Small Business Revitalization Blog

When in need of inspiration, I often randomly open books.  Today two ideas arrived within seconds of each other.  Seth Godin suggests we need to Raise The Bar – as that is where great progress occurs.  Jason Fried from Rework is adamant we need to Do Less.

Putting these two ideas together sounds incongruous, until we see that in doing less, we create the space for seeing where exactly we should raise the bar (and how high!) if we really want to create profitable change in our business.

When I look at my project list for my businesses, I can see the two or three projects that totally raise the bar.  That make everything else I do look, well, not so important.  I can see the 30 or so projects that would be nice to do, if I had the time, resources or inclination… and I can see the 10 projects that need to be taken off the list right now because I already know that they won’t deliver the world-changing impact I require when I invest my full energy into a project!

What could you do less of that would allow you to have more impact?  You don’t need to spread yourself thinner, you just need to make the hard choices that allow you to be phenomenal!  We get caught up in being nice and saying yes when really we mean no.  What if you saying no gives that opportunity to someone else who does have the energy to invest – would that allow them to raise the bar in their own unique way?  Could the world be a better place for that?

This is one simple tool for looking at everything you have in front of you and seeing what is truly important.  What will make the biggest difference?  What raises the bar and makes your business more enticing and more enchanting for the people you serve?  Choose that one thing.  And do it with everything you’ve got!  

Less is More.  LEAP forward, don’t crawl!

I have a co-mentoring arrangement with another coach and we have a quick session by phone every Friday.  One of the things that makes us giggle are the multiple and creative avoidance mechanisms we have for (not) getting things done.

Whilst lots of progress is made, it's often not on whatever we've discussed the previous week... so when I came across this I knew it would make lots of small business owners feel infinitely better immediately!  Read this and you could probably take a long weekend or two starting right now ;-)

So here it is... the cult of done manifesto... a great recipe for overcoming overwhelm (momentarily at least!)


(via The Manifesto Project)

Yes, it's slightly tongue in cheek, but there were a couple of tips in there I'm really tempted to play with!  And I loved 'Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.'  That sorts out quite a few projects that I was getting back to later... (of course, failure doesn't really exist, it's just a big hint from the universe to change something!!)

What are your biggest challenges in getting stuff done?  I'm a great starter... and I'm working on the 'done' bit with my awesome co-mentor!!  Do you have any other ideas you would add to the above manifesto?  Share in the comments below...

This week I’ve been hot on the trail of creating #TopSecretProject (soon to be revealed!!) with two colleagues who share some common frustrations around networking, workshops and business!  It’s been fascinating seeing just how much action is being taken since we came up with the ‘BIG Idea’ in just 3 hours on Tuesday!

Do you find you take way more action when you have a big, inspiring idea that you want to create?  When was the last time you chose to follow your instincts and create an awesome idea that really had your attention?

As small business owners, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the daily doo-doo, procrastinating on all the stuff we 'should do',  rather than asking:

• What would be a game-changer here? 
• What would boost my business beyond what I can imagine?
• What would give my clients massive results? 
• What one strategy could move my business into the stratosphere?

Instead we play small.  Get stuck in doing the little things that make us feel like we are moving forward, but which are so slow and so incremental that nothing amazing ever really shows up!  Is this enough for you and your business?  Do you really want to creep slowly forward or would you be willing to leap tall buildings with a single step?

So, what would it take to implement a BIG Idea in your business today?
1.   Gather a small team of people who are willing to have massive change show up with ease.
2.   Discuss the resources, talents and abilities available, the common challenges and what you’d like to see instead.
3.   Come up with a BIG Idea that has the capacity to be a game-changer for your business and your customers.
4.   Take massive action very quickly.  What can you get ready within a week?  How soon can you launch?
5.   Ensure you create a support plan for leveraging the game-changer over the long term.  Know why you are instituting your BIG Idea, what you hope to achieve and what happens after the launch.

If you are tired of being the only motivating force in your business, play with a different model!  Find people with similar values who are willing to contribute to the possibilities of a BIG Idea.  And act quickly.  Work out if the idea has legs and start running!!

You can do this with an internal team or as a strategic alliance.  I am working with two other business people whose values match mine.  We are geographically dispersed but have kept the momentum going daily via Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and Dropbox (great for file-sharing!). 

Share your experiences below in the comments section... have you ever used a BIG Idea to get yourself moving?  Would you like to but something is stopping you?  What support do you need to give your business a boom?

Image courtesy Flickr user Gene Hunt, via CC

First it was the GFC, now it’s a spate of floods, cyclones, earthquakes, snowstorms and political uprisings… our world is in turmoil and these events impact our businesses whether they are personal to us or not.  

You may have noticed customers are slow to make decisions… are spending less than usual… that business has unexpectedly ground to a halt. There is a reason for this.  It is time to look closely at everything we are doing and to see what still serves us and what needs to change.

Anytime we can’t ‘feel the buzz’ in our business we can either choose to look outwards with blame, or inwards by choosing to create exactly what we desire.  Change is inevitable; it is how we move forward that creates our destiny!

A few days ago I wrote myself a rather long message from a ‘future me’…   One of the questions I asked my future self was ‘What can I change here that would create more ease?’   

Here are a few of the insights I received:
•   Finish or clear out everything that feels like it is grinding me to a halt.
•   Write up my plans coherently and create simple strategies for getting started.
•   Collate the insights and information for each of the new toolkits I am developing for my business coaching clients (systemize what’s in my brain!!)
•   Give the flat, weird, anxious bits no attention or energy IF they are out of my control.
•   Create a physical space that is supportive and creative.
•   Keep asking ‘What else is possible?’

