1Q11 - What Have You Done So Far?

It's the end of the first quarter of 2011. Three months, 90 days . . . what have you accomplished? This is a great time to look back and review what you did, what went right, and what went wrong. Time to measure, monitor and regroup for the next 90 days. Ask yourself:

Go After Your Best Prospects First.

In business, many of us start out the year targeting hundreds of companies and usually by the last few months of the year, we're scrambling. When the prize is too large, we tend to get discouraged by it's size — too much complexity, too many moving parts, too gargantuan to handle all at once. It's because our vision is in IMAX and it really needs to be like a microscope.

Get Visceral With Your Business.

I meet a lot of people every day. When I ask them what they do, they tell me, "I sell insurance." or "I'm a financial advisor." What they don't realize is an answer like that tends to 'close' down the other person's inquisitiveness immediately. Unless the person has a real interest in talking with you, they will probably move to another topic or another person.

Top 10 Best Business Rules.

Over the past 10 years of coaching (and 20 years in corporate management), a lot of key knowledge, information, and ideas pass over my desk. Candidly, most of it is a blur. But there are some ideas, certain quotes, and golden rules that tend to stay true and strong in my professional life (and my coaching). So I thought I would write them down and make a list to start off the week:

Are Fashion Mistakes Hurting Your Career?

You know when you meet someone that not only knows their business cold, but they also are an incredible compliment to you existing business? I had the pleasure of meeting TWO people yesterday that rocked my world! Ann Lindsay from and Dianne Boras are both Image Consultants - Ann helps men and Dianne helps women.

The One Phrase That Will Make You Millions.

You are not opening yourself up to the universe of opportunity. Okay, I might sound a bit 'out there', but it's true. We all know the basic tenet of business is service. Whether it is a product, offering, communication, or something else, you need to connect with your clients and customers to deliver optimum service. That's a given.

How To Sell Anyone Anything.

Provocative title, isn't it? In all of my 20+ years in corporate marketing, advertising, sales, product management, and training, I found that there is one overarching rule that virtually guarantees a positive response and sale from any prospect — STRUCTURE. I know — there are some salespeople who like everything to be loose, open, and flowing during the sales call. Totally understand.

Grow Your Business and Have Fun With A Blog.

I'm late to the blogging game — I started on January 1, 2009. But over the past two years, I've seen my business explode and in the process, I've had more fun, engaged in more powerful discussions, and I'm thinking about business at a higher level. Why do you think this is happening?

20 Tips To Tune Up Your Life.

A number of weeks ago, one of my favorite sites (Reddit), posted an open forum on what small areas of your life you can subtly tune up where it delivered an incredible result. Here are the BEST of the 5000+ entries from people all over the world:

The Secret To Become Truly Happy.

Are you fulfilling your destiny? You have it inside you — you know it and I know it — you just have to make a personal decision to bring it out. What are your desires? Your TRUE desires. Not "I want an iPad" or "I want a promotion". What do you REALLY want to do with your life?

Run Out & Buy 'The Thank You Economy'.

Let me state something right off the bat — I love Gary Vaynerchuk. A little secret of mine — when I want to get pumped up for the day or I'm feeling down, I pop in Gary's Crush It audiobook. His enthusiasm, energy, and ideas blow me away every time.

3 Clues You Work In A Toxic Workplace.

Many years ago, I worked for a short time at an organization who slowly tapped my energy, subsumed my enthusiasm, and drained my confidence.I’ve worked for many companies — large, small, corporate and family-owned. This organization was a real winner to experience. In retrospect, there were many reasons why it was such a huge sucking force of negativity: