The Accountability Coach: Business Acceleration|Productivity

Multi-tasking can sometimes have a bad rap. It has been said that multi-tasking in any form is something you should never do, but as an entrepreneur, it’s almost a daily necessity. There are simply not enough hours in the day for you to afford “playing it by ear.” Your life and profession are under constant reprioritization, that’s the nature of being an entrepreneur. Don’t be intimidated by the rumors; multi-tasking can be an effective way to handle your workload. We are going to talk about several tips for effective multi-tasking. Traits of Effective Multi-tasking • Group like tasks together • Create a to-do list • Defined goals with the end result • Budgeted time/schedule • Remove distractions • Undivided attention and focus Effective multi-tasking for entrepreneurs is all about having a system in place to handle tasks with the greatest efficiency. First, you need to create a To-Do List or Master Task List; this will help you to see the big picture of the day’s duties and help keep you on track throughout the day. The goal is for the To-Do List to help you prioritize the “must do” tasks and complete them before the deadline. That brings me to my next point, multi-tasking for professional and personal tasks should be handled in the same manner for entrepreneurs, because time is always of the essence. It is about being the most efficient and productive, 24/7, because your profit, or lack thereof, is always directly affected by your personal time. One of the best tips for effective multi-tasking is to set a deadline for when these tasks need to get done. Being reminded of the goal that you are working toward will help motivate you to work with the greatest efficiency and within your deadline. Whether the motivation comes from money, the excitement of achieving a goal or the benefits of the end results, it makes no difference, as long as it motivates you to work with the greatest focus. Ineffective Multi-tasking behaviors and traits include: • Combining irrelevant tasks together • Undefined goals • Setting an indefinite deadline • Working with distractions • Continually switching gears without accomplishing anything • Lack of focus There’s a huge difference between effective multi-tasking and cramming unrelated tasks together. You’ve already learned what it takes for effective multi-tasking, now let’s take a look at what ineffective multi-tasking looks like. One of the most common mistakes is to combine unrelated tasks together. You may think that it will save time, but more often than not, it ends up taking more time. Other common mistakes when handling multi-tasking is not establishing a deadline. Every goal, regardless of its nature, should have a clear, defined deadline. The reason is because without a deadline, there is no urgency for efficiency or focus. Have you ever been in a rush to get something done and only had 15 minutes to complete it? I’ll bet you were surprised when you had it done in time. How did you do it? You had a clear deadline and focused for the greatest efficiency. The key is to think about the nature of the tasks and organize them appropriately. Don’t help your child with Algebra while performing market research; don’t feed your baby while writing an article, and don’t play with your puppy while talking to a client on the phone. Only group like tasks together; for example: start the laundry then go for your 30-minute run. Put the wash in the dryer, then take a shower. If you work from an office, coordinate with partners or assistants to coordinate like-actions. Schedule meetings for first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid breaking your rhythm. Do the tasks that require you to be at your best, when you feel your best. Some entrepreneurs are on fire in the morning, while other crank out results in the afternoon. The goal is to combine tasks that do not distract your focus away from what you’re currently doing. I’m sure you can see how

Feel like something is missing in your career? You’re not alone. It’s not uncommon for professionals to feel like something is missing in their work, even when things appear to be really good. Is it possible to find success and meaning? Use these 7 tips to help you find meaning in your work / career. 1. Choose a New Career Path or Expand Your Firm Maybe it’s time to try something new? You may be an adventure-type and find boredom in routine and monotony. Try a new career path that engages your interests to reignite your passions. It may not require a complete life change; perhaps you could choose a new track or specialty within your current industry or expand the products and services of your firm. 2. Turn Your Passions into Profits If finding meaning in your work is high on your priority list, then turning your passions into profits is a sure way to find it. Now more than ever overwhelmed entrepreneurs are scrapping profit for passion and making a business out of doing what they love. If you’ve got a passion, there’s typically a way to monetize it. 3. Explore New Hobbies It’s not uncommon to have to wade through a bit of fog and uncertainty before you find a passion strong enough to build a career or business upon. If this is you, explore new hobbies in your personal time, before committing to them long-term. Try the things that peak your curiosity – even try things that you may not have previously considered – until you find something that keeps your interests and passions peaked. 4. Necessity vs. Meaning We’ve all been there….we feel trapped in a career or business because it provides necessity, in some form or another. Whether it’s the paycheck or retirement fund – security is part of what we’re after. The problem comes when insecurity prevents us from finding meaning or fulfillment. Even worse, it could be stopping us from reaching our greatest potential. Don’t let the fear and discomfort of change stop you from going for it! 5. What’s Really Important? If there is some aspect of your work that is causing disharmony or struggle, it’s worth examining what’s really important. At the heart of disharmony is the fact that some aspect of your life or career is not in alignment with who you really are and what you really want (your core values). Ask yourself this question: What are you being forced to give up in order to gain something else (and is it really giving up something that is serving you anyway – probably not)? How important is what you’re giving up to you? Is it worth it? It’s possible that minor tweaks or small changes to your personal and professional life could make it possible for you to find the real meaning and passion in your work again. 6. Begin with The End in Mind At the end of the day, all that matters is whether or not your daily actions are bringing you closer to achieving your goals in a timeframe you desire. There’s just no reason to continue doing anything that detracts you from your ultimate goals. Are you sacrificing your happiness only to be moving further away from your goals? Or is a temporary sacrifice leading you closer to the goal? To find true meaning in your work, it should on some level, and at all times, be supporting the achievement of future goals. The ultimate outcome and result should drive you to doing the activity necessary to achieve your goals and dreams. 7. Discover Your Life Purpose Struggling over a lack of meaning in your life or work is a sure-sign that what you are doing is not one of your core values. Fulfilling your life purpose isn’t as important to everyone as it is to others or they would do the work required to be on the path to what is truly important to them in life. Discovering life purpose is not a sure-fire solution to finding happiness; but if fulfilling your life purpose is one of your core values, it’s vital that you find a way to integrate the things that help you fulfill life purpose into your daily life. Above all, finding meaning in your work comes

