What I learnt from watching Hi-5?

Over the Christmas break, I was given some tickets to a Hi-5 concert so with two excited girls in tow, Michael & I set off for an afternoon of entertainment. Now to be honest, I'm not really that 'into' Hi-5, I always feel as if something is missing from their performance. So as I sat watching them live (in a half full theatre), I started to think about what makes the Wiggles so much more appealing than Hi-5 and how this relate back to your business?

So I came up with:

HI-5 don't seem to be clear on who their ideal clients are. They might like to think it is boys & girls aged between 0-5 but what they do and how they portray themselves does not reflect this.
Their songs and dance moves are complicated and seem targeted for an older group of 'clients'.
Their appearance is too complex - lots of different colours; each person wearing a different cut or style. And possibly even the fact that they have 2 guys & 3 girls in their group?
Their roles aren't clearly defined. Yes, they all dance and sing but they seem to want to out perform and out dazzle other team members making the performance very busy.

The Wiggles on the other hand seem very clear on who their ideal clients are ~ boys & girls aged between 0-5 years of age therefore they have targeted their songs, appearance, branding etc to this market audience.
Their songs and dance moves are simple, uncomplicated and easy for their 'clients' to understand, repeat and remember. Any complicated dance moves are left to their support dancers and in most cases are performed more in the background than out front.
Their appearance is also simple, uncomplicated and easy for their 'clients' to identify with: Purple shirt= Jeff; Blue shirt = Anthony; Red shirt = Murray & Yellow shirt = Sam. Each member dressed the same for simplicity. Even when Greg one of the original Wiggles left, they still decided to keep his 'colour' as it was easy for the kids to continue to relate to them as a whole.
Their roles are simple and uncomplicated: Jeff sleeps; Anthony loves fruit salads; Murray likes to play music and Sam likes to sing! They seem comfortable in these roles and don't have to or feel the need to 'over' perform to get noticed.

Now, I could go on with the comparison, but I wont! Three things you can take away from this is:

a) Don't try to be all things to all people. If you do - potential clients may have a hard time trying to understand what you can do for them.

b) Keep it simple. Don't overcomplicate your message or how you describe the benefits you provide your clients.

c) Be clear on your message and repeat it over and over until your clients are repeating if for you.

As always I would love to hear your comments and thoughts around these articles. Place your comments below.

(Ps., I am partial to the Wiggles but that is because I use to enjoying watching them back in the 80s when they were the Cockroaches. Who would have thought I would still be listening to them now!)

(c) 2010 DebPilgrim

Are You Ready To Step Up in 2010 - Check out my Programs

Would you like a step by step process that shows you how to increase your client numbers, make more money and develop strong business goals with measures in 2010? Then working with me will help you achieve this. Below are my 2 one-on-one programs for 2010:

a) Business Success Fast Track System - 5 month program:

• 2-3 hours gap analysis (either face to face or over the phone, depending on where you are)
• 12 x 45m calls over a 5 month period (see example call topics below)
• 1 x 15m Just-in-Time call per month
• Free membership to my Business Building Blocks Teleseminars
• Free bi-monthly newsletter
• Unlimited emails access
  
• Bonus Offer: Sign up in January & you will receive a Success Mentoring Session with
  Metaphysics Expert - Joanne Prior

b) Business Success Essentials System - 6 month program

• 2-3 hours gap analysis (either face to face or over the phone, depending on where you are)
• 1 x 45m call per month
• 1 month free membership to my Business Building Blocks Teleseminars
• Free bi-monthly newsletter
• Unlimited emails access

Call Topics for Business Fast Track Program May Include:

1. Making the commitment to achieve financial success in your business
2. Understanding and removing any limiting beliefs you may have to success
2. Working together to develop strong goals that will relate both to your business and yourself
3. Implementing your goals, focusing on your profit making areas and having me as your *accountability queen*
4. Being clear on who your ideal clients are
5. Knowing what problems you solve for your client
6. Crafting your marketing message
7. Creating your proprietary packages
8. Attracting your clients

Contact Deb on deb@debpilgrim.com for more information on kick starting 2010.

Do You Over Complicate?

Leading up to the festive break, I was quite vocal in encouraging readers to spend time preparing and planing for 2010. These articles got you moving in relation to thinking about your goals and plans, but many have stayed in the space of inertia, when it came to actually putting your plans down on paper. This is not because of a lack of excitement but rather it seems by the over-analyses around how to do this the right way.

