Connell Wise is the founder and CEO of the National Association of Youth-Owned Businesses –”The World’s 1st Trade-Association For 13-25 Year Old Business Executives and Social Change Makers.” Despite living with ADD, 2nd degree heart block, Asthma and being a type II Diabetic. Connell has been a youth rights advocate for the past 6 years brought his beliefs of youth-involvement in government to both local and national levels. In several capacities, Connell has worked for the District of Columbia Government as a Government Commissioner over the Executive Office of The Mayor Office of Volunteerism, as well as his work as a President Barack Obama campaign Fellow. Previous to this, Connell Founded C.W.B.N. (Connell Wise Broad Casting Network) an online news website that gives teens a place to report what is happening in their community and offers a forum to discuss how they feel about it. www.usyouthchamber.com

A while ago I came across a great article by successful entrepreneur and sales trainer Billy Cox, entitled 10 Best Practices of Successful Salespeople. I’m not a sales person but his 10 points really resonated with me because they are part of a topic that really interests me; successful people and their habits.

So for today’s post I’ve taken the 4 key practices from Billy’s post because I believe that they are generic to anyone who wants to be successful.

1. They control their mental and emotional state.

This is such a critical practice for anyone who wants to be successful. If you can control your state, you can master virtually every situation you come across.

State is very simply the way you feel and how you approach something. You can control your state by changing the following 3 things: physiology, language and focus. When you’re in a state such as happiness, you hold your body in a certain way, you focus on particular things and you say happy words. Your state is influenced by these 3 things rather than them being the result of your mental and emotional state.

Successful people know this and are consistently working on their state. They ensure that when they are dynamic, they put themselves in a dynamic state. When they need to be calm they simple change what their body is doing, where their focus is and what language they’re using.

2. They are prepared.

Successful people know that poor preparation usually leads to poor results. They are aware that what they do in preparation is always critical to the game they want to play, whether that game is business, relationships, fitness or any other area of their lives.

There are some things in life you can wing. Would you want to just wing it with your business? Or would you rather take the time to work out your market and check out the competition?

3. They have integrity.

You’ll always find a successful person with strong principles that they live by. Some people you know may shove those principles down your throat given half the chance but there are plenty of failures who do that too. Successful people have a subconscious code that helps guide them and allows them to solve life issues within a framework.

So for example, if a successful business owner is always on time then there’s a good chance that they hold a principle that says, “successful people are never late.”

What are you principles? What moral code do you live by that makes you a better person?

4. They create desire.

And finally, not only do successful people have desire themselves, they can also fire it in someone else. Lots of things create desire for a successful person. It might be money, fame, notoriety, peace, fairness, family values, or anything else you might care to mention.

We all have a desire of some sorts, even if you don’t think you do. A practice that separates successful people is that they can find ways to instill that desire in others, their teams, their employees, their families or anyone who they come into contact with.

What are your practices that help make you successful?

Ben Lumley writes about Success and Personal Achievement at 6aliens.com. He is a Personal Achievement Coach and Motivational Speaker.

In this short video I talk about those stories, why we have them and what stories you could be telling yourself instead. I thought I’d change the pace a bit on my column so I hope you like it.

Check out the video here

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Ben Lumley writes about Success and Personal Achievement at 6aliens.com. He is a Personal Achievement Coach and Motivational Speaker.

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“If you don’t design your own plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” ~ Jim Rohn

In business, whether you’re creating a bricks and mortar products and services company or you’re building your empire online, its vital you have a plan. Without a plan you can’t focus on the actions you need to take to produce the results you’re after. No plan – no clarity – no results. Sound like a winning business formula?

Now you may have a business plan that states everything you want the business to do and looks at some of the different ways you’ll achieve it but is that the only plan you have? Do you have one for how you’ll attract clients for example? Do you have a plan for your website? For your online brand development? Do you have any plans?

