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.

Creating the Dream Business

When working with my clients, a common thread that runs through each persons business is that somewhere along the way their business has takeover who they are and what they thought having their own business would be like.

Even for myself this has happened and now I am taking the steps to realign what my business looks like to me. To reconnect with why I have my own business. I am going to build the dream business! Bold statement I know but stay with me and lets see how this goes.

In creating your dream business be clear on what success looks like to you. For me success = freedom. The freedom to do as I want, the freedom to spend more time with my family, the freedom to allow DH more time with us girls, the freedom to travel and work from anywhere in the world, the freedom to contribute to our family finances.

So SUCCESS = FREEDOM and this is what I am basing my Dream Business around.

Let the journey begin and don't forget to check in everynow and then to follow the journey.

To your bold success
Deb

Ps., Ask yourself: What does success mean to you? Leave your comments. Let's build a great list.

To Pitch or To Build

Okay I am just going to say this - networking events can either be wonderful energetic experiences or soul sapping encounters. Luckily each event I have been too over the past few months have been the first. After having this conversation with John (okay names have been changed to protect the innocent J), it made me realise that I had been attending these current events with a completely different intention then what I did years ago.

Below are 3 steps that you can use to make the most of your networking events.

1. Set your intention - so before you walk into an event, be very clear on what you want from this event. For me, my intention is to 'build and create relationships' and I know that by focusing on this intention I don't allow any soul sapping to occur.

2. Be who you are - don't try to be someone else, people will spot this a mile off. Allow your own greatness to shine through and the magic will happen. If you need to be 'on' than its time to move on! Find another person to speak with, someone who you can connect with as you.

3. Once you've connected, then you can educate - Take the time to find out about the individual on a personal & professional level. As the relationship develops and you find out more about what they do, their issues, ideas or activities, then educate them on what you do that solves their problems. Real connections create a reason to continue the relationship beyond the first meeting.

I'd love to hear any of your tips on how to go from "pitching" to building relationships. I'm sure we can all benefit from the nuggets of how you connect with new people. Please post your comments below.

3 Common Mistakes when setting plans

As 2009 draws to a close, think about scheduling a block of time to plan for your Best Year Yet ~ 2010.

To help you with this process, I wanted to share with you 3 mistakes we can make when setting our plans:

1. Focusing on what you don't want, rather than what you do want.
Often when facilitating this planning process for clients, I hear a lot about what clients don't want (eg., I don't want to work longer hours? I don't want to make less than $100,000 etc.) rather than what they do want. It's time to see it differently and talk about what you want. So begin by making a list of everything that you want for your business and yourself.

2. Keeping your plans and goals in your mind rather than writing them down.
*Research indicates that by writing down your goals, you will have greater success of achieving them than if you were to keep them in your mind. The other part of this process is to make sure you have a tracking system in place to track how you are going with your goals. You don't want to write them down and then place them in a draw only to be seen at the end of 2010.

3. Relying on others to help you achieve your goals.
At the end of the day you are responsible for your own actions, for your own achievements. There is no way to make someone else do something. So take time to ask yourself; "How do I need to be to have my best year yet? What do I need to do now to have my best year yet?"

Call to action:
Put some time in your diary before the end of the year, put pen to paper and begin the planning process for 2010. Not sure of what you need to do, not sure on how to go about this process why not give me a call to book in a session to assist you in this process.

*Locke EA and Latham GP (2002) Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation American Psychologist, Vol 57, No 9, 705-717

(c) DebPilgrim 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to use this Article?
I would be honoured if you did, just be sure to use it in full and include the following information:

Deb Pilgrim is the Entrepreneurs' Business Mentor. Deb's FREE weekly Biz Booster Newsletter provides entrepreneurs with how to tips that will increase your profits, grow your business whilst gaining more time for yourself. To learn more about this how-to newsletter visit http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=J5D6_&m=J6vflc78U7O9Te&b=pK0BilbOrrOmcUBTSNr._w to sign up for your FREE copy.

Be Who You Are - Success Series

Richard Branson's - Success Tips

I have just finished reading Richards Branson's books Business Stripped Bare and Losing My virginity and thought it would be great to share some of his Success Tips for Business.

