What Do You Do For A Living?

Posted on June 6, 2013 by

This weeks blog features guest blogger Gary Hartman. Gary is CEO and Head Coach at The Growth Coach in Boulder, Colorado and has more than a decade of coaching experience. Gary works with business owners, managers and sales professionals to help them grow their businesses so they earn more and work less.

To learn more about Gary, visit his website at http://westernbusinesscoaching.com/

What Do You Do For A Living? 

ghartman-hikingIt’s a question we get all the time – what we do is an important part of who we are.  It can happen anywhere or at any time  – at a business event, at the weekend barbeque, at the kids soccer game.

What they are really asking is What Does Your Company Do and it’s a chance to make a connection with a potential customer (or maybe they know of someone who would make a great client).

So how do you make the best of this opportunity?

Last week we discussed What Sets You Apart, what makes you different than your competition.  Once you’ve got that figured out, you need to be able to effectively communicate that message when you get this open door.  You need to phrase it in a way people will understand and remember. (In fact, this applies not only to prospects but also to employees, mentors, bankers, strategic partners, etc.)

This is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and here are four simple steps to help explain what you do:

First, THE SECRET  – it’s all about the benefit to the listener.  Explain what your business does for customers…what is the end result of your service or product? Does it save money, make their life easier or give them new opportunities?

Keep it short, do it in one sentence. The old benchmark of the “elevator speech” assumed a minute or two on an elevator ride.  People don’t have that long of an attention span today – it’s said we have 7 seconds to engage or lose a person in conversation.

If you got their attention, they’ll want to know more.  Now you can get more specific – what is the problem you solve, and how do you solve it?

Lastly, give them an example.  It’s best if you can personalize it, make your story relate to the person you are speaking to.

In summary, don’t lead with your product or service.  Make it short, sweet and concise and you will generate enough interest or curiosity to make them want to find out more.

Need help getting this perfected?  We’re always available to talk.

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Business Owner: Is It Time to Buy a Hat Rack?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by

Too Many Hats

Have more clothes than closet space? Buy an armoire. Not enough cabinets for your dishes? Think about getting a baker’s rack. Books piling up on your nightstand? Maybe you need a bookshelf.

It’s easy enough to look around your home, see things that need organized and take action. So why is it so hard to do when it comes to your business? I’m not talking about the papers on your desk, the voicemail light blinking on your phone or the emails sitting in your inbox. I’m talking about the clutter in the actual work you’re doing.
How many hats do you wear when it comes to your business?  Think about it. Are you spending your time on overarching important business challenges? Or are you spending hours on the schedule? Do you take your weekends to relax and recharge? Or are you clocking in every weekend to make sure the business runs smoothly 24/7?

If asking those questions has led you to see that you’re wearing more hats than you should, then maybe it’s time to treat your job like your house and invest in a hat rack. Well, maybe not an actual hat rack, but you should definitely consider making an investment in the organization of your business – something that will help you take off all those unnecessary hats. As the business owner, you need to make sure you have the time and ability to step back and run your business from the top. There aren’t enough useful hours in the day for you to have every job and wear every hat after the first year or two of business.

Take some time in the next couple of weeks to think about which low-value tasks you can pass along to someone else or what strategic decisions you need to make to hand those hats off to others. It’s not just about finding time for yourself – it’s about improving the long-term success of your business. If you are spending your time on tasks that can be handled by someone else, you’re not taking the time to focus on the future.

As I’ve said before, as the business owner, it’s your job to create jobs, not to work jobs – and certainly not to add more jobs to your already long list. Figure out which tasks can be handled by others and then focus on hiring and training people you can depend on to do their jobs so you don’t have to. It will help you to be successful and avoid burning yourself out as a business owner or entrepreneur.

If you’re having trouble figuring out which tasks you can assign to others or what strategic steps you can start taking to become a business owner instead of just a business operator, consider talking to your local growth coach: www.TheGrowthCoach.com.

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Tim Shepelak, Cincinnati’s Growth Coach, celebrates 10-year anniversary and expansion

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

photo-tim shepelakTen years ago, Tim Shepelak was courageous enough to escape corporate America and open the very first Growth Coach franchise in the country, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although the proven coaching and marketing systems had been successfully working for founder Dan Murphy for the previous decade, Shepelak took a chance on the opportunity that those same processes and methods would work for him as well.

