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Why Does This Keep Happening?

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results Albert Einstein

This past week, I had the opportunity to hear an old African tribal story about the tribe who lived near the river and each week they observed rafts coming down the river with lots of maimed and injured bodies. Week after week, they waded into the water, pulled the injured people out of the water, bandaged up their bodies and struggled to nurse them back to health.

This went on week after week, month after month, year after year. Finally someone in the tribe said, “Why don’t we go upstream and see what is causing injury to these bodies? If we can find the source of the problem, and fix it, then there wouldn’t be all these injured bodies and we wouldn’t have to work so hard taking care of them week after week.”

The moral of the story: fix the root of the problem, not the symptom or by-product of the problem. So often in our businesses we keep “nursing back to health” the same issues in our business over and over, week after week.

Perhaps we keep struggling with too many things on our plate. Or we struggle keeping our focus and procrastination sets in. Or maybe it’s working with clients that give us a headache from their incessant demands, week after week. Maybe we’re frustrated we don’t have enough clients or we’re not making enough money.

Whatever it is that is a struggle or challenge week after week-has a source or root to its origin that you must get fixed.

Suffering from overwhelm week after week, means there is too much on our plate and we need to remove some of it-perhaps just temporarily, but make some choices to unload a portion of it.

Lack of focus may have to do with too many distractions in our life, i.e. e-mail, social media, or experiencing what many entrepreneurs’ experience: the-next-bright-shiny-object syndrome.

And working with clients we don’t like-well, it’s clear; we haven’t created an ideal client profile, nor set up expectations with our clients, on how to work with us.

What’s showing up in your life, week after week that’s a toleration, a challenge, headache, or frustartion? Isn’t it time to head upstream to figure out the source-so it can be permanently fixed, once and for all?

Why People Don’t Hire You

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Obviously, there can be hundreds of different reasons why a prospect might not buy your product or service. Perhaps they don’t see or understand the value, maybe its price, maybe their spouse is opposed to it, or maybe they just don’t like you. The list can go on and on.

But one thing I know for sure. People don’t hire you because they understand you. They hire you because they feelunderstood by you. In other words, your prospect may know everything about your product and service, all the features you offer, even the benefits. But if they don’t feel like you understand their needs, their struggles, their pain, they will not hire you.

Knowing who your ideal client is, how they would describe their struggles and challenges, (in their language) is so important for you to understand.

Here are some things to learn about your ideal client, so they feel understood by you:

Where do they congregate? What do they read? Where do they network? What personal clubs or professional associations do they belong to? Who do they do business with on a regular basis? What are their issues? What do they need most right now?

Knowing the answers to these questions will help give you the insight into your ideal client andhelp you know more about them at a deeper level. And the more you understand who your ideal client is…really know them, the more understood they will feel by you.

One way to get to know your clients on a deeper level is to interview your ideal clients. Make sure these are the clients that you just LOVE. Ask them the questions I mentioned in the above paragraph. What else would you like to know about them? Get curious about who they are and make sure you take careful notes on their answers. Write down verbatim what they share with you. You can then take their answers (in their language) and use them in your marketing materials to attract even more ideal clients.

Because when you have marketing messages that are in your ideal client’s language, coupled with your understanding of who they are, together these become the linchpin that will bring cash into your business!

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. And who would like to overcome their fear of sales, change their mindset, increase their self-confidence, and create a step-by-step strategy for taking their business to the next level. 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. Mandy offers one-on-one coaching and consulting, as well as facilitates workshops and teleclasses and speaks on a variety of topics.

Get a copy of her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Create Your Ideal Work Week

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When I start working with a new client, I’m always interested in how they have been scheduling their week. And the answer I typically get is, “Well, to be honest, it’s never really much of a schedule.” Everything just kind of runs together. When I ask, “When do you do client work?” they might answer, “Well, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, can be some on Saturday, and usually a little on Sunday.”

In order to create a successful business, you must create your ideal working schedule. And that means creating AND KEEPING boundaries. First, you must figure out the days or time blocks, in which you will see clients. Even is you are just starting your business, and don’t have many clients, this is an important discipline to master now. Then as you start to grow your business, you know what days to schedule your new clients.

Our tendency, particularly when starting out, is to see a client whenever they call. Not only do we sometimes end up geographically zigzagging all over the place serving clients, but we also usually have a very inefficient work-day schedule filled with lots of holes.

Start by figuring out what days, and/or time blocks you will see clients. This will also help you start to figure out your capacity and when you need to become more scalable. For instance, if you’ve structured your client time between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm four days a week, that’s 28 clients you need to fill your business or practice.

I also highly encourage my clients to spend a minimum of four hours a week (preferably a day-but at least four hours a week) on marketing and business development for your business. This might include writing, contacting prospects, putting together your newsletter, researching networking events or speaking events. Because if you don’t schedule it, it won’t happen. And if you aren’t disciplined to keep this sacred time for marketing your business, instead filling the time with other things, you will not only find your pipeline of prospects empty, but it will take a lot more effort to “start again”.

