Influence By Design

Triggers are alive and well for women! They are a part of our memory; they guide us and sometimes protect us.

Triggers work by way of emotions. When we are exposed to certain stimuli, and depending on our history, we experience a rush of emotion that tells us how to react.

When you apply emotions to the selling process, one key point is to enter the conversation that is already going on in you prospect’s mind. After that, you need to understand the emotions they are experiencing during that conversation.

There are 7 emotions that occur, or some form of them, when a person is making a decision, particularly a decision to say yes. We buy on emotion (desires), and justify using logic.

You need to know this when you are selling to a prospect.

Capturing the mind of the consumer means learning how to:

• Create a “gotta have it” feeling
• Reduce resistance to the sale
• Instantly establish a connection
• Arouse a prospect’s inner buying desire
• Establish trust in the prospect’s mind

You can accomplish all of this in your sales message, and you can do it ethically and with integrity. There’s no hype, no hypnotizing them, no selling what they don’t need.

It’s all in the language and the words you use. But the unfortunate thing is that most people use words that turn people OFF, rather than ON.

7 Emotional Triggers

Here are the 7 hot buttons (emotions) that you need to push (appeal to) to get your prospect to yes – the ethical way.

1. The first hot button is fear. This is the most powerful hot button. It plays into the reactions that humans want to 1) seek pleasure and/or 2) avoid pain. Remember the slogan “You May Be Next?” Well, it appeals to the emotional trigger of fear.

First, you need to understand your target audience. What are their fears? Keep in mind that not all fears are the same for everyone. That’s because people have different experiences with fear and different interpretations of those experiences.

To make use of the fear button, you need to provide a solution. Your solution needs to be one that eliminates doubt, eliminates fear, promotes courage, and maybe even encourages risk-taking toward a positive outcome.

2. The second hot button is anger. This is the most frequently experienced emotion.

What’s important to remember about anger is the outcome of it, and how it affects someone’s judgment and decision making. What you should be aware of is how anger influences perception, beliefs, ideas, reasoning and ultimately choices – the choices that you are trying to persuade.

You find out what they aren’t satisfied with and how that anger influences their judgment.

The best way to use the anger hot button is to understand it. Again, your powers of observation, eliciting information and tuning in with your intuition are important at this point.

3. The third hot button is greed. These people thirst for the best and the most of everything. But that’s the extreme. We need to realize that greed is a part of all of us in varying degrees. It is still an emotion; one that we try to grow beyond, but nonetheless, it does rear its head once in awhile, especially when we are being tempted with certain marketing messages.

This is the “What’s In It For Me?” piece of persuading.

It is about the fear of not having enough or ending up alone, lonely or isolated. They believe that unless they have it all, no one will want them. They are so desperate for approval, for attention, for acceptance that they will go to great lengths to get it, and that might mean becoming greedy in the process.

Find out what your potential client is lacking. Use your best communication and observation skills to discover what is missing for them.

Next week, read Part 3, where I share the final four hot buttons that you can use to persuade your prospect into saying yes.

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Anger management and you: 10 calming tips

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have days where I just want to scream. Nothing seems to go the way I planned and then one thing will completely set me off. I imagine that most of us experience times like this every once in a while and, you know what? They are a part of life, so it’s OK that they happen. However, it’s how you choose to control your anger that makes the difference between a positive and negative outcome. Here are some tips that I’ve picked up over the years to help you better manage your anger.

1.    Don’t deny your frustration. Repressing your anger will only cause it to build and when you put that much pressure on frustration, at some point, you’ll have to explode. Acknowledge the way you feel and tell yourself it’s alright to feel that way.

2.    Take deep breaths. Sometimes just relaxing and taking a few cleansing breathes is enough to clear your mind sufficiently to either let go of your anger or address it in a healthy way.

3.    Let go of grudges. Holding a grudge against someone is a sure fire way to hold onto anger and resentment. When you let go of a grudge, it’s much easier to control your temper.

4.    Think before you speak. When we get angry, we tend to say things that we’ll regret later on. When you feel yourself losing your temper, be very mindful of what you’re about to say.

