Is your business failing to grow?

A client recently had to share his frustration with his staff, he was sick and tired of losing clients because of small glitches.

The bigger picture is that this business owner wants to move towards a premium offering.

He’s grown his operation from a one man show to a small team but in the past year feels he has hit a glass ceiling for growth.

The top reason your business isn’t growing has nothing to do with the economy. [tweet this].

You need to face reality and take a deep look at several aspects of your business.

1. Lack of standards and control

When you start off as a single person business, everything starts and finishes with you.

When I started my first outdoor coaching business I was handling everything from dealing with tribal leaders to

Now you have a team which you delegate much of the day to day operations to handling the day to day affairs with clients.

Do your employees successfully share the same attention to detail you had when you ran it yourself?

There are no bad employees, just poor managers

If customers are not happy with the service you are delivering, what control system do you have in place to ensure the standards are met?

I come from an industry where poor standards and control meant people got injured or worse. Failure is not an option.

Action: Make checklists. Pilots use them, surgeons use them, you aren’t smarter or have a bigger memory than them.

When a person follows a checklist, things get easier to track back to where the mistake was made. This means it saves you time to correct it.

2. Too hands off

Somethings should never be delegated.

You should use the services of an accountant but planning the growth of your company should stay in your hands.

A lack of standards and control usually comes from a complacent attitude by the business owner.

Just because you delegate doesn’t mean you shouldn’t  supervise.

As a business grows many owners feel that they can delegate much of their work away and the service won’t suffer.

Nobody will ever treat your business the way you do, even the best employee

You need to walk a fine line between avoiding micro-managing your team and leaving them too much space.

Most business owners think that throwing money (e.g. sales commissions) will increase  employee interest in the business. Wrong.

Action: Money doesn’t motivate or drive employees to care about what they do. Give them the space to develop their own work but always make sure they are accountable to you.

3. The wrong people

Yes, if you have been running a business for some time you have done it: hiring the wrong person.

Skills aren’t everything, having great interpersonal skills really matters when you are a small business.

Don’t beat yourself on the head, anyone who has been in business long enough knows, that we will make the wrong decision and get the wrong person onboard.

If someone can fool a giant like Yahoo by forging their CV, don’t feel too bad.

The real danger here is to recognize the issue early and remove that person from your firm.

Action: Always hire with a probation period. Never have in mind that person will be the best from the start. Be clear about what you expect them to bring to the job and what they will learn on the job.

4. The wrong mindset

It sounds obvious but you can’t grow if you do not know what you want to be when you grow up.

Growth isn’t linear.

You don’t go from 10 to 100 following a straight line. You will probably go up to 50 then dip to 20.

You will fail in your attempts to grow.

Nobody learns how to do something new without failing at it.

If you aren’t failing, it’s only a sign you aren’t trying hard enough.

What matters here is your attitude and your mindset in these moments.

Learn to accept risk, and by risk I mean the risk of failure, will allow you to grow.

Action: Can you think of what would happen if you lost your sales? Your biggest client? Your business? What would an extreme loss mean to you? Most worst case scenarios are not as bad as we make them to be.  They also rarely happen.

5. The wrong tribe

Business growth can be severely slowed or even stopped by hanging out with the wrong tribe.

Your business partner, peers, vendors and clients have a huge impact on your growth capabilities.

Simple things like mixing friends and business, or putting all your efforts towards the wrong clients.

As I work on my notes for BlogWorld New York, I am going through numerous case-studies of businesses which were hurt by their tribe.

Yes the tribe can hurt your business growth.

Action: Often we don’t realize how toxic a tribe can be, until it’s too late. Enlist the help of a mentor to get a unbiased outside perspective on your business situation. 

Join me at Blog World New York in June I would love to meet you. Don’t forget to use the discount code BJohnF10 to get 10% off your ticket. 

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Business success doesn’t bring happiness.

There are too many very successful business owners who are deeply unhappy with their lives.

The reasons can be reduced to four important pillars of success and happiness.

1. Define exactly what success means to you

A lot of time the ideas you have about success aren’t really yours.

They have made their way into your mind through your education, the media and your circle of friends.

Hanging out with the wrong group of people can easily lead you to believe in what THEY think is success.

The wrong community can really hurt you.

A strong and healthy team on the other side will help you grow as an individual and support your success.

Action: Look at your ideas about success, are they yours?