Today we are going to talk about What’s Really Behind the Overwhelm? 3 Steps to Discovering Why You May Be Sabotaging Your Success. Business owners are especially prone to overwhelm because it’s not uncommon for them to juggle multiple aspects of their business at any one time. But how much of what you think you need to handle do you actually need to handle? What if overwhelm is actually part of your self-sabotaging behavior being played out? Overwhelm is not a necessary evil of being an entrepreneur - it’s a symptom of an underlying issue. In three easy steps, you can find out if self-sabotaging behavior is creating unnecessary overwhelm in your business and life. Step #1: Consider the Why When you understand why you do anything, you discover why you do everything. From understanding the “why,” it’s possible to see the patterns of self-sabotaging behavior being played out in your everyday life. (Yes, creating overwhelm is one of those self-sabotaging behaviors.) If you frequently or consistently struggle with overwhelm, there may be a self-sabotaging behavior behind it. The trick is to identify the “why” behind the self-sabotage. Common reasons for overwhelm may include: - Behavior based in limiting beliefs - Fear of failure/success - Lack of focus/discipline - Avoidance/procrastination - Lack of interest/inspiration/motivation - Refusal to give up total control/delegate There is a “why” behind everything you do - or don’t do. The question is are you engaging in behavior being driven by limiting beliefs that lead to self-sabotage or empowering beliefs that lead to success? It’s pretty simple: if you’re not producing results you want, you can bet there are self-sabotaging behaviors being played out in your personal or professional life. First, let’s establish that everyone has self-sabotaging behaviors - even peak performers like professional athletes and Olympic competitors (which is why they hire professional coaches!). These specialized coaches help them identify (and shift) the behaviors that keep them from achieving optimal performance. When you know the self-sabotaging behaviors that are keeping you from achieving the best results, you know which behaviors must change in order to create even better results. It’s fairly easy to know what you should be doing…it’s not always so easy to discipline yourself to do those things. However, if you can identify self-sabotaging behaviors and discipline yourself to change them, success will come easier and faster. Step #2. There Is Another Way Overwhelm is not a necessary evil of being an entrepreneur, it’s a symptom of an underlying issue. Most people are stuck in self-sabotaging behaviors because they can’t see that there is another way. It’s the definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting different results. The distance between where you are and where you want to be can be a short and straight path when you know the right actions to take - at the right time, and on a consistent basis. It’s when you’re not taking the right steps that the path to success feels like a constant zig-zag path of push-and-pull, struggle and frustration. This is when taking different actions (or non-actions) next time around and observing how your results change is invaluable. Are the results better or worse? Log your progress in a simple tracking sheet to determine what’s working and what isn’t working. Keep doing what works well, while continuing to tweak what doesn’t. Eventually, you’ll learn the right things you need to do at the right time to produce the shortest, straightest path between where you are and where you want to be. Step #3. Focus on the NEXT Step Another common reason for overwhelm is focusing on everything. In other words, you may be focused on the massive undertaking of the big picture - and everything that must be accomplished to reach your goal. Of course you’re going to feel overwhelm when you think about the responsibility, work, risk, and commitme

Today we are going to talk about How to Make the Right Choice in 3 Simple Steps. You’ve been making choices every day since you were a child, yet sometimes it can feel like you are the most inexperienced decision-maker in the world. You feel uncertain about which choice to make and how your decision will ultimately affect your life. When faced with a decision that could alter the course of your life, how do you make the right choice? The first step in any choice is to determine where you want to be. Getting clear on your goals will help you make choices that are in line with your vision. Once you get clear on your goals, it can be much easier to see how the results of your choices will lead you either closer to your goals – or further away. Here’s how you can learn to make the right choice in three simple steps. Step 1: Write Your List of Long-Term Goals You may have a lot of long-term goals, but for now, just start with the ten most important to you. Once you have had time to focus on this short list, feel free to expand it to include ALL of your long-term goals. Here’s an example: My Long-Term Goals 1. Have $7,500 saved to take two vacations per year (starting 2014) to exotic places by 6/1/14. 2. Buy new house with 15% down payment $90,000 by 10/1/2015 3. Pay off mortgage ($_______) by 12/31/2030 4. $5.2 million saved for retirement/financial future by 12/31/2021 5. Retire by age 54: 2/23/2022 6. Sell house by 9/30/2015 7. Donate 5% of net income each year to charitable organizations that have personal meaning (Susan G. Komen Foundation and Habitat for Humanity) starting 1/1/2015 8. Complete a full Ironman Triathlon in under 17 hours - 10/31/2016 9. Play golf 2 times per month starting 4/1/2013 10. Improve health and fitness-lose 25 pounds, and be at180 lbs by 7/1/2014 11. Read fun books 1 per quarter starting 1/1/2013 12. Get 1 massage per month starting 1/1/2014 13. Continue to have date night with my significant other 2 times per month starting 1/15/13 My Long-Term Goals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Now that you have identified your long-term goals, you can identify your short-term goals. Don’t over-analyze or critique your answers, just go with what you really want now, today, tomorrow, this week, within one month, or in the near future. Step 2: Write Your List of Short-Term Goals Here’s an example: My Short-Term Goals (Must be measurable, specific and include specific dates) 1. Add 15 new Ideal Clients by 12/31/13 2. Earn $450,000 net by 12/31/13 3. Reduce monthly expenses by 10% - now! 1/10/13 4. Take that 10% and open an interest bearing account for annual travel fund – within 2 days: 1/12/13 5. Research mortgage refinance every 6 months – can I save $$? 3/31/13 6. Find a local art gallery that will sell my paintings - 6/12/13 7. Establish passive income (sell digital images of my artwork at the local gallery, do consulting, etc.) to increase my retirement fund contribution to $25,000 per year - 4/12/13 8. Do cardio exercise 3 times per week for 1 hour each time beginning today 9. Lift weights 2 times per week for 45 minutes each time beginning today 10. Play golf 1 time per month starting 5/1/2013 11. Improve health and fitness-lose 12 pounds, and be at193 lbs by 8/1/2013 12. Get 1 massage per quarter starting 6/1/2013 13. Have date night with significant other 2 times per month starting 1/15/13 My Short-Term Goals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. How did you do? Did your goals come to you easily or did it take more time than you thought? If your goals rolled off the end of your pen like flowing ink, that’s good – you’re pretty clear about what you want in life. If it was a little difficult coming up with goals, spend some time exploring what you really want – what you want, not what someone else wants for you. If friends or family criticizing you for any of your goal choices, reply politely with “I appreciate your feedback. This

