Make Your Iron Hot

January 16, 2019

blacksmith iron

William Butler Yeats isn’t the usual source I’d turn to for business insights.   Poetry, sure.  But business insights?  Not what he’s known for.

But there you go…you can never tell from whence insightful business direction comes.

And a more perfect direction for 2019 would be hard to find.

“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” 

~ William Butler Yeats

WB (can I call you WB?), thanks for pointing out something critical as we business owners sit in the middle of January, the beginning of a fresh year.

Make your iron hot by striking…stop waiting for it to get hot.

Dear business owner, WB wants your iron to be hot right now.  Not waiting until September or October to look up, realize your 2019 Goal is still “out there.”

What can make your iron sizzle starting right now as you read this?

  • Set your goal: one, measurable target you want to reach this year (usually it’s your gross revenue)
  • Lay a flexible plan to achieve it: for example, how much revenue are you targeting for January?  How much do you have right now?  Who are your “hot” prospects ready to say “yes” to you right now…if only you’d reach out to them?
  • If you’ve been in business for a bit, call your former clients. Trust me on this: the first problem you solved for them made them happy, but now they are left with a new problem.  You can solve that one, too.
  • Make sure your Actions for January, February and March lead to your Goal. You don’t have to do anything that’s business housekeeping.  That keeps your desk neat and your bank account meager.

Sure, you can tackle more.  These are great starts and will yield a very nice first quarter.

Start the first quarter strong and the rest of the year will feel like…well, like your iron’s smokin’.

Go forth and do great things,

Martha Hanlon and Chris Williams

 

The 92% Trap

January 9, 2019

 cry for help

Well, here we are. Springing into action to make 2019 the best year ever, right?

If you’re like most business owners, you have your plan for the year in place…or mostly in place. You’ve set your goals and you know where you’re going. The trick is getting there. Without falling into the trap.

What trap? The trap that swallows your achievement, eats away at your success and keeps you from having the life you want.

The trap of giving up too easily. It’s a trap that 92% of people fall into. That’s right. An incredible 92% of people who set New Year’s goals never actually achieve them according to research by the University of Scranton.

People abandon their goals when they are:

  • fuzzy or unclear
  • too complicated or too numerous to keep track of
  • unrealistic
  • not meaningful or connected to a higher purpose
  • too open-ended, not urgent enough.

How many times have you fallen into that 92% trap with your goals? Me, too.  More times than I want to admit. But that’s in the past.

Before I learned to set SMART goals and do what it takes to be in the 8% that reach their goals year after year. There’s a process that leads to goal achievement every time…if you follow it faithfully.

A process built on a plan that takes just a few hours to create. And just a few minutes each week to make sure you’re on target.

Sounds good, right? That’s what you’ll learn in our How to Reach Goal Achievement in 2019 program. Registration is open now, but only until midnight Thursday, January 10th as the program begins on Friday.

Check it out: How to Reach Goal Achievement in 2019

Stay out of the 92% trap.

Go forth and do great things,

Martha & Chris

 

Magic, Memories and Meaning

December 26, 2018

 

It’s just a few more days until 2018 fades into memory, and the promise and possibilities of the New Year appear on the horizon.

This time of year always makes me a little reflective and nostalgic. How about you?

I’m grateful for the post-holiday quiet that allows me to look back at the moments that stick in my mind and my memory….the ones that remind me of what life is all about.

Moments like this…

Christmas Eve, about a dozen years ago. Our five kids (all but one under seven) had been begging for a puppy, talking about it for months. So far, no sign that Santa was hearing them, but there was still time. After all, it wasn’t Christmas morning yet.

We were engaging in our traditional Christmas rituals. You know, the kind of thing that you look forward to year after year because that’s what makes it YOUR holiday.

For us that meant going to church as a family, stopping to get hot chocolate and driving around to look at holiday lights. Taking in the magic of the moment. Then home to snuggle together reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas before settling the little ones into their beds.

That year, the magic occurred before Christmas morning. Few things before or since have matched the sheer joy and absolute wonder on those sweet little faces when we returned home, came inside and there, in the middle of the living room, was the long-hoped-for golden retriever puppy. Santa (with help from a dear friend and neighbor) had delivered big time! The kids were so excited that they actually took turns getting into the crate with the puppy!

As a family, we replay that Christmas memory often during the holiday season. The kids are older now, wiser about the ways of Santa, but magic of that moment is no less special than it was all those years ago.

I’m grateful to have such a reminder of the power of magic and memory. Sometimes things can get so hectic, our plates so full, that we forget to find the awe and wonder that make life worth living.

So, I wonder…. where is the magic in your life? What moments and memories (holiday or otherwise) have lifted your heart, enlivened your spirit and brought meaning to your life?

Take time during these last days of 2018 to look back and reflect on those times this year or in years past when you knew, without a doubt, that life was good…your purpose was clear…your future was bright.

Take those memories…and that magic…into 2019.

Go forth and do great things,

Martha & Chris