(Discover more great wisdom on Achieving Your Dreams during Answering The Call Virtual Summit, starting February 7th)

No one, who has ever followed a dream, has taken a direct, unobstructed path and arrived at his or her destination effortlessly and on time. Following a dream is not a direct highway but a bumpy road full of twists and turns and occasional roadblocks. The journey requires modifications and adjustments in both thought and action, not just once, but over and over.

Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body Shop, used creativity to overcome challenges that would have stopped the vast majority of new business owners. She broke just about every rule in the book when she started The Body Shop and she’s still breaking the rules today. Of course, such irreverence has its consequences. In Anita’s case, the consequences read like this: The Body Shop now has more than 1,500 stores throughout the world, is worth over $500 million, and has influenced the products and marketing of all its chief competitors. And those are just the consequences in the business arena. The Body Shop is also a powerfully effective vehicle for social and environmental awareness and change; as far as Anita is concerned, that is the most important consequence of all.

From the moment in 1976 when Anita first conceived the idea of opening a shop to sell naturally based cosmetics, she was thinking in a most unbusinesslike manner. Most entrepreneurs set out to establish a company with growth potential that will make them wealthy someday. Anita was just looking for a way to feed herself and her two children, while her husband, also a maverick, was away on a two-year adventure, riding a horse from Argentina to New York.

Her first challenge was to find a cosmetics manufacturer to produce her products. No one she approached had ever heard of jojoba oil or aloe vera gel, and they all thought that cocoa butter had something to do with chocolate. Although she didn’t realize it at the time, Anita had discovered a market just about to explode: young female consumers who would prefer their cosmetics to be produced in a cruelty-free and environmentally responsible manner. When manufacturers failed to have the same foresight, Anita found a small herbalist who could do the work she required.

Since Anita was not the typical entrepreneur, she saw no drawbacks in starting her company with almost no capital. To save money, she bottled her cosmetics in the same inexpensive plastic containers hospitals use for urine samples, encouraging her customers to bring the containers back for refills. Because Anita couldn’t afford to have labels printed, she and some friends hand printed every one. Her packaging couldn’t have turned out better if she’d planned it that way. With the improvised packaging, her product now had the same natural, earthy image as the cosmetics themselves.

Anita opened the first branch of The Body Shop in her hometown of Brighton, England. When she first opened, neighboring proprietors made bets on how long the store would last. Less amused were the owners of local funeral parlors who insisted she change the shop’s name. No one, they complained, would hire a funeral director located near a place called “The Body Shop.” She stuck to her guns and the name stayed.

The first store was only minimally successful. Nevertheless, Anita decided to move ahead with a second one. The bank questioned the wisdom of her plan and refused a loan. So she found a friend of a friend who was willing to lend her the equivalent of $6,400 in exchange for 50 percent ownership of The Body Shop. Today that person is worth $140 million. Signing over half of her business was the only real mistake Anita ever made. But it wasn’t the only decision that looked like a mistake. Here are three more:

• She has never advertised even when she opened shops in the United States. People told her it was suicide to enter a new market without massive advertising support.

• She doesn’t sell in any outlet other than The Body Shop stores. (Some of her Asian stores are the only exception and are located within department stores.)

• She resolved early on that her shops would be a catalyst for change, not just in the business world, but in the world at large.

These decisions turned out to be some of the most inspired “mistakes” in the history of retailing. Even though Anita has never paid for advertising, her unconventional ideas have inspired hundreds of articles and interviews generating tremendous publicity.

Her first shop in New York was packed with customers from the day it opened. At one point, a thirty-five-year-old woman on roller skates threw up her arms and shouted, “Hallelujah! You’re here at last.” So much for advertising.

A new branch of The Body Shop opens somewhere in the world every two and a half days. Occasionally, Anita has had trouble opening stores in shopping malls. But having a past that was filled with challenges, Anita is accustomed to coming up with creative solutions. For instance, when one mall refused to lease her space, she organized every mail-order customer within a 110-mile radius to write letters to the management of that mall. Within a few months, a branch of The Body Shop was open.

