Posted on February 12, 2024

SCALE A SUCCESSFUL  CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

BUILD A CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS PLAN

Creating a business strategy brings the focus to your company’s 1 year, 3 year, and long term goals and helps a team like yours expand with actual intention and focus on the mutual goal.   The main point is a planned path to get you there with your team. Transparency is key.  Communication is the common issue in most companies.  Being open with your staff helps them to “Buy In” to your vision. 

BEGIN BY ASKING YOURSELF THE FOLLOWING:

• What are the company’s values?
• What is the expected growth in gross revenue and net profit margins?
• What key hires will we need to get there?
• What else is needed to attain your goals? (Financial, Culture, Accountability?)

Now drill down into the specifics. Get very granular and create the environment of collaboration and communication with your top tier staff. 

The key elements of a strategic plan will include:

COMPANY VALUES

The ideals that influence your decision-making in good and bad times.  What are the standards of your company?  Examples are: quality of work,  attention to detail, company culture, result oriented thinking.   Most companies believe they have the best of each category.  But as in everyday life, there are degrees of each. 

Once the company’s values are determined they must be communicated in every format and in every communication to the entire staff.

BIG GOALS

Visualize where you want the business to be in five years – include key measures of success. Ask your executive team if they are in line with the goals.    Determine what is needed to achieve them.

ANNUAL GOALS

Follow the S.M.A.R.T. goal methodology 

(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound).

The importance of goal setting has been diluted because of the “feel good” stigma that has been built up by the term being over used and underutilized. 

YOUR INITIATIVES

Projects and upgrades need to be in place to achieve and sustain growth. What is the specific and actionable plan to attain the necessary steps to make your vision a reality.

ANNUAL CRITICAL NUMBERS

Establish what key numbers that factor into the growth of the company that will be the measuring stick.  These metrics are the pulse of the year.  This is the most important segment to communicate with your entire staff.  This is the backbone to all levels of accountability. 

In order to chart your path for growth and build a stable infrastructure in your business, your key executives need to completely understand how the company makes money and how it loses money.  Not only on a high level, but on a very granular level.

NAIL DOWN YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Define who does WHAT, WHEN and WHY in the business.  Ultimately, this creates accountability within the team.  When each position is tied to clear responsibilities, you can better understand how much ROI is generated per person.

HOW TO BUILD AN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:

• Define each role within the company. 

• Then layer in the responsibilities attached to the specific role in the company.

• Identify any gaps between each role that may create gaps in communication, work flow, responsibility, and ownership for the project. 

• State how each person contributes to your business’s quality, volume and profit.

• Outline the ways information flows between levels within the company.

THE BENEFITS OF HAVING A CLEARLY DEFINED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE INCLUDE:

• Faster decision-making
• Improved operating efficiency
• Greater employee performance
• Better communication
• Increase in employee job satisfaction
• More profitable resulting from efficiencies

INVEST IN HIRING AND ONBOARDING

People are essential to the growth of your business.  So, investing in talent should be a major factor in your company’s growth strategy.

Here’s what to think about when it’s time to hire:

• Your company’s vision and how many people you will need to get there
• What roles will be coming up, and what skills will they need
• How you’ll build a brand to attract high performers and retain the talent you have
• How to hire for a role you don’t understand

Investing in your current staff is equally as important.  Incentive based bonuses have proven to enhance the accountability throughout the construction industry. 

With transparency of how a projects are priced, and where the profit pockets are, such and labor efficiencies, material utilization, mobilization efficiencies all contribute to the profit of the company.  Creating a bonus schedule to encourage the efficiencies has proven to create larger profit centers and retain valuable people.

YOUR ONBOARDING PLAN

A well-thought-out recruiting and onboarding strategy as well as active construction networking will result in reduced turnover, less stress, higher engagement and job satisfaction, long-term loyalty and business growth.

BUILD EFFECTIVE SALES AND MARKETING CHANNELS

The difference between your sales and marketing channels is this:

Sales is a natural process, while marketing is more holistic and raises awareness of your company and its brand.  Both impact lead generation and revenue, and both have an end goal: To secure business and help grow your company.  Alignment between the two is necessary for business growth.