2. Find a mentor not a leader

A leader has followers, people who give up their individual aspirations to serve the tribe’s interest.

Individuals disappear when they become followers, they give up on their dreams, aspirations and hopes of self-realization.

A mentor will help you dig deep and discover what your unique strengths are.

The only focus should be your interest, and your journey towards happiness.

Action: Go through your network, and search for people you look up to because of their lifestyle. N.B Don’t just look for people who achieved  success, you probably don’t want their lifestyle.

3. Know your worth

Knowing yourself is one reason most skilled business owners make it big.

90% of  success has nothing to do with business, or marketing, or even sales. It’s a mindset.

We all have a mindset, old problems and beliefs we hold on from our past.

Doing the busy work inside the business is a great way of avoiding looking at these issues head-on.

- Do you believe bigger is better for your company?

- Are you uncomfortable with charging more?

There is a simple way to get paid for what you do, most consultants online don’t get paid their real value.

The reason is simple, you have to believe in your value.

Action: Put a number next to what you would charge a client for a month of work with you. Are you comfortable with that figure?

4. Be clear about the lifestyle you want

One of the biggest obstacle to happiness for business owners is an unrealistic view of their lifestyle and their business.

I know many very successful business owners who are deeply unhappy.

Don’t link business success to happiness.

What you do for a living has to be aligned with who YOU are and the lifestyle you dream of.

If your business requires you to be on the road 4 days a week and you prefer to be at home with your children. This won’t work.

Action: How aligned is your work with your dream lifestyle?

Let me know how you combine both success and happiness in the comments.

Join me at Blog World New York in June I would love to meet you. Don’t forget to use the discount code BJohnF10 to get 10% off your ticket. 

Can a tribe help you grow your business online?

I’m preparing notes for my sessions at Blog World New York on the 6th June and one the recurrent questions I get from clients, is simply how can a tribe help my business?

The dogma of online markers these days is to repeat a two step process.

- Build a tribe

- Sell to them

Except, what I often see is the opposite.

Smart people build a large tribe and never sell to them while others sell without having a huge online tribe.

Do I need a tribe?

When you start off in business, and even when you have been in business for a while, you notice there are tribes around you. Some people are talking to each other more often than with others.

In my case, I needed the approval of tribal elders to gain access to certain mountains and villages.

I also needed the blessings of a tribal leader to help with some of the red tape related to my outdoor coaching business.

So, yes I needed a tribe.

Here is the trick though, not MY tribe but the tribe that could help my business goal.

There are only two positions in a tribe, you are either a member or the leader.

Let’s look at the two options:

• Creating a tribe
• Joining an existing one

Which option can help you reach your goal the fastest?

How to build a tribe and why tools don’t create tribes

Tribes exist everywhere and everyone online seems obsessed with building one.

You will find many apps. who claim to help you create an online community.

That’s complete nonsense.

From commenting systems, to Facebook, and LinkedIn groups each tool can support communications within the tribe, they CAN NOT create a community for you.

For a tribe to exist, you have to be cristal clear about three things:

1. A shared interest
2. A leader
3. A way to meet and exchange

Having the tools, and there are many available for free these days, is only one third of the story and honestly the easiest part.

What is much more important is having 1 and 2, once you have that, 3 will take care of itself.

Strong ideas, and great leadership were never stopped by a lack of electricity, internet or online applications.

First focus on your big idea and your leadership skills instead of looking for the magic ‘community building’ tool.

When I built my  tribe to support my outdoor business I pushed a shared interest in outdoor sports.

Since this was 2003, we met in the hills and around the campfire.

Within months the tribe created enough word of mouth to get exposure in the New York Times.

The tools never matter.

How big should my Tribe be?

The other problem with the “community tools” is that they lead you towards number inflation.

You start tracking how many people commented, or shared your message, how many discussed it between themselves, how much traffic did this post generate.

These numbers don’t matter.

You are not Walmart.

You aren’t trying to be everything to everyone and welcome thousands in your Tribe.

What you really want is to have dedicated members who will go out in the world and share your big idea.

If you want to have a tribe, some need to be excluded in order for your tribe members to feel they belong.

Exclusivity has long been a marketing tactic used by many brands to appeal to our tribal gene.

This also means that when someone doesn’t behave the way he should, kick him out.

Yes, you have to stand for something and this also means you have to stand AGAINST something.

