you constantly toward your goal.  It may not be fast but keep checking to be certain you are on course.  Revisit the plan frequently and be certain you have not veered off course.

Maintain consistent, persistent and focused action all headed toward the achievement of the goal.  This means daily.  Your dream becomes a 24-7-365 focus.  You dream about its accomplishment at night, take action on it during the day and daydream about how your life will feel when you are successful.

A wealth builders blueprint starts with a dream.  Live the life you desire and deserve.

Poor me.  Boo Hoo.  Whine Whine.  Maybe you will hear this attitude from a quitter, but never from an entrepreneur.  Entrepreneurs never quit.  We may alter the course or even change directions, but never quit.  Quitting simply does not exist with the entrepreneurial mindset.  Does that mean that we never get discouraged or face challenges?  No.  Of course we do.  The difference between the entrepreneur and the quitter is that an entrepreneurial mindset never quits.

Entrepreneur	Quitter
Goal Oriented	Today Oriented
Written Success Plan	Mood of the Moment Activity
Determined	Maybe and If Thoughts
Consistent	Sometimes – Infrequent
Compelling Reason to Succeed	Luke warm desire to succeed
Researched and Planned	Impulse of the Moment

Goal Oriented means you have specific written goals.  Each goal has a time frame to be accomplished, measurable criteria and is a stretch but yet possible.  Without specific written goals, it is just a daydream or a wish.

Entrepreneurial mindsets require a detailed written success plan with each element defined.  What financing will be needed?  What marketing method, budget and specific marketing action steps are required?  What specific benchmarks must be reached by what date to know that the business is on target toward the goal rather than wandering aimlessly.  Excellent written success plans are composed in weekly, monthly, quarterly, one year, five year and ten year time frames.

Rock solid determination is not optional.  One of the characteristics of an entrepreneur is the unwavering commitment to reach their goals no matter what the obstacles.  This determination is frequently based on a “why.”  Why will you never give up on your goals?  What is so important that you will persevere through any obstacle?  Go over it, around it, under it or through it; the obstacle must yield.

Consistent and persistent actions are typical characteristics of an entrepreneur.  Entrepreneurs know that focused action is required each and every day.

Entrepreneurial mindset remains crystal clear on their “why.”  Thus reason becomes compelling and long term.

Another characteristic of an entrepreneur is researching the ideal business fit for them and planning their success with a detailed written business success plan.

Entrepreneurs are never quitters.  Entrepreneurs succeed partially because they never accept any other outcome.

For more specific and personalized fine tuning of your individual entrepreneurial mindset, join me at http://www.elaine4success.com/ or http://www.yes2money.com/.

Visionary leaders serve in the local community with food drives, clothing for the homeless, educational support through scholarships, and health and water projects on a global scale.  What is your passion?  Where will you carve your niche of service?  Visionary leadership means seeing a need and serving others.  The highest quality visionary leader is also a giver; they give of their time, talent and resources.

As a fellow successful entrepreneur and visionary leader, I absolutely subscribe to service to others.  None of our lives are one dimensional.  We also have our families, our careers and our spiritual life.  As a Rotarian, we have a 4 way test.  We have at least 4 major life areas which also demand and deserve our time attention and money.

If you ever think that your children are out of the nest and on their own, try sending one to college.  “Hi, dad and mom, please send money.”

Children fall into various groups,

Baby birds – they are still in the nest

Touch and go flight patterns – they leave but return for laundry, raid the pantry and financial assistance

Circle flight pattern – they left and were out of the nest and then move back

homeFlight squadron – they leave but return with spouse and your grand children

Not that any of these are bad, but to say that children are inexpensive or maintenance free would be a gross error.

Our careers are also emotional, financial and time consumers.   Our careers require our passion.  Every successful person owned, lived and breathed their passion.  Olympic athletes, concert master musicians, inventors and corporate moguls were all consumed with passion for their chosen mission in life.  Whether you have chosen an entrepreneurial mindset or a corporate mindset, employing visionary leadership remains consistent.

