The Scientific American Mind may not be sitting on your coffee table, but it is on mine. Or at least the June/July issue is. I was flying back to Portland from Kansas City after attending a 2-day FastTrac certification program.

(FastTrac is a series of hands-on business programs developed and sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, MO. The programs are designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners start up, operate and grow their businesses. In Maine FastTrac is offered as part of the Center for Entrepreneurship at USM. The FastTrac program is of the highest quality and it also compliments Bold Vision Consulting’s programs and I’m happy to be certified as a FastTrac facilitator for USM.)

So …let’s get back to the Scientific American Mind. As I’m now in Detroit on a 2-hour stopover between Portland, ME and KC, MO, I’m walking past rows and rows of magazines, Detroit souvenirs and unhealthy snacks and see this headline screaming out at me: BURNOUT Needless to say, I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around and headed to the rack to check it out.

As a small business owner - in particular the owner of a business just celebrating a 1-year anniversary, (Yours Truly) can be at high risk of burnout. Even though business is developing as it should, it is never easy, there are never enough hours in the day and sometimes having to do it all AND find any time to decompress seems impossible. You add that all up and it’s easy to see how burnout happens.

“Even though your job or career might be extremely fulfilling, it can also be extremely demanding--and you feel overwhelmed. You are not alone.” This is the lead-in to the article. Great, I’m not alone. So I read on. Burnout “tends to hit the best,” those with “the most enthusiasm who accept responsibility readily.” That’s good, too. I’ve never been called demure and I don’t shy away from a challenge; in fact I thrive on challenges. Isn’t that a prerequisite for owning your own business?

“If someone works 12 hours a day, every day, yet still has found a way to relax, he will very likely have no problem.” Uh, oh. What slacker are they talking about, working only 12 hours a day? …finding a way to relax? Hmmmm. He can find a way because he’s only working 12 hours a day …no wonder.

Seriously, though; this is what most of us find to be the biggest challenge and why many of us burnout. Finding a way to relax; decompressing as I like to call it; finding a work-life balance as the challenge is more widely known; THIS is the challenge.

The Scientific American Mind article goes on to describe a few individual “burnout” situations and how each person responded to their crisis. For example, Larry, a 28-year-old consultant working 60 to 80 hour weeks collapsed outside the door to his apartment with a terrible headache, a racing heart and vertigo. Twenty-eight years old! Burnout is getting more and more prevalent. According to a November, 2005 Harris Poll, one third of workers ages 25 to 39 say they already feel burned out by their jobs.

What really woke me up was “The Burnout Cycle,” a list of the 12 phases (according to the author, Ulrich Kraft, a freelance science writer in Berlin) that lead to “Burnout Syndrome.” The phases include things like neglecting your needs, denial of emerging problems, inner-emptiness, being obsessed with handling everything yourself….and the list goes on. I admit, it is hard work NOT to burnout. Reading this article was a good reminder to get back to the basics in a few areas of my life, including exercise and limiting the late night oil I burn at the office. I’m telling you this as I sit here typing at 6:10 p.m. and when I finish this I’ve got to finish preparing for a workshop at the Unemployed Professionals meeting tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. Like I said, NOT burning out takes work! And a lot of practice.

So, take a deep breath, look at all you have on your plate and be realistic about what you have to do and what you can actually delegate. Then also be realistic about what you physically CAN get done in a single day; a single week or month. Do what you know you should do without arguing with yourself, do it and then reward yourself by leaving the office at a reasonable hour and enjoying a nice evening with family, a good friend or a good book.

This and a heavy dose of BOLD-ness will do you well. Remember …success and the good life - it all starts with a vision.

More about FastTrac –
FastTrac programs are primarily focused on the more “tangible” and traditional skills needed to be successful as a business owner, i.e. How to read financials, How to price your product or service, Delivery and Distribution issues, HR and Management issues, etc.

Bold Vision programs focus more on the “intangible” or “off-balance sheet” skills that are equally as critical to business success –critical to plain ‘ol success for that matter, i.e. keeping focused on your longer-term objectives while managing the day-to-day business operations, Perseverance, Time Management, Follow-Through, finding some life-balance when you have to do it ALL, etc.

For more information about Maine’s FastTrac program, call The Center for Entrepreneurship and Small Business at USM – (207) 780-5919 or visit USM’s website at http://www.usm.maine.edu/cesb/fasttrac.html .

For upcoming Bold Vision programs and events bookmark the Bold Vision Calendar and check back from time to time.

How many times have you heard this: “Time is money.”? We in the self-employed world know better than most that time is money. We have to plan our time off judiciously because when we don’t work, we don’t get paid. It’s difficult enough to plan time off, but when we find ourselves wasting time when we should be getting things done, it just adds insult to injury. The productivity challenge isn’t limited to the self-employed – we may just feel it more acutely in the wallet than others.

However, the point is if we’re wasting time, things don’t get done; and if things don’t get done, business doesn’t happen. If business doesn’t happen, we don’t make any money. For all of the upsides that come with being your own boss, this isn’t one of them. In fact, this can be a big down side of owning your own business if it's not managed well.

You don’t feel like working today? It will cost you; literally.
Therefore, it makes sense then that the less time we waste, the more productive we are; the more productive we are the more money we make.

To improve your productivity, your first step should be to identify your biggest time wasters. Once done, you can then address how to eliminate or at least neutralize them to see an improvement. So, what would you say are your biggest time wasters?

Answer these two questions:
#1) What things outside of your control get in the way of your productivity?

#2) What things within your control get in the way of your productivity?

Pace Productivity, a Canadian company asked these same 2 questions in a survey of 690 entrepreneurs and employees across North America.

