Decisions shape our destinies. It's been said, by one of the greatest minds in business today "It's in our moments of decision that our destinies are shaped". My experiences tell me this philosophy is dead nuts accurate. The power that comes from making a firm decision and standing behind it is magical, in that it forces us to make our decisions work, so they become the right decisions. But, fear will always try to stand in the way and keep us in these little boxes of conformity we've all had built around us, since we were kids.
There is really only one way to make sure that the decisions we make become the right ones...that is to persist and persevere until we get the outcome we desire. Napolean HIll, in his classic Think & Grow Rich, tells the story of a man named Darby, who stopped three feet from gold. Darby lived in the days of the Gold Rush out west, where men were leaving their jobs and businesses to seek out gold that was being discovered beneath the soil out in California. Many of these men risked everything they had to pursue their dream of striking gold.
Darby headed west and began digging for gold. A few weeks into his operation, he found a vein of the precious ore. He had struck gold. Based on his predictions about the quantity of his findings, he needed help. He could not do this alone, so he hid the operation and traveled back east to get help. He gathered a team of men went back out with proper equipment and supplies, to extract the gold and claim their riches. Down they went into the earth, pulling out a significant amount of gold in the first few days. But, within a day or two, the vein dried up. They drilled and drilled, but found nothing. It was a frustrating situation for Darby, having only brought up enough gold to pay for the operation's expenses. After a couple of days of drilling to no avail, Darby faced the decision to persist through what seemed like failure, or he could give in to the fear he felt of potentially never finding gold and losing everything he had and giving up. Darby sold his equipment to a local man for pennies on the dollar, including the ground he staked.
The local man hired a consultant to come in and examine the find. See, Darby knew very little about geology and how gold veins ran through the soil. The consultant had experience in this area and helped them find the vein Darby had lost in the process of drilling. Well, the local man ended up rich and Darby left with nothing, because, as it turns out, he stopped three feet from gold when he quit. Had Darby had the perseverance and stick-to-it-ive-ness to exhaust all possibilities before he quit, he would have been the one to find that wealth of gold.
The point is we have to push through the challenges and setbacks that are inevitable along the way, if we are going to succeed in any endeavor. Nothing of any real value is going to come easily-we are going to experience temporary defeats along the way. Only when we push through and persevere will we bust through and make it, in whatever calling we choose. But, once we've made a true decision to follow our passions, we must forget any and all possibility of retreating. We must persist even through what feels like ultimate failure. Only after this kind of relentless persistence will we break through. In my life, now that I've decided to follow my true passions-which is to write and coach, I can't keep one foot back in my contracting or rep businesses. If I do, then I won't have that fearless and relentless desire to make my dream career work. As I've mentioned already, nothing of any real value is going to just happen without true commitment and persistence.
Of course we are all going to have moments at which fear sets in-we're human, but we can do something to overcome, or at least harness, our fears. One effective tactic I employ, is to immediately bear down and take massive action toward my objective any time fear starts to rear its ugly head. Fear is menacing-it can lead us to dark places and will do anything it can to pull us away from the thing we love the most. We all are battling decades of past conditioning in which we were all taught the fearful belief to get a safe job and be happy about it. Now that the global economy is shaky, the world is really telling us we ought to just take what we can get and be damn glad we're not standing in bread lines. I say bullshit. The world can keep all that fear. I don't want it. So, rather than let fear control us, we need to recognize that it's there and that it's trying to steer us off course. We get super focused on what we want and immediately take action toward it. This will crowd that worry right out of our consciousness. After a few times of this, we'll develop a pattern of handling fear this way. We'll be on our way once we learn to control our fears.
Fear is constantly looking over my shoulder right now, as I'm working to get the book done and decide what to do with it once it is done. Everything inside of me screams that I'm doing the right thing, yet those around me question my decision. Fear of being poor has always guided my thinking, which is why I've worked jobs and built businesses I didn't care for all that much. But, I've been coming to terms with this fear, and have realized that life is short. I know this is about as cliche as I could be and sound, but life is short-life here in my home is flying by, to the point at which my little girl is going to be gone in four short years. The one thing I won't do is continue to chase money, working a business that I don't enjoy, because doing so has slowly chiseled away at my spirit. My mind is never at ease, because my entire focus is money. We will NEVER know security to any degree if we chase money. Only when we do what we love and say "who gives a shit about the money" will we know true security. My life will not be about money any longer. I don't care if I have to sell my home and live with my parents. I will not do this anymore. I won't live a life full of distraction, fear, and angst.
I recently had dinner with a friend of mine, who is a high-profile guy in our community. We both were completely honest with each other about a lot of things-things that are never discussed amongst even the closest of friends(well, at least they're not discussed in my social circle). We opened up completely. It was the most freeing and rewarding conversation of the last twenty years of my life. We both got past so many fears and issue that night, from being honest with each other.
I've gotten off on a tangent here, but I don't mind because I think this is a huge step-getting past our fears, because they hold us back and keep us from pursuing our passions. Fear has been tearing me up inside. I'm simply not going to allow that into the equation any longer. And now that I'm on the path of doing what I love, there is no retreat. I hope you all get to know the feeling I am trying to describe here.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, April 12, 2010
Inner Game
For the past sixty some days, I've spent a good amount of time on what I like to call the "outer game" stuff, which is the actual how-to portion of making changes in our lives. The goal of 90 Days to Discipline has been to grab hold of ourselves, our minds, bodies, and most importantly, our emotions and get down to business working on the specific actions we know will produce the results we all seek. We have much of this aspect figured out...the "outer game" stuff...the how part, I'd say...or at least enough to get started and be dangerous.
But, the one thing I'm certain of is that a man can have all the answers right in front of him and understand them intellectually, but if he can't get himself to take action and follow through, then it's all in vain. Actually, it's much worse than that...it becomes a curse, because he is now painfully aware of everything he's not doing. That's where the "inner game" stuff comes into play. This is what I'd like to discuss tonight.
Every single morning, I come down to my office, sit down and turn on my computer monitor. My schedule pops up, along with my long-term vision, long-term goals with dates for completion, shorter-term milestones to hit along the way, and my plan to make all of this happen. My plan includes my big goals for this year and describes in great detail how I'll make each one of these a reality this year. This is all great stuff. Hell, it's all right there, leaving absolutely nothing to chance. The only challenge is sometimes I just don't feel like doing any of it. That's when this whole deal can get a little dicey.
So, what is the key to getting ourselves to follow through on the plans we create? I know I don't have all the answers, by any means. But, I'm going to share with you what works for me...most of the time. Nothing works every time, I'll be completely forthcoming. But, this routine I've created(with the help of some kick-ass philosophy and strategy from Tony Robbins) will make it much easier. Here's how it all goes....
First, I awake early...real damn early, like 5:00 am. Just the thought of getting a bunch of hard work in before most of the world gets out of bed gives me a slight edge mentally right off the bat. Then, I take in a full 8 oz glass of clean water, to get the inner parts performing the way they should. From here, I go into a crisp visualization exercise in which I sit down in my office and project myself into a life in which everything I dream of has come true. My business has evolved into a full-time writing, speaking, coaching endeavor that's completely portable, it's hugely profitable, and it's helping millions of people all over the world(I know this may sound a bit egoic, but I refuse to think small...I just won't do it any longer. I'm going HUGE from now on).
My office in my home is huge with dark mahogany custom woodwork, with zero clutter, efficient, clean, elegant. My office is a metaphor for who I've become in my vision - a man who's in complete control over his mind, body, and emotions with laser focus on providing more value to more people than anybody in my business space. My personal income is significant, I'm liquid, and I am confident that I'll never HAVE to do anything anybody tells me ever again. No more dependence on anyone else for my economic needs. I now have complete control over this aspect of my family's existence...and they all respect and love me for this.
My body is light, lean, and explosive. In my mind, I can feel myself step out of bed with ease, because my abs look like they did when I was 17 years old. I can see myself in the mirror, looking absolutely phenomenal. I see myself going through an intense workout in which I'm strong, explosive, and can go and go. When my visualized workout is complete, I shower up and get into my kick-ass Aston Martin DBS Volante and drive up the coast to my office(again, my biz is portable, so I live in a ridiculous place on the beach).
The viz process goes on for a good 15 minutes. I know it probably sounds ridiculous, especially to those of you who really know me, but this is the stuff that drives me. Down deep, I'd love nothing more than to be writing full-time, have my business focused 100% on this "inner game" and "outer game" stuff. This way I will be portable and will live somewhere I love, instead of living just somewhere because my job is here or my family is here or whatever.
The point is that this has become a compelling, white hot obsession for me. So, it's easier for me to pop up out of bed in the morning, while all of my competitors are all tucked in bed in fetal position. Gives me a competitive edge in my head, which is what we all need.
So, after the viz process, I get my butt to the gym. Most of my workouts consist of some cardio and strength training. I run too much right now to build the muscle I'm searching for, in preparation for this race I committed to with my wife. Anyway, I'm usually there for 75-100 minutes.
Then I shower up at home, have breakfast, and get locked in with the plan. This is the short-term, one year strategy. I make sure I understand everything I'm working towards and why...most importantly. The why is the deal. This is much easier having already seen my life "as if" this morning. There's a method to all of this. But, again, I take a good 15 minutes to go through all of the details of the plan and make certain I've committed to doing the right things for the day. Once I'm re-sold on what I'm doing...I do it.
Before I head out, I go through a list of the philosophy I've created and the stuff I've borrowed from other people. This list reminds me of all the empowering beliefs I've built inside of me, the ones that have replaced the fearful beliefs I once held. By the time this exercise is complete, my mental filters are that of an unbelievably insightful and courageous leader in business and life in general. These filters have allowed me to lift myself up out of a life of mediocre results. They now guide my thinking and the decisions I make on a daily basis.
By this time, I am ready for whatever life throws at me. But, think about how hard it must be for somebody who's not fired up about his current station in life, or his job. He is faced with scraping himself out of bed every morning and it's not easy because he isn't even slightly enthused about his gig. This is not a great situation and sadly, I'd say it's the case for a large percentage of our population in this country. But, the question I'd have to ask to this man is..."what is ever going to change if you don't change?". "How can you ever expect to do whatever it is you love if you don't even have the energy or the enthusiasm to do your current responsibilities well?" It's crazy to think any of this is going to change.