Today we are going to talk about the Referral/Prospect Tracking Spreadsheet – SAMPLE – Free Download. In my work with business professionals over the many years I have been coaching, I find that they often say to me that they have prospects that they haven’t followed up with (for whatever reason), or they lost track of some of the referrals people gave them. First of all, it’s hard to believe that someone wouldn’t have a process for tracking their referrals/prospects because that is potential revenue – but apparently this happens and probably more than it should. So, I came up with a simple tracking spreadsheet to help my clients better know who they have in their pool of prospects, in order for them to know where their prospective clients are at in their pipeline, and they don’t lose anyone (or drown them) on the way. Did you know that according to the National Sales Executive Associates, they say that: • 48% of Sales People Never follow up with a Prospect • 25% of Sales People Make a Second Contact and Stop • 12% of Sales People Only Make Three Contacts and Stop • Only 10% of Sales People Make More Than Three Contacts • 2% of Sales are made on the First Contact • 3% of Sales are made on the Second Contact • 5% of Sales are made on the Third Contact • 10% of Sales are made on the Fourth Contact • 80% of Sales are made on the fifth to the Twelfth Contact What does that say to me? Being professionally persistent, brings in REVENUE. To download my complimentary referral tracking spreadsheet to help you increase your revenue, so you can accelerate your results, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/referral-tracking-workbook/. This excel spreadsheet can easily be modified to be of the most value to you. My hope for our time together is that you got value and an idea or two that will help you be even more successful – personally and professionally. Go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/Achieve.Your.Goals.Free.Gifts.Now/ and get 3 FREE gifts including a special report on 10 Power Tips for Getting Focused, Organized, and Achieving Your Goals Now. Join the Silver Inner Circle (IT’S FREE) and receive 10% off on all products and services in addition to having access to many assessments and complimentary resources so you can begin achieving your goals in the timeframe you want, so you can have the life you desire. Get started today by going to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/inner-circle-store/ and Join the FREE Silver Inner Circle. Aim for what you want each and every day! Until next time, make it a great day, today and every day. Thanks for listening. If you are getting value from any of Podcasts, please take a minute to leave me a short rating and review. I would really appreciate it, and love to hear from you and requests for topics you would find of value. Aim for what you want each and every day! Anne Bachrach The Accountability Coach™ The Results Accelerator™ To help you stay focused and on track to achieving your goals, check out these other high-value resources. - Subscribe to my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/annebachrach) - Subscribe to my Blog (https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/blog/) - Anne’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheAccountabilityCoach) - Anne’s Linked-in page https://www.linkedin.com/in/annebachrach Take advantage of all the complimentary business tips and tools by joining the Free Silver Membership on https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/inner-circle-store/. Check out all the great free high-content training web classes, by going to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/free-articles/free-webinars/. Go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com to check out for yourself how I, as your Accountability Coach™, can help you get and stay focused on you highest payoff activities that put you in the highest probability position to achieve your professional and personal goals, so you can enjoy the kind of business and life you truly w