When you’re an entrepreneur, planing is your best friend. It gives you structure which in turn give you a laser sharp focus to move forward with.

To show you a little easier how having a plan can give you structure, I’ve borrow David Allen’s GTD theory for finding your life’s purpose but I’ve tweaked it a little here. Allen calls it the Horizon of Focus model and it works by outlining the need at each level starting from way up in the sky (the overall purpose) to the runway (where the action takes place). For this example let’s call it the “make it f*****g happen” plan.

The Make It F*****g Happen Plan

50,000ft – Purpose

Your purpose for whatever plan you’re creating is the reason you’re embarking on the plan in the first place. For example if you’re wanting to have a powerful online brand that has 1,000,000 twitter followers than that is your purpose. Its doesn’t need to be a lengthy statement, it just need to detail your purpose.

40,000ft – Vision

The next level down is the vision you have for how that purpose above will look and feel. What will it look like when it’s finished and achieved? The more detail you can make the vision, the more you’ll want to achieve it.

30,000ft – Goals and objectives

What are the goals and objectives needed to make the vision a reality? What do you need to accomplish in the next month, year and 2 years to make it happen? To start with, if you’re unsure, go for a short, medium and long term goal with some objectives of what needs to happen.

20,000ft – Strategies

At this level we’re getting to the nuts and bolts of the plan where lots of the work will be done. Having all of the above levels in place is great but you need to have the tools and strategies to make it happen. What do you need to do to make your short term goal happen? Do you need to change that website? Meet 5 clients a week? Sell x number of product A? How will you make it happen?

10,000ft – Projects

This is a bit of an interim level where you can create little projects that help you complete your strategies that allow you to achieve your goals.

Runway – Next actions

Right here we go. What’s the next step? Is there an action that you can take next to get the ball rolling? It doesn’t need to be a massive action. It could be as simple as doing this thing or calling that person who could help. Whatever you can do to start is the right action here.

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.” ~ Jim Rohn

Use the “Make it F*****g Happen” plan to set out the structure in your business that will let you achieve great things. Tinker with it and make it fit you and your business but whatever you do, make sure you have plans in place for how you’re going to grow your business and develop it.

It comes from some great social conditioning that we have that says when we are finished in school, we can stop learning. Some will say that the real learning begins when you finish school but what they are referring to is experiential learning which, even though is valuable, is not the only type of study that you can do post education. Many people simply settle for letting life offer up bits of knowledge and understanding, all the while wondering why they’re not producing the results they want in their business and their lives.

Jim Rohn said,

education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune.

He was right of course. Why stop at education and believe it will produce the results you desire for your life? It won’t. Formal education is designed to give you a start in life, not to give you all of the answers you’ll need, all of the time. It can’t do that. You need to immerse yourself in learning in any way you can. Through books, classes, home study courses, reading on the Internet or audio programs. All help you to produce some truly great results. A true exponent of the self-education skill is Darren Hardy, millionaire, successful entrepreneur, speaker and publisher of Success Magazine, who is continually learning, including using time in his car to learn from audio books and courses. You can self learn too.

What got you here, won’t get you there ~ Brian Tracy

To vastly improve the results in your business, start yourself on a course of self-learning. Immerse yourself in learning about your niche, how to run a successful business, what others in your field do and anything else that will give you the leading edge. Then go out there and apply it. If you’re not learning and applying, you can bet your competitors are. Do you really want to be left behind?

Successful people understanding that learning, in whatever form it takes, is essential to achieving the goals they have set for their business and finances. Success leaves clues. Here’s one for you. Start learning again.

I’m sure you’ve met one, you know the type…been there, done that, know everyone, full of their own self importance, and sooooo superior.

These are the type of people that you run a mile from at a party, and if you’re unfortunate enough to have worked with one…. well..they can make life a misery.

I know I can hear you saying it now….”well that’s not me…..is it?” Unfortunately we lack the perspective to see ourselves as we actually are.

