Posts Tagged ‘Business’
Monday, October 17th, 2011
A long time ago, someone told about the Platinum Rule – “Do unto others as they want done unto them…”
In other words, before you try and impress a client, prospect or industry find out what they want.
Makes sense doesn’t it?
Then why is almost no one living by this rule? How come every time someone attempts to sell me something they start off by handing over a brochure?
While I’m sure there are a ton of reasons, I think that we have all become experts at talking and completely forgotten how to listen.
We are so consumed with pushing information (email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) that we neglect to ask ourselves the following question – “Does anyone care about what I am saying?”
What if you became the one person who listened first?
What if you put the interests of others before your own?
Why not give it a shot?
Tags: asking others first, Business, business coach, business coaching, communication, executive coaching, golden rule, Habits, impress a client prospect industry, listening, Platinum rule, relationships
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
Monday, October 17th, 2011
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| “Life’s ups and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine your values and goals – Think of using all obstacles as stepping stones to build the life you want” – Marsha Sinetar
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| I want life to be easy. I never wake up first thing in the morning and think – “I really hope that today is filled with frustration and difficulties”.
You want life to be easy too.
Thank goodness for both of us life is tough, because tough times bring life’s most valuable lessons.
CJ
PS – Click here if you can’t name the most important goal you are striving to achieve by December 31, 2011. |
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Tags: achieve, Business, business coach, business coaching, executive coaching, goals, lessons, Life, life's stepping stones, overcoming obstacles, valuable life lessons, values, windows of opprotunity
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
Monday, October 10th, 2011
| “The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.” - Earl Nightingdale
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| This famous quote illustrates an eternal truth - you will achieve whatever you focus on most of the time.
I have spent the last 8 years teaching individuals how to focus on their goals and have witnessed some amazing breakthroughs.
However, for every breakthrough, someone tells me that they lost focus after hearing me speak. Frustrated, this led me to ask:
“Is there a way to help someone set breakthrough goals and stay focused through to their completion?”
8 years, hundreds of clients and dozens of workshops later I am excited to announce that the answer is YES!
Click here to learn more about a life changing experience that takes place on December 8th.
Also, interested in sponsoring this event – click here. |
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Tags: accomplishments, accountability, achieve, achieving your goal, breakthrough goals, Business, business coach, change, clients, coaching, commitment, completing goals, earl nightingdale, focus, goals, results, setting goals
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
I coach leaders from sunup to sundown Monday through Friday and have been doing it for more than 8 years.
For some reason, this year has been filled with tons of “Light bulb” moments for me. In these moments, I have had some profound breakthroughs that I know to be absolute truths. I am confident that if you internalize these lessons, you will see great results.
It’s almost as if as soon as I hit the 8 year mark Obi Wan Kenobi sent me a text saying, “CJ, the force is strong within you…”
I’ll share some from time to time in this space.
I’ll start with one that hit me especially hard this week. I’ve noticed that some leaders want to focus on what went wrong during the past week, month, year, etc. Conversely, I have others who will briefly learn from their experiences and then go forward.
Guess which leader has more success?
I’ll admit that it’s tempting to replay past events over and over as if this obsession will change the past.
It won’t.
There is zero value in dwelling on your mistakes.
Leave the past in the past.
CJ
Tags: "light bulb moment", Business, business coach, business coaching, choices, CJ McClanahan, coaching, commitment, dwelling on the past, focus, learning from experience, lessons, Life, Obi Wan Kenobi, obsession with the past, profound breakthrough, success, the force
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
Don’t panic. I’m not serious. You still need to have a budget and financial goal for your business.
In fact, if you don’t, you really just have a hobby.
However, I am in the process of designing curriculum for an end of year goal setting workshop and my research has lead me to an interesting book called Obliquity by John Kay.
Kay argues (as did Jim Collins in Good to Great) that financial rewards are the result of a passionate drive towards delivering the best service or product – not the result of simply wanting to make a lot of money.
He points out that Gates wanted to develop the best software and Ford was “passionate about bring cars to the mass market”. Neither were interested in building a massive fortune – that was the result at being the best at what they did.
What are you striving for?
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
Tags: budgeting, Business, financial goals, financial rewards, goal setting workshop, Hobby, money, Obliquity by John Kay, passionate drive
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Believe it or not, most professionals crave interruptions during the workday.