So I thought I would let you in on a secret:

Keep it Simple and don't over complicate the process.

So here is very simple process that you can use that will allow you to write your goals down.

Step 1: Determine your long term vision - 5-10 years.
Long-term vision is: (starting with a verb)
Eg., To be the leading provider of business mentoring services that allow entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

Step 2: Bring yourself back now and focus on the next 12months but keeping in mind your long term vision.
Ask yourself: It is January 2011 and I have achieved the following in my business:
Then make a list of your achievements. Remember to make them specific.
Eg., I turned over "X amount" for 2010.
I facilitated "X amount" of total workshops; I mentored 'x amount' of 1:1 clients. Etc

Step 3: Break your 2010 achievements into smaller, measurable monthly action steps.
Eg., Each month I facilitate 3 workshops with 10 participants etc.
Keep working on step 3 until you have broken down exactly what you need to do each month to attain your overall 2010 goal.

Refer to my article on SMART goal setting to help you further and if you would like a simple goal setting sheet, please email info@debpilgrim.com and we will forward the form to you.
As always I would love to hear your comments and thoughts around these articles, so feel free to leave a comment below.

SMART Goal Setting

Setting clear and specific goals completes effective planning. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attractive, Realistic and Time phased.

S: SPECIFIC & STRETCHING
A goal needs to be specific. Unclear goals lead to vague attempts to
achieve them. Specific, stretching goals extend you and in most cases lead to higher achievement.

M: MEASURABLE
You need to be able to evaluate your progress. Determining how to measure your goals can be difficult but try to keep it as simple as possible.

A: ATTRACTIVE
If you don't want it, you're unlikely to put in a sustained effort. Your goals need your buy in, so be clear on your cause behind the goal.

R: REALISTIC
You must be capable of achieving the goal, is it manageable in the time frame and with the current resources you have at your disposal?

T: TIME-FRAMED
You need to have an appropriate time frame in mind. If you are not able to assign a clear deadline within your goal, you may need to make your goal more specific. You need to have benchmarks along the way to help keep you on track.

Some Useful Tips:
To ensure that your goals are "SMART", ask yourself the following questions and make sure that the measures and timeframes are precise in the way you have written your goals.

• What specifically will you be doing differently?
  How will you know if you are achieving this?
  What will it look like, what will you see/hear?
  How will you measure/evaluate your goal?
  What's the expected timeframe for this?
  How realistic is this?
  How attractive is this to you and how committed are you?
  
  
  
  As always I would love to hear your comments and thoughts around the articles. Place your comments below around how you set your goals.

Do you still feel the excitement?

This week I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of small business owners on the topic of Business Success. As I was speaking I realised that after 18 years of being an entrepreneur and small business owner, I am still excited by my work. That I really do love what I am doing right now! It was a privilege to be able to share with them, the steps I have used to create my business success.

I thought it would be nice to share these steps with you (again!), especially at this time of the year, when we can take the time to reflect and think about them further.

1. Have a Positive Enhancing Mindset - clear your mind of any negative thoughts. What you think about, you bring about - so wouldn't it be better to have thoughts that bring you health, happiness and success! It is your mind, you are in control of what you think, so take time to remove any limiting beliefs you have and replace them with beliefs and habits that will support you and move you into great success. If you are stuck on how to move into a Success Mindset than I would recommend working with Joanne Prior - click here to find out more about Jo's work.

2. Be who you are - allow you to shine through in your everyday work. Clients are drawn to you not only because of what you have to offer them but also because of who you are.

3. Be clear on who your Ideal Clients are and what problems/challenges you solve for them. The clearer you are on your ideal clients, the tighter your marketing message will be. The easy it is for you to attract the clients that you enjoy working with making your workday even more exciting and fun.

4. Understand that Marketing is key to your business success. This one concept is so important to grasp, because at the end of the day if you are not marketing consistently, your business won't grow.

5. Appreciate your clients. If you have worked out clearly who your ideal clients are, then adoring and appreciating your clients should come easy. How do you show appreciation to your clients?

