“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” — Paul J. Meyer
I’d be willing to bet one of the reasons you started your own business is to produce profits. This is quite honestly the central reason for a business to exist. A business earns profits helping people solve their problems, but no one needs a business to solve problems.
This book is written and designed to give you the necessary tools and advice to finally gain the massive profits you envisioned when you first opened your doors for business. That’s why it makes sense to start with the formula to achieving – even surpassing – your goal.
It can help you realize major profits.
As you read here and as you follow my coaching, you’ll be amazed at how simple major profits really are to generate. You’ll grow to understand why you’re driven to succeed and how to turn that drive into the energy that turns the gears and gets you where you most want to go. Getting to a sizable increase in profits in a short time is then simply a matter of implementing a very specific set of action steps consistently, to move yourself from where you are to your precise profit goals and beyond, just as you would do planning a trip on a road map or setting your destination in a GPS.
The following Top Five Action Steps are the beginning of the road to making massive strides in your income and success happen quickly.
First things first:
Any business you venture into should be something you’re passionate about. Do what you love! It should be something you envision doing day after day, something that aligns with your personal core values. If you don’t believe in or agree with what you’re doing, you’ll never be successful. You may make some money, but you won’t experience personal satisfaction long-term.
These positive attributes form the base of the building blocks you need to become financially successful quickly. They affect your energy and thus every aspect of your company, with or without employees.
Think of it as The Law of Opposites. This is best illustrated by the difference between hot and cold. If you have never experienced the cold, can there be hot?
In the same way, experiencing the “downs” in business or in life just provides you with the advantage of maximizing the “ups.” When life kicks you down, you have to have the strength and energy to get right back up again, because you know you just learned a lesson you don’t want to repeat. More important: the opposite of what just happened holds one or more of the keys to success.
Not everything you try will work, but you reading this book is already a positive step toward knowing what will work.
See? You’re already on the way and may not have even known it.
Second:
I once had the great opportunity to attend a three-day live seminar taught by the late Gary Halbert. Just Google “Gary Halbert” and you’ll see that he was a legend in his own time and he still is.
This special event was called “Root Canal.” Gary’s idea behind the title was that the seminar would be less painful than a root canal.
Fun name aside, the lesson I learned during that training was very clear. During the seminar, Gary asked everyone for a good example of a business that would be incredibly successful. The group of about 30 people shared many excellent ideas, but I’ll never forget Gary’s:
“Give me a fast food hamburger joint in the middle of a starving crowd.”
At that precise moment, I remember thinking I finally understood what so many people had been trying to tell me all along. The service or item you offer should be valuable to a large number of people who can and already want to pay for what you offer.
A related point to consider: give people what they want, not what they think they need.
Consider the iPhone … it revolutionized the smart phone industry. Do you think anyone was able to define all the features of the iPhone at the time and say “I need that!”?
Steve Jobs had the uncanny ability to see what people would want as soon as they saw it.
Research your target market and don’t assume you know what people want. Having solid information regarding who wants your product now and who can pay for it is worth its weight in gold.
In the real estate investment market, I know what my funding partners want. They want above average-rates of return on the money they provide for deals. How do I know that? Simple. I present them with deals that include projected profits – the basis for my projections – and they tell me they like it or they don’t. Over time, by constantly watching and adjusting my approach or the deals themselves, I know their individual preferences inside and out and can meet them to close deals more effectively.
As a result of working with hundreds of students and consulting clients, I know with confidence what each owner and business wants. What they want goes a long way beyond a profitable venture.
Continue reading and you’ll see.
Third:
Set a revenue and profits goal. Keep in mind your goal must feel attainable, but it also needs to be considerable. Stretch your goals outside of your comfort zone, but also keep it realistic.
I’ve often helped clients double or more than double the financial goals they originally set for themselves. I’m able to do this because I simply see what’s possible before they do.
For example, a husband-and-wife team who are current students had recorded just under $1 million in revenue from their business in 2012. They were profitable at that level. The forecast I helped them build, and that I’m now helping them implement, exceeds $20 million in revenue and a profit before tax margin of more than 25%.
In the first two months of 2013, the business has recognized over one million dollars in revenue and their profit percentage is greater than 25%. I’m confident we’ll be raising the annual forecast much higher than that initial $20 million soon.
If you asked them if they believed this was possible last fall, they would have said “no.” Now they see that it’s possible to go a lot farther than they ever originally imagined.
If you’re having trouble believing this is possible, read on. I’ll show you the fundamental tools required for you to attain profit goals well beyond your perceived limits faster than you ever thought it could happen.
If you find you’re having trouble setting and achieving the goals you need to set, coaching is a very powerful way to get headed in the right direction quickly. Coaching is a valuable resource when you’re staring at an empty bank account, despite what you might at first think. You immediately have someone on your side to guide you in tweaking your systems and thoughts to get the sales flowing again. Coaches are invaluable at getting the rudder turned in the right direction again.
