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How Badly Do You Want Your Big Goal?

“Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action and purpose.”
Lance Armstrong, American cyclist

I work with clients who want to play bigger in their life or business. Usually they are doing okay in their business, but they know there is a bigger calling for their gifts in the world. Many of them get there, but some of them don’t.

I was watching my five year old son Cade learn to ride his bike this summer. I was told by his pediatrician, several hours after he was born, that this is a kid who won’t be completely happy until he is a big kid, doing everything for himself. Already at five, her predictions are accurate!
Now I know learning to ride a bike is a developmental thing and happens at different ages with different kids. While I could see with Cade he really, really wanted to be riding his bike (it was his BIG goal of the summer), he wasn’t always interested in putting the time and determination into making it happen. In fact, it wasn’t until he absolutely got focused and spent a considerable amount of time trying that he had his success.

The reason many people don’t reach their big goal, or become successful in their lives or business is not because they don’t want it badly enough, it’s because they don’t want it badly enough AND aren’t willing to put the focus, time and effort into making it happen. They just aren’t always willing to do the work.

I came across this interview with author Malcolm Gladwell earlier this week and found some of his findings very interesting. That what often looks like geniuses in business or overnight successes, are really not that at all, but its about the hours and hours and hours of “apprenticeship” that led up to the success.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

httpsv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRu6CaJd_g&feature=youtu.be

Mandy works with talented, bright, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own.

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Is A Mastermind Group Right For You?

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One could argue the original definition of a mastermind group, but 9 times out of 10, when someone in business today refers a mastermind group, he or she means a group of like-minded individuals who come together on a regular basis to help and support one another to grow their respective businesses.

Mastermind groups have been around since the beginning of time: the founding fathers of the United States were essentially a mastermind group; likewise Jesus and his disciples. The Greek king, Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) had a group of advisors as have most world leaders in history; these groups of advisors can be considered mastermind groups.

Andrew Carnegie, one of the most famous leaders of industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a Scottish immigrant who became the richest man in the world, believed participating in a mastermind group to be an essential ingredient for success.

Most often we hear the name of Napoleon Hill associated with mastermind groups. While Hill clearly didn’t invent the idea, he can certainly be given credit for promoting the concept of a mastermind alliance. Napoleon Hill was an American author, one of the first to write on the topic known today as personal development. In 1928, Hill published a study course called The Law of Success, based on his interviews (at the suggestion of Andrew Carnegie) over the course of 20 years with some of the country’s most successful men. One of the lessons contained within The Law of Success is… you guessed it… a mastermind group. Nine years later, Hill continued to expound on the topic of the mastermind alliance in his best-selling classic, Think and Grow Rich.

So what are some of the benefits of a mastermind group? Here are some of benefits that you receive from being part of a mastermind group:

Brainstorming, support and advice from your peers – it’s your very own Board of Advisors
Create the goals to achieve your vision, and a plan to implement your goals
Access entrepreneurial knowledge, skill sets and tricks from your peers
Improve your productivity
Have a group of accountability partners – it’s the power of positive peer pressure put to work!
Overcome isolation – you won’t have to go it alone
Start moving forward in your business and reaching your financial goals

I currently belong to three mastermind groups, because I find them so helpful and beneficial to my business! One of them I pay to belong to, the other two are time commitments (and travel expenses for one of them) I strongly urge you to look at joining a mastermind group in your area. Or you could even start one yourself, as there is a lot of information on-line to help you get started.

If you live in the Portland, Maine area and would like more information on a joining a mastermind group that is starting at the end of September, please feel free to contact me atmandy@mandyschumaker.com or 207-653-6977 for more information.

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Are You Taking Enough Action Every Day?

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“People often say that motivation doesn’t last.
Well, neither does bathing –
that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar

I’ve seen it time and time again. Two entrepreneurs who start their businesses at relatively the same time, similar businesses, both have similar backgrounds, yet one of them become much more successful than the other. What is it that the more successful one has over the other? It’s all around taking action…every single day.