5.    Have a laugh. From time to time, having a good laugh is all it takes to dissolve the frustration that’s building.

6.    Take it to the gym. Anger creates a lot of physical tension in your body and sometimes all it takes is a physical activity to release it. Go for a run or take an aerobics class. Sweat out that frustration!

7.    Come up with solutions. Rather than dwelling on the problem and how angry it’s making you, stop and try to come up with solutions to the problem.

8.    Take a “time out.” This is similar to breathing deeply. When you can feel something making you mad, stop. Calm down and come back to it once you’ve cleared your head.

9.    Remove yourself from the situation. If it’s a situation that’s angering you, step away from it. In fact, if it’s something you need not be involved in, remove it from your life completely. If you have to come back to it, then be sure to do so only after you’ve stopped fuming.

10.  Get help. If you just can’t seem to control your temper, no matter what you do, you may want to seek some help. There are support groups for people who have trouble with anger management or you can seek the help of a counselor. Be proactive and get help learning to control your anger.

Don’t let barriers get in your way!

As a career woman, you’re faced with challenges every day, whether it’s a schedule with barely enough free time to grab a 15-minute lunch or a board meeting that will determine the fate of your department or project. But you handle it all with grace, I’m sure. So why then are you finding it so hard to compete and get past the barriers that are preventing you from the power you want and deserve? Well, there are various barriers that can keep us from competing with others for power and, naturally, with each type of barrier, you approach each one differently. Here are several of the ways you can break down barriers:

Glass cutter

When your barrier to entry is the dreaded glass ceiling (or glass walls), you’re going to have to cut through that barrier with a fine, sharp instrument. Keep all your wits about you when you’re competing with men for a salary raise or the same job. Learn to communicate clearly and precisely and keep your intentions keenly focused.

Ice pick

Sometimes when we try to get ahead in a “man’s world” we can lose some of the softness that makes us feminine. When this happens, women tend to get categorized as “ice queens” in the workplace and this can actually hurt our chances from promotion. Use an ice pick to chip away some of that cold exterior and warm up to your employees and peers. Then watch your bosses warm to the idea of promoting you!

Chisel

When your barrier is big and tough, sometimes you can’t break it down all at once. That’s when you have to use a chisel. It takes patience, but if you work at it a little bit each day or each week, you’ll slowly start to see that big, bad barrier to power turn into nothing more than a pile of dust and you’ll be on the other side.

Sledgehammer

There’s a time and a place for the sledgehammer. I think this is the tool we want to use all the time because it’s quick, loud and there’s nothing subtle about it. But remember, not every situation is a good fit for breaking down the competition with a sledgehammer. If you’ve tried other methods, but they don’t seem to work or if you need to make headway quickly, a sledgehammer will do the trick. Be warned though, you might need to do a little clean up afterwards.

What other kinds of tools can you think of for breaking down those walls that stand between you and the power and success that you deserve?

Emotional triggers are at the heart of every sale. People decide first based on emotion, then they justify their decision to buy using logic.

When you get a handle on the emotional “reasons” and triggers your target market uses to make their buying decisions, then you can push those emotional hot buttons when designing your selling strategy, your email promotions, and your social media approach.

At least this is what the experts say.

Is this true? Well, yes and no.

Now that doesn’t mean all we see or hear is the emotional aspect. In fact, the emotional aspect is kept quiet. Why? Because it isn’t acceptable to broadcast that a decision has been made by using mostly emotion.

Logic is the process of justifying in our mind what we want to do (or just did) emotionally.

Women understand this because they’ve been living with this for years, or they’ve been accused of this for years (depending on how you look at it).

Until now.

Research, customers, and leaders are recognizing the worth of emotions in every aspect of work, family and social existence.

Knowing this reality begs the question: what is Sales Psychology? It is the use of psychology or human nature to sell a particular object, idea or concept to a person. Big companies like Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo, and Google use this every day and are very successful at it.

Here’s how they do it. It’s based on the words you type into your computer. They keep track of what you search for, what you buy, or what you consider buying, and they create a list of what they think you will be interested in. They send you personalized messages based on what you tell them. It’s that simple.

The essence of this type of marketing is to help people make the right decisions – to buy from them. The core of this communication is persuasion, and the way they persuade is to use emotional triggers.

