What’s the number one difference between the hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs barely making it and the top 10% who are wealthy, successful and living a life that they love?

Knowing the right opportunities to focus on.

Last week I was talking to a new client who suggested how frustrating it was to be putting so much time and energy into running his business only to find that he is barely making enough to pay his bills. I asked my new client to make a list of all of his projects and opportunities he is focused on. Five pages later, I realized what the problem was. It seemed that Bright, Shiny Object Syndrome™ was running amuck!

Let’s face it. There will never be a shortage of opportunities, great ideas and potential money makers. But how do you know what the right opportunities are so you don’t waste your time?

Last year I was coaching a man who is a brilliant idea guy. He called me up for a coaching session very excited about the radio show he decided to host. When I asked him how much time, money and energy he was planning on investing in this marketing opportunity, he said, “I don’t know yet. I just know it is a real opportunity for me.” Then I asked how it would translate into paying customers. He responded, “I don’t know yet, I just know I’ve always wanted to host a radio show.”

Sound familiar?

How many opportunities are you saying yes to simply because it sounds like a good idea or it seems like fun?

It is time to turn your over-committed, way-too-busy, laundry list of overwhelming to-do’s into a simple, power-packed strategy to skyrocket your success. Then let’s get clear on a formula to evaluate your opportunities against to make good decisions for your time, money and energy.

First of all, is this opportunity really aligned with what is important to you? Are your values being met? Does it pass your integrity check? Will you feel excited to be involved in this opportunity and move it to completion? It’s important to reflect back to your list of values and priorities (if you’ve got a copy of the ULTIMATE Success Generator then you have a head start here) and make sure that saying yes will keep you on track with what’s important to you.

For example, if making money is important RIGHT NOW then it doesn’t make sense to focus on creating an information product. The reality is you won’t see cash from it for at least 6 – 12 months. (Sorry, but that is the truth unless you have a really big list and a great team to delegate to.) But you could offer some strategy sessions or some kind of private event that people have to put a deposit in today for.

Second, how will this opportunity make you money? What exactly will have to happen for this opportunity to generate revenue? How long will it take to start making money? What is the profit? How much time, energy and money will it take to get it off the ground? There is a difference between seeding a longer term potential revenue generating project vs. something is guaranteed to make you short term cash.

For example:

An email campaign to your list with a specific deadline one week from now will generate immediate cash flow.

A teleclass in 30 to 60 days will generate cash flow in the near future.

A new marketing strategy like hosting a radio show, doing an interview for a magazine or article submissions are longer term, and more uncertain, payoff.

Third, who is going to do it? Just because it’s a great idea doesn’t mean you should do it yourself. Many times we hold ourselves back from playing a bigger game simply because we don’t know how to do it, or don’t have time. This is where delegating to other people’s strengths can turn a good idea into a money maker.

For example:

Could you say yes to putting on a live event if you had someone reliable to fill the event? That’s a big pay day, right?

Would you be willing to finally create your information product if you knew you had someone to format it, design it and create the sales copy? Sure!

If you can’t find all this data to determine if the opportunity is a good fit, then you need to make a grown up decision. Are you willing to take a risk with your time, money and resources for an unknown payoff? No matter how good it sounds, if you are up against the wall, it’s not really the best time to experiment with unknowns.

Saying yes to opportunities can sometimes be a gamble. If it is aligned with your priorities and values then it can be worth taking the risk. The more facts and data you have, the better decision you can make. You owe it to your business to have some kind of formula to run opportunities through before you jump on them.

Running your own business means you must become willing to make better choices for your time and resources. Put this simple strategy into action and I know you will immediately see better results!

About the Coach:

Melanie Benson Strick, The Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.

Get the Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon to revolutionize your results and get on the fast-track to a freedom based business at www.thepowerofthevirtualteam.com

 

 How to Transform “Over-Commitment, Way-Too-Busy and Low Cash Flow” into a Thriving 6 - 7 Figure Lifestyle Business [12:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (833)

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Lifestyle, Podcast, Success Strategies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.