Lindsey Vonn - Vancouver Olympics 2010
 
The Hallmark of Champions : VISUALIZE – PREPARE – FOCUS

Lindsey Vonn stands at the top of the slope, her team mate Julia Mancuso has just taken the lead in the downhill skiing with a great run and an (almost) unbeatable time of 1min 44.75 secs. In fact, Lindsey arrived in Vancouver with a shin injury so severe and painful that she felt compelled to reveal it publicly, in case she failed miserably. That is not in her thoughts right now.

Lindsey closes her eyes, she still herself and her hands start to move in a rythmic side-to-side motion. She is lost in the moment and is mentally flying down the slopes, negotiating the turns and the jumps. Seconds go by as she FOCUSES on her run, her hands following the twists and turns of the course. Suddnely, her eyes open and she immediately focuses her attention on the first turn a couple of hundred yards down the slope. The start signal is given and she launches forward. 104 seconds later she crosses the finish line a champion!

And what an artistic and amazing run it was. She FLEW down the slope negotiating every turn and jump like she was attached to the slope on a rail.  At one point she was 0.80 seconds ahead of Mancuso before dropping a little of her lead to finish .56secs in front, a huge margin in ski racing.

It was to prove an unbeatable lead and one that will be remembered for years and a testament to her grit and determination to succeed.

“This is the best day of my life, by far,” she said when it was over. “I’m overwhelmed.”

Thomas Vonn, her husband said afterwards, “Her life focus has been about this day, Her whole career, especially since Torino, has been done for this moment.”

The question I want to leave you with is “What is your focus – in life,  in your business, in your relationships?” What is so important to you that failure is not going to be an option. At the start of each day we stand at the top of  ”Today’s run’.  No practice runs, no repeats – We have one chance for success or failure. To be a champion, means to VISUALIZE where you want to go. It  means to PREPARE for the task and it means to FOCUS ourselves on todays challenge.

So TODAY, are you going to do it? Be a Champion !

Excellent article on cheap to virtually free marketing assistance for the cash starved new business owner:

http://www.insidecrm.com/features/marketing-startup-budget-051208/

 

In Business, just as in life, Distractions happen all the time and never before has it been so important to say “No”.

No, I am not going to read that email article now. I’ll read it when business is done for the day. No I am not going to take that phone call while I am writing this client proposal. I’ll pick it up at lunchtime. Learn to put distractions in a box and deal with them at a time that doesn’t  impact important tasks. If you can learn to do that, you will (a) Do a better job, (b) Do it quicker and (c) Find new opportunities in the tasks you are focused on that would otherwize get missed in the to-and-fro of multi-tasking.

A study of car accidents by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute put cameras in cars to see what happens right before an accident. They found that in 80% of crashes the driver was distracted during the three seconds preceding the incident. In other words, they lost focus — dialed their cell phones, changed the station on the radio, took a bite of a sandwich, reached for their lipstick!  — and didn’t notice that something changed in their immediate environment. Then they crashed!

The world is changing fast and if we don’t stay focused on the road ahead, resisting the distractions that, while tempting, are, well, distracting, then we increase the chances of a crash. Now is a good time to pause, prioritize, and focus. Make two lists:

List 1: Your Focus List (the road ahead)
What are you trying to achieve? What makes you happy? What’s important to you? Design your time around those things. Because time is your one limited resource and no matter how hard you try you can’t work 25/8.

List 2: Your Ignore List (the distractions)
To succeed in using your time wisely, you have to ask the equally important but often avoided complementary questions: will answering this call further my focus or dilute it? what am I willing not to achieve? What doesn’t make me happy? What’s not important? What gets in the way?

Some people already have the first list. Very few have the second. But given how easily we get distracted and how many distractions we have these days, the second is more important than ever. The leaders who will continue to thrive in the future know the answers to these questions and each time there’s a demand on their attention they ask whether it will further their focus or dilute it.