My suggestion to a person in this circumstance is to figure out a compelling vision for his life. From there, he can then create a plan in which he continues to fulfill his day job or continues to grow his current business while he works his ass off in his spare time to make a go of his true passion. But, he must first kick seven shades of ass at his current gig before he leaves. Some may argue this point, but I truly believe we only make good decisions when we're in that state of being on fire. When we know we're not doing something well or we're half-assing something, our brains have too much fear and limitations running it to think freely. So, go forth and kick ass, while you dream and work toward your dream at night, or whenever you're not working.
Flip the switch
But, the one thing I'm certain of is that a man can have all the answers right in front of him and understand them intellectually, but if he can't get himself to take action and follow through, then it's all in vain. Actually, it's much worse than that...it becomes a curse, because he is now painfully aware of everything he's not doing. That's where the "inner game" stuff comes into play. This is what I'd like to discuss tonight.
Every single morning, I come down to my office, sit down and turn on my computer monitor. My schedule pops up, along with my long-term vision, long-term goals with dates for completion, shorter-term milestones to hit along the way, and my plan to make all of this happen. My plan includes my big goals for this year and describes in great detail how I'll make each one of these a reality this year. This is all great stuff. Hell, it's all right there, leaving absolutely nothing to chance. The only challenge is sometimes I just don't feel like doing any of it. That's when this whole deal can get a little dicey.
So, what is the key to getting ourselves to follow through on the plans we create? I know I don't have all the answers, by any means. But, I'm going to share with you what works for me...most of the time. Nothing works every time, I'll be completely forthcoming. But, this routine I've created(with the help of some kick-ass philosophy and strategy from Tony Robbins) will make it much easier. Here's how it all goes....
First, I awake early...real damn early, like 5:00 am. Just the thought of getting a bunch of hard work in before most of the world gets out of bed gives me a slight edge mentally right off the bat. Then, I take in a full 8 oz glass of clean water, to get the inner parts performing the way they should. From here, I go into a crisp visualization exercise in which I sit down in my office and project myself into a life in which everything I dream of has come true. My business has evolved into a full-time writing, speaking, coaching endeavor that's completely portable, it's hugely profitable, and it's helping millions of people all over the world(I know this may sound a bit egoic, but I refuse to think small...I just won't do it any longer. I'm going HUGE from now on).
My office in my home is huge with dark mahogany custom woodwork, with zero clutter, efficient, clean, elegant. My office is a metaphor for who I've become in my vision - a man who's in complete control over his mind, body, and emotions with laser focus on providing more value to more people than anybody in my business space. My personal income is significant, I'm liquid, and I am confident that I'll never HAVE to do anything anybody tells me ever again. No more dependence on anyone else for my economic needs. I now have complete control over this aspect of my family's existence...and they all respect and love me for this.
My body is light, lean, and explosive. In my mind, I can feel myself step out of bed with ease, because my abs look like they did when I was 17 years old. I can see myself in the mirror, looking absolutely phenomenal. I see myself going through an intense workout in which I'm strong, explosive, and can go and go. When my visualized workout is complete, I shower up and get into my kick-ass Aston Martin DBS Volante and drive up the coast to my office(again, my biz is portable, so I live in a ridiculous place on the beach).
The viz process goes on for a good 15 minutes. I know it probably sounds ridiculous, especially to those of you who really know me, but this is the stuff that drives me. Down deep, I'd love nothing more than to be writing full-time, have my business focused 100% on this "inner game" and "outer game" stuff. This way I will be portable and will live somewhere I love, instead of living just somewhere because my job is here or my family is here or whatever.
The point is that this has become a compelling, white hot obsession for me. So, it's easier for me to pop up out of bed in the morning, while all of my competitors are all tucked in bed in fetal position. Gives me a competitive edge in my head, which is what we all need.
So, after the viz process, I get my butt to the gym. Most of my workouts consist of some cardio and strength training. I run too much right now to build the muscle I'm searching for, in preparation for this race I committed to with my wife. Anyway, I'm usually there for 75-100 minutes.
Then I shower up at home, have breakfast, and get locked in with the plan. This is the short-term, one year strategy. I make sure I understand everything I'm working towards and why...most importantly. The why is the deal. This is much easier having already seen my life "as if" this morning. There's a method to all of this. But, again, I take a good 15 minutes to go through all of the details of the plan and make certain I've committed to doing the right things for the day. Once I'm re-sold on what I'm doing...I do it.
Before I head out, I go through a list of the philosophy I've created and the stuff I've borrowed from other people. This list reminds me of all the empowering beliefs I've built inside of me, the ones that have replaced the fearful beliefs I once held. By the time this exercise is complete, my mental filters are that of an unbelievably insightful and courageous leader in business and life in general. These filters have allowed me to lift myself up out of a life of mediocre results. They now guide my thinking and the decisions I make on a daily basis.
By this time, I am ready for whatever life throws at me. But, think about how hard it must be for somebody who's not fired up about his current station in life, or his job. He is faced with scraping himself out of bed every morning and it's not easy because he isn't even slightly enthused about his gig. This is not a great situation and sadly, I'd say it's the case for a large percentage of our population in this country. But, the question I'd have to ask to this man is..."what is ever going to change if you don't change?". "How can you ever expect to do whatever it is you love if you don't even have the energy or the enthusiasm to do your current responsibilities well?" It's crazy to think any of this is going to change.
My suggestion to a person in this circumstance is to figure out a compelling vision for his life. From there, he can then create a plan in which he continues to fulfill his day job or continues to grow his current business while he works his ass off in his spare time to make a go of his true passion. But, he must first kick seven shades of ass at his current gig before he leaves. Some may argue this point, but I truly believe we only make good decisions when we're in that state of being on fire. When we know we're not doing something well or we're half-assing something, our brains have too much fear and limitations running it to think freely. So, go forth and kick ass, while you dream and work toward your dream at night, or whenever you're not working.
Flip the switch
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Handling setbacks
There are only a couple of ways we can handle setbacks when they come our way...we can lay down and feel sorry for ourselves-complain, bitch, ask ourselves "why me?". The other option is to dig down deep, find some gumption, and bare down... on guess what?....The Simple Disciplines.
Let me first explain that I'm experiencing some unforeseen challenges right now in one of my businesses. All of a sudden, the deals have stopped. Nobody seems to be pulling the trigger and signing contracts. Normally, by this time of the year, we've got a fairly full schedule of projects going on right now. But, right now, we've got very little happening. Lots of quoting, lots of sales presentations, people want to know how much it costs...but NOBODY is pulling the trigger. It's quite strange. My normal closing ratio is between 33% and 60%. In the past couple of weeks I've ran almost 20 leads and have inked zero deals. Never seen anything like this...ever. I'd normally be at $100,000 at least in sales volume for the month of April...right now I'm at $7800. I'm panicking a bit, to be forthcoming.
The angst has been building inside of me for the about the last five or six days. I guess I probably shouldn't be so quick to highlight my struggles, seeing as how I'm striving to set an example and help others get past their short and long-term struggles. But, the fact of the matter is I'm far from perfect, in any aspect of my life, and I've been shitting my pants over this. The last thing you'll ever get from me is a bunch of bs about doing all fine and dandy if I'm having some trouble. And like I said, the past few days have been a rough go.
In fact, the dark thoughts had actually taken over my brain as of about 2:00 this afternoon, and I had the urge to call up a bunch of my prospects and lower my prices, to try to get some momentum going. It made total sense to me at the time. I thought, this just might work...I could call them up, tell them we're struggling to get people on board, and that I could take some off the price if they'll commit right away. I began rehearsing the phraseology, going through it all out loud to see how it sounded. I used my voice recorder to check and see if it sounded desperate or not. I was on the verge of placing my first call and it hit me...luckily. My inner dialogue was something like this: "How in the world can I justify this to anybody in my peer group? I've always prided myself in being a man who refuses to come from a position of weakness. Is this a move coming from someone in a position of strength?" "Don't you write every night about what a person can do to improve his outcomes in his life, by simply changing his inner game?" "What would you say to one of your business buddies who came to you with this very same challenge?". No doubt this is the result of the thousands of hours of personal development study I've done over the past eight years and of the hundreds of hours of writing. All of these negative feelings and thoughts had taken over and my new philosophy kicked in to override these fearful attitudes just when I needed it most. The filter that really convinced me not to make these desperation attempts was the one in which I asked myself "if this is really the man I become when I'm faced with a real challenge? Is this the example I want to set for my friends and my family?" Hell no.
So, here's what I'm going to do, here's the Inner Game(my thinking and beliefs) change:
Instead of crawling into a hole, I'm going straight to what I know will never fail me...the fundamentals. I have 100% faith in the fact that the Simple Disciplines I've committed to will get me the results I seek, if I execute them every day with faith and enthusiasm. That being the case, I'm going to double the Simple Disciplines pertaining to the success of this particular endeavor. Instead of sitting around pondering a million negative scenarios, I'm going to focus all of my energy on visualizing me closing every deal I come across. I now refuse to engage in any negative thinking or speaking about this situation. When I think or speak of it, I will do it from a position of strength and positivity. I will expect great things to happen from this point forward. It's imperative because what I realized is that all of the "no's" I've been hearing have taken their toll on my confidence. Normally, I go into most every deal fully EXPECTING to get the deal. Lately, I've been expecting the opposite. That will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, no question.
So, here's what this outer game change is going to look like...
For the next two weeks, instead of canvassing for five hours per week, I'm going to canvass ten hours. Instead of visualizing for 15 minutes, twice per day, I'm going to visualize for 30 minutes twice per day..with an emphasis on seeing me close these deals with high profit margins.
In summary, I have two paths I can go down. One path is the path of worry, doubt, that will ultimately lead to failure. It might feel better in the short-term, I could go around and whine to all of my friends and family and my crews, talking about how none of this is my fault. We could all engage in the normal conversation in which we all blame anybody and everybody for the poor circumstances we find ourselves in. Or, we could go the other way. We can make a DECISION, that we will see this through and we will find a way to not only survive, but to hammer the numbers we committed to when we started. See, in times like these, we can't lose our perspective and focus on just surviving. When we focus on survival, that's what we get...survival. I'm not looking for that. I'm looking to thrive, to prosper. This is the path I'm choosing to take. Yes, it's going to require more effort, more time. But, I've got way too much skin in this game to hunker down in fear and quit. It's not in me anyway.