Have Fun - "Any proposal I like must sound fun".
Be proud of what you do - "What matters is what you create. Does it make you proud? Have you impacted positively on others?"
Don't let your limits knock your self-confidence - "What you may be bad at actually doesn't interest people, and it certainly shouldn't interest you. Put these to one side and push yourself towards your strengths".
Innovation is what you get when you capitalise on luck, when you get up from behind your desk and go and see where ideas and people lead you.
Empower and Respect others - "Inspire people to think like entrepreneurs, and whatever you do, treat them like adults. The hardest taskmaster of all is a person's own conscience, so the more responsibility you give people, the better they will work for you."

And the final word from his book that I thought was worth sharing: "Successful people aren't in possession of secrets known only to themselves. Don't obsess over people who appear to you to be 'winners', but listen to the wisdom of people who've led enriching lives - people, for instance, who've found time for friends and family. Be generous in your interpretation of what success looks like. The best and most meaningful lives don't always end happily."

Leadership Law

I was reading an interesting article by John C. Maxwell today and thought I would share some of the questions he asked in relation to YOU as a leader:

"Here is what I want you to ask yourself as a leader:

• Since I've been leading my team, are things better for them or are things worse?
• Am I adding value to them, or am I subtracting value from them?
• Are my people better off because I'm a leader?
• Am I taking others to a higher level?

Leadership isn't how far we advance ourselves , but how far we advance others."

John C Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

So I think these are great questions to ask yourself, no matter how small or big your business is. For me the first 2 questions really had me thinking about my own leadership and again the realisation that the first person I need to lead is me.

Feel free to let me know what your thoughts are when you take the time to answer these questions at deb@debpilgrim.com

Are you ready to Celebrate your Greatness?

Quick Question: When was the last time you stopped and acknowledged your achievements?

Was it today? If so, Congratulations as you are among a small minority. If it has been awhile, than now is the time to stop and acknowledge your greatness, your successes no matter how big or small. Remember to stop feeling as if you need to keep 'ticking boxes off your to-do list".

This is not about being egotistical or 'big headed', this is about taking the time to appreciate all that you do. It is also a time to learn from not only what you have achieved but to learn from any mistakes and to ask yourself what you may do differently next time.

Here are three ideas on how you can begin to acknowledge yourself:

a) Blue Sky Time - when working with some of our top leaders, I would often speak to them about the 'concept' of blue-sky time. Blue-sky time requires you to take some time out each day (yep - each day!), away from any interruptions including phones, blackberries, emails ECT., and allow yourself to think about your day. Look at acknowledging what is going well for you, what successes you have had and if need be what do you need to do differently in any situation. What people find is that when they go back into their normal day they have greater insight and awareness around what is working well for them and what they need to do differently.

b) Celebration Book - Do you get great feedback from clients? Do you get great feedback from family & friends? If so, why not begin your own "Celebration Book" and surround yourself with reminders of your successes. Grab a journal and jot down notes/thoughts around what you have been doing well, put in your fabulous testimonials from clients, have your immediate family make notes in it for you. Place in it the things that remind you of your greatness, that remind you to celebrate YOU.

c) Work with a mentor/coach - Why, because in most cases this person will ask to hear about your successes and wins and then encourage/'force' you to take the time to celebrate what you have achieved. No matter how big or small these achievements are. This is one person who is solely focused on you, your success and your greatness and will hold this vision for you.

Appreciating and celebrating yourself is a gift for you to open. Watch what happens when you gain these skills. Your life and your business will expand because these skills are infectious!

(c) DebPilgrim.com 2009

Want to use this Article?
I would be honoured if you did, just be sure to use it in full and include the following information:

Deb Pilgrim is the Entrepreneurs' Business Mentor. Deb's FREE weekly Biz Booster Newsletter provides entrepreneurs with how to tips that will increase your profits, grow your business whilst gaining more time for yourself. To learn more about this how-to newsletter visit www.debpilgrim.com to sign up for your FREE copy and also received your FREE ebook on Identifying your Ideal Client.

Creating Your Million Dollar Mindset - Audio Available

If you aren't yet a member of my Business Building Blocks Club http://www.debpilgrim.com/BBB.html, then you missed out on a great teleseminar this month (I'm allowed to say that!). If you would like a copy of this teleseminar + bonus workbook, you can either become a member of my BBB club for $12.95 per month or you can go directly to http://www.debpilgrim.com/Products.html and purchase the download for $24.95.

