How to Write Your 90 Day Plan

You made your 2012 Commitments, but have you created your plan of action to assure that you have a clear plan for success? Your 90 Day Plan will help focus you for the next three months and get you moving in a solid direction while giving you actionable, measurable and executable steps toward success. DO NOT write this plan and then put it on the shelf! After your plan is written, schedule and timeline each and every action item to make sure it gets done. Don’t forget your team in all of this. You can’t do it alone. Vision is your business. Execution is the business of others. Utilize both to increase your revenues in 2012.

Your 90 Day Plan should include the following sections –

Marketing

Sales (No, sales and marketing aren’t the same thing)

Fulfillment

Accounting

Quality Assurance/Processes

The important thing is to get your vision and ideas down on paper, commit to them by putting action items on your calendar, task your team with what you don’t want to (or need to) do and GO! Start getting some ideas on paper. If you aren’t sure what areas of your business fall into each category, my team digs into these six key areas in today’s Fast Cash Coaching blog. If you aren’t taking part in Fast Cash Coaching, consider it. You can get the help your business needs, seven days a week, get access to Live Out Loud coaches and realize so many more benefits that will take your business (and wealth) to the next level.

We want you to succeed!

Being Healthy is Easy!

How many times have you sworn to yourself that you will lose weight or become a healthier person? Lost count? Most of us have. But, instead of commitments, we are setting resolutions or goals. Miss a resolution or goal, there’s no big repercussion. Miss a commitment… then you have missed a clear deadline for success. If you approach your commitments this year with Yes! Energy, you will find that all it takes is a few small shifts in what you are doing to make a big difference.

Here are a two small shifts you can make today!

Drink Water! Everyone I know who is healthy (or getting healthier) drinks a lot of water. Water is essential so your body can operate the way it needs to.

Build Activity into Your Routine: Activity (NOT working out… that’s WORK) should be a part of your routine every day. Don’t tie yourself to minutes of activity, just get out and do it! Take a walk. Play a sport. Play with your kids. Just move!

Start there. Try those two things. Don’t go wild and place demands on yourself. Just start making small shifts and you will see big results. The most healthy you can do to prepare for 2012 is to forget the resolutions and make a commitment to your well-being. A healthy you is a successful you!

I want to invite you to join me in a tradition, to set your 2012 commitment. Forget New Year’s resolutions. They don’t work and they aren’t as strong as a true commitment. I do this every year for myself and my business. Now, I want to share it with you.

Sign up for my free “My 2012 Commitment” webinar. See you there!

Excavating Excellence from Yes! Energy

Life is a field of opportunity. You just need to understand how to cultivate that opportunity and grow it into abundant wealth. For some, that field can be daunting. Just looking at the vast field of possibilities is enough to paralyze some, causing a state of indecision and risk aversion. Our deepest fear is NOT that we are inadequate, it’s that we will plant that field and grow that potential so much that we won’t be able to handle it. In essence, we are fear what will happen when we succeed. So we test, we plant a small plot first and if that is successful, maybe we go bigger. But playing small doesn’t serve you nor does it serve the world. We all have greatness within us. Unfortunately, not all of us have the confidence and certainty to believe in our greatness. Once we have that faith, ANYTHING is possible. We can plant whatever we want in that field, cultivate our own life and share our gifts with the world. This light isn’t within a select few, it’s within ALL of us!

Ask yourself today… how will you live big? How will you plant that field of opportunity, cultivated it and harvest the wealth it provides?

If you haven’t accepted my invitation to discover your Yes! Energy so you can Do Less and Make More, now is the time. 5 Days to Yes! Energy will take you through the basics and help you discover why you keep sitting on all of your talents and refusing to plant those talents in your field of opportunity. It’s there for you. All you have to do is ACT!

Stop Procrastinating!

I bought a book about how to stop procrastinating and I haven’t read it yet. Sadly, this isn’t a joke. It’s reality. Yes, it’s on my to-do list, as are so many other line items. Yet, like many of the people in this world, I put it off, and put it off and then it becomes an emergency and I’m all stressed out. That is NOT Yes! Energy. Sure, I’m saying yes now, but I’m putting off figuring out how. I’m actively working on fixing my procrastination problem using Loral Langemeier’s viewpoint.

Loral says, if you are procrastinating, that means you don’t want to do it. So those are the things you should be delegating. I’m all for delegating my laundry (heads to Google to search for the nearest fluff and fold).

I thought it would be amazing to reach out to the Live Out Loud community to answer two of my most pressing questions.

1) How do you make the time to do what you need to do?

2) What is your one best procrastination-busting technique?