I'm hoping you're all rolling and don't have to use any of the stuff I'm faced with using here. I hope you're all on the right path and are seeing magnificent results. But, if you're not, then I know this perspective can help. It is really the only path we can take. The short-term pain we'll feel from doing this right will be nothing compared to the long-term pain and regret we would experience from taking the easy road and giving up.
Flip the switch
Let me first explain that I'm experiencing some unforeseen challenges right now in one of my businesses. All of a sudden, the deals have stopped. Nobody seems to be pulling the trigger and signing contracts. Normally, by this time of the year, we've got a fairly full schedule of projects going on right now. But, right now, we've got very little happening. Lots of quoting, lots of sales presentations, people want to know how much it costs...but NOBODY is pulling the trigger. It's quite strange. My normal closing ratio is between 33% and 60%. In the past couple of weeks I've ran almost 20 leads and have inked zero deals. Never seen anything like this...ever. I'd normally be at $100,000 at least in sales volume for the month of April...right now I'm at $7800. I'm panicking a bit, to be forthcoming.
The angst has been building inside of me for the about the last five or six days. I guess I probably shouldn't be so quick to highlight my struggles, seeing as how I'm striving to set an example and help others get past their short and long-term struggles. But, the fact of the matter is I'm far from perfect, in any aspect of my life, and I've been shitting my pants over this. The last thing you'll ever get from me is a bunch of bs about doing all fine and dandy if I'm having some trouble. And like I said, the past few days have been a rough go.
In fact, the dark thoughts had actually taken over my brain as of about 2:00 this afternoon, and I had the urge to call up a bunch of my prospects and lower my prices, to try to get some momentum going. It made total sense to me at the time. I thought, this just might work...I could call them up, tell them we're struggling to get people on board, and that I could take some off the price if they'll commit right away. I began rehearsing the phraseology, going through it all out loud to see how it sounded. I used my voice recorder to check and see if it sounded desperate or not. I was on the verge of placing my first call and it hit me...luckily. My inner dialogue was something like this: "How in the world can I justify this to anybody in my peer group? I've always prided myself in being a man who refuses to come from a position of weakness. Is this a move coming from someone in a position of strength?" "Don't you write every night about what a person can do to improve his outcomes in his life, by simply changing his inner game?" "What would you say to one of your business buddies who came to you with this very same challenge?". No doubt this is the result of the thousands of hours of personal development study I've done over the past eight years and of the hundreds of hours of writing. All of these negative feelings and thoughts had taken over and my new philosophy kicked in to override these fearful attitudes just when I needed it most. The filter that really convinced me not to make these desperation attempts was the one in which I asked myself "if this is really the man I become when I'm faced with a real challenge? Is this the example I want to set for my friends and my family?" Hell no.
So, here's what I'm going to do, here's the Inner Game(my thinking and beliefs) change:
Instead of crawling into a hole, I'm going straight to what I know will never fail me...the fundamentals. I have 100% faith in the fact that the Simple Disciplines I've committed to will get me the results I seek, if I execute them every day with faith and enthusiasm. That being the case, I'm going to double the Simple Disciplines pertaining to the success of this particular endeavor. Instead of sitting around pondering a million negative scenarios, I'm going to focus all of my energy on visualizing me closing every deal I come across. I now refuse to engage in any negative thinking or speaking about this situation. When I think or speak of it, I will do it from a position of strength and positivity. I will expect great things to happen from this point forward. It's imperative because what I realized is that all of the "no's" I've been hearing have taken their toll on my confidence. Normally, I go into most every deal fully EXPECTING to get the deal. Lately, I've been expecting the opposite. That will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, no question.
So, here's what this outer game change is going to look like...
For the next two weeks, instead of canvassing for five hours per week, I'm going to canvass ten hours. Instead of visualizing for 15 minutes, twice per day, I'm going to visualize for 30 minutes twice per day..with an emphasis on seeing me close these deals with high profit margins.
In summary, I have two paths I can go down. One path is the path of worry, doubt, that will ultimately lead to failure. It might feel better in the short-term, I could go around and whine to all of my friends and family and my crews, talking about how none of this is my fault. We could all engage in the normal conversation in which we all blame anybody and everybody for the poor circumstances we find ourselves in. Or, we could go the other way. We can make a DECISION, that we will see this through and we will find a way to not only survive, but to hammer the numbers we committed to when we started. See, in times like these, we can't lose our perspective and focus on just surviving. When we focus on survival, that's what we get...survival. I'm not looking for that. I'm looking to thrive, to prosper. This is the path I'm choosing to take. Yes, it's going to require more effort, more time. But, I've got way too much skin in this game to hunker down in fear and quit. It's not in me anyway.
I'm hoping you're all rolling and don't have to use any of the stuff I'm faced with using here. I hope you're all on the right path and are seeing magnificent results. But, if you're not, then I know this perspective can help. It is really the only path we can take. The short-term pain we'll feel from doing this right will be nothing compared to the long-term pain and regret we would experience from taking the easy road and giving up.
Flip the switch
Monday, April 5, 2010
Use this right now
Alrighty folks. Totally against the urgings of my internet marketing friends, I'm going to lay the cards on the table as to how I go about living my business life. I've thought about doing this for over a month now, but I've heard consistently that what I'm offering is worth too much to just lay out there for the world to see and use, for nothing. But, here goes....
What I plan to do in this blog post is give you a good chunk of my business strategy, with a solid amount of reasoning behind it, so that you can see what I'm doing, create something like it for yourself, or whatever. Up to you. Again, I have never claimed to have all the answers, but I'll let you be the judge. You may read it and say it sucks. Refer to Bobby Brown if so. That's quite alright. But, if this helps you, do me a solid and let me know. The only thing I'm asking in return is for you to drop a note about what you think of it, and to spread the word for anybody and everybody to see, again, if you think it's something that can help them. Sound fair? Cool, let's get it on..
The philosophy behind this, from 40,000 feet above it, is that we must know exactly what we're after, where we're headed and how we plan to get there, if we wish to live our business lives at the highest level. If you want to be a follower, then ignore everything in this post. If you want to lead, if you want to produce huge numbers, if you want to be a revenue producing machine for your company, plug in. This is a body of work from the past seven or eight years of my life - the result of thousands of hours of study of success principles, philosophy, strategy, and the lives of great men in history.
So, here's the deal....
First, I'll outline the financial vehicles I utilize to earn a living. I have interest in two separate businesses, both are in the same space - home restoration and remodeling. One is a manufacturing business, that I'm part owner of, there I lead the sales and marketing efforts. The other is a residential and light commercial remodeling contracting business which I own solely. The majority of my focus is geared toward the manufacturing business.
The reason I spend more time here is for long-term salability. Our industry is forecasting significant mergers and buy-outs over the next decade or two. We fit a nice niche within the high end of our industry, at Winstrom. I anticipate some large manufacturing outfit wanting to buy us, in order to gain entry into the high end market. The brand they carry will keep them out of this niche. Their only way in is through M & A. We expect to receive a high multiple at some point in the future.
So, I know what I wish to earn for 2010, in order to achieve the investment goals, the lifestyle goals, the charitable goals I've committed to. I won't share all of my objectives for the year, but I'll offer some, so that I can derive the numbers aspect of my plan. In the end, the numbers are the deal. It's not all dollars and sense, by any means. But, I won't stroke you here, I would be lying if I said I did all of this solely out of the goodness of my heart. Well, I am doing this blog out of the goodness of my heart, but anyway. The numbers are as follows:
My income goals require that I hit the following numbers, based on what I earn from sales and profit at both companies. These numbers come from the sales commission and profit dollars. Hypothetically, if a sales person is earning a 10% sales commission on what he sells and he wishes to earn $50,000, then he needs to sell $500,000 for the year. Pretty basic math. Well, in my deal, I need to hit $6,000,000 this year in my territory and $1,220,000 with MBJ. These are the primary objectives, the broader strokes that will pay me what I've established as my goals for this year.
But, I like to break this down to much smaller chunks, so I don't leave anything to chance. Here's a further look at the manufacturing numbers. I break it down into goals for new business and for retention growth. We need to bring in new dealers, as new business is the lifeblood of any business, young or old. But, I'm a big believer in the philosophy that it's much easier and much less expensive to get a current customer to grow than it is to go out and convince somebody who knows nothing about you to buy from you. I focus on both. That being said, I'm looking to experience $2,000,000 in new business and retention growth of $900,000(over what I sold last year from that same group of dealers).
The first thing I've done is go through my list of dealers and, based on what I know of these guys, outline a list of the top half dozen guys that #1..have the capacity to grow significantly with us and #2...we have a chance to land more of their business with some good hard work and creativity. When I say significant growth, I'm talking about at least $100,000 over what they gave us in 2009. My list looks like this:
1. Milwaukee Builders ($250,000)
2. Lisbon Storm and Screen ($400,000)
3. Hardy & Jensen ($300,000)
4. Kroll Siding Supply ($600,000)
5. City Builders ($150,000)
6. Murphy's Windows ($100,000)
7. Landmark Exteriors ($150,000)
Total Sales Growth Opp. ($1,950,000)
Here's my list of New Business Targets for this year:
1. Lumberyard Suppliers, E Peoria IL ($1,000,000)
2. Jarvis Exteriors, Chicago IL ($100,000)
3. Wilson Colonial, Chicago IL ($250,000)
4. Aspen Exteriors, Chicago Il ($500,000)
5. Lumberyard Suppliers, Champaign IL (1,000,000)
6. Lumberyard Suppliers, STL (1,000,000)
7. Cardinal Home Imp, STL ($500,000)
8. Midwest Siding, Des Moines, IA ($200,000)
9. Omaha Door & Window, Omaha NE ($600,000)
10. Obermiller Seamless, Lincoln NE ($250,000)
11. ABC Seamless, Lincoln NE ($200,000)
12. Stronghold Construction, Chicago IL ($250,000)
13. Evergreen Windows, Chicago IL ($750,000)
14. Brew City, Milwaukee Wi ($100,000)
15. Advanced Window Systems, Milwaukee ($200,000)
16. American Thermal, Chicago IL ($300,000)
Total Sales Opportunity $7,650,000
So, we need a little less than a third of this volume...
