Networking Is Not Selling

I always look forward to reading Abigail’s latest “words of wisdom.” Please scroll all the way down, if you find that taking vacations seems to be a ‘foreign concept’ in your world.  Abigail can help you create the kind of business that will allow you to take time off! She is fantastic!

A generation or two ago, most people worked hard for 40 hours each week and had time each evening for dinner, visiting with neighbors, supervising their children’s homework, and bath time. For the past two decades, not taking vacation time has become a desperate attempt to keep our jobs, despite no proof to support the practice. Today, Americans work more days per year and more hours per day than workers in any other industrialized nation. We have no national vacation policy, unlike other industrialized nations. Only 10% of employed Americans take two weeks off at a time for vacation.

What’s Preventing Time Off?

We all have 24 hours in a day. How we allocate them is completely individual. When clients tell me they cannot take time off, their reasons fall into very predictable buckets.

1. Money – If you are paid hourly, then time not working is less dollars in your pay package. The majority of my clients own their own business so that’s a lame argument. When they have a net income goal that they are not meeting, we need to look at their marketing, their conversion rate from lead to client, their follow up to retain existing/prior clients, and their expenses.

2. Fear – These days many salaried people are terrified of taking time off in case they lose their job. There are thousands of people who made this decision and lost their jobs anyway. If you believe your boss “won’t like it” when you take time off, think about who will be around to enjoy when you are 65. It probably won’t be your current boss.

 3. Poor Planning – For business owners, if their business is set up so it cannot function without them on hand, it’s definitely time to look at their systems, policies, and protocols so they are set up to allow a month-long cruise with no worries about the business continuing to prosper. Or, help them make their annual revenue in 11 months of the year so they have the twelfth month free. A clockmaker friend of mine spends the month of February in Hawaii, because he generates his desired annual revenue March through January.

4. Avoidance of Other Things – This is more common that most of us want to admit. If there are problems in the marriage, it’s easier to work longer hours. When you have a teenager with attitude, it’s less stressful to go to the office on the weekend. After you welcome the new puppy in the family, it’s definitely better to avoid being the first one home to clean up any accidents and take the puppy for a walk. We don’t like to admit that we are working longer hours to avoid other things, but it’s a very probable cause.

Just because we can – does not mean we should

Technology allows us to be connected 24/7 around the world. We’ve become so infatuated with our “toys” that they now dictate our lives. They come with OFF buttons! Learn to use them! I promise there is no law, rule, or commandment that says we must be connected every hour of every day. Even God, in the middle of creation, managed a day of rest. If it’s good enough for the Big Guy, it’s good enough for us mere mortals.

Protect What is Most Valuable

Your technology tools can be lost, stolen, or destroyed. If you’ve followed basic levels of security and back-up protocols, you can easily replace the tool, recover your information, and be functional in a matter of hours.

Human beings, you, your family, friends, and co-workers are not replaceable with downloaded memory. As I have pointed out frequently, if you do not take extremely good care of yourself, no one else can or will do it for you. Only you can control how your physical, mental, and emotional well-being is cared for. Many of us take better care of equipment than of ourselves.
Take The Long View
Are you nicer, calmer, more creative, and helpful to your clients when you are rested and refreshed, or when you are half sick and exhausted? Will your clients be happier finding a new supplier for your goods or products when you have burned out to the point you need to close down your business?

Make yourself and your own well-being a priority. Take time off to relax, refresh, and recharge. Your body, your business, and your relationships will all benefit.

I keep this question posted to my bulletin board as a reminder. 

     “How thin can you spread yourself before you are no longer “there?”

 © 2010 Straight Edge News           All Rights Reserved.

Abigail Dougherty, PCC, is the founder of Straight Edge Solutions, a Professional Certified Coach, Business Process Expert and Motivational Speaker. To read more articles by Abigail and learn more about her work, please visit her website, StraightEdgeSolutions.com or contact Abigail at Abigail@StraightEdgeSolutions.com.

For those of you who prefer to vacation off-season, now is an excellent time to confirm that your business will run smoothly without your attention for a week or two.  Send Abigail an email so you can set up a time to talk about how to prepare for your gift of time off.