HOW TO ACHIEVE EFFECTIVE SALES AND MARKETING CHANNELS:

Identify your ideal client profile (the most common characteristics and locations of your current clients that you like to work with)

Build your brand through imagery and key messaging on social media apps (like LinkedIn and Instagram)

• Seek testimonials and generate word-of-mouth referrals
• Set goals and track your key performance indicators
• Ensure open communication between departments

Implementing these strategies will optimize your in-field and online brand presence, attract suitable clients leading to more closed deals, increase word-of-mouth recommendations, boost construction cash flow and even attract potential hires.

CASH FLOW AND LEVERAGE

Positive cash flow can increase your purchasing power.  The construction industry has recently seen shortages of both labor and materials. With more cash on hand, you have the ability to request large orders from vendors, which may secure your order fulfillment if the supply chain is disrupted for any reason.  You also have more flexibility to offer incentives to secure suppliers or labor, such as paying upfront or within a shorter time frame.  Having the proper banking relationship and credit leverage can make the difference between success and catastrophic failure.

IMPROVED FINANCIAL PLANNING AND FORECASTING

If you’re constantly using incoming client payments to fulfill the next bill, you’re not going to see any long-term profitability. Having a consistent cash flow ensures you’re able to more accurately plan resources around anticipated expenses, without always playing catch-up on previous bills.  

This may also help your company take on more projects faster.  If you have a strong financial plan in place and enough capital to cover the costs of a new project, you could expand your revenue streams even as other projects aren’t quite finished up.

STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS WITH STAKEHOLDERS

When you’re paying your subs, employees, vendors and other stakeholders on time, you can establish a reputation as being a good company to work with.

As the industry continues to deal with worker shortages, it’s estimated more than 342,000 new workers will need to be hired to keep up with demand.  If you’re known as the company that always pays on time, it may increase your chances at securing these relationships when the rest of the competition is trying to hire these workers.

CREDIBILITY WITH LENDERS

If you’re in need of business loan or working line of capital , it may be easier to secure financing if you can prove you can maintain a consistent cash flow. Lenders and investors often require financial statements so they can decide whether you’re a risky client.

MORE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

Construction software improves operational efficiencies by aligning teams and driving growth in simple, easy-to-use ways. The ability to invest in technology depends on you having enough cash to be able to prioritize these indirect costs.

With improved operations, your construction company can leverage budget allocations, hit deadlines, ensure profitability and keep customers happy. All of these factors are vital to the long-term success of your construction business.

SLOW DOWN AND BE PRESENT IN THE PLANNING STAGES

Sometimes, errors are made before a project even begins so to avoid this from happening, you need to slow it down. Devote plenty of time to planning in order to figure out the people, processes, information and materials you’ll need before the project begins.

LISTEN TO YOUR STAFF IN THE FIELD

Your workers out in the field are your eyes and ears when it comes to what’s really happening during a project. Give them tools to support this effort, providing areas where they can add comments and messages based on assigned tasks, raise issues and report progress.

INVEST IN MORE TRAINING

Training is critical to staying sharp during a project. By helping your employees develop and master critical skills, you’ll be able to reduce additional contracted work while creating an environment that fosters employee engagement.

Each person who steps onto a construction site should have the training and experience necessary to complete their assigned jobs in a safe and timely manner.

KEEP A CONSTANT FLOW OF COMMUNICATION

One of the most important parts of a project is communication.  Your employees need to know what you expect of them so they can deliver their best results. The best way to increase communication is to adopt mobile technology with messaging and commenting capabilities built in. This reduces miscommunication between your team members, subcontractors and clients.

As mentioned several times in this paper, communication has proven to be the Achilles heal of the construction industry.  Many companies believe they communicate, but the hard truth comes from the staff.  What do they think?  And does ownership feel that the staff communicates with them, or even amongst themselves.   More often than not the case is there is a communication issue.  When we identify the gaps in communication we can better understand what is needed to fill in the gaps in order to achieve the company’s goals, and then make the vision a reality.

Posted on January 5, 2021

New Years Resolutions… What does January 15th hold for you?

ONLY 8% OF PEOPLE ACHIEVE THEIR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS.