Which means you shouldn’t create these lists once and then put them in a drawer. These two lists are your map for each day. Review them each morning, along with your calendar, and ask: what’s the plan for today? Where will I spend my time? How will it further my focus? How might I get distracted? Then find the courage to follow through, make choices, and maybe disappoint a few people.

Human Beings are like Bees (sometimes)

 In a way,  human beings behave like bees. If you place several bees in an open ended  bottle and lay the bottle on its side with the base toward a light source, the bees will repeatedly fly to the bottle bottom toward the light. It never occurs to them to reverse gears and try another direction. This is a combination of genetic
programming and learned behavior.

Put a bunch of flies in that bottle and turn the base toward a bright light. Within a few minutes, all the flies will have found their way out. They try all directions – up, down, toward the light, away from the light, often bumping into the glass – but sooner or later they flutter forth into the neck of the bottle and out the opening.

 We often allow ourselves to become locked in our present circumstances – even if we are unhappy and really want to be reaching in a new direction. What we’re doing may make us miserable, but at least it’s familiar. In fact, this is the only way to learn and progress: trial, error, feedback, knowledge, trial and success. It is a far better thing to try to succeed and fail, than to do nothing and succeed.

This new week :
• Try it
• Change it
• Do it

 Stop stewing and start doing!  Reproduced from the Denis Waitley Ezine. To subscribe to Denis Waitley’s Ezine, go to www.deniswaitley.com

Scary Movie ?

There’s a part of our psyche that loves to be scared – just a little, as long as we know it’s a ‘safe’ type of scary. Riding a roller coaster, bungee jumping or simply watching a scary movie are things that many people do. Well OK, not that many go bungee jumping! But we do enjoy these things. Why? Because they give us an adrenaline rush and leave us feeling more alive and excited. Still, other people will avoid those things like the plague.

 

The idea of starting a business can give the same reaction. For some people it’s very exciting to consider being in charge of their career and having ultimate control of what they do. For others it paralyses them with fear. We all start playing a movie in our minds of what that will look like. The question is, if someone said to you, “You should consider being self employed”, which movie does your mind start playing “Chariots of Fire” or “House of the Dead”.

 

For those of you who are starting to hyper ventilate at just the thought of being self employed, consider this. More than 8 out of 10 franchisees are still in business 10 years later. That knocks the socks off the statistics for how long jobs are likely to last going forward – assuming you can find one. It also easily beats the independent business owner’s ability to succeed (just 3 out of 10 over 10 years). Why such a discrepancy between a franchised business and an independent business:

 

Franchises Provide:

1)      A strong Brand Name and  track record
2)      National and Local Marketing
3)      A business system and an operations manual
4)      A network of franchisees to exchange ideas and marketing tactics
5)      On-going training and support

 

Do you still have to work hard in a franchise? You bet! But working for your self is so much more rewarding than working for ‘the boss’!

Can you guarantee I will be successful? No! But if you follow ‘the system’, and work hard, you stand a really, really good chance of being successful.

Doesn’t it cost a lot of money to go into a franchise? Depends what you call ‘a lot’. Some franchises cost less than $15,000, although the average Franchise Fee is typically between $30,000 to $60,000. Other costs associated with starting a business can be financed and some franchises have a loan program in-house that offers a minimum down payment with the rest financed at very low interest rates and up to 5 years to pay back.

Of course starting ANY business, franchise or independent should be a little scary, especially if you’ve never done that before. But just as you knew when you sat down in the “Vortex of Death” roller coaster, it was on rails and had a 99.99999% chance of getting you back safely, so franchising has a set of rails to guide you through the first year of business ownership and beyond. It’s a safe type of scary.

When you take into account that a lot of franchises claim an average break even for their new franchisees is less than 12 months, that’s a strong reason to consider franchise opportunities as your next career move. Are you ready to buckle up?

Let me know what you think!

Robert Glenister

A recent article in Forbes Online posted the results of a poll of women entrepreneurs. Here’s what it found out:

–68% of women launching businesses strongly agreed that they were fulfilled by their business or job; only 5.6% of women in corporations strongly agreed with this statement.