Be who you are
Deb

What are you holding on to?

It's one thing to start a business; it's quite another to keep it growing. At some point, it's no longer enough to be your business's number one employee. You need to become the boss, the leader.

So if you are finding that your own free time is shrinking, that you are turning away potential clients, that you are still doing the same things as when you first began - it might be time to look at what you are holding on to. Each week I am talking with business owners who all shared how they are actually working more hours in their business than they ever planned to and are not sure how to change this. But remember it doesn't have to be this way... as a business owner you have the 'freedom of choice' to be able to make changes in your business, including if need be hiring the right help to get things off your plate.

So how can you begin?

Step 1 Make a list of all the tasks you currently perform. Remember even the most basic administrative tasks can derail you from focusing on your big-ticket items.

Step 2 Go through and group them into specific tasks; for example invoicing, paying bills, entering MYOB etc can be grouped together as say 'finance'; answering emails, mail, updating your website, creating client folders etc can be grouped together as 'office admin'. Make as many or as few groups as you like.

Step 3 You can either do this two ways by prioritising your list from: a) most important to least important or b) what I hate doing the most to what I don't mind doing!

Step 4 Now go through this list and choose the 2-3 groups that would make the biggest difference to you and your business if you were to either outsource or hire in someone to do these.

If by outsourcing only one of these groups allows you to get one or more clients, that in itself should be a reward.

(c) 2009 DebPilgrim.com

What are you putting off right now?

Do you put things off? Do you think,..."I'll do that later" - even when the *Thing* you need or want to do is straightforward?

Let's face it, nearly all of us procrastinate at one time or another. To be honest, I have been procrastinating about writing this weeks' article! Procrastination at best is a frustrating (and annoying) habit. At worst, putting things off may cause us stress, anxiety and even problems with others. Yet if we boil it all down in most cases we know what we need to do to get started.

So we need a way to think about procrastination that will help us deal effectively with it. Next time you feel the "Procrastination Bug" ask yourself:

Ø How do I feel about the task that I'm putting off?
Ø What are the advantages of starting this right now?
Ø What are the disadvantages of leaving it until later?
Ø What excuses am I making for not doing this task right now?
Ø What do I need to say to change my negative self-talk
about this task into positive self-talk?
Ø How can I break the task down into smaller manageable
sections?
Ø What reward can I give myself for finishing it?

Remember, you can exert a considerable degree of control over your feelings, your thoughts and your behaviour, and you can work towards achieving your goals. You can overcome procrastination. Allowing "procrastination" to run your life, is like letting someone steal your most valuable commodity (time) from right under your nose!

Don't let procrastination get away with it!!

(c) DebPilgrim 2009

4 Leadership Questions

Be a leader, not a business owner!

Leadership I believe is one of the critical links to business success, yet often as small business owners we can struggle to see ourselves as a leader. We see ourselves as a business owner, as a doer in our business, as a motivator of staff (if we have any). It is something that needs to be focused on. Leadership is about developing a vision, about developing your personal vision of success for you both professionally and personally.

I want to share with you four questions that I have used frequently over the past 10 years with my clients. These are very simple questions that I heard from a keynote speaker at a conference I attended years ago. These questions will help you to build your personal framework around being a leader.

1. How do you see yourself as a leader?

Ask yourself: What is your leadership point of view?
How would you describe your leadership style?
What matters to you in terms of your leadership?
Do you see yourself as a leader?

2. How do others see you?

Ask yourself: Do you know?
Do you care?
Are you right? (i.e. is your information accurate?)
How do you assess this every day of the week?

Note: Some of the best leaders are extremely conscious of how people see them. They ask for feedback frequently and evaluate it. They think about it daily and ask themselves:
“Is what I mean being perceived the way I intended”? “ If not, how do I need to change my message?”

3. How do you want to be seen?

This involves needs and values. If we don’t know the needs and values we are driven by, they can wreak havoc in our environment. The best leaders are in pursuit of respect first and popularity second.

4. How must and should you be seen to be effective?

If you don’t know this, then working with a mentor can help you look at the gaps and help you to see what you need to do tomorrow to be seen as more effective.

