You are browsing the archive for Personal Growth Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Over 60 Exchange.

Business is All About Relationship

November 27, 2012 in Personal Growth, Your Business Help

Business is All About Relationship
By Michael Angier

I live in a small metropolitan area with only about 110,000 people. And it seems even smaller than that. I’ve been doing business in this community for over 20 years. I’ve worked in non-profits, sales, publishing, printing, construction and now Internet publishing.

Very little of my business is now local. But I often run into people from previous business relationships. Like me, many of these people are in different businesses—some in different careers altogether.

It struck me how much my present business relationships have to do with my previous ones. I’ve found it easy to recreate rapport and establish trust with folks I’ve had good dealings with before. When I know someone and have confidence in their word, doing business with them becomes easier.

I strive to have an excellent relationship with everyone. It doesn’t seem possible all the time, but it’s worth striving for none-theless.

Marketing gurus recommend that we should be mindful of the lifetime value of a customer to look not only at the profit from an initial sale. It’s good advice. And I would take it a step further: Be mindful of the lifetime value of a RELATIONSHIP—not just a customer.

One of the key concepts we talked about at a recent World Class Business Conference was the importance of relationships in business. I went so far as to say that business is really a network of communication against a background of relationships.

And it’s not just relationships with customers—it’s with suppliers, coworkers, stakeholders—even competitors.

As some of my recent encounters have pointed out, some relationships are completely reversed from what they used to be. Customers can now be employers. Competitors can now be customers. Co-workers may now be bosses.

Today, with the Internet, our business world becomes even smaller. We do business with people around the world, but it’s really still a fairly small community. As I talk with other entrepreneurs online, we seem to know many of the same people.

In a few years, we may each be doing something a bit different. And the relationships we have and build today will serve us in the future in direct proportion to the quality and integrity we create.

It’s important that we cultivate and nurture our relationships. Being honest, playing win-win and treating people fairly isn’t just a moral thing to do—it’s good business—now, and in the future.

Action Point: Do you focus on the deal or do you create relationships? Every business transaction is a PERSONAL transaction, so make every effort to enhance your relationship with this person. Nurture your relationships through honest, fair and friendly exchanges.
---------------------------
Michael Angier is founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of SuccessNet--a support network helping people and businesses grow and prosper. Get their free Resource Book ($27 value) of products, services and tools for running your business more effectively. And most of the over 150 resources are FREE to access and use.
http://SuccessNetResources.com
http://SuccessNet.org

Do You Feel Alone in Your Business?

November 27, 2012 in Personal Growth, Your Business Help

Do You Feel Alone in Your Business?
By Michael Angier

I had a great strategy session with one of our members last week.

“Bob” was unclear as to where to focus his efforts. He had a passion for one thing, an interest in another and lots of experience and expertise in yet another area. He was thinking he needed to choose one of the three.

But with me asking a few questions and getting to understand his situation better, we were able to come up with a way to merge the three together. He now has a niche and a target market and will do work that will utilize his many talents. Still very focused, but combining and leveraging his knowledge,
interest and passion.

He was very happy with the outcome. Something he’d been struggling with for months all of a sudden became clear to him. No more dilemmas, no more indecision or fear of “getting it wrong”. And it all happened in less than 30 minutes.

So how did it happen?

Was it because I’m so smart? Because I’m so wise? Well, maybe just a little. But the biggest reason was I had perspective he couldn’t have. My objectivity and experience—along with his commitment to get clear—came together in an almost magical way.

And I believe that’s why so many people from around the world choose to become Gold or Diamond Club Members in SuccessNet.

They recognize that trying to go it alone with only the limited perspective that comes from that, is not the best way to go. Instead, they’ve chosen to plug into a support network that informs, inspires
and empowers them to excel--both personally and professionally.

How about you? Are you going it alone? Are you a “Lone Ranger”? I personally think it’s expensive to be a maverick.

And I think that trying to grow a business by yourself--without a good support structure—is like learning to fly the trapeze with no net. You can do it, but the likelihood of failure and the cost is extremely high.

The successful person does things that most anyone can and does do. The difference is, the successful person does them consistently.

By staying focused, improving your perspective and consistently taking productive action, you WILL succeed. It is inevitable!

I believe that we all need daily doses of positive support. We need ideas and reminders to keep us fresh and focused. Without it, we become stale and we slow down—or worse, drift off course.

Where do you get your encouragement? Where do you get your motivation and inspiration? Do you get enough of it? Most people don’t. And I don’t know ANYBODY who gets TOO much.

If you’re a member, please be sure to log into our site often. There are hundreds and hundreds of articles, blog posts, tools, systems, programs and books all designed to help you and your business grow and prosper.

Whatever you do, be sure you create a SYSTEM to provide you with the support you need to succeed. It’s like taking a shower: you can’t just take one shower and then forget about it for a month. You have to do it daily.

And if you get the support and avail yourself of daily assistance, you’ll find yourself with a powerful perspective, a keen clarity and fierce focus. You will meet with “a success unexpected in common hours”.