Don’t worry about the number people in your tribe, worry about how fanatic they are about the tribe.

When can a tribe help your business

A tribe can push your business forward.

Your first tribe

If you look at the smallest business unit in the world, it’s the family business.

90% of US businesses are family owned, from traditional small mom and pap shops to a third of Fortune 500 firms.

It does not get more tribal than this.

Your first step in building a tribe to help your business should be to embrace FRANK, your most important audience according to Ameena.

Just because they aren’t all online doesn’t mean they should be neglected.

Your new tribes

These are the ones you become a member of, both on and offline.

Keep in mind that being a member means you aren’t the leader.

It sounds silly but there are some important consequences.

- You don’t set the agenda of the tribe

- The tribe and it’s interest comes before yours.

As long as your business interest mirrors the larger interest of the tribe, you should stay a member.

In my case I negotiated with the tribal leader to develop a mountain protected area in exchange for access and support from the tribe.

This way I aligned the tribal goal with my business goals.

The important lesson here is

1. Always know what your business goal is
2. Make sure the tribe feels you have a shared goal

How are you doing on these two points?

Look at the tribes you are a member of off and online, how are they helping your business?

When a tribe becomes toxic

Like any group a tribe has a certain inertia to it and will resist efforts to change the status-quo.

In order to grow you have to spend some time outside the tribe.

Don’t forget that tribal welfare comes before yours.

Your ideas might not always fall within the tribe’s agenda.

Don’t be afraid to cut yourself out of the tribe at that time and seek another tribe which can help you further your business goals.

The best way to avoid this is to create your own tribe.

Creating a tribe takes time and effort, in many cases you are often better off leveraging existing powerful tribes to further your business goal.

Are you creating your own tribe? Joining an existing one? 

Let me know in the comments below and don’t forget to join me at Blog World New York in June I would love to meet you and discuss this further.

Do you know why people buy from you?

I recently listened to a webinar where the host got caught up in a payment-plan discussion on air.

Needless to say when someone is arguing about the price of your services or products, you have a problem.

This means you have not demonstrated a clear value for what you are trying to sell.

There are three reasons why a lead will become a client.

Your pricing is right

If you are pricing yourself wrong, you will attract the wrong people.

In the case of the Webinar I mention, the marketer started to offer a payment plan when people complained about the cost.

When your audience starts discussing payment options, it means you are selling to the wrong people.

Ameena observed rightly that discussing price makes you compete on price not value.

Remember who you are, payment plans are for banks which charge interest in exchange of credit.

You aren’t a bank.

Lesson 1: To get your pricing right, know WHO you are selling to.

You are trustworthy

In order to command the right prices for your value, people need to trust you.

When you don’t own a shop and everything you sell is done through your site, building trust must be done online.

You have to show credibility by having a real track record of having delivered value to your clients, time and time again.

You also have to be clear and transparent about your agenda online, if you are here to sell a service, SAY it!

Just because you are in this space for business doesn’t mean you have a heavily biased agenda.

Remember to demonstrate often how some people are your clients and others not.

Although a Hubspot partner, Marcus Sheridan brilliantly shows how this is done with his in depth Hubsport vs. WordPress post.

Offering a one size fits all product to everyone who works in the online space will kill your credibility.

You believe in your value

You probably know that people don’t buy WHAT you sell, they buy YOU.

By YOU I mean your confidence, your personality, the way you deal with others and your values.

If you want to convert a lead to a client, you have to be completly aware of your strengths and believe that your skills bring amazing value to others.

All the SEO tricks, blogging tactics, personal branding tools aren’t worth a cent if you don’t believe 200% in what you are doing.

The people who you talk to will feel this lack of self-confidence and this will kill any chances of selling anything to them.

Hesitate, linger a bit too long to answer a question and you are D.O.A for your sale.

 What happens when you aren’t communicating your true value?

You get these comments:

“I’m not sure I can afford this right now”

“It’s not the right time, I will speak to you in a few months”

“Do you have a payment plan?”

“What is your bottom price for this?

They all come from you doubting yourself.

There are many reasons why we doubt ourselves. Perhaps people around us question our worth as a business owner, or your self-talk is leading you to destroy your confidence.

The reasons are many and what I’m really interested in is building your confidence so you can stand-up and say:

This is me, this is what I sell, it’s not for everyone.

