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7 Essentials for business success

By Jim Connolly | June 1, 2023

marketing, usp, different

In just a few weeks time, we will be half way through the year. So, how’s things? Are you on track to hit or smash your 2023 goals?

If you would like a little help, you’ll find this useful. It’s something I’ve shared with thousands of fellow small business owners over the years. It’s 7 essentials we need to regularly remind ourselves of, if we want to build a successful business.

  1. Don’t wait for permission. You don’t need it, so you’re free to get started.
  2. Don’t wait for inspiration to appear. Command it to appear.
  3. Don’t wait for the right opening. Create it.
  4. Don’t wait for someone to pick you. Pick yourself.
  5. Don’t wait for the perfect time. The time is never perfect.
  6. Don’t wait for the initiative. Take it.
  7. Don’t wait for opportunity to knock. Go and build a door.

All 7 of those essentials can be compressed into 1. It’s simply this: Don’t wait for things to happen. Decide what you want to achieve, then get moving.

That’s the only way to take control of your results and get from where your business is right now, to where you want it to be.

The question is, what exactly are you waiting for?

That isn’t a rhetorical question. If you’re not enjoying the level of success you want, there is definitely something that’s blocking you. This is guaranteed to help you find it. And fast!

There’s a world of opportunity out there, which is yours (yes yours) for the taking. So get moving.

When was the last time you…

By Jim Connolly | May 30, 2023

when was the last time

When was the last time you tested different pricing models?

When was the last time you were contacted by a media outlet, for your professional opinion?

When was the last time you tested a new marketing tactic or strategy?

When was the last time you did something radically different from your competitors?

When was the last time you undertook detailed competitor research, so that you know what you’re actually competing against?

When was the last time you received a great referral from one of your customers?

When was the last time you updated your marketing materials?

When was the last time you took the lead in your industry?

When was the last time you took an idea that’s common and successful in a different industry, and applied it to your business?

When was the last time you seriously challenged one of your long-held business beliefs?

When was the last time you partnered with another business on a project?

When was the last time you updated your business goals and targets?

When was the last time you added a new product or service to your portfolio?

When was the last time you looked for new ways to solve problems, for your customers and prospective customers?

When was the last time you seriously asked yourself, if your business is growing as fast and as profitably as it could be?

When was the last time you saw a significant, sustained increase in profits, and what did you learn from it?

When it’s been too long

If it has been too long since you last did, or experienced, some of the above, now would be a great time to put that right.

Make a list. Then work your way through it. Some of these will be more challenging than others, but all of them are important enough to invest the effort required.

Your future. Your choice. Own it!

By Jim Connolly | May 24, 2023

Business decisions, choices

During periods of rapid change, it’s easy to feel like you have less control over your business results. That’s really not the case.

Just consider for a moment, some of the business decisions you make. Because literally all of them have the power to improve your results, often very dramatically.

Here are a few examples.

  • You decide what business model you use.
  • You decide the advice you choose to take, as well as the advice you ignore.
  • You decide what your commercial priorities are as you go through the day and as you plan for the future.
  • You decide how to respond, when your plans get derailed.
  • You decide who to accept as clients.
  • You decide when to be reactive and when to be proactive.
  • You decide how to respond to opportunities.
  • You decide the tasks you will offload to AI.
  • You decide where to set the bar on your goals and targets.
  • You decide who to hire.
  • You decide who to do joint ventures with.
  • You decide the type of projects you accept.
  • You decide where to set your prices or fees as well as your payment terms.
  • You decide who (and what) to place your trust in.

Your choices and your outcomes

Across the board, better choices lead to better outcomes. That’s because your choices determine your direction of travel.

I’m not suggesting for one moment that you can control everything. You obviously can’t.

What I am suggesting, is that you can control your decisions. And thankfully, that gives you a staggeringly high level of control over your future results.

3 Essential things you must tell your prospects

By Jim Connolly | May 22, 2023

marketing response

Before you pull the trigger on your next marketing effort, here are 3 questions your prospective clients or customers need you to answer.

  1. I’m busy. Why should I give you my attention?
  2. Your competitors all claim to go the extra mile. They all claim to offer a great service. What meaningful reasons are there, for me to risk switching to you from my current provider?
  3. I’ve never done business with you before. Why should I trust you?

By answering all 3 questions clearly and correctly, you can massively improve the effectiveness of your marketing and your sales. You’ll also set yourself apart from the vast majority of your competitors.

You’ll capture attention, create a motivational message and build the trust required, to inspire your marketplace to respond.

A lesson in goal setting from Michelangelo

By Jim Connolly | May 21, 2023

michaelangelo, goal setting, goals

How are your business goals coming along?

As you consider your answer to that question, I’d like you to think about the following. It’s from the genius of Michelangelo.

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.’

Michelangelo.

Puny goals fail to inspire us. And as Michelangelo suggested, even if we achieve them, we’re in danger of achieving nothing of any importance.

When a genius gives that kind of advice, we do well to take heed. Thankfully, Michelangelo provided us with the best way forward. We’re advised that it’s a lot less dangerous to aim high.

This includes.

  • Setting goals that excite you.
  • Setting goals that cause you to grow.
  • Setting goals that are worthy of you.
  • Setting goals that will lead to a meaningful improvement in your quality of life.
  • Setting goals that motivate the people around you.

That’s the kind of goal setting, which fuels you with the passion, energy, direction and inspiration you need. That’s the kind of goal setting, which can lead to outstanding results.

That’s also the kind of goal setting, which is used by the most effective people in business. Because it works.

It’s okay. Even Superman struggled with kryptonite

By Jim Connolly | May 20, 2023

marketing superman

Image: Esteban Lopez

Every business owner has weaknesses.

Including you and me.

But that’s okay.

After all, even Superman has kryptonite to contend with. He knows that this mysterious substance weakens or eliminates his super powers. So, he does everything he can to avoid the problems kryptonite causes, and comes out winning.

Business owners differ in 1 important way

Business owners are also aware of their weaker areas. But unlike Superman, they’re often unaware of the serious damage caused.

For example.

  • The business owner who starts too many sales presentations with an apology for being just a little late, may think it doesn’t matter. They’re unaware that every prospective client who values punctuality will feel very differently about it. The business owner will wonder why their presentation failed, and write the prospect off as a time waster. So the problem persists.
  • The business owner who avoids making big decisions until the last moment, may think it doesn’t matter. They’re unaware that leaving things until the last minute means they have fewer options open to them. They lose valuable time, end up making worse decisions, and blame the outcome on bad luck. So the problem persists.
  • The business owner who thinks it’s okay to develop their business as if it was a Do It Yourself hobby, may think it doesn’t matter. They’re unaware that their DIY approach to planning, systems, marketing, legals and financials etc., is making it impossible for them to succeed. The business owner thinks they’re being smart and saving money, when they’re doing the opposite and missing out on a fortune. So the problem persists.
  • The business owner who does pretty-much what they’re paid for and very little extra, may think it doesn’t matter. They’re unaware that the extra is what makes all the difference. It keeps customers returning and motivates them to recommend you. The business owner who ignores the extra, assumes that their customers just aren’t the kind of people who give referrals. So the problem persists.

And these persistent problems lose them money… persistently.

I recall Jim Rohn telling us that the reason business failure is so common, is that it’s incredibly subtle. The vast majority of businesses tend not to fail overnight, the result of a single, cataclysmic event. It’s the repeated, smaller errors in judgment, which rob them of the success they want.

That’s why it’s critically important to pay attention to what you do and how you do it. Especially in the weaker areas of your business.

This tip can improve your whole business

By Jim Connolly | May 13, 2023

motivation, persistence, courage

Here’s a very quick tip, which can dramatically improve things across your entire business.

As someone who has mentored thousands of people over the years, I’ve found that the reason a business isn’t doing great, is often because the business owner isn’t feeling great. Perhaps they don’t feel as motivated, confident or inspired as they would like to be.

The reason this matters is that our feelings guide our decisions, and our decisions guide our actions. These actions are what determine our results and therefore the success of our business.

I’ve discovered that the fastest way to genuinely become motivated, confident, inspired (or experience any positive feeling), is for you to give these feelings to others.

Allow me to explain.

My epiphany

I noticed that whenever a client or friend came to me because they were, for example, lacking motivation, and I started to build up their motivation, it always left me feeling massively more motivated.

Then I noticed the exact same thing happened when I helped people feel more confident, inspired, courageous, resourceful, optimistic, energized or anything else. I would immediately feel stronger in whatever area I’d helped them with.

I shared this idea with others and found they had identical, or very similar experiences to mine. 

Here’s what makes this so powerful.

When you give these highly-valuable feelings to others, you become a source of the very thing you give. And it’s an endless source. Because as long as you keep giving, you’ll keep receiving.

It’s a simple technique, which can strengthen the core of everything you do. And you can access it as often as you want to. I use it daily.

Interestingly, this process works regardless of how you do it; face-to-face, Zoom, phone, email, one-to-one / a group of people, social media, podcast, blog post, a handwritten note or any other form of communication.

The next time you want to think more productively and make better business decisions, identify the key feeling or feelings you’re lacking in. Then give others those same feelings. Don’t wait for motivation, energy, confidence, creativity, calmness or anything else to arrive. Make it appear, by giving it away.

It’s a wonderful way to enrich yourself, and by extension, enrich others.

In case it doesn’t go without saying, I am not a mental health professional. This is simply based on what’s worked for my clients and myself.

12 Quick tips and ideas to help your business thrive

By Jim Connolly | May 4, 2023

get started, marketing

In no particular order.

  1. Be stingy with your time, but not with your ideas.
  2. Your past does not equal your future. Next level results are yours, when you take next level actions.
  3. All business is personal.
  4. Either do what you love or learn to love what you do. Both approaches work extremely well.
  5. To develop a new service, you do not need to reinvent the wheel. A relatively small improvement to an existing way of doing business, can open up a whole new marketplace for you.
  6. Outsmarting your competitors works best, when you’re outcaring them, too.
  7. Optimism is highly contagious. And never more so than in times of uncertainty.
  8. To be in greater demand, provide greater value. Whether a business serves the top end of the market or the bottom end, its customers always want value.
  9. A business can only be as successful as the weakest link in its leadership.
  10. Opportunities come with a use-by date. If something looks like it has potential, do the research and if it stacks up, get moving.
  11. Be eager to take responsibility. Step forward. Especially when others step back.
  12. Whenever possible, be kind. And it’s always possible.
  13. Strive to give others more than they expect from you. That little extra has a big impact.