We have a choice to make. Are we going to allow the pandemic to control our destiny, or are we going to make 2021 a great year?

For some 2020 was a shattering year. For others it was a banner year. Either way, 2020 is over and we are squarely in 2021. So what do you want to do this year? How are you going to avoid becoming a statistic?

Let me guess: You want to lose the weight you put on during the pandemic in 2021. Maybe you want to make more money and scale back up from prior to the pandemic. Perhaps you want to spend more time with your friends and family. You might even want to expand your business into a new area in order to react to the tumultuous times in 2020? This is all well and good, But without a strategic plan that includes consistent measuring of the fundamentals this will not only be a struggle, but counter productive.

Self-improvement, or at least the desire for it, is a shared American hobby. It’s why so many of us—some estimates say more than 40% of Americans—make New Year’s resolutions. (For comparison, about one-third of Americans watch the Super Bowl.)

But for all the good intentions, only a tiny fraction of us keep our resolutions; University of Scranton research suggests that just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals. They are projecting even less will achieve our goals post pandemic.

Why do so many people fail at goal setting, and what are the secrets behind those who succeed? The explosion of studies into how the brain works has more experts attempting to explain the science behind why we make resolutions—and more relevantly, how we can keep them.

KISS – Keep it Simple (I assume you know the what the last “S” is)

Many people use the New Year as an opportunity to make large bucket lists or attempt extreme makeovers, whether personal or professional.

That’s a nice aspiration —but as humans we have so many competing priorities that this type of approach is doomed to failure before it even begins. Essentially, shooting for the moon can be so psychologically daunting, you end up failing to launch in the first place.

So this year, Keep your resolution list short…

And it’s more sensible to set “small, attainable goals throughout the year, rather than a singular, overwhelming goal,”. “Remember, it is not the extent of the change that matters, but rather the act of recognizing that lifestyle change is important and working toward it, one step at a time…

Make it Tangible

Setting ambitious resolutions can be fun and inspiring, but the difficulty in achieving them means that your elation can quickly give way to frustration. That’s why goals should be bounded by rational, achievable metrics.

“It is much easier to follow a plan that says no potato chips, fries, or ice cream for six weeks.”

And be specific. Don’t say you’re “going to start going to the gym” in 2021—set a clear ambition, like attending a weekly spin class or lifting weights every Tuesday or Thursday.

“We say if you can’t measure it, it’s not a very good resolution because vague goals beget vague resolutions”

Make it Obvious

Charting your goals in some fashion, although there’s no universal strategy for success. For some, making a clear schedule and daily task is enough of a reminder; Utilize your calendar like outlook to build the perfect schedule to follow and success will be the result.

An strategic tactic: share your goals with your friends and family. It’s another way to build accountability, especially in the Facebook era.

Believe in yourself.

To be clear: Simply setting a goal does raise your chances of achieving that goal, significantly. But within weeks or months, people begin abandoning their resolutions as they hit bumps in the road that throw them off their stride. At the end of the day you MUST believe in yourself.   Know whom you are inside. Know what you are capable of. Visualize yourself after you achieve your goal and all the ancillary things that come along with it.

“WHAT THE MIND CAN PERCEIVE, IT CAN AND WILL ACHIEVE”

Posted on March 29, 2020

What is MortgageOlogy

Posted on March 20, 2020

HOW TO OVERCOME THE WORST OF TIMES

At some point in our life, we had to overcome some form of hardship. At that moment in time we believed it was the worst of times.  Yet we are still here to talk about it. 

It may be personal 

Maybe its stress with your spouse or significant other.  While you are in the middle of it, in the heat of the moment, you don’t understand why it’s happening, or to the extent that it is. 

Maybe it’s from being complacent for way too long and you begin to feel a need for change.  At the end of the day we are human.  We change, we evolve, we grow.  We can get comfortable in our environment, but sometimes we get too comfortable and the desire for change takes over. Most times it is a good thing.  But many times, if not recognized it can be a very bad thing.

It may be financial

Maybe you are not making as much as you want.  It can be from unforeseen circumstances or a global pandemic.  Once again, when you are in the middle of it, what do you do?  Especially when you are burnt out and you don’t know how much harder you can work.