This is much how much it cost, if you can’t afford it, that’s all right.

Nobody else offers what I offer, I bring incredible value, thanks to my unique skills and experience.

This is the little mantra every business owner needs to tell him or herself before any sales conversation.

Try it and tell me how do you approach a sales conversation?

Who should I Trust online?

If you are looking to run a business online, there is more advice out there than you actually have time to read.

The amount of data available is overwhelming and if you try to keep up with it, it will simply destroy you and your business.

In order to make sense of it I use a simple filter which allows me to make sense of the noise.

Who is the person saying it?

Credibility is a major factor for me.

There are too many people talking about what they would like to do in the future.

Nothing wrong with that but before you give advice to others, you need to have tried it and mastered it to some level.

Otherwise you are just adding to the online noise by sharing your opinion on a specific subject.

Look for results based on facts and experience, not just someone’s opinion.

Filter 1: Is the person talking about something they master?

What are they selling?

Let’s face it in the world of business blogging everyone is selling something and this means they have an agenda.

Again, just because someone is selling a product or service doesn’t mean they are heavily biased in their perspective.

I make no secret that I am in the coaching business, yet I will be the first one to say that coaching is not for everyone.

Filter 2: Know what that person is selling and look at their content with that in mind.

How does it apply to me?

There are too many one size fits all solutions out there and people pushing them.

Once you have determined that the information you are getting is from a credible source which isn’t completly biased towards increasing their sales, you have to ask yourself:

• Is that person’s business model the same as mine?
• Are the solutions they are sharing applicable to my industry?
• Is my business in the right stage to use that advice or is it useless advice at this stage?

Filter 3: The data you read online is only useful information IF you can put it in context with you experiences.  Does what you read make sense within your current business?

Trust your gut

Yes it’s not the most scientific approach but deep down our ‘gut’ is there for a reason. Over the years it has allowed you to stay alive and keep out of harms way.

What we don’t realize is that this ‘gut feeling’ has evolved over the years to allow our ancestors to make a quick decision in a life or death situation.

Most of the time, what we call our ‘gut’ is actually expertise in disguise.

If you read something online, but feel something isn’t right, chances are you have experienced a similar situation before and your ‘gut’ is picking up on it.

Even someone who is credible, and possesses all the skills and experience necessary can alert your ‘gut.’ There is one simple reason for that:

We value Trust more than Skills.

This is the simple truth, and if you don’t believe me then why do you let your teenage neighbor babysit your children instead of the lady who moved on your street last week and is a registered nurse?

Filter 4: What does your gut say?

COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE to let me know how you determine who to trust?

So you want to be great at what you do.

Most people will tell you to discover what your passion is and turn it into a business.

It’s a losing quest because we are multi-passionate and have dozens of different passions.

What is much more important is discovering your strengths.

What are you really good at?

A jack of all trades

Beware of the dangers of becoming a Jack of All Trades, and master of none.

Look around you, do some research online, how many businesses do you see that offer a lot of services?

They sell products through affiliates, web coaching services, speaking, marketing consulting, online business advice, etc…

Then take a minute to look at the very successful businesses which you look up to.

How many services or products do they offer?

You can count them on the fingers of one hand.

Avoid this business sluttery as Ameena would call it.

Focus.

Find out how awesome you are

In order to start or grow your business, you have to:

1. Know your strengths
2. Know how to use them

The main challenge is that we are very good at pointing out what others are good at, or stink at.

When it comes to our own talents, we get confused and stumble.

Sure we are experts at defining how much we suck at something.

I can’t read maps, I can’t draw, I can’t, I can’t…

What about what you CAN do?

Please take a piece of paper and list 5 of your top skills which make a difference in your business.

It’s hard.

Yet, it’s a critical knowledge if you want to move forward.

Avoid the trap of corporate thinking

Identifying your success skills, the unique talents which allow you to produce results in your work,  is not easy.

We are conditioned by years of school, corporate mindsets and the daily news that humans are naturally bad.

Without the discipline and vision of a corporation, or a group, a single person doesn’t amount to much.

This is also why many small business owners fall into the trap that bigger is better.

This idea sucks and  undermines the creative genius that lives in all of us.

Repeat after me, you do not need a huge business structure to make a difference

You just need to know what you are really good at.

How to identify your unique strengths

Every time you achieved a great result in your life, you used one or more succes skill.

