As I write this article the clock is ticking. My time is running out and I love it! Years ago I discovered a tool that has made me more effective and I found that tool in my Grandmothers kitchen. Her beloved egg timer which she used to make soft boiled eggs.  Only, I have repositioned it from great breakfasts to increased productivity! It motivates me to do the things I do not want to do. For example if I have 3 hours to write a great blog post it takes me the entire 3 hours! If I have 30 minutes to write a great blog post it takes me the entire 30 minutes. The scary thing is that the 30 minute post is often better than the 3 hour one! Why? Because when I have extra time I will waste it. When I don’t have the time I stay on track. Maybe you have experienced this phenomena back in college when term papers where due. If you are like most students, you did them the weekend or the night before they were to be turned in! Our minds love deadlines. The sooner that deadline is the more it focuses our attention. Focused attention is the key to productivity and an egg timer can be worth its weight in gold. The Key to increasing your productivity with the egg timer is to set ridiculously short deadlines and then pound like crazy. Play a game with yourself have all your attention focused on the task at hand until the buzzer goes off. For example: You hate washing the dishes, folding the laundry, unloading the dishwasher, sending thank you cards, logging calls in your cms, blogging, writing or even stuffing envelopes. Once you pick your unwanted task, grab the egg timer. Set it for a ridiculous time say 5 minutes to wash all the dishes.  Then attack! Be like a samurai, do nothing else except dishwashing. Allow nothing to distract you or take you off  your track until the egg timer frees you from washing bondage. You will notice something in that 5 minutes. You will notice that you completed more than you normally do.

Here comes the fun… either reset your timer to finish the task or go tackle something else for 5 minutes. Focused attention produces focused results. Embrace the egg timer, it will set you free! BTW I still have 5 minutes on mine….. http://www.online-stopwatch.com/bomb-countdown/full-screen/ Anybody can do practically anything for 5 to 30 minutes so do the things you do not want to do with the help of Grandma’s egg timer and then set the timer and attack!

If you are currently dancing in the unemployment line, congratulations! You are on the cusp of your cathartic event. Now I understand you probably don’t want to hear this but the unemployment line may be best thing that could be happening to you at this moment! I’m sorry if this makes you angry, but I promise you will look back months from now, maybe a year from now and say, “Ahh, now I see what that jack#** was talking about!” The unemployment line is a wake up call. Life has a funny way of using various events as alarm clocks.  Just as the jarring bell of an alarm clock can piss us off in the morning before we have had the chance to have our first cup of java, so can life’s bell boxes.

You see, here is a dangerous thing about work: it can lull you to sleep and keep you munching on the leaves instead of embracing your inner butterfly. Work can put you to sleep because it gives you something to do and often it pays the bills and or allows you to pay for the next six pack. Work can absorb all of your attention.  It can divert you from really taking a hard look at what you really want in life, instead of just what you have been accustomed to just settling for.  The question to ask yourself is: have you been accomplishing your own personal goal’s or someone else’s?  If you are not paying attention or do not have your own goals the you are definitely accomplishing some one else’s! How does that make you feel? You can either be “The Man” or work for “The Man” scarily the choice has always been yours. Either way is fine, but be clear that you need to choose.  Take a hard look at your past and ask yourself if you had succumbed to the illusion of job security over taking the risks necessary to do what you really wanted to do.  Life has just given you the nudge or push to finally do what you had been meant to do.

What do you really want to do with your life? What blessings has unemployment given to you? You are in your cocoon now. What will you choose to do? You have been gifted a wonderful opportunity to redesign your world. What will you do with it?

Here are some questions which will help you get clarity:

What are my priorities?

Who are my priorities?

What are my goals beyond getting a job?

What do I want to be remembered for?

Why is being unemployed a blessing?

If you are having trouble, the FOUNDATION module of www.RevenueBlitz.com can help guide you through the process.  It will help you get to know yourself better, to become more conscious of the choices you want to make rather then be unconsciously usurped into what you ‘have’ to do.

just a lawn ornament?