Steve Jobs, the icon and founder of Apple Computers, credits his passion as his key to success. “You’ve got to find what you love.  Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to Love what you do.  If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.  Don’t settle.”

When I first started Mt. Castles, Property management, I got up early, stayed up late and had an insatiable drive.  The creativity flowed and every day was an opportunity for a new adventure.

I read every book I could get my hands on about property management; I went to Inc. conferences to learn from other successful entrepreneurs.  I interviewed female entrepreneurs to determine the specific challenges they encountered.  In fact I published a white paper “Gender differences in Conflict Management Style in the Workplace.”

I picked the brains of every successful property manager I could interview.  I took them to a long lunch and asked questions.  I interviewed second home owners, tourists and long term renters.  What is it you need?  What is it you would like to have that you do not have available now?  I looked for niches to fill.

Look at your career right now.  Are you fired up to hop out of bed every morning and soar with the eagles or are you content to walk the same circle on the ground as the chickens?

How many books have you read lately about your chosen field?

When was the last time you reached outside your industry for creative ideas which work in other industries but have not been utilized in your industry yet?

When was the last time you took a successful business colleague to lunch and tapped into their mindset for success?  Do you belong to a “hold your feet to the fire” mastermind club?

When was the last time you interviewed your customers, vendors, and target market to ask what they needed?  Ask what they like now and what they would change if they could.

When was the last time you did a blind test and shopped your own customer service?

Tap into your passion and you will find your genius, your productivity and your enthusiasm.  Tap onto your passion and take focused action and you will find your profit.

Join me at http://www.elaine4success.com/ and lets mastermind together to focus your time, energy and financial resources in your passion.

There are so many opportunities on the internet today it resembles the choices of a mosquito in a nudist colony. So how do you choose? Being an entrepreneur is fabulous, especially in the ideal situation for you.

Do you look for the one who promises the most money? Some are promising such outrageous amounts that it looks like you are winning the lottery every week.

Do you look for the one who claims to be the easiest? Just purchase your starter kit, sit back and watch the money roll into you bank account. No effort required.

Do you look for the one that claims to have a miracle product? Ponce de Leon, Spanish explorer, reputedly sought a miracle fountain in Florida in 1513. Legend says that anyone who drank of this fountain would have their youth restored. Some products on the internet today expound similar magical claims.

Hate to destroy your delusion; however, the word “business” means some time, effort and money required. The advertisements may tap dance around the word “business” by terming it an “opportunity” but few actually say “get rich quick.” The gurus at Google would go into cardiac arrest and shut the site down quicker than a shopaholic dashing to a blow out sale at Nordstrom if someone really dared to publish “get rich quick.”

There are genuine, honest, ethical business opportunities advertised on the internet. The challenge is sorting through all of the empty oyster shells to find the pearl. The pearls really do exist but not every business is appropriate for every entrepreneur.

No entrepreneur will make significant money for the long term without adhering to a few basic rules.  Take it from an industry leader:

1. Is the business legal? Is it registered with state and national governmental agencies? Do not be confused with having it listed on the Better Business Bureau. BBB is an excellent organization which does research companies; however, BBB is a “for profit” organization NOT a government agency. Research the company with state and federal attorney generals and look for the number of complaints listed. No one will EVER have a perfect record if they have any length of time in business and have reached a sizable sales volume. No one will ever satisfy 100 per cent of the people 100 per cent of the time. Business deals with people and personalities. Do look for a minimum of complaints and look at the resolution of those issues.

2. Is the business ethical? Of course no one is dumb enough to feature the comments and testimonies of highly disgruntled people. Ask to speak to recent enrollees as well as longer term members of the company. Just the fact that they will furnish names and phone numbers shows the people featured are real live individuals. Ask to attend a live call.