Today we are going to talk about 8 Ideas to Help You Work Smarter and Not Harder. Do you think working harder will get you farther? Not necessarily. In this fast-paced society, many professionals are already running at full tilt, so going faster may lead to burn-out, or worse, complete physical and emotional shutdown. So how do you get more done without working harder? This is key to work life balance success. Let’s take a look at these 8 ideas for working smarter, not harder. 1. Leverage Your Strengths, Delegate the Rest For optimal results, focus on the tasks that leverage your strengths. The goal with any successful business or project is to assign the team member that can deliver the best results with the least effort and greatest effectiveness. If you want to make an easier go at it, know your strengths and focus on performing only the tasks that leverage those strengths. TIP: To download a Free Delegation List Sample to help you identify more activities to delegate, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/delegation-list-sample/. 2. Filter Your Info Intake On any given day, you are bombarded with mass amounts of information that can significantly drag down your productivity and cause confusion, overwhelm, and procrastination. Data is essential for making informed decisions, but beware of information overload. Only take in the information that is vital to achieving your goals and the goals of your firm – everything else is superfluous. TIP: Delegate the biggest information sources (email, research, data collection, data entry, etc.) to a team member or a consulting firm. Limit your information exposure to only the pertinent sources, while the team takes on the responsibility of flagging important information for your select review and firm growth. 3. Streamline Your Daily Duties Do not try to do it all yourself. The ability to focus your energy on the most important tasks of the day has a direct effect on the quality of the results. Therefore, it’s vital that you streamline your daily duties to only the most important tasks that require your focused attention, and those things that only you can do and can’t be done by someone else. TIP: Create a daily schedule of the most important and highest payoff tasks of the day – and stick to it (not always easy but critical to your success). Reduce and eliminate the non-essential duties (the tasks that are either not in alignment with your core values and/or are not income-generating) from your daily schedule. Take advantage of the high-content Free Webinars to help you be even more effective at time management and more by going to: https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/free-articles/free-webinars/. 4. Recognize Stress Signals The mind and body require rest and nutrition for peak performance. While many of us convince ourselves that working harder is the only way to get ahead, it may not produce the desired results. Take breaks, enjoy personal time, and tend to your well-being is important to overall life success. Sometimes a little rest can significantly increase productivity. TIP: Listen to your body. Pay attention to your energy level. Pushing harder to make things happen may only make the process more frustrating and even exhausting. If working harder doesn’t feel right, give yourself permission to take a break. Be it 15 minutes or 1 hour, recognizing your stress signals can help you know when your body and mind need rest. You will perform better and more effectively when you have all your positive energy flowing. 5. Create Just Enough Pressure How many times have you procrastinated on getting something done only to cram the day or night before it was due? Creating just enough pressure may be the “tipping point” that you believe creates the focus you need to reach peak-productivity. TIP: Pay attention to what drives you to complete a task. Does it require a non-pressured, open-space environment with lots of time? Or some-what of a high-pressured environment to

Today we are going to talk about 5 Tips for Exploring Your Life Purpose. If you’ve ever wondered if there was more to life than what you’re currently experiencing, you’ll find this discussion helpful. First, let’s clarify that identifying your life purpose isn’t the end all - you still have find a way to integrate it into a life, that for most of us, has been built on necessity or security. Yes, we all have bills to pay; but selling your soul (so to speak) in the name of security isn’t necessarily the way it has to be. I’m all for fueling your passions, but I’m also a firm believer in smart and strategic business decisions. My advice is to take this process slowly. If you love what you do, find a way to work your life purpose into your career or business. If you don’t love what you do, then explore other avenues that support a solid business foundation and purpose. These 5 tips will help you explore your life purpose and find more meaning in your life as well as your profession. 1. What Fuels You? What in your life gives you energy? Most of us know what it feels like to be drained (by personal dramas, professional conflicts, too many obligations, financial stress, etc.), but do you know what fuels you? Perhaps you already know you just don’t have time for it. Pay attention to the things that give you life as they are clues to what you really love to do (and you may be able to monetize them). 2. Play the What-If Game The “What-if” Game is where you ask a series of questions starting with “What if?” What-if I didn’t have to work - how would I choose to spend my time? What-if I could make money any way I wanted - what would that look like? What-if I didn’t have to ________________ - what would I want to do? What-if I could live anywhere in the world - where would I live? What-if I followed my dreams…what would that look like? What-if I went back to school - what would I like to study? What-if I created a new program and/or service, what would it look like? What-if I had a board of Ideal Clients for my firm, what impact would they have on my business and life? You get the idea…. What is really important to you in life? What are your core values? To explore what your core values are, download my complimentary exercise by going to http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/values-clarification/. 3. Prophesying a Legend At the end of your life, if you could leave a legend - a contribution to the human race - what would it be? In this exercise, imagine what you would like people to say about you, say in a eulogy? What would be the biggest gift you could pass on? What do you want to leave this world? Your response is very likely part of your life purpose. 4. Observe Your Challenges Life is filled with many challenges, but each of us has a unique set of challenges which are often tied to our life purpose. Going back through your life, identify three challenges that seem to recur in your life. Perhaps you don’t face them any longer because you finally discovered the hidden lessons, but everyone has challenges they are either dealing with or have resolved. Whether those challenges were related to intimate relationships, self-worth, financial, physical, emotional, etc. you will find great lessons directly tied to your life purpose. Take what you’ve learned by facing and overcoming your challenges to teach others how they can do the same. 5. Take Note of What Comes Easily Not everyone is cut out to be an accountant for the same reason that not everyone is cut out to be a doctor, a teacher, an actor, a dentist, or a professional athlete: each of us is born with a unique set of gifts that can be utilized for personal fulfillment as well as contribution. When exploring your life purpose, pay special attention to the skills that come easily to you. Whether it’s calculating numbers, counseling a troubled soul or mending a broken bone - those gifts are special clues to your life purpose. The kicker here is that what comes easily to you i

