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The Secret to Success: It’s Not a Secret

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | Secret to Success | The Secret to Success: It’s Not a SecretVisualize your goals and then craft a plan for achieving them

Many people wonder about the secret to success. Successful people are viewed as special, possessing unique talents, vision, and unflagging commitment.

The reality is there is no secret. Success is not limited to a few individuals, but is within the grasp of everyone. All it takes is an honest assessment of your abilities and creating your own definition of success. This doesn’t have to include owning a private jet or a villa in France. You just need to figure out the things in life that will make you happy, and create a roadmap for achieving them.

During my career as a successful commodities broker, I learned a key lesson about success: self-management is more important than talent. The most successful people aren’t necessarily the ones with the most talent, but the ones who believe in themselves and are determined to persevere in the face of adversity.

High achievers are often regarded with awe and respect. They are seen as extraordinary beings because they accomplish so much. Yet there are consistencies in their behaviors that anyone can follow. High achievers:

  • Identify goals
  • Study how to make them happen
  • Plans steps to achieve them
  • Execute

Whether they are called ambitions, purposes or aims, goals can help you live a meaningful, productive life. There’s a difference between goals and dreams. You can dream about winning the lottery, but if you make that your life’s ambition you’re going to end up sorely disappointed, unless you’re incredibly lucky.

Goals are dreams that can be realistically attained. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against material rewards. But a desire to be wealthy without a clear path to attaining it is a recipe for frustration.

Businessman and author Philip L. Stephen aptly describes the basic goals of life:

  • Family: what you will do for them
  • Professional: what you aim to achieve
  • Financial: planning for the present and the future
  • Social: the groups you belong to
  • Health: taking care of yourself
  • Intellectual: continuing to learn
  • Recreational: taking the time to relax

A powerful tool in goal setting is visualization. If you can see where you are going, it’s easier to anticipate the complications that will inevitably arise. That gives you an advantage because you’re not just concentrating on achieving an outcome, you’re also figuring out ahead of time how to avoid or face difficulties that will arise.

A frequent stumbling block in developing and sticking to a plan is negative self-image resulting from childhood experiences. You can rid yourself of negative thoughts by telling yourself that you are a unique individual with unique abilities. You can be what you want to be – if you accept that you can. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Be bold! Don’t be afraid to reset your goals as the need arises. New objectives will form, and they may very well be the means to all kinds of rewards.

To summarize:

  • Define your goals
  • Accentuate the positive, minimize the negative
  • Adopt good habits that center on self-motivation
  • Visualize what you want to accomplish
  • Select goals based on your own needs, not on others’ needs

In closing, remember that the only chains and shackles that hold any of us back from any goal in life are those that we ourselves forge in the fires of doubt and hammer out on the anvils of lack of belief.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article | Secret to Success | The Secret to Success: It’s Not a SecretRaymond Houser is the author of THE WINNING ADVANTAGE: Tap Into Your Richest Resources. He started earning money by selling pecans when he was six years-old. By the time he was 12, he had a paper route in addition to working in grocery stores and a bowling alley. When his dream of becoming a major league baseball catcher ended, he knew he had to focus on other goals. And that is what he did, challenging himself to overcome shyness and knock on doors until he became the highest-grossing divisional book salesman of his time for the Southwestern Company. After that he started, developed, and eventually sold, his own book company. His career had its ups and downs, including a bankruptcy. Yet, despite setbacks, he never gave up. Starting a new career in his 40s, he was hired at Merrill Lynch where he became a successful money manager who earned accolades — and substantial income for himself and his clients — through trust in himself and innovation. In time, he started, developed, and eventually sold, another company. Today he is a sought-after speaker who offers his experience and perspective on managing a career and, most of all, a life. He divides his time between Dallas and San Diego. For more information please visit, www.thewinningadvantagebook.com

How To Succeed As An Entrepreneur: A Guide

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship ArticleOwning your own business is a huge accomplishment and one that you should be very proud of. However, it’s important to realize that your journey is just beginning and now it’s up to you to navigate the business landscape properly so you can become a successful and thriving entrepreneur.