As humans we not only struggle with the financial issues, but we also struggle with our emotions.  Not having the amount of money you want without fear of failure, simply sucks.   We allow our financial frustrations affect ourselves and the personal relationships around us.  This brings with it more problems and suffering, and pretty soon, we are left with only two options.

Change

We can change our circumstances in order to get out of our unwanted situation.  It can be difficult to do this, especially when nothing but negativity surrounds us.  With all that is going on in the world today it may feel as if this is impossible.  Once again, you have a choice.  You can follow the negative people that are sitting around saying “There is nothing that can be done”.  “We need to sit and wait and see what’s next”. Or my personal favorite, “The world as we know it is over, this is the new normal”.

Or you can think.  Think of ways that you can make things happen.  Deal with the circumstances in front of you and find a way to get to the desired end result.   There is always a way. 

Once we decide willingly to change our circumstances, we can.  It’s just a matter of knowing how.

Be forced into change

It is a fundamental human need to be constantly growing, evolving, and changing.  If we are stagnant and stick to a routine for too long, we get a feeling of boredom, a desire for change, or despair that comes from being in a stalled state of progression. That is our inner being telling us we need to change something.

By learning this basic process, we can quickly learn to understand how to endure and overcome the very worst of life’s hardships.  Knowing that there is a specific reason you are in a hardship will help you focus on how to get through it in a positive way instead of  a negative one.

What’s the process???  No one process will work for everyone, just as there is there is no quick-fix solution for the various hardships that come into your life.  There are, however, certain ways you can choose to perceive the realities we are confronted with.

Perception

Perception is in the eye of the beholder, so if I am perceiving my life in a negative way, I’m more than likely going to be dealing with all of the emotions and thoughts that come from that perception.  In other words, thinking negative thoughts, in any situation, is going to bring out negative emotions.  This will result in a tailspin, and you will find it very difficult to get past emotions such as anger, sadness, frustration and even low self-esteem, which go along with negative perceptions.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t want to feel those negative emotions. They are a valuable part of progressing and moving forward in our life.  The negative emotions are there so we can overcome them.  You overcome these emotions by sitting down calmly and simply writing down the desired result.   Make sure the desired result is what you want.   Now, list all of the hurdles you perceive that are standing in your way of the desired result.   One by one, come up with a solution for each of the small hurdles, rather than tackling the entire issue as a whole.

Enduring

When hit with any kind of hardship, it’s difficult to know which types of emotions will surface.   Of course, we will be experiencing suffering, so the bad emotions that follow are going to be entering our world.   One of the worst things you can do, is trying to hide or not acknowledge your feelings.

Accept

It is very important to accept what is, both in terms of the external reality and our internal reality, with thoughts, emotions, etc.

Feel

Allow our self to feel, and also allow our self to listen to what comes through while we are allowing your emotions to go through their natural process.

Listen

When was the last time you truly sat down with no distractions? No technologies, cell phone, Facebook, e-mail, television, etc. and listened.  Take a moment each day to look inside yourself and hear what your higher consciousness has to say.  Don’t think, don’t wonder, just listen.

Overcoming

After you’ve taken the time to sit back, reflect, and gain clarity on your current circumstances, it’s time to start moving forward.   How can you expect to overcome a challenging situation in your life if you don’t move?   It does require a little inspirational push, but if you want to get over a hardship, you need to let it in. Here are some ways to overcome any difficult situation when you just can’t escape your own thoughts and feelings.

Find inspiration in your life 

Inspiration brings hope and desire, which also bring positivity.  These are all good things and can offer you the tools you need to move forward, away from the depths of despair that haunt you when experiencing hardship.  Reflect back on your “Why”.

Strategy 

Once you have a positive attitude and desire inside, it’s the perfect time to come up with an exit plan from your current situation.  When you see the vision of where you want to be, you can start to fill in the details with a direction to start moving in. The key here is to make the decision to consciously move forward and have a solid action plan to follow.  There is no need to wait until you have all the “what ifs” answered.

Take Action 

This is single most important part of the strategy.  But it’s easier said than done .

Many factors can come into play here, but beyond the obvious.  That you may be stressed, tired, moody, and depressed. There is another reason, a deeper reason that holds most people back.