To find out what they are do the following:

• Make a list of your 15 biggest achievements.

Please don’t be too hard on yourself, you have many. Don’t place the bar too high, we are not looking for Nobel peace prizes or flying the space shuttle.

An achievement is simply, an action which produced a result. E.g. Create an amazing sponsorship proposal which resulted in more than U$ xx in sponsorship.

•  Always make sure your achievement starts with a power verb (create, manage, built, hired)
• For an achievement to be real you need a result, results with figures are best. Increased income by US$XX or decreased cost, hired X amount etc…

Don’t be too hard on yourself this exercise takes time and will force you to dig deep into your past work experiences.

Once you are finished, look at your list, you will see some verbs coming back over and over. These are your strengths.

The great thing about this work is that it will allow you to:

• Find out what your strengths are.
• How awesome you really, you have done so much in your life, becoming aware of these will boost your self confidence.
• Allow you to focus your energy on these skills only in your day to day operations, delegating what you aren’t so good at to someone else.

SO what are YOUR strengths? 

Leave a comment and join the list below to share your Strengths and how you use them in your business.

Photo by Annie Leibovitz

How many hours should you put into your business?

I am writing this post from Dubai airport, waiting for my flight back to France.

Coming back to Dubai after three years living in France has made me see things in a very different light.

There are many lessons for business owners in comparing the way things are done here and back home.

The growing city of Dubai and its 24/7 always open approach to business reminded me of some of the best lies we tell ourselves as business owners.

The myth of always open

The normal retail or hospitality employee in Dubai works a 60 hour week before he or she gets paid overtime. Do that math that’s a 10 hour day, 6 days a week.

Needless to say, when you meet that person they are tired.

But you can’t grow a business or make money if you are closed right?

Interestingly many small business owners put themselves through the same gruelling working schedule, early at work and late in the office, even bringing work home.

There are many reasons this happens, from avoiding other parts of our lives because it’s easier to deal with a computer than an unhappy spouse or simply believing that by being always busy we will find success, eventually.

The common lies entrepreneur tells themselves here are:

• This is for my family
• I’m just doing this for one year than I can slow down
• I will make it up by taking my family on a great holiday

Unfortunately, we all know these are lies.

Lies small business owners tell themselves to feel better about putting their business before their other relationships.

I just spent two hard weeks working in Dubai, launching the Adventure Mindset and yes, also spending quality time with my daughter and wife.

Once a time is gone, nothing can “make it up”.

Time isn’t a commodity we can buy, or get back.

If you need more practical reasons, as if keeping a relationship together isn’t good enough, there many good reasons to shut down a bit earlier.

Good reasons to close and take a break

Learn from the jocks : As human beings we can’t physically perform at a peak level of focus and creativity for long hours. Research has shown that we need to organize rest periods and regular exercise for our body and brain to keep running at their best.

Funny that top athletes have figured that periodization or cutting down their training into hard, easy and tough phases is the best way to reach their target, how come business owners can’t figure this one out?

Become scarce: Most salespeople know that scarcity pushes our primal genes to take action now.

When our ancestors saw some big game grazing in the prairie they didn’t say “Well let’s think about it and come back tomorrow.”

When something is available in limited supply we automatically assume it’s more valuable.

That’s why the restaurant with the long line outside and fewer tables will be judged to be better than the ones with no line and more tables.

Get more efficient: If you can’t finish your work within 8-hours a day, 5 days a week and the occasional overtime burst, you have a serious problem.

Perhaps it’s an issue with your business model.

Or maybe your business isn’t aligned with your lifestyle.

If you think putting long hours into your business makes you a hero, think again. It probably means you are procrastinating (Facebook, browsing the net, chatting) a lot and not getting much done.

There is only one question to ask yourself, what is more important, your life with your partner and children or your job?

One will always be there waiting for you, the other will probably be gone one day if you keep giving it second place.

Stop lying to yourself and something amazing will happen, your business will grow, and your family will believe you.

This morning it’s raining in Dubai, so I decided to head to the beach to think about last weekend’s Adventure Mindset and enjoy the lightning show over the green waters of the Gulf.

As I walked in the sand, I realized that taking this time out first thing in the morning was exactly what the awesome small business owners I helped on Saturday want.

More life, less business

One recurring question and a common challenge for all of them was finding the time for familly, friends and life, and still grow a succesful business.