6. Honour and respect your colleagues and contacts. Along with your clients, your contacts are an important arm of your business. I have to say that I love my contacts and colleagues their support allows my business to grow and develop. I also get so excited when I am able to refer them work and I am always looking at how I can connect different people together.and I am happy referring them

7. Work with a mentor. Since 1995 I have engaged a mentor to work with me. What I have always found is that my mentors have challenged me to step out of my comfort zone in relation to my business goals. At times this has felt uncomfortable but knowing that I have some one there to brainstorm ideas with, to show me a different way of doing things has always been very beneficial. To help me achieve my business goals for 2010, I have decided to engage two mentors ~ each one has a very specific role that they will play. I learnt long ago that I don't need to do this all by myself, that having this support allows me to grow quicker than what I would by myself.

Whether you are just starting out or have been in business for a while, I hope you still feel the excitement of what your business can do for you. That you still feel excited about the people you are meeting and the outcomes you are achieving. Is there something that you need to do differently? Now is the time to reflect on how wonderful 2009 was and consolidate your plans for 2010.


As always I would love to hear your comments and thoughts around what success means to you. Please place your comments below.

Be Who You Are - Success Series

Raquel Bosustow, Entrepreneur & Author
Download the audio version here - great gems from Raquel that you wont want to miss out on!

Raquel Bosustow left a six figure corporate career in the travel industry in 2001 to start a catering business with NO experience. All she had was a dream and determination to succeed. Through her determination, Raquel built this business into a huge success with 30 staff. Due to this success she sold this business within 4 years. From there, she bought an Organics Fruit & Vegies home delivery business called Organics Only and has increased her turnover in this business by 500% in 2 years. In this time, she has also written and published her first book (released in Oct 2009) called Miracle Beginnings and created a new business that is aligned to her book and supports Mums who have had Premature Babies. Raquel is also the mother of 3 incredible kids all under 7 and she loves to cook, drink champagne, have baths, hang with girlfriends, shop and date her husband! These are her thoughts around what success means for her.

1. What do you consider success to be?
Freedom of Choice

2. Often people measure success by how much money one has, what do you

think of this statement?
Success can be measured by money, but I feel it can also be measured by achievement of

goals.

3. How do you measure your success?
I measure success by living the life I want to lead, working the hours I want to work,

doing what I love and being paid for it. Being able to give back and being proud of myself.

4. How many times did you feel like giving up before you finally made it?

Not as often as what I thought - I was just too determined to prove the onlookers wrong to

ever really think about giving up.

5. Do you have support people around you that really believed in you? How

important do you feel this is?
My husband is my biggest supporter, as are my closest girlfriends. I cleaned out all the

dream takers a long time ago.

6. How do you keep yourself motivated and inspired when things may not be

going so great?
I just keep on visualising what I really want to happen. I remind myself of how far I have

come and am grateful for what I have achieved. I keep planning ahead and keep it simple.

7. How do you maintain work life balance and switch off from your business?

This is a tricky one, especially when you love what you do. I have recently introduced a 'no

work day' on a Tuesdays which means no emails, no computer, no phone calls - its killing

me!!

8. If you lost it all and had to start again from scratch, what would you do

differently?
Nothing. I am happy with my entire journey thus far.

9. Would you like to share any 'worst' decision you have made along the way and

what you learnt from these?
Not trusting my gut instinct as much as I have learnt to.

10. What 2-3 things could you share that you think makes the fundamental difference between good and absolute success?
1. Get Focus - like a woman on a mission
2. Get Determined - Nothing will get in your way, build strong shoulders and charge

through.
3. Get Clarity - Know exactly what you want and go get it

As always I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on this article and what you see as your definition of success.

Is your dream BIG enough?

I answered the phone this week to a client who was having a stressful time. 'I don't have enough time to get everything done. When did this become so hard? I didn't sign up for this? I wanted to work for myself, I wanted to be able to do as I please?'

So why can't we do as we please? Isn't starting your own business about doing something for yourself, about realising your dreams, about creating what you want and on your terms? Often we can get caught up on: 'What it is suppose to look like? What others expect us/it to look like?' Why not step back and reground yourself on what you actually want from your dream business? For me, my dream business is about freedom - freedom to travel, freedom to spend time with my family, freedom to indulge in my desires, freedom to challenge myself.

Ask yourself:

To me, success means:

My dream business, allows me to do:

Because of my dream business, I feel:

By taking the time to answer these questions, my hope is that you will (a) have a better understanding of what you purpose is or (b) reconnect with your purpose and ground it further.

Please leave your comments or thoughts around what success means to you.