As your vision becomes more clear and you start to actually CREATE it, you probably find that things keep coming your way at every turn.

Now, my HOPE is my words ring in your ears, “Ask yourself how does that help you achieve your goals right now?” in order to decide if an opportunity is one you should take or walk away from.

But they still keep coming.

And you still stop and wonder sometimes if you are saying no to something you’ll regret later.

So, let’s look at the concept of an ‘opportunity cost’; what would it cost you to say yes to that questionable opportunity?

Every time you come upon such an issue, go through both strategies: Ask yourself how it helps you achieve your goal right now, and also ask yourself what you’ll be giving up in order to take this opportunity.

Nine times out of 10, your decision will be the right one.

Will there be times where you’ll later say you wish you had taken that opportunity? Perhaps! But, I can’t help but THEN feel that everything happens for a reason, and there was a reason you didn’t at the time.

Also think back to a time when you said yes and wish you hadn’t! Do the same exercise and see what comes up for you.

What can you learn from reflecting on that?

Margie

As we head into an exciting new year of opportunities, and I work on updating my marketing plan for 2010, I reflect on what makes me good at what I do. What clients often tell me is that I best help them focus, set priorities that make sense for them, and help them organize. Without these pillars, we are less likely to see the success we envision for ourselves.

I thought it would be good to discuss these three ‘kings’ of building a successful business.

1 – Focus: Do you find yourself jumping from idea to idea and potential opportunity to potential opportunity, only to find yourself feeling overwhelmed and overworked? Yet, you are NOT earning the income you envision, because you don’t have TIME! You’re too busy jumping at more and more ideas! This is where focus comes in. As you update your marketing plan (we need to address this, huh?), I challenge you to pick just 2-4 areas you would like to really focus on for the upcoming year. Then ask yourself this question when a new idea comes your way: How does that help me achieve these goals right now? If it doesn’t, put it in your opportunity booklet and let it go.

2 – Prioritize: You can’t do it all,  all at once! Something has to be FIRST. I love what Chip and Dan Heath say in the book, “Made To Stick“; “Prioritization rescues people from the quicksand of decision angst…”  What do you want to DO first? What is most pressing; has your greatest passion right now? If you could only pick ONE of those 2-4 areas above, which would it be? But also be able to say WHY. Why is that the most important thing? Sit back and envision each of those areas to decide what you want to accomplish first.

3 – Organization. Ah, my hero is David Allen, the king of organization.  I continually strive to stay organized, myself, because I see the value of it helping me actually getting things done! If I want to seriously expand my speaking career in 2010, I have to organize HOW I will make that happen! I can’t just will it. Sure, I TOTALLY believe in the Law of Attraction, but I realize it’s more than just willing it to create an empire and make a difference in people’s lives. What must you do to get a handle on your organization?

As you read through these three “Kings” of business success, I encourage you to take a step back, take a few minutes out of your busy, hectic life, and address these three “kings” to see exactly where you are and what you must do to increase focus, prioritization, and organization in YOUR life.

Certainly, if you need help, give me a call!

Margie

When clients often first start working with me, they start with tons of ideas, and those ideas just keep coming! In fact, it becomes VERY overwhelming for them, because they start to stress that they will forget them all!

As a consequence, I have them create what one client coined as an “opportunity booklet”.

Developing a vehicle to capture your ideas helps free your mind, in order to think of MORE ideas!

Try it for yourself.

Your booklet can be in any form. I prefer to write things down in an actual notepad – it can be any size. But I would also suggest you carry post-it notes with you, so you can jot down a thought at any location, when it comes to you. You can then add it to your booklet.

The booklet will continue to grow. That’s fine – it’s not a system that stops, just as your ideas don’t stop!

However, in my coaching process, we naturally have to move to the next step. So, I will have clients keep this booklet for about a week before I then instruct them to look at what they have written down so far and ask this question: “Does this help me achieve my goals right now?” If  the answer is yes, they use a highlighter over that idea.

The next step is to look at all the ideas that are highlighted, and then ask yourself which is most important. This is where you prioritize. We always want to do ALL the great things we come up with NOW, but logically we know that’s not possible. But we have to take SOME action, right? Prioritizing will help us take action.

As you look at all the things you’ve highlighted, which is most important to you to implement, now? Pick the most important item and to the left of that item, put the number “1″. Which is the second most important? List that as “2″. Do the same with the third most important item. Since you will continue to add to this booklet, don’t worry about the other ideas. However, I do suggest you review your booklet from time to time. However, FIRST focus just on completing these top three before seriously considering other ideas.

Through this process of capturing your ideas, you now can start developing products and services that feel right to you. AND it feels great taking action!

Let the planning begin!

If you struggle with this process, come visit my website and see if any of my services can help move you forward – www.meg-enterprises.com

Margie

On the last page of BusinessWeek, Jack Welch writes a regular column with his wife, Suzy. They always share an interesting perspective, and the last article sparked this blog.

One of my favorite classes I took during my MBA program was a leadership program. One question we addressed, both in this particular class, and in all of my entrepreneurship classes was; are entrepreneurs born or made?

What do you think??

In this article I mentioned, the Welch’s talk about the need of leaders to not just ‘react’, as many will today, trying to keep their heads above water, but to define and create tomorrow.

Do you realize that we are in an incredible time? New opportunities are born out of hard economic times. The challenge for a LEADER is to trust in himself/herself and take a chance!

I call it “Just Jump“!

There may not be another time just like this one for some people. Opportunity often is fleeting. As some of my own clients hear from me, FIRST you say yes, then you figure out how to make things happen. And, if they aren’t happening FOR you, you must go out and search, eyes wide open.

Are you an entrepreneur? And, are you looking to create tomorrow? If you answer yes to the first question, but wonder about the second question, contact me and let’s set up a time to talk.

Margie