I've outlined 15 targets, as you can see. What I'll do is focus all of my Winstrom efforts on this group of seven retention targets and fifteen NB targets. My phone work centers around setting appointments with these owners of these businesses, and following up with this same group. When I'm working a specific geographic segment of my territory, I'll use this accounts as the centerpieces of those trips. From these meetings, I'll fill in with other local companies to take full advantage of the time I have in each market. If I find another good company to work with, then great. I just need to make sure I'm spending every minute of my day, from 7:00 am to night time, face to face with somebody I can add value to and get some volume in return.
So, a quick summary....
So far, I've got a list of 22 targets that I plan to focus 90% of my face time with. I'll build trips to each market segment around these specific accounts, and then add other quality opportunities around them.
Let's go through the geography of it all...
I'm responsible for all of the Midwest, from Kansas through Minnesota. I personally cover Illinois, Milwaukee, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana. Here's how I've labeled it, into five segments:
1. Chicago
2. Milwaukee
3. Downstate
4. STL
5. Iowa/Nebraska
6. KC
7. Indiana
This is obviously too much ground to cover for one sales person. My plan is to partner up with independent rep groups in Indiana/Ohio/Michigan and KC, for now. I'll personally cover the remaining segments, with a focus on Chicago, Downstate, Milwaukee, Iowa. I have Lumberyard Suppliers on board and plan to leverage their outside sales force of 15 good reps to grow market share in STL and Downstate. In these other segments, I will focus on dealer direct accounts. These accounts are much more profitable and are easier to land, ultimately.
My strategy to manage this territory is simple....manage my focus. I've never bought the notion that we, as sales professionals, have to manage geography. In order to grow a territory...any territory, we have to manage what we choose to focus on. I'm going to focus on a specific group of great targets and pour my heart and soul into adding so much high-level value to them that they feel they HAVE to do business with me. This is my primary "Time Management", "Territory Management" philosophy and strategy. Find the people you want to do business with and can do business with and add tremendous amounts of value to them without any expectation of anything in return. You take this approach, and you'll have more deals than you've ever dreamed of. I promise.
MBJ Breakdown:
The way I like to look at this business is through the number of projects we need to close in order to hit our objective of $1.2 million for the year. Our average project cost is roughly $10,000. So, we need 120 project for the year, to get us there. We can work 44 weeks per year, due to harsh winter conditions. That means we need about three per week....
My closing ratio is about 33% overall. It seems to be down this year, so far, as folks are just not pulling the trigger the way they have in previous years. But, for the sake of planning, I'll budget it at 33%.
MBJ needs 360 leads per year, chances to pitch a deal, to get us the 120 we need. That's about seven per week, really.
A canvasser can generate, as our metrics tell us, one lead per hour. We need seven hours of canvassing per week to get us home. I like to play it safe, so we've hired a crew that will have anywhere from 2 to 6 college students working 6 hours per week. We should be able to generate at least 20 leads per week. Boo Yah.
I'll end up needing a salesperson or two by mid-April, according to my plan, just to be able to run these leads, assuming they're out there....that many people who want and need roofs or windows right now. I'm certain they're out there. We just have to look.
I've mapped out my Personal Focus Plan for the month of April. Hopefully, you can find something in it that you can use to grow your business
This week, April 5-10:
Monday - MBJ primarily, with some WW scheduling
1. Get two MBJ leads personally
2. Measure two leads from Saturday - Ed Riehl, 2801 Park Ridge
3. Estimate these two leads
4. Create proposals for these two leads
5. Face to face calls with Ed R and Cathy Vale for MBJ
6. Schedule calls for Wednesday and Thursday for Winstrom.
Tuesday - MBJ focus
1. Secure contractor for Chanel and Carl's projects.
2. Measure P.R lead and B.M. leads
3. Estimate and create proposals.
4. Face to face call with Todd Smith for roof project
5. Close deals with Kate McCarthy, Kevin McGuinness, Kevin Maguire, Brendan
6. Meeting with Alex
7. Meeting with Tim from Peoria
Wednesday - WW Focus Milwaukee
1. Meeting with Lisbon, Milwaukee Builders, Advanced, and Brew City
2. Calls to schedule for Friday
3. Fill ins with Pro-tite windows, WeatherTite, All About Windows & Siding
Thursday - SE Wisconsin, Chicago
1. Meetings with targets: Hardy & jensen, Southway Supply, Patrick Windows, Lakeland
2. Schedule for Monday and Tuesday next week
3. Follow up calls on proposals from this week's MBJ leads.
Friday - STL
1. Follow through on private label details for new customer in STL with LS
2. Relationship building dinner and drinks with new clients.
Week of April 12-17:
Monday - Chicago WW Targets, Wilson Colonial, Aspen Exteriors, cold calls // Canvassing Team out for MBJ - should generate 3-4 leads
Tuesday - Chicago Murphy, Stronghold Construction, Siding 1, Jarvis Exteriors
Wednesday - Downstate with LS, training reps in Champaign in morning, MBJ in pm // Canvassing team out for MBJ - 3-4 leads
Thursday - STL with LS reps in morning, joint sales calls in afternoon
Friday - MBJ all day, running face to face sales calls on leads from team(estimated by my production mgr)
Saturday - MBJ all day, face to face sales calls the leads from the team(estimated by prod mgr)
Week of April 19-24
Monday - Quad Cities today Kroll Siding, Cold calling in IA City all afternoon, drinks with Dewey in Cedar Falls at night// MBJ Canvassing Team out for 3-4 leads
Tuesday - Cedar Falls, IA City Builders, Midwest Siding Des Moines, cold call Des Moines
Wednesday - Cold Calling in Des Moines
Thursday - Omaha Door, ABC Seamless, Obermiller Seamless
Friday - MBJ face to face calls 4 leads
Saturday - MBJ face to face calls 4 leads
Week of April 26-31
Monday - Kansas City, Deriek Braun(independent rep), cold call, Struckel drinks // MBJ Team out canvassing
Tuesday - KC, cold call all day long
Wed - KC, cold call all day long MBJ Canvassing Team out canvassing
Thursday - L/S E Peoria sales team training, joint calls
Friday - MBJ all day, face to face calls
Saturday - MBJ all day long, face to face calls
Again, during these trips, between sales calls or cold calls, I'm making lots of phone calls to existing dealers, prospects trying to get appointments scheduled, follow ups on promises, anything I can to add tremendous value to those I'm trying to serve. My whole deal is to build the Greg Mote brand within each person I meet and serve along the way here.
The results I'm expecting to get? What I'm fully EXPECTING is to close 3-8 projects per week, as a minimum, with MBJ, for a total of at least 12 for the month of April. Maybe as many as 20. At the same time, we should be in serious negotiations with at least 8 qualified, high volume new biz targets for Winstrom Windows. These eight will be from the target lists. We should also have an additional 8 from outside the lists, which will be smaller volume dealers we can earn a greater profit margin from, boosting the overall gross profit percentage of the business. These should blend out for a handsome GP number for 2010. So, when we beat the projections and show them to the bank in December, they'll see that we not only kicked the crap out of the top line revenue number, we significantly grew the profit margin percentage as well. My partners will be floored and will throw a huge fiesta in our honor.
So, what will April look like for me, personally? Fan-tastic. Enough said.
So, then, how can I break this down even further, to make sure I'm leaving nothing to chance? Let's look at each day...to make sure we're investing our time in only the tasks that will make these dreams real for the month of April.
The one thing we all have that is equal is time. We're all given the same amount of time in which to work and earn for our family. Some of us choose to use every single minute of the day to maximize what we get for ourselves, our wives and our kids. Some of us take our work seriously enough to plan each day and try to not waste even a moment. I've recently awoken to the notion that until we've got enough cash and liquid investments to never have to work again, we owe it to ourselves, our families to man up and quit wasting time. Far too many guys and girls I know are spending far too much time fucking around when they should be making money...so that their kids don't have to work every second of their lives in college and actually enjoy the process, so that they can actually take the family on vacation instead of making up a bunch of bullshit as to why they can't, so they can pay cash for a house instead of begging a lender to give them the 100% financing on the house they
don't really want because they'd rather have the house their friend is living in. Harsh, I know. But, if you are wasting time and you're aware of it...I have to ask...are you worthy of the job you have now, even? Let alone the job or the business you say you deserve and have been dreaming about...Do you deserve the job you have now? Do you deserve the few customers you have managed to cling to? Food for thought.
Anyway, we all have equal time to get whatever it is we do, done. So, it's up to us as to how we spend it, or invest it. We should choose to invest our time. I'll show you my schedule. Time is what it is, it's time. We become effective, we become great by controlling our focus. My reco is to move around in your business in highly concentrated blocks of time, in which you perform the highest producing, highest value, highest revenue generating tasks that drive your best results. For me, it's prospecting, face to face sales calls, canvassing, and following through with creative, high value solutions to my customers' and prospects' problems. Knowing these are what drive all of my results, I've planned each day to spend hours and hours on these tasks, in a focused and undisturbed manner....
Monday, April 26 -
5:00 am Arise for Hour of Power, visualize for 15 minutes, work out hard for one hour
7:00 am - Focus and Planning, plan each minute of today, including who, when, where, why, how, and details of targets and their locations for cold calling
8:00 am - Breakfast with Deriek Braun, candidate for ind rep in KC market and MO market. Planning to grab a list of dealer direct targets to cold call
10:00 am - Cold calling KC market, with a well-planned approach to hit as many good targets as possible. Hoping to spark some interest with three or four good guys there.
4:00 pm - Conference with Bridge, Nicole, and Skip to get them started canvassing in Bloomington/Normal. Their goal is to get 6-8 leads tonight.
4:30 pm - Wrap up today, go through all notes from today's action. Make sure all emails are sent and all details are accounted for from everything....
9:00 pm - Write blog
10:00 pm - Write five pages in book
All day - While in vehicle, listen to personal development disc
All day - Between stops while cold calling, make phone contacts to follow up and schedule meetings, and work out details with staff at home.