Almost everyone should be able to picture some form of positive outcome in their minds, but when it comes to taking action and making an actual change, very few of us follow through.  We just end up enduring until our emotions settle down and we continue on the same path, which led to our current circumstances in the first place.  This is what I call the ostrich in the sand effect.  Remember, the very crisis you are dealing with may or may not have happened before.  But I can assure you, worst things have happened to us as a society in the past, and we overcame them.  We are the stronger for it and we learned from each and every experience.

If you really want to overcome it, not just endure, you need to start changing your status quo. Identify what in life you can change now.  Think outside the box and come up with a solution no matter how dumb it sounds to others around you. Surround yourself with people who care about you, want the best for you, and believe in you.  The most important factor is to remember that you’re not alone. Sometimes, it may seem easier to just cope and put on a happy face, but it’s not.  Finding a solution to the issue in front of you and taking action, even if it is wrong at first, will stimulate your mind to ultimately come up with a solution to get you unstuck.

The true change happens, when you fully embrace the relationships and the people around you.  And most importantly do it now… Procrastinate tomorrow

Posted on December 12, 2019

DOES LIFE HAPPEN TO YOU, OR DO YOU MAKE LIFE HAPPEN?

THE KEY COMPONENTS TO MAKE LIFE HAPPEN AND TO CONTROL THE OUTCOME.

Accountability

Goals have the ability to launch your performance vision; if you step off in the wrong direction, you’ll never reach the destination you’re targeting.  In fact, research supports that those who set and write down detailed and measurable goals, that hold themselves accountable to them, achieve higher levels of success than those who don’t.

Quality, effective goals offer significant benefits to CEO’s, Presidents and managing partners and have the power to motivate others around you as well. When you connect goals to every aspect of your life, you’ll have the power of passion and success fueled by the fire from within.

Include the following nine topics when designing your goals:

• Health & Fitness Goals
• Career Goals
• Relationship Goals
• Social Life Goals
• Personal Development Goals
• Financial Goals
• Quality of Life
• Spiritual Goals
• Contribution Goals

Goal setting without accountability is a waste of time. There is a distinct difference between working and building a business. It’s time to work smarter, not harder. Build a company not simply a profit center.

Consistency

Do you ever find yourself saying, “I used to do very well with that.” Well, what happened? Why did you ever stop if you were so successful? Did you get too comfortable? Were things just happening on auto-pilot? To establish a well-rounded culture at our company and set the tone for the world around you, it’s critical to maintain consistency and execute.

Because when you’re truly passionate about something, you will keep the discipline going strong through the peaks and exude patience through the valleys.

Unwavering Passion

Highly successful people live by the belief that if you are not going to do it with the full force of your heart and soul, don’t do it at all. The basis of unwavering passion is waking up every morning with a purpose that is in line with your vision and with the belief that things will get done.

Just because you went to school for something, if you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t do it. Blast through your fears and remove the noise to design strategies for success.

Be true to yourself, knowing that nothing is to be taken for granted. Identify your core   values and passions, to fulfill personal and emotional needs, in addition to building your powerful business. Because to truly achieve a successful life full of passion, it’s not always about the work. You must find a balance between business, career and personal life.

Result Oriented

Do you want more? Do you want to grow? Define your goals into daily activities and schedule events to specifically address these goals. Make it a quarterly, monthly, daily practice. Consistently. If you are satisfied with the way things are going, then there is no need to change.

Do you truly understand the needs of your clients? Don’t make the mistake of just going through the motions to say you did something. Look at every opportunity you interact with clients as an opportunity to grow your business. Make a point to focus on the results throughout the process… and not just at the end. Every time you interact with your client it is an opportunity to grow your business. If you live, breath and practice this, everyone around you will as well. Everyone from your receptionist, assistants, associates and partners will mirror and follow your lead. It is contagious…

Time management

Yes, I’m sure you have a calendar as to when you have to go to a meeting, when you have to call a client and even when you have to prep for an event. But do you have your life organized on a systematic calendar that is proactive rather than reactive? A key component of success is time management. If you are all over the place running to catch up, then you are in desperate need of establishing a system and a belief around what REAL time management is. Learn the magic behind “A-B-C” time.