Sometimes it is tough to live in a world of craven images. Who or what do I bow down to on a daily basis? As I sit here in my office working with some of the highest producing sales people in the country, I’m always amazed at how much the stone goat outside my window projects power and commands my attention. I have never been formally introduced to the stone goat but he is always in my line of sight. I originally thought the stone goat was a piece of decorative lawn art but my opinion changed when the goat started speaking to me. His little voice began to tell me that he mattered and he demanded better real estate in my front yard. A talking stone goat is hard to resist so he got what he demanded. The stone turtle was ignored and the ship anchor was moved to make way for the stone goat.  You may be thinking I’m crazy, a stone goat can’t talk, but my mind has a great ability to keep itself entertained.  As a matter of fact all minds have this power. Your mind is so powerful you too can turn stone goats into Gods! With a little bit of thought and consciousness you can make any of your personal lawn ornaments into Gods. Its really not hard, simply declare: “Stone Goat, I grant you the ability to affect my equanimity. I care deeply about what you say to me. I will be beholden unto thee.”

Okay, before you get concerned that Coach Ken has finally lost his mind and is heading to the top of the mountain with an orange robe on cloud of purple smoke…I am afraid to say, not yet. The Stone Goat story is based on a conversation that I had with one of my clients who is having some problems with a family member. The root of the problem is that my client cares deeply about what this family member thinks of him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t want your family members to think well of you. It would be nice for all of our family members to think well of us, but do you really have control over how someone else feels about you?  REALLY? Are you going to become a marionette puppet to try to please others?  Are you consciously going to raise the status of the Stone Goat to God?

Will you choose to be beholden unto your father or your mother-in-law? Why would you grant someone such power over you?

Here is the answer: You choose who your Stone Goat is. The lawn ornament in my front yard is covered with flowers and burnt offerings. At least I have consciously chosen who I am beholden unto. You?

The Stone Goat - God? Lawn Ornament?

“It’s not that we fear the unknown. You canot fear something that you do not know. Nobody is afraid of the unknown. What you really fear is the loss of the known. That’s what you fear.”

Anthony DeMello – Awareness The Perils and Opportunities of Reality

“Desire the good of all and the universe will work with you,” a quote from Sri Maharaj. There is a tremendous amount of wisdom in this statement that many of us with good intentions forget. This is especially true when times are tough. We often get tunnel vision when we are personally challenged. It may even seem impossible to focus on anything but what we are trying to fix, correct or improve. This is particularly the case when it comes to our finances. As most businesses have seen a decline in revenues over the past several months, they have buckled down and reduced expenses, often at the cost of key relationships. Dare I say, some of the more desperate have even found themselves using ‘less then integrus’ actions. Okay, so ‘integrus’ is not an actual word – yet. Mark my words, it will be inducted into Webster in the next couple of years. No matter where your business is today, growing or declining, I want you to uphold this one principle: ‘Desire the good of all and the universe will work with you.’ Make this your mantra. You will be amazed at how it will set your mind at ease. Ultimately, the most successful businesses maintain the belief that what they do is generally good for others. They solve problems, put people to work, generate tax revenue, have a positive impact on their communities and so on. Unfortunately, when we are under the stress and strain of tighter finances, we often forget the good that we actually do. Many believe that small business is very noble for the reasons I stated above. I know it may be difficult to remember when you are fighting to put food on the dinner table, but you must remain crystal clear as to what good you do for others. Not only is there an extreme intrinsic value to it, but it will also help you sell your products and services more effectively. Secretly, you know that when your business is struggling, there is a little voice inside your head that doubts that what you do is of value. You must remain steadfast in your belief that you will help hundreds, if not thousands of people with your product or service. After all, if you don’t believe it, who will? To help provide a little structure for you, use this as a mantra: Desire the Good of All and the Universe will work with you. This principle has stood for thousands of years. It is the very principle behind donating to charity. You have probably heard of the theory of giving will ultimately lead to receiving. Too many of us think in the reverse, once I receive enough, then I will give. Get creative and fold it into your business model. Think of ways you can give back as a result of various levels of sales. Let’s face it, charities are struggling just as hard, if not harder then us small business owners. The conundrum is that there is a greater need today for those charities. What you give does not need to be extreme. Give 5% of sales over a certain threshold, or donate a dollar for every new client. At Getting Results Coaching, we are donating $50 per month per introduction to new clients so long as that person remains a client of Getting Results. We have chosen the Wounded Warrior Project to help severely injured soldiers. We have also opted to allow our referring source to choose a charity of their choice if they prefer. The point is to give back however you can, because one thing I know for sure, it is not just the dollars we make while on this planet, it is about the impact we have while we are here. I can guarantee one thing, the intrinsic value you will receive from giving back will be worth far more then 95% percent of the things you buy. To learn more about how to help us support the Wounded Warrior Project, or if you know of someone who is stagnant in their business and have a specific charity you would like to support, please contact us directly at: info@GettingResultsCoaching.com Together we will make the world a better place!

