Hey everyone. It’s Pat Mussieux here. I wanted to end the day today by bringing a few success tips to you.
This Facebook Live was prompted by a few people, actually, and conversations I’ve had in the last few weeks. So I wanted to share some of the tips with you because September is right around the corner. Can you figure that?
I don’t know about you, but for me, I loved school, and when I was getting ready for school, I loved new pencils, I loved new clothes, I loved new notebooks. I loved all that new stuff in getting ready for school in September.
Here’s what I know for sure now, as entrepreneurs. I know in conversations with many of you that you’ve taken some time over the summer, time for yourself, time for your family, and perhaps have put the business to the side. Now, as you look ahead and you know that everybody is in Staples and Walmart getting clothes and getting supplies that, in fact, it’s time to get ready. Period.
I wanted to pop in and talk to you about three of the things that I do to get September ready, as an adult, with my business.
One of the first things, and this is so critically important because September is the last quarter of the year, and this is key to success in ending the year on a high note. Number one, which is know your “why.” I know you’ve heard it before and perhaps you have your “why” clearly defined, but I know for the most part, with the conversations I’ve had, that you have not identified your “why.”
Without that, to really be able to turn that calendar on September 1st and jump out of bed with a vengeance and with joy, and to know and feel like you’re being of service, you know what you’re about, you know who you want to work with, you have to get clear on your “why” because September 1st is an exciting day and I know, for many in North America, that after Labour Day weekend kids are going back to school, parents are running back to their desk and saying, “All right, let’s get down to business.”
That enthusiasm will last for a few days, but if you’re not clear about your “why” and you don’t have a plan, and you don’t know what you’re going to start doing at your desk that first week in September, without a “why” it’s so easy to bail. It’s so easy to go back to bed, pull the covers over your head, and say, “I’m just not doing this. I can’t do this, it’s too hard.”
In fact, I just had a phone conversation with a prospect who was saying to me that she’s having more days of I don’t know why I’m doing this, I don’t feel like doing this and I don’t want to do this, than the days in the past where she was all excited about her business.
It’s about your “why,” people, and it doesn’t have to be some great big, magnanimous why in the sky. It can be something very small and near and dear to your heart. It can be for your children, it can be for your retirement.
For me, my “why” these days is because I fully intend to stay healthy, happy, wealthy, and continue to travel the world. I want to take photography courses, I want to capture more sunsets. I’m very clear on my “why,” and so to grow my business and to make the money I want and deserve, that travel costs money. My “why” is clear. That’s absolutely the first key to get “success ready” for September – anytime, actually, but for those of you who have been waffling in that regard, get your “why” clear.
The second piece to it for success readiness in September, any of you who know me, and my clients are on here, you have to go get your wall calendar. I cannot live without this wall calendar, with the dry erasable, and everything is colour coded so that I know at a glance, right away on my wall, whether or not in the month I have revenue-generating activities outlined, which are green, I have speaking and out of town opportunities, which are blue, and so everything is colour coded here.
Run to Staples or Office Depot, or wherever you buy your office supplies, and get yourself one of those wall calendars. It’s absolutely a secret sauce. Yes, I have my calendar on my phone. Yes, we have a shared Google calendar with my team, but seriously, for me, at a glance to be able to look at that calendar, and at a glance by quarter of the year, I know exactly where I’m going, what I’m doing, and what’s expected of me and in my business.
The third tip for getting your business “success ready” for September is to know your revenue goals. I am still shocked at the number of business owners I talk to and I say to them, “What was your revenue goal for 2017? Where are you at year to date, and what needs to happen to fill the gap?” The first response is, “I didn’t set a revenue goal for 2017.” What? Are you a hobby owner or are you a business owner? You have to have your revenue goals. Being in business means financial transactions. It means an exchange of money. If you haven’t set a revenue goal, how do you know if you’re tracking?
Tip number three is for getting your business September ready is if you haven’t identified a goal for the year, fine. Get one now. Get it in your mind for September, October, November, December, what is your revenue goal to end the year strong as a business owner?
I take that revenue goal and I take this calendar here, and what I do is I put the revenue target at the top and I put the stretch goal at the top, and then what I do is break it down into quarters for the year, and I break it down into half days. That’s absolutely key. No revenue goal, no payroll. Exactly.
It is that time of year, and I’ve been telling so many people that you’d better run to Staples in London because everyone I talk to, I say, “Do you have your calendar? Do you have your calendar?” They don’t really carry that many. I have mine for 2018. I’m ready to rock and roll.
The three things that are absolute key:
- Know your “why.” Have it firmly printed in your heart, on your sleeve, on an index card, something that gets you up out of bed every day. I heard a speaker last week when I was in Vegas, and there was a statement that he made that really jumped out at me. I did share it on my Facebook page, but he talked about the fact that many of us have focused so much on the duty that we have lost the joy. We’re focused on the duty and lost the joy. I believe that happens with people who don’t know their “why.” Get clear on the “why.”
- Get that wall calendar, and get yourself sorted out and organized for the year, but particularly for the last quarter of 2017.
- If you have not already set your revenue goal for the year, be sure to identify your revenue goal for the last quarter of the year, and then you have to put tracking in place to know whether or not you’re on track and whether or not you’re on target.
Here’s what I want to offer to you. This is a really high-level skim of some of the things that I do to get September ready. There are a few more to it and there is more depth to these, so here’s what I want to invite you to.
I’m going to do a Zoom training on this coming Monday, August 28th. I had a group call with my clients earlier this afternoon and there were so many great questions about my success habits, my tactics, etc. that we just didn’t have the time to go deep. Monday I want to go deep. I want to set you up for success.
Join me on Monday at 11am Eastern. It’s going to be one hour, a really quick hour, but a deep hour that’s content rich. This is a free training I’m offering for you, again as we get closer to September. If you want to join me with the Zoom training, go to https://www.patmussieux.com/getready. I figured we’d add some music to that too.
I know many of you who are here, you know other people who also want to get ready who might be in a state of overwhelm, panic or uncertainty. Maybe they’re just embarrassed because they have let business slide in the summer. No problem, the time is now. We can do it together. Join me on Monday, August 28th for a free training, a free hour with me. I’m going to go deep, I’m going to go rich, and I’m going to give you my simple tactics beyond these three that I just shared with you to get “success ready” for September.
There are people out there who need what you have to offer. There are people who I know, in your heart, you want to serve. More importantly, as entrepreneurs, there are people out there with money and they’re looking for a solution, which you have. Let me help you and let me teach you some of the success strategies that I use because I’m certainly poised, positioned and ready to end this year on a very high note, so join me, won’t you? Monday, August 28th, 11am.
Please share this and invite others to come to the Zoom training. All you have to do is click on the link, grab your seat, and join me on Monday morning. I look forward to it. I love Mondays, I love training, I love success, and I want you to be there with me, so bring your friends. Thanks for being here. I’ll see you then, and this can be interactive too, so you’ll be able to ask me any questions you want and I’m going to offer up the best answers that I have in my pocket. See you then. Bye everyone. Hit share.