Anita also had this nonconformist idea of putting ideals ahead of profit. From the start, Anita wanted not just to change the faces of her customers but to change the entire face of business. She envisioned a company that was socially responsible and compassionate. “I see the human spirit playing a big role in business. The work does not have to be drudgery, and the sole focus does not have to be on making money. It can be a human enterprise that people feel genuinely good about.”

Some of the raw materials for her products are harvested by groups of people in underdeveloped regions, thus generating an income for them. The Body Shop has launched campaigns to save the whales, ban animal testing in the cosmetics industry, help the homeless, and protect the rain forests. All of these campaigns have been eagerly supported by loyal customers.

Employees of The Body Shop are actively involved in these efforts. Each month, employees receive a half day off with pay to volunteer in the community. Some employees, for example, went to Romania to help rebuild orphanages. In the stores, customers are encouraged to register to vote, recycle their plastic cosmetics containers, and bring their own shopping bags to save paper and plastic. Because of all these activities, people have suggested Anita’s company should really be called “The Body and Soul Shop.” Customers emerge not only looking good but also feeling good.

“Business as usual” isn’t part of Anita Roddick’s make up. But as far as she’s concerned, doing what is not usual has made all the difference.

Action:

Anita said that what saved The Body Shop over and over was their willingness to recognize what wasn’t working and quickly identify a new way to approach a problem. This is a crucial strategy because everyone who starts a business is going to face challenges. Things never work out exactly as intended and creativity will play a key role in enabling a new business owner to conquer daily battles. If you don’t come up with alternative solutions, your dreams will die.

The first step to expanding your creativity is to clearly identify the problem you’re experiencing. Maybe you’re struggling in sponsoring people who are interested in working the business and not simply purchasing the product. Or maybe you’re having a hard time finding new prospects period. Write the numbers 1 through 10 vertically down the left side of the sheet of paper. Finally, write ten possible solutions to your problem. Make sure they are viable options, but stretch your imagination.

Remember, the solution to every problem lies within you. You may need a few minutes of quiet time to complete the exercise effectively, or you may need to brainstorm possible solutions with a friend. Feel free to do whatever you think is necessary to connect with your inner knowing. When you’ve completed the exercise, you should find that the solutions you have found will renew your sense of possibility and your commitment to your goal.
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Cynthia Kersey, best-selling author of two books, speaker, entrepreneur, and Chief Humanitarian Officer of the Unstoppable Foundation knows first hand that giving is not only good for business, it’s good for the soul.

Let Cynthia and 11 other leading success and life purpose experts pull you out of your rut and give you their blueprints for waking up and answering the ‘CALL’ to your big adventure in life in the Answering The Call Virtual Summit.

(Discover more great wisdom on Reinvention during Answering The Call Virtual Summit, starting February 7th)

Strategies for responding to “Tell me about yourself”

Last week I was in a pitch meeting with a television network. I was in the president’s office seated with six of his key executives on chairs and sofas around a large coffee table. The informal setting was cozy and the vibe was warm and friendly. After introductions, my prospective client said, “Tell me about yourself and your company.”

I started at the very beginning – sharing that my dad was a single parent who taught my sister and me the ad business at an early age. Then I gave a quick overview of my days working in radio, newspaper and finally television, where I helped launch TNT and turn CNN into The World’s News Leader. To conclude my story, I walked them through a few relevant client case studies and shared my branding philosophy and process.

Here’s what I didn’t do: whine about not having a mom growing up, elaborate on personal challenges, complain about difficult clients, lie about my accomplishments, go off on tangents, diminish my talents, overstate what I could deliver or drone on without focus.

Building a captivating story about yourself involves sharing the epic moments in your life that reveal your true character.

To arrive at your answer to the question, “Tell me about yourself,” it’s important that you think deeply to uncover a time when you overcame adversity. This could be the beginning of your signature story – the one where you played the superhero. Michael Margolis, Dean of Story University, talks about how most of us are reluctant or accidental heroes. He says, “Remember, you are not born a superhero. Superheroes are created based on circumstances and a choices.” What were yours?

If you walk into a pitch meeting or give a presentation without a signature story and just go though the motions of showing your work, you’ll miss making an emotional connection with your audience that will set you apart from your competition.