As a business owner, it’s important to recognize how valuable your time is - and how you choose to spend it. Yes, the bookkeeping is important, and so is voice-mail and email, but those tasks are not directly responsible for generating revenue, and are better left to be managed by someone else. Are you guilty of focusing on the less important (low-payoff) tasks when you should be actively engaged with the most important (high-payoff) tasks? If you have ever been guilty of this, continue listening to discover four common self-sabotaging habits that keep business owners from the revenue and success they want and deserve. 1. Wasting Time on Low-Payoff Tasks As the business owner, you are a valuable piece of the revenue-generating and business development puzzle. If you are sitting at a desk spending the majority of your time on low-payoff tasks, you don’t have the time to focus upon the most important part of your business: generating revenue. Would you hire a $100-an-hour team member to do a $20-an-hour task? Not likely. This is the same reasoning behind why you shouldn’t be the company bookkeeper or receptionist. (This is not to say that these tasks are not important, but they are not directly related to driving immediate revenue; hence, they are low-payoff tasks). Your sole focus should be upon the high-payoff tasks, aka. the revenue-generating tasks. All low-payoff tasks should be completely removed from your schedule and delegated to a virtual assistant or team member so you can focus your energy on the high-payoff tasks. TIP: Doing low payoff activities are what I call revenue generating avoidance activities. You may not like doing some revenue generation and business development activities, but you may be the best and maybe the only person to do it and get it done. 2. Ignoring High-Payoff Tasks Do you know what you need to be doing to boost revenue - but you’re not doing it or doing it on a consistent basis? Perhaps the fear of doing tasks outside your comfort zone is stopping you from doing the very thing that will make all the difference in your business revenue and ultimate success? Let’s be clear: if you own your own business, you must become very astute at recognizing, and completing, the high-payoff tasks or you will soon be out of business. Let’s say you’re the creative genius type; the sales part of your business isn’t your thing. You could hire a sales team to help drive in some sales, but at some point you’re going to have to tackle the very thing that scares you. It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and conquer the things that scare you, but you can do it. To help conquer the fear, focus on the process of learning how to master your craft. Just as you mastered the creative genius, you can master the business development and revenue generation, too. TIP: Mastering your high-payoff tasks is more important than you think because once you master the high-payoff tasks; you are in a much higher probability position to achieve your goals in the time frame you have set. 3. Lacking Intimate Knowledge of Your Business In this case, ignorance is not bliss. In order to create a successful, profitable business, you must have intimate knowledge of your business (including where the majority of your revenue originates or could originate). If you don’t - you’re going to continue to struggle with generating the level of revenue you want and deserve. Get to know your business as intimately as you would a partner, learning its quirks, perks, strengths and weaknesses. Accentuate the strengths, while committing to work on the weaknesses. Commit to continual learning so you are on top of potential opportunities. Technology advancements move fast and you need to keep up to stay in the game. TIP: Think of your business as a valuable partner: the more you know about it, the better you can maintain a healthy relationship. Explore what makes it tick, where it could use some extra help or counseling, and com

As a business owner, it’s important to recognize how valuable your time is - and how you choose to spend it. Yes, the bookkeeping is important, and so is voice-mail and email, but those tasks are not directly responsible for generating revenue, and are better left to be managed by someone else. Are you guilty of focusing on the less important (low-payoff) tasks when you should be actively engaged with the most important (high-payoff) tasks? If you have ever been guilty of this, continue listening to discover four common self-sabotaging habits that keep business owners from the revenue and success they want and deserve. 1. Wasting Time on Low-Payoff Tasks As the business owner, you are a valuable piece of the revenue-generating and business development puzzle. If you are sitting at a desk spending the majority of your time on low-payoff tasks, you don’t have the time to focus upon the most important part of your business: generating revenue. Would you hire a $100-an-hour team member to do a $20-an-hour task? Not likely. This is the same reasoning behind why you shouldn’t be the company bookkeeper or receptionist. (This is not to say that these tasks are not important, but they are not directly related to driving immediate revenue; hence, they are low-payoff tasks). Your sole focus should be upon the high-payoff tasks, aka. the revenue-generating tasks. All low-payoff tasks should be completely removed from your schedule and delegated to a virtual assistant or team member so you can focus your energy on the high-payoff tasks. TIP: Doing low payoff activities are what I call revenue generating avoidance activities. You may not like doing some revenue generation and business development activities, but you may be the best and maybe the only person to do it and get it done. 2. Ignoring High-Payoff Tasks Do you know what you need to be doing to boost revenue - but you’re not doing it or doing it on a consistent basis? Perhaps the fear of doing tasks outside your comfort zone is stopping you from doing the very thing that will make all the difference in your business revenue and ultimate success? Let’s be clear: if you own your own business, you must become very astute at recognizing, and completing, the high-payoff tasks or you will soon be out of business. Let’s say you’re the creative genius type; the sales part of your business isn’t your thing. You could hire a sales team to help drive in some sales, but at some point you’re going to have to tackle the very thing that scares you. It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and conquer the things that scare you, but you can do it. To help conquer the fear, focus on the process of learning how to master your craft. Just as you mastered the creative genius, you can master the business development and revenue generation, too. TIP: Mastering your high-payoff tasks is more important than you think because once you master the high-payoff tasks; you are in a much higher probability position to achieve your goals in the time frame you have set. 3. Lacking Intimate Knowledge of Your Business In this case, ignorance is not bliss. In order to create a successful, profitable business, you must have intimate knowledge of your business (including where the majority of your revenue originates or could originate). If you don’t - you’re going to continue to struggle with generating the level of revenue you want and deserve. Get to know your business as intimately as you would a partner, learning its quirks, perks, strengths and weaknesses. Accentuate the strengths, while committing to work on the weaknesses. Commit to continual learning so you are on top of potential opportunities. Technology advancements move fast and you need to keep up to stay in the game. TIP: Think of your business as a valuable partner: the more you know about it, the better you can maintain a healthy relationship. Explore what makes it tick, where it could use some extra help or counseling, and com

