business blueprint

Build a Better Business Blueprintstring(33) "Build a Better Business Blueprint"

January 30, 2020
, , Focus, Goals, Management, Productivity, Purpose, Strategic Planning, Strategy, work ethic 1

Take the time to re-examine your business blueprint biannually.  It is important to not only set your goals for the year but to review those goals in six months and take action to refocus yourself on these goals. Plus, I recommend that you look at why you’re doing what you’re doing. Why you do what you do is more important than the actual doing of it.  You may think you know why you’re in business, but perhaps it’s been years since you gave it serious thought.

Ask yourself the following questions to create a blueprint for a successful business strategy. Do not rush the process. Take the time needed to write your answers and really dial in to your business mission and personal vision when answering these questions.

What is my business mission?

Beyond simply making a living, what are my long-range professional goals? Do I wish to become the standard by which my competitors are judged? Is it my dream to help make the world a better place?

Where is my organization going?

Am I achieving my mission? Am I making plans to accomplish it? How can I change policies, procedures or personnel to improve my chances of achieving my mission?

What environment is my organization operating in?

Are the current social, economic and technological trends effecting the way I do business and my progress toward my goals?

What is my marketing strategy?

Do I have a social media plan to support my business and do I manage this plan well? Is it time to get someone to assist me with this?

What are my core competencies?

Do I like to do what I am doing? What is it that I do better than my competitors? Do I have the skills to grow my business or do I need to hire someone with these aptitudes?

Is my business blueprint mission compatible with my values?

I’ve seen too many business professionals and companies make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people. Starting out with the fundamentally sound goal of finding a niche that will make them successful, they go astray by changing direction every time a customer or associate suggests a new product or service. The mission gets lost in a frantic scramble for business before the original idea ever gets a chance to pay off.

So, even if you think you know your mission, it will serve you well to pause periodically, analyze your business blueprint and, if necessary, refocus on your mission and philosophy to stay on track. Share which of the above questions you struggle with most in your business. We are here to help you to stay on track.

2020 Vision

Having Clear 2020 Vision Goalsstring(30) "Having Clear 2020 Vision Goals"

December 30, 2019
, , , Dream Big, Goals, Video Blog, vision 5

It’s almost the New Year! Since it will be 2020, I thought it would be perfect to talk about 2020 vision. Please watch this video.

There is an old phrase that hindsight has 2020 vision. While that may be true, but I also believe that foresight can have 2020 vision. The challenge is, you actually have to think about your future. Really spend time and think about it, even if it’s just a few hours. Give some thought to your future. When I talk about setting goals, I find that people are a little like Bobblehead Ivan here. Yea, yea, yea, I need to set goals. Yea, you need to set goals. Goals are just a vision of where you want to go.

Goal Setting

Every year for the last 40+ years (yes, even before I started BNI), I have taken time during this period of the year to reflect. I start by looking at the past year and see how it played out according to my plan. Where it worked, I celebrated. Where it didn’t work, I analyzed why. More importantly, I contemplated how I could make it work.

Then, I did my real vision making. I thought about what I wanted to achieve during the next year and then three to five years out. Finally, I gave consideration to where I would be 10 years out. I started this process when I was in my early 20’s. In fact, I actually created a 40-year plan for myself back then. You can see that plan on the blog post listed below:

https://ivanmisner.com/life-lessons/

Truly, anything past five years is an educated guess. I get that. But it’s also something else. It’s a game plan. It’s a vision for where you want to go. Your one year plan should be really specific. Your 3-5 year plan should be strategic. And anything longer is highly strategic (which you’ll see if you read my 40-year plan). You can’t hit a target you don’t aim at. Create a target. That’s the vision. Take aim, that’s the action.

Here are three things I want you to do over the next couple of days to create your 2020 vision.

  1. Dream big. Create your 2020 vision.
  2. Have a Plan. How will you achieve your 2020 vision?
  3. Take action. Actually do the things you create in your plan.

Do those three things this year and then do me a favor. Mark your calendar for the end of 2020 and post a message about how this changed your life. I’m going to be looking for it.

If anyone wants to comment now about your 2020 vision, I’d love to see it. I’m Ivan Misner and this is 2020.

