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Tags: 2010, Bernadette, Bernadette Boas, Coaching, Friends, Goals, Joey Tribiani, Matt LeBlanc, Success, The Boas Group
Posted in Best Practices, Managing Your Business | No Comments »

Don’t Go it Alone, Prosper with Partners - 5 Tips

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

I just returned from an early morning partner referral meeting; and when I got back to my desk (currently a library table/chair) I looked over the notes I took, the thank you’s and leads that I was given or provided and I was so appreciative of having that group of people around me - supporting, motivating, counseling, and challenging me.

Though I am a solopreneur myself with a part time contract assistant, my own business model and business survival is dependent on the partnerships and alliances I have formed, formally or casually, with many other smart, connected, and results oriented individuals - business people.

Those partnerships are critical for a number of reasons:

Their experience and expertise - that I do not have
Their network and connections - that could benefit me in referrals or leads
Their products and services - that not only I may need but my clients may need
Their motivation, support and challenges - that keep me moving forward, not allowing me to fall backward
Their perspectives, debates, and collaboration - that ensures I am always thinking outside the box and not getting tunnel vision

I could go on, but hopefully you get the picture.

Having other people in my immediate circle provides huge benefits to not only me personally, but my business, and my clients. They are there to help me grow, my business prosper, and my clients to be loyal and fully supportive.

The benefits of partnerships outweigh any risks or downsides; i.e. the partner does not have the same values of you, so issues arise. The way I see it, any issue with a partner is my lack of qualifying them based on a criteria and value based philosophy that I work and live by. Therefore if you lay out what you want in a partner or alliance and you qualify and set that expectation clearly, there are no downsides to partnering.

Business owners will often tell me they do not know how to go about forming partnerships - so here are 5 tips to help you navigate the Partner and Alliance plan:

Define clearly what role, values, requirements, results, and objectives you would want from a partner/alliance
- If there are referral or affiliate plans desired, define them
Document that in a one pager that can be shared with anyone that you qualify
Identify 3-5 functions, roles or areas of business that you, your business or your clients could benefit from a third party partner.
- Keep in mind, Partners can fill skill and talent gaps you or your business are missing
Take your time and either identify on your own individuals you would like to qualify as partners, or that you ask others for recommendations (which is even better if you have a strong relationship with the person providing you a recommendation.
Interview several and ask them for results or references
- You can even test run them on a small project if desired

And if you are hesitant or nervous about pursuing partnerships consider the benefits again listed above. They far outweigh the anxiety of pursing them, making mistakes along the way, or not doing it at all.

Good luck, Bernadette

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Tags: Affiliates, Alliances, Bernadette Boas, business owners, CEO's, Coaching, Leadership, Partnerships, Solopreneurs, Success
Posted in Best Practices, Managing Your Business | 2 Comments »

Coaching Tip of the Day - Email BAD, Revenue GOOD!

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

There is a number of productivity and energy drainers that I could talk about that have a direct impact on the revenue that you are capable of or actually are generating in your business. However one specific activity drains not only revenue directly from your wallet and bank account, it also can consume you 24X7 leaving you unable to accomplish much of anything else in a given 24 hour day.

Email is not only the biggest drainer of productivity but more importantly, it is also the least valuable and profitable activity a business owner could do throughout a given business (revenue generating) day.

Email rarely delivers you a ‘closed deal’, it rarely brings customers to you, it does not ring the cash register, or hang the sign out telling your customers about your products (okay it can do that via email marketing). Yet a majority of business owners spend hours of the day behind their desk reacting to email instead of creating, implementing and executing ways to generate revenue.

Don’t believe me? Test it out yourself: for 5 days this week make actual note of the minutes or hours you are spending doing email; which could include scanning it, reading it, responding to it, creating new emails, etc. And don’t forget your cell phone email time: since it is ‘crackberries’ that drain the largest amount of time from their day reacting to email.

Let me know your results! I guarantee you will be amazed and appalled as my clients are when I have them do this exact exercise.

Coaching Tip of the Day!