So, if you notice, I've got every important aspect of my life accounted for in this plan. I'm working out early, planning and visualizing the vision, selling and growing the business(new business targets $2M), I've got team out canvassing($1.2M in MBJ sales), writing blog and book(internet mktg dream). It's all there. This plan will absolutely produce everything I'm looking for, minus the personal relationships at home. But, I can't do much about that aspect while in KC. I'm sure I'll talk to Bridge several times each day, as I always do.
The real value of this plan is that I am able to wake up every single day and be crystal clear as to what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and how I plan to get it done. Nothing is left to chance.
Now, this may seem rigid as hell. It is. It's rigid for a reason. If I were to be like everyone else in how I manage my "time", I'd be running around all day, answering phone calls, texts, emails, buzzing around at 100 mph, getting shit all done. We can't mistake activity for progress. They are two totally different things. The more we react, the more we lose. I choose to work in these highly focused blocks of time. You'll find you'll still be able to chat up your buddies or your girl, you'll still be able to plug in to talk radio/politics, whatever. But, you'll be able to do it without any reservations or guilt because you haven't done shit all day long.
Thursday, April 12:
5:00 am - HOP, visualize, work out balls out, strength training
6:45 am - Breakfast
7:00 am - Focus, Planning(plan every detail, who, when, why, etc)
8:00 am - Meeting with Milwaukee Builders
10:00 am - Meeting with Lisbon Storm
11:00 - Meeting with Brew City Home Improvement
1:00 - 4:00 pm Cold Calling Milwaukee Area (from list of 20 stops)
4:00 pm - Check in with crews back home, making sure jobs are ok.
5:00 pm - Wrap up day
9:00 pm - blog
10:00 pm = Book
This plan, this sort of legitimate planning is the path to freedom. It will not only set you free financially, it'll strip away all of the noise and junk in your head, so that when you walk through the door in the evening, you can give all of yourself to that team at home, that wants nothing more than your attention.
Flip the switch
What I plan to do in this blog post is give you a good chunk of my business strategy, with a solid amount of reasoning behind it, so that you can see what I'm doing, create something like it for yourself, or whatever. Up to you. Again, I have never claimed to have all the answers, but I'll let you be the judge. You may read it and say it sucks. Refer to Bobby Brown if so. That's quite alright. But, if this helps you, do me a solid and let me know. The only thing I'm asking in return is for you to drop a note about what you think of it, and to spread the word for anybody and everybody to see, again, if you think it's something that can help them. Sound fair? Cool, let's get it on..
The philosophy behind this, from 40,000 feet above it, is that we must know exactly what we're after, where we're headed and how we plan to get there, if we wish to live our business lives at the highest level. If you want to be a follower, then ignore everything in this post. If you want to lead, if you want to produce huge numbers, if you want to be a revenue producing machine for your company, plug in. This is a body of work from the past seven or eight years of my life - the result of thousands of hours of study of success principles, philosophy, strategy, and the lives of great men in history.
So, here's the deal....
First, I'll outline the financial vehicles I utilize to earn a living. I have interest in two separate businesses, both are in the same space - home restoration and remodeling. One is a manufacturing business, that I'm part owner of, there I lead the sales and marketing efforts. The other is a residential and light commercial remodeling contracting business which I own solely. The majority of my focus is geared toward the manufacturing business.
The reason I spend more time here is for long-term salability. Our industry is forecasting significant mergers and buy-outs over the next decade or two. We fit a nice niche within the high end of our industry, at Winstrom. I anticipate some large manufacturing outfit wanting to buy us, in order to gain entry into the high end market. The brand they carry will keep them out of this niche. Their only way in is through M & A. We expect to receive a high multiple at some point in the future.
So, I know what I wish to earn for 2010, in order to achieve the investment goals, the lifestyle goals, the charitable goals I've committed to. I won't share all of my objectives for the year, but I'll offer some, so that I can derive the numbers aspect of my plan. In the end, the numbers are the deal. It's not all dollars and sense, by any means. But, I won't stroke you here, I would be lying if I said I did all of this solely out of the goodness of my heart. Well, I am doing this blog out of the goodness of my heart, but anyway. The numbers are as follows:
My income goals require that I hit the following numbers, based on what I earn from sales and profit at both companies. These numbers come from the sales commission and profit dollars. Hypothetically, if a sales person is earning a 10% sales commission on what he sells and he wishes to earn $50,000, then he needs to sell $500,000 for the year. Pretty basic math. Well, in my deal, I need to hit $6,000,000 this year in my territory and $1,220,000 with MBJ. These are the primary objectives, the broader strokes that will pay me what I've established as my goals for this year.
But, I like to break this down to much smaller chunks, so I don't leave anything to chance. Here's a further look at the manufacturing numbers. I break it down into goals for new business and for retention growth. We need to bring in new dealers, as new business is the lifeblood of any business, young or old. But, I'm a big believer in the philosophy that it's much easier and much less expensive to get a current customer to grow than it is to go out and convince somebody who knows nothing about you to buy from you. I focus on both. That being said, I'm looking to experience $2,000,000 in new business and retention growth of $900,000(over what I sold last year from that same group of dealers).
The first thing I've done is go through my list of dealers and, based on what I know of these guys, outline a list of the top half dozen guys that #1..have the capacity to grow significantly with us and #2...we have a chance to land more of their business with some good hard work and creativity. When I say significant growth, I'm talking about at least $100,000 over what they gave us in 2009. My list looks like this:
1. Milwaukee Builders ($250,000)
2. Lisbon Storm and Screen ($400,000)
3. Hardy & Jensen ($300,000)
4. Kroll Siding Supply ($600,000)
5. City Builders ($150,000)
6. Murphy's Windows ($100,000)
7. Landmark Exteriors ($150,000)
Total Sales Growth Opp. ($1,950,000)
Here's my list of New Business Targets for this year:
1. Lumberyard Suppliers, E Peoria IL ($1,000,000)
2. Jarvis Exteriors, Chicago IL ($100,000)
3. Wilson Colonial, Chicago IL ($250,000)
4. Aspen Exteriors, Chicago Il ($500,000)
5. Lumberyard Suppliers, Champaign IL (1,000,000)
6. Lumberyard Suppliers, STL (1,000,000)
7. Cardinal Home Imp, STL ($500,000)
8. Midwest Siding, Des Moines, IA ($200,000)
9. Omaha Door & Window, Omaha NE ($600,000)
10. Obermiller Seamless, Lincoln NE ($250,000)
11. ABC Seamless, Lincoln NE ($200,000)
12. Stronghold Construction, Chicago IL ($250,000)
13. Evergreen Windows, Chicago IL ($750,000)
14. Brew City, Milwaukee Wi ($100,000)
15. Advanced Window Systems, Milwaukee ($200,000)
16. American Thermal, Chicago IL ($300,000)
Total Sales Opportunity $7,650,000
So, we need a little less than a third of this volume...
I've outlined 15 targets, as you can see. What I'll do is focus all of my Winstrom efforts on this group of seven retention targets and fifteen NB targets. My phone work centers around setting appointments with these owners of these businesses, and following up with this same group. When I'm working a specific geographic segment of my territory, I'll use this accounts as the centerpieces of those trips. From these meetings, I'll fill in with other local companies to take full advantage of the time I have in each market. If I find another good company to work with, then great. I just need to make sure I'm spending every minute of my day, from 7:00 am to night time, face to face with somebody I can add value to and get some volume in return.
So, a quick summary....
So far, I've got a list of 22 targets that I plan to focus 90% of my face time with. I'll build trips to each market segment around these specific accounts, and then add other quality opportunities around them.
Let's go through the geography of it all...
I'm responsible for all of the Midwest, from Kansas through Minnesota. I personally cover Illinois, Milwaukee, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana. Here's how I've labeled it, into five segments:
1. Chicago
2. Milwaukee
3. Downstate
4. STL
5. Iowa/Nebraska
6. KC
7. Indiana
This is obviously too much ground to cover for one sales person. My plan is to partner up with independent rep groups in Indiana/Ohio/Michigan and KC, for now. I'll personally cover the remaining segments, with a focus on Chicago, Downstate, Milwaukee, Iowa. I have Lumberyard Suppliers on board and plan to leverage their outside sales force of 15 good reps to grow market share in STL and Downstate. In these other segments, I will focus on dealer direct accounts. These accounts are much more profitable and are easier to land, ultimately.
My strategy to manage this territory is simple....manage my focus. I've never bought the notion that we, as sales professionals, have to manage geography. In order to grow a territory...any territory, we have to manage what we choose to focus on. I'm going to focus on a specific group of great targets and pour my heart and soul into adding so much high-level value to them that they feel they HAVE to do business with me. This is my primary "Time Management", "Territory Management" philosophy and strategy. Find the people you want to do business with and can do business with and add tremendous amounts of value to them without any expectation of anything in return. You take this approach, and you'll have more deals than you've ever dreamed of. I promise.
MBJ Breakdown:
The way I like to look at this business is through the number of projects we need to close in order to hit our objective of $1.2 million for the year. Our average project cost is roughly $10,000. So, we need 120 project for the year, to get us there. We can work 44 weeks per year, due to harsh winter conditions. That means we need about three per week....
My closing ratio is about 33% overall. It seems to be down this year, so far, as folks are just not pulling the trigger the way they have in previous years. But, for the sake of planning, I'll budget it at 33%.
MBJ needs 360 leads per year, chances to pitch a deal, to get us the 120 we need. That's about seven per week, really.
A canvasser can generate, as our metrics tell us, one lead per hour. We need seven hours of canvassing per week to get us home. I like to play it safe, so we've hired a crew that will have anywhere from 2 to 6 college students working 6 hours per week. We should be able to generate at least 20 leads per week. Boo Yah.
I'll end up needing a salesperson or two by mid-April, according to my plan, just to be able to run these leads, assuming they're out there....that many people who want and need roofs or windows right now. I'm certain they're out there. We just have to look.