Psychologists tell us there’s a huge difference between what we think in our mind and what we feel in our heart. The hard part is reconciling these two things. It can be done.

Are you marketing to your prospect’s hearts or to their minds?

You need to do both.

If you start a conversation with your prospect by showing all of the great things your product does, then you’ve lost them before you even got started.

Why? Because . . .

• Benefits appeal to Emotions
• Features appeal to Logic
• Logic justifies Emotion
• Emotion drives Sales

Knowing this one exact piece of psychology can make all the difference in your success.

I challenge you to go a bit deeper than talking to your prospect’s mind. Today’s consumer is an educated consumer. They “see” through the hype. They aren’t impressed with all the talk.

They want to see action. Proof. Results.

They want to feel something. How are you making them feel?

They identify with emotion – their emotions. Tap into what emotional state they live in or are afraid of.

This is where you use your “emotion” words.

Words like appalled, tickled, charmed, betrayed, isolated, joyous, and amused to name a few. Words that instantly bring your prospect to an emotional state, and where they get in touch with what they are feeling at that particular moment.

It’s smart to engage with your prospect on a core level of what they want most. What are their basic needs? Are they getting them met? How will you meet them?

In the next part of this two-part series, I will discuss the steps you take to tap into your prospects major hot button. Hint – there are seven of them!

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Don’t let uncertainty paralyze you.

It’s a fact of life. Sometime, somewhere and somehow, you are going to run into uncertainty and the unknown. Now, I realize it’s never comfortable to have to deal with uncertainty, but I’ve found there are five steps you can take to make the unknown more palatable.

Step 1: Identify the Unknown

Sometimes this is easy. It might be that you aren’t sure if your boss liked your proposal. Other times, it could take a while to pinpoint exactly what it is that you’re uncertain about. Maybe you’re uncertain about the career path you’ve chosen or maybe you aren’t sure you’re ready to start a family.

Step 2: Create a Roadmap

Now that you’ve pinpointed what you’re uncertain about, it’s time to create a mental roadmap. Try and imagine all of the possible twists and turns that different choices could take you on. One decision may take you in a completely different direction than other, but by visualizing different paths, you are lessening the chance that uncertainty will catch you completely off guard.

Step 3: Identify Potential Pitfalls

From those potential paths that you’ve imagined, do you see any problems that might arise? I would be surprised if you didn’t run into some problems along the way since no path is ever perfect. Try and predict what some of the problems of various directions might be.

Step 4: Overcome Obstacles with Creative Thinking

Since you have started coming up with possible problems, now it’s time to brainstorm some solutions! This is the part I love because it involves delving into your creative side. Some solutions might be simple and others will involve you relying on your intuition, but all of them will have you thinking of creative solutions.

Step 5: Consider Uncertainty Managed!

Look at that! Suddenly, that uncertainty doesn’t seem all that uncertain does it? When you take the time to problem solve through unknowns, you come out on the other side with clarity and feel empowered for having solved a problem.

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Shatter all the stereotypes of the working woman and break out of your glass office

It’s a topic that’s decades old in the corporate world: the glass ceiling. That barrier to success what so many women in the business world face. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s still easier to be a man in today’s corporate culture. Sure, some industries are more old boy clubs than others, but it still takes a lot more for a woman to succeed than a man. I started thinking about the glass ceiling a little more the other day and it struck me that there isn’t just one barrier to success, there are many! As a woman, we battle more than just a glass ceiling, we fight against glass walls as well. So what do I think are the four walls that keep women from succeeding like they should?

Pay: Let’s be honest, a big part of knowing that you’ve achieved success is a bigger paycheck and our paychecks have statistically been proven to be lower for women than they are for men in the positions.

How to shatter this glass wall: It’s simple really. Do your research. When you go into your boss’s office for an annual review or raise, have the data there in front of you. Know what people in your position are being paid and don’t accept anything less.

Promotion: For some reason, many women have to work harder than men do in order to get the same types of promotions in their field. Whether this is because women are more team oriented than men or whether men are more vocal about their leadership and opinions, I cannot say.

How to shatter this glass wall: Don’t let yourself get lost in the group. Be sure to point out your successes and show off the work that you’ve accomplished. Be vocal and don’t back down.

Family: There’s a stereotype out there that women who are working mothers or who took time to start a family simply aren’t cut out for c-level management. This, of course, is bologna since mothers learn better than almost anyone how to best manage their time and multitask.

How to shatter this glass wall: Take what people perceive as negatives and turn them into positives. As a mother, you have a different insight that you can bring to the board. Your schedule is more fine-tuned than anyone else’s and your multitasking abilities are well honed.

Communication: It’s a fact. Men and women communicate in very different ways. Women talk to solve problems and men talk to be heard or appear dominant.

How to shatter this glass wall: Learn how to effectively communicate your opinions and solutions to a male audience. I know it’s not fair that you have to tailor your communication to them, but for now, you have to learn to play their way. I have no doubt that soon enough, they’ll be playing the game our way.

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Is work-life balance really a myth? Every now and then, I pop over and read the fabulous musings of Cali Yost. She’s an expert blogger on the work-life subject for Fast Company and hosts her own site at the Flex+Strategy Group. I like Cali’s content, and I agree with her: work-life BALANCE is something of a myth. She prefers the phrase “work-life fit.”

Fit. I like that. After all, have we ever, for a single day, truly had “balance” in our lives?

Corporations preach it in their recruiting materials and employee benefits books. Day cares and preschools offer to help us out with it. But if I concede that there’s not really a balance and it’s more of a “fit,” then I think we’re well on our way to making some progress in these days that we live that are brimming with non-stop activity.

It’s pretty simple to see when things are off-kilter: we stay at the office too late, we answer emails at odd hours from our smart phones, and our voicemail inboxes fill up like the laundry basket.

I put together three tips that you can start using TODAY to make your work-life balance a bit more balanced. Put on your life like it fits, and stop trying to button that top button when you had the extra helping of your neighbor’s awesome potato salad at the picnic last night!

Work-Life Balance Tip #1: Take Lunch

Yes, I’m crazy. I’m telling you to take lunch. Whether you work from home or in an office, step away from your work domain for a minimum of thirty minutes. Stop scheduling conference calls during lunch. Don’t answer your phone. Don’t respond to emails. Unplug – and see how much easier it is to plug back in.

Work-Life Balance Tip #2: Hard Stops

Not unlike taking lunch, give yourself a “hard stop” at least two days a week. This means that at 5 P.M. (or whatever time you determine), you call it a day. Not five minutes later, and no excuses. Go DO SOMETHING (and enjoy it). Your inbox will still be there in the morning (and your family and friends will thank you).

Work-Life Balance Tip #3: Ask for Help

If you’re simply afraid that you can’t get everything done and the act of trying is what’s putting you off-kilter, ask for help. Hire a virtual assistant, a house cleaner or one of your teenagers to do some of the tasks and errands.

Whatever the solution, asking for help doesn’t have to be expensive or, worst of all, humiliating. It can be empowering and free you up to do the things you both need and want to do! Take a tip from one of my previous entries on how to offer support. It’s easier to lend and GIVE support than you might think!

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There are a variety of ways to network. Use them all to your advantage

Networking has always been important, even back in the days of the two martini lunch, but in an increasingly digital business environment, it’s even more important to network and to stand out among the crowd. I’m sure you understand, in theory, why networking is important, but how should you go about it in each forum or situation and what is the value of networking both online and off?

Facebook

Good for:

•          Reconnecting with old friends
•          Connecting with new friends
•          Keeping up to date with friends’ lives

Bad for:

•          Making new friends
•          Generating new business contacts

How can you network on Facebook?

•          Make private inquiries to friends about job opportunities in their company
•          Ask for recommendations or referrals

What’s the networking value?

It would take several large happy hour networking events to have the list of contacts that you probably have in Facebook. Your friends are connections and will almost always help you with a referral or recommendation if you ask for it.

Twitter

Good for:

•          Making new, tech savvy friends
•          Staying current on trends
•          Connecting with acquaintances
•          Building yourself as a brand

Bad for:

•          Private conversations
•          In depth discussions

How can you network on Twitter?

•          Follow as many people as you want
•          Use the “Who to Follow” recommendations
•          Follow people your friends or acquaintances follow

What’s the networking value?

Twitter is great for developing a large networking group. While you may not be as close as you are to everyone on your Facebook timeline, many of the people on Twitter are very adept at networking and getting useful information disseminated.  

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Healthy Relationships Begin with Authenticity and Energy

Interacting with peers is part of your job. Heck, it’s part of life! The connections that we make while we’re at work, at a social gathering or just spending some time with family are the connections that allow us to win friends. Or maybe not. You see, if you’re not interacting with a little bit extra energy the first time you meet someone, you may not make a great first impression. I’m not saying you have to be a ball of energy 100% of the time, but it pays to be perky on your initial interaction with someone. To prove my point, here are a couple situations and two options for response. You choose which one you think would create the type of healthy, positive relationship that you would want to have in the future. 

You’re at a work happy hour and a new manager, your peer, comes up to introduce themself to you. Do you: 

•          Politely shake their hand and then wait for them to initiate any type of conversation. You remain talking to the new manager, but never fully engage them in the conversation and only give answers to their questions.
•          Warmly shakes their hand and immediately ask them how they like the company and if they have any questions you can answer for them. Listen to their response and begin a two-sided conversation that involves both answering and asking questions. 

While at a friend’s birthday party, you find yourself seated next to someone you’ve never met before. Do you: 

•          Turn to them and introduce yourself saying, “Obviously we both have great taste in friends, how do you know the birthday boy/girl?”
•          Ignore the person you don’t know and scan the area for someone you do know and begin to talk to them, even if it means talking over or around the person you have not met.

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Listening to the people you are trying to persuade.

The purpose of leadership is to get someone, mainly a group of people, to do something – and that’s to follow you, to agree with your plans and to move to convincing others about your ideas.

You need to convey your message in a way that convinces them to get on board.

And the way you convince them is to listen to them. Not only listening to what they’re saying, but also to what they’re NOT saying. Listen between the lines.

When people are deciding whether to follow you or not, they have questions. They want answers. They want direction. They want solutions to tough questions – answers that affect their lives. They are asking “what’s in it for me?”

They need to trust who you are and what you stand for. Give them both. Show them who you are. Display, or better yet, live your core values and beliefs. Be a role model for anything and everything you expect from them.

Talk to your followers about who they are. What matters to them? What do they stand for? What is their level of commitment? Find out where the gaps are, and what information they are missing.

Before you can expect people to follow you, you need to understand them. The best way to do this is to listen. There are three levels to listening.

The first level of listening is with your ears. Your ears are naturally sensitive and designed to pick up words and sound. You hear what they are saying, when, and how they are saying it. You gather information. This level of listening requires your presence, but not much else. This is the listening level you put on when you’re attending a snooze fest training seminar where the keynote speaker sounds like Ben Stein.

The second level of listening is with your eyes. You are looking at the person sharing what is on her mind, opening up about what confuses her or causes her pain or excitement. At this level, you are watching from a nonjudgmental, unconditional view. Notice people’s facial expressions, and look into their eyes. See their intention. Listen to the emotion in their voice. Try to understand what is missing from the conversation.

The third level of listening is with your heart. This is the most difficult level of listening. It requires you to suspend all assumptions. You give your full attention to the person, stopping your mind from forming a response and giving your undivided attention. You take in everything you are observing. Your focus is on a deeper, emotional level. You are listening for meaning.

When you learn to listen at all three levels, you become an expert listener, which, in turn, guarantees you success as a skillful, intuitive and followed leader.

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Staying authentic is so important to having a fulfilling career.

When you think of a successful career woman, what do you think of? Do you think of the stereotypical ice queen depicted on so many television shows? The woman with the tight bun, frozen features and impeccable wardrobe who doesn’t know how to function outside of the boardroom. It’s a pervasive stereotype, to be sure, but just because that’s the way you’ve been told by society that you have to behave in order to get ahead, doesn’t mean that’s how it has to be.

In fact, successful women in the corporate world are just as diverse as any other cross section of the population. Here’s why keeping it real at work will only be a positive asset in your career.

•          Facades crack, foundations stay strong. Who you are at your core is your foundation and if you build upon that, you will be a more solid, well-rounded individual. Conversely, if you build upon something that isn’t your true self, then at some point, it will all come crumbling down. 
•        You have to be real to be fulfilled. It’s impossible for your fake self to ever really feel like they are achieving what they want with their life. Sure, you might have goals that you achieve, but you aren’t doing the kind of work that your true self would find rewarding, so after time, you become less and less motivated to continue to perform. When you are truly fulfilled, you never run out of steam and passion for your work. 
•          People respond to authenticity. They may not know exactly that you aren’t portraying your true self, but people tend to feel more comfortable around people who are happy in their own skin and if you aren’t being authentic, then you likely won’t give off that happy, comfortable, confident vibe. When you remain true to yourself, you exude confidence, which people gravitate towards naturally.                       
•           Your intuition only works when you are being real. I spend so much time talking about listening to your intuition and listening to that gut reaction and what your heart is telling you only works if you’re being real. In order to follow your instincts, you have to remain authentic to yourself and everyone around you. 
•          Authentic relationships can always be trusted. When you’re keeping it real, you’re going to attract people that are in similar frames of mind. People who respond to your authenticity because they live their lives the same way. Because of this, you will form much more meaningful bonds with these people and they can always be trusted because they have no ulterior motives.

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Balance is the key to being a successful working single mother.

Single mothers, I salute you.

I understand where you are coming from, because I was a single mother for 10 years.

Not every woman is faced with the challenge of raising children with no partner while also being the sole income provider for the household and many of the single career mothers that I have met through the years are some of the biggest inspirations for, I think, just about any woman trying to find balance in her life. Of course, I’m sure at some point, they’ve experienced work or family overload and crashed, but they’ve recovered and found a balance that I think some women never achieve.

What are your priorities?
As with many single mothers (and mothers in general), their children will always be their top priority and no corner office or vacation home can compete with them. So, it’s important to set your next tier of priorities, whether it is career advancement or stability. These are the goals that are still very important, but will never trump family.

Sacrifice? NEVER!
When you give a little on your priorities, it becomes easier to give a little more and then a little more, until you’ve sacrificed your priorities for a job that isn’t at all what you wanted in the first place. Whether you’re sacrificing ethics or opportunities, it’s never a good time to start.

Oh, yes – we love compromise.
How can I say this when I just said never sacrifice? Simple. Compromise is not the same as sacrifice. Sacrificing something means giving it up. Compromise means meeting someone else halfway. I think any mother has experienced bargaining with her children to meet them halfway. It’s no different in the corporate world. Being able to meet someone halfway always keeps doors open.

Repeat after me: My calendar is sacred!
If you don’t already, start keeping a schedule on your calendar. Single mothers have to juggle so much in a given day that syncing with iCal or google calendars is a necessity and, honestly, it should be for everyone. Don’t simply rely on that “steel trap” to remember every detail of your day. 

Always leave room for flexibility. If you can’t “go with the flow” as a single mom, you’re likely to have a nervous breakdown very quickly. Life is good at throwing curveballs your way, whether it’s your job or work, and you have to be able to work with them.

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Whether it’s your money bottom line or your life’s bottom line, there are ways to increase both.

You need a bottom line that supports your lifestyle, delivers on your purpose, and brings you the security you deserve.

Some women think a bottom line is only about the money. Remember the Jerry Maguire phrase, “Show me the money?” Well, the bottom line is more than just the money.

Don’t misunderstand; money is important. Money pays the bills, sends kids to college and buys the time share in the Bahamas.

Total health, satisfying relationships, raving customers, and general happiness are just a few of the “other” bottom lines that are significant for women.