3. Is the product something useful for the long term rather than a trendy “pet rock?” Look for something which transcends the fluctuations in the economy. In the go go 80s you could sell almost anything. In a more challenging economy, people seek more immediate value which can not be located at the corner drug store.

4. Select a company and a product which fits your interests. Select either something you already have some knowledge or desire to gain knowledge about. You will always be more successful working in your talent, interest or passion.

5. Select a compensation plan which fits your short term and long term budget for start up as well as meeting your income potential goals. Some compensation plans allow you to earn from your first sale and other compensation plans make you pass up sales before you earn any money. Anyone on a tight budget may run out of marketing dollars before they pass up enough sales to start earning income for themselves. Look at all the factors and make a wise decision.

Selecting the ideal business for you involves a variety of factors. For personalized assistance in selecting the perfect entrepreneurial opportunity to fit your passion, your budget and your goals, come talk to me. There is gold dust in the air. The gold dust is an attitude backed by action. The key is selecting the right business at the right time for your abilities and goals. Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com. When the business opportunity fit is accurate and the correct action follows, the gold dust appears.

That’s where my business success coaching comes in.  Contact me.  Elaine Love at resultsforlife@gmail.com

Throughout history we have progressed from the Agricultural Age through the Industrial Age, and through the Information Age. The common thread running uniting all of the economic changes has been the individual entrepreneur.

Small business managed and developed by the individual entrepreneur forms the basis of all economic progress. The individual entrepreneur who possesses a burning desire to create a business of their own stimulates economic advances.

The Pilgrims were farmers who traveled to America to be able to settle new land and develop their enterprises. They were so adamant that they put their lives on the line to be able to conduct their businesses in peace and freedom.

The gold rush was individual miners who struck out on their own at great peril to seek their fortune. Covered wagons rolled across the prairie in search of acreages to homestead. Herds of cattle were driven hundreds of miles to stake out new ranches.

Bill Gates started Microsoft in a garage. Thomas Edison had a small laboratory to conduct his experiments. Henry Ford started Ford Motor Company in a tiny space working on the development of his horseless carriage. Andrew Carnegie started out with an idea and developed it into a huge empire.

Throughout the entire world, it has been the entrepreneur with a dream, an idea and more motivation than money who changed the course of history.

Think it is too late for a new idea? Wrong. The telephone and telegraph started with a simple idea to communicate ideas more easily. Every step of the way from the first crank telephones to the modern I-phone were all spearheaded by an entrepreneur with a dream.

New and better ideas continue to flow. With each new idea, there is the springboard for another ever more progressive idea. You are only limited by your imagination. You may have made the excuse about having a lack of money. As the beloved business philosopher, Jim Rohn, said, “Lack of money is not the problem; it is the lack of an idea to create money that is the issue.” Ideas are free. Developing the idea will require some time, effort and dedication.

What is your future worth?

Education helps, money helps but the critical element is always passion. Nothing and no one can stop an entrepreneur with a burning desire. If you listen to your critics, you will never accomplish anything of merit. Critics frequently want to keep you down on their level rather than providing the jet fuel to boost you to the heights you are destined to achieve.

At the end of your life do you want to know that you gave your dream the chance to develop to its fullest potential or regret that you took the safe road and did nothing? The discipline to develop your dream weighs ounces but the pain of regret weighs tons. Jim Rohn spoke volumes with those few words. “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are, ” Max DePree. Stretch your wings and discover your passion. Discover that burning desire resting dormant within your soul. Allow yourself to become the entrepreneur you are capable of being.

New ideas are being developed each day. Education, age, economic background, and physical location are minor factors. A heartfelt passion and a desire to develop yourself as an entrepreneur is the only critical element.

What excuse are you allowing to hold you back from taking charge of your future? Entrepreneurial mindset is an entrepreneur with a mindset backed by action just as believing in and realizing gold dust in the air is an attitude backed by action. Entrepreneurs believe in and experience the gold dust. With the gold dust comes an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment, happiness and success.

