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.

As we went through her list the problem became crystal-clear, and it’s what I call the Multiple Train Syndrome.

This is why running your business alone doesn’t work.

Every role, project and task is a train that you must drive to the station (the end goal). If you insist on driving all the trains yourself, you will never get them all to the station. Multiple Trains Syndrome might be the reason why you aren’t accomplishing results fast enough.

So let’s put this into perspective: If you are the conductor of all of these trains…

AND they need YOU to put your attention on them in order to move forward…

AND you can truly only focus on one thing at a time…

THEN every time you get on one train… you HAVE TO get off the other one! Your trains will take forever to get into the station.

The solution to Multiple Train Syndrome?

Hire other people to drive the trains forward for you.

That’s where a virtual team comes in. To achieve an income and a lifestyle that you have admired in other successful entrepreneurs and wondered how to have for yourself, you must you must learn how to use leverage. This is accomplished in the three steps I have talked about before: money, systems and time.

Once you learn to leverage, your team will, in essence, replicate you (the “old” solo entrepreneur) in areas where you (the visionary) are “wasting” your time and talents in the day to day tasks that take care of your business—enabling YOU to become the SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNER!

Now, let’s begin building your dream team so you can start planning for your “bigger lifestyle goals”—vacations, getting more done and blowing the ceiling off your revenue projections!

I am sure you are asking yourself, “But what about WHERE I find these people and WHERE do I start and HOW do I do it? I want to make more money AND I want a better lifestyle as well!”

A dream team is a group of independent contractors (and maybe employees) who are integral to a team approach in creating a collaborative end result.

The golden rule of thumb for team building is: Hire to your weaknesses not your strengths. Hire complementary skill sets to your expertise and you will find it a freeing experience.

As entrepreneurs we must remember that people who balance us out may think entirely opposite to us and constantly challenge our way of thinking and getting things done. That is actually a good thing. If you are good at sales and client fulfillment, hire people who love to do the bookkeeping, appointment scheduling or customer service so you know that these essential components are being taken care of with enthusiasm and pride.

I want to leave you with something Theodore Roosevelt once said, ‘The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.’ What’s your situation with hiring a team? Got a great one? Struggling to find the right people? Don’t know how to pay for it? Share your thoughts in the comments below…
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To find out more about how you can pull off your big ideas, leverage your time and skills, build an amazing team and achieve amazing results you NEED to get your hands on a copy of my free report “101 Ways to Triple Your Income and Double Your Time Off”. Click Here to claim your copy now.

Many small business owners may not be convinced that hiring interns would be able to help their business. These small business owners are missing out on an important resource because interns can literally do almost anything for a business. To get your mind focused on hiring interns, we made a short list of some of the different things interns can do for your small business:

– Build a blog for your business: Interns can quickly set up a blog to help establish your brand and manage your customer relationships

– Get your business set up on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube: If you are still resisting the ongoing trend for companies to leverage social media, then you are missing out on one of the most popular mediums to communicate with your customers.

– Install analytics on your website: Interns can install analytics and review and analyze the data. We all know we should be testing our websites but it’s something that always gets put to the back of the list. Hiring an intern to analyze your sites can make a huge difference.

– Automating, Documenting, or Streamlining an existing process in your business

– Drive traffic to your website

– Build a new lead generation website

– Launch a new marketing campaign: Marketing interns love being able to create their own campaigns. Let the intern spend the time on creating the campaign and all you need to do is review it.

– Research your competitors and look for new ways to gain market share

– Recruit strategic partners

– Read and implement some of the home study courses you never got around to completing

This is a short, non exhaustive list of just some of the things that an intern can do for your small business. The possibilities for growing and expanding your business are endless when it comes to hiring interns!

Get access to the inside scoop on Hiring Unpaid Interns to Help You Grow with this $27 E-book, “Mentoring Your Way to Millions” today!

As a creative entrepreneur, I’ve found myself in this situation from time to time – I call it the Failure to Launch Syndrome.

As a coach, I have to walk my talk so when I’ve found myself in a situation where I know what my next big idea is but I’m not taking action, I check in on what’s missing for me.

