At the end of 2015, I was coaching a lot of my clients on what they wanted in 2016 and the resounding message was “LESS!” Less work. Less networking. Less speaking. Less.
And the flip side was that what they really wanted was MORE. More sales. More money. More time with family and friends. More travel.
Immediately, we got to work on what I know to be true and what I want you to know as well. Doing more does NOT necessarily lead to more sales or more money.
Doing less does.
“What!” I hear you exclaim.
The truth is that the less I do, the more I delegate to my team. The more focused I am with my niche and my marketing, the more money flows in. Bob Proctor once said it is easier to make $50,000 per month than it is to make $50,000 per year. Why? Because it means you’ve set different goals, made different decisions, and decided to change.
So, I know it’s possible. I’ve been fine-tuning this process for years. Over and over again I’ve been told by clients and friends that my gift is to help them simplify and streamline what they do, so they can have more focus and more freedom.
It’s the reason I wrote “One Great Goal.”
It’s the reason I wrote “Selling with Intention” and “Selling with Synchronicity.”
And it’s the reason I want you to simplify your plan for 2016 so it is focused, clear, and allows you to do a lot less and make a lot more.
Sound like a plan?
Even if it doesn’t seem believable for you, that’s okay. Put your belief aside for the moment and just allow yourself to imagine that it MIGHT just be possible.
Random House Dictionary tells us that a strategy is “a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result.” The strategies that I am going to share with you are designed to help you create a plan to simply do less and bring more money into your business and into your life.
7 Strategies to do Less and Sell More
One: Declutter your personal and professional space. In 2015 I read a book that was incredibly powerful called, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” The author, Marie Kondo, is a Japanese professional cleaning consultant who teaches her clients to, essentially, release those items in your life that no longer bring you joy. What a simple—yet powerful—concept. I had decluttered before, but never like this. Kondo has a powerful way of giving you permission to release (donate or trash) items easily and simply, creating so much space in your life. And, as she predicts, when you follow her methods, you don’t have to constantly tidy up because you’ve already done the hard part and now everything has its place to reside. When you tidy up both your personal and professional space you are making room in your physical space as well as in your “mental” space. Tidying up helped me delegate more, simplify more, and release more. It even helped me finish writing my book.
Two: Create goals that stretch you. Jack Canfield once said that you wouldn’t be given a dream if you weren’t meant to realize it. I wholeheartedly agree with him. And yet, I find that most people are setting mediocre goals for themselves because they don’t believe they can truly achieve their One Great Goal. However, by aiming low, you’ll get what you’ve set out for, but you’ll never achieve the goals you really want because you haven’t even asked for them. Plus, by asking for the “big” goals—the One Great Goals—you will most likely achieve the greater goals you desire with even less work. YES, you read that correctly. Reaching your One Great Goal is usually easier than reaching the “smaller” or mediocre goals because you don’t even know how to achieve that big goal. When you don’t know how to achieve a goal, you have to let the Universe intervene. You have to allow others to help you. Then the magic really begins because you can do less and receive more.
Three: Write down your top 50 goals. When you are working on coming up with your One Great Goal, start with 50 goals. Not only does this help with determining your One Great Goal, but it also helps you get out of your head and into your heart so you can see the themes regarding what you REALLY want. Brian Tracy always encouraged people to write 50 goals because he said magic happens when you get to 50. I recently encouraged a client to go through this process and she said that she easily got to 50. When she tried for one more to get to 51, she couldn’t do it. There was nothing else there. Fifty goals help you cut through the clutter because you can see what it is you really want and begin to eliminate those other things in your life and business that aren’t part of your dreams anymore.
Four: Clarify your niche. I know that you’d love to help everyone on the planet understand what you KNOW to be true—what is easy for you. But the reality is, not everyone is ready for what you know. Not everyone is ready for your product or service to help them. So, your job is to figure out who those people or businesses are that LOVE your help. When I figured this out for myself, it simplified everything. I didn’t have to struggle anymore to find those clients. They found me because I simply talked about how easily I could solve people’s problems in the area of sales. What is the problem that you solve easily for your clients? Who appreciates you the most? That’s your niche. Decide to market to your niche, and only your niche.
Five: Delegate everything, except what you love. Yes, you’ve heard this before and I know for some of you this is very challenging because you don’t even know where to begin. Here’s my advice on how to simplify this process: start small. Write a list of all of the things that you really dislike doing in your business on a daily basis. Then prioritize those items. Which ones can you easily pass on to someone else? Begin there so you can begin to do less of the things you don’t want to do and instead do those things that you love to do. Those are usually the things that will bring more money into your business and into your life.
Six: Change up your team. The team that got you to where you are is not usually the team that is going to get you to your greatest goals. And I say that from a place of love because I know it can be very difficult to make changes on your team when you care about the people who work for you. But, you must do what’s in the best interest of you and your business. Plus, you also need to take a look at your strategic business partners as team members as well. Who are they? Who would they be if you chose them based on who you really desired to partner with rather than who you have settled with? By changing up your team and by changing up who you surround yourself with, you will take a giant quantum leap toward your greatest goals.
Seven: Play more. I bet you didn’t expect me to talk about playing more as a way to “do less and make more,” did you? But that’s exactly what you need to do. You need to put downtime and play on your calendar because if you don’t, I guarantee it won’t happen. And when you DO put it on your calendar, I guarantee it will be a great thing because you will get time to use other parts of your brain to increase your creativity and it will also force you to delegate more. And when you do those two things regularly (play and delegate), you cannot help but make more money!
I hope I’ve inspired you to really consider the possibility that you can do a lot less and make a lot more in 2016. Not only is it possible, but I live it, my clients live it, and I see people creating this way of life every day.
But you have to make a decision to choose this new way of being. It’s up to you.
What will you do?
