High-Achieving Women's Blogazine

“Most people focus on what they are ‘going through’; successful people focus on what they are ‘going to’…”

If you are looking to improve your business’s success factor, take note of these suggestions and apply as needed to achieve business growth.

1. Develop a plan. You will never arrive at your destination if you start on a random path to an unknown place. You must have a Strategic Success Plan (Chapter 4) that defines your business intentions— both short- and long-term.

2. Identify your distractions. If you stop at the side of the road to sightsee constantly, you will have a long delay. You may even get into unexpected trouble because you let your eyes wander from your defined course.

3. Learn to prioritize. Don’t give too much attention to the wrong things at the wrong times. Periodically ask yourself, “How important is this?” The answer to that question will help you to stay on course.

4. Track your progress. Oftentimes, you have made more progress than you realize. So ask yourself: “How much have I accomplished, and how long did it take me to do that?” Be sure that your progress is reasonable for the development stage of your business, and keep moving forward.

5. Get some help. I am so sorry to have to tell you this, but you don’t know it all. Wearing too many hats—even though hats are stylish—can be detrimental.  Therefore, you need to learn from others who have accomplished the same intentions or achieved the same results that you are trying to accomplish, and apply their advice.

6. Don’t be selfish. Some intention-oriented people have a tendency to be selfish—their frame of reference is “it’s all about me.” Remember that there are people around you that you can help. What goes around does come back around, so what you do for others will come back to you.

7. Finish what you start. If you notice that you haven’t achieved your expected results, it may be because you are not finishing what you started. Learn to focus and follow through every step of the way. Be the best at everything you attempt to do before you move on to the next great idea.

These strategies were taken from my new book: Fit, Fine & Fabulous in Career, Business & Life.  Click here to order and also receive $2,000 worth of bonus gifts that will catapult your career or business.

P.S. Fit, Fine & Fabulous In Career, Business & Life is #11 on Amazon’s paid book list and on the Top 10 list of Kindle books.

As a Growth, Success, Acceleration, Healthy Living & Lifestyle Coach, I specialize in working with high-achieving woman entrepreneurs, executives, non-profit leaders and career professionals.

Last week I received a call from Kevin who recently watched my 2011 presentation on Strategic Planning.

Kevin is looking to grow his service-based business and leverage his unique products and service offerings.

Kevin wanted to know if he really needed a strategic plan since he had developed a business plan two years ago when he started his social media company.

I informed Kevin that while a strategic plan is a type of business plan, there are several important distinctions between the two that are worth noting.

• A strategic plan is primarily used for implementing and managing the strategic direction of an existing company, business or organization. A business plan is used to initially start a business, obtain funding, or direct daily operations.

Both plans cover different time frames, e.g. a strategic plan generally covers a period of 3 to 5+ years, whereas a business plan is normally no more than one year.

• A strategic plan is usually for established businesses, companies, organizations and business owners that are serious about growing their company or organization. Whereas a business plan could be for new businesses and entrepreneurs who are in the startup phase.
• A strategic plan is used to provide focus, direction and action in order to move the organization from where they are now to where they want to go.  Whereas a business plan is used to provide a structure for ideas in order to initially define the business.
• A strategic plan is critical to prioritizing resources (time, money and people) to grow the revenue and increase the return on investment.  Whereas a business plan is critical if the business is seeking funding.
• A strategic plan focuses on building a sustainable competitive advantage and is futuristic in nature. By contrast, a business plan is used to assess the viability of a business opportunity, and is more tactical in nature.
• A strategic plan is used to communicate the direction of an organization to the staff and stakeholders.  However, a business plan is used to present the entrepreneur’s ideas to a bank or angel investor.
• A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.
• According to SBA, a business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals and serves as your firm’s resume. Its basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement and a cash flow analysis. It helps when allocating resources properly, handling unforeseen complications and for sound business decisions.
• Another way to grasp the difference is by understanding the difference in ’scale’ between a strategic plan and a business plan. Larger companies with multiple business units and a wide variety of products frequently start their annual planning process with a corporate-driven strategic plan.  It is often followed by departmental plans and marketing plans that work down from the Strategic Plan.

Smaller companies and startup companies on the other hand, typically use only a business plan (with a marketing component) to develop all aspects of their business on paper, obtain funding and then start the business.

Many smaller companies – including startups never develop a strategic plan — and many small businesses never become a large company because they do not go through the strategic planning process – which is essential to growth in this new economy.

My answer to Kevin is that you must have both – a Strategic Plan and a Business Plan (with a marketing component).

To get started with your Strategic Plan, click here.

P.S.  Three and one-half years ago, I decided that I wanted my blog and specialty services to be on page one of Google. For the past three years my blog and website have occupied positions 3, 7 and 8 on page one of Goggle within a search of 22,300,000 for the word “high-achieving women”.

My ‘coined’ specialty’:  “growth, success acceleration” occupies position 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 on page one of Goggle within a search 6,790,000.

Now that’s strategic planning.  If you would like to be on page one of Google in your specialty, I invite you to email me

ISN’T IT TIME FOR YOU TO MAKE SOME RADICAL DECISIONS?

If you’ve been in business for a few years, then you know what it’s like to get into a rut.

Have you ever been stagnate or stuck because you were continually reinforcing the negative stories in your mind.

Have you heard yourself saying: “Why can’t I be like so and so?” “I’m not good at growing my business” or “What’s wrong with me?” or “What am I missing – why can’t I get it?”