No Excuses

“Anything worth doing is worth doing right.”

You have made the decision that you want to grow your company? Dive in and make no excuses along the way. It’s only when you say (and believe), “I’m all in and I’m going to make this work,” that you will experience success. If you have a plan “B”, you are not all in and plan “A” is not your passion.

Posted on

THE SECRET TO MASTERING LIFESTYLE BALANCE

SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS’ SECRETS TO MASTERING LIFESTYLE BALANCE

From Bill Gates to the one-person law firm, it’s imperative to have a work-life balance.

Posted on December 4, 2019

Do you need a coach to have vision in 2020? Forbes says…

As seen in Forbes:

Why You Need To Hire A Coach In 2020

Do you have a coach?

If not, you could be limiting your career success. That’s because coaches help you identify and focus on what’s important, which accelerates your success.

• Create a safe environment in which people see themselves more clearly;

• Identify gaps between where the client is and where the client needs or wants to be.

• Ask for more intentional thought, action and behavior changes than the client would have asked of him or herself.

• Guide the building of the structure, accountability, and support necessary to ensure sustained commitment.

Successful athletes obviously understand the power of coaching. The United Kingdom Coaching Strategy describes the role of the sports coach as one that “enables the athlete to achieve levels of performance to a degree that may not have been possible if left to his/her own endeavors.” Innovative companies understand that coaching can help career-minded professionals increase their performance at work. They invest in coaching for their senior leaders and high potentials. Coaching also has an impact on an organization’s financial performance;

According to an ICF and HCI study, 60% of respondents from organizations with strong coaching cultures report their revenue to be above average, compared to their peer group.

When it comes to building your personal brand, a coach can be a powerful resource who can help you get out of your own way, stand out, and take action to achieve the things that are truly important to you. Your coach can help you:

1. Get clear about your goals. Your company may be pulling you in one direction, while your managers are giving you different advice based on other criteria. Your coach will help you determine what’s really important to you and help you stay focused on that.

2. Identify blind spots. Coaches help you figure out what you don’t know, and they clue you in to things you may not be able to see. They will be honest with you because they are not vested in any specific outcome.

3. Be accountable. Coaches keep you on track and moving forward toward new levels of achievement. For many of us, having someone we answer to motivates us to act.

4. Focus your development efforts. Coaches help you know the difference between weaknesses you need to fix and those that are best left as they are. This can help you invest time and energy only in the most fruitful opportunities.

5. Gain a competitive advantage. A coach can help you get from point A to B faster than you could on your own, helping you differentiate yourself from the pack and advance your career at a quicker clip.

6. Acquire leadership skills. Coaches model skills that are valuable for today’s leaders. After you work with a coach for a while, you can start to adopt those powerful questioning techniques, which helps you become a better listener. This is just one of the many ways you can integrate a coaching style into your own leadership approach.

7. Increase engagement. A recent Gallup study revealed that just 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. Yet according to a study done by HCI and the ICF, coaching correlates with increased employee engagement; 65% of employees from companies with strong coaching cultures rated themselves as highly engaged.

8. Feel happier. Because coaches help you identify and align your values, create a focus, cut through clutter, and clear tolerations, they help you increase your professional fulfillment. Simply put, a coach will help you stoke your success. How much is that worth to you?

Also, some leadership development programs come with coaching components. So sign up for those if you can. It’s a great way to experience coaching.

Make the investment in yourself. It will pay off in clarity, happiness and increased success. Think of coaching as an investment, not an expense.

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Posted on July 16, 2019

COMMON QUALITIES IN THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS

Many different types of coaches and business development professionals have examined the common denominators in successful entrepreneurs, so they may teach them to others.  The most effective professionals have not only examined them, but they live them and practice them every day of their lives.

Here are the top five must haves to not only be the best you can be, but to be noticeably different than the people that just go through the motions.  

Self-Discipline

The first trait that successful people must possess is self-discipline.  Self-discipline is the single most important quality for success in life and business.  If you can discipline yourself to do what you should do, whether you feel like it or not, your success is virtually guaranteed. Self-discipline requires self-mastery, self-control, self-responsibility, and self-direction.