In addition to creating a signature story, it’s important that you demonstrate thatyou’re on a heroic quest. I always finish my story with my life’s mission, which is to “help professionals fearlessly achieve their potential.” I want my prospects to know that beyond delivering a transformational brand strategy, I am purposeful in my desire to inspire their employees.

If you want to play big and really make an impact in business, begin by sharing an epic story about you. The universe is waiting for you to proclaim your unique qualities. Your target audience wants to know that you can really make a difference to their organization.

When you reveal yourself through story, you honor your accomplishments and set the stage for your next triumph.

Here are some different forms of storytelling you can adopt courtesy of success guru Brendon Burchard:

• Woe to Win – when you were down and out, and then you came back
• Finding or stumbling upon the magic bullet – and everything changed
• David versus goliath – when were you the underdog?
• The tough choice — the other choice would’ve been easier, but this choice made you a better person
• The switch from victim to victor — everyone has that story
• The switch from self-absorbed to service minded – when was that point for you?
• Family play – when did you decide that your family was important, and when did you sacrifice for them?
• The no one believed I could do it story
• The experience epic – 2-4 years of crap and then you came out of it a winner
• The turnaround — when you finally decided to pursue something super meaningful

Start today writing a few different versions of your story and see which one makes you feel better about yourself. It should express what you were born to do and at the same time have a universal theme that everyone can relate to. In the end, your story should be one you feel proud to tell the world.

A quick note to those who are in the middle of a sad story: don’t let your present circumstances define you. Think back to another time when you overcame a difficult situation and let that be your story for right now. The more you tell it, the more you’ll start to believe that you are a superhero and you’ll find yourself transitioning right into a happy ending.

If your story inspires you, it is sure to inspire others.

Share what inspires you in the comments below…we’d love to hear your story.

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Robin Fisher Roffer
Ranked among the World’s Top 5 Most Influential Brand Gurus, Robin Fisher Roffer provides the rocket fuel that has ignited the launch pad of dozens of brands all over the world. Crafting brand-building strategies and marketing plans for major corporations like Sony, Time-Warner and 20th Century Fox, as CEO of Big Fish Marketing Robin’s dynamic spark has unearthed the soul of some of the world’s most beloved brands and in turn defined a who’s who of successful ventures. Robin’s mission is to help professionals fearlessly achieve their potential and shares the secrets from 20 years of branding some of the best loved companies in the world in her products and programs, teleclasses and weekly success blogs.

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Ready for a reinvention? Join Robin and 11 other Success Experts for Answering The Call Virtual Summit and discover easy, profitable steps to navigate through the evolution of your business.

Here are some of the “villagers” that I turn to for support:

1. A Mentor Coach: Having someone in your corner who will help you see all the possibilities is essential to achieving your vision this year.

2. A “Get Things Done” Team:  If you look at how any high performing village operates, no one tries to achieve their dream alone. Even the villagers on Botaira in Fiji all had a role in taking care of the retreat center. Its time to hire some help!

3. A Mastermind:  Isolation runs rampant in entrepreneurs who work from home so being part of a thriving mastermind can help re-energize your vision, provide encouragement and challenge your assumptions of what’s possible. The more you participate in our monthly calls the more engaged you will feel!

4. Strategic Partners: Having a strong group of partners who support your vision and will host calls or promote your programs to their own community can make this journey much easier. Remember, it goes both ways! Be a giver first and watch your “giving back” energy soar.

5. Your Clients: The village wouldn’t be complete without feeling connected to the people you serve. Make sure your clients are in alignment with your vision — their needs, their values and their  ability to pay what you are worth.

Case in point: Recently I joined a new mastermind. There was a pretty arduous interview process that took place to become a member — which told me this group was dead serious about the commitment to participate. It was a lot of work to get in, get it started and figure out all the important elements of being successful in the group.

The pay off came quickly. Within one conversation with one of the key members I had re-ignited a vision inside of me that had laid dormant for years. I had shockingly been playing small in my mind even though I thought I was doing the right thing!  A blind spot in my business was illuminated that changed everything!