Lauren Doyle is a nationally renowned business coach with Getting Results Coaching. She has an incredible impact on the businesses and lives of hundreds of people through coaching since 2000. The results of her firm Getting Results Coaching far surpass those of their competitors.

Rick Wagner was recently forced to step down from General Motors (GM) due to the poor performance of the company he led. I know there are various opinions out there as to whose ‘fault’ it is that GM has been failing, but ultimately, his job performance is tied to the company’s performance. After all, the CEO is in charge of making the decisions necessary to keep the company profitable on a good day, and at the very least, prevent it from going under. I will be the first to say that it is not an easy job, but that is why CEO’s make the big bucks! Given that GM has continued a downward slide since he has been at the helm, he should be held accountable for his lackluster performance.

Accountability is a necessity in the business world. Managers hold their employees accountable, ultimately, shareholders and board members are supposed to hold the executives accountable.

With all that being said, I also believe highly in rewarding people on good performances as well. Productivity, making money and serving customers well should all be rewarded when done above and beyond the call of duty. When expectations are exceeded and top performers emerge, they undoubtedly should be paid handsomely. There is much talk out there today about ‘excessive greed’ in large companies (especially those too large to fail). I say that it is excessive when it is not warranted. When the leaders are at the helm of a sinking ship, they do not deserve a reward at all, but deserve more the fate of Rick Wagner. However, if there are performers within the company that are making money for the company (despite the horrific spending/bleeding of the rest of the company), they should be rewarded regardless of the overall company’s health. Why? Because they are the only people who can actually save a company. If you don’t reward performers, those performers will go to another company who will. What happens if all the performers leave? The show is over. Plain and simple.

I understand this implicitly as I was one of only 3 performers at a former company. They penalized me (due to the health of the company) by eliminating the tools that kept me effective and reduced my pay and commissions to pay for their own splender. The CEO had a ‘need’ to fly first class and stay in the finest hotels while my cell phone was eliminated (hello, my #1 most critical tool – a telephone or a cell phone when traveling). It didn’t take me long before I decided I didn’t need the company to do what I loved doing. At that point I was flying solo anyway and had built the confidence of being able to do it on my own, so I left. Shortly after, productive person #2 left and finally, productive #3 left. Before they knew it, they were singing ‘Kiss him Goodbye’ and the show was over.

Tough decisions need to be made in business, especially in times like these. Be warned to make your decisions wisely. Eliminating those who are not making the cut sooner rather then later so you can be sure to continue to reward those who continue to make money for the company is a hard, but wise choice.

Don’t mistake me, I am not against CEO’s, I am one. However, I am against a poor use of power. I am a believer in paying your executives well. They make the tough decisions and should have the experience to handle the pressures thrown at them, so reward them handsomely when they succeed, but when they flounder, hold them accountable.

Lauren Eichner’s firm, Getting Results Coaching helps the best get better in relationship-based sales professions. The integration of psychology with business systems allows them to get the most from each individual. To learn if coaching can help you or your business, go to: www.GettingResultsCoaching.com, click on the ‘Get Started’ button and complete the short Personal Assessment.

In many of my past columns and in much of my correspondence with business professionals, I maintain an optimistic perspective. Some have even asked if I thought my views were ‘Pollyannaish’. While I admit that at times my thoughts and expressions can be interpreted that way, I believe that your perspective is what creates your experience of the world. Question is: why would you choose to create a negative experience? I’m not here to dismiss the challenge of today’s economic times. In fact, I have a story to tell that will hopefully give those of you ‘hurting’ out there the opportunity to turn things around – first in your head, then in your own reality.

The story of my husband/business partner and I will sound familiar to many. The difference is that our story started in 2001 instead of 2008.

Prior to starting Getting Results Coaching, Ken and I both worked for a training and development firm in San Diego. It was our dream job- we loved the company and invested much of our selves and even personal finances. In 2000, the company hired a CEO who lacked integrity and rapidly drove the company into the ground. Many of us gave up our salaries and began putting company expenses on our own credit in our fight to turn the company around. Ken and I were the only two making money for the company despite not receiving any support from the firm. Because of this, I decided that I no longer needed the company to do what I loved so I left and started coaching clients on my own.

Ken’s commitment to the company, however, ran much deeper. As a result, he put everything he had including energy and money into keeping alive. This would prove to be a lesson of perseverance. He continued the battle long after he stopped getting paid. This led to him supporting himself and the company by using whatever credit he had, leaving him greatly in debt, owed over $100,000 by the company and facing an eviction.

