What can I do to motivate myself to have my best year ever?

You need a word. I’m talking about a simple, but powerful word that can remind you instantly of how you want to behave anytime you have an option where you can do or not do something that leads to business. That happens all the time in business.

That’s why one simple word that embodies the spirit you have to have to make your biggest goals happen this year is so important. If you have it, you can recall it anytime and motivate yourself to action. It’s a simple performance trick that anyone can do to achieve more.

January is the ideal time to set that word that will inspire you to act and direct your action towards your goals. But, this self-inspiration technique can work anytime of the year when you want to give yourself a boost. I do it all the time and I love the impact it has on me and my family. They know it too.   

My word for 2018 is BOLD. Maybe it can work for you too. I’ve been using it for about a month already and it comes to mind all the time and keeps me moving in the right direction. It gives me ideas I wouldn’t have had except for the word.    

In the traditional sense. bold means courageous or having the ability to take risks. That would be good enough really, but I’ve taken it to the next level up.

I’ve made BOLD stand for “Build Out Large Dreams”! “Building Out” means to make the effort to do what needs to be done to make something happen. Writing out the Large Dreams for yourself, your family and your business. Creating an action plan. Executing the necessary activities.

I want to be BOLDer in my business in the traditional sense and to achieve my larger, even largest, dreams. That way, I can do better in my business and my life – this year. If I don’t do it, who will? When is a better time than now?

How about you? Would being BOLDer help you? I bet it would.

BOLD is a two-part program. Part one. List your LARGE DREAMS in each business and personal area: prospecting, marketing, presenting and closing. In family time and personal accomplishments. Write out your LARGE DREAMS in sales activity, sales and income. Maybe you have other large dreams? Write them down! Be very specific to make this terrific.

Part two, decide what you have to do yourself to Build them Out – to make them a reality in the next year. Be specific. Time is of the essence. Do it today.

Make BOLD your word for 2018 and anytime you need to get to the next level. Have them personally and for business. Achievement comes more quickly to those who are bold. Fortune favors the BOLD!

One last thing. Print the word Bold in 200-point font on a sheet of paper and post in your office where you can’t miss it. Remind yourself to remind yourself.  Use your “word” to motivate yourself to the heights in your dreams.

Is there one business strategy I can follow to dramatically improve my results as an advisor?

Many advisors say they are entrepreneurs. Many advisors say they want to be entrepreneurs. But are you really an entrepreneur? And even if you are, “Are you entrepreneurial enough?”

The first definition you see when you google “entrepreneur” is: “A person who organizes and operates a business taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” Give this some real thought. Are you an “entrepreneur” by this definition?

ICONs do – you know, those advisors we recognize as representative symbols of the business. They are definitely entrepreneurs. The more entrepreneurial they are, the more successful they become. One leads to the other.

Parsing the definition explains the strategy you have to follow to be one. An Entrepreneur:

1. “Organizes a business”. Most of us know that you have to be Organized for Success. You need a business model to describe how you make money. You need an organized sales presentation. You need processing systems in your office. Organization is the O in ICON. It creates consistency and that is a major key to dramatically increasing your performance.
2. “Operates a business”. “Operating” suggests the actual doing of the everyday activities required to be an advisor in business. This is more than knowing what to do - this is actually doing it. Every day. This is harder than organization – it’s execution. A lot of perseverance, commitment and dedication is required to successfully operate an advisor business. Then finally,
3. “Taking on greater than normal risks”. This is the golden nugget. To me it is the absolute key to being entrepreneurial enough to be your very best and maybe even an ICON. Think about this idea carefully as it applies to you. Entrepreneurs are willing to take on greater than normal risks. Not normal risks, greater than normal risks. Normal risks are what employees take on. You can’t think like an employee to be an entrepreneur. There are financial risks like investing in yourself, your equipment, your staff, your clients, your marketing, your social media, your digital strategy and your education to create the business that can be more and earn more. There are self-esteem risks, like the idea of asking for the sale, the referral or the help when the likelihood of success is very uncertain. The size of the reward is directly related to the size of the risk taken to achieve it. If you have to take chances, take chances on yourself and your business, not in Las Vegas. Risking your self-esteem is the price of great success. Hiring a performance coach (some advisors have two or three) is a risk of time and money. This is greater than normal risk and something most employees never even consider, much less take on.

Entrepreneurs go “all in”. They know that investing in themselves is a better investment than their RRSP. Tax deductible and the payoff is a multiple of the investment not a return on it. You need to be Entrepreneurial enough to be an ICON. Check out JimRuta.com for a free downloadable questionnaire on your Entrepreneurial Quotient. The more entrepreneurial you are, the more successful you will be.