Learn from your past mistakes and also be prepared to take on experiences that may be novel to you. You can have a great business idea, product or strategy but you’ll likely struggle to make it big unless you’re prepared to put forth an extra effort and focus on a few important initiatives. Use the following ideas to help you find future success so you can have a more enjoyable experience growing your business.

Follow A Business Plan

It’s in your best interest to have a roadmap in place for where you’re heading now and in the future. Document and follow a business plan that specifies your goals and details about how you’re going to go about achieving each one. You’ll better succeed as an entrepreneur when you’re focused on a couple of critical matters instead of trying to spread yourself too thin. Take your time with this project and put a lot of thought behind it so you can make your job easier going forward. Remain flexible and be willing to adjust as you go if you find yourself needing to adapt to a changing industry or business environment. Without one, you’ll likely quickly feel lost and won’t be able to guide or lead others in a clear and concise manner.

Make Wise Financial Decisions

You’ll have a better chance of succeeding as an entrepreneur when you make wise financial decisions. This includes both on a professional and personal level so that you’re consistent and well-rounded in this area. One idea is to subscribe to a related newsletter and follow topics such as money morning so you can gather tips and advice from the experts. Take notes about what you find the most helpful and start coming up with strategies you want to follow so you can be more secure and stable financially. You’ll not only want to know how best to invest your money, but also how to create and follow budgets and keep your business in the green even when money is tight.

Build A Network of Contacts & Supporters

Although you’re an entrepreneur, it doesn’t mean you have to tackle this endeavor all by yourself or feel like you’re alone in this journey. You’ll be more successful in your role when you put your time and energy into building a network of contacts and supporters. Use these people to bounce ideas off of and as a crutch when you’re feeling lost or don’t know where to turn. Put yourself out there constantly by attending networking events and conferences and getting more involved in your community. Follow up with the individuals who you meet so you can reintroduce yourself and stay in touch in the future. It’s also a wise idea to find a business mentor who’s been in your position before and can assist you and offer up sound advice when you’re experiencing any setbacks or struggles.

Encourage Team Culture

As your business grows and expands, you’re going to need to hire people to help you run your company and meet your goals. What will allow you to succeed in your position as a business owner is to hire talented employees who will get the job done right, offer up new ideas and listen. You’ll want to think about how you can encourage a team culture where people are working together to solve problems and get ahead as a group. It’ll be a much more pleasant office environment for everyone when staff members are collaborating and you focus on breaking down silos between departments. Hold regular team and brainstorming meetings to help you accomplish this objective and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Work Hard

The reality is that although being an entrepreneur sounds fun and appealing, it’s a tough job with a lot of responsibility. The whole future of the company depends on your ability to move the needle forward in a positive direction and create a business that’s prepared to go places and experience new heights of success. You’re not going to be able to get the job done sitting back and waiting for the people around you to pick up your slack. You need to be a good leader and have policies and procedures in place for how your employees can get their work done the most efficiently. You also have to be willing to take care of yourself so that you’re healthy enough to run a business and work long hours when necessary.

Focus on Time Management

Another way to succeed as an entrepreneur is to focus on having solid time management skills. You’re going to be pulled in a lot of different directions as a business owner and will need to know how and when to say no to others. Keep a calendar, hire an assistant and create to-do lists so you can get what’s most important done first each day. Remember that your time, especially as a business owner, is precious and you don’t have a lot of it to waste. Set your priorities straight and have strategies in place that work for you and allow you to get through your tasks in a timely manner. Also, learn how to delegate and ask your employees to pitch in and help you when it makes sense. You’ll feel a lot more in control of your business when you’re in control of the clock and your schedule.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t an easy job and will take a lot of extra effort on your part if you want it to be a rewarding experience for you. Use these ideas to help you succeed in your role and build a company that’s going to be around for the long-term. Enjoy the process of watching yourself grow and mature into a reputable business owner as time goes on.