There’s no doubt about it, handling negative client feedback can be downright uncomfortable. No one likes to listen to complaints and no one wants to be criticized or rejected by anyone; even by a client. We’re human; it stings when we fall short of a goal or when we don’t receive the approval we crave. But what if you could get past the discomfort of negative client feedback to discover the benefits that will make your business even better? Okay, let’s get to the 6 Ways Negative Client Feedback Makes Your Business Better… Way #1. It Shows You’re Committed to Your Clients Dealing with less than glowing client feedback, head on and objectively, shows you are committed to ensuring your clients have a positive experience. It’s this commitment to serve them to the best of your ability that attracts more clients. When you’re committed to your clients, they’re committed to your business. Way #2. It’s Not Personal; It’s Perception Instead of getting defensive about what went wrong in the client experience, you learn that it doesn’t have anything to do with you. Negative client feedback isn’t a reflection of how you failed or fell short; rather it’s a reflection on the client’s perception of the experience. Client perception is everything. When you can identify the breakdown in the process that changed the client’s perception from positive to negative, you just identified the kink in the system. Remove the kink, improve the system, change the perception. Way #3. Find Out What They Want When a client offers feedback (negative or positive) it’s a prime opportunity to learn what they really want. When Ideal Clients offer less than favorable feedback, identify what they really want - and deliver it. One word of caution: don’t go changing effective policy to please just one. The goal here is to pay attention to the feedback you receive from Ideal Clients - because they are your target market. Receive all feedback with an open mind, keeping in mind that your goal is to serve Ideal Clients to the best of your ability. Way #4. Brainstorm Creative Solutions Client feedback also allows a “springboard” from which creative solutions can be brainstormed. Don’t be afraid to be innovative and forward-thinking. If an Ideal Client is seeking a service or product that you’re not currently offering (and it will attract more Ideal Clients) - how can you implement it? Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to effectively do it. Listening to what your clients want and need is an invitation to get creative and implement innovative products and services that will serve your clients and grow your business. Way #5. Solicit Client Feedback Before Launching New Products & Services It happens every day; businesses all over the world solicit client feedback before expending time and money on new product and service launches. Instead of waiting for negative client feedback, ask them what they think about new products and/or service ideas. Send out a quick survey that takes no more than a few moments to complete - with an incentive for filling it out. Here are a few examples: • free PDF of an upcoming book (either the entire book or free chapter) • free online access to beta-product or program (full or limited access) • free digital download of a beta-product • discounted or early-bird pricing on a beta-product or program Way #6. Make it Easy for Clients to Submit Feedback Clients can spot a reluctant client-feedback business from a mile away - and it instantly reduces the trust factor. As you well know, when you lose the trust of your clients - you lose business. Make it easy for them to submit feedback by providing contact information that’s easily visible on your business cards, website and marketing materials. You’ll likely find when you provide an easily-accessible feedback system the amount of positive feedback increases. Some firms utilize a board of existing ideal clients to regularly provide feedback and ideas.

There’s no doubt about it, handling negative client feedback can be downright uncomfortable. No one likes to listen to complaints and no one wants to be criticized or rejected by anyone; even by a client. We’re human; it stings when we fall short of a goal or when we don’t receive the approval we crave. But what if you could get past the discomfort of negative client feedback to discover the benefits that will make your business even better? Okay, let’s get to the 6 Ways Negative Client Feedback Makes Your Business Better… Way #1. It Shows You’re Committed to Your Clients Dealing with less than glowing client feedback, head on and objectively, shows you are committed to ensuring your clients have a positive experience. It’s this commitment to serve them to the best of your ability that attracts more clients. When you’re committed to your clients, they’re committed to your business. Way #2. It’s Not Personal; It’s Perception Instead of getting defensive about what went wrong in the client experience, you learn that it doesn’t have anything to do with you. Negative client feedback isn’t a reflection of how you failed or fell short; rather it’s a reflection on the client’s perception of the experience. Client perception is everything. When you can identify the breakdown in the process that changed the client’s perception from positive to negative, you just identified the kink in the system. Remove the kink, improve the system, change the perception. Way #3. Find Out What They Want When a client offers feedback (negative or positive) it’s a prime opportunity to learn what they really want. When Ideal Clients offer less than favorable feedback, identify what they really want - and deliver it. One word of caution: don’t go changing effective policy to please just one. The goal here is to pay attention to the feedback you receive from Ideal Clients - because they are your target market. Receive all feedback with an open mind, keeping in mind that your goal is to serve Ideal Clients to the best of your ability. Way #4. Brainstorm Creative Solutions Client feedback also allows a “springboard” from which creative solutions can be brainstormed. Don’t be afraid to be innovative and forward-thinking. If an Ideal Client is seeking a service or product that you’re not currently offering (and it will attract more Ideal Clients) - how can you implement it? Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to effectively do it. Listening to what your clients want and need is an invitation to get creative and implement innovative products and services that will serve your clients and grow your business. Way #5. Solicit Client Feedback Before Launching New Products & Services It happens every day; businesses all over the world solicit client feedback before expending time and money on new product and service launches. Instead of waiting for negative client feedback, ask them what they think about new products and/or service ideas. Send out a quick survey that takes no more than a few moments to complete - with an incentive for filling it out. Here are a few examples: • free PDF of an upcoming book (either the entire book or free chapter) • free online access to beta-product or program (full or limited access) • free digital download of a beta-product • discounted or early-bird pricing on a beta-product or program Way #6. Make it Easy for Clients to Submit Feedback Clients can spot a reluctant client-feedback business from a mile away - and it instantly reduces the trust factor. As you well know, when you lose the trust of your clients - you lose business. Make it easy for them to submit feedback by providing contact information that’s easily visible on your business cards, website and marketing materials. You’ll likely find when you provide an easily-accessible feedback system the amount of positive feedback increases. Some firms utilize a board of existing ideal clients to regularly provide feedback and ideas.