The first question was designed to find out what factors hindered productivity that were outside of the respondents’ control. The second question was designed to find out how people take responsibility (or not) for wasting their own time.

Question #1 received more responses than #2 however; every person surveyed was asked both questions. It appears people submitted more than one response to the first question, which was not the case with the second. In fact the most common response to the second question was no response at all. Interesting, right? How's that for accountability (or the lack thereof)?

Which brings me to my second point, accountability. You would be surprised at how much control you really DO have over your day. Most of the time it is YOU who decides to allow others to interrupt you. YOU decide how often and how much time you spend checking email, searching the internet, visiting with co-workers, etc.

You don’t have to hurt people’s feelings telling them you happen to be busy at that point – can they call you back later in the afternoon. You CAN turn the email notification sound to “mute” so you’re not interrupted every time you receive a new email. You do have more control than you think.

Think about your time wasters and be accountable. There are very few things about which you are helpless to improve.

HOW do your “time wasters” rate rate in the survey? See the survey results here as well as a few more tips on how to how to increase your daily productivity at work.

And remember ...Be BOLD! Be Productive! Make it Happen.

Sign up for the BOLD Bulletin, the monthly success e-journal for solo-professionals and small business owners. Submit your email address in the box in the upper right of the Bold Vision Consulting Home page.

Check out the BOLD Vision Calendar of events. Upcoming programs include:

Get Published! on 7/27

Unemployed Professionals on 8/1

On the Speaking Circuit on 8/10

Ocular Forum - Free Introductory Meeting on 8/1

2007 Strategic Workshop in Paris France - 1st week in December

Well, I’ll bet you didn’t know that studying baseball or baking would help improve your sales results.

(This article is 863 words - approx. 5 minutes of reading.)

If you want something to materialize or to happen, there are standard steps you take, depending on what it is. For example, if you want a delicious, moist chocolate cake, there is a specific recipe you follow.

World's Yummiest Chocolate Cake
2 cups of flour, 3 eggs, 2/3 cups sugar, ¾ cup chocolate pieces, 1 stick of softened butter, melt chocolate in double boiler over hot (not boiling) water, pre-heat oven to 375o, bake for 25 minutes, cool cake on a rack for 30 minutes, etc., etc.

To reach your objective of having a delicious, moist chocolate cake, your action plan will be to “execute the cake recipe”.

Another example (thanks to the marketing guru, Robert Middleton): take the Boston Red Sox. (No offense New York fans. I’m an equal opportunity example user. We’ll give you guys the air time next.) The objective is to win the baseball game.

The “recipe”, if you will, or ingredients of a win are:

Hit the ball where no one is, throw the ball to where someone is, catch the ball, preferably before it hits the ground, run the bases really fast before anyone can catch you with the ball, etc.

If the Red Sox’s goal is to win a baseball game, their action plan must include the above mechanics.

A recipe or formula is somewhat akin to an action plan you might create to reach a business objective. Does this make sense?

Taking the baseball analogy one step further; just as the formula to win the game specifies the mechanics / the actions needed, the formula also specifies the order in which each action should be executed to achieve optimal results. In order for the Red Sox to achieve the intended result – a WIN - there is a specific order of execution that must be followed. How about going up and running the bases sliding into home and then picking up the bat to get ready for the pitch. The mechanics of the game, Hit the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball, run the bases, etc. must occur in a specific order.

As for the cake, it goes without saying that you can’t bake the flour, eggs and sugar mixture before mixing in the melted chocolate. You might end up with something you could call a cake, but it won’t be the chocolate cake of your dreams.

The same goes for selling your services. The includes:
• Defining the prospects – (Get them on the bench)
• Getting their attention – (At home plate & up to bat)
• Developing a relationship – (Home to 1st Base – Permission)
• Developing an understanding of their needs (Home to 1st Base – Qualification)
• Introducing your work, the benefits you provide and what sets you apart (2nd Base)
• Formal and customized presentation of your solutions to solve their needs (2nd to 3rd Base)
• Agreement to work together - Negotiating a win-win working arrangement (3rd Base into Home for the win)
• Providing the service (Into the Dugout)
• Ongoing client care, etc., etc. (Dugout – back to running the appropriate bases as needed for cross-selling, up-selling, referral opportunities, etc.)

Just like in baseball, there is an order in which these steps must be executed to see good sales results. One of the primary problems I see many professionals make is that they “skip bases”. They try to move a prospect from the initial meeting (Home) to a detailed discussion of why they and/or their services are great (2nd Base) without gaining permission or qualifying the prospect appropriately.

For example, you meet someone at a Chamber After Hours networking event and after only a brief time (even if over a couple of separate meetings) you give them a “brain dump” on your services.
You may have exchanged cards but it might likely be a while before you meet with them one-on-one and a longer while before you do any business with them.

Why? It’s usually because you rattled on about how great your services are without taking the time to learn about this person or the problems they might be having. Yes, you must remember that a prospect is a person with their own personal quirks, ego needs, and challenges. We can get so wrapped up in “our service” and “our need” to get new clients that we forget that “little” fact.

In the end it is not about how much we know or how great our service is. It’s about how we, as individuals, can help our prospect achieve their objectives, solve their problem, reduce their pain - or all of the above. People do business with people they like and trust. They don’t do business with a service or product.

Keep this in mind, don’t skip the bases and you’ll see a vast improvement in your sales results and in your business. and remember; Be BOLD. It takes discipline and it all starts with a VISION.

Bold Vision’s program, Promotion Action, is about helping service professionals develop and implement their own formula to get prospects to the bench and then effectively and efficiently move them around the bases.

Posted by Lynnelle Bianco at 11:26 AM
Comments (0) | Permalink