So what’s changed?  After my ‘self to self’ pep talk, I chose to take massive action!  
•   I cleared out my office and made space on my desk (now showing just one project at a time!)
•   I collated all those ideas and bits of paper into coherent piles!
•   I developed a creative new business plan template that feels really joyful (and developed a new business plan with ease – very clear on my actions now!!)
•   I started to realign and fine-tune my website content.
•   I reinvented one program that just wasn’t delivering results for the time I was investing.
•   I connected with my accountability buddy for the first time and we gave each other lots of encouragement for the changes we are making!
•   I became a lot more focused on the ‘maintenance’ tasks required for my business to succeed on a massive level.
•   I unleashed my energy by completing lots of small ‘incomplete’ commitments – to myself and others.   Doing the maintenance rocks!

What are the results so far?  My business has become effortless again!
•   I connected with some great people around my new lead generation strategies.
•   There has been a lot more space for nurturing me – I’m breathing easier and deeper.
•    I received unexpected support around my spaces of anxiety (a couple of tools generously shared and the grinding anxiety has disappeared!!)
•   I have started implementing my new business plan, focusing on the foundations!
•   Lots of the resources I need to realize my plan have showed up unexpectedly and with perfect timing!

What didn’t I do?
•   Think small because what I desire isn’t showing up in this 10 seconds.  
•   Become overwhelmed.

This beautiful quote by Deepak Chopra captures the essence of my blissful business process this week:
“The heart is intuitive, holistic, contextual, relational. It doesn't have a win-lose orientation. It taps into the field of pure potentiality, pure knowledge and infinite organizing power- and takes everything into account.”

It’s been a week full of long deep breaths… feeling into what’s possible and what I desire to change.
If you are wondering what it will take for everything you desire to change, ask your body, your business and your higher self (or future self) to tell you exactly what you need to know!

What are you choosing to change in your business right now?  Please share in the comments section below!

(PS The new business plan template will be available for you all very soon!  I really do bring the bliss back into business!)

It is January 10 already and business owners everywhere are getting back to work and hoping that 2011 will be way more profitable and generative than 2010!!  Most of us have made the odd New Year resolution or ten for our businesses and are now wondering what it’s going to take for it all to fall into place with ease!

The single biggest mistake I see people make when setting targets is to make a decision that there is only one acceptable outcome.  What if there were hundreds of fantastic possibilities that you just haven’t become aware of yet?  Would you be willing to have any of those instead of, or as well as what you have in mind?

When I make a target (New Year or otherwise!) I set it with the intention that I’m willing to have something much greater, something I haven’t thought of yet or something that will lead my business into places that set me up for an even more phenomenal future, despite what may sometimes look like ‘failure’ on the surface!

When I worked in corporate, so much importance was vested in the strategic plan. How much of that is a traditional point of view we have bought as real when maybe the current truth about success in business is something else?  Strategic planning has been around for a long time and comes from a time when the world moved at one zillionth of the speed it does now.  If we stick to our plan, then we fail to factor in all of the new choices and possibilities that are always coming our way!

In my experience, it is much more effective to get your projects up and running as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible so that you can see clearly what needs to change!  The most successful people and businesses are not caught up in doing exactly what they said they would in their plan – they are focused on regular reassessment, realignment and adjustment so that they can attain the best results possible given all of the possibilities.

January is a time to put lots of energy into getting everything you can set up, for setting a solid foundation for what you desire to have in your business in 2011, and most importantly for working out quickly what strategies are going to deliver your vision with ease and what ideas need a tiny tweak or a total reinvention!!

Think of your business like surfing… you paddle out, you choose a wave, you paddle like crazy… you catch the wave (or not!), ride it until it stops flowing for you and then do the same again… and each time the wave is different, the conditions are different, you create new possibilities and have different choices.  Time to lose the blinkers!! 

If you fall down, you get up, have a look at what happened, develop a new balance and have another go, all the while looking out for the next great wave rather than lamenting the one you missed… that’s what distinguishes successful businesses from failures!!  What would it take for you to catch a whole lot of waves this month?

This simple strategy is the first step in ‘keeping’ your New Year resolutions!  What are the infinite possibilities of 2011 being so much more than your New Year resolutions and your plans?  What abundant surprises would you be willing to receive and enjoy in your life and your business this year?

Are you struggling with a target you have set, or finding you just aren’t making any progress on a project that’s important to your business success?  The bigger the dream, the harder it can be to get moving…  Here’s a few simple tips that will make today productive for you!

1. Keep a list of current projects and scan them daily… which ones require your attention?
2. For each project, break it down into doable bites (yes, this is where you eat the elephant one bite at a time).  Seriously, that little bit of planning at the start will make you and your business so much more productive!!
3. Set aside ‘project time’ when you work on the important parts of your business.
4. Commit to completing one ‘next step’ before you go onto another bright shiny new object… we all get tempted but the most successful business owners are those that actually complete their growth projects!
5. You can often do 5 – 10 simple ‘next steps’ within 30 minutes if you focus – what would it take to make progress on a number of projects today?

Your ‘next step’ can be as simple as a phone call, a web page for your project or responding to a client request.  You can make it more complex if you like, but mostly I find simple is best – it’s often easiest to do too!  (e.g. ‘learn about business finances’ is way too broad, but ‘choose three metrics to measure weekly in my business’ is a lot more manageable!)

For best results, mix a clear vision, some focused time and some very specific actions.  ‘What’s next?’ will soon become your favourite daily question!

Most importantly, if you really are stuck and don't even know what to do next, find someone to talk to!  Another brain in the equation often clears the path in moments... how many hours have you wasted so far?  (BTW, that's another good reason to have a business coach - you have advice and ideas on tap from an experienced business person!) How does it get better than that?

What are you going to commit to doing today that will move your most important project forward?  Share it below and let us know how you go at the end of the day!