For specific tips, techniques and practical exercises to discover your passion join

me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

I remember that feeling of failure. Property owners, employees and tourists were looking up to me as the leader they trusted and I failed. My self esteem drained away. It seemed like a good decision at the time. Have you ever had second thoughts about a decision? Some decisions are reversible and some are not. Selling a business, end of the year tax losses and having a baby are not reversible. Come to think of it, there are painful similarities.
Why had I sold Mt. Castles? My attitude and my self confidence plummeted and my business disappeared quicker than a snowflake in hot coffee. I could blame the economy, the president or the dog catcher. The problem was my attitude and my action.  My lack of Entrepreneurial Mindset.

I had allowed my attitude and my business to come crashing down. When my attitude and self confidence plummeted, my business profits followed suit. I allowed second thoughts and doubt to destroy a great business.

Money does not disappear, it simply changes hands. The words of Paul Zane Pilzer, economic adviser to 2 presidents rang in my ear. “There will be more millionaires created between 2006 and 2016 than at any prior point in the history of the world.” With all of this prosperity, how could my attitude be down?

What was the secret to all of my success in the past?

Everyone I talked to told me I couldn’t do it. I’d go broke. It could not be done with single family homes. Property management only works with condominiums. I had 3 things going for me; I love a challenge, I was naive and it’s the go go 80′s. You didn’t have to be good to make money.

No second thoughts. Back it with action and go for it. There are advantages to being naïve. Jump off the business cliff and look for a golden parachute on the way down. I had a clear plan of action.

Sometimes plans are disrupted. Owners of the first home I managed were 2 young venture capitalists. Great young guys. Easy to work with, generous and creative. They owned a car rental agency based out of Boca Raton, FL. One day I received a call from Federal Marshall Jim Tafoya of the DEA. The cars carried more than people across state lines. The guys may now be having second thoughts. They had been concentrating on powder but theirs was not Steamboat’s legendary snowflakes. They were working with another white powder. Poof. The federal marshals became the new owners of the property.

Federal Marshalls do not have second thoughts about white powder.

Mt. Castles kept growing. Even after I won the “Innovator of the Year” award for being the first property management company in Routt County to market ski lodging on the internet, I allowed my significant other, Matt, I changed the name to protect the guilty, to tell me how small and insignificant a company I was. My self confidence evaporated and so did my profits. Poof. Just like the powder, everything came crashing down. Attitude is not the only thing, but it is the main thing. I defeated myself.

I could blame Matt, the economy or George Bush, but it was my own second thoughts. My own self doubt had destroyed my business and made the decision to sell Mt. Castles.

Paul Zane Pilzer’s words rang in my ear, “more millionaires created than at any prior point in the history of the world. . .” Clear my head; restore my confidence. Dust off my attitude and back it with action. If I allowed second thoughts to destroy my attitude, then I have the power to bring it back. Stick to your goals. Don’t allow second thoughts to destroy your dreams.

For specific tips and techniques to overcome your second thoughts and hold on to your dreams, contact me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

You are in the business of creating WOW. Be so good that they can not ignore you. Be so good that the only question of doubt is who is second.  These are characteristics of an Entrepreneur.

Create your WOW with a gold dust in the air attitude and back it with solid goal directed action. WOW comes from a positive attitude. Attracting the top people to you stems from being a person others like to be around. No one enjoys spending time with grumpy, complaining people. It does not mean you have to turn cartwheels, most of us do not do that on a regular basis, but it does mean that you display a pleasing personality, zest for life and spirit of giving value.

Look at the WOW as W O VV – wealth of value value. The key to creating WOW is doubling the value received by everyone you encounter. When you interact with others in a spirit of giving value to them far in excess of the monetary exchange, you create a win win situation. Double the value and you double the win.