I realized something extraordinarily important immediately:

Its really easy to play small when you live inside the possibilities you create for yourself!

As entrepreneurs we often work alone, chained to our desk, seeing only the emails and Facebook posts that cross our desk for weeks at a time. Conversations are geared towards client deliverables and tasks that have to be done in record time. We become myopic and lose sight of our dream, our calling and what matters most.

No wonder we start thinking small!

Your vision can be ignited by people and situations when you infuse different thinking, especially when you explore ideas from people who are not in your industry or trade.

Its time to raise your vision and thrive this year in ways you never even knew were possible. Take stock in your village — do you have the right people in it?

If not, what corrective action can you take to resolve it? Join a mastermind? Hire a coach? Evaluate the types of clients you are accepting? Spend more time with people who “get it?”

Here’s one option that you can do today: Starting February 7th, you can join me in a powerful conversation on how you can Answer the Call Today in your life. Over the course of three weeks in February, I’ll be hosting a powerful series with 12 success and life purpose experts to help you navigate through stepping your game up while you create more meaning and impact.

I recognize the worst decisions were just a great learning tool. By identifying them I can create a better strategy or approach to achieving new results.

Here are six of my best decisions from 2011!

#1 Marry My Husband
Absolutely and positively the best decision I’ve made in my life is to marry my husband. The reason it’s even on the list is that I had to really listen to my intuition, put aside a lot of the noise about “what will people think” and trust my truth. Finding a man who I share the path of transformation, commitment to serve, who is co-creating a freedom-based lifestyle and is a positive communicator is a rare gift.

#2 Take Time to Recharge
I’ve always loved traveling and having down time to recharge. But in 2009 and 2010 I didn’t have a lot of it. This year I bit the bullet and started taking more time away again – wrapping the year up with my amazing three week Fijian wedding and Australian honeymoon. Was the timing convenient? Nope. But the outcome of taking some time to recharge was a much clearer focus on a new resolve to shift some issues in my business.

#3 Invest Deeply in Relationships
Having experienced a deep career identity crisis for 2 years, one of the best decisions I made in 2011 was to step back into what I love most – connecting with people in an authentic way. I realized that by following the lead of experts who “separate” from people to position their credibility I lost touch with something I deeply treasure.

This last year was incredible – I was able to create profound shifts in my clients by working with less people. I experienced significant a level of connection with a few colleagues and friends that went beyond my wildest dreams. By investing time, energy and money in these relationships the return was astronomical. I made bold decisions to spend time with people who challenge my assumptions and truly believe in me.  I found myself thinking differently, making better choices and having the confidence to step into goals that I was talking myself out of.

#4 Implement Task Management System
Often my clients get overwhelmed with a lot of to-do’s. I’m no exception but I struggled to find a system that really met my needs. After lots of communication breakdowns and systems that sounded good but didn’t really help, we implemented Team Work Live.

Its $40 a month but it saves me about 25 hours of craziness and frustration. THAT means it’s a good decision!

#5 Eliminate “The Dogs”
In my college marketing class we learned about rising stars, cash cows and dogs. Well I realized I had a couple of dogs in my offerings – programs that were not selling well the way there were designed. So I axed them. It was hard; but why should I continue to pour time and energy into something that isn’t bringing me happiness?

The best part was that by letting go of what wasn’t working I could focus on what IS working. I realized I had never formally opened up enrollment in my New Era Entrepreneur program. WHAT??? I saw that my Build Your Dream Team program was generating sales each month – without doing any SEO or marketing! What could happen if we actually focused on it?

#6 Uplevel My Finance Team
Learning how to proactively manage my financial flow has been a big growth edge for me. I realized that I had been creating more challenges for myself by having a part-time bookkeeper who was inexpensive but not trained for my business needs. Hiring a bookkeeper that had experience not only eliminated a ton of stress for me, but my entire team was able to perform better by having access to cash flow information. The monthly investment is a bit more but the savings by having my books kept correctly is at least five times greater.