–When asked if money were not a concern would you be doing what you are doing now, 83% of women launching businesses said “yes.” Only 11% of women in corporations said “yes.”

–Only 6% of women in corporations said they wanted to get to the top of their organization vs. 26% of men in corporations.

–More than 77% of the women surveyed would give up some amount of money for more freedom and flexibility in their lives.

–54% of women were motivated to create a business from passion vs. 32% of men.

–Women ranked freedom and flexibility as the No. 1 reason for starting a business, creativity and passion as No. 2 and money as No. 3.

Because freedom and control is the No. 1 reason women start businesses, this impacts their choices for growth. In fact, many women will moderate the growth of their business for a period of time, or even indefinitely, to maintain freedom in their lives. They want to juggle their families, pick up their children or take a mid-afternoon yoga class.

For many women who own businesses, having too much management responsibility and financial liability are a perceived loss of personal control.

Full article can be read here: http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/18/ladies-who-launch-business-forbes-woman-entrepreneurs-flexibility.html

MY COMFORT ZONE
By Author Unknown

I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I wouldn’t fail.
The same four walls and busywork were really more like jail.
I longed so much to do the things I’d never done before,
But stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor.

I said it didn’t matter that I wasn’t doing much.
I said I didn’t care for things like commission checks and such.
I claimed to be so busy with the things inside the zone,
But deep inside I longed for something special of my own.

I couldn’t let my life go by just watching others win.
I held my breath; I stepped outside and let the change begin.
I took a step and with new strength I’d never felt before,
I kissed my comfort zone goodbye and closed and locked the door.

If you’re in a comfort zone, afraid to venture out,
Remember that all winners were at one time filled with doubt.
A step or two and words of praise can make your dreams come true.
Reach for your future with a smile; success is there for you!
____________________________________

I like that poem! If you always stay in your comfort zone you will never discover what you are capable of. Don’t put yourself in a jail of your own making. As a Career and Franchise Coach, I enjoy being part of my clients’ journey of self discovery. I help guide clients towards self sufficiency by exploring alternate career options in a safe environment.  If you would like to find out if you are capable of being a successful business owner, whether your own business or a franchise, give me a call or email me. We can discuss your goals and dreams and discover if we want to work together. I can guide you through a well thought out process that will enable you to find out how ready you are and what steps you need to turn a dream into reality. What have you got to lose?

Robert Glenister
The Entrepreneur’s Source
(408) 689 2545
Email:      robert.esource@comcast.net
Web Site: http://www.theesource.com/rglenister
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertglenister
My Blog: http://bselfsufficient.wordpress.com/

Acing the Interview

What Do Employers Look For During an Interview?

In a recent survey of over 30,000 companies interviewed by CNN, 60% responded
that their major concern is attracting and securing the “right” talent.

What determines the “right” talent?

Proven Results
Behviours
Skills
Personality traits
Cultural Match
Long-term fit
Upwardly mobile
Trainability
Commitment

What do companies want in return when hiring? RETURN ON INVESTMENT! Companies
spend a great deal of money in hiring and securing the “right” talent. A
mis-hire costs between 3-6 times the annual salary depending on the position.

How to Ace an Interview

Focus and Identify what the company’s or problems are in the role, on the team,
and overall. Determine if you are the solution to the problem.

Reasearch the Company. What is their:

Competitive Advantage
Core Differentiators
Market Focus
Major Accomplishments
CULTURE

Understand the Role……

What are the KPIs
What are the Core Functions
Selection Criteria

Personal Inventory. Assess your:

Success Behavious
Personality
Skills
Attitudes and Values
Your Communication Skills, Work Style and Compatibility

Vision. Complete a long-term career path assessment including:

Ideal World
Role
Impact
Rewards
Growth

TIPS:

1.Make sure to customize your resume for each position.
2. Network, Network, Network!
3. Discuss the needs of the Client/Company during the interview and focus on how
You will be the answer to those needs.
4. Your job is to empower your Prospective Employer to Choose Wisely!