What got you to where you are today probably isn’t going to be what takes you to where you ultimately want to go. Those thoughts, actions, activities have to change to move you even closer to your future goals. In working with my clients over the years, I originally found that most of them had no idea who was paying them how much money each year. You want to know this for many reasons. Simply put, make a list of all your clients in order of who pays you the most money to the least on an annual basis. To make it easier for you, feel free to modify my Annual Recurring Revenue Exercise excel spreadsheet sample to help you know who is paying you how much each year and who you want to replicate by asking for referrals/introductions from the top of the list. To download my complimentary Annual Recurring Revenue Exercise, so you know exactly what your recurring revenue is for your clients every year, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/annual-recurring-revenue-exercise/ If you are getting value from any of Podcasts, please take a minute to leave me a short rating and review. I would really appreciate it, and love to hear from you and requests for topics you would find of value. Aim for what you want each and every day! Anne Bachrach The Accountability Coach™ The Results Accelerator™ Join the Silver Inner Circle (IT’S FREE) and receive 10% off on all products and services in addition to having access to many assessments and complimentary resources so you can begin achieving your goals in the timeframe you want, so you can have the life you desire. Get started today by going to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/inner-circle-store/ and Join the FREE Silver Inner Circle. To help you stay focused and on track to achieving your goals, check out these other high-value resources. - Subscribe to my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/annebachrach) - Subscribe to my Blog (https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/blog/) - Anne’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheAccountabilityCoach) - Anne’s Linked-in page https://www.linkedin.com/in/annebachrach Business professionals and entrepreneurs who utilize my proven business-success systems make more money, work less, and enjoy better work life balance. Get your daily Accountability Minute shot of a single, simple, doable idea, so you can start your day off on the "right foot", subscribe to it based on your country. The Accountability Minute on Amazon's Alexa in the USA: https://www.amazon.com/Accountability-Minute-Anne-Bachrach/dp/B07F5H2KGB The Accountability Minute on Alexa in Canada: https://amzn.to/2MpvUmx The Accountability Minute on Alexa in Australia: https://amzn.to/2vQqI4i The Accountability Minute on Alexa in UK: https://amzn.to/2MayU9v If you don't have Alexa, Google Home (on Google Play Music), or Apple HomePod, you can subscribe to The Accountability Minute on iTunes by going to https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/accountability-minute-business-acceleration-productivity/id1406492556. Get your daily fix for starting out your day right. Author of Excuses Don’t Count; Results Rule, Live Life with No Regrets, No Excuses, and the Work Life Balance Emergency Kit, The Roadmap To Success with Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard, and more.

What got you to where you are today probably isn’t going to be what takes you to where you ultimately want to go. Those thoughts, actions, activities have to change to move you even closer to your future goals. In working with my clients over the years, I originally found that most of them had no idea who was paying them how much money each year. You want to know this for many reasons. Simply put, make a list of all your clients in order of who pays you the most money to the least on an annual basis. To make it easier for you, feel free to modify my Annual Recurring Revenue Exercise excel spreadsheet sample to help you know who is paying you how much each year and who you want to replicate by asking for referrals/introductions from the top of the list. To download my complimentary Annual Recurring Revenue Exercise, so you know exactly what your recurring revenue is for your clients every year, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/annual-recurring-revenue-exercise/ If you are getting value from any of Podcasts, please take a minute to leave me a short rating and review. I would really appreciate it, and love to hear from you and requests for topics you would find of value. Aim for what you want each and every day! Anne Bachrach The Accountability Coach™ The Results Accelerator™ Join the Silver Inner Circle (IT’S FREE) and receive 10% off on all products and services in addition to having access to many assessments and complimentary resources so you can begin achieving your goals in the timeframe you want, so you can have the life you desire. Get started today by going to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/inner-circle-store/ and Join the FREE Silver Inner Circle. To help you stay focused and on track to achieving your goals, check out these other high-value resources. - Subscribe to my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/annebachrach) - Subscribe to my Blog (https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/blog/) - Anne’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TheAccountabilityCoach) - Anne’s Linked-in page https://www.linkedin.com/in/annebachrach Business professionals and entrepreneurs who utilize my proven business-success systems make more money, work less, and enjoy better work life balance. Get your daily Accountability Minute shot of a single, simple, doable idea, so you can start your day off on the "right foot", subscribe to it based on your country. The Accountability Minute on Amazon's Alexa in the USA: https://www.amazon.com/Accountability-Minute-Anne-Bachrach/dp/B07F5H2KGB The Accountability Minute on Alexa in Canada: https://amzn.to/2MpvUmx The Accountability Minute on Alexa in Australia: https://amzn.to/2vQqI4i The Accountability Minute on Alexa in UK: https://amzn.to/2MayU9v If you don't have Alexa, Google Home (on Google Play Music), or Apple HomePod, you can subscribe to The Accountability Minute on iTunes by going to https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/accountability-minute-business-acceleration-productivity/id1406492556. Get your daily fix for starting out your day right. Author of Excuses Don’t Count; Results Rule, Live Life with No Regrets, No Excuses, and the Work Life Balance Emergency Kit, The Roadmap To Success with Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard, and more.