The main reason business owners fail to keep a familly or other relationships together comes down to chosing their business model.

Most entrepreneurs live, breath and bleed for their business. They are completly consumed with the growth of their small business that they sacrifice everything on the road to success.

Having no time for familly and friends, time off and exercise is like a badge of honor for these hard working people.

Until the day, they decide to take a breath and look at their life.

Suddenly they stop running and realize they have nobody around them, neglected spouses have left, children are strangers and where are the friends?

How can this situation be avoided?

Start with life

Any business expert will say you need a clear business model in order to succeed.

Pick a business model which does not suit your dream life and you are just building a job for yourself.

At this point you might as well stay an employee.

All business models I saw last weekend, missed one critical element, the life of the business owner.

Since it is massively ignored, it obviously does not figure on any plan, to-do list or schedule and dies a silent death.

Start with you.

A simple way to avoid this common business collateral damage is to look at the life you want to live and THEN build a business which supports this life.

Not the opposite.

This forces you to re-think your growth also.

The myth of growth

The biggest trap business owners fall in when they start to look into the future is that their business needs to be bigger in order grow.

Growth is not just about being bigger, having more employees, more suppliers, more products or more services.

Growth more importantly is not about getting more clients.

Growing your business is really about focusing what makes you extra special and charging the right price for that.

Do not just grow bigger, be different

Once you grow different several things happen:

You have no competition, there is only one you.

You are not limited by market prices, you charge what you are worth

You have fewer clients, but they pay you more

As you can see this is a win-win. More importantly with fewer clients you get more time to work on the relationships in your life outside of work.

Yes, this is not easy, it involves knowing what you stand for, managing your fear of failure and being judged.

It is so much easier to tag the line and offer the same services and products as your competition.

You then feel you are doing the right thing, like the rest of your colleagues and peers.

Go ahead

Do this now, find out what you stand for, which unique skills and experiences you bring to the table and then chose.

Make a decision, chose how your business will support your life.

You simply can not have it all, sorry unless you clone yourself you can not be in two places at the same time.

Become the best in your industry for one thing, know how much you are willing to sacrifice in your life and your business.

You will have a lot more time to experience life.

Saying No! can help your business, a lot.

One of the biggest pains I see business owners experience is how they get pushed around by larger corporations.

From threats to promises of future work, the tricks of larger businesses are numerous but the results are the same: the small business owner loses.

This has to stop.

Standing your ground

A few months ago a large corporate client booked my services for three full days.

As with any big time commitment, I have a simple contract which states that if this is canceled or the dates changed 30 days before the day, there is no refund.

Until this time, I actually never implemented this clause.

Less than 10 days before the day, I received an email asking me to reschedule. The email had a long explanation on how the construction crew didn’t finish the venue on time and it will have to be postponed.

As someone who worked with contractors I know things rarely go as per the timeline, however I have this clause for a reason.

You change the dates this close to D day, you pay.

It this being inflexible? Yes, because my time is valuable and playing around with it means playing around with my business. This clause keeps everyone fair it doesn’t mean you are a jerk in business.

Stand up for yourself.

Big business vs. small business

After I received that email I got a call from one of the partners who explained that the situation was out of his control and threatened to take his business elsewhere if I implement the penalty clause.

“If you want to book someone else I understand, it’s absolutely your right to do so. However it doesn’t stop you from honoring the present contract and paying the penalty clause,” I said.

He grumbled something about how I was making a big mistake because they are such a large corporation and they could easily provide me with a lot more business.

“I absolutely understand this and I look forward to working with you, however there are two ways to start this relationship, the right and the wrong way. Pushing a signed contract aside isn’t the right way.” I replied.

In the end they paid the cancellation fee and re-booked for another date.

They also signed a new contract.

The new date was respected and some interesting things came out of this incident.

Sure it’s scary and yes managing fear in business is something of an acquired skill, but it’s very necessary.

Business lessons from standing up to the big guy

Don’t let a large company bully you because they think you can’t afford to take them to court.

Trust me they are so used to business owners folding when they start pushing you around, that just standing up for your rights will make them think twice about messing with you.

Like most bullies, the simple fact of standing your ground will make them change their behavior.

Looking at the situation from the outside, you could have thought I had lost my mind.

Most people would say I was jeopardizing a large business deal with a multinational.

Actually, no, I was making sure I got a lot more business.