For the Eccentric Entrepreneur – a Franchise !

Robert Glenister

 
It’s Friday, so it’s time to take a look at the whackier side of franchising. If you have an eccentric bent then here are some fun, chewy, smelly and creeepy franchises out there to consider – and they all make money for the business owner who can see past the obvious:

1. 1-800-AUTOPSY

This franchise is exactly what it sounds like it is: a stand-alone service that performs autopsies. The company was founded by Vidal Herrera in 1988 and began as a one-man operation (no pun intended). 1-800-AUTOPSY franchises offer a variety of services, including toxicology and post-mortem DNA analysis, tissue procurement and, of course, autopsies. Clients include families who want private autopsies performed on deceased loved ones, malpractice lawyers seeking evidence for a trial and medical examiners, pathologists, and schools who need extra assistance.

2. DoodyCalls

DoodyCalls is a pet waste removal service. Customers can have the DoodyCalls team clean up dog poop in their yards, apartment complexes and communities so that the area stays attractive and unsoiled. They offer weekly, biweekly, monthly and one-time cleanings. The company will also assist with planning for dog parks and work with communities and property managers to develop waste management plans.

The company was founded in 2000 by Jacob and Susan D’Aniello. They both were looking for a way to escape from their day jobs, and decided that scooping up dog poop offered them the more active, outdoorsy lifestyle they wanted. They began franchising in 2004. DoodyCalls currently provides services to 35 territories in 18 states. In 2008, they made Franchise Time’s  2008 Fastest 55 list, according to the company’s website.

3. Cereality

Lovers of breakfast cereal will think they’ve achieved nirvana when they step into Cereality. This “cereal bar and café” offers a vast selection of hot and cold breakfast cereals and the opportunity to create new combinations. Customers order two scoops of cereal, a topping—from malted milk balls to cranberries and almonds—and whatever type of milk their hearts desire, all served by so-called cerealogists, dressed in pajamas.

David Roth and Rick Bacher founded Cereality when they realized how integral cereal is to the average person’s life. “[P]eople seemed obsessed with satisfying their cravings well beyond their kitchen tables, no matter how inconvenient

4. Racing Limos

Ever wanted to be chauffeured to a wedding by a NASCAR racecar? Well, that probably still won’t happen, but now there’s the next best thing: racing limos! These limousines have been painted up like stock cars and offer customers the chance to pretend they’re in a real live racecar. Or, at least, a very comfortable and significantly larger version of one.

Racing Limos was founded in 2002 by Brian Pease after he saw a photograph of a school bus painted like NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon’s car. Originally he’d intended to duplicate the idea and tour the NASCAR circuit, but later decided that the bus he was going to paint couldn’t handle the trip. At his 13-year-old son’s suggestion, he opted instead for a limousine.

5. The Crack Team

Despite their eyebrow-raising name and a website loaded with double entendres, the actual services they offer aren’t particularly strange. The Crack Team repairs cracks in concrete. They have a mascot who is unsettlingly reminiscent of SpongeBob Squarepants—you know, a big square with arms and legs—but much heavier on the innuendo: Mr. Happy Crack.

Despite all this strangeness, franchises do offer the potential for business success and the training, support and name recognition  that ‘Joe’s concrete repair’ doesn’t have. Franchises are not for everyone but the above options show you can live on the whacky side of the tracks but still be serious about business.

Wondered what franchise might suit you? Check out this self selecting web site: http://www.franchisematch.com/rglenister

Robert

Below is a helpful podcast providing useful facts, figures and perspectives on the franchise industry and the economy by the President of The Entrepreneur’s Source, Brian Miller. The dialogue about a franchisees 1st year of business is insightful. Click on the link below.

Regards, Robert.

The Pros and Cons of Acquiring a Franchise in a Recession Brian Miller, president of the Entrepreneur’s Source, and Terry Powell, founder and CEO of FranchisEsource Brands International, discuss why now may be a good time to acquire a franchise and how to select one in an economic downturn.

http://www.allbusiness.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-news/12322122-1.html