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Getting all you want
from your business

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Part One of Three

Opportunities are lost when you don't know what you're looking for. After all, how can you find something if you don't know exactly what it is?

You can't wait until you need the money to go after it. If you do, you'll sell yourself short, and significantly reduce (or totally miss) the profits you could have maximized. Small business owners lose more money this way than most realize or care to admit.

Coaching Corner:

This three-part series will highlight the five steps you need to prepare yourself to reap all the profits and benefits you want from your business:

>> Step 1: Determine what you really want. This may seem obvious, but what is it you really want from your business? For example, you may think it's more clients, but is it really?

When you step back and look at what you really want your business to deliver and your life to look like, is it really more clients? Or is the increased overhead to serve all those new clients the last thing you want?

If it's boosting your net profits, and you have a solid client base, there may be a better way to increase your net profits. One way of doing this could be to increase the frequency your current clients' repurchase, creating added value so that your clients are willing to pay more each time they buy, or reduce client attrition by providing such customized service that they would never even think of leaving your company to purchase somewhere else.

In the end, you may still need to increase your client base to achieve all you want, but my point is that you won't know until you really decide.

This is usually one of the biggest hurdles we help small business owners to overcome in our coaching. Persist and push through. Get insight and guidance from your business coach. But what ever you do, if you want to be living your ideal lifestyle five years from now -- don't move ahead until you complete this step.

>> Step 2: Pick a specific date in the future and write down clearly what you want. Once you have identified what it is you want, write down exactly what you're looking to achieve.

Some may call this goal-setting. I call it a wise habit. The most successful business owners have clearly defined, written goals that are revisited on a consistent basis. And completing this step goes well beyond providing you a clear focus. It gives you a reference point.

For example, let's say you want more clients. Unless you know the specific number of clients you want to serve in the next month, you'll be missing the guidepost that will equip you to do the following:

>> Make objective judgments on what strategies to use to achieve your goals.

>> Determine whether your target is achievable.

>> Decide whether you'd be able to effectively serve and retain those new clients once you get them.

Next week we'll highlight the next two steps in this five-part plan.

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