If you are writing a book, then you need to schedule writing time for yourself-preferably everyday, for at least an hour. If you are starting a second business, or a new line or product, you’ll need to carve out the time in your schedule to put the attention and focus on it. Otherwise, all those great ideas you have will be just that-great ideas!

This is the way successful entrepreneurs grow their businesses and become very successful. So I encourage you to create an ideal work week for yourself, making time for clients, business development, and most importantly, time for yourself!

Get a copy of her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

It Matters-Trust Me!

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“Greatness is contagious-you’ll catch it if you’re around it!”

Unknown

Did your parent ever tell you when you were growing up, “I don’t really like you spending so much time with so and so (fill in the name)? Mine sure did, and it wasn’t until I had kids of my own, that I really understood my parent’s concern. It is a proven fact that we become more like those we hang out with, than we’d like to admit. And that can apply to becomingmore than, or less than…if you know what I mean.

For example, in my past life, I found through managing sales departments for newspapers, you always had your core group of sales people who hung around together, had coffee or lunch together. And as a group they tended to gripe and grouse together, complain together and liked to be generally miserable together. But there were always one or two salespeople, the outliers I liked to call them, who didn’t socialize with the bigger group, didn’t go to coffee, didn’t engage in the “griping and grousing” and stuck to there selves. They were pleasant and would certainly converse with the salespeople in the larger group, but they never engaged in some of the negative talk that seemed to drive the group. I would always ask these salespeople why they didn’t engage with the others and the answer was always the same. “It takes a lot of energy to stay positive in this job and in this environment and I want to be a successful salesperson. It won’t happen if I’m hanging out with people who will try and pull me down.”

So what is it that you ultimately want in life and how does the company you keep help you reach those goals or vision? If you want to be a great photographer in the world-are you hanging out with really great photographers? If you are hoping to have a successful coaching or consulting practice, are you hanging out with the successful coaches and consultants? Or are you spending time with those coaches and consultants who are complaining about the soft economy, or their lack of clients, or they don’t like the clients they have?

You need to be with those that will help “pull” you forward, those who are already where you want to be-because when you hang out with those who have achieved greatness, it’s going to rub off on you and will help you achieve the greatness you are looking for in your life and business.

Here are a couple of things I’d like for you to consider:

1-Take a good look at your calendar or schedule and consider this:
Are you spending time with the people who have achieved greatness, those who are already playing a bigger game? If not, make some changes. Start looking for individuals and groups who are where you’d like to be, and begin spending more time with them. As challenging as it might be, drop those in your life who are the nay-sayers, the depressed ones, the 100-excuses people.

2-Join a Mastermind Group.
A mastermind group is a small group that meets with the purpose of reinforcing growth and success while offering support to one another… History has shown that many successful entrepreneurs were members of a mastermind group. Today, there are mastermind groups available in many of our communities, in fact there are virtual mastermind groups available as well. Many coaches and consultants, now facilitate mastermind groups as part of their business or practice.

3-Really take action on this topic-it DOES matter!
Do you want to be a more successful entrepreneur, writer, painter, financial planner, coach, real estate broker, mother, singer, or basketball or tennis player? Whatever it is you want to be great at, make sure you are spending time with those that are ahead of you, those that are more successful, or talented, or are already where you’d like to be. Develop relationships with them, pick their brains, and observe what they do and HOW they do it. Become inspired by them and let them help “pull you forward”.

Because greatness is contagious and you can’t help but catch it!

Get a copy of her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

Are You On Track With Your Plans?

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“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now”

Alan Lakein

The crowds at the gyms have thinned out; the weight loss groups have lost some members, the plans and intentions, so carefully crafted and written at the beginning of the year are now under a pile of unfinished projects on your desk. I’m sorry to have to bring this up, but I just wanted to ask, “How are you doing on your business plans for the year?”

A plan is only as good as it is executed and if yours is under a pile on your desk, or in a file on your computer and you haven’t looked at it for a while, it’s going to be difficult to get where you want to be going in your business-know what I mean?

So I’d like to encourage you to invest about 30 minutes and pull out your plan (or vision) for the year and do three things:

1-Take stock on where you are so far.

Look at what you’ve accomplished, what’s worked well, what you’ve achieved so far to date. And celebrate those successes! Too often we tend to just focus on what we didn’t get done and beat ourselves up. You might be amazed at all you’ve accomplished even though the plan got stuck in a file drawer! Take a look at what hasn’t gotten done, and ask yourself, are these things still as relevant today, as they were the day you put the plan together? If so, make a note of them. Figure out where you are and start taking the steps to get you back on track.

2-Analyze the gaps from the plan to where you are today

Review the measurements you may have put in place when you developed the plan and see where you are in terms of: revenue, number of clients, how much you’ve grown your e-mail list, number of Twitter followers, Facebook friends, number of presentations or speeches you’ve given, and whatever other measurements you use. Figure out where the gaps are from where you are, to where you want to be. Then right down where you need to start focusing today to narrow the gap. What are the steps (even if they are baby steps) you need to take? So often we don’t want to do this step, because we feel we may be so far off our plan, we might never get back on. And that’s just not true. Everyone falls off a plan, exercise program or diet. The key to success is how quickly we can get back to our plan, that really counts!

