Entries Tagged 'ThinkSmart' ↓

The answer is YES, it is possible.  IF…you follow this principle delivered by  John Assaraf, best-selling author of ‘The Answer; Grow Any Business, Acheive Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life’ Norbit full .

Based on the principles of Pareto’s Law

or the 80/20 rule, John explains that in order to grow your revenues and profits you CANNOT allocate the same amount of time to all of your business activities.

“Suppose your business has 50 different activities, such as sales, marketing, operations, finance, research, customer service and so on. According to the Pareto Principle, 20 percent of those activities will generate 80 percent of your revenues. Conversely, 80 percent of those activities will generate only 20 percent of your revenues. Doing the math shows that 10 out of the 50 activities will produce four-fifths of all the income your business generates.

Now, assume that your business takes in $100,000 a month. According to the Pareto Principle, 10 of your 50 activities would account for $80,000 of your monthly revenue, which works out to $8,000 per activity. Conversely, 40 of the activities would produce only $20,000 each month, which pencils out to a paltry $500 per activity. Sixteen times 500 equals 8,000, so your top 10 revenue-producing activities are 16 times more effective than the bottom 40.

Suppose you took it even further and moved the 80/20 ratio to 90/10, so that only 10 percent of your activities produced 90 percent of your revenues. That would make you 81 times more effective than you currently are. Merely by focusing your time and attention on the five or ten activities that have the highest impact on your business, you can increase your revenues and income by 16 to 81 times!

If you like what you just read, download the audio ‘The Power of 16x’ Duets full

, and you can also email me for an accompanying activity worksheet so you can start implementing this strategy and growing your revenues by 16 times right now!!  spencer@worksmartla.com

Imagine this; you are deep in thought, tackling an important project, you are in the zone - then…’ding’…the echoing sound of your email inbox, that’s right, you’ve got mail.  Your thought process screeches to a hault, your mind shifts, you think ‘nah, I’ll check it later’, but what if it’s important?  What if it is crucial information?  Or, what if it’s an amazing discount offer from your favorite online retailer…?  Doesn’t matter, you’ve now lost focus on the task at hand and reach for the mouse.  How many times does this occur throughout your day?  I bet it happens often enough, that if you added up all of the diversion of time wasted you could calculate that into money lost.

Test: Take an egg timer and set it for 1 hour.  If you can go a whole hour without checking your email, you’re fine.  If you start having a nervous breakdown and can’t go just 1 hour without checking that precious inbox, you’ve got problems.

I recently listened to a great interview John Assaraf

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did with ‘The Productivity Pro’, Laura Stack, in which she states you should check your email no more than 4 times a day.  “Checking your inbox any more than that is just a fancy way to procrastinate”, says Stack.  She continues to add that most people use their email as a ‘to do’ list causing them to alter their focus and thought patterns which results in a high level of inefficiency in the workplace.

Follow Laura Stack’s 6 D’s just 4 times a day so you can maintain focus, maximize productivity, and increase your bank account!

1. Discard / Delete;  You can quickly decide whether a message is junk, spam, information that does not need to be kept.
2. Delegate it;  Give it to someone to handle, a partner, staff member, or employer - then move it to a personal folder in your email application.
3. Do it; Ask yourself ‘can I reply right this second?’  get it off your plate and be done with it - then delete it.
4. Date it; Can’t reply right now? don’t just leave it in your inbox!  Convert it to a ‘to do’ or ‘task’ in the email application and then move it to a folder.
5. Drawer; This email doesn’t require any action, but needs to be saved - simply move it into a folder in your email application.
6. Deter; Why do I keep getting this? Unsubscribe, block, set up a rule to automatically move it into a folder.

These simple steps will save you time, money and most importantly - your sanity.  Remember, the way you do anything is the way you do everything.  You must change your actions if you want to change your results.  If you would like a copy of this interview for detail on the 6 D’s and even more ‘Productivity Pro’ tips, send me an email; spencer@worksmartla.com micardis

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I was inspired to blog today about an email I received from a client who is in a dark place regarding the state of his business.  He writes: “I’m on the verge of tears alot so I hide.  I haven’t been in this situation before.  I am in uncharted waters, working to figure out how to pull it all together.” Continue reading →

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At the recent BNI International Conference in Los Angeles, almost one-thousand small business owners gathered to learn new revenue generating strategies, network with other like-minded entrepreneurs and create strategic relationships geared towards growing their business.

The special guest presenter, Brian Tracy, spoke on business building topics such as doubling your income and achieving financial independence.  And as much respect as I have for the brilliance that Mr. Tracy brings to the business and sales world, I couldn’t help but think that he was not presenting any new ground breaking material…there was no rabbit in the hat, no magic blue pill…though as I looked around the room, all I saw was big eyed optimists looking for the ‘Answer’ to solve their problems, to get them focused, to generate more business and money than they could ever imagine.  And as I continued to listen to Mr. Tracy present the importance of how the 80/20 rule relates to your daily activity and the overall results you are getting in your business, I noticed a strange act among the small business owning participants.  In unison, they were nodding their heads up and down, they were taking notes, they were turning to the person next to them to say things like; ‘yes, he’s right’, or ’so true’.  Now I understood.  It wasn’t the fact that the information was not new.  It was the unfortunate reality that small business owners are NOT doing what they are supposed to be doing on a daily basis, to generate the desired results that they truly want in their life and their business. The average small business owner is overwhelmed, unfocused and wearing al the hats!  They know all of this stuff, their just not doing it.

What does this mean?

Well sure, it means that to increase revenues and profits and grow your business, you cannot allocate the same amount of time to all of your business management activities.

And of course, the secret to running a successful business—whether you have $1 million or $1 billion in annual sales—is to find out what you should be doing and hire, barter or outsource people to do everything else.