I received SO many great answers that I had to post them. If you missed out on my invitation email, sign up for 5 Days to Yes! Energy (it’s free). You won’t miss next week’s question. Some of these quotes have been edited for spelling and grammar, but the message is the same. Enjoy!

“What drives me is always looking at why I am doing something and, ultimately, it is to succeed so that I can spend more time with family. I found to do what I need to do, I needed to make a commitment to the task at hand within a specific time frame that is doable. Make sure you switch off any distractions such as phone, Internet, Facebook and so on. You will be surprised how fast you get things done if you don’t get distracted by them. Outsource things you don’t want to do.”

– Dario Cucci “The Cash Flow Coach”

“I have a routine and I prioritize events within that routine. I make lists and I feel how I should attack them each day. I’m not afraid to say to myself “it doesn’t feel right to do that just yet” and then often something will come along later that makes that action unnecessary or enhances it. Mindfulness practice helps me focus on what my goals are. I have systems in place so I don’t “double handle.” When I read emails, I take action straight away on them. I delete them, save them as Word docs if useful or sign up for programs straight away. Then they’re not sitting in my inbox gathering cyberdust.”

– Olivier Maxted (Olivier, tell us about your cash machine!)

“Procrastination is a form of FEAR (Failing Each Assignment Religiously) that keeps us in a cycle of failure. “Wellness begins in YOU” and procrastination keeps us in fear-based thinking. While LOVE frees us to achieve our goals/life’s purpose.”

– Denise Riley-Ajanwachuku, MS, CPC – Global SOULutions, LLC

Don’t miss the next question! It’s coming on Monday. And remember, when you submit your answers, bring your A-Game. Great posts are educational, not solely self-promotional. If you aren’t signed up for our free 5 Days to Yes! Energy, do it. You could appear in next week’s post.

Setting Goals: What Do You Want?

If setting goals is an activity you prefer to avoid, I think I know why that is.

You don’t know what you want.

Sure, you want to make more money. You don’t want to work for someone else. You’d like to have more freedom to go places and do things. You’d like to spend more time with your loved ones. You’d like to have a cushy nest egg for the future.

Okay. How do you plan on having those things? You have to start setting goals.

“Whatever it takes,” is not a goal.

Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T) objectives. – Wikipedia

Unless you’re independently wealthy, you have to work. And you pretty much have to work about eight hours a day (give or take). So, what do you plan on doing, ideally, with those eight hours? (A goal to not have to work eight hours a day is not reality. What do you want to do?)

I know a lot of you are feeling trapped. You probably think “setting goals” is not an answer. But if you want to get somewhere, you need a plan – a map – direction. Setting goals gives you direction.

You have to decide what you want first of all. The problem with so many people is that they do not know what they really want. In other words they are not at all clear about what they want in life. – WikiHow

You may be unhappy with where you are but you haven’t really thought about how to get happier. You don’t have a clear vision of your future and you’re not setting goals.

How do you expect things to change?

Setting goals is definitive. It’s like saying, “I’m going to do [blank] and I’m going to earn [X dollars] doing it. Here’s how…” Be specific!

Do you want to get out of your day job? How are you going to do it? How much are you going to make? How are you going to make it?

If you don’t know what your goal is, you’ll have a hard time going after whatever it is you really want. By setting goals you’re giving yourself a plan to get where you want to go. It’s that simple! Set your mind on a task and you’ll accomplish it.

Keep it real! Pie in the sky dreams that don’t fit your life won’t work…

For example, you can’t buy a $750,000 house if your income goal is only $50,000 per year. This is called non-integrated thinking and will sabotage all of the hard work you put into your goals. – TopAchievement.com

It’s time to start setting clear goals. Without them, you’re just wishing for “something” that will never come.

What are your goals? Are they specific? Have you written them down?

Yes! Energy: Big Hairy Audacious Goals

In last Thursdays summit, I interview Nik Halik, Author of The Thrillionaire, who has built a following around a powerful message and a sense of adventure which is rivaled by few people on Earth.

When talking to Nik, my thoughts always center around how to convey such an untamed sense of adventure to the community, many of which are holding back their Yes! Energy more than ever before.

A shift in conversation is desperately needed, which often means a shift in perspective. It was in this thought that I realized what it is about Nik that constantly keeps him focused on new ideas, new mountains to climb and an abundance of energy that shows up in all areas of his life.

In Building Your Company’s Vision by James Collins and Jerry Porras, they define these shifts as your “Big Hairy Audacious Goal.” Individually and in organizations, a “BHAG servers as a unifying focal point of effort” with a “clear finish line.” So why is it our education, political and community systems often spend so much time training us out of the ability to set these goals?