“I knew Dan professionally and he was in the process of deciding how best to take his business coaching company nation-wide, including franchising. Dan ended up partnering with a proven franchising veteran, Gary Green. United, those two made a powerful combination. Once I looked at the content and value of their group coaching workshops and marketing systems, I knew they had something very special. Opening the first franchise seemed like a natural fit for me,” Shepelak said.

Now, ten years later, Shepelak is excited to be celebrating the 10-year milestone anniversary of his successful coaching business, as well as a decade of positively impacting the Greater Cincinnati business community, working for himself, and having a flexible schedule and fulfilling lifestyle.

“I think my success over the last decade comes down to the essence of what we do – helping people make mindset and behavioral changes to better themselves, their businesses and their lives in general,” he said. “While building any business is challenging, it’s been a fun and enriching journey for me, my family, and my many clients.”

Shepelak, Coach of the Year in 2008, was also the first franchise owner to be inducted into The Growth Coach Hall of Fame, which required 10 years as a Growth Coach owner, a track record of significant financial success, and a history of giving back to the franchise community.

Dan Murphy, founder and now CEO of The Growth Coach Franchise, started coaching small business owners in 1992 with the mission of helping them gain more success, personal balance and free time. He awarded the first franchise to Shepelak in early 2003 to make coaching more available to more clients.

“When you help a business owner or leader improve, all of the employees and their families are better off, and so are their suppliers, customers and the entire community … the positive ripple effect of business coaching is extensive and extremely satisfying,” Murphy said. “I was certain Tim would embrace that mission fully and successfully help spread our impact throughout Greater Cincinnati and beyond.”

The Growth Coach is now in more than 140 North American and international markets and continues to be the only franchise focused on pure business and sales coaching with the sole purpose of helping drive success while balancing the lives of business owners, leaders, managers and sales teams through group workshops and one-to-one coaching. This year, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked The Growth Coach as the #1 franchise for business coaching and consulting in their Best-of-the-Best edition.

Before becoming a Growth Coach, Shepelak worked for P&G, Burke Market Research and, most recently, as a Divisional Chief Executive Officer with Halma p.l.c. In addition to his everyday coaching and networking role, Shepelak is a frequent speaker for business owner/CEO groups, annual meetings and company retreats. He also helps the franchise system with high-end training, mentoring and boot camps.

“My clients benefit from my passion, professional experience, relationships, and The Growth Coach’s proven processes. Their progress leads to further opportunities that keep my business growing, diverse, and interesting,” Shepelak said.

“The key to my business is understanding my clients and the diverse markets in which I coach, and bringing extreme value to their table by leveraging my resources for their benefit. Additionally, the processes of coaching, selling, and marketing in diverse markets continually renew and develop me and my relationships, making me a renewable, expanding resource for my clients,” he said.

As he celebrates his 10-year anniversary as a business owner, Shepelak also is excited to celebrate that he’s expanded his franchise territory for the fifth time and now covers almost all of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. He said that expansion was a strategic decision from the beginning.

“I’m looking forward to serving additional clients in my expanded territory. This expansion was always a part of my long-term plan and I’m happy to have achieved such incredible growth and goals,” he said.

Looking back on the decade, Murphy said, “I’m thrilled I decided to franchise and that the person who was the brave pioneer was Tim Shepelak. He has incredible passion, curiosity, and a desire to serve and help others. I could not be more proud of Tim. He is living the dream through the vehicle of his coaching franchise. His hundreds of clients are better off and so are their families and communities. Tim’s positive impact in Greater Cincinnati and throughout our franchise system has been immense. I was so blessed to have him be the rock on which to build this solid and expanding franchise system. The ten years has been a great journey and I could not think of a better person to share the ride with than this franchise owner, partner, collaborator, and now dear friend. He’s been a generous Go-Giver and has helped countless others within our franchise system in so many ways.”

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Business Owners, Leaders Need to Unplug Too

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

heaven on earthThe weather is getting warmer, the flowers are blooming and the neighborhood kids are getting antsy about being out of school for the summer. Summertime is the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with your family – whether it’s a day trip to the park or a longer vacation – but if you’re a business owner, unplugging from the everyday demands of your company can be a challenge. In fact, can your business survive without you?

If that’s a question you find yourself asking, it’s probably time to sit down and figure out how the business should operate in the event that you’re not there. Even a very small business needs to be able to operate without the owner in the shop each and every day. And feeling like you can’t take a week off can do a number on the quality of your business management and can have a real emotional impact. Let’s face it – everyone needs a break, but you don’t want to have to close up shop!