I've mapped out my Personal Focus Plan for the month of April. Hopefully, you can find something in it that you can use to grow your business
This week, April 5-10:
Monday - MBJ primarily, with some WW scheduling
1. Get two MBJ leads personally
2. Measure two leads from Saturday - Ed Riehl, 2801 Park Ridge
3. Estimate these two leads
4. Create proposals for these two leads
5. Face to face calls with Ed R and Cathy Vale for MBJ
6. Schedule calls for Wednesday and Thursday for Winstrom.
Tuesday - MBJ focus
1. Secure contractor for Chanel and Carl's projects.
2. Measure P.R lead and B.M. leads
3. Estimate and create proposals.
4. Face to face call with Todd Smith for roof project
5. Close deals with Kate McCarthy, Kevin McGuinness, Kevin Maguire, Brendan
6. Meeting with Alex
7. Meeting with Tim from Peoria
Wednesday - WW Focus Milwaukee
1. Meeting with Lisbon, Milwaukee Builders, Advanced, and Brew City
2. Calls to schedule for Friday
3. Fill ins with Pro-tite windows, WeatherTite, All About Windows & Siding
Thursday - SE Wisconsin, Chicago
1. Meetings with targets: Hardy & jensen, Southway Supply, Patrick Windows, Lakeland
2. Schedule for Monday and Tuesday next week
3. Follow up calls on proposals from this week's MBJ leads.
Friday - STL
1. Follow through on private label details for new customer in STL with LS
2. Relationship building dinner and drinks with new clients.
Week of April 12-17:
Monday - Chicago WW Targets, Wilson Colonial, Aspen Exteriors, cold calls // Canvassing Team out for MBJ - should generate 3-4 leads
Tuesday - Chicago Murphy, Stronghold Construction, Siding 1, Jarvis Exteriors
Wednesday - Downstate with LS, training reps in Champaign in morning, MBJ in pm // Canvassing team out for MBJ - 3-4 leads
Thursday - STL with LS reps in morning, joint sales calls in afternoon
Friday - MBJ all day, running face to face sales calls on leads from team(estimated by my production mgr)
Saturday - MBJ all day, face to face sales calls the leads from the team(estimated by prod mgr)
Week of April 19-24
Monday - Quad Cities today Kroll Siding, Cold calling in IA City all afternoon, drinks with Dewey in Cedar Falls at night// MBJ Canvassing Team out for 3-4 leads
Tuesday - Cedar Falls, IA City Builders, Midwest Siding Des Moines, cold call Des Moines
Wednesday - Cold Calling in Des Moines
Thursday - Omaha Door, ABC Seamless, Obermiller Seamless
Friday - MBJ face to face calls 4 leads
Saturday - MBJ face to face calls 4 leads
Week of April 26-31
Monday - Kansas City, Deriek Braun(independent rep), cold call, Struckel drinks // MBJ Team out canvassing
Tuesday - KC, cold call all day long
Wed - KC, cold call all day long MBJ Canvassing Team out canvassing
Thursday - L/S E Peoria sales team training, joint calls
Friday - MBJ all day, face to face calls
Saturday - MBJ all day long, face to face calls
Again, during these trips, between sales calls or cold calls, I'm making lots of phone calls to existing dealers, prospects trying to get appointments scheduled, follow ups on promises, anything I can to add tremendous value to those I'm trying to serve. My whole deal is to build the Greg Mote brand within each person I meet and serve along the way here.
The results I'm expecting to get? What I'm fully EXPECTING is to close 3-8 projects per week, as a minimum, with MBJ, for a total of at least 12 for the month of April. Maybe as many as 20. At the same time, we should be in serious negotiations with at least 8 qualified, high volume new biz targets for Winstrom Windows. These eight will be from the target lists. We should also have an additional 8 from outside the lists, which will be smaller volume dealers we can earn a greater profit margin from, boosting the overall gross profit percentage of the business. These should blend out for a handsome GP number for 2010. So, when we beat the projections and show them to the bank in December, they'll see that we not only kicked the crap out of the top line revenue number, we significantly grew the profit margin percentage as well. My partners will be floored and will throw a huge fiesta in our honor.
So, what will April look like for me, personally? Fan-tastic. Enough said.
So, then, how can I break this down even further, to make sure I'm leaving nothing to chance? Let's look at each day...to make sure we're investing our time in only the tasks that will make these dreams real for the month of April.
The one thing we all have that is equal is time. We're all given the same amount of time in which to work and earn for our family. Some of us choose to use every single minute of the day to maximize what we get for ourselves, our wives and our kids. Some of us take our work seriously enough to plan each day and try to not waste even a moment. I've recently awoken to the notion that until we've got enough cash and liquid investments to never have to work again, we owe it to ourselves, our families to man up and quit wasting time. Far too many guys and girls I know are spending far too much time fucking around when they should be making money...so that their kids don't have to work every second of their lives in college and actually enjoy the process, so that they can actually take the family on vacation instead of making up a bunch of bullshit as to why they can't, so they can pay cash for a house instead of begging a lender to give them the 100% financing on the house they
don't really want because they'd rather have the house their friend is living in. Harsh, I know. But, if you are wasting time and you're aware of it...I have to ask...are you worthy of the job you have now, even? Let alone the job or the business you say you deserve and have been dreaming about...Do you deserve the job you have now? Do you deserve the few customers you have managed to cling to? Food for thought.
Anyway, we all have equal time to get whatever it is we do, done. So, it's up to us as to how we spend it, or invest it. We should choose to invest our time. I'll show you my schedule. Time is what it is, it's time. We become effective, we become great by controlling our focus. My reco is to move around in your business in highly concentrated blocks of time, in which you perform the highest producing, highest value, highest revenue generating tasks that drive your best results. For me, it's prospecting, face to face sales calls, canvassing, and following through with creative, high value solutions to my customers' and prospects' problems. Knowing these are what drive all of my results, I've planned each day to spend hours and hours on these tasks, in a focused and undisturbed manner....
Monday, April 26 -
5:00 am Arise for Hour of Power, visualize for 15 minutes, work out hard for one hour
7:00 am - Focus and Planning, plan each minute of today, including who, when, where, why, how, and details of targets and their locations for cold calling
8:00 am - Breakfast with Deriek Braun, candidate for ind rep in KC market and MO market. Planning to grab a list of dealer direct targets to cold call
10:00 am - Cold calling KC market, with a well-planned approach to hit as many good targets as possible. Hoping to spark some interest with three or four good guys there.
4:00 pm - Conference with Bridge, Nicole, and Skip to get them started canvassing in Bloomington/Normal. Their goal is to get 6-8 leads tonight.
4:30 pm - Wrap up today, go through all notes from today's action. Make sure all emails are sent and all details are accounted for from everything....
9:00 pm - Write blog
10:00 pm - Write five pages in book
All day - While in vehicle, listen to personal development disc
All day - Between stops while cold calling, make phone contacts to follow up and schedule meetings, and work out details with staff at home.
So, if you notice, I've got every important aspect of my life accounted for in this plan. I'm working out early, planning and visualizing the vision, selling and growing the business(new business targets $2M), I've got team out canvassing($1.2M in MBJ sales), writing blog and book(internet mktg dream). It's all there. This plan will absolutely produce everything I'm looking for, minus the personal relationships at home. But, I can't do much about that aspect while in KC. I'm sure I'll talk to Bridge several times each day, as I always do.
The real value of this plan is that I am able to wake up every single day and be crystal clear as to what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and how I plan to get it done. Nothing is left to chance.
Now, this may seem rigid as hell. It is. It's rigid for a reason. If I were to be like everyone else in how I manage my "time", I'd be running around all day, answering phone calls, texts, emails, buzzing around at 100 mph, getting shit all done. We can't mistake activity for progress. They are two totally different things. The more we react, the more we lose. I choose to work in these highly focused blocks of time. You'll find you'll still be able to chat up your buddies or your girl, you'll still be able to plug in to talk radio/politics, whatever. But, you'll be able to do it without any reservations or guilt because you haven't done shit all day long.
Thursday, April 12:
5:00 am - HOP, visualize, work out balls out, strength training
6:45 am - Breakfast
7:00 am - Focus, Planning(plan every detail, who, when, why, etc)
8:00 am - Meeting with Milwaukee Builders
10:00 am - Meeting with Lisbon Storm
11:00 - Meeting with Brew City Home Improvement
1:00 - 4:00 pm Cold Calling Milwaukee Area (from list of 20 stops)
4:00 pm - Check in with crews back home, making sure jobs are ok.
5:00 pm - Wrap up day
9:00 pm - blog
10:00 pm = Book
This plan, this sort of legitimate planning is the path to freedom. It will not only set you free financially, it'll strip away all of the noise and junk in your head, so that when you walk through the door in the evening, you can give all of yourself to that team at home, that wants nothing more than your attention.
Flip the switch
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Jog our memory
I'm pretty sure none of us were just born to be ass kicking machines, who, by nature, automatically hone in and do the things a man must do to be a high achiever. Can't speak for any of you but I can say with 100% certainty, that I wasn't. In fact, with the hand I was dealt, I may have been the farthest thing from it. But, now I've gathered the information. I've studied and studied and uncovered the philosophy and the strategies I need to shape my life any way I choose. I spend a great amount of time each day churning through them and articulating them on this blog for us all to use in our own lives. What you and I need now is to have this stuff in front of us, at all times,so we don't forget what we're after.
My next project....Coming Soon
Content for the day....
Closed a monster deal today...a friggin whale, down in STL. Well, I shouldn't say it's a done deal. The prospect gave me his commitment...all of the decision makers and key players were present and all bought in...my team just has to produce and follow through on the promises we've made on our end. I thought this would be a good time to go through my approach to this phase of the deal.
In blogs past, I'm sure I've given my thoughts on what we need to do once the deal has been inked. You're about to hear it again. The work has only just begun, at this stage. They've seen something in me and my offer they like, but now we have to earn the business. I'm talking about all of the business.
Early in my career, when I got to this point, I handled it about as poorly as a guy could handle it. Here I was with a deal in hand, and I got soft. I assumed the customer was going to follow through. I assumed my company was going to just magically going to grow from this new volume we'd been promised. Shortly after the news to my boss, the questions started coming...."when is that new guy going to start ordering, Greg?" "Well, I got them their samples last Tuesday. Should take a couple of weeks to get their sales guys pushing our stuff. Probably see some deals next week, or the week following." But, truth is, I was quietly shitting my pants. I hadn't talked to anybody since that last meeting a couple of weeks ago, and I had no idea what was happening. So, I call the owner...no response. I stop by the office, unannounced...lukewarm reception from a few of the folks there, but the owner is out. Look in a couple of the sales guys' cars...not my window sample in his car. Uh Oh.