But this information alone is useless…you must TAKE action!  You have to DO something about it!!  If you choose to download this worksheet, promise me you will commit to taking action.

Change your ways, change your results

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That was the overall theme last weekend at the Mind, Marketing and Millions small business conference in Marina Del Rey, hosted by OneCoach International - in uncovering the 3 essential ways to grow any business and triple revenues;

1. Generate more profits per sale

2. Generate more sales per customer

3. Attract more clients

It’s that simple. Really. download - 3 ways to grow your business

The challenge most small business owners face, is that they don’t know what they don’t know - so they end up focusing on just one of these ways…can you guess which one?  Yep, attracting more clients.  Which turns out to be the most expensive way to grow a business.

This past weekend, while a majority of Angelinos were spending their time working IN their business - some 200+ LA small business owners filled the Marriott in Marina Del Rey to spend time working ON their business and tripling their revenues.

For Conference Breakdown: Continue reading →

Everything has a start…and everything has a finish.  And sandwiched in between is a process.  When Going from start-up (start) to the first million (finish) it’s the process in between that determines the speed and accuracy.  Of course having the right process helps.  Building a business is a series of steps, flying an airplane…a series of steps, proficiency at a musical instrument, baking a cake and building a community…you guessed it…a series of steps.  No wonder why paint-by-number always looked exactly like what the cover of the box looked like? Following a known process gets me to a predictable result.

When I get in the car and drive from LA to San Francisco, I follow a map–a visual process.  If I were to get in and just drive, I might make it eventually, but not without some real wasted energy.  Those map guys are awesome for having laid out the process for getting from anywhere to anywhere.

Now hear this:  Building a business is a process

I love to use real world –LA World– examples.  Yves Vacherres of Club Gourmet

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is following a process to take his high-end home gourmet delivery service to people who want it at their door, healthy and convenient.  He figured out who he wanted to serve, mapped out how they make decisions, built his uniqueness on what would make them jump up and down, figured out how to communicate with them and roped them in…willingly.  Notice he didn’t do the reverse and build his business around what he wanted.

Every time that I’ve looked back and asked why I haven’t gotten the end result that I wanted, I found that I sidestepped the process.  I skirted around an important or small component.  I let my lack of patience get in the way.

Your business should have a process mapped out from where you are to where you want to be.  This is your map, your paint by number.

Building and following a process also requires time to step out of your business and work on

your business.  It requres planning, review, course correction and reflection.  This is also one of the steps in the process.

Would you build a home without a blueprint? Why would you build a business without one.

And just to show you how serious I am, click the linke below for the seven-secrets-to-turning-your-life and business-around.

Even building the life you want is a process!

Playboy magazine editor-in-chief and legendary host, Hugh Hefner, has announced that the free ride is over. Private parties at the famous Playboy Mansion will now come with a price tag anywhere from $5000 - $25,000 an event, depending upon the event and the celebrity guest list. If you’re looking for Halloween plans, the mansion is now selling tickets starting at $10,000 for their celebrity and playmate-studded affair!

Playboy Enterprises is indeed feeling the pinch on the economy. With the company losing money from  the poor performance of its DVD, cable TV and print division and with a stock trading at under $3.50 a share as of the beginning of October, the organization is looking for ways to cut costs and increase revenues. While online advertising, licensing deals and sponsorships are avenues they are using to boost sales, Playboy Enterprises is going to capitalize on its renown parties to generate quick cash flow.

And why shouldn’t they? These parties are world renown, are attended by the hottest celebrities and of course, are highlighted by the famous Playboy bunnies. I don’t know anyone who would ever turn down an invite to this fantasyland…I am obviously not hanging out with a very puritanical crowd.

What can you turn in to an additional revenue stream for your business right now? Is there an additional service you can add-on or perhaps a softer-priced product line your customers may be more comfortable buying during these tighter times?  During this period of economic uncertainty, opportunity is just waiting to be found, just take different look!

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The markets have had a topsy-turvy week!  Some people lost their shirts, others made a ton of money - what are you doing to ensure your success?

Speaking to dozens of small business owners each week - I can quickly analyze which ones buy into the negative spin media is putting on the recent market whoas simply by the gripes and moans relating to the challenges they are having in their business; too much competition, no one is spending money, housing and stocks are down, high gas prices etc.

On the other side of the coin, I see other business owners in the same industry and the same market flourishing during these same temultous times.

Why is this?

Continue reading →

Let me guess?

As a small business owner you’ve got 25 things on your ‘to do’ list.  Number 26 is “clean out email inbox”.

If you want to make use of all of the thousands of emails still sitting there and expand your network exponentially RIGHT NOW, check out this application from LinkedIn.

You can download a LinkedIn dashboard that will sift through your inbox, cross check to see if those senders are already in your Outlook Contact list and if not, it will add them.  Then, it will cross check again to see if you have connected with those people on LinkedIn.  I trippled my network in 30 minutes!

Unfortunately, you still have to deal with Number 26…at some point.

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What is on your To Do list that you just won’t

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There is a big difference between can’ts and won’ts- I’m talking about wont’s - What task do you have on your list that you just will NOT complete? 

I was reviewing my list the other day and realized that the same one item just sits there week after week. I keep transferring it on to new “To Do” lists and I keep conveniently avoiding it. What is going on that I will not just sit down and tackle this item on my list? After some consideration, I see what is at the root of my denial….it’s fear.

I am not afraid that I can’t accomplish the task, or I that I won’t know how to do it, I am afraid of the change it will cause. Now the most ridiculous thing about that statement is that the change I am referring to, is for the good! Accomplishing this “To Do” will bring me more clients, more profits and will grow my business. But change, no matter how good it is, is not always easy.

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Why does this happen? Continue reading →