So, if you won a trip to the Caribbean tomorrow, who would run your business while you were gone? Have you been training someone to take your place? Who would do the ordering, the schedule, the finances? Or would there just be a closed sign in the window? Let’s say it’s more dramatic than a vacation. What if something happened to you? Would your business survive? Could someone step into your shoes?

If you’re unsure of the answers to these questions, it might be time to sit down with a business coach. At The Growth Coach, we know that being able to take a break, whether for your mental health or your daughter’s wedding, is extremely important, and we can help you get there. In fact, many of our owners and coaches have been in your shoes and honestly know what you’re going through – myself included. Let us help you find the support system you need to take that time off work to be with your family this and every summer.

As always, you can learn more about working with a Growth Coach on our website, www.thegrowthcoach.com and feel free to ask me questions on the blog anytime.

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The Growth Coach franchise celebrates 10th anniversary

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

CelebrationWhen Dan Murphy started business coaching in 1992, it was his mission to help small business owners gain more success, personal balance, and free time.  He was passionate about helping them discover greater clarity, focus and better strategies to earn more, work less and enjoy richer lives.

“Small business owners have always been my heroes,” he said. “When you help an owner and business improve, all of the employees and their families are better off, and so are their suppliers, customers and entire community … the positive ripple effect of business coaching is immense and extremely satisfying.”

That positive impact, combined with Murphy’s desire to serve more business leaders across the country, is why he decided to expand the company nationwide by selling the first Growth Coach franchise to Tim Shepelak of Cincinnati in 2003. Now, with business and sales coaches in more than 140 national and international markets, The Growth Coach is celebrating their 10th anniversary of franchising.

“We wouldn’t be here without our proven coaching and marketing systems, our passionate coaches and corporate staff, and the continued success and support of tens of thousands of clients,” Murphy said. “I want to thank everyone associated with The Growth Coach for helping us reach this milestone.”

The Growth Coach continues to be the only franchise system focused on pure business and sales coaching with the sole purpose of helping drive success while balancing the lives of businesses owners and their sales and management teams through group workshops and one-to-one coaching. The Growth Coach has been listed among the top 500 franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine for the last consecutive eight years and was ranked the #1 business coaching/consulting franchise by the same publication for 2013. Entrepreneur Magazine also just listed The Growth Coach as a top home-based franchise.

Tim Shepelak said the decision to become the first franchise owner was easy once he saw Murphy’s passion for serving clients, his vision for the franchise system, and how robust their coaching and marketing systems were. Today, Tim owns 5 Growth Coach territories throughout Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.  “Tim is living the dream, providing tremendous value to clients, making a huge difference in his communities, having fun on his journey, and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Murphy stated.

“I knew the marketplace need was huge, that our intellectual property would provide clients with a high return-on-investment, and that I would enjoy serving and helping others reach their potential.  I also knew The Growth Coach franchise had developed something very powerful and unique…an effective and highly leveraged way to coach groups of clients instead of merely one-to-one,” Shepelak said.

“Buying that first franchise really came down to trust in the executive team, the value of the coaching and marketing systems, and that we help clients in both their professional and personal lives I think what sets us apart from anyone else is that we are so effective at helping clients make lasting behavioral changes to achieve breakthrough results,” he said.

Two years after that first franchise and with dozens more in place, Fred Kusch started his own Growth Coach in Wisconsin for similar reasons.

“The Growth Coach is different because of the message and the vision really focuses on helping people. We, as Growth Coaches, help people love life, business and work again. We help clients find that all important balance – and getting paid to do that is just icing on the cake,” he said.

“I believe every effort is made to walk the talk in this company. People want to make money, but for our leaders and successful franchise owners, it’s always about doing that for the right reasons,” Kusch said.

“While I am pleased with our progress the first 10 years, we have miles to go before we rest.  It pains me greatly to know there are way too many small business owners, managers and sales professionals throughout North America who need our help now but we unfortunately don’t have a Growth Coach located nearby.  As such, I’m dedicated to never-ending innovation and growing our franchise system to at least 300 franchise owners in the next 5-7 years to improve the businesses and lives of tens of thousands of additional small business clients.  That’s my mission and calling and it’s strong as ever, said Murphy.”