It wasn’t long before Ken realized he had nothing left to give the company, so he had no choice but the leave. Ken and I had just started dating six months prior so we had each other to lean on, but at the same time we were BOTH unemployed. Even worse, Ken was denied unemployment because they claimed he left the company ‘voluntarily’.

Fortunately, we also knew the skill set we had was extremely valuable and soon joined forces to start Getting Results Coaching. We were profitable in our first month and have had a growing business ever since. Our belief in ourselves and our commitment to creating a business that truly serves others with integrity paid off.

We were promised that one day, the company would pay us back what was owed, but unfortunately, the writing was on the wall and the company went belly up shortly after we left.

Our situation today is 10 times better then it was at the former company even in its glory days. We likely would not be in the place we are today had it not been for that experience. Did it stink while we were going through it? Absolutely! It was a tough time for both of us, but our vision of what we would create and our commitment to achieving it is what allowed us to get through it and create what we have today, which is owning multiple houses, traveling the world and most importantly doing what we love to do by developing a company that is a true service to others!

Often times we need that uncomfortable push, sometimes from a company gone bust, to move us onward and upward. The critical lesson is that the more clear-minded you are and the sooner you accept what IS, the faster you will move forward and create a much better outcome for yourself. Every person I’ve helped through their transition now acknowledges that they are better off then they were before, but absolutely needed the nudge into the uncomfortable in order to make it happen.

So call it, Pollyannaish, hopefulness or just plain optimism, it is one of the most effective tools I have and it comes from real experience.

While driving back from Florida a couple of weeks ago, a critical distinction because apparent to me. I was most captivated by the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee, as I am every time I drive up and down the longitudinal parallel. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it, I’m always in aw. I make sure that I am awake to see it (when someone else is driving). I find it captivating and interesting. It provides vividness to the landscape that I certainly didn’t get driving across the state of Florida, aka flat land.

On the contrary, when we drive long hours across flat terrain, I find myself fighting to stay awake. Hmmm, this led me to think about what is going on in the business world these days. I hear conversations on the street all the time about how tough business is. I get it. It is definitely more challenging in this environment (or in this Valley). The cool thing about my drive is that I knew once I was in the valley, I could look forward to the next mountain to climb. Was it easy to climb the next mountain? No, especially in a 40’ rig towing a car. But it sure was worth it when we got to the top again. The view was amazing. It made me alive and awake again. And with each valley we hit, I knew I had another mountain to look forward to.

As you can imagine, I am going somewhere with this analogy. There are always going to be peaks and valleys in business. It is what makes business thrilling. What makes anything thrilling? The risk. The anticipation. The wonder of how high can we go. Unfortunately, we go unconscious when we are in the valley, our site becomes limited – we can’t see the far landscape of where we are headed. We are only able to see where we sit today. Then we dwell on where we sit today which prohibits us from effectively ascending up the next mountain. We complain about the view. We fantasize (or catastrophize) about how deep the valley will go. We consume all of our limited attention on how bad things are that we don’t give ourselves a chance for recovery. Recovery takes effort and focused attention on where we are headed next – not dwelling on how bad it will get.

Let’s go back to driving through the plains. You have probably had the experience of driving back from a long trip through the flat lands of America, fighting to stay awake. You may use tactics like turning up the radio or sticking your head out the window for a nice blast of cold air. You may notice that the easier the terrain to drive, the more your mind slacks off. You become less responsive. But you fight to stay awake because your life depends on it.

It’s kind of like the last economic cycle we just came off of. We hit a valley right after 9/11, then we started ascending up the mountain. Things were tough at first, but the ride and view became so thrilling that we were energized and built a level of success. A few years of that, we hit the plains and began coasting because we could. Because business was flowing in as a result of the effort we put forth while ascending up the mountain. The problem was many of us fell asleep at the wheel. We sat back as business rolled in. Wow, business is so easy! We stopped working the very systems and relationships that got us to the height of the mountain. Then as the terrain changed again, as it always does if you drive long enough, we spent so much time coasting and then standing in the valley in shock because our businesses had suffered great losses, we lost the opportunity to seize the next opportunity. Because with every valley is another mountain.

Now is the time to wake up and become more conscious about your business again before it is too late. Now is the time to provide greater value and greater attention on the products and services you offer. Now is the time to set up the systems in your business that help you adjust to a changing landscape to create a more predictable level of income. Now is the time to stop throwing a pity party and wallowing in your sorrow, get off your duff and work harder and smarter at your business today. Because if you don’t, your competition will and they’ll leave you in the dust of the valley.

