Tag Archives: mastermind group

Five Sure Fire Ways to Experience Success

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I talk with a lot of entrepreneurs every week, and I have discovered some common themes that make them successful. Combining these with my own experiences, I’ve uncovered five main ways to keep you on track for success.

Follow Your Passion

It is not enough to want your own business. You must find the business that you are passionate about! Your business must be in alignment with your personal goals, values and passion. When I was growing up, I was heavily involved in theatre and dancing. I toyed with the idea of obtaining a degree in musical theatre and moving to New York to pursue a career on Broadway. However, I was cautioned not to do this unless I was wildly passionate about it because the rejection was so incredible and the industry was so competitive. Do these obstacles sound familiar? They are very similar to those experienced by entrepreneurs. However, when you do something that you are truly passionate about, it’s easy to get out of bed and feel excited and energized by your work! In addition, it is much easier to find ways to stand out in a competitive market and to do great work for your clients.

Have a Vision

In business, it is critical to pay attention to the right details. Planning is crucial to success. It’s a well-known axiom that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and yet I regularly hear from entrepreneurs who do not plan! Without a plan in place, it is too easy to get distracted by whatever happens to come your way. If the opportunities (seminars, speaking engagements, networking opportunities, article requests, etc) are not in alignment with your vision, they will take you off course, and you may not meet your end goal and your vision will become, well… blurred! Think about this before you say “yes” to the next thing that comes your way. If it is not going to help support your goals for this year, month, or week, your decision should be very easy. Just say no.

Find a Way to Be Held Accountable

Many of us go into business to be able to flex our creative muscle. We like coming up with wonderful ideas, but implementing them is not as fun as the big-picture thinking! Our new idea sounds great, and the potential revenue is exciting, but the tasks we need to do to get there are overwhelming and we can’t seem to make any headway on the project! So we procrastinate and find other things to occupy our time, until we eventually take the wonderful creative idea off our “to do” list because we don’t want to or know how to do the work to get us there. This is a waste of your creative spirit! Successful entrepreneurs find ways to be held accountable, whether it’s through membership in a round table or mastermind group, forming an advisory board, entering a formal partnership or hiring a coach to keep them on track.

Spend Your Time on High-Payoff Tasks

Everyone knows that in order to stay in business, we must continue to bring in revenue. However, many entrepreneurs spend too much of their time doing activities that don’t generate income! So what is an entrepreneur to do? Delegate! By outsourcing all the tasks that don’t include generating money or building relationships, you will be able to use your newly found time to make more money! Your time for high-payoff activities (planning, forecasting, developing your marketing funnel, training, and so forth) will increase and in turn, your productivity will increase. There are many virtual professionals who you can hire to do the work you need to outsource and could include anything from accounting to administration and beyond. Once you do this the first time, be prepared to be addicted to this concept!

Focus

How many projects do you have going on at any one time? Or worse, how many businesses are you running at one time? I recently met a woman who has three businesses, and she was complaining that none of them were doing well. Gee, I wonder why? Having too many projects at one time, particularly if you do not have a way of managing each of them properly, means that you’re likely to become overwhelmed. Pick a project or two and focus on those. You will feel so great to knock something out and will be motivated to continue onto your next task. If you are spread too thin, I can guarantee you that you will sabotage your chances of meeting your goals.

After assessing where you are in these five lessons, you can start to see what you need to focus on. Whether you feel confused, struggle with self-confidence or lack tangible results, I suggest taking action to find out if you’re following your passion and determine your measuring stick for success. If you are easily distracted or overwhelmed, I suggest finding a coach who can help you align your goals, priorities and values to create the life and business you desire. By paying attention to these key areas, you can start to shift to creating a business that fits your lifestyle, not one that dictates it, which is one of my personal measures of success.