Upping Your Game If Your Business Is Under Strain

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All businesses hit rough patches. Of course, the problems really start when you struggle to get yourself out of that rough patch. Perhaps your business has been under strain for a while. Maybe you’re just not seeing the sales that you used to see. There are so many reasons as to why this might be the case, but the issues are often minor and easily fixed if you’re determined and motivated enough to fix them. Let’s talk about upping your business game to help relieve some of the strain.

Always head back to the drawing board.

Obviously, the advice in this article might help inspire you to get your business back on its feet. The suggestions might just steer you in new directions that help you to resolve issues within your company. However, you need to take the initiative. You need to head back to the drawing board on a frequent basis. When it comes to creating a successful business, your work is never done. The market is always changing, and you need to constantly work towards adapting your company in order to survive those changes. That’s why you shouldn’t wait for things to start going wrong before you make changes to your business; you should regularly return to the drawing board and ask yourself whether improvements need to be made.

Of course, it can be hard to keep up with consumers, competitors, and the market as a whole. You might forever feel as if your business is playing catch-up just to remain modern and relevant. The key is to create an effective business that works so smoothly that returning to the drawing board is a formality more than anything. You don’t want to have to spend hours, days, or weeks trying to pinpoint issues with sales, for example. You might want to look into some of the advanced ecommerce systems on the market because they could help you assess your business’ sales on a real-time basis. Having constant access to research and information will ensure that your company can make instant decisions regarding improvements to its structure. Heading back to the drawing board will become a straightforward and painless process.

Tidy up your promotional efforts.

If you’ve worked hard to deliver a product or service that’s just as good (if not better) than the competition then you might want to consider that your business is suffering for other reasons. Most commonly, poor promotional efforts are the reason for a company’s failure to secure potential customers. You need to tidy up your marketing strategy. Work on building your online presence if you want to up your game and compete with other businesses on the market. You need to improve the content on your website and social media profiles; the more relevant they are to search engines, the higher you’ll show up on result pages. Do some research into SEO if you feel out of your depth.

Incentivize your employees.

As a final piece of advice, the best way to up your game if it’s under strain is to increase your business’ productivity. Motivated staff can completely turn things around for a struggling company. So often, the problem is that the workforce isn’t incentivized to go the extra mile. You have to give them a reason to do so. Perhaps you could offer perks and rewards such as bonuses or free lunches for the hardest workers every week or every day. Do something that proves how much you value your employees.

Have You Found Your Passion that Pays?

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What are you deeply passionate about? At what can you be the very best in the world? What drives your business’s economic engine? Many people know what their passions are, but that’s as far as they go. They have many passions, are generalists about all of them, and don’t strongly commit to one or two. As a result, they never become really exceptional at anything – and this holds true for their businesses, as well.

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About the Author

Ron CarsonRon Carson is the founder and CEO of Carson Wealth Management Group, one of the largest wealth advisory firms by assets under advisement in the country, serving clients through holistic financial planning, disciplined investment strategies, and proactive personal service. He is one of the most celebrated and respected financial advisors and executives in the industry and is a sought after speaker, thinker, and investment strategist. Ron’s book, The Sustainable Edge: 15 Minutes a Week to a Richer Entrepreneurial Life, was written for business owners who are seeking a fuller, more rewarding work­-life balance.

5 Things Every Modern Entrepreneur Needs

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Amid the release of data revealing that the economic outlook among U.S. small business owners had finally stabilized, there’s cause for entrepreneurs to be optimistic. Whether or not that outlook begins to uptick not only depends upon how agile, adaptable, creative and resourceful entrepreneurs can be in planning for, or reacting to, market conditions, revenue and brand-building opportunities and other key concerns, but also how well they maintain a forward-thinking mindset.

Towards this end, tomorrow’s smart and successful entrepreneur will have their bases well-covered on these five fronts in particular:

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About the Author

Brian GreenbergBrian Greenberg is a multi-faceted entrepreneur who has founded and now spearheads multiple online businesses. He currently co-owns and operates three entrepreneurial companies with his father, Elliott Greenberg, which have each flourished for over 10 years: www.WholesaleJanitorialSupply.com, www.TouchFreeConcepts.com and www.TrueBlueLifeInsurance.com.