Posts Tagged ‘entrepreneurial opportunity’

How many hours did you spend preparing for that presentation?  Entrepreneurial success requires preparation, presentation and review.  If it was a major client, it was probably several hours.  You wrote, rehearsed, tweaked and worried.  You probably picked out just the right outfit to make a favorable impression.  The time arrived and you gave your presentation.  How did it go?

Preparation is absolutely important.  Delivery is also very important.  What happens next?  “It has been 2 days since we met, Mr. Buyer.  What do you think?”  Regardless of the words chosen, you probably made at least one follow up call.

What did you do about your presentation?  Did you review your own performance?  Reality indicates that less then 1% of the salesmen ever review their own presentation.  Entrepreneurial success is epitomized by the Toastmasters speaking and leadership tracks.  Toastmasters encourages every member to record a video and an audio of every speech.  Just recording the speech is not enough.  It is important to actually watch and listen to the recording.

How many salesmen, male and female, ever record their presentations?  Out of thousands of sales professionals, you could count the number on one foot with toes left over.  No wonder so many salesmen put their foot in their mouth during presentations.

A wise friend of mine, Ed Tate, recommends using debriefing questions after every presentation.  (Ed Tate was the 2000 world champion of public speaking for Toastmasters.)

What happened?  List the good points and the “lets do that differently next time” points.

Why did that part work or why didn’t that part work?  Break the entire presentation down into small parts and review each one.  Don’t beat yourself up, but do be honest.  The growth is in the struggle to improve.  I recently had a speech which did not go nearly as well as I would have liked.  I don’t know if you ever talk to yourself, but I had a serious heart to heart with myself over that performance.  “Elaine, you stayed up all night working on the last minute changes.  You were not rested and refreshed.”  “Elaine, you spent the time running off new handouts instead of eating breakfast.  Your energy was low.”  “Elaine, you drank black coffee in an attempt to boost energy all night and early in the morning rather than drinking water to stay hydrated.”  “Elaine, you self sabotaged your own performance.”  Even though staying up all night working, running off copies and coffee seemed like good ideas at the time, in retrospect, they were self defeating.

How many college students have crammed all night for a test and almost fell asleep during the test?  Common practice but not a good idea.

What worked?  What parts did not work?  In any speech or presentation some parts work better than others.  Unless you take the time to dissect the entire presentation, you do not know what parts to keep in for the next presentation and which parts to tweak.  In order to maximize entrepreneurial success, a debrief of the presentation is essential.

What did you learn?  Debrief all parts of the presentation and make concentrated efforts to strengthen the most effective parts and revise the weaker segments.  Examine carefully what you learned.  The growth is in the struggle.

For more tips, techniques and solid business practices, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

Gold dust in the air is an attitude backed by action. Maintaining a positive attitude is the key to success in any endeavor. Not a key, but the key to success….entrepreneurial mindset.  Your attitude screams so loudly that it drowns out the sound of your words. When you respond with a smile on your face, a glint of mischief in your eye and enthusiasm, people choose to be around you. Have that same smile, a glint in your eye and a grumpy tone of voice and people shy away. No one wants to spend time with Grumpy. A gold dust attitude expects and projects prosperity.

Grouchy people focus on the crisis. Positive people focus on the future. The sure fire test resides in the eyes. You can force a smile on your face even if you have gritted teeth but the eyes throw up red flags. Genuinely happy people smile with their eyes as well as their face. Eyes are the mirror to the soul. When your eyes smile and twinkle, the feeling is projected. Say anything you like; however, if you are not genuine and honest, your eyes will reveal your deception….entrepreneurial characteristics.

Ever notice when people openly gaze at your eyes and hold the connection? You feel closer to them and feel their sincerity. When they avert their eyes and avoid direct connection with your gaze, use caution. Positive, upbeat and genuine people enjoy connecting with you. Granted, some are shy. A shy person warms up as they become comfortable with you; they will meet your gaze as they get to know you.

Gold dust attitudes project optimism. Entrepreneurs display gold dust attitudes because they focus on opportunities; entrepreneurs focus on the future. Leaders are entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are leaders. The tone of the entire organization takes root in the attitude of the entrepreneur. When the leader displays an attitude of gold dust in the air and backs that positive attitude with action, the followers duplicate the positive attitude.

In a challenging economy, it is even more important to maintain a positive attitude. Zig Zigler said it best, “a positive attitude will not let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than a negative attitude.” Everyone prefers to thrive and progress forward; however, a negative attitude locks the emergency brake in place to halt all progress. If you are not going forward, you are going backward. Nothing stands still.

Gold dust in the air attitudes smile and know that opportunity exists in every economy. 16 of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial average started in a down economy. Down economy is another way of saying economic decline; also known as the D word – depression. Now before you go into panic mode at the D word, return to the gold dust in the air attitude. When the economy is down, so are the prices. This is a great time to do any remodeling, equipment replacement, or hire highly qualified personnel; availability is up and prices are down. Gold dust in the air attitudes capitalize on opportunities for future growth. Entrepreneurs who internalize the gold dust in the air attitude know that there are excellent opportunities in every economy….entrepreneurial opportunities.

Gold dust entrepreneurs look in a mirror and take responsibility for the future rather than looking through a window to the outside world for results. Remember the picture of the cute little yellow kitten that gazes into the mirror and sees a massive male lion? That cute little tabby cat understands how to look within to the future. It may be a kitty cat now but the future holds promise of bigger and better results. Entrepreneurs gaze into the mirror of now and see the vision of the future. Grumpy looks through the window, sees the down economy and focuses of the crisis. As Wayne Dyer says, ‘when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Your choice. Are you a gold dust in the air attitude entrepreneur or do you have a grumpy crisis focus? Entrepreneurs maintain a gold dust in the air attitude and back that positive attitude with action.

For specific tips and techniques to develop yourself as an entrepreneur or to develop your gold dust in the air attitude, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.

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