Leadership

As you look to this year you must positively expect good things to happen. Your belief and attitude about business, money, relationships, education, IQ, the government, what you’re capable of, how deserving you are and more will be the seeds that determine your success.

Your beliefs or what I call the 900 Pound Gorilla—are what hold you back. What it will take to set your plans in action is learning how to install new beliefs, and attitudes.

Defining your business Vision is one of your most important exercises to support and create on going success. Without the Vision, nothing you do in your business will make much of a difference. You may make some small changes, and you may even see some good results of those changes. You might even get lucky, once in a while. But without the Vision, your business will never truly become a great business.

Vision is what calls you and sustains you and gives you sufficient energy to keep going. When you find meaning (why) in what you do, you bring more value to what you do.

When you start looking at this, realize that the results you get (or do not get) are an accurate reflection of what you deeply think, believe and feel. You will not feel much motivation for your dreams that are incongruent with your profound beliefs and thoughts. Having a clear Vision is what continually engages your imagination and keeps you out of fear to continually build what you’re committed to creating.

What you put your attention on grows in you! Emerson said “Thoughts rule the world”. They are the basis of all action. Action is the basis of achievement. Your success achievement is based on the power of your mind, those beliefs and attitudes.

The Challenge: Take some time to review your vision and make sure your belief in its attainment is in alignment with it. Awaken your power in 2010!

Mind Masters Entrepreneur Association wanted to share a set of keys that when committed to and practiced consistently produce success in any economy.

A special Mind Masters award was created this year. To run a successful business, you must be able to plan ahead and also be able to manage the many parts the business and understand how they relate to each other, while still meeting the challenges of a changing marketplace. Last year’s Entrepreneur of the Year has been able to stay on top in an economic environment that has been hard on his construction industry. Putting his house in order with new accounting methods, formalizing his corporation and his continual pursuit of customer satisfaction, he has continued to expand his network of referrals and opportunities. He has also been influential in introducing several new members to Mind Masters. It was my pleasure to present the 1st Founders Award to Mark Visocky, of Mark Visocky General Contractor, Inc.

Now for the 2009-10 Mind Masters Entrepreneur of the Year Award! Achieving success depends upon our ability to believe what we want is possible. The Mind Masters Entrepreneur of the Year is a person had a terrific year! Her 2009 started on a low, but a true achiever overcomes all adversity. Staying focused to daily, and weekly sales activity put her ahead of the pack, ending the year 200% up over last year. Recognized by her company as a member of the special Million Dollar Roundtable and Agent of the Year in the San Diego New York Life office – Mary Stockton of Stockton Financial & Insurance Services is an achiever extraordinaire and the Mind Masters 2009-2010 Entrepreneur of the Year.

Bruno Bosardi, The Body Alchemist

Leadership requires the ability to control what is in your power to control, to give people clarity, direction, and a sense of security, to chart a course and set goals your employees believe are attainable. The Mind Masters Gold Award Achiever stands out this year for taking charge of his business. After years of working with independent contractors the realization that in order to grow, the business needed policies and procedures. Not always easy to reign in people who have been doing it their way, our achiever stepped up to the plate and moved from technician to manager and is on his way to being the entrepreneur. A great contributor to Mind Masters members, Bruno Bosardi of The Body Alchemist stands out as a leader and the Mind Masters Gold Achiever for 2009-2010.

Kim Espinoza, Espinoza Webworks

One of the 5 Entrepreneurs recognized for their persistence and focus to the goals they set last year is a true achiever. In these challenging times there is security in being a subcontractor and it is risky to step out on your own, but our Mind Masters Silver Achiever was willing to give up that security and learn what it takes market herself. I have seen her take on new projects that meant learning new technology to stay up in her field.

With guidance from Mind Masters she recognized the importance of tracking and planning her prospecting to achieve her first year goals. She is customer focused and delivers excellent customer

Mike Mance, Mind Masters Award Winner

At the end of each year I like to recognize Mind Masters members for their accomplishments. I have selected 5 Entrepreneurs to recognize for their persistence and focus to the goals they have set.

Our Bronze Achiever for 2009/10 is a person who hasn’t been in Mind Masters all that long, but has been in business for about 10 years. Recognizing that something needed to change as business was getting stagnant, it meant stepping out of the shadows –taking some risks, beginning to network, and showing up in a redesigned website. Of course he joined Mind Masters to get it all started and allow new business to come in the door. Mike Mance of Mance Creative is an outstanding graphic designer, open to ideas that he has incorporated for outstanding new results. Mike Mance is the Mind Masters Bronze Achiever.