On many occasions, I didn't do what I needed to do to get the deal done. What I'd gotten at that point was the ok to earn the business, and it was up to me to walk the walk that I'd been talking about during the discussions we'd had up to that point.
So, here I am again. The dealer told me they love the window, they love the program, they love the private label marketing solution I created. Now, I have to see it through. Where do you think I'm going to focus my energy and time? Product? Literature development? Memorizing key people's birthdays and favorite colors? Forget that noise. I'm digging into the three areas that keeps my new best friend up at night: internet marketing(he's freaked out about being old school and has nobody who's comfortable with it / Sales training to help his sales team close more deals at a higher gross margin / A canvassing system for his sales guys so they have more deals to pitch.
This stuff is what's hurting my guy, so I'm going to come back next time and blow his doors off with some kick ass systems for him to utilize immediately. I won't show up and regurgitate some half ass idea I heard on the radio or from some other dealer I call on. I will walk into his office with something real for him, and I'll immediately separate myself from every other sales guy that has or will come calling on him.
I say we have fun with this. We only get one chance in this life....we might as well pin our ears back, have some fun, and be memorable in the work we do with our customers. Go hard.
Flip the switch
Flip the switch
My next project....Coming Soon
Content for the day....
Closed a monster deal today...a friggin whale, down in STL. Well, I shouldn't say it's a done deal. The prospect gave me his commitment...all of the decision makers and key players were present and all bought in...my team just has to produce and follow through on the promises we've made on our end. I thought this would be a good time to go through my approach to this phase of the deal.
In blogs past, I'm sure I've given my thoughts on what we need to do once the deal has been inked. You're about to hear it again. The work has only just begun, at this stage. They've seen something in me and my offer they like, but now we have to earn the business. I'm talking about all of the business.
Early in my career, when I got to this point, I handled it about as poorly as a guy could handle it. Here I was with a deal in hand, and I got soft. I assumed the customer was going to follow through. I assumed my company was going to just magically going to grow from this new volume we'd been promised. Shortly after the news to my boss, the questions started coming...."when is that new guy going to start ordering, Greg?" "Well, I got them their samples last Tuesday. Should take a couple of weeks to get their sales guys pushing our stuff. Probably see some deals next week, or the week following." But, truth is, I was quietly shitting my pants. I hadn't talked to anybody since that last meeting a couple of weeks ago, and I had no idea what was happening. So, I call the owner...no response. I stop by the office, unannounced...lukewarm reception from a few of the folks there, but the owner is out. Look in a couple of the sales guys' cars...not my window sample in his car. Uh Oh.
On many occasions, I didn't do what I needed to do to get the deal done. What I'd gotten at that point was the ok to earn the business, and it was up to me to walk the walk that I'd been talking about during the discussions we'd had up to that point.
So, here I am again. The dealer told me they love the window, they love the program, they love the private label marketing solution I created. Now, I have to see it through. Where do you think I'm going to focus my energy and time? Product? Literature development? Memorizing key people's birthdays and favorite colors? Forget that noise. I'm digging into the three areas that keeps my new best friend up at night: internet marketing(he's freaked out about being old school and has nobody who's comfortable with it / Sales training to help his sales team close more deals at a higher gross margin / A canvassing system for his sales guys so they have more deals to pitch.
This stuff is what's hurting my guy, so I'm going to come back next time and blow his doors off with some kick ass systems for him to utilize immediately. I won't show up and regurgitate some half ass idea I heard on the radio or from some other dealer I call on. I will walk into his office with something real for him, and I'll immediately separate myself from every other sales guy that has or will come calling on him.
I say we have fun with this. We only get one chance in this life....we might as well pin our ears back, have some fun, and be memorable in the work we do with our customers. Go hard.
Flip the switch
Flip the switch
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Let's Get on With It
If we are not really fired up about what we're doing in our careers, it's time to get on with it.
I'm just going to put this out there and be forthcoming. Hopefully you all will appreciate my honesty. If I hear myself tell my wife one more time how much I'd rather be writing and creating content full-time as a career instead of building this window biz and my roofing biz, my head may implode. There it is, fellas, I said it. I've been a raging pussy about this and it's time to own it. And for all of you who are not fired up about your gig and you're not jumping out of the rack in the morning, it's time for you to own it too.
Yes, I have been blogging and working on my book pretty consistently. Yes, I have a pretty damn good couple of gigs right now and I'm making great money. But, the reality is nothing lights me up more than writing and creating this stuff. Nothing. Truth is, I want to sell this business and write full time. Don't care if I make the same money as I have lately. Fact is, I can get by on less than half of what I'm making now. But, I'm just not moving at a pace to get there. The argument could easily be made that I'm taking consistent action toward the goals I've set in this particular area of my life. That argument would have merit, no doubt. But, down deep, I know the skinny and I can not kid myself any longer. Time to pin my ears back and get to work.
There's a distinct difference between somebody who's working and somebody who's working with a purpose and sense of urgency. The 90 Days to Discipline has been effective in keeping me locked in on the fundamentals and the proper actions I need to execute every day. That's great, we all have to take consistent action to make it real. After all, it's what we do every day that determines our outcomes. But, when it comes to the writing aspect, I've gotten into a routine. But, I'm not doing it hard, with purpose, with the balls I carry when I'm working in my other two endeavors.
Moving forward, I'm taking a more aggressive approach. I'm establishing a launch date for my book. A public declaration of my intent is the kind of commitment I need to make to get that ever-crucial sense of urgency. Looking like a talker instead of a doer is effective leverage for me. My brain links tons of pain to looking like a poser. So, the gauntlet has been thrown. Book completion, rough draft at least, by May 15, 2010. There it is, fellas.
Enough about me. What about you? What is it that you'd rather be doing? Because I'm also sick of hearing the same complaints from you. You can't sit in a holding pattern any longer either. Time is flying. We are all getting older. Fourty? We are all either there or are getting real damn close. Guess what? Fifty is on a dead sprint toward us as we speak. The worst...the absolute worst scenario I could imagine, at age 50, or 60, would be to be sitting in my car, thinking the same thoughts, churning through the same bullshit rationalizations about why I can't do what I really love. What a fucking tragedy that would be. Imagine it, looking yourself in the mirror...looking your wife in the mirror, trying to justify why you never did what you said you were going to do with your life. Remember those big dreams? Remember those conversations with your wife or your kids about building this business, or buying this big house, or taking that kick ass vacation...the ones you promised them. The ones you promised yourself. I've got news for all of us. If we are not doing the thing we absolutely love, we will never be happy. We will never be financially free. Never. No one gets on in this world by simply chasing a paycheck. We are selling out.
Am I recommending you go out and scrap your job or biz or whatever? No. But, I am begging you to schedule yourself an hour per day, every day, starting tomorrow, to sit down by yourself and give this real thought. What would you love to do with your time if you were already rich? Take the time to explore your brain. Figure it out. Right now. You may not have the perfect idea just yet. Hell, no great ideas come to us when we're being soft. Only when we are winning, when we are doing the things we committed to and are having success will our best ideas show up.
But, we have to start somewhere. Get busy, get moving, doing something. Do your job to the best of your ability. Leave it all on the field. Get into that state. Think and dream for an hour per day. Take action tomorrow. Do something every single day with a sense of urgency to make this real. We can't wait, we can't put this off. Our lives are on a dead on sprint. The time is right now.
Flip the switch
I'm just going to put this out there and be forthcoming. Hopefully you all will appreciate my honesty. If I hear myself tell my wife one more time how much I'd rather be writing and creating content full-time as a career instead of building this window biz and my roofing biz, my head may implode. There it is, fellas, I said it. I've been a raging pussy about this and it's time to own it. And for all of you who are not fired up about your gig and you're not jumping out of the rack in the morning, it's time for you to own it too.
Yes, I have been blogging and working on my book pretty consistently. Yes, I have a pretty damn good couple of gigs right now and I'm making great money. But, the reality is nothing lights me up more than writing and creating this stuff. Nothing. Truth is, I want to sell this business and write full time. Don't care if I make the same money as I have lately. Fact is, I can get by on less than half of what I'm making now. But, I'm just not moving at a pace to get there. The argument could easily be made that I'm taking consistent action toward the goals I've set in this particular area of my life. That argument would have merit, no doubt. But, down deep, I know the skinny and I can not kid myself any longer. Time to pin my ears back and get to work.
There's a distinct difference between somebody who's working and somebody who's working with a purpose and sense of urgency. The 90 Days to Discipline has been effective in keeping me locked in on the fundamentals and the proper actions I need to execute every day. That's great, we all have to take consistent action to make it real. After all, it's what we do every day that determines our outcomes. But, when it comes to the writing aspect, I've gotten into a routine. But, I'm not doing it hard, with purpose, with the balls I carry when I'm working in my other two endeavors.
Moving forward, I'm taking a more aggressive approach. I'm establishing a launch date for my book. A public declaration of my intent is the kind of commitment I need to make to get that ever-crucial sense of urgency. Looking like a talker instead of a doer is effective leverage for me. My brain links tons of pain to looking like a poser. So, the gauntlet has been thrown. Book completion, rough draft at least, by May 15, 2010. There it is, fellas.
Enough about me. What about you? What is it that you'd rather be doing? Because I'm also sick of hearing the same complaints from you. You can't sit in a holding pattern any longer either. Time is flying. We are all getting older. Fourty? We are all either there or are getting real damn close. Guess what? Fifty is on a dead sprint toward us as we speak. The worst...the absolute worst scenario I could imagine, at age 50, or 60, would be to be sitting in my car, thinking the same thoughts, churning through the same bullshit rationalizations about why I can't do what I really love. What a fucking tragedy that would be. Imagine it, looking yourself in the mirror...looking your wife in the mirror, trying to justify why you never did what you said you were going to do with your life. Remember those big dreams? Remember those conversations with your wife or your kids about building this business, or buying this big house, or taking that kick ass vacation...the ones you promised them. The ones you promised yourself. I've got news for all of us. If we are not doing the thing we absolutely love, we will never be happy. We will never be financially free. Never. No one gets on in this world by simply chasing a paycheck. We are selling out.
Am I recommending you go out and scrap your job or biz or whatever? No. But, I am begging you to schedule yourself an hour per day, every day, starting tomorrow, to sit down by yourself and give this real thought. What would you love to do with your time if you were already rich? Take the time to explore your brain. Figure it out. Right now. You may not have the perfect idea just yet. Hell, no great ideas come to us when we're being soft. Only when we are winning, when we are doing the things we committed to and are having success will our best ideas show up.