---------------------------
Michael Angier is founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of SuccessNet.org and helps people and businesses grow and prosper. By being a Diamond Club Member of SuccessNet you can expect to reach new heights of achievement by creating the support structure you need to accomplish your objectives.
http://SuccessNetDiamonds.com
http://SuccessNet.org

Do Your Goals Have Enough Gravity?

November 27, 2012 in Personal Growth, Your Business Help

Do Your Goals Have Enough Gravity?

Big goals are not only more fun and exciting; they carry more weight than small ones. Ambitious, serious, “weighty goals” have attraction power.

They attract others into the process and magnetize ideas and resources. Big goals pull you along. They pull you through the difficult times and help you remain diligent. They inspire you to greater innovation and effective action.

I’m not a scientist, but from what I understand, the bigger the mass, the greater the gravity. Larger planets like Jupiter have more gravitational pull than Earth because of their greater mass.

And so it is with our goals and dreams. The bigger they are, the more they tend to attract what’s needed for their fulfillment.

And it’s not just the SIZE of the goal that matters. It’s how important it is—how badly you want it. Your passion and your desire infuse your goals with magnetism.

An inspiring goal that benefits many will grow in size and weight. And the greater the good, the bigger the goal.

Let’s say you have a goal to improve your credit rating. It’s not that big of a goal, but it’s a worthy one. Your credit report impacts your ability to obtain loans—even your job opportunities. But when you realize that a higher credit rating could save tens of thousands of dollars because of lower mortgage rates, it becomes a much more important goal. It gains weight because you see how it affects the livelihood of you and your family. It’s emotionally charged.

What about starting a business? You’ve always wanted to own your own enterprise. Another good goal.

But when you have a VISION for your business, when you write a business plan and launch the enterprise, your goal becomes serious. Everything and everybody pays attention to it. It begins to draw to it all that’s needed to bring it to fruition.

We are unlimited in what we can choose to achieve. But our time IS limited. We must think carefully about what we really want and why we want it. This way, we can choose wisely and invest our time and energy in goals worthy of our best efforts.

When we do this, we become aligned with our goals. By choosing and working toward weighty, worthy goals, we allow their magnetism to work in our favor. They’re easier and more fun to achieve. There’s less frustration and faster progress.

Make sure your goals have gravity.

---------------------------
Michael Angier is founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of SuccessNet--a support network helping people and businesses grow and prosper. Get their free Resource Book ($27 value) of products, services and tools for running your business more effectively. And most of the over 150 resources are FREE to access and use.
http://SuccessNetResources.com
http://SuccessNet.org

Make It a R-E-A-L Holiday Season

November 27, 2012 in Personal Growth

Make it a R-E-A-L Holiday Season

As I write these lines, the calendar tells me there are just a few days left in this year. Can that be true?

It's time again to reflect on the challenges and successes of 2005
and think ahead to 2006.

We've all heard the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun". As we get older, we realize that time flies whether we're having fun or not.

The holiday season is important to me. Even though it's a hectic time of year, it's also a time for family, for friends—and for reflection.

Consider making it a R-E-A-L Holiday Season:

  R-eview
E-xamine
A-ppreciate
L-earn

Review
It's important that you give yourself and your family not only a gift, but the gift of presence—YOUR presence. Take time with your family and take time with yourself. Review what you've done. Go through your calendar. Make a list of happenings.

I keep an ongoing "chronofile" with a list of events, goals, challenges, current events, notations, etc. This makes it easy for me to review this trip around the sun.

Examine
Think about what these happenings have meant to you. How did they affect the other events? How did you feel? What worked and what didn't?

Appreciate
The Bible says, "Give thanks in all things". It DOESN'T say FOR all things, but rather IN all things. For those things that you wished hadn't been so, you can still give thanks for the experience and the learning.

You may not see the value of everything that's happened in your life right now, but they most likely happened for a reason. Even though those reasons may be obscure at this moment, give thanks anyway.

Life is lived forward but only understood backwards. Most of the funny stories we tell about ourselves were once painful. If we're going to laugh about it later, we might as well laugh about it now.

Learn
What can we learn from this year? What will we want to repeat or expand upon? What will we let go of and resolve to never do again? Remember that good judgment comes from experience. And how do you gain experience? Yup--bad judgment.

The tragedy is not in making mistakes, but rather in repeating them. Burn your learnings deep into your consciousness. Your life will become richer with each passing year.

I urge you to invest in this process and reap the rewards.

Editor's Note: I highly recommend a valuable tool to help you evaluate the year just ending and prepare for the New Year.

The 101 Best Year-End Questions plus 101 Best New Year Questions: over 200 questions to help you make this year your most exceptional yet. Going through this process will help you examine the last 12 months and prepare you for making the best choices for the months ahead.

It'll cost you less than the price of a movie (free for Gold Members) and what it will contribute is invaluable.http://successnet.org/101quest.htm

© Copyright Success Networks International.
SuccessNet is a worldwide association committed to helping people become more knowledgeable, productive and effective. Their mission is to inform, inspire and empower people to be their best—personally and professionally. Free subscriptions, books and SuccessMark™ Cards available at
www.SuccessNet.org

s2Member®