Most of the developed countries in the world are suffering from a deficit of dreams. Somewhere along the way, it was determined that an enrichment of spirit was somehow flying in the face of progress. Yet, sometimes the best solutions are found within the “ridiculousness” of the Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

Even better, setting ambitious goals has been found to lead to happier lives. In an important point, the study states:

“Safe bets, generally speaking, are less valuable ones,” she says. “So once you’ve achieved the relatively easy goal, it’s only natural to think about what it’s cost you in terms of value—and that’s going to reduce your satisfaction.”

In the Yes! Energy Equation, there are multiple factors related to both goal setting and the overall impact of a strong spirit in all areas of your life. To get to that point, your daily activities must include the following:

Begin your day by tapping into your inner spirit. Regardless of how spirit is defined to you, each day must begin with building your energy in a positive way. This may include prayer, meditation or simple reflection to visualize the day ahead.

Dare to dream. During this energy restoring period, don’t be afraid to venture into what might seem “ridiculous.” Challenge any cynical voices or negativity that has built up in you. Why do you have these ideas in the first place? Where did they come from? How are they any more realistic than your dreams on the opposite end of the spectrum?

Share your energy. In the end, most of us are actually striving to give more than we receive. Just as you would mastermind in other areas, find someone or a group of people that you can use to help build momentum around these positive ideas.

Tune out the chatter. The world, especially the media, are engaged in a draining conversation. As a result, many of us are carrying that frustration into other areas of our lives. With Yes! Energy in our lives, you must protect your energy by tuning out or completely eliminating these negative influences.

What Big Hairy Audacious Goals have you set for yourself for the next month? For the next year? What reflections do you do each day to make sure you’re staying on that path? Where do you need more support?

Our goal is to help you create your goal, which means staying in conversation each day. Share your reflections below and let’s build a different vision together!

Yes! Energy: How Are You Building Your Team?

I’ve been waiting months for this day to arrive and here we are!

Tonight is the official kickoff of the Yes! Energy Summit. Over the course of 44 sessions leading all the way up through the launch of my next book, “Yes! Energy: The Equation to Do Less, Make More,” I’ll be going one-on-one with many of the most influential thought leaders, entrepreneurs and visionaries in the world. (By the way, if you didn’t get your access to the interviews yet, all it takes is a pre-order at the Yes! Energy Summit site.)

As with everything we do at Live Out Loud, the Yes! Energy Summit is just another example of a plan that you can model in your own business. Although the event has certainly been organized for you to take away valuable information, stories and strategies, there should always be a second viewing of both the content and technology to understand how the same model might apply to your own promotions.

I have been in the financial education and personal development space for well over ten years now. The amount of knowledge I have personally gleaned from both colleagues and clients is staggering. Yet, the Summit demonstrates one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned.

You simply will never know everything there is to know.

Many of you spend hours each and every day striving for perfection in your business and even your personal life. The “analyst” that lives inside your mind will constantly be looking for the holes in your vision, giving you reasons to spend hours, days or months thinking about the things that you “don’t have.” The “creator” will give you reasons why your vision just isn’t innovative enough. The “cynic” will tell you why it just won’t work in its current form.

As a result, many of us will walk away from our day with the most important tasks incomplete. Over time, this becomes a trend that extends into frustration in all areas.

Time and time again, you will hear me describe why team is the answer to this challenge. Team doesn’t just mean employees, but also includes your models, mentors and the people who influence you. Trying to figure it all out on your own is simply impossible.

SOMEONE has done what you are trying to accomplish now. SOMEONE has overcome the challenge that you are facing in any area of your life.

The knowledge you will take away from this Summit is something that I simply could not, or would not even try to provide on my own. Often times, when you need to expand the expertise or content that you are providing to your an audience, an interview can be the easiest and most effective way to do so.

During the process of writing my new book, all areas of my team were consulted and that input became what we now call Yes! Energy. From client surveys to expert interviews to private conversations with my own mentors, hundreds of suggestions were taken into consideration and included in the final product.

Tonight, as we begin the process of introducing these leaders to you, consider how you might be able to create that experience for your own customers. What are some areas that you need to provide more to your audience that you could use team to create? Who could you add to your team that could really make a difference in your business? What voices are involved in your creative process?

I will see you tonight on the Summit!

How to Make Cash Every Day

Do you believe it’s easy to make cash every day? You should. I not only believe it, I teach how. That’s what my 4^th best-selling book, Put More Cash In Your Pocket, is all about. It’s also why I call a small business a Cash Machine because that’s what it can do for you – it’s how you can make cash consistently — if you simply ask for it enough.