But, we have to start somewhere. Get busy, get moving, doing something. Do your job to the best of your ability. Leave it all on the field. Get into that state. Think and dream for an hour per day. Take action tomorrow. Do something every single day with a sense of urgency to make this real. We can't wait, we can't put this off. Our lives are on a dead on sprint. The time is right now.
Flip the switch
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Let's get serious
I'm all about shedding the fat these days. My goal is to be able to get into a weenie bikini this summer and look fantastic. Not really. That'd be wrong. But, I do want to be proud to strip off the t this summer, instead of being the kid who's swimming with a huge cotton t-shirt on. That's not for me.
Unfortunately, the quickest way...and the ONLY way to shed fat, is through proper nutrition(diet). Working out is a critical component, for sure. But, at age 35, the days of just working out harder and losing the extra pounds are over. We have to eat right, eat almost perfect if we want to do it in short order. It's April, so we're doing this in short order. I've got a good 20 pounds of fat I need to shed. And I've only got a couple of months to do it. So, the diet is ON.
I'll give you a few of the general philosophies behind my diet/nutrition strategy for the next two months. Much of this you've heard many times, I'd imagine, as just about every program out there touts this principles....
1. Eat smaller meals, more often -- My goal is to eat 5 or 6 small meals per day. It keeps us feeling full and it blows our metabolism rate up to a much higher level.
2. I'm focusing on protein at every meal -- the goal is to get protein each time I eat, but it's not just any protein...lean meats, protein powders, fish, eggs, etc.
3. I'm cutting simple sugars out completely -- complex carbs are ok, as are fruits and veges. But no soda, no ice cream, and no Sour Patch Kids.
4. I'm adding some supplements to it -- I'm focusing on fiber supplements, fat burners(before workouts) and protein shakes.
These are the broad strokes of how I'm structuring my nutrition, but the bottom line is that I need to have a calorie defecit of around 700 calories per day. That means I should be consuming around 1800-2500 per day, depending on my workouts.
My workouts are looking like this....
I'm still running quite a bit, as I'm training for a half marathon in Champaign on May 1. So, that training has me running about 30 miles per week or so. It's hard to put on lean muscle mass when you're running that much, but I'm doing my best to do enough strength training and eating to a point that I don't just wilt away. Don't want to be the guy who gets sand kicked in his face at the beach...
The strength training is four days per week, focusing on total body workouts. I'm incorporating a lot of the CrossFit principles, doing Olympic lifts, body weight exercises and power moves. That's not all I'm doing. My main objective is to make sure I blow up my muscles four days per week, minimum. I'd ask you to refer to Crossfit.com and check out their WOD's(work out of the day). I don't care what kind of weight training you're doing, I just think we all have to do it. Muscle mass is too fleeting at this stage of the game for most of us. We have to keep slamming in the weightroom or we're not going to have the broad shoulders the women are looking for.
When it comes to lifting, I am proud to say I still have a fairly juvenile attitude towards it. I'm still wanting to throw around as much weight as I can(without injuring myself of course), because I want to push my limits. I want to be in the best shape of my life. Going in and doing 135 pounds on the bench for sets of 30 is not going to cut it. It's better than doing nothing, for certain. But, I think we have to get after it in there, the same way we do in our businesses and in life in general...
Which brings me to my next point. There are times in a man's life when it serves him to be casual--to just go with the flow and have a relaxed attitude about whatever is going on. You know, to just not sweat the details...whatever happens, happens. Our fitness is not one of these occasions. Our time at work is not one of these times. Too many good guys I know are falling short in this area. The highest achievers...the ass kickers in life, business, and fitness are never casual about anything having to do with the "bigs" in life. There's just too much at stake to take a casual approach and just fuck around. Look around, brother, there are guys out there who are trying to take things from us as we speak. If you've got something good going in your life, I can promise you there's somebody thinking of a way to take it from you. Your business, your job, your customers, your girl...some asshole is chomping at the bit to strip it from you.
That may seem like a jaded outlook, but ultimately, I think it's true. We can not afford to just go with the flow when it comes to these important aspects of our lives. Our businesses deserve every ounce of focus and energy we have inside of us. Our bodies deserve every ounce of respect and focus we have inside. Our women, our kids, our financial futures all deserve every ounce of blood, guts, and tears we have inside. Maybe you're one of those guys that's just too cool to give it your all. You have a rep to uphold. You wouldn't want your buddies to see you giving your gig your all...that's what the geeks and sellouts do. I'll tell you right now, no ass kicking, ripped, money making guy I know ever takes this sort of detached approach to the bigs. You can not have it both ways. You can't make it to the top -- be physically ripped, be liquid and rich, be a leader in your industry, make your wife or girlfriend weak in the knees and carry yourself with nonchalance. We have to get ourselves into that peak mental and emotional state every single time we work out, run, speak to our girls, pitch a deal, write a blog post...that state in which we have some cock in our walk, our shoulders back, heads high, ready to blow through any challenge standing between us and what we want. We have to stand up and give ourselves the respect we deserve, and we do this by demonstrating to those around us that we're worthy of their best. No one will ever give us their full respect, no one will ever come to us with the deal of a lifetime, if we're not showing ourselves the respect we deserve. Winners can smell that kind of confidence a mile away. Winners can sniff out a Sally or a talker just as quickly. We have to man up every day, get ourselves into state, and take care of our business. There will be plenty of time for casual later....
Flip the switch
Unfortunately, the quickest way...and the ONLY way to shed fat, is through proper nutrition(diet). Working out is a critical component, for sure. But, at age 35, the days of just working out harder and losing the extra pounds are over. We have to eat right, eat almost perfect if we want to do it in short order. It's April, so we're doing this in short order. I've got a good 20 pounds of fat I need to shed. And I've only got a couple of months to do it. So, the diet is ON.
I'll give you a few of the general philosophies behind my diet/nutrition strategy for the next two months. Much of this you've heard many times, I'd imagine, as just about every program out there touts this principles....
1. Eat smaller meals, more often -- My goal is to eat 5 or 6 small meals per day. It keeps us feeling full and it blows our metabolism rate up to a much higher level.
2. I'm focusing on protein at every meal -- the goal is to get protein each time I eat, but it's not just any protein...lean meats, protein powders, fish, eggs, etc.
3. I'm cutting simple sugars out completely -- complex carbs are ok, as are fruits and veges. But no soda, no ice cream, and no Sour Patch Kids.
4. I'm adding some supplements to it -- I'm focusing on fiber supplements, fat burners(before workouts) and protein shakes.
These are the broad strokes of how I'm structuring my nutrition, but the bottom line is that I need to have a calorie defecit of around 700 calories per day. That means I should be consuming around 1800-2500 per day, depending on my workouts.
My workouts are looking like this....
I'm still running quite a bit, as I'm training for a half marathon in Champaign on May 1. So, that training has me running about 30 miles per week or so. It's hard to put on lean muscle mass when you're running that much, but I'm doing my best to do enough strength training and eating to a point that I don't just wilt away. Don't want to be the guy who gets sand kicked in his face at the beach...
The strength training is four days per week, focusing on total body workouts. I'm incorporating a lot of the CrossFit principles, doing Olympic lifts, body weight exercises and power moves. That's not all I'm doing. My main objective is to make sure I blow up my muscles four days per week, minimum. I'd ask you to refer to Crossfit.com and check out their WOD's(work out of the day). I don't care what kind of weight training you're doing, I just think we all have to do it. Muscle mass is too fleeting at this stage of the game for most of us. We have to keep slamming in the weightroom or we're not going to have the broad shoulders the women are looking for.
When it comes to lifting, I am proud to say I still have a fairly juvenile attitude towards it. I'm still wanting to throw around as much weight as I can(without injuring myself of course), because I want to push my limits. I want to be in the best shape of my life. Going in and doing 135 pounds on the bench for sets of 30 is not going to cut it. It's better than doing nothing, for certain. But, I think we have to get after it in there, the same way we do in our businesses and in life in general...
Which brings me to my next point. There are times in a man's life when it serves him to be casual--to just go with the flow and have a relaxed attitude about whatever is going on. You know, to just not sweat the details...whatever happens, happens. Our fitness is not one of these occasions. Our time at work is not one of these times. Too many good guys I know are falling short in this area. The highest achievers...the ass kickers in life, business, and fitness are never casual about anything having to do with the "bigs" in life. There's just too much at stake to take a casual approach and just fuck around. Look around, brother, there are guys out there who are trying to take things from us as we speak. If you've got something good going in your life, I can promise you there's somebody thinking of a way to take it from you. Your business, your job, your customers, your girl...some asshole is chomping at the bit to strip it from you.
That may seem like a jaded outlook, but ultimately, I think it's true. We can not afford to just go with the flow when it comes to these important aspects of our lives. Our businesses deserve every ounce of focus and energy we have inside of us. Our bodies deserve every ounce of respect and focus we have inside. Our women, our kids, our financial futures all deserve every ounce of blood, guts, and tears we have inside. Maybe you're one of those guys that's just too cool to give it your all. You have a rep to uphold. You wouldn't want your buddies to see you giving your gig your all...that's what the geeks and sellouts do. I'll tell you right now, no ass kicking, ripped, money making guy I know ever takes this sort of detached approach to the bigs. You can not have it both ways. You can't make it to the top -- be physically ripped, be liquid and rich, be a leader in your industry, make your wife or girlfriend weak in the knees and carry yourself with nonchalance. We have to get ourselves into that peak mental and emotional state every single time we work out, run, speak to our girls, pitch a deal, write a blog post...that state in which we have some cock in our walk, our shoulders back, heads high, ready to blow through any challenge standing between us and what we want. We have to stand up and give ourselves the respect we deserve, and we do this by demonstrating to those around us that we're worthy of their best. No one will ever give us their full respect, no one will ever come to us with the deal of a lifetime, if we're not showing ourselves the respect we deserve. Winners can smell that kind of confidence a mile away. Winners can sniff out a Sally or a talker just as quickly. We have to man up every day, get ourselves into state, and take care of our business. There will be plenty of time for casual later....
Flip the switch
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