As entrepreneurs, it’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day of running our businesses, that we can lose sight of our bigger goals. I see it with my own private coaching clients. There are those that work to stay motivated and take massive action every day. They are the ones who are willing to do what others aren’t willing to do, to get up earlier, stay up later, make one more call, attend one more networking event, step out of their comfort zone to do more speaking, or start a blog etc. And these are the clients who are consistently doubling and tripling their year over year income.

What’s enough action you might ask? I would ask you to answer these questions:

What opportunities are in front of you right this minute, that you are not taking advantage of?

Where are you falling prey to resistance?

What things have been on your “to do” list for too long, and by taking action on them immediately could help catapult your business in a big way?

The difference between a doer and dreamer is the amount of action that follows their visions. You must implement! Action is an issue of personal responsibility. You are solely responsible for the choices in your life and you are responsible for every action and non-action. You must accept that it is YOUR responsibility to take action.

So where can you be taking more action, starting today? Look at what you’ve been resisting, where you’ve stopped short, what’s been on your “to do” list for far too long. Make a plan, set a time limit for completion and get moving!

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

5 Ways to Take Charge of Your Schedule Today!

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It is not unusual when I meet with a prospective or new client to hear, “I just can’t seem to get anything done”, or “I work nearly 60-70 hours a week, but I just seem to move from one thing to the next and don’t ever feel like I accomplish anything.” Or, “I tend to just wing stuff a lot and go with the flow”.

Many entrepreneurs and business people have the ability to handle a lot of different tasks, assignments and projects at the same time. However, as the old saying goes, “what got you here isn’t going to get you there”. In other words, while one of your strengths may be to “wing it”, that’s probably not going to continue to make you successful in your business or career. Or while you may have been successful at multi-tasking or moving from one thing to the next, at some point, that’s not going to continue to work for you as you move up the ladder in your career or become more successful in your business.

Getting in control of your own schedule is crucial. And with good intentions, discipline and consistent practice, it can be accomplished. Here are five “tried and true” tips that have worked for me and my clients:

1-Keep a Time Log for 2 weeks-Keep a piece of paper near your desk or computer and keep a time log-by hour of how you spend your time. At the top of each page put the day with each hourly increments starting from when you wake to when you go to sleep. Be sure to be as detailed as possible noting what you’re working on (i.e. e-mail, project, meeting etc.) what time you started and when you finished. It’s important to keep this for 2 weeks to be sure you cover a portion of time when things may only happen once, or things that routinely happen. At the end of two weeks, take the time to really analyze where are there time sucks? Where are you spending too much time, perhaps with e-mails, looking for things in your office, or on your desk? Are you moving from one thing to a next without completing the first project? While this task can in itself feel overwhelming, all of my clients who have completed this exercise have found it INVALUABLEto help them get more organized and dramatically improve their productivity.

2-Organize Your Work Area-If your work area is a disaster, or there are piles and piles on your desk, (oh, I know, you know where everything is, or you’re afraid if you file it away, you will forget to do it) there is no way you will ever feel or get in control of your own schedule. Schedule a time this week to spend the time getting your work area organized. Buy some cheap boxes or baskets, label them and put like papers and info into each of them. Throw away what you don’t need and create a “projects for the future” basket which you schedule to look at once a month for new ideas.

3-Don’t Leave Your Office For The Evening Without Planning For The Next Day-I never leave my office without making a list of the things I have to do the next day. That way, I don’t waste any time when I get into my office the next morning, trying to figure out what I need to do that day. I already know from my planning the previous night. I also prioritize my list by the most important. Research shows that most people are most productive in the morning hours and it’s the best time to do the “hardest stuff” first.

4-Finish One Priority Before You Move To The Next-When working your prioritized list (that you made the night before!), go as far as you can with the first priority, until it’s either completed or you can’t go any further, before you move on to the next one, and so on and so forth. This way you start to complete projects, rather than just getting a little done here and there without really completing any of them.

5-Respect Your Time-This means to value your time. If you’ve scheduled some personal time to work out, or take a walk, or take time off-stick to it. Don’t let other people, or other “time sucks” pull you off your schedule. It’s important to schedule free or personal time into your calendar and stick to it-just as you would if it were a client appointment. This will greatly begin to reduce your feeling of overwhelm because you are able to make some space in the day for yourself.