 

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Make Your Next Hit a Home Run

Posted on March 28, 2013 by

Make Your Next Hit a Home RunBaseball and other team sports teach us many valuable lessons. With opening day for many professional baseball teams just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to think about those lessons. How to win and lose with grace, how to be competitive and give your all to the goal, how to play by the rules and as a team; sports teach us some of the most important skills we’ll need in life. These valuable lessons follow us and provide a framework for how to perform and succeed as adults. Coaches teach us these skills, and provide valuable feedback and motivating support. By looking at how coaches motivate their teams to become better athletes, we can learn a lot about how to use that motivation to become more successful business owners.

One of the most important lessons we can learn from a coach is how to focus on the future. When you’re playing baseball, or any sport, you can’t get discouraged with past mistakes. If you throw a bad pitch or strike out, you don’t just give up. It’s easy to be overly critical of our failures, especially the first time playing a new sport. Running a business has the same challenges…problems arise when you start to obsess over perceived failures. You could stay mired down in the past on plays already made. But the game isn’t over! You can’t undo what’s already happened, but that doesn’t mean you’ve lost the game. Get your mind away from negative thoughts and stop obsessing over past mishaps. Keep your mind on the next play.

Baseball coaches keep their team focused on what’s happening in the present, rather than what happened during the last inning. When a player focuses on past mistakes, he’s not going to truly have his mind in the present moment.  That can result in more errors, foul balls and more strikes. The same can be true running a business. When a business owner is only concerned with lamenting over poor decisions made in the past, the future will only yield more poor results.

If your head is stuck in the past rather than the here and now, use this blog as a wake-up call. Use your past failures as lessons learned but don’t obsess over them. Stop wasting time and energy worrying about what’s past. There’s nothing you can do to change what’s already happened so why concern yourself? Move on and let go of the past. Your focus should always be on the next play. Even if you’re at bat with two strikes, think positively, clear your mind and turn your next hit into a home run.

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For the Baltimore Ravens Sales Team, Crunch Time is Just Beginning, and They Have a New Coach to Help them Win: Susan Katz Works with the Team to Help Them Keep Focused Off the Field

Posted on March 14, 2013 by
Susan Katz

Susan Katz with the Vince Lombardi trophy

Katz, owner of the Baltimore Growth Coach franchise, has signed on to coach the Baltimore Ravens’ sales and marketing team. She’ll be helping the staff secure the sponsorships and develop partnerships that will enable the team to thrive next season.

“My work with the Ravens’ sales and marketing team is what I call business development coaching – I help them clarify their direction and strategize an action plan to keep them focused and also set goals to keep on track,” she says. “The sales and marketing team’s work is just gearing up now as they look to renew sponsorships and develop the various activities that will allow each sponsor and the team to get the most from their partnerships.”

Katz first started working with the Ravens business management team about two years ago doing leadership development. Then, in November of last year, she developed a coaching relationship with the sales and marketing team. Now she coaches the team monthly with the objective of elevating performance, meeting goals and reaching a higher level of success.

“I have a very practical approach. The fact that we all meet as a group brings up issues that you don’t always take the time to consider and review – we’ve been able to address some things within the department that have helped to improve their productivity and effectiveness,” Katz explains. “These are really high quality people who are very engaged in the process of change and improvement. That makes them very exciting to work with, and very good at using the skills we learn to help them improve.”

Although Katz has only been coaching the Ravens’ sales and marketing team for a few months, she’s already making a difference for them.

Account Executive Chad Unitas explains that “Susan has really helped me focus on key opportunities and increase the speed of closing business.” Thanks in part to her coaching, Unitas recently closed a $200,000 sponsorship deal.

Katz may be coaching one of the city’s highest profile sales teams, but closing a six figure deal each month isn’t a requirement to use her services. She regularly coaches a wide variety of business owners, managers and sales professionals throughout the city. With more than 30 years of corporate experience plus five years as a Growth Coach owner, her success stories are numerous.

“I think what resonates with clients is that I’m very practical and results-oriented. Any time you make an investment, you want to see results. With each new client, we first talk about what those results should be and how they can be achieved. Results are essential to building your business,” she states. “I don’t come in to do the work for clients or to just be a cheerleader. I come in to help identify areas that need attention, develop a strategic plan for those areas and then help clients create the right mindset and develop the right tools to achieve their goals. My coaching takes work not just on my part, but on my clients’ part, too – it’s their success that we’re aiming toward after all. But when we’re all working together to focus energy and effort, everyone thrives.”

For more information about Susan Katz and The Growth Coach in Baltimore, call 1-410-504-6725, email s.katz@thegrowthcoach.com or visit www.susankatzcoaching.com.