Drum Roll Please…and Now the Worst Decisions

#1 Cutting Corners Financially
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. I’ve realized that every time I try to cut a corner financially and hire someone cheap, barter or negotiate a better deal, it comes back to bite me later. Cheap labor usually means the person either doesn’t value themselves or doesn’t have the experience. When I start evaluating how much time it takes me to manage the cheap labor or negotiate the lower price, I start to realize the real cost is 2 – 3 times more.

This year when my $150 overseas Wishlist programmer totally botched my set up, put me 3 months behind schedule and I’ve now had to pay 10 times that to try to get it working right, I vowed to never again look for the cheapest solution.

#2 Rushed Hiring
Since I teach this in Build Your Dream Team, I’m a bit miffed at myself to even admit it. But, as an entrepreneur, my “get things done fast” approach can be just as destructive as the next person. When it comes to hiring, it’s the worst approach and leads to making bad hires.

When I knew I had a big event coming in 2011, I started my search for a new business manager. I followed my process to the letter – until it came time to check references. I didn’t finish connecting with the references because I was in a hurry. I also didn’t listen to my gut screaming about how one person on their team would fit with my culture.

Lesson learned. Always follow my process and stop letting my intuition be my primary hiring guide.

#3 Targeting the 90%

I had a huge a-ha about my marketing – the last two years I have been targeting the people on my list who are new business owners, don’t have money and can’t afford my programs. I thought because the majority of people who follow my work were there I should switch my focus. My good friend Jim Palmer called me out on it and said, “Why aren’t you focusing on the 5% who can and will invest in your best work?” Woops.

My best work is getting already established entrepreneurs into the top 5%. I had bought into the 90%. It all goes back to what you focus on – and this one small shift in my thinking created a HUGE shift in my energy, focus and the new direction for my offerings in 2012.

I’d love to hear your input…share your best and worst decisions this year in the comments below.

Then, it hit me.

I was trying to build success the way I showed up as an employee. I had not developed a successful set of character traits to succeed on my own. So I began to study hundreds of extraordinary entrepreneurs from all walks of life in a “success modeling project” and discovered that there are 7 common character traits they share.

1. Clarity of Purpose.

Knowing what to direct our energy, focus and resources on is only possible when we are clear about our purpose. What are we here to accomplish? What has to be done right now? If you aren’t clear, then you will end up spinning around in your head and feel overwhelmed. When you have a clear sense of purpose, you can easily determine what to invest in, what to spend time on, and what tasks are the highest priorities in the moment.

2. Discipline to Say No.

Saying no to distractions and bright shiny objects creates more space for what’s important. Many of us have this false belief that saying no will limit what we can have. Or because we don’t really know what we do want, we say yes to everything hoping at some point the magic “a-ha” will reveal itself. Saying no means we can have more of what we really want – because we have made it a practice to keep out what isn’t serving us so there is room for having what we do want. Practice having the discipline to say more yes only to the things that feel 100% on track…and “maybe” to the rest. Create a system to evaluate and filter out what doesn’t make sense.

3. Confidence.

As entrepreneurs we are often faced with complicated decisions, unpleasant interactions and gut-wrenching choices. Having confidence helps us have the gumption to do the right thing – even when it’s hard. Confidence comes from feeling clear, energized, skillful, supported and aligned with the appropriate resources. If you find yourself holding back or fearful of taking action, you might need a confidence boost! One way to get a boost of confidence is to gather the facts – what is real vs. what you might be “making up” in your head. Consider making a list of the facts so your emotions don’t get the best of you.

4. Take Calculated Risks.

An entrepreneur can only grow by taking risks – often into unknown territory. But they aren’t blind risks…they are calculated based on priorities and known risks. Priorities are the things that you need the most right now – cash flow, team support, credibility, an urgent project, etc. A calculated risk is a decision you make to move towards a goal, even if you don’t know how it will work out, because at this point it aligns with the criteria you’ve established for success. If you follow entrepreneurs who have a track record of extraordinary success, you’ll notice they don’t always have clarity on how a decision will work out, but they make consistently good decisions. Learn how to build your own decision making formula for success!