I’m always teaching, coaching, writing and talking about how to make cash fast. You can learn a lot just by reading this blog (or my books) or attending my free webinars. Of course, the best way to learn how to consistently make cash is by going to one of my intensive 3-Days to Cash (hands on) events. Okay, that was a shameless plug! But wait. Don’t get upset with anyone who proudly sells their expert knowledge because that could well be worth more than anything else you could buy. If you don’t need that knowledge, say thank you anyway and simply move on.

And that’s my point. It’s your expertise, know-how, experience – your unique knowledge — that’s the most powerful asset you have to make cash consistently day after day, week after week, month after month.

Look at what you have to offer. I’ll guarantee you it’s based on what you know. Think of your knowledge as your profit center and figure out how to put it to good use and make cash with it!

Let me ask you this: How would it feel if every single day you could walk into the bank and make cash deposits into your account? Well, you know what? I want you to do just that. In fact, I want you to develop a relationship with your banker. Get to know each of the bank tellers. Why? The most important reason is the feeling you will get when you consistently make cash and take it to the bank where everyone knows your name. (wink) You’ll feel like a TV star. You’ll build that all-important self-confidence and be unstoppable! You’ll also open the door of opportunity should you ever need to apply for financing. Relationship building works for opening many doors!

I know what you’re thinking. If it’s so “easy,” why are you having such a hard time selling your knowledge?

Let me guess. If a friend needs help with something you know a great deal about, you help him, free, of course. If a neighbor needs the same kind of help, you offer your advice, free of charge. I’ve heard this story a thousand times if I’ve heard it once.

While that may seem like the “acceptable” thing to do, it doesn’t make business sense. If you’re in business, I assume you’re in it to make cash. I’d bet your biggest problem is that you’re intimidated at the very thought of asking for the cash. Am I right?

Essentially, everyone has several ways they can make cash and most people are leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the floor all around their feet because they don’t know how to pick it up.

Here’s a million dollar tip for you. Stop doing things for free. Stop giving away your knowledge. Start doing what it takes to make cash and that is learning how to Ask for the Cash! That’s business. End of story.

So what’s holding you back?

Talk to me. How can I help you figure out how to make cash consistently with your business? I’m listening.

What Harvard’s Goal Setting Survey Results Reveal

An often discussed 1979 Harvard survey* of a class of MBA program students asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?”

Here’s what the study revealed then:

3% in the class had written goals and plans
13% had unwritten goals
84% had no goals at all

Ten years later 3% of individuals with written goals had a higher net worth than the other 97% combined! To be exact, the 13% with unwritten goals earned twice as much as the 84% with no goals. Even more incredible, the 3% with written goals and plans earned ten times as much as all the others put together.

It’s a fact. People who have clear, strong goals, especially written ones, are far more likely to succeed than those who don’t.
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What do you think of goal setting now?

Once you know what you want in your business, how can you make sure you achieve those goals? Let’s take this further and look at three smart ways to get closer to your goals.

Like-Minded People

Join a community (like Fast Cash Coaching or Loral’s Big Table) or organizations like Toastmasters and Business Networking International.

Seek out people who are developing the same skills as you are or aiming for the same goals. Share ideas and ambitions.

Success is impossible to achieve alone. Behind every major success story is a brilliant team of people. Bill Gates once said: “If you took away our top 25 people, Microsoft would be a mediocre company.”

Surround yourself with A-class players, whether they’re friends, colleagues, employees or business partners.

Strong Metric-Based Goals

It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking you’re making more progress than you actually are. You could be reading a lot of books, building a lot of sites or making a lot of plans and somehow feel like you’re making progress, when you’re actually not.

Having strong, metric-based goals will help keep you on track towards your goals. These metrics should be easy to measure and have a direct impact on your bottom line.

Make sure your metrics are rooted in time as well. For example, “build a great business” is a poor goal to shoot for. On the other hand, “be making $5,000 a month after tax in 12 months” is a great, concrete goal.

Learn from Those Who Have Been There, Done That

In order to reach your business goals, it’s crucial to study and learn from other people’s past successes and failures.

If you want to make money in real estate, study Donald Trump. If you want earn money investing/trading, study Warren Buffett or George Soros. And so on and so forth.

The point of learning from others is twofold: 1. to get as much knowledge from as many knowledgeable people as possible, and 2. discovering what you need to build the right team for success.

Strong business goals = success.

Surround yourself with others who also share similar ambitions, set measurable goals rooted in time and learn from and work with a qualified team.

* Note: The Harvard Study mentioned in this post is in question. Is it authentic? No one seems to know for sure but evidence seems to support that it never happened. The original source for this information was the book by Mark McCormack, “What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School.”