Here are a few simple tips that will not only increase your financial bottom line but also your life’s bottom line:

1. Lower Costs. Keep the cost of late nights, fast-food eating, and drama-filled relationships to a minimum. Doing too much of the not-good-for you things will only end up making you tired or dull causing you to error when making serious business and life decisions.
2. Increase Efficiency. Do everything as efficiently as you can. No time for slacking. Schedule things that are important you: exercise, family, healthy eating, dental and doctor checkups, prayer and reflection. Limit your time wasted on internet sites that serve no purpose. If you are playing solitaire, that’s scheduled under R&R time. Cross training staff and outsourcing will benefit your financial bottom line, too.
3. Focus on Quality. Quality sells. Quality makes customers happy. Quality means not having to redo, reiterate, or repeat. Quality is something that great customers (the ones who return multiple times) are happy to pay for.
4. Branch Out. Find people, tools and resources that will help you. Outsourcing is a must. Sending work out means you have more time to do what you’re best at. You will do only what you can do to increase the financial bottom line, while increasing your own self-worth bottom line.
5. Diversify. Refuse to get set in your ways. Look at alternative methods or approaches to accomplish what you produce. Learn to look at a problem differently. Do more than think outside the box; try throwing away the rule book when faced with the unsolvable. This means believing in your capacity to change all obstacles in your way.
6. Narrow Your Focus. Dial down your niche and satisfy what causes them pain. Once you find their pain, offer the remedy. Talk to the one person who will most benefit from your solution. The rest will follow like bees to honey.
7. Be a Ball Watcher. Never take your eye off the ball. Watch who’s doing what. Keep your finger in the numbers: money, expenditures, invoicing, satisfied customers, customer complaints, employee performance, freelancer performance, initiative, and creativity. You can make your own long list. Next, mange the list and deal with what needs your attention. Hiring, firing, balancing, and pursuing are all part of the bottom line.
8. Get Organized. Clutter, confusion and chaos only serve to delay your progress. Get rid of the old files, information overload materials, and the things that don’t matter. Clean your space. When was the last time you dusted behind the copier?

Everything on this list is a sure fire way to positively affect your bottom line. After all, the bottom line is that you are living a satisfying, comfortable, free-to-choose life!

[This is only one of the many powerful articles in this week's Influence It! Real Power for Women free ezine. To enjoy the full issue, jam packed with insightful information on strategies to enhance your personal and professional life to achieve ultimate success, you must be a subscriber. Sign up for your own free subscription NOW by clicking here!]

How can you avoid the power struggle of dating within the workplace?

I hope that, for many of you, you have found the love that you deserve and are blissfully happy with your partner. For those of you still looking, I realize it can be tough balancing the pursuit of success in your career and personal love life. For some people, romance buds in the workplace, whether they expect it or not. Now, I have to state here that many companies have strict dating policies about coworkers and employees. Some outright forbid it; others will ask you disclose the relationship once it becomes serious. While all companies have their reasons for these policies, the only suggestion I will make is that bosses should not date their employees. It creates far too much of an ethical dilemma and will likely result in termination of both parties. So what do you do if you and a coworker feel sparks, would like to date, but want to avoid any ethical issues resulting from the partnership?

Be honest and up front.

For the love of Pete, don’t keep your budding romance a secret! It might seem exiting and dangerous at the time, but there is no faster way to get in hot water than to keep an office romance a secret. Let your superiors know the minute things become serious and try and keep them in the loop.

Keep the relationship at home.

Your office is not a place to have a quick make out session. Physical romance should stop the minute you two walk into the building. Sure, you can go have a nice lunch together some days, but try to keep PDA to a minimum, since it sparks a wildfire of gossip.

Find a way to “table” arguments while at work.

When you’re having a heated argument with your lover, it can be hard to “drop it” for a while, but you have to find a way to make that happen when you go to work. The company’s productivity should not be affected in the slightest because of your inability to work together due to a personal spat.

Make sure that you do not have any influence over your partner in the office.

It’s a good idea to make sure that you have no way to influence the position of power that your significant other has in the office. This might mean that one of you transfers to a new department or takes on a new project. No matter how hard to your try to keep things equal, there will always be coworkers that accuse you of favoritism, so it’s best not to give them the opportunity.

What about you? Have you ever had an office romance? What are some of your pieces of advice for our corporate Romeos and Juliets?

Making change requires quick thinking and a keen intuition.

When it comes to staying on top of your career and ahead of the pack, it’s a jungle out there! There are people with connections, who have more years’ experience than you do or that have been at the company longer. So how on earth do you stand out among the crowd? The answer is simple: use your intuition. We’re hard wired to do what’s best for us in most situations; all you need to do is learn to follow your gut. Animals do it day in and day out and it works fairly well for them. They do what comes naturally and typically they do more than stay alive; they thrive!