5. Ruthless Leverage.

Entrepreneurs burn themselves out when their success depends solely on them. Leverage is a way of looking at your business growth opportunities to impact and succeed through systems, delegation, replication and automation. The degree to which we choose to use leverage is the degree to which we can grow. Extraordinary entrepreneurs typically have a big vision – bigger than anything they can pull off alone – so they will align with others who can implement their ideas quickly.

6. Congruency.

Deep inside of your subconscious mind, you have a congruency barometer – is this task, project, opportunity or business model good for me, the people I serve and the world around me? When your congruency barometer doesn’t perceive a fit, you will sabotage your progress. In order to make big leaps into unchartered waters, extraordinary entrepreneurs have to have a “fit” between the direction they are heading and what they value in life.  These factors often include the time you have for family or how much work you think a project will take will take or whether you believe you can pull off the vision. Whatever it is, get congruent and you’ll notice a huge shift in your results.

7. Possibility Attitude.

Do you sort for why things won’t work…or why they will? Many people who are natural problem solvers tend to see all the reasons why something won’t work …

“I’ve tried it before”

“That’s too hard”

“How will I pay for it”

Extraordinary entrepreneurs recognize that all things are possible – it’s their attitude towards the goal that has to shift. When you believe you can accomplish anything you “sort” ideas and opportunities differently. Someone who has a limited filter typically rejects 99% of new ideas. Someone who sees everything as a possibility only rejects what isn’t in alignment. Which one are you?

Which of these character traits do you already have? And are there any you’d like to strengthen? Please share in the comments below…

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Ready to create your own highly profitable decision making formula for extraordinary results? Become a Big Idea Incubator (find out here here.)

I’m sorry but I just can’t get on board with that.

I want to play with other leaders. What I know is that leaders make change happen. Followers just haven’t found their own voice yet. So I’m pretty clear its my job to inspire other entrepreneurs, service professionals and marketers to find their voice and shift into being a thought leader.

Now I know not everyone is ready or willing to lead. That’s OK. But my guess is if you are ready my blog you feel it — it’s time to step into being a leader.

With that in mind, I thought I’d share a great overview of the difference between a leader and a follower from Inspirational Archive.

Leaders vs. Followers

When leaders make a mistake, they say, “I was wrong.”
When followers make mistakes, they say, “It wasn’t my fault.”

A leader works harder than a follower and has more time;
a follower is always “too busy” to do what is necessary.

A leader goes through a problem;
a follower goes around it and never gets past it.

A leader makes and keeps commitments;
a follower makes and forgets promises.

A leader says, “I’m good, but not as good as I ought to be;”
a follower says, “I’m not as bad as a lot of other people.”

Leaders listen;
followers just wait until it’s their turn to talk.

Leaders respect those who are superior to them and tries to learn something from them;
followers resent those who are superior to them and try to find chinks in their armor.

Leaders feel responsible for more than their job;
followers say, “I only work here.”

A leader says, “There ought to be a better way to do this;”
followers say, “That’s the way it’s always been done here.”

Here’s what I’d add to the list:

A leader uses innovation to create new levels of success,
followers copy what other people are doing to be successful.

A leader recognizes problems and proactively solves them,
followers complain about their problems, staying stuck.

A leader knows they serve the world with their genius,
followers focus on what will make them money today.

Who do you want to be? A leader or a follower? Me, I’m a leader and I love helping others find that leadership energy inside of them. It’s why I’m creating a community of New Era Entrepreneurs (it’s a work in progress so if it’s not up yet don’t worry, it will be soon.).

I’d love to hear your thoughts below in the comments.

“Melanie, what is a thought leader?”

I thought I’d put this quick video together to share what a thought leader is from my point of view.

So do you have any of these thought leader characteristics? Are you on the edge and need a little “shift?” Feel free to share in the comments below or check out how I’m helping thought leaders like yourself get liberated with The Big Idea Incubator.

You have a feeling about what you’re meant to do.

You probably have clues all around you.

You might even know what it is…but you get so bogged down in the day to day doing there’s no time to shift into it. It takes every second of every day to keep up with the business you already have.

But somehow when a new way to make money in the short term strikes you, all your current priorities get put on hold to chase this new opportunity.

Opportunity addiction is a double-edged sword.