Dream Big

Dream Bigstring(9) "Dream Big"

November 11, 2019
, , , , , , , , , , , Dream Big, INSPIRE, Law of Attraction 2

Our 2019 BNI Global Convention just wrapped up. I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who joined us from around the world at this exciting event in Warsaw, Poland.  Dziękuję Ci. This year’s convention is all about our theme, Dream Big. Therefore, I want to share a few thoughts for those of you not in BNI on how you can reach your goals when you dream, believe, and achieve…

Dream Big

Do you dare to dream? If so, you are a results-oriented person. Dream big to help you transform your own life, both personally and professionally, and contribute to making the world a better place.

Marcia Wieder, CEO, and Founder of Dream University was our keynote speaker at our 2019 Global Convention. She spoke about the entrepreneurial mindset of having a dream for your business and how to successfully realize that dream.  I met Marcia through the Transformational Leadership Council which we are both members of and, let me tell you, Marcia is truly the best of the best of when it comes to understanding this facet of your business. Please watch this video to learn more.

Marcia explains that in business, dreaming is serious business; it’s the driving force for transformation and without vision, many companies fail.

Make a plan.

A dream without a plan is just a fantasy. It is your thoughts about believing in your dream which will lead to achieving your dreams.

In the book, “Psycho-Cybernetics” by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, he recommends “steering your mind to a productive, useful goal so you can reach the greatest port in the world, peace of mind”. If you believe in yourself and believe that you can achieve your goals. you will. However, you need to take the next step.

The “Law of Attraction” is the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person’s life. This belief is based on the ideas that people and their thoughts are made from pure energy, and that a process of like energy attracting like energy exists through which a person can improve their health, wealth, and personal relationships.

Take action.

The Law of Attraction is powerful. However, “action” is part of the word attraction. Therefore, you must take action to achieve your dreams. I firmly believe taking action (beyond simply showing up) is key to achieve real results. Making a plan is meaningless if you don’t shift toward action. You can’t make improvements through thought alone. You can also start to achieve your dreams with these six simplest actions you can take.

Reach your goals and create a better life when you dream, believe, and achieve…

 

 

roof

Dancing On The Roofstring(19) "Dancing On The Roof"

May 10, 2018
Goals

How to set goals

Goal Setting is a strategy to help you choose where you want your business to grow to in a certain amount of time. When I set a goal, I generally actually set three levels of a goal. First, I set a really high goal that is in my mind that I really want to shoot for. Then, I set a really low goal. Let’s talk more about these three levels of goals…

The High Goal:

If the moon and the stars all align and it all comes together and everything is perfect or better than expected and I can hit that goal number. By the way, this is what most people set their goals at, this really high number. However, people always struggle to reach this “everything is going to be perfect” goal. Therefore, if you reach this goal, you feel like you are dancing on the roof.

The Low Goal:

This is just the opposite if everything went wrong. If the sky and moon fell and there was an apocalypse, how bad would it be? What are the low levels of what you can hit? Select this number. This is the basement floor level by reaching this number. If you can’t reach this number – you may be in the wrong business.

The Middle Goal:

This is the actual target goal. This goal number is somewhere in between of the high and low goal. It is a stretch, but I can do it. This is the key goal. It is the number I put out to the world knowing my high and low-level goals.

Your Action Plan:

Now reverse engineer your goals. This is really important. Take these three levels, especially the target goal, and determine where will you be in 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months to reach 100% of your target goal within one year. Where will you be every month to reach your target goal? You have to work it monthly. You cannot hit a target you are not aiming at. Therefore, you got to set your targets and you got to set those baby steps to get to those targets. Otherwise, you are going to be halfway through the year and realize that you are nowhere near to being close to your goal. If you cannot do this, you cannot set an achievable goal.

Finally, create an action plan for those goals. You got to take action. You need to have bullet point action steps. What specifically do you have to do to hit that target in 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year? In conclusion, if you do these tips, you are setting yourself up for amazing success.

goals

Goals with Tiffanie Kellogstring(26) "Goals with Tiffanie Kellog"

December 28, 2017
Goals, Guest Video, Tiffanie Kellog 1

Tiffanie Kellog, who loves helping entrepreneurs create MORE in their life, shares a few tips on creating goals for 2018 that will help you achieve results!
Having a goal is not enough, they need to be SMART and an accountability partner can help!

Take time this week to set your 2018 goals.