Copyright © 2009 Meredith Liepelt

Meredith Liepelt, President of Rich Life Marketing, publishes Smart Marketing, a free bi-weekly ezine featuring marketing tips, insider secrets and thought provoking articles designed to help the busy female entrepreneur become known as an expert in her field, build trust with clients and prospects and generate more income than ever before. Claim your free subscription today at http://www.richlifemarketing.com

How to Find Your “Tribe”

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1188044_flowering_plants1Have you noticed that successful entrepreneurs all have one thing in common? They all have a “tribe.” It’s true. Think of any entrepreneur who has achieved a certain level of success and you’ll discover they are surrounded by people who support, believe and help them to realize their goals and dreams.

Having just returned from one of my mastermind gatherings in Martha’s Vineyard, it became even more clear exactly how important these types of gatherings are. There is something very powerful that happens when a dozen visionary entrepreneurs gather for a few days to turn dreams into reality. By the end of our two days together we were referring to ourselves as a “tribe” because of the depth of connection we felt, and the level of commitment we have in helping each other succeed.

As we were leaving the restaurant from our celebration dinner, another group of diners came up to us and asked how we all came together. They could tell there was something different about our “tribe” and they couldn’t figure out what it was. The best guess they had was that we were having a “mini” high school reunion… because it was evident to them we’d known each other for decades. Ha! At best, some of us have known each other for 2 ½ years, while some other “tribe” members had just met this weekend. Yet, there was a feeling we have all known each other much longer than that.

So, when we told these diners we were a mastermind group of like-minded colleagues, they wanted to know how we all came together. And, this is what I want to share with you here, so you can find your own “tribe” too.

Step 1: Have a Clear Vision For Your Business. In order to attract like-minded mastermind colleagues (your “tribe”) you’ve first got to get clear on your own vision for business and your life. You will attract the perfect group of people to support you based on your own vision. Like attracts like, so get clear on what you want and it will be much easier to manifest the perfect group of people who are also clear on what they want. This is how you can help each other most.

Step 2: Have a Clear Vision for Your “Tribe.” Now it’s time to get clear on the types of people you want to attract for your mastermind group… your “tribe.” Ask yourself these questions… What types of people do I want to support me in the realization of my dreams? What qualities do I want them to possess? What values and guiding principles do I want them to have? Granted, right now, you don’t know exactly WHO those people are, but you can get very clear about the TYPES of people they are. It’s kind of like identifying your ideal client… you can get crystal clear on the essence of who they are without knowing their face or name.

Step 3: Go Where Your “Tribe” Goes. Here you’ve got to take the next step to go where your “tribe” goes. Identify the LIVE face-to-face events where your tribe gathers. For instance, every single person in my current mastermind group, I met by going to an event where I knew “my people” would be. And, they were. Here’s another example, I was just talking with an entrepreneur who signed up to attend my Freedom Formula Experience and she said one of her top 3 reasons for attending was to be in a room filled with like-minded people… her “tribe” per se. So, take the steps you need to identify where YOUR “tribe” is and do whatever it takes to gather with them.

Step 4: Say “Yes” When The Right Opp*rtunity Shows Up. Too many people attract the right opp*ortunities into their lives, but then don’t say “YES” when they show up. Your job, in order to find your “tribe,” is to say YES when the right situation presents itself. I know it sounds crazy to say “no” when the perfect situation surfaces, but sadly, I see people do this all the time. They let the excuse of time, money, travel, etc. keep them from having everything they want. So, the most important step is this one… to say YES to your “tribe” when they show up.

Now, more than ever, it is absolutely essential to have your “tribe” in place. There’s going to be so much exciting change and evolution over the coming years, nobody is going to make it through alone. Your “tribe” of like-minded colleagues is sure to be one of the most valuable assets you can have in your business (and your life) today.

Copyright © 2009 Christine Kloser, author of The Freedom Formula, helps small businesses put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to enjoy a purpose-driven business and a soulful life, send for my free Conscious Business Success Kit, which includes my report, How to Avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Made by Conscious Entrepreneurs and audio, 7 Strategies Entrepreneurial Authors Need to Know Before Writing a Word, at LoveYourLife.com.