3-Recommit to your plan

Get yourself back on track to working on the things that will bring you closer to your vision for your business. Stop doing things that aren’t. We all can fall back into familiar patterns and spend time doing the things that are most comfortable to us. Our vision of playing a bigger game to help and serve more people always takes us into areas of fear and overwhelm. Which is another reason we can sometimes get thrown off our game-we get scared, or fill our time up with the lower priority stuff that can fill up our time.

That’s why it’s so important to stick with your plan and keep it top of mind. I find it helpful to make an appointment with myself (that I’m totally committed to keeping) at the beginning of every month to review where I am to my intentions, goals and vision. This is a very helpful way to keep the plan alive.

Remember a good plan today, is better than a perfect plan tomorrow! If I can be of help or support in helping you reach you full potential in your business, please feel free to contact me mandy@mandyschumaker.com. I would love to help!

Get a copy of her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” at www.mandyschumaker.com. Or contact her at 207-653-6977

When in Doubt…

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“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not”

Unknown

“Is it possible to beat this giant we know so well as DOUBT?” one of my clients asked me this week. The question is a really good one, and a rather overwhelming one to try and answer. I happen to believe that it is quite possible to overcome our feelings of doubt and fear. It’s certainly something we all struggle with and even those who we view as more successful than us, movie stars, athletes, successful coaches, artists, entrepreneurs-still all struggle with doubt. You’ve read the stories about the famous actor, who in his eighties, still got physically sick every time he went on stage to perform. Or the top professional hockey player who always questions whether he’s really as good as everyone says. Or the internationally known opera singer who struggles with thinking she’s not “as good” as some of the other internationally known singers.

Everyone gets to know doubt in their lives. Another way doubt rears its ugly head is in the form of resistance. And we all experience resistance. As Steven Pressfield writes in his book, The War of Art, “Resistance is a force that lives in us all as self-sabotage, self-deception, and self-corruption. We writers know it as “block”, a paralysis whose symptoms can bring on appalling behavior”.

But back to the original question, how do we beat it? I believe its doing some things consistently, and taking action that helps us navigate through the fear and doubt. Again, fear and doubt are not negative or bad things, in fact, many times they can be our friends, they can be what propels us to playing bigger than we ever thought possible. It’s only when fear, doubt and resistance paralyzes us to the point of feeling stuck, that they can be detrimental.

Here are some practical possibilities and suggestions that you may find helpful in overcoming doubt:

1-Reading books and other people’s stories:

Read books about other people who’ve mastered the ability to move through their own fear and resistance. Again, “The War of Art”, “Think and Grow Rich” and some of the Walter Wattles books are good places to start. Or read books, stories and articles of successful people who share your craft or profession. You’ll find in many of those stories that most of them experienced the same self-doubt and resistance that you feel.

2-Make a mind movie and watch it everyday.

In study after study, the research shows that by putting yourself (including mind and spirit) where you want to be, or doing what you’re striving for, can actually help you achieve it. That if you can visualize it, you can attain it.

I recently saw an interview with tennis player, Novak Djokovic, from Serbia, who at age 7, used to take an old trophy and run around holding it up in the air pretending it was the Wimbledon trophy he had won . And it worked; he’s now a Wimbledon champion! It’s the old adage, “you have to dream it, to achieve it”.

You can go to YouTube and search for mind movies-and you’ll see some examples of different types of mind movies. You can also easily make your own through I-Movie, or go to mindmovie.com. It’s a very good visual tool. Making a vision board, cutting out images and phrases from magazines and pasting them into a collage style poster and putting it up where you can view it everyday, is also very helpful.

3-Affirmations

Using affirmations can be a very powerful way to move through doubt, fear and resistance. You could choose to write down affirmations and post them all over your house, or you could write down 50 personal affirmations and record them. Then listen to them 2-3 times a day. Again, the affirmations need to be positive and in the present tense. Putting yourself already there in the feeling, the situation etc. For example, “I am a successful business person,” or “I eat good healthy food in just the right portions for me”, or, “I attract plenty of wonderful, ideal clients every day.

Or there are plenty of free affirmation downloads available on the internet.

4-Start a gratitude journal

The more you can come from a grateful, appreciative state, the less room there is for doubt, fear and negativity. List 10 things in your journal every night or every morning that you’re grateful for. Makes a huge difference-I can attest!

5- And keep moving through your fear and doubt. Take action!

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing a day that scares you.” Make that phone call, write that chapter, paint that picture, make that speech, whatever it is-just do one thing everyday that scares you. And yes, you’re going to fail, and be rejected, lose, get laughed at, and maybe even lose some friends. But what’s worse, a few bumps and scrapes along the way, or never even getting in the game?

I might suggest if there is one or two of these things that speak to you-to implement them today, and consistently do them, over and over. We all have a relationship with fear, doubt and resistance; it’s how we manage that relationship that makes all the difference. You’ll start to learn that once you start taking action, and I mean consistently taking action, the doubt, fear and resistance will start to recede.

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