The power of standing your ground

Following this bumpy start to our business relationship, several things happened.

• The next date wasn’t rescheduled
• The work was paid in full, upfront
• Every other work I quoted for from then on was automatically approved and paid for, in full, before it started.
• The client introduced me to one of his largest clients

So no, I didn’t lose my mind by standing up for what I believed in and asking for the contract to be respected.

Knowing your worth and the value you deliver is the most powerful weapon you have in your business.

The next time someone asks you change your rates, or even worse, work for free, say NO! and ask for your work or contract to be respected.

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Now would be a good time to look at your business goals.

What did you  achieve in the past three months.

First, celebrate your great wins and successes.

We often spend a lot more time moaning over our failures than celebrating our successes.

Then, let’s be honest, there are areas of your business where you fell short.

Didn’t reach your sales target? or launch a new service?

Let’s cut through the emotional and business filters and take a candid look at how this can change.

1. Have a realistic business goal

In order to reach a business goal you need to have one. It might sound simplistic and patronizing but you would be surprised at how many business owners are simply going through the motions without a real goal.

Increasing profits isn’t a goal it’s a wish, be specific by using numbers.

Make sure you also have a deadline, for that wish to become a goal.

What is your goal?

2. Check how it fits with your lifestyle

Too many times I see business owners set goals which are going to force them to make drastic changes in their lives.

This is really the big elephant in the room when it comes to business goal setting.

Many times you will look at your business model and try to figure out why you don’t reach your targets.

The answer is much closer to home, it’s you.

You want to grow your business with 5 new large clients this year but you also want to spend time with your family AND run a marathon in the summer.

Something has to give, there are only 24hrs in the day and we all need to sleep.

What is your priority right now?

Your health?

Your freedom?

Your family?

Your business?

If you are looking to a huge leap in your business, you are going to have change your priorities and put business first.

Alternatively you can keep your current priorities but you have to downgrade your goals.

Instead of 5 new clients you can aim for 2.

What are your priorities right now?

3. Make sure your business model supports your goal

Business model is a big word to say something very simple, what do you sell, how do you sell it and to who do you sell it.

In my last business I was selling training packages to very large corporate clients.

In order to maximize my time, I hired trainers who did the on the ground, day to day work. This allowed me to focus on growing the business and also gave me a lot of time to focus on other things in my life, such as moving from Dubai to Provence.

Our goal was to grow the business into a 6 figure income in 6-months.

At one time I was asked by a client if I could also sell them technical products which we used with our services.

Ameena and I turned it down.

Simply because selling products wasn’t part of what we did and would have required a lot more time, and resources to manage.

Could selling products help us reach our goal (6 figures in 6-months)?

Absolutely.

Would it have worked with our current business model and our niche? No, it would have required a massive shift in:

• our lifestyle
• who our key business partners were
• allocating revenue to transporting and storing the products

4. Make sure it’s actually YOUR goal

Too often we set goals which are clearly what we think we should do, but not what we REALLY want to do.

This happens because we read about what other business owners are doing and think, “this worked for them, it will work for me.”

Stop reading what others are doing, chances are, it worked for them but most business owners set goals which aren’t their own.

They simply repeat the business dogma of more clients, more profits, more employees, more, more more.

As a small business owner your only chance to survive in this economy is not to grow bigger because you will not win at that game.

Large corporations which have ten times your profits will always beat you in that race.

You are setting yourself up for failure.

Large corporations can pay their employees salaries and benefits which you can’t even pay yourself.

They will attract more employees, with more qualifications and experience.

They will produce faster, and in larger amounts.

Instead make sure you are offering something different.

When it comes to innovation and offering something different you can make a real difference.

Your smaller size now becomes an advantage.

Large corporation would never take a risk like that, they will do months of market research and then decisions have to be taken in endless meetings by committees.

You are capable of choosing a goal, testing an idea, and adapt yourself in a shorter time. Use that.

Is this goal really yours or did you just pick it up in Forbes?

5. Make a decision and stick to it

Remember you are a small and agile, this means decisions inside your business don’t require lengthy meetings where you have to convince dozens of people in different departments to go ahead.

You own your business, you are the leader, act like one.

Make a decision, chose a goal, write it down, stick on your wall in your office and ask yourself every morning what am I doing to day to reach this goal?

Do two things:

Let me know in the comments, What are your goals for the next quarter? The rest of 2012?

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