The difference between successful people and failures, is that successful people make a habit of doing the things that failures don’t like to do. 

But to dig a little deeper, it’s not only a habit, but a consistent habit.  The repetition of behavior is the tipping point of all successful people.  Create the productive and actionable activity that works for you and do it consistently. 

It’s no different than going to the gym.  You can build the habit of going to the gym every morning, but if you don’t do it with consistent purpose and a specific plan you will simply be going into a building to socialize.  The results or lack thereof will show.

A clear sense of direction

With all the turbulence and rapid changes in today’s marketplace, most entrepreneurs have been reduced to operating day-by-day, almost like firefighters.  They are totally preoccupied with short-term problems and the need to get short-term sales and profits.

They intend to spend more time thinking and planning for the future, but they don’t ever seem to get around to it.

This is not the behavior or thinking of successful people.  You need to set clear goals for yourself and for every part of your business.  In fact, perhaps your most important responsibility to your people is to give them a clear sense of direction in their work and their career path.  Part of being an entrepreneur is being a leader.  As a leader you have to build and appreciate your team.  Surround yourself with talent that you can lead, not people that you can simply give tasks to.

Persistence

Persistence is the gold standard of character. Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.  It is an indispensable quality that goes hand in hand with all great success in life.

Here is one of the great secrets to persistence and success: Program your mind for persistence well in advance of the setbacks and disappointments that you are going to have on your quest towards success.

Solidify in advance that you will never give up, no matter what happens.  The courage to persist in the face of adversity and disappointment is the one quality that, more than anything, will guarantee your success.

Your greatest asset can be your willingness to persevere longer than anyone else. In fact, your persistence is a true measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to success.

Decisive and action-oriented behavior

You must think and make decisions quickly.  Discipline yourself to take action and to carry out the decisions you have made.  Move fast and get quick feedback from your actions. If you find you have made a mistake, quickly self-correct and try something else.  The key to triumph is for you to try.

Successful people are decisive, and they try far more things than other people do.

If you try far more different ways to be successful, the odds are that you will eventually find the right way for you, at the right time.

Integrity

Perhaps the most valued and respected quality you can develop is a reputation for absolute integrity.  Be honest in everything you do and, in every transaction, and activity.  Never compromise your integrity.  Remember that your word is your bond and your honor is everything when it comes to your business.  All successful business is based on trust.

Your success in becoming an entrepreneur will be determined solely by the number of people who trust you, are willing to work for you, buy your products and services, and help you during difficult times.  Your character is the most important asset that you develop in your entire life, and your character is based on the amount of integrity you practice.

Posted on May 14, 2018

Why…

If you have ever faced a significant crisis in your life you’ll have experienced the power of purpose.  The limitless boundaries, determination and passion you likely didn’t know you had.  Your need for a result was clear.  Your goal was compelling.  Your focus was laser-like.  The power of purpose is similar to the energy of light focused through a magnifying glass.  Diffused light has little use, but when its energy is concentrated—as through a magnifying glass—that same light can set fire to paper. Focus its energy even more, as with a laser beam, and it has the power to cut through steel.   Likewise, a clear sense of purpose enables you to focus your efforts on what matters most, compelling you to take action and push forward regardless of the odds or obstacles.

Unlike animals, which are driven simply to survive, we humans crave more from life than mere survival.  Without an answer to the question “Survival for the sake of what?” we can quickly fall into disillusionment, distraction and a quiet sense of despair.

What is your WHY? 

• Why do you wake up in the morning?
• Why do you deal with the hurdles you deal with every day?
• What do you want to accomplish at the end of the day?
• What do you stand for?

Nietzsche once said, “He who has a why, can endure any how.”  Knowing your why is an important first step in figuring out how to achieve the goals that excite you and create a life you enjoy living, versus merely surviving.

Only when you know your “why” will you find the courage to take the risks needed to get ahead, stay motivated. When the chips are down, and move your life onto an entirely new, more challenging, and more rewarding trajectory.

While there is no roadmap for discovering your life’s purpose, there are many ways you can gain deeper insight into yourself, and a larger perspective on what it is that you have to offer the world around you.  Reflect on the corresponding questions below to help find the “sweet spot” that sits in the intersection between what you care about, and what will be valued most.  And most importantly, what are you willing to sacrifice in order to get IT?