(c) DebPilgrim.com 2009

Are you ready to let go?

When working with entrepreneurs’ one area that many seem to get stuck on is the area of delegation. It can be the hardest job an entrepreneur learns, in fact some never do. They insist on handling the work themselves, running themselves ragged in the meantime. Others think they are delegating but in fact are only paying lip service to the word! So to help you let go, here are some steps you can put into place that will allow you to be more effective at delegating.

1. Decide what needs to be delegated.
Whether you can delegate it to a staff member or outsource it - ask yourself:
~What am I doing that does not need to be done at all?
~What am I doing that could be done by somebody else?
~What am I doing that only I can do?

2. Select the individual

How far you can delegate projects will depend on the skill, experience and reliability of your staff or vendor. When you decide on the right person – think about your reasons for delegating to this person? Do they have the right capabilities for performing this task? What are you both going to get out of this?

3. Delegate the complete project

It is much more rewarding to work on a single project than on many fragments of the project. It you delegate a complete project to a capable staff member; you are also more likely to receive a smarter, tightly integrated result.

4. Explain the reasons for the project

When you delegate a task, you must explain why this task or responsibility is being delegated. Why you are delegating it to this person? How does it fit into the overall picture of what you are trying to achieve.

5. What results are expected?

Ensure you communicate effectively:
Ø the results that must be achieved
Ø the importance of the task
Ø the constraints within which it needs to be carried out
Ø the deadlines for completion (as well as any consequences of not meeting the deadline)
Ø reporting dates, when and how you want information on the progress of the project

6. Then let go!

Once you have decided to delegate a task, let them get on with it. Follow up and review on the agreed reporting dates, but don’t constantly look over their shoulders. Recognise that they, may have a different (and or better) way of doing this task than you do. Remember to accept mistakes that can be fixed and ask what can be learned from this.

7. Support and coach when requested

It is important to provide support when they are having difficulties, but do not do the job for them. If you do, they will not develop the confidence and capabilities to do the task themselves.

8. Accept only finished work

You have delegated a task to reduce your workload. If you accept only partially completed work back, then you will have to invest time in completing the task yourself and they will not receive the experience they need in completing projects.

9. Feedback on results

It is important that you let the person know how they are doing, and whether they have achieved the desired results. If not, you need to review with them what did not go to plan, how could it have been completed differently to achieve the results and deal with any problems that arise. You need to absorb the consequences of failure and pass on the credit for success.

10. Give credit when a project has been successfully completed!

Finally, when working with clients, one thing that I will always mention is that the more work you do up front with an individual, the less you need do at the end.

(c) DebPilgrim.com 2009

_________________________________________________

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE? I would be honoured if you did, just be sure to use it in full and include the following information: Deb Pilgrim, the Entrepreneurs Business Mentor, works with entrepreneurs to explode their business, increase profits and in the process allowing them more freedom. Sign up for her FREE weekly newsletter at www.debpilgrim.com For more information about Deb and her programs, email her at deb@debpilgrim.com or phone her on 0419 246 850

How to Identify your Target and Increase your Profits

Defining your target market is one of the most important steps you can do to build your marketing plan and increase your bottom line. So when asked, who is your target market – please – don’t say everyone!

I made this mistake when I first started out many, many years ago. I was so excited about my products and services that I believed everyone would want to work with me. Now who wouldn’t! The problem was that my message wasn’t clear. I was attracting clients who were either not a good match or they couldn’t afford to pay for the service. So I took a step back, worked with my mentor at the time and identified my ideal clients and from this developed a strong marketing message. I still use the same process I've described below every time I feel that something is changing or shifting in my business. So here are the steps I take to become clear.

1. Make a list of all of your clients and note down some things about them. What they do, how much they spend with you, what you like about them. Are they all from a certain industry or profession? Are you passionate about their issues or challenges?

2. From this list, look for what pattern is occurring and who is sitting in say the top 20% – is it professional woman who run their own small businesses; male engineers; contracts with government agencies; new mums; start ups etc.

3. Focus your efforts on this top 20%. Research this group and find out more about what they need, what issues they are facing, where do they hang out, are they willing to spend money on services and products?

