Fail Fast
One thing I learned last year in my million-dollar diamond mastermind program that was priceless was to learn how to fail fast. This idea requires some explaining and an open mind!
The crux of it is that many entrepreneurs procrastinate when it comes to implementing changes in their businesses because they are afraid to fail or afraid of what people will think.
A great example in my own business occurred while I was in the program last year. It took me a while to get around to writing my “Living Fearlessly” binder, which was my first attempt at productizing what I learned in my neuroscience program about how our brains process fear. I found my emotions around “putting myself out there” quite interesting: it was scary to think I might be rejected and the product might not sell. So I would delay finishing the product.
It’s no coincidence that most people stay stuck in jobs because they are too afraid to make the entrepreneurial leap. It’s no coincidence that many entrepreneurs don’t get away from hours for dollars to packaged, leveraged systems because it requires putting yourself out there in a new way. It’s no coincidence that most entrepreneurs stay stuck at a relatively low revenue level because they don’t learn how to systematize their business, which requires giving up some control, which is scary.
So how do you fail fast?
1. Know it’s OK to fail in the first place.
In the last 18 months, I’ve created nearly a dozen products. Two have been real winners, one has been a real flop, and a few are just too much trouble to market. Before I did them, I had no idea what would work, what would sell, and what would flop. I had to fail fast on a few to find the nuggets of gold in the winners.
2. Don’t wait until it’s perfect.
I am sure that there are typos in every one of my products and on my web pages too. I am also sure that typos will turn some people off. But as long as they don’t impact my client’s results or get me in trouble with the government, I’m going to continue delivering imperfect products with typos. Being perfect can delay entry into the marketplace and increase the price I have to charge my clients.
3. Give yourself permission to fail.
So what if no one bought your last idea, and you thought it was going to be bigger than pet rocks. It’s not the end of the world. Your family still loves you. In a month, your clients won’t remember. Your business will go on. We tend to catastrophize what will happen, but it hardly ever comes true.
4. Take massive action.
Success is a numbers game. The more things you try, the more successes you will have. It’s as simple as that. Get out there, and get out there fast. When you fail, get out there again, fast, with something else. There’s no time for wallowing in past failures when you are an entrepreneur! You have to keep moving.
Failing fast is one of the best lessons I learned last year. So if you’ve been waiting to try something, stick your foot out, lean forward, and get in motion.
My 7 Favorite Freebies of 2011
1. Freeconferencecalling.com.
How many times have you hung up on your customer by trying to patch in a third person using the unfriendly 3-way calling or your own telephone set? Would it sometimes be useful to record a call that you have with a client while you are teaching or explaining something so they could listen again if they wanted to? Would you like to offer recorded calls as part of your services or products? Do you have a mastermind group or simply some pals that you want to share goal-setting and accountability with on a regular basis?
Freeconferencecalling.com does all this and more at no charge. I have recorded hundreds of coaching calls, used it for several masterminds up to 10 people attending, recorded marketing and teleseminar calls and much more. Sign up to get your own private access code. As the host, you’ll enter an additional host code each month. It’ll take a few seconds to learn the commands. (Press 5* to record, for example.) And the user interface to download the mp3s is super-easy to learn. No appointment-setting is necessary; you can use the codes anytime you want to.
I don’t know how these companies get by without charging, but I’m happy they do.
2. FileZilla
We just started using FileZilla, and we use it to update websites as well as to move files from a local computer to our web sites where we store products and program audios for our customers. It’s an FTP program. That stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it sound more complicated than it is. It’s easy to learn and a great tool that everyone should learn how to use.
3. Google Calendar
As my company follows the global trend to move everything off the desktop, Google calendar is easy to use and share with virtual or onsite team members and partners. You can have multiple calendars for multiple businesses, projects or partners. You can have your personal calendar separate from your business calendar, but see them all overlapping and in different colors.
4. Ning
For those of you who have membership groups, following, or want to start a community, Ning rocks. OK, it’s not free: I paid a whopping $2 and 95 cents for the entire year. My 100+ Accountant’s Accelerator members are finding accountability partners, posting tips, making friends, and networking for their business’s benefit.
I was shocked at how easy it was to set up, add people, and post all of our program deliverables. If you have this specialized need, Ning is a great solution.
5. WordPress (.org)
WordPress has changed the face of web sites forever. Gone are the days where you need to pay $20,000 for a good content management system; WordPress offers one for free. It’s not perfect, but the search engine juice WordPress provides allows me to look the other way at some of its imperfections.
It still requires a techie to install (IMO), but there is so much you can do to keep your webmaster’s bill low. I have my clients entering their own photos, search engine optimization tasks, testimonials, and blog posts. WordPress is another one that moves the files off the desktop so that anyone anywhere can see and edit the latest version of the post or page.
BTW, WordPress plays best with Google Chrome; stay off IE8, or you will go crazy.
6. Skype
Skype is an oldie but goodie. If you are still paying for long distance phone calls, you can cut that expense out entirely with Skype. It’s the only way I can service my clients from Europe, Australia, and Asia. It also allows residents in those countries to access my U.S.- phone-number teleseminars with no long distance. Now if we could just do something about the time zone differences, we’d be rocking.
Even if you’re paying an extra $20 a month for Canadian access or other out-of-country access, drop that plan, use Skype, and treat yourself to a steak dinner once a month instead.
7. Gmail (or Yahoo! mail)
As an Outlook user for over a decade, I’m finally getting off my desktop and moving into Gmail. It does everything Outlook does: filters, rules, folders, priorities, and more. The main thing is it allows me to be platform-independent; I can check email from my phone, PC, Mac, or iPad whenever and wherever I want.
Those are my 7 favorite freebies. Do you use any of these? What are yours? Post your favorites below. I’d love to hear your comments.