What makes you come alive?

The word inspire comes from the Latin, meaning “to breathe life into.” Accordingly, when you are working toward things that inspire you, it literally makes you feel more alive.  What makes you come alive isn’t referring to taking your vacation or watching your favorite team play football. It’s bigger than that. I’m talking about a why that moves up from being about you to being about something bigger than you. It’s about connecting with what you’re passionate about, knowing that when you focus your attention on endeavors that truly drives you, you grow your impact and influence in ways that nothing else can.

What are your innate strengths?

When people are in their element they are not only more productive, but they add more value and enjoy more personal and professional fulfilment. Accordingly, it’s also often where they also tend to make more money!

What are the things you’ve always been good at?  Are you able to see patterns and opportunities amidst complexity?  Are you creative, naturally adept at coming up with “outside the box” solutions?   Are you a natural born “Fixer” with an innate ability to identify where the status quo is in need of a makeover?  Are you detailed oriented, naturally good at executing projects with a precision that some find tedious?   Or are you a naturally gifted communicator, networker, leader, or problem solver?

Of course, you can also be passionate about things you have no natural talent for, and talented at things for which you hold little passion.  However, experience has shown that we rarely aspire toward ambitions we have no natural talent to achieve.

Where do you add the greatest value?

Doing work that you’re good at, but which you loathe, is not a recipe for success.  That said, knowing your greatest strengths and where you can add the most value through the application of, skills, knowledge and experience can help you focus on the opportunities and environment where you are most likely to succeed and therefore find the greatest sense of accomplishment and results.

How will you measure your life?

People who don’t stand for something, can easily fall for anything. Deciding how you want to measure your life means making a stand for something and then living your life in alignment with it.

Ultimately, living with purpose means focusing on things that matter most.  Ironically, the things that matter most are rarely “things.”

Following the money and following your heart don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  By shifting the lens in which you view what you are doing now, you can profoundly shift your experience of it.  No matter what you are selling, you can draw meaning from it and find greater purpose through how you do what you do.  If you don’t think you’re the kind of person you’d want to work with, then consider that it may not be because of the job you do each day, but your attitude towards it.

Posted on March 2, 2017

Strategic Performance Group Hosts ‘Beyond Business Mastery’

Professionals, entrepreneurs and executives from the New York metropolitan area converged last weekend to participate in ‘Beyond Business Mastery.’ The immersive training boot camp was presented by David Findel, top leadership development coach and strategist for Strategic Performance Group, a professional firm that provides consulting in business strategies, leadership development, business development and coaching, motivational training and lifestyle balance.

Held at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ, the intensive two-day course focused on arming attendees with the skills necessary to get the results they want both personally and professionally in 2017 and beyond. The premise behind the transformational course, and the message that Findel hopes each participant will internalize going forward, is that business is a life pursuit. Your business will not grow unless you grow as an individual. If you want to lead others, you must lead yourself first.

Findel, an expert in the field of leadership development for over 25 years, uses a unique and strategic methodology to guide participants through a series of exercises aimed at driving them to set actionable goals to establish an environment of accountability and a team approach to growth and prosperity. His goal is to teach people, regardless of the industry they are in, to build a results-oriented culture of unwavering passion that learns to listen by ‘removing the noise.’

Findel believes that one of the most critical components to achieving success is accountability—research supports that those who set detailed and measurable goals, and hold themselves accountable to them, achieve greater levels of success than those who don’t. When you connect goals to every aspect of your life, you’ll have the power of passion and success fueled by the fire from within.

One attendee, CFO of a New York-based Fortune 500 firm found the boot camp invaluable. “Very invigorating,” he said. “Not the typical motivational seminar, but a detailed road map to success.“

A managing director of a global investment banking firm notes,“I have been doing business with David for almost twenty years, but going to his mastermind seminar was nothing shy of great. I will be reaching out to him Monday morning to have him come into my firm.”

The next installment of Strategic Performance Group’s 2017 Industry Leader Mastermind Series will be held in April 29th. For more information, or to sign up, call 888-417-5950.