Today we are going to talk about 9 Tips for Inspiring Referrals. Getting new clients can be one of the biggest challenges in building a business; however, leveraging the power of referrals can dramatically reduce the expense and energy of building your client base. Many businesses focus on the externals of inspiring referrals, so we’re going to focus on the internals. As you know, you are the hub of your business - it can only be successful to the extent you are willing to grow and learn. Before you can inspire referrals, it’s important to get clear on the basics: Tip #1: Get Clear and Focused Ever run into someone at a networking event who seems confused or vague about what they do? They’re either not clear (or can’t convey) on what exactly they do or whom exactly they can help. Before you can inspire referrals, you must get very clear and focused about what you specifically do and for whom. Tip #2: Establish Expertise You don’t have to be the best in the industry; you have to be the best at what you do. Establishing expertise is much easier when you focus on doing what you do best. Find that thing you do that no one else does and leverage it by marketing it when you ask for referrals. Tip #3: Know Who You Love Working With To spark inspiration in others, you must be authentically passionate about whom you love to help. When you love your clients, the passion will show in your dialog and expressions, inspiring others to refer clients. Would you rather refer clients to someone who appears drab and bored with their business - or someone who appears genuine, passionate and capable? Tip #4: Know Your Ideal Clients In order to serve your clients to the best of your ability, you must know them - inside and out. What drives their passion or purpose? What makes them tick? What are their biggest challenges? How do you specifically solve them? How do they spend their leisure time? When you know your ideal clients, and can authentically relate to them, it’s easier to describe them to the network connections that can send you referrals. The idea here is to grasp a broad snapshot of your ideal clients. Tip #5: Describe Your Ideal Clients in 10 Words or Less A unique, genuine and concise client description will inspire referrals. Knowing your clients on the deepest level (as we discussed in tip #4) is only one part of the process; the other is being able to clearly and concisely describe them. Follow this 4-Step Exercise to create a unique and genuine description: 1) List the most noticeable qualities of your ideal clients (qualities that anyone who knows your ideal client will easily recognize). 2) List the qualities you love about your ideal clients. 3) List specific problems of your clients that you solve with your expertise. 4) Finally, bring it all together by circling keywords from each list (1 through 3) and creating an Ideal Client Description in 10 words or less. An online resource and exercise to help you create or update your Ideal Client Profile is available at https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/inner-circle-store/. This exercise and many other resources are available under the free Silver Membership. Use this online exercise to help you get clarity. Tip #6: Make the Referral Process Easy Make it easy for people to refer clients to you by creating a system that manages and tracks your referrals. It doesn’t have to be technologically advanced; it just has to be a reliable system that is followed every time. Whether the referral process is tracked manually or by software, the important thing to remember is to keep the process easy. Make it easy for people to send you referrals - make it easy to payout their referral fee, if there is one. The key is that the system is easy, consistent and reliable. To download my complimentary referral tracking spreadsheet and help you increase your revenue, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/referral-tracking-workbook/. Tip #7: Consider an Automated Refe

Today we are going to talk about 9 Tips for Inspiring Referrals. Getting new clients can be one of the biggest challenges in building a business; however, leveraging the power of referrals can dramatically reduce the expense and energy of building your client base. Many businesses focus on the externals of inspiring referrals, so we’re going to focus on the internals. As you know, you are the hub of your business - it can only be successful to the extent you are willing to grow and learn. Before you can inspire referrals, it’s important to get clear on the basics: Tip #1: Get Clear and Focused Ever run into someone at a networking event who seems confused or vague about what they do? They’re either not clear (or can’t convey) on what exactly they do or whom exactly they can help. Before you can inspire referrals, you must get very clear and focused about what you specifically do and for whom. Tip #2: Establish Expertise You don’t have to be the best in the industry; you have to be the best at what you do. Establishing expertise is much easier when you focus on doing what you do best. Find that thing you do that no one else does and leverage it by marketing it when you ask for referrals. Tip #3: Know Who You Love Working With To spark inspiration in others, you must be authentically passionate about whom you love to help. When you love your clients, the passion will show in your dialog and expressions, inspiring others to refer clients. Would you rather refer clients to someone who appears drab and bored with their business - or someone who appears genuine, passionate and capable? Tip #4: Know Your Ideal Clients In order to serve your clients to the best of your ability, you must know them - inside and out. What drives their passion or purpose? What makes them tick? What are their biggest challenges? How do you specifically solve them? How do they spend their leisure time? When you know your ideal clients, and can authentically relate to them, it’s easier to describe them to the network connections that can send you referrals. The idea here is to grasp a broad snapshot of your ideal clients. Tip #5: Describe Your Ideal Clients in 10 Words or Less A unique, genuine and concise client description will inspire referrals. Knowing your clients on the deepest level (as we discussed in tip #4) is only one part of the process; the other is being able to clearly and concisely describe them. Follow this 4-Step Exercise to create a unique and genuine description: 1) List the most noticeable qualities of your ideal clients (qualities that anyone who knows your ideal client will easily recognize). 2) List the qualities you love about your ideal clients. 3) List specific problems of your clients that you solve with your expertise. 4) Finally, bring it all together by circling keywords from each list (1 through 3) and creating an Ideal Client Description in 10 words or less. An online resource and exercise to help you create or update your Ideal Client Profile is available at https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/coaching-store/inner-circle-store/. This exercise and many other resources are available under the free Silver Membership. Use this online exercise to help you get clarity. Tip #6: Make the Referral Process Easy Make it easy for people to refer clients to you by creating a system that manages and tracks your referrals. It doesn’t have to be technologically advanced; it just has to be a reliable system that is followed every time. Whether the referral process is tracked manually or by software, the important thing to remember is to keep the process easy. Make it easy for people to send you referrals - make it easy to payout their referral fee, if there is one. The key is that the system is easy, consistent and reliable. To download my complimentary referral tracking spreadsheet and help you increase your revenue, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/referral-tracking-workbook/. Tip #7: Consider an Automated Refe