The results can often mean a quick burst of revenue.

The reality is it’s almost always short term wins at the expense of your long term growth. You get distracted easily by chasing ideas or opportunities that someone else says will help. You follow what other people are doing without any real clarity or direction…then end up with a business that doesn’t inspire you at all. You say yes to way too many activities and don’t have enough time to do any of them very well.

It’s a lot of hard work to be an opportunity addict! It’s a strategy that most often results in debt, frustration and overwhelm.

But when you are a Big Idea Incubator, you approach things differently. You have a system to filter opportunities through a very powerful, clarifying lens. With confidence and resourcefulness, you know how to activate the right people and access the funds you need to pull off your big idea.

Most of us have been taught to listen to others…

I’m suggesting it’s time for you to cultivate your own system for launching YOUR big ideas.

What do you think?

P.S. I’ve put together a few free videos to share more about becoming your own Big Idea Incubator.

Now that’s not surprising but what I noticed over these ten years is that three of the “truths” about business are actually blatant lies cleverly designed to get you to think the way “experts” do.

What I’m about to share with you is what I learned the hard way. You know those moments when the earth feels shaky beneath your feet cause you uncovered a huge “gap” between the truth and what you have been led to believe?

1. Marketing is your most important skill.
Now this one is kind of a half-lie because marketing IS important in your quest to generate clients. If you don’t know how to market you’ll be hurting for revenue. But marketing is only the most important skill UNTIL you have enough clients. The mistake so many business owners make is to continue marketing to feed the revenue goals without having a solid infrastructure to support the growth.

More marketing only makes bigger problems when you have a full client base. You’ll feel more overwhelmed, have more costly customer service issues and experience a huge implosion if you don’t have THE most important skill — leadership. A leader knows how to:

- Activate resources to implement their big vision into the world

- Make strategic decisions quickly

- Be extraordinarily resourceful in aligning with the right opportunities

- Build a team to implement their big ideas rapidly

- Grow profits while making huge leaps

If you are a business that can stand the test of time then your greatest skill has to help you move effectively through each phase of your growth. Leaders know how to use the right skills at the right time to escalate their trajectory as needed.

2. Just because someone else is “doing it” it will work for me.
When I was ready to create a business, I heard this mantra over and over again:

“If you want the fastest path to cash do what I did (aka follow my cookie cutter approach and you won’t make my mistakes and you can make lots of money quickly.)”

Well I tried that and it failed miserably! Cookie cutters don’t work for long term success. They might get you a fast burst of cash, a quick win or maybe even get you some credibility in the market place, but the “follow me” technique has created a lot of noise out there.

If you are a thought leader or visionary entrepreneurs, do you REALLY want to follow in someone else’s footsteps? Of course not. You want to align with mentors who can help you learn how to learn how to take your brilliant ideas and create offerings that your target audience clamor for!

That means you need to stop imitating other people and figure out how to integrate leadership mindset, behaviors, strategies and systems into YOUR uniqueness.

That’s the path to sustainable success.

3. Following your passion isn’t as important as making money.
I couldn’t believe it when my friend said, “Melanie doing what your passionate about isn’t the key – making money is.” I shook my head in bewilderment. Well, he was making a big six figure income and I wasn’t (at that time) so I guess I should do what he’s doing.

So I started to do the things that would make me money even if I wasn’t passionate about them. That’s when I built “the machine.” The machine made money but I was slowly dying inside. Reaching 7 figures was a milestone that everyone wanted to celebrate but my deep dark secret was that I hated the idea of growing something that didn’t feed my soul.

What I realized is that if I’m not passionate about my work and doing what I love every day then it’s just not worth it. When life began to crash around me it occurred that building a business that makes good money that doesn’t have passion in it can’t be sustained— especially if you are on the path of transformational leadership.

Believe it or not, over 50% of entrepreneurs have no idea WHY they have their business other than it makes them money. Somewhere they bought into the “story” that making money is what matters.

I’m watching a lot of entrepreneurs make decisions solely on how it will profit them – leading only with their head – and completely sacrificing their heart. Eventually it drains the life out of you.

I don’t know about you but money without passion just isn’t a big enough why.