About Tiffanie Kellog

For more information on Tiffanie Kellog, please visit her website at tiffaniekellog.com/

Tiffanie Kellog is a professional speaker and trainer with Asentiv, and is co-owner of a business with her husband.  Therefore, Tiffanie has helped entrepreneurs over the years make more money while saving time. Thus, they can have more fun. She is dedicated to helping others make more in less time. Click here to view more video blogs by Tiffanie Kellog.

To contact Tiffanie, call her at 813-263- 9690 or email at referrals@tiffaniekellog.com

Tiffanie Kellog is a referral marketing expert who has been sharing how to create an amazing business & spectacular life for the past 12 years. You can learn MORE about Tiffanie at

Tiffanie loves to speak to groups around the globe on how to grow their business by referral as well as creating more time in their lives.
goal setting

Goal Setting 2017string(17) "Goal Setting 2017"

January 2, 2017
Goals, Ivan Misner, Productivity, Self Development, Video Blog 3

Video Blog:

If you want to be successful in both business and in life, you will need to take time for some goal setting: set targets and have metrics in place to monitor these goals on a regular basis to track your progress.

Select a target to aim at. Then, reverse engineer your goals by counting back each month from your 1-year and 5-year goals and track your progress. Take time to regularly create and review your goals for success.

Happy New Year!

Year End Reflections and Goals for the New Yearstring(47) "Year End Reflections and Goals for the New Year"

January 1, 2015
, , , , , , , , Goals, Self Development, Strategic Planning, Strategy, Success, Uncategorized, Video Blog 8

For many cultures around the world, today marks the dawning of the new year.  Here in the United States, most people were up at midnight, full of energy, excitedly celebrating the clock striking 12:00 a.m.–the start of 2015 and, more importantly, the chance for people to start fresh and move forward in business and life in bigger and better ways.  So, what was I doing to celebrate the new year? . . . I was giving thanks for the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful view from my lake house in Big Bear, CA  (pictured below) and it moved me to record this video about year-end reflections and new-year goal setting.

The Current View from My House in Big Bear, CA

The Current View from My House in Big Bear, CA

The thing is, the only reason I’m able to sit here enjoying the life I’ve created is that I continue to reflect on the goings on of each passing year and strategically set new goals to accomplish bigger and better things with each coming year. New Year’s Day is the perfect time for all of us to sit down, take stock of the good, the bad, and the ugly from the past year and forge ahead in the new year with a fresh set of goals and a specific plan to achieve those goals.

In this video, I talk about how I go about setting goals each new year and I share the template (shown below) I use for outlining my goals on paper.  I share my main goals for business and life in 2015 and I would really love to hear your goals for the new year as well so please share your goals in the comment forum below.  Thanks and Happy New Year!!

GoalsAndControlsReportTemplate

How to Set Goals for the Year Aheadstring(35) "How to Set Goals for the Year Ahead"

December 18, 2014
, , , , Business, Goals, personal story, Self Development, Strategic Planning, Strategy, Success, Video Blog 3

As 2014 draws to a close, many people are beginning to think about what goals they would like to accomplish in the coming year. In light of this, I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you how I personally go about setting and achieving my own goals.

Watch the video now to get my top three tips on how to plan your goals and what actions to consistently take in order to achieve success when it comes to reaching your goals.  Also, I’d love to hear what tactics have worked for you in regard to goal accomplishment so please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment forum below.  Thanks!

Real Goals vs. Wishful Thinkingstring(31) "Real Goals vs. Wishful Thinking"

April 3, 2014
, , , Goals, Strategic Planning, Strategy, Success, System, Video Blog 2


I recently had a conversation with a business owner who claimed that they were going to triple their business this year.  When they told me this, my first thought was that tripling their business was a great goal to have and, naturally, I wanted to know how they planned on doing that so I asked.  The answer revealed a huge problem . . . they didn’t have an actual plan.

In this video, I talk about the difference between real, attainable goals and what people often label as “goals” that are, in reality, nothing more than wishful thinking.  In the case of the business owner who claimed they were going to triple their business but didn’t have any type of strategy in place to do that, their “goal” was simply wishful thinking.  A goal without a plan is not really an achievable goal, plain and simple.  Watch the video to hear more about why it is critically important to have a plan for achieving your goals and to get key tips which will greatly aid in the actualization of any given goal.

Is there a goal you have achieved that you’re particularly proud of and worked hard to attain?  I’d really love to hear about what your strategy was and how you became successful in achieving your goal so please share your story in the comment forum below–you never know who you might inspire to achieve great things!