Your Personal
Economic Stimulus Package:
Tips to Kick Start Your Revenue Growth
By Kim Marcille
Efforts of the Barack Obama administration aside, what is
your plan to grow your own wealth? Whether you’re a business owner
or professional, the prospect of creating financial success may seem
remote or even impossible. If the current economic crisis seems like
it’s gone on forever and has you trembling inside, you may be
hesitating to place your bets. That hesitation will impact your
financial results in ways that you probably don’t even want to think
about now. So before too much time slips away, here are some ideas
to take yourself and your revenue generation plan in hand and get
the results you want.
1.
Choose to be confident. The level of confidence you have
about your ability to bring your plan to life will impact your
ability to do so, and in tangible ways. One of the most likely ways,
and one with which you’re probably familiar, is procrastination.
Piers Steel, Ph.D., of the University of Calgary conducted an
in-depth analysis of 691 research sources on the causes of
procrastination. The number one cause? Lack of confidence.
Harshly judging yourself or your results can cause under
confidence, and under confidence causes procrastination. You keep
putting things off, so nothing gets done. Nothing gets done, and you
feel badly about yourself. Applying that judgment causes more
procrastination. A vicious circle ensues in which you long for
results but never get them, while all along having exactly the skill
set you need to create success.
As Dr. Steel says, “The old saying is true: Whether you
believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re probably right.” The
old saying now has 691 sources to back it up. The great news is that
under confidence is fixable by changing the way you measure your own
performance. That’s Tip #2.
2. Measure for
guidance.
Instead of using measurement to judge you or your business as a
success or failure, use measurement to provide guidance for what you
should do next. If you catch yourself wasting two hours in your
inbox rather than on a core project you must get done, don’t beat
yourself up about it. Instead, learn from it. Make the decision,
for example, that for the rest of the week you’ll work on the
project first before looking at your e-mail. If your sale results
are not what they should be, look for the places where you’ve
created sales success. What can be learned from that? Are you more
successful in one industry versus another, or one category of
product than another? What could you change about your approach to
take advantage of those successes?
3. Broaden your
options.
What’s your Plan B? Well, maybe you don’t need one. Here’s an idea:
There is no Plan B, there’s only a flexible Plan A. You will achieve
success no matter what you have to change about the plan in order to
get there. Do you have a contingency version of your plan should it
go awry? By spending some time designing some optional action steps
in advance, you will relieve yourself of some stress and boost your
confidence by having a safety net already in place. Also, knowing
that you don’t have to bloody yourself on the same frontline day
after day will bring some relief as well.
If what you’re doing is not working, it’s OK. Just change it
up. For example, if your current revenue channels are drying up,
what new channels can you invent? If your customer base is balking
at your current pricing, can you create a lower-priced version of
your product or service and sell it to more people or businesses?
Could you reposition yourself to address a different target market?
Could you pursue leads in another geographic area? Or partner with
someone? This is your opportunity to reinvent yourself and your
business.
4. Focus on the plan.
It’s when you’re focused on circumstances outside your control that
your confidence is undercut. Whether the economy is up or down,
there’s not much you personally can do about it, unless you’re a
member of Congress. If you focus on the difficulties presented by
the current economy, those difficulties will seem magnified and
insurmountable. By focusing on what you want to create – the
results of your plan – instead of what you don’t want to
create, you’ll align your efforts and energy positively with your
goals.
And that focus is
very powerful, because it makes you aware of synergistic
opportunities in your environment that you otherwise might be
blinded to because your focus is in the wrong place. While sitting
in a seminar, you might pick up the perfect idea for a new product
launch that will get you closer to your goals. You might hear the
elevator speech of a new business associate and realize the
potential of a partnership. Just by focusing on your plan, your
brain will begin to search for methods by which it can be
accomplished. When you’re in love, everything reminds you of your
lover. When you’re in love with your plan, you’ll view everything
as a possible way to make it come true.
5. Take a risk.
You may feel that this is the time for risk avoidance, and maybe
there are some risks you should avoid at this time. However, if
money can’t be made in the stock market right now, should you stop
putting money in your 401(k)? Many people have, losing the value of
dollar cost averaging – buying low to offset the times when stocks
were more expensive – they could be getting right now. Eventually
the economy will revive and those low cost stocks will appreciate.
A lot.
Likewise, the
business risks you take now will pay back big dividends by setting
you apart from your competition, building your own confidence, and
preparing you for the economic recovery to come.
6. Believe.
Ultimately, your belief in your ability to achieve your goals will
either hold you back or propel you toward success. Believing
wholeheartedly in the inevitable achievement of your goals will
cause you to see possibilities, make choices and assume risks quite
differently than if you are already of the belief that your goals
could not possibly come true.
Give your plan
every chance of success: Start by knowing that it is achievable and
that you are the one to achieve it. And begin to implement it right
now!
Read other articles and learn more about
Kim Marcille.
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