You’ll be amazed at how valuable coaches are at helping you exceed the potential you thought you had. Of course, you must select the right coach for you and for your business. I’m thinking you might know who I’d recommend.
Fourth:
Make sure you understand your financial trends. Having a financial plan on paper is only half the battle. Take the future you’ve set for yourself and roll it back to today, to this week, and to each month, until you see what goals you need to hit right now to get to your ultimate target.
There is a bonus in this book with a sample financial plan for real estate investors and for traditional for-profit business models. This will save you an enormous amount of time in developing one for your business.
Stay focused on the goal and implementing the action steps to achieve the performance goal you set, including the ones that will make the most difference. I’m sharing those steps with you in this book.
A winning attitude coupled with authenticity while engaging your core principles will send out energy that will return to you. This is why a winning attitude, simple as it might sound, provides the potential for major profits.
Fifth:
There are several different ways to start digging down to mine for the gold waiting within your business. For a gold miner, it all has to do with the area, the climate of that area, the skill of the miner and the tools the miner has at his or her disposal.
My own Gold Formula™ operates in much the same way. Area, climate, skill and tools play a key role in your gold achievement. I’ve devoted an entire chapter of this book to this.
Much of what is needed often requires some minor adjustments to the way you normally think. The core of every presentation I give to audiences is, “Success Is an Inside Job.” I also focus a lot of my coaching on this point. It’s true for any business venture, regardless of the industry specialization: if you’re not healthy internally, you won’t grow profitable.
It’s important that I stress these vital steps again:
- Do what you love.
- Understand your target market – offer what people want already and have the ability to pay for.
- Set profit goals that are considerable yet attainable; if you can see it, you can reach it.
- Stay focused on the goal and on implementing the action steps to achieve your goal.
- Remember area, climate, skill and tools! Find your gold!
Look in the mirror. Say out loud what you want to achieve most and watch yourself say it. Then close your eyes and say it again. Envision your most desirable goal in your mind. Make sure that, in the core of your belly, you see the outcome of what you’re trying to gain. Start with a 30% increase in profits in the next 90 days.
Open your eyes and look at yourself. Is there a difference? There should be a difference you can actually see. Keep repeating this exercise until you do see that difference.
Focus on your ultimate goal in everything that you do – your personal life, your friendships, your business. Communicate to any higher power that you believe in and make it be what you envision.
Nothing New – Just Vitally Important
This isn’t a new concept, but it’s one that people forget or fail to implement over and over again. If you know any incredibly successful people, ask them how they got there. Then ask them how they stay there.
It’s through consistent positive reinforcement, every time.
If I were to give you a blank notepad and ask you to describe what you do, what would you say? How you describe yourself to others is a major step in achieving personal success. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by! Get a notepad and describe for me what you do or what your business is. Treat it like an assignment because that’s what it is.
Apply this concept fully. Say it and see it over and over again. This will help it become an everyday action that supports your ultimate dream of a much more profitable business in 90 days or less.
The power of positive thinking and the power of unwavering principles; bring these to the ballgame and just see what happens!
It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: the only way to move out of your current economic status is to own your own business. This enables you to take control of what you truly own, which really is nothing more than yourself and your potential.
With only these two things under your full control, you can achieve financial freedom faster than you ever thought possible. 30% increases in profit in 90 days will become a standard operating practice in your life. Please remember, however, financial freedom doesn’t equate to happiness. Go deep inside and you’ll find what drives your happiness. Then make that an integral part of your business. When you do this, the amount of money isn’t the priority, your level of happiness is.
Some will make millions or even billions. Others will make enough to have an organic herb farm and live quietly surrounded by nature. You’re not doing what you do because of what others think about you or about your purpose. You do what you do because that’s who you are.
When I paused and thought about what makes me truly happy, I looked at what isn’t fun for me. Then I started thinking about all those moments which were the most rewarding. Remember the “hot-vs-cold” thing? This is a version of that.
I realized the most rewarding moments were when something I was teaching or coaching resonated with a person and they took action that led to a positive outcome. Their feeling of joy and my knowledge that I was part of the reason for that joy was the most gratifying feeling for me. That’s when I knew that, while I’m in business, the greatest reward for me is experiencing those times that I help others achieve their goals.
This is why I write blog articles and it’s why I am publishing this series of books. I’m stepping up my coaching program and speaking engagements. All the while, I continue to expand my expertise and then I share all that I know that works — for the greater good. That’s why I’m here, in addition to being the best dad I can be for my daughter. There is no greater goal for me.
Action Steps:
- Define your business
- Define what makes you happy
- Reconcile 1. and 2.