Are you keeping up with the pace of change? The pace of technology? The pace of your marketplace? The pace of your competition? The 2010 Dilemma is how much do you and your business have to change to keep pace? As a business owner you need to have information at your finger tips that help you make the best decisions.

Planning for 2010 is a hands on process. You might start by asking some tough questions. Do you recognize the need for change?

• Are you prepared to look reality in the face?
• Are you willing to change the way you do business – and change yourself?
• Will you turn the plan into action?
• Do you have the guts to take your business in new directions?

I would like to lay out a road map that will get you to view your business through a lens that eliminates the distortions of everyday business. Let me warn you, you may not like what you see. But if you are going to meet 2006 head on it is a necessary process. Let’s look at what a strategic plan could do for you.

1. Develop a statement of purpose. Why does your business exist?
   Sometimes why we started the business is not the same as why we continue to work it. One of my long time clients over the years has added staff, and possibly her successor, so that now she can travel more. The business was started so she could support her family.
2. Conduct a SWOT analysis.
   This will help you evaluate your business’ internal strengths and weaknesses, along with the opportunities and threats you face in the market place. It will give you a basis for developing a plan.
3. Crystallize your thinking.
   Determine what specific long range goals you want for your business. It is never enough to just want more money. They should cover all aspects of the business.
4. Create benchmarks, with specific results for meeting those goals. It is easier to make adjustments along the way without losing sight of the long range goals.
5. Brainstorm strategies for reaching each of the results.
   There is more than one way to achieve a result, ask others for ideas.
6. Develop a Plan of Action.
   Plan the progressive steps, along with who will do what when.
   Nothing ever happens without action, but there is a world of difference between mere action and constructive action.
7. Be confident in yourself and your own abilities.
   Be determined to follow through on your plan, because without determination the plan will deteriorate.

The 8th step is to track your progress. Write out your numbers (yes I said write), know your sales number, gross profit, cost of goods/time. It is a sure way of staying focused.

The Challenge: Turn the 2010 dilemma into a 2010 solid strategic plan. If you need help, Mind Masters has a Business Planning session on January 8, 2010.

2007 can be a year you accomplish your greatest DREAMS. Fulfillment of those DREAMS demands well defined Goals and specific daily, monthly and yearly plans. In your planning and Goal setting process there is a need for tools to activate you and bring about the focus and behavior changes so necessary to effect the results you want.

For centuries one of the most powerful tools that people have used to reconstruct their mental belief systems is the tool of Visualization. You focus your energy and simply create a mental image of the goal you wish to attain. You experience the situation, the object, feeling or end result benefit so that you become totally absorbed and participate in the whole experience with your whole being – causing an emotional-physiological response. Your mind cannot distinguish between what is reality and what is vividly imagined; therefore, by focusing on you specific Goals, your creative imagination will draw them into reality. The range of what you see is limited only by what you are willing to attempt.

The greatest power of visualization lies in its dynamic effect on you and on the future you can create for yourself. The law of cause and effect is the law of visualization and belief – that law that calls into being in the outer world everything you truly believe in your inner world to be true.

Summer has arrived, the excitement of vacation looms large – BUT, as your Business Development Specialist I must ask, are you at the mid point for your 2006 Goals and Objectives? How many of you after these several months working day and night to achieve those goals you set in January to create a new service, introduce a new product or even design a new business model – all at once find all the drive that brought the initial motivation and excitement has melted away, the steam has run out, the place you are in is comfortable and the dream world has slipped out from under?

This is the wake up call. Once you accept that your on going success must come from you, you can build a comprehensive program that will keep you moving forward. You are the catalyst for your business, you must press on, you cannot afford to stand still. Here are some things to help you regroup:

1. Build on your accomplishments, achievements, results, learnings, and fulfillments.
2. Install safety nets that encourage you, friends, Mind Masters, Affirmations.
3. Constantly be aware of your thoughts. What you do is usually a result of what you actually THINK!
4. Use the energy of your goals to move you forward.
5. Stay connected to them, measure your progress, question your assumptions.
6. Focus on your possibilities, allow desires to guide you.
7. Let’s look for radically different approaches that could make it easier.
8. Learn to leverage the skills and experiences of other people.

The game of life and business is won behind the scenes, in time spent in preparation. Time invested in strategy and planning is an ounce of prevention compared to the frustration and stress that come from having to go back and correct faulty assumptions. Your date with destiny is today!!! You were successful the moment you arrived. Success is the opposite of impulsiveness: it is a conscious choice. Your plan acts as an insurance policy for your success.

The Challenge: Stop and take a fresh look at your plans – distance yourself from what’s right in front of you and look out over the horizon.