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5 Low-Cost Marketing Strategies

Posted on February 28, 2013 by

Marketing StrategyAs a business owner, one of your primary jobs should be marketing. Marketing is the driving force behind acquiring the new customers and revenues that fuels your business. The more you effectively use marketing, the more customers you will inevitably draw to your business. Like fishing, the more lines you put in the water, the better your chances of getting a bite. To help, here are five easy and low-cost marketing strategies that can help you widen your marketing net.

1. Formalize and optimize your referral systems. Who were your best and most active referral sources over the last year? Identify these people and try to replicate them as much as possible. For example, if your best referral sources right now are HR professionals reach out to other HR professionals. If something is working, don’t change it, duplicate it. Cultivating your referral sources is low-cost but can yield huge results.

2. Leverage your past customer relationships. Identify some of the important customers you have worked with in the past. Reach out to them and express an interest in growing your professional relationship. If they did business with you once they may be likely to do it with you again. If there were any past problems, be sure to address them. Consider adding a bonus incentive to patronize your business again, such as a discount or an additional service.

3. Influence many people at once with special events/seminars. Educational events and seminars are a great way to involve both old and new customers, referral sources and prospects. Consider inviting other companies you work with to put on the event with you. This allows you access to their customer base and vice versa. This helps split the cost of the event itself and increases the range and scope of attendees.

4. Make doing business easy, convenient, and risk free. Never ask the person you’re doing business with to assume risks. Instead, reassure them with a money-back guarantee or some other specific and credible promise that lets them know your business is trustworthy. For example, at The Growth Coach, “We guarantee the value of all our business coaching services. If you are not fully satisfied with our initial coaching session, for whatever reason, we will promptly and respectfully give you a full refund.” Clients who do business with any of our business coaches know that there is no financial risk to them.

5. Get active and stay active on social media. While many business owners usually already have a Facebook or Twitter page for their business, the work doesn’t end with their mere existence. Post frequently with relevant information and questions for your fans and followers. While you should promote yourself, remember that social media is about connection not just self-advertising. Include links to other blogs and videos that are related to your business, even if you didn’t create them. Develop a relationship with businesses, customers or referral sources you work with to help promote their material so they will promote yours in turn.

These five strategies may not all be applicable to your individual business. Pick and chose the ones you like and fit your business the best and implement them as soon as possible to help cast your marketing net. Due to the low-cost of all of these strategies, the only thing holding you back from implementing them and gaining greater marketing reach if your own inhibitions. Don’t waste time. Put these in place today and reap the rewards tomorrow.

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Be a Sculptor to Strike it Rich

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

Fred Kusch

This week’s Growth Coach blog is brought to us from guest blogger Fred Kusch. Fred is a Growth Coach franchise owner from LaCrosse, WI. He provides expert, practical counsel to organizations and audiences around the globe. He offers big-picture views of how to build morale and teams, develop people and leaders and enhance life and work. Fred was named Coach of the year in 2012 by The Growth Coach.

You can learn more about Fred at his website www.jfkassociates.com

Be a Sculptor to Strike it Rich

As we enter the first quarter of the year it is time to think about molding your business to run more efficiently, effectively and consistently. Don’t let your business evolve haphazardly and reactively. Proactively shape it or re-shape it to improve your business for smoother operations, consistent customer satisfaction and profitable results. You must turn any chaos, confusion, and anarchy you have experienced in the past into order and discipline. It is time to standardize and document your business.

Challenge your old beliefs about how your business should work. It is never too early to shape or too late to re-shape your business. It doesn’t matter if your business is 20 years old, 2 years old, 2 months old or on the drawing board, start shaping the company to run without you being woven into the very fabric of the business. Design it to run without your supplying all the effort and energy. You cannot control everything, you cannot control everyone. Let go! Start behaving like a strategic business leader/owner.
You do not want to create merely a job for yourself. The ultimate goal of creating a business is to sell it one day, at the highest premium possible, to your employees, family members, or an outside buyer. You deserve an acceptable return on your investment of time, talent, and treasure.
No matter what size, age or industry, every business should be prepared to be sold. Your business is no different. This “start with the end in mind” strategy should help focus you on building an effective business model that doesn’t have you at the center of its universe, relying on your presence, personality and perspiration for its success. Keep this thought in mind, you should not be the business and the business should not be you. This work-in-reverse approach not only maximizes your selling price, but also minimizes your hassles and headaches while you own and run the business.
As stated earlier, your goal is to design or re-design your business to work without you. Your business model should be sculpted in such a way that it can be easily replicated dozens of times in cities around the country or world, requiring only your vision, not your physical presence and exertion. Whether you ever expand or not, such an ambition should help you focus on building a systems-dependent (not leader/owner-dependent or people-dependent) business that generates repeatable performance and consistent results. You must help others get results. Without other people, you don’t run a business — you work a job.

What is an effective business system? It is simply an integrated web of separate processes, procedures and policies. A business system allows you to get consistent results through other people – tremendous leverage and freedom! The business system is your documented instruction manual for “this is what and how we do it” at our company. Some typical operating processes are as follows:
• Selling
• Marketing
• Manufacturing
• Inventory management
• Order processing/customer fulfillment
• Customer service
• Billing and accounts receivable
• Procurement/accounts payable
• Facilities management
• Accounting/finance
• Human resources (i.e. hiring, firing, reviewing, promoting, paying, etc.)
• Information systems
• Store opening and closing procedures
Your business with such fully identified and explained processes will allow your employees to deliver amazing consistency. Employee discretion is minimized. Such a system will also free you from having to touch every transaction, make every decision, answer every question and solve every problem. You can manage by exception! Such a carefully crafted enterprise will also give you breathing space to think and act like a strategic business leader/owner as well as the time to do personal activities that matter most to you.
Without such a business system in place, no one will want to pay a premium for your broken business. They would not want to buy a dysfunctional business that is solely dependent upon you for its day-to-day operations and survival. If it were obvious that you are a prisoner to your business, why would anyone want to buy into such a life sentence? They would not or would pay very little for such a systems-deficient business. Please grasp this; no one wants to buy a job, a series of headaches, or a leader/owner-centered and dependent business.
To maximize your company’s eventual selling price, realize that buyers want to acquire a smoothly running, money-generating machine. Buyers want to purchase a business system that runs on near autopilot, foolproof status. They want to buy a fully documented, organized business system that gets predictable results. They want an asset that has proven processes, predictable revenue streams, and strong growth potential. They want to buy a well-designed, hassle-free, cash flowing asset.
The more of a turnkey, self-managing, self-improving system you develop, the greater the value to a potential buyer. If your business runs well without you being there every day, it will be worth gold to others. And until the day you sell, don’t you want to own and manage the same type of well-designed, well-orchestrated business?

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3 Steps to Becoming a Professional Business Athlete: A New Mindset

Posted on January 31, 2013 by

Professional Business AthleteProfessional athletes get paid big bucks to showcase their skills for a few, but important hours during the week. For example, the Superbowl is right around the corner: think about how important just those few critical hours will be for the athletes! Game days are the days that really count for athletes and earn them millions of dollars a year. The rest of their time is divided between practice days and off days. Take a lesson from successful professional athletes  – put the significant portion of your energy into your business game days, and then invest the rest of your time transforming your talents and skills into future business touchdowns!

STEP 1: Game Days
For business owners, game day is the time to put all your effort into selling, marketing and innovation for your business. These are the days when you have a chance to really shine. It’s those few hours a week that make all the difference. Focus your attention on the big picture tasks that need your expertise and delegate the low-value tasks elsewhere. Game days are the days when you truly put your game face on. You need to be completely in the zone, disregarding the unimportant tasks and daily clutter that distracts you from what’s really important. Spend the remaining part of your time preparing, planning, and resting for your game days, when you will achieve your major goals and projects. Game days are when you give it your all.

Step 2: Practice Days
When you’re not in game day mode, break your days up into practice days and off days. Practice days are for you to plan and practice the goals for Game Day. Like professional athletes, use this time to make sure you’re ready to perform at the top of your game when it really counts. Review your selling strategies, rehearse your sales presentations and conduct research on these days. Make sure you’re confident and completely ready to do your best when game day arrives.

Step 3: Off Days
Off days are a time to relax and recharge your batteries so you can perform your best when you’re back on the business field.  Just as professional athletes take appropriate time on off days to rejuvenate themselves both physically and mentally, you should use your off days for the same purpose and results. You can’t be your best when you’re exhausted, and extended periods of exhaustion can lead to burnout. Take just a day or two a week to completely remove yourself from your business. That means no emails, no phone calls, no work; just relaxation.

When you adopt the mindset of game days, practice days and off days, you’ll have a playbook to become a successful professional business athlete. You’ll be focused, prepared and relaxed enough to accomplish your goals without facing burnout or exhaustion. Conquer stress and chaos, and be victorious with an organized and effective business game plan.

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