Now don’t get me wrong, a healthy ego will enable you to have a good level of self confidence, optimism and ambition, all of which are important to your business success.

It’s when you start believing your own “press” and making decisions with an “all about me” attitude that you start to make bad decisions for your business.

Your success is dependent on your ability to be open to new opportunities, ideas, and trends. You have to be willing to listen to feedback from your clients. How are you able to do this if it’s all about YOU and not your customer?

Fortunately we are not all egomaniacs, but we all have the potential to let our ego’s get out of check from time to time. So how do you know if you’re drifting over to the dark side?

Here are a few questions to consider:

• Do you constantly compare yourself to others, seek recognition and acceptance.
• Do you continually justify your actions and defend your ideas.
• Constantly “tooting your own horn” and talking up your abilities.
• Do you speak more than you listen
• You rarely seek the counsel of others

Is there a tad too much Ego creeping in?…be honest!

Don’t despair! There’s always room for improvement you know….no one is perfect!

And if you’re saying “Yes I am”, then you may want to remind yourself of the following strategies.

• Adopt humility, this allows you to recognise that you may be good at what you do but allows you to recognise your imperfections and failures.
• Listen first, Speak later.
• Consult others and have an open mind.
• Be of Service

You’re in business to serve others…. the money is a by-product of that function, and the money will be in direct proportion to the level of excellence you provide.

Remember to check yourself every now and again, and put a leash on that Ego!

Oncken and Wass suggest that there are three types of management-imposed time pressure – Boss, System, and Self.  Each has its own imperatives and if not managed, consequences.

Boss-imposed time pressure are activities, which must be accomplished, or we’ll suffer the consequences!  System-imposed time pressures are those  activities/requests which come from peers and colleagues. The penalties are not so severe or as swift, but we may still suffer if these things are not done.

Self-imposed time pressure are those activities we ourselves initiate or agree to do – particularly those things which have been upwardly delegated from people who report to us.  These activities impact heavily on our discretionary time, and the penalty for not doing these is stress.

Oncken and Wass use the monkey analogy to make their point.  When someone in our team talks about a “problem” they want to “run past us”, the monkey (in other words, the problem) is very clearly on their back.  But when we respond with something like “Well, I haven’t got time right now, but leave it with me”, the monkey immediately leaps from their shoulders to ours.  We have just been on the receiving end of an excellent piece of upward delegation.

They suggest the way to deal with this is to develop the initiative of team members to take action.  At the heart of their article is deciding which of five “levels of initiative” your people are at.  It’s then a matter of helping each person progress through the five levels.

I’ve used this process helping managers improve their time management and delegation skills for over ten years.  If you want to improve your productivity as a manager, this publication is highly recommended.

You can purchase this book from our trusted book store here

If you’ve ever watched Dragon’s Den (a popular show here the UK where entrepreneurs pitch ideas to successful business people (the dragons) to gain investment to help grow their venture) you’ll know that some of the presentations given are truly shocking. When pitching their ideas, these start up entrepreneurs give off a raft clues about their failures and very few clues of success.

But you don’t need to be thinking about success signs when you’re pitching an idea or selling something. Instead, just show them to yourself on a daily basis. It can make a massive difference to the level and quality of the success you achieve.

So what I want to share with you today are 3 success signs to think about. Implement or change these in you and your approach today and they will start bringing you success.

Language

The language you use and how you use it when talking to people gives a lot information away about how successful you feel you are. For example, if you’re pitching to a group of potential clients and you start by asking the question ”You wouldn’t be interested in my product/service would you?” then instantly you’re off on the wrong foot.

Using negative language when you speak to others is undermining yourself and your business. Be aware of what you say to others as well as how you say it. Speak with confidence and give people the impression that you’re a success. I’m not suggesting you lie. Just speak like a successful person would speak in your position.

Our self-talk has the same effect though. If you’re speaking to someone and coming across as a success but in the back of your mind you’re telling yourself that you’re not then all that talk will cancel itself out and you’ll get nowhere.