Meet a Millionaire Team Player
I don’t know about you, but I listen closely when Kiyla Fenell has something to say. She’s already had not one, not two, but THREE 7-figure businesses in the medical field (plus a few 6-figures businesses), and she’s quite young (she has a 4-year-old daughter). She’s a million-dollar business-making machine, and she knows she can replicate her success over and over again any time she wants to.
“I’m not nervous at starting a business. I know I can follow the plan,” says Kiyla.
Kiyla has a healthy respect for plans and systems. She was exposed to entrepreneurship as a teen working in her father’s franchises. One was a Subway, and Kiyla can still recount how many ounces of lettuce and onion to put on each sandwich and how to fold the napkins around the sandwich.
She took what she learned about systems and designed them in her own businesses. She wrote a script for a sales call in one business. “I knew I would sell one of four.” Much of business, and especially sales “is a numbers game,” says Kiyla. “I knew how many leads I needed to get every day to make my revenue goals. Then you just execute.”
It wasn’t always easy or comfortable. Kiyla remembers women screaming at her to “Get a real job” when she went door to door for one business.
But that is one of Kiyla’s biggest success tips. “I made good business decisions even when I didn’t want to.” If an employee is dragging the entire team down and the holidays are approaching, Kiyla didn’t wait until after the holidays. Once she discovered what was best for the business, she did it immediately. She didn’t worry about what other people would think.
“If I had no outside factors applied to the decision, what decision would I make,” Kiyla explained. “You have to stop traveling down the wrong road and correct it quickly. The net effect is you move ahead rapidly.”
Kiyla was making cold calls – those things we dread as adults – when she was 16. Her bed was her desk. She would call big companies to ask if she could deliver Subway sandwiches to them for lunch. At the ripe old age of 20, she was demonstrating vacuum cleaners door to door. But she admits she hated selling M&M boxes in middle school.
When Kiyla was very young, an elderly man, Paul McIntyre, sat her down and said, “I’m going to teach you how to build an empire.” Kiyla had the good sense to listen to Mr. McIntyre as well as several other “amazing mentors.” As a teen, she just knew that she “was going to do something big with my life,” recounts Kiyla.
Here are a few other tidbits of success for those of you who strive to accomplish 6- and 7-figure success in your business:
- Develop good discipline, good habits, and stick with your values.
- Treat staff and patients (customers) fairly and honestly.
- Don’t feel like you have to win at anyone else’s expense.
- Reward those who help you.
- Work in your strong areas, not your weak areas. Study up in your weak areas. By the time you become a millionaire, you won’t have any weak areas.
- Live a little below your means while you are building your business.
- Go for long-term success and make decisions that support that. Do not go for flash success.
- Help your staff be successful.
- Play the same game over and over again to be successful – with systems, habits, and discipline.
- Develop immunity to fads, gimmicks, and impulse purchases.
Kiyla’s current project is helping people streamline their staffing and hire their dream team in 3 days. And, of course, she has a system for that.
Check her and her system out here, and know that since Kiyla and I were in the same Mastermind group last year, that I have an affiliate relationship with her. (Since I am a CPA, that entitles you to give me a call and consult with me should you want further advice about purchasing any of her products.) http://bit.ly/kiyla
Mastermind Your Way to Significant Business Growth
As the head of your own company, you are constantly making decisions that will hopefully help your company grow. When you need advice, whom do you turn to? One option is to join a group of non-competing peers who contribute their creativity, objectivity, and wisdom to help you fast-track your company’s growth. This is called masterminding.
What is a Mastermind?
A mastermind group is composed of eight to twelve highly committed noncompeting peers who meet regularly to discuss each others’ business successes, failures, and challenges.
The members are carefully chosen by a facilitator or coach who runs the program. The characteristics of a great mastermind member include:
- A willingness to grow and an ability to take coaching or constructive criticism
- Complete confidentiality
- A team player who is willing to contribute to the other members’ successes
The characteristics of a great mastermind group are:
- Members that are at the same revenue level.
- Members from all different industries so that new ideas flow plentifully and perspectives are always opened wider.
- Complete commitment to the group: on time, present, and engaged.
Benefits of Masterminds
As many of you know, I’m in a mastermind group this year. Just a few of the benefits I’ve received include:
- A peek into other company’s revenue models, processes, and team structures so that I can learn and apply great ideas to my business.
- A forward look at what is selling and what is not selling right now (and that’s pretty priceless info).
- Killer advice and feedback from smart “A” players who are committed and serious about their business.
- Instant clients and project partners (half of the mastermind group is now doing business with me).
- Red carpet opportunities.
- Lifelong friends.
A Mastermind Agenda
If you are looking for an edge for your business and possibly feeling “lonely at the top,” a mastermind is the perfect solution. It provides a safe sounding board for you to air your issues as well as bounce your craziest ideas off of. The best mastermind groups allow for:
- Time for each member to be spotlighted so that other members can get to know their businesses.
- Hot seat time, where members invite the group to coach them on a particular issue.
- Informal, get to know each other personally, time.
- Training that is relevant to the group and timely for the issues they have.
- Professional facilitation so that all members have equal time.
- Coaching by a leader who has been where the others are trying to go.
You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
There is enormous synergy in bringing great entrepreneurial minds together that can fast track your business’s growth.
If you’re interested in a group like this for yourself, please visit http://www.leveragegroupgenius.com or email me at support@sandismith.com. I’ll be facilitating mastermind groups in early 2011 for individuals who are earning less than $1 million in revenues and who are serious about taking their businesses to the next level. If you’re interested or just curious, please contact me so I can invite you to a complimentary sample strategy meeting so you can see for yourself how these mastermind meetings work.