Let me start with a story… I met a few friends down in Naples, FL a couple of weeks back. Funny thing, they live only 45 minutes away in Toledo, but we had to go to Naples, 24 hours away, to meet up. Anyway, I digress. A friend of ours from this group has a very successful company related to the home improvement and construction industry. I asked him how his business was doing. Because of this you may think you know the answer to the question. After all, construction and Midwest in the same sentence hardly sounds like a winning formula these days. However, his answer may surprise you. He said, “Great, just as long as I turn off the news.”

So what does not watching the news have to do with the success of his company? The answer lies in what 24/7 of bad news can do to your mental state of mind. If you are like most people, you probably watch the news, maybe a lot. As a result, you may have been sold into the idea that it is impossible to succeed in today’s business environment. I hear it all the time, but I also hear of many success stories like my Toledo friend who just cashed a seven digit check.

Unfortunately, stories like his or like most of my clients don’t get broadcasted at 7am, just as you are psyching yourself up to saunter into the office to grind out another day. On the contrary to most news stories making the boob tube, I know several individ uals who are having their best year ever in business! So, what’s the difference? Have a structure to manage their minds or what they choose to focus their attention on. So let’s commit ourselves to paying attention to only those things that serve our commitment to having a successful business. Because at the end of the day, specific news stories rarely have a direct impact on your business. Your business activities stay constant in a good economy or a poor one. You still need to block and tackle or, in other words, talk to people and meet with them.

Here are a few things to keep your conscious and focused attention on:

- Read a business book instead of vegging out in front of the television (I know, I’m not going to be popular with news stations this week). - Seek out the business professionals who are doing well and ask them what they attribute their success to.

- Sit outside Costco, Ikea or Walmart. Why? Because you will actually see that there are still people out there living life. The economy is tough, but it certainly is nothing what the media is making it out to be.

- Spend your time on www.RevenueBlitz.com, going through the Free Coaching Program or watching the Motivational videos. A much more constructive use of your time.

- Finally, if you find you can’t do it alone, hire a coach! Have someone help you keep your head on straight and doing the activities that a successful business requires.

After all, you have a choice, but please make it consciously. You can choose to be in the dying crowd of businesses, and they are out there, I’m not denying that. OR You can choose to be in the group of businesses that will succeed beyond this recession and when they do, they will be hugely successful because there will be a larger market to be had (think less competition, more clients and customers for you). The choice is all yours – just choose consciously!

Awareness – Your potential customers need to know you exist. If they don’t know you exist you won’t get their business, plain and simple. The first step of this process is to become aware of who your target audience is. I know this sounds like Marketing 101 and it is, but you would be surprised as to how few people or businesses actually take the time to study who their market really is, not just who you think it is. The two may be very different. Spend the next month taking detailed notes about who each customer is. Find out as much information as possible. You may know that your market is men between the ages of 30 and 55, but you may find out that your primary market is actually Hispanic men between the ages of 30 and 58 who have two kids and an income of over $100,000. The more detail you have the better targeted your marketing will be. Once you know exactly who your target is, you can craft a message more directly related to them, then broadcast that message using the most effective mediums to create AWARENESS.

Education – Once your potentials become aware that you exist, it is now time to educate them on who you are, what you do and why it is useful to them. If they don’t understand why or how they can benefit, you will lose them as a ‘suspect’. Don’t make them work hard to understand what you do. I have seen way too many poor marketing campaigns that left me wondering what exactly the company did, but not curious enough to take the time to figure it out. I might be too busy or just too lazy to take the time to research it myself. Make it easy for me, or more importantly, your target market. Spell it out for them and EDUCATE them.

Action – Okay, so you may be clear on what action you would like your ‘suspects’ to take (if you are not, then you need to become clear), but are they clear on it? For example, the one action we want our ‘suspects’ to take is to complete our Personal Assessment online at our website at www.GettingResultsCoaching.com by clicking on the ‘Get Started’ button. We leave nothing to chance, we tell them exactly where to go and what to do. You need to be sure you know what that action item is you want them to take in order to transition them from the marketing process to the sales process. What ACTION step do they need to take to go from being a ‘suspect’ to a ‘prospect’?

This seems so simple. I realize that. But I took the time to write a column dedicated to it because I know just how rare it is for businesses to actually follow through on this. Clarifying these three simple steps will make a world of difference for your business.