It allows them to generate some immediate gratification by answering a question or giving input on an issue.
Unfortunately, these interruptions distract us from making progress towards the important goals that drive our businesses.
A day filled with distractions may seem busy but rarely is it productive.
Is it time you changed your “open door policy”?
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
Tags: Business, distractions, goals, gratification, Open door policy, productivity
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
What’s the difference between a Rolex and a Timex?
You wear them both on your wrist, they both tell time and will each break down every know and then.
However, one costs $99 and the other $5,000.
Which would you rather sell? In other words, which one would generate the most profit?
Now think about how this simple example applies to your business.
Does the marketplace perceive you to be a Rolex or a Timex? Why?
What do you need to do to change that perception?
And by the way… if you are under the impression that you will always be a Timex, do something different. Being a commodity in a world with information at out fingertips is no fun.
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
Tags: Business, change, commodity, different, perception, profit, Rolex, Timex, watch
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
Monday, April 25th, 2011
Have you ever changed lanes in traffic and been startled by a loud horn from someone that you just cutoff?
Unless you ride the bus to work, this has probably happened to you on multiple occasions.
The problem we all have as drivers is that there is a small area that you can’t see in your rear view mirror called your “blind spot”.
What most people don’t realize is that they also have blind spots in their personal and professional lives.
These are areas where we have (and often have had for a long time) deficiencies we don’t realize.
For example, in my first few years in business I would attend many networking events. Rarely did I meet anyone interesting and often left the event wondering why I had wasted my time.
One evening a good friend and client of mine (Larry) walked up to me and said, “Why don’t you just go home?” When I asked why he suggested I leave, Larry told me that, “Everyone can tell you don’t want to be here. You stand in a corner with this awful look on your face like you are better than everyone else. Do you think people want to talk to someone like that?”
Initially, my feelings were hurt. However, now I was aware that the reason I wasn’t getting good results from networking was because I was a jerk.
I changed my behavior and built my business attending these events.
Where’s your blind spot?
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
Tags: blind spot, Business, business coach, business coaching, business owners, change, coaching, events, growth, Habits, interest, networking, relationships, success
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Yesterday, we hosted a great speaker at the Reach Leadership Series.
Scott Manning, the president of the local Glazer Kennedy Chapter taught (or in my case, re-taught) the group the importance of identifying and working with your ideal customer. He pointed out that your ideal customer has the following characteristics:
- They never complain about your pricing.
- They value the advice that you provide.
- You enjoy being around them.
- They help make you better.
- They buy from you often.
- They refer you to other clients.
On the flip side, he then suggested that our worst customers are taking up too much of our time. Unfortunately, they also are adding very little margin to the bottom line. These customers share the following attributes:
- They are always busting your chops about the last bill.
- They pay late.
- You dread every interaction with them.
- They don’t value your services and will leave as soon as they find someone cheaper.
- They have never sent you a referral.
Which kind of customer are you attracting?
CJ McClanahan is the Founder of reachmore, which teaches small business owners how to build a business that runs without them. For more resources on business leadership, please visit reachmore’s seminars.
Tags: Business, customers, ideal customer, referrals
Posted in Uncategorized |
Monday, April 11th, 2011
I had lunch with an extremely talented CEO the other day.
It was the first time that we had met and as I often do in these meetings, I asked him about his background, both personal and professional.
Throughout our conversation, he talked about a handful of lessons that had shaped his career and led to his success. These lessons often came from a mentor or a good book.
What I found interesting (and typical for most of the highly successful people I have met) is that he attributed most of his success to a handful of very simple lessons that he had learned over a 30-year career. It was these “turning points” in life that provided him with the knowledge and confidence to achieve his dreams.
The same is true for each of us. Our success if is a direct result of the decisions that we make and the decisions we make are based upon our knowledge and experience. Thus, the better your knowledge, the better your decisions and ultimately your results.
Unfortunately, most people undervalue learning. As you probably know, the average adult reads less than one non-fiction book per year.
As a society, we have convinced ourselves that we are too busy to learn.
I would argue that our ability to process and interpret information is a key competitive advantage in a commoditized world.
What are you doing to improve yourself?
Tags: books, Business, decisions, dreams, educaiton, experience, knowledge, results, success, turning points, value
Posted in Blog, Business, Habits, Life, Sales, Uncategorized |