Decisions: How to get your timing right

By Jim Connolly | April 28, 2023

right time, perfect time, now

The right time, and the perfect time, are not the same time.

But many small business owners are totally unaware of it.

And it screws up everything.

The right time

The right time to take action on improving your business is the moment you know there’s a problem. It’s an easy to identify moment. And it makes zero sense to allow a problem to persist; it only gets bigger, and costs you more in time and money to fix.

This means the right time is always, always, blindingly obvious.

However, even really smart business owners totally miss it.

Why?

Because they’re not actually looking for the right time. No. They’re looking for, and waiting for, the perfect time.

The perfect time is an expensive illusion

It’s an illusion, because it exists in an impossible to identify moment.

Think about it.

  • If things are going great for your business, they might get even better. Now is not the perfect time.
  • If things are ‘okay’ or even if things suck, then maybe they’ll pick-up. Now is not the perfect time.

So, when is the perfect time to improve your business?

You missed it. Because we can only ever know the perfect time, after it has passed. We identify it on reflection. It’s rear view mirror stuff.

That’s why the most successful businesspeople focus on the right time. It’s clear. It’s existential. We experience it. It’s in front of us.

In short, if you have an ongoing business problem, the right time to do something about it has passed. The next best time to do something about it is right now.

Your opinions, voice, uniqueness and AI

By Jim Connolly | April 25, 2023

human opinion, ai, chatbots, marketing

Opportunity is knocking. It’s knocking loud and it’s knocking clear.

The best part? To benefit from this spectacular opportunity you just need to be yourself.

Allow me to explain.

It starts with a statement of fact: Your opinions are exactly that. They’re yours. They’re as specific to you as your unique blend of life experiences and lessons.

Conversely, artificial intelligence doesn’t have an opinion. Everything about its knowledge base is artificial.

Instead, AI is fed with masses of data. And it’s trained by groups of AI experts. One of the primary tasks of AI trainers, is to keep their AI as neutral to everyone as possible. And in seeking not to offend anyone, AI lacks even an artificial opinion.

In stark contrast

No person who has ever lived is neutral. Unlike AI, we not only have an opinion, we have countless opinions. This includes the opinions and feelings we have regarding the way we do business. And it impacts everything, including:

  • The business tactics we rule in or rule out.
  • The atmosphere we create for our clients or customers.
  • The way we sell or negotiate.
  • The value we place on our products or services.
  • The baseline quality of service or products we provide.
  • The type of staff we hire and the way we look after them.
  • The suppliers we choose.
  • The profile of customers we want to attract (and those we want to avoid).
  • The type of promises and guarantees we provide, etc., etc.

Your business, opinions, voice and uniqueness

Your opinions matter. They always have. They’re what give you your unique voice in the marketplace.

I firmly believe that today, and for the forseeable future, that uniqueness is a powerrful way, maybe the most powerful way, for your business to gain your biggest ever slice of the marketplace.

How?

A growing number of your competitors are switching to AI for their voice. For example, AI tools are creating and guiding their business plans; what to do and what to avoid. Chatbot apps are handling their frontline customer service. Chatbots are also guiding or shaping (and in many cases providing) their; newsletter content, blog posts, video / podcast scripts, advertising copy and social media interactions, etc. In short, everything that prospective clients or customers use in order to judge these businesses, is bland and lifeless.

I’m suggesting that you adopt a very different aproach to AI.

The most savvy business owners I know are also using AI. But the way they use it, excludes every area of their business that carries their DNA. Their opinions and their voice remain 100% human. It’s what guides their messaging, their priorities, their values, their commitment, their customer service and their willingness to go the extra mile. Their businesses have a pulse and personality. They are extremely easy to connect with. They are easy to relate to. And on a very human level, they’re easy to trust. Because they are human. And so is their brand. Not dull and lifeless like the previous example.

Very soon, you’ll be able to stand out and get noticed, in a way that wasn’t possible before. The opportunity is knocking. But only for those who choose to take notice of it.

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Hi! I'm Jim Connolly and I help small business owners to increase sales, boost their profits and build amazing businesses. Read more here.

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Recent posts

  • 7 Essentials for business success June 1, 2023
  • When was the last time you… May 30, 2023
  • Jim, why have my sales numbers dropped? May 29, 2023
  • Your future. Your choice. Own it! May 24, 2023
  • Marketing 101: Do free offers work? May 23, 2023
  • 3 Essential things you must tell your prospects May 22, 2023
  • A lesson in goal setting from Michelangelo May 21, 2023
  • It’s okay. Even Superman struggled with kryptonite May 20, 2023
  • Average regularly beats outstanding May 18, 2023
  • Your future is as bright as you think it is May 16, 2023
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