Do NOT allow email to consume your day and drain your revenue generating time that is so critical to your business.

REMEMBER, the prime time hours of your work week should be spent GENERATING REVENUE. So, unless your emails are generating money for your business, you have to minimize or eliminate it from your core business hours.

Tip! Get control of your email:

Schedule on your calendar the time before, during and after your prime work hours that you will do email
- First thing in the morning prior to your prime business hours
- If your lunch hour is downtime for you, allocate part of that time while eating your lunch to do email
- After prime business hours
Allocate a specific amount of time you will focus on doing your email
- For example, I propose to clients to spend 30 minutes in the morning, at lunch and in the evening to do email - NO MORE!
- Once that time is up you close down your email. This will force you to scan, prioritize, and only focus on those emails that are critical
Scan your emails and unless there is $$$$$ attached to them, do NOT react to them until your allocated time
You can hold all information only, newsletters, etc. that are emailed to you for weekend reading.

Remember, unless there is $$$$ attached to your email, you should NOT spend time on it during REVENUE GENERATING minutes or hours during your day!

Focus and prosper - I promise

Bernadette

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Tags: Bernadette Boas, Business Coach of Atlanta, Business Coach of Buckhead, Business Coaching, Coaching, Email, Executive Coaching, Focal Point Coaching, Goals, Leadership, Management, Personal Coaching, Prosperity, Success, The Boas Group, Time Management
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Coaching Tip of the Day - Dream BIGGGGG!!!

Friday, November 13th, 2009

It is Friday the 13th….how fun is that!

Some people who may be superstitious don’t like Friday the 13th’s as they expect strange or even bad things to happen on these days. I myself find them to be exciting and full of opportunities… many times dreams of mine come true on Friday the 13th, and today was no different; but more on that later.

I was talking with a two clients this week who are struggling to find their next big adventure in life. Meeting with one of them this morning I wanted to know about her passions; the things she really loves to do that makes her excited. Only seconds into the discussion her eyes opened wide, her smile naturally expanded, and her energy spiked dramatically. I was having a hard time keeping up and had to tame her in. It was a lot of fun to watch and listen to her.

I asked her what was preventing her from pursuing those dreams. She simply said “I don’t how to go about it.”

This is what I find with most people. Although there may be fear of change and moving outside the norm, when you dig deep they eventually admit they just do not know how to pursue a dream that may take them in a different direction that they are not familiar with. This is not uncommon for any new pursuit someone might take on. However it can be easier than they think.

Coaching Tip of the Day!

Dream BIGGGGGG and then go to work to plan how you can pursue your dream. Here are some simple steps that take little time to work through:

1) Take 5 minutes to sit down quietly and write out the DREAM(S) you have for your life:

Consider this: if money, time or people were not an issue in your pursuing your dreams, what would those dreams be?
As you write do not analyze it or think to much about it

2) Take 25 minutes to write out EVERYTHING you would need to do to pursue that dream and make it a realty

Again, pretend that money, time or people were NOT an issue

3) Look the list over and bucket those activities and tasks that you can do NOW and then:

Put a start and end date on all of the activities and tasks you noted
Start small and easy building up to the bigger things as you move forward (whether that be a week, year, or 5 years)……
Remember, even the smallest step toward your DREAM gets you one step closer. And just think of the excitement and energy it will bring to you.

I worked with both of those clients to do this same exercise and both of them found sure fire things they could be doing now to ultimately accomplish that dream. And one of them would cause one of them to make drastic changes in his life and his families. But it was what would make him happy and loving life - which the family will ultimately benefit from.

Dream BIGGGGG…. you will be surprised how possible those dreams are!

One last note on my Friday the 13th dream - I dreamt of a book that I felt needed to be written (a memoir of sorts). That was in July. Today, Friday the 13th I learned that my book has been accepted and picked up by a publisher. Unbelievable!!!!! Exciting and scary.. but I had a dream, I followed the above, and now a few months later I am definitely on my way to realizing a dream…. You can do that too!

A toast to your dreams, and Happy Friday the 13th.

Bernadette Boas

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