What can we learn from members of the animal kingdom to hone our “killer instincts?”

Cheetah: In the corporate world, you’ve got to be fast! One minute an opportunity is there, the next, it’s gone. Take a lesson from the cheetah handbook and don’t hesitate to hit the ground running at full speed in order to get the promotion you want. Trust your gut when it tells you to strike.

Elephant: The saying goes, “An elephant never forgets” and neither should you. Your memory can be the key to success along with your intuition. If we attempt to remember the lessons we learn along our career path, we likely won’t make the same mistakes again, simply because our instincts remind us what happened last time.

Salmon: In order to spawn, the salmon face an arduous trek upstream, against currents, waterfalls and all odds in order to meet their goal of breeding. Obviously, your goals are probably different than a salmon’s at this point, but you need that sort of tenacity in order succeed in business. Don’t take no for an answer and just keep pushing against the current until you’ve made progress.

Hummingbird: These little birds keep busy and flit from flower to flower looking for the sweetest nectar. You should always be able to flit from office to office and get along with your superiors as well as your colleagues. Keeping yourself busy on many projects will help you to stand out from the rest of the herd.

Brown Bear: Boy, it sure sounds like hard work being a part of the concrete jungle, doesn’t it? That’s why you need to take a cue from the brown bear, and take some time to relax and “hibernate” from the hustle and bustle of the business world. Now, I don’t recommend an entire winter, but try to take weekends off and find small moments for yourself to regroup and relax.

What about you? How do you adapt your behavior?

Writing a business plan is the first step in venturing into building a business. It’s also a requirement if you plan to apply for a business loan.

But a business plan can do more than get you a bank loan. A great business plan will help you plan your business from the end to the beginning.

A business plan is a fluid document that changes as you grow, uncovers challenges, discovers more of what you want and finds out more of what you need to succeed.

Good businesses are started with the end in mind and work backwards.

Sound crazy? Maybe. But it’s the way successful entrepreneurs think, and it’s the way to make it to the top of the business world.

If they can do it, so can you. Before you decide on which business plan template to use, there are 5 necessary things to include when you design and build your business plan:

What Needs To Stop. Figure out everything in your business or life that you hate, that you want to stop, or that you are tired of. This means identifying what is causing you pain and making you depressed. Get to the root of it. Don’t be satisfied with or fool yourself into thinking the superficial stuff is what is causing your pain. Avoid that trap. Be honest with yourself. List the things in your life that cause you stress, frustration or worry.

Go To The Source. Get to the heart of the matter. Know what you want. Figure out what you want day-to-day life to look like. Include everything that you want in your life, how you want to spend your time, and who you want to be around. Think about the things that make you happy, excited, blessed and fulfilled.

Connect The Dots. Look at these two lists and build your bridge. What is similar in both columns? For instance, if you want to feel rested and you’re tired of being run down all the time, then you can see what not only needs to be done, but what you need to put in your business plan to ensure it gets done.

The Ideal Sale. This is similar to knowing your ideal customer except it goes one step further. It’s important to know not only your ideal customer but also the most effective process to get her to “yes.” Is it relationship building? Is it a system? What will you do to make her a returning customer? When you get these answers, you have to assess which skills you already have, which ones need improvement, and the new skills you need to learn to expand the best process.

Do It With Purpose. Your purpose defines the business you’re really in. Your purpose needs to be defined from your ideal customer’s point of view. It needs to clearly state what your product or service will do for customers, and how it will affect their lives. Knowing your purpose improves your performance. When you are clear about your purpose, your productivity will climb because you will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of everything you undertake.

These 5 sections in a business plan are as important (and in some cases, more important) as the numbers, expenses, assets, estimates, and projections the banker wants to see. Having a clear picture of how the “end” of your business will look makes beginning a whole lot easier.

[This is only one of the many powerful articles in this week's Influence It! Real Power for Women free ezine. To enjoy the full issue, jam packed with insightful information on strategies to enhance your personal and professional life to achieve ultimate success, you must be a subscriber. Sign up for your own free subscription NOW by clicking here!]