I bought into a lot of stuff that just wasn’t true. Believing it has actually crippled my progress at times. Now I’m convinced that the people who told me these lies were not bad – they had bought into the lies too.

It reminds of the story about the woman who cuts the end off her ham to bake it. One day a friend asks her, “Marge, why do you cut off the end of your ham?” She replies, “I don’t know, my mother always did that.” So Marge asks her mother why she cut the ends off her ham and her mother replies, “Because my mother did it.” Finally Marge asks her grandmother why she cuts the ends off her ham to bake it and grandmother responds, “Because my pan was too small and the ham wouldn’t fit.”

What is true for one person doesn’t have to be true for you. What do you think?

Then this morning I read this passage on “Be a Mensch”:

Mensch is a German word for “human being, ” but its Yiddish connotation far exceeds this definition. If you are a mensh, you are honest, fair, kind and transparent, no matter whom you’re dealing with and who will ever know what you did. My buddy Bruna Martinuzzi, author of The Leader as a Mensh: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow, compiled a list of ten ways to achieve menschdom.”

I believe that its our duty as a leader to inspire others to greatness and make a commitment to do no harm. This passage really got to me but I’ll let you read this great book to get her take on it. I put together eight “stands” as a leader that made my list (and I just might add a few more.)

1. Be real.

Our community, prospects, clients and colleagues don’t deserve an illusion of success — people crave knowing who we REALLY are. That doesn’t mean we have to share every single dark aspect of our life as it is happening but pretending to be something we are not is a turn off.

2. Treat people with love and respect.

Even if you don’t like someone’s behavior or they have hurt you doesn’t mean we have to hurt them back. As I watch a very sad situation unfold with two leaders in our industry where one is bad mouthing the other, the only thing I think is, “ZYX is unprofessional”. I believe that being a leader means taking the high road and handling issues with another through love and respect. Guess who I respect more? Yep, the person taking the high road.

3. Admit your weaknesses — and balance them.

Being human means we have strengths — and weaknesses. If you can’t admit you have a weakness, you will not be trusted by others. Last week I caught an episode of America’s Next Great Restaurant where the investors pick a restaurant concept to bring to America. One of the contestants told them he didn’t have any weaknesses. Immediately they stop trusting him. Weakness is normal. Figure them out and then create a strategy to balance them through systems, support teams and training.

4. Honor your word.

If you say you are going to do something, do it. Sure human beings mess up but respected leaders don’t make a habit of it. Don’t tell people you will do something and not do it. But if you do, own it and fix it.

5. Clean up your messes.

I’m not talking about the clutter on your desk. I’m talking about the situations where something went bad and it’s just left hanging out there in the wind. I’m the first to admit that confrontation is scary — I’m a connector so the idea that I might let someone down is stressful for me. When it happens, clean it up. Apologize, make it right, and move on. The energy of past messes drags us down anyway and creates unnecessary tension.

6. Win Win Sales

Do you make decisions that are good for you without considering how it affects others? I’ve discovered that we live in a world of “I win” leadership. My program, my sales, my “close the room” statistics — we rationalize our sales and marketing push on others telling ourselves that “hey they said yes.” Is this really leadership? I’m just saying that I think we can sell without seduction. We can market with a conscious. We can represent our programs so that the right people say yes. Just sayin…

7. Check your Ego

Ego always wants to be right. Ego wants to win at all costs. Ego wants to be protected from anything “not like us.” When we check our ego we may discover that there are wonderful opportunities all around — people who we “thought less of” and ideas we may have considered “beneath us.” As a leader, ego will betray you. It can lead you astray. Give your ego a nap and let your human being-ness make the decisions.

8. Give More

Life isn’t always fair. We don’t always have an “even exchange” of ideas and finances. But when you are a brilliant leader (and I know you are) then be willing to give more of you to the people around you. A generous spirit is attractive, engaging, and pulls people in to want more. I defer to my friend Bob Burg author of The Go-Giver. Give first, freely, enthusiastically and without keeping track. The results are worth it.

So what would YOU add to the list of being a “Mensch Leader?” Post in the comments below…