Abigail Dougherty
Straight Edge Solutions

Abigail@StraightEdgeSolutions.com

Are you likable ? You may have great knowledge and be fully capable in your industry, but if others do not like you, they will not refer to you.  Some simple tips on becoming more likable may help you put the pieces of the puzzle together:

• First impressions are lasting impressions. Always put your best foot forward. Yes, dressing appropriately, wearing deodorant, bathing, and using mouth wash are suggested acts for leaving a positive lasting impression.
• Be interested in others.
• Listen. Are you busy thinking about what you’re going to say next, or are you actually listening?
• Ronnie Noize, Google’s #1 Marketing Coach http://www.VeronikaNoize.com  says that Networking is about connecting and serving. Connecting others is a great way to be of service. Those can be some of the most powerful referrals.
• Never, ever, ever confuse networking with selling. No one likes to be sold.

If you are networking, chances are you own a business.  You will want to read the following article by Abigail Dougherty.  Becky

As I’ve admitted before, my definition of a “business” book is broader than most publishers’. Because I read over 200 nonfiction books a year, it means I’ve read several on leadership, sales, marketing, management, etc. The more I read, the clearer it becomes that there is no single precise formula for success in business. Most of the books agree on six key attributes needed to be successful. They might name them differently, but the fundamentals are the same.

Skill

This is usually the easiest one. Sane people do not start a business unless they have a certain level of qualification in that field, either by experience, education or certification. If you are a carpenter, travel agent, coach, lawyer or dog groomer, somewhere along the way you’ve picked up the necessary abilities to do that work.

Vision

Going into business for yourself requires a vision of what you want from life that is greater than the relative security of working for a paycheck. The vision could be about freedom, about creativity, about flexibility of where and when you work, and who you work with. It could be as simple as the change you want to bring to the world. Without vision we cannot run our business; it will always run us. 

Personality

Of all the attributes for business success, this, to me, is the most controversial. Sometimes charisma is mistaken for the ability to lead. Sadly, leadership isn’t always combined with integrity and competence. When it is, it’s a fabulous combination for success. Too often, key qualities are missing and we see the business fail in a headline-blazing fashion.

Creativity

This is the ability to find, engage, and listen to our customers so we can understand what they WANT to solve problems or save themselves pain. Creativity includes being able to keep that dialogue going as tastes or the problems they face change. Being a buggy whip maker in the age of automobiles could limit your business success, unless you are Jedediah’s Buggy Whip Maker, who has carved out a unique niche in what most believe is a dead industry. Creativity helps you get through any barrier to your success. That might mean going over, under, around or through the obstacles that pop up. This is where Master Mind groups are invaluable. Often we are too close to the problem to see the solution that is obvious to someone in a different industry.

Determination

I was listening to an interview of a well-known speaker who, early in his career, was asked to work with an inner-city youth group to help them develop self-esteem. He was wise enough to help them acknowledge that they faced challenges, that people have faced similar challenges in the past, and that similar challenges will continue in the future. This speaker’s message to these youths was, “Now you know the challenges, succeed anyway!” We can all produce a litany of excuses for not being successful. We’re human: as long as we are alive we will have challenges. We can use them as our excuse to not succeed or we can use determination and creativity to succeed anyway.

Action

It’s probably not surprising that action is often the hardest step for business owners. Purposeful action to attract clients, to book business, to earn revenue, and to ensure the clients become your fan club is significantly different from activities. Business owners too often believe that it’s their job to do everything in the business. Successful business owners figure out where they add the most value to the business and find ways to delegate the rest to a third party, an employee or a virtual assistant. Remember, delegation retains your control. Abdication means you’ve abandoned part of your business to someone else’s priorities.

What’s Your Formula?

Skill, vision, personality, creativity, determination, and action are all essential building blocks of business success. How much of each that is required for your success is completely individual to your business and your market. No matter how your formula reads, ACTION is the essential ingredient to ALL success.

 “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.  Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

Leonardo DaVinci

 © 2010  Straight Edge News

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? Check our website: Straight Edge Solutions.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Abigail Dougherty, PCC, is the founder of Straight Edge Solutions, a Professional Certified Coach, Business Process Expert and Motivational Speaker. To read more articles by Abigail and learn more about her work, please visit her website, StraightEdgeSolutions.com or contact Abigail at Abigail@StraightEdgeSolutions.com.