4. Now armed with this information – how can you reach them? What can you do to be visible to this market? Once you research your market, develop your message and are clear on what you do to solve their challenges. You can begin to write articles, speak at their industry conferences etc, and become the go-to person for these people.

Your challenge is to spend your time focusing and working with this top 20%, let go of the other 80% and watch what happens to your bottom line and to your own passion and excitement. You will find that your message is clearer and your clients understand better about what you do and how you can support them.

Let me know what happens.

(c) DebPilgrim.com 2009
__________________________________________________________

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE? I would be honoured if you did, just be sure to use it in full and include the following information:
Deb Pilgrim, works with entrepreneurs to explode their business, increase profits and in the process allowing them more freedom. Sign up for her FREE weekly newsletter at www.debpilgrim.com

For more information about Deb and her programs, email her at deb@debpilgrim.com or phone her on 0419 246 850.

It is starting to take shape

This has been a very big and exciting week for me. Changing the focus and structure of what I do and how I do it is finally coming together. I was able to release the first of the Biz Booster Newsletters as well as adding more content to the website. Sooo, the website is not perfect yet but it is getting there and hopefully within the next few weeks it will be completed.

I've had some lovely feedback around the two memberships that are available and everyone seems to like the structure of both. For the Silver Membership - I am really excited about how it is all coming together and have some great teleseminars planned that will be both practical as well as informative.

The Gold Membership is really for those of you who want to Step Up and drive your business forward. I've started the 1/2 day 1 on 1 initial workshops with my Gold Members and feedback so far is around how powerful they are finding this time together. Not only are they getting clearer on their businesses, they are also beginning to set really strong goals that are going to launch them into 2010.

If you haven't already signed up for my newsletter, you can subscribe at www.debpilgrim.com

As the weekend is now here, my focus is moving towards how the girls and I will spoil "Daddy"on Sunday, which is Fathers Day here in Australia.

Enjoy YOUR weekend.

3 Steps to Explode your Business Forward

Well, I am going to get straight into the topic of this article today, there is no beating around the bush. These are the 3 things you need to STOP doing if you want to move your business to the next level.

1. STOP doing everything yourself and being a lone ranger.
2. STOP doing the things that don’t generate you an income.
3. STOP thinking that because you are brilliant at what you do, your business will be

successful.

Now that I’ve told you what you need to STOP doing, why don’t we have a look at what you need to START doing.

1. Surround yourself with successful, positive, honest, can-do individuals.

As Mark Twain said.

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that. The really great make you feel that you too can become great.”

Now let’s be honest here, this is NOT a new concept and every successful person I have spoken with or read about always speaks about their mentors/teachers. Even I use a mentor and have done throughout my life. These are the people who support you, are honest with you and can help skyrocket your business FASTER than before.

Ways to do this could include identifying those within your industry that you admire, are successful and express values that are important to you. Contact them and ask them if they provide mentoring to others. Over the years, I have found that many successful individuals are happy to mentor you, as long as you are committed and respect their time.

The other way is to join a mastermind group. This is one of the reasons I have launched my own Gold Membership program. I am able to bring a group of 15 serious entrepreneurs who meet on a regular basis with the sole focus of propelling themselves and their business to the next level. They are supported not only by me, but by the other members of the group.

2. Identify the profit making areas of your business and focus on these.

Often we spend more time working in our business rather than on it. With this step, it is time for you to step back and look at your business as a whole. This is most important when you find yourself stuck at a certain level of revenue and things don’t seem to being moving forward. Be honest with yourself, have you become the speed bump in your business? When this happens it is time to start thinking, “Am I the person that really needs to XYZ?” [xyz being the many things you spend your time on each day that aren’t profit making].

For example, working recently with a my members of my Gold Membership, we spent the day together going through her business; pulling it apart and re-grouping all of her wonderful ideas and products. As we were putting together her new plan, she suddenly felt overwhelmed by all the exciting projects. It wasn’t until I asked, “Who in your team can you delegate some of the non-profit making activities too?” that she got her ‘ahh’ moment and realised that by stepping aside and delegating these activities, she could focus on her passion and really move her business to the next level.