Remember, even if you’re just starting out in your business life, you are already a success when compared to people who sit on their ass all day and wish that they could have their own business.

Improve your self-talk. Make it positive and empowering rather than the usual negative and dis-empowering.

Physiology

How you move and your appearance gives people a lot of information about your perceived feelings of success. If your body language is closed off and you’re looking nervous then people won’t want to buy from you or invest in your business. People buy from confident people who are seen to be doing well. If they didn’t BP’s stock would be going through the roof right now.

Pay attention to your movement and your body language when you’re working with others. If it’s positive and portrays an air of success and confidence, you’re on to a winner.

Your appearance too is telling prospective clients and customers a lot. Are you attending meetings looking smart and well presented? You might feel it’s appropriate to meet in jeans and a T-Shirt but is it sending a message of success? Notice that all of the successful people in the world do not spend their days in their old clothes. You shouldn’t either.

Also consider what you’re wearing when you’re not face to face with customers and clients. Do the clothes you wear make you feel good? Do they make you feel successful? If they don’t then now’s the time to change that.

Attitude

The final piece of the puzzle is your attitude. What you focus on in life determines what you notice from your environment and how successful you are. If your attitude is negative, if you feel envious of other people, you’re bitter about your lack of success so far or you feel over worked and underpaid, your focus will be in a really bad place. You’ll find everything in your environment that confirms your attitude, because that’s how focus works, and the cycle will get worse and worse.

You need to keep a positive attitude by looking for the best in every situation. Your focus will shift when you do and most importantly, this change in you will be seen and felt by those around you. If your attitude sucks, your customers and clients will easily pick up on it, jeopardising your sale and your potential work.

Success leaves clues

The clues to other’s successes are all around us. All over the world people are modelling the strategies of successful people with the signs that they give off.

What signs are you offering to others that tell them about your success?

But how much money is enough?

Take a good look at what you really need. Have you got the basics to get you through the early stages? So long as you have functioning computers, phones, a modest amount of stationary, in fact whatever it is you need for your business. You don’t have to rush out and buy all the new groovy stuff right now.

All that will come in time….once those dollars start rolling in.

If you are beginning your business as a part time enterprise while you are still working, good on you! That’s a smart way to start. Just make sure that you are more than capable of covering your loss of wages (consistently) before you tell your boss where to go!

Working from home can be a great way to save on costs, not every business requires a shop front or glamorous office. If you really need to have office space, warehousing or retail, then consider sublets or sharing space, perhaps even a virtual office. These will all help to reduce your overheads.

If you are not a cash business, then keep a tight rein on your receivables (money that people owe you). This will quickly affect your cash flow if you allow debtors to get out of hand. If you lose control of your cash flow you will quickly find yourself in a situation where you cannot pay suppliers on time, they may then cancel your credit terms or cease supply. All of which obviously impact on your clients directly. This becomes a vicious circle that is very hard to get back out of, unless you can inject further funds into the business.

Be careful not to invest too much into Stock that you hold. This is dead money until you make a sale, and it could be money that you need in other areas. Try wherever possible to hold the bare minimum or perhaps look at alternatives like fulfilment houses or drop shipping.

Make sure to work within your means when you are beginning, it is so easy to get carried away with things. Ask yourself do you want it, or do you need it, and work your finances to give you the best of what you need until you can afford to do things differently.

Apart from all the good advice and tips Bellman provides, his key message is that when you are in a zero power job, your main purpose in life should be “helping others succeed”.  “Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge” sets out a strategy for becoming a leader when you are not in a position of authority – probably one of the most challenging roles any manager can take on.  Many chapters have a step by step approach for implementing this leadership strategy, so along with the various scenarios, these steps make it easy for any manager to understand and apply.

Although it’s aimed at the manager who does not have line authority, this book is recommended for all managers who want to increase their personal power.

You can purchase this book from our trusted book store here