Assignment: Implement these 5 tips today. Stay true to them for two weeks, being as disciplined as you can in following these five things and I will guarantee you will make a big difference in lowering your stress level and helping you feel more in control of your time and schedule!

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Accentuate the Positive…

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You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between
Johnny Mercer

Having little kids like I do, offers such an opportunity for my own learning every single day.Over the past few weeks, my older son, Quin, and I have been struggling with his younger brother Cade’s behavior. The specific issues primarily take the form of Cade wanting to make older kids laugh. This can include using some inappropriate language (especially for a five-year-old) and being too aggressive with other people through his actions and words.

While this behavior is certainly unacceptable to me, one of the things I have noticed is that his older brother now focuses on what Cade does wrong, and runs to me to numerous times during the day to report on his brother’s latest antics.

Now, I’m sure child behavior specialists could have a field day in what I’m describing here. But the thing that has become most apparent to me is how much we focus our attention on Cade’s negative behaviors, instead of his many other wonderful qualities as a brother and a son. And we all know that universal law – where the attention goes, so there the energy flows. In other words, what you focus on is what becomes most pronounced.

I’ve noticed the same thing in my business and in my client’s businesses. When the attention is focused on the negative outcomes, or the things that might not be going well for us, we get ourselves stuck – and we just keep getting more of the same!

It’s as if the negative thoughts, beliefs and focus create more of what we don’t want, instead of allowing us to focus on all the positive things that are going on around us in our businesses and lives.

So where is your attention focused? Are you feeling frustrated and stuck? Could it be you are focused only on the negative aspects of what is going on around you?

As an assignment, I like to challenge you to look at three areas where you find yourself feeling negative and frustrated and try to find five good or positive things about where you are. Write them down and read them to yourself each morning and evening. See if by focusing on the positive, it helps to bring more free-flowing energy and ease to the difficult situations in your business.

I’ll be doing the same, as an entrepreneur – and as a mother!

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Are You Spending Enough Time on Your Marketing?

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Most prospective clients contact me because they don’t have enough clients and aren’t making enough money. The first thing I always ask is, “How much time are you spending each week on marketing activities?” It’s not unusual for the answer to fall somewhere between none and an hour or two a week.

And here in lies the problem. It is impossible to grow your business, get more clients and make more money if you are not investing enough time each day and each week to marketing activities.

Marketing generating activities might include: networking, writing your blog or book, creating content, following up with prospects, creating workshops, speaking etc.

So how much is enough? Many successful entrepreneurs will tell you that spending four hours a day is the ultimate amount of time needed to grow your business. In working with clients I encourage them to spend one full day on marketing related activities.

You may be asking yourself, “I’m so busy and overwhelmed now, how will I ever find the time for a day of marketing?”

Here are some suggestions to help you not only find the time in your schedule for marketing, but also some ways to be sure you stick to it.

1-The first step is to look at the things you are spending time on now. Is it time to hire an assistant and delegate some of your administrative tasks to them? Do you have a bookkeeper? What other activities are you spending time on that aren’t revenue generating activities? Is it time to hire a housecleaner? Also, what activities are you involved in that you should STOP doing so you can make the time? Committees, volunteer work, watching too much TV, and spending too much time on Facebook are some of the common culprits.

2-Next you need to determine where in your schedule you want to plug in the time for your marketing related activities. Is it a few hours every day, or would you rather designate one full day as your business development day? Either way works, it just depends which option you feel you can fully commit to.

3-Once you’ve decided when you will spend the time marketing your business you must actually put the time in your calendar, and commit to making that time sacred. You cannot book clients in that slot, or view it as “free or down time”. It is an appointment you’ve made with yourself and your business that cannot be broken. This is the most crucial step.

If you want to make more money in your business, you must focus your time (all of it) on actions that have a direct result in your business making more money. Everything else should be delegated, outsourced, automated and systematized.

Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

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