Look at life and business in the spirit of looking in the mirror to see what you can give of yourself rather than looking through a window to see what the outside world can give to you. Rotary Clubs International has a motto of service before self. That gold dust in the air attitude epitomizes the positive outlook on life and the mission of giving value to others. A person who is more concerned about giving value and excellent customer service than they are about their individual income in each interaction, will in fact receive more. Greed is short term. Value is long term.

Look at a W as two Vs put together. Create a gold dust in the air attitude by expecting good things to appear, acting as if the good will appear and serving others by projecting the attitude of giving value to them.

Creating WOW is as simple as focusing on the value you give to others. The top companies who thrive for the long term are always the top customer service companies. It always costs less to retain a customer than to attract a new customer. Customers stay where they are appreciated and receiving value.

Project a gold dust in the air attitude and others will feel good about being around you, customers will choose to do business with you and you will feel better about yourself and your business. It really is as simple as having a gold dust in the air attitude and backing it with positive action. That positive action starts with giving value and follows through with giving excellent customer service.

1. Gold dust in the air attitude

2. Give value which exceeds expectation and price

3. Give excellent customer service

Develop a gold dust in the air attitude and back it with positive action.

For more tips and specific techniques on developing a gold dust in the air attitude and a list of the top customer service companies, join me at www.elaine4success.net

What is holding you back from being your most productive and most profitable?  Could it really be as simple as not finding your ideal business?  Yes, it really is that simple.

You say if you knew what to do you would already be doing it?  Would you?  Entrepreneurial success stems from being in the ideal business for you at the right time.  Step one is to select the ideal business for you.  Until you truly find your niche, you will never be your most productive and most profitable.  Entrepreneurial success takes focused time and attention to detail.  Spend your precious time and effort focusing on the ideal business for you.

Step one – Determine what you feel strongly about doing.  A florist shop may be a delightful experience for some and pure agony to others.  If you are a “sit on the couch and drink a six pack” person then going into a business selling health products would be a major disconnect.  If you are an exerciseaholic and a devoted to all organic foods then selling health products would fit nicely into your lifestyle.  You could “walk the talk” relating to health.

You have not discovered your passion yet?  Devote time to specific exercises designed to assist you in discovering your passion.  One such exercise is to write fast and furious for at least ten minutes.  Set a kitchen timer, the alarm on your watch or cell phone, or even the microwave timer.  Write everything you would ever possibly want to do.  Do not spend any time analyzing.  Do not be concerned about whether or not it might be possible for you.  Simply let your mind and hand flow freely with ideas.  When was the last time you allowed yourself to dream and freely record all of your dreams and desires?  For most people, it has been months, years or even decades.

Once the timer rings, take a deep breath and a sip of something.  Look carefully at what you have written.  There will be a common theme or even one idea which literally leaps off the page.  It may be something which has been lingering in the back of your mind.  You may have been unconscious of its significance to your entrepreneurial success.  The key to your future business, your entrepreneurial success, is contained within the words you recorded in those ten minutes.

Step two – Turn your dreams into action.  Now that you know in which direction to concentrate your entrepreneurial success activity, you can start your success plan.

The next steps in your entrepreneurial success plan refine the overall idea into specific sections.  There are a few different techniques for compartmentalizing the overall idea into manageable segments.  Which method is best for you depends on how your mind functions.  Some people think in time frames, others think in pictures and others in areas of their life.  Personal, Financial, Professional, Spiritual and Recreational are the more common categories. What is most important to you?  What is most urgent for you?

If you are making money but working so many hours that you do not see your family, then personal may be a top priority.  If you are like most Americans, income may be a serious concern; in that case, financial will be on the top of your priority list.  If you are in a job you hate, then professional may be at the top of the list.  Specific exercises exist to assist you in knowing which method is best for you and helping you determine which category receives top priority.

Once the prominent passion becomes clear, the category of top priority is determined, and the focus is narrowed to a specific workable idea, your entrepreneurial success plan starts taking shape.

Need help with each of these steps to personalize the information into your desired results?  No problem.  Personal individual coaching is available at www.Elaine4Success.com.