3. Remember, You are in the business of MARKETING!

Controversial I know, but if there is one thing that will make a difference to your bottom line it is when you realise that your business is that of MARKETING! I have worked with some amazingly talented, educated, brilliant people over the years, who have fabulous reputations and only mediocre businesses. I have worked with and watch other individuals who are good in everything they do and their businesses keep growing. What stands out is those in the second group GET that they are in the business of marketing, they know that by focusing on their message and marketing to their target audience, they will close their sales. However, the first group often get stuck with working in their businesses and not getting the importance of MARKETING until it is too late.

So what are you in?

_____________________________________________________________

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE? I would be honoured if you did, just be sure to use it in full and include the following information: Deb Pilgrim, works with entrepreneurs who are ready to step up and grow their business, increase profits and in the process allowing themselves more freedom. Sign up for her FREE weekly newsletter at www.debpilgrim.com

Top Ten - Your Time is Valuable

1. Shift from Not Valuing to Valuing your Time.
This is an important change to make and when it happens you will never waste another minute! In a dollar sense - this means you are comfortable charging for your lifetime of knowledge and experience - don't allow clients to take this for granted. You have invested a lot of time and energy. In life, we only get one chance with our time - we cannot go back and use the last 10 seconds!
2. Get the most out of your day.

Every now and then ask yourself: Am I making the best use of my time? If not, stop what you are doing and begin working on a project that will allow you better use of your time. If you are 'bogged down' with a specific situation, get up and go for a walk and then come back and tackle it.

3. Work with goals in mind.

It’s amazing how differently we work when you have goals to work towards. If you don't know what your goals are, spend sometime working out what they may be. Use them as a road map! Examples may be professional (project deadline, sales quotas,career advancement, etc) and personal (health, fitness, family relationship, financial, etc).

4. Handle every piece of paper or e-mail only once.

With paper use the '3 D' rule of Do it, Dump it or Delegate it. Never handle a piece of paper twice. Don't even think of placing it in your 'to get to' pile - Handle it NOW! As for e-mails the same rule can apply so you either action it, delete it or forward it to some one else. If you print a copy then use the '3 D' rule.

5. Ask some one who is efficient - What their secret is?

Ask the most efficient person you know what their secret is and how did they develop these habits. Then see if it will work for you.

6. Don't allow anyone to take your time from you.

Set up boundaries around your time. If you are stopped in the hall for a conversation, ask for this person to arrange a meeting with you (if appropriate); don't allow co-workers to infringe on your home time; if someone is late for an appointment and haven't contacted you - give them 15 minutes past the appointed time and then move on. It is up to you as to how you allow other people to use your time!

7. Build family and personal time into your day.

We all need to have the support of our family or friends - so make sure you build them into your daily habits. You don't want to finish your career and realise that youmissed out on the closeness and development of your family.

8. Your health is important - isn't it!

Maintain your health and fitness because this is what will help you through in the long run. There are three things that I feel are valuable to us all- they are time [which we are talking about]; knowledge and energy. Take care of your energy and its levels. At the end of the day being overworked and stressed is only going to hamper your health. So take extra care of this - go for a walk, have a massage, spend time with your family, stop and smell the roses or book in for your yearly medical check up.

9. Dry clean the clutter from your office and home.

Take some time to remove the clutter from your life. The more you simplifier your office or life the more time you will have. Clutter zaps your energy and allows you towaste time on non-valuable tasks. So plug the holes today.

10. Work in your peak performance times.

Schedule demanding tasks to the part of the day that you work best, where your energy levels are at their highest. It maybe first thing in the morning or earlyafternoon - work out when it is and then see yourself moving ahead.

It begins today!

I'm sitting here excited about so many things that are happening at the moment. The biggest one being the re-creation of DebPilgrim.com . What is it you ask? Well it is going to be my new site that entrepreneurs can visit and then begin to work with me. By working with me you become accountable for greater success.

After years of working with large corporations, I've decided to do what I love doing and that is supporting these amazing entrepreneurs as they grow and develop their businesses and their lives. So I moved from working with organisations such as Fosters; QANTAS; Merck, Sharp & Dohme; IGT and Fairfax to working with businesses such as Floating on Clouds Hair & Beauty; Just go Write and Core Essence Healing. Amazing people with amazing businesses.

Stay tuned for more and if in the meantime you would like to receive my FREE weekly ezine which is published every Thursday, visit http://www.debpilgrim.com/

Take care
Deb
Be who you are.