These are all limiting beliefs that stop many business owners from succeeding.  These inner messages keep business owners from getting what they really want in life.

Every business owner can take actions every day that will move him/her in the direction of business success and help him/her re-program their “poor me” thinking so they can “get on their dime.”

This year has been an amazing time in my life. I finished my new book: Fit, Fine & Fabulous in Career, Business & Life (free download on Amazon April 26^th).  I wrote the book to help other high-achieving women learn how to make some radical decisions, take some drastic steps, “get on their dime” and taking their career, business and life to a Whole “NEW” Level.

I have learned so much and have grown in every area of my life. Here is what I have learned and what has helped me to “get on my dime”:

1. Delegate everything you can. Take the time to define and evaluate your biggest money-making activities. Then be ruthless about committing your time to your money makers especially the ones that provide the most value and make the most money.

Outsource or hire individual(s) to handle the bookkeeping, organizing your office, running errands, etc.

2. Price your services based on value. If you provide a service to people, trading hours for dollars doesn’t work if you want to make real money and build wealth.

Price your services based on the value that your clients receive… not on the amount of time that you put into the project. When you price on value and continually give your best value all of he time, you will obtain more clients, more money and master more skills.

3. Learn from people who know more than you. Do whatever you can to squeeze in more learning time. Listen to personal development CDs while driving, while on the plane or while on the treadmill.

You can hire a nutritionist to help you eat better, a personal trainer to help you workout effectively, or a coach to keep you focused.  When you take care of yourself you are able to perform more effectively in your business – thus you achieve business success.

Everything you do to enhance your knowledge, your health and your mindset will pay off by more abundance and peace in your life.

4. Call other business owners and ask them how they do specific things. If there is someone you come across on a forum or in an article that you want to know more about, get in touch with the person(s) and ask specific questions.

You’ll be surprised at how much valuable information you’ll garner this way. You never know, these same people may get in touch with you in the future to hire you, refer you, provide you with a great business deal, or even suggest a joint venture. Many great things will come your way simply by getting in touch with other successful people.

5. Always pay yourself first. Whether you are making $20,000/year or $200,000/year, always pay yourself first. Don’t forget to set aside money every month in an interest-bearing savings, money market account or stock options.

TAKE ACTION:  Over the next month, set aside time everyday to complete these “get on your dime” strategies.  Keep a journal of the outcomes and make sure that you help some one else when they call and ask: “how do you do certain things”.

P.S. The book, Fit, Fine & Fabulous in Career, Business & Life will be available on April 26^th. You will be able to get a free download on that date only or you can order the book for shipping.  It’s a must have if you want to be Fit, Fine & Fabulous in Career, Business & Life.

Eating crisp bacon is a wonderful experience, but talking about how to bring it home is part of the service I provide as a Growth, Success, Acceleration, Healthy Living and Lifestyle Coach.

The phrase “bring home the bacon” means to bring home the goods; to bring home the money; to get what you want or need; and to be the star in your own movie. (Sounds like bacon to me!)

But like so many things in life, we use these expressions without having any idea of their true origin.

Spinach and Bacon

Spinach is one of the quickest cooking vegetables around, and this delicious side dish can go from the counter top to table top in almost no time.

You can spice up your spinach by sprinkling it with turkey bacon— it not only adds flavor but taste to the spinach.

Since I love turkey bacon, I thought it would be appropriate to give you one of my favor recipes.

The Recipe:

-  Bake the turkey bacon in the oven (350 degrees) or microwave until done

-  Lightly cook a medium-size bunch of spinach

-  Add your favorite spices or seasoning to the spinach while it is cooking

-  Crumble the cooked bacon and sprinkle on top of the cooked spinach

Perfume and Bacon

In 1980, there was a perfume called Enjoli and it became very popular because of its theme song: “the 8 hour perfume for the 24 hour woman” which centered around the 80’s woman bringing home the bacon.  Here is a short video from that ever so popular 80’s perfume.

Bacon in Today’s World 

Now in today’s fast-pace world, you can bring home more bacon by following the below 4 tips:

1. Always have a Plan ‘B’.  Having a Plan ‘B’ ensures your survival, it will keep the money coming in, and in part it can spur innovative and creative thinking at your company.

2. Form strategic alliance or joint venture relationships. It will help your business enter new product and service lines and allow you to expand at a more rapid pace than you can imagine.

These relationships can be tricky to manage.

• Make sure you research the reputations of potential partners with care;
• Establish both the big-picture objective of the strategic alliance/joint venture as well as the nitty-gritty of who knows what; and
• Identify the champions within the strategic alliance/joint venture and put in writing how to end the partnership amicably.

3. Learn the word ‘No’. You must develop the energy, experience and the knowledge to sit your client down and tell them not to do something and you must also learn to say ‘no’ when too many commitments from your business life start to pull on your family and personal life.

4. An entrepreneur is, by definition, a creative person. As your business grows, you are likely to get dragged away from the most innovative, idea-driven parts of your business.

Don’t let that happen—at least, not without a fight. Build time into your day (every day) to think about your company’s vision; to brainstorm new product ideas; to read for pleasure; or simply to muse about things that are not business related.

Staying creative is among the healthiest things a business owner can do personally as well as for the growth of his/her company.

Next step:  Define the ways you can bring home more bacon.  If you need some help, I invite you to become a member of the Gold Brilliance Success Program