One of my biggest reasons for Failure To Launch is when I don’t feel supported in getting everything done. I’m already so full with everything to do to sustain what I have I don’t have enough bandwidth to add anything new. So I hold back…and it costs me traction towards my success.

Launching big ideas requires big actions.

Big actions happen with bigger, more aligned and often new strategies.

New strategies often require new skills.

New skills take time to develop – time away from your momentum forward.

If you have a big idea but aren’t taking big actions then you will find it completely cost effective and a million times more impactful to have the right helpers moving you forward–quickly.

For instance…

If you’d like to host live events but don’t know how, hire a helper to find venues, manage enrollments and take care of the on-site details.

If you are launching a new program but don’t have a big list to market to then get an affiliate manager to engage new affiliate partners, coordinate marketing activity and track payments.

Maybe you are so busy taking care of clients you don’t have time to do the day to day marketing to generate more sales? Hire a marketing assistant to create buzz via social media, write enticing emails and help you keep up with your article submissions.

Perhaps you just need more of you…yes, that’s right a mini-me! Get someone on board as an apprentice or subcontractor to amplify your personal impact.

The next time you discover you’re unable to launch that big idea, work through these points and see if one of them will help you succeed to launch! You may just find that making the commitment to hire a dream team is exactly the formula to help you achieve more faster.

What are your examples of your own Failure To Launch? Share them below in the comments and I”m sure we’ll all have some a-ha’s!

For the “Science” of delegation, you’ll first need to know if you are an over-delegator or an under-delegator. Both can present problems in your ability to delegate to virtual assistants, contractors or employees.

For the over-delegator, the fact that you’ve seen the need to delegate is great. It shows you have vision for your company and you know you can’t do everything yourself. But one common trap with over-delegating is the tendency to dump and run. It’s almost too painful to slow down enough to fully explain what you want done so you just pass the buck, hoping the other person will figure it out. Among other issues, over-delegating leads to costly mistakes, burn out of your team and a lot of running around in circles trying to figure out what the “boss” really wants. Proper communication will make your team more productive, projects will be completed on time and your team will actually be happier!

For the under-delegator, it’s still hard to let go. Your business is like your baby. But you will never become wealthy if you insist on doing everything yourself! Not only will you burn yourself out, you will lose out on opportunities. And it’s impossible to have a big impact if you’re stuck on all the small things. Don’t get trapped in thinking no one else could possibly do it better than you can. You’ll often hire people to help you then end up doing things yourself, just because you are worried about mistakes or don’t want to slow down enough to train the other person. For every hour you free up you can focus more on the high payoff, revenue generating activities that only you can do.

Balancing the “art” and “science” of delegation means you get 10 times as much done, increase your sanity cause things are done on time correctly and your finances expand exponentially. It’s definitely a big win to implement this strategy sooner rather than later.

Discover how to be a profitable delegator who gets ten times as much done with The Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon video training today.

As a matter of fact I consider having a business a unique form of relationship. Our business can be an intimate expression of our gifts. It provides financial stability for our family. And often our thoughts are consumed by new ideas and possibilities throughout our day. Think about it: it’s like a love affair! And I’m sure that like me, some days you love your business, some days you are ready to divorce it.

Doubts about your success, feeling overwhelmed or just being plain exhausted by everything it takes to make money can deplete the romance and make you wish you had a job again.

The key to any successful relationship is managing our relationship to it so that we spend more time in love than out of love by learning to keep the “romance” alive in our work so we don’t lose that “lovin feeling.” Here are five ways to help you keep the romance alive so you have the passion and energy to kick up your results a few notches this year.

1. Court your passion
It’s easy to get caught up in the rat race of managing a million activities so remember to cultivate the passion by spending time doing what you love the most. If you spend even 30% of your day doing things that engage positive feelings you’ll be 10 times more excited to do the less enjoyable tasks. Delegate or time block activities that drain your energy after you do your passion work so that you can keep a forward momentum in place.

2. Have alone time
Taking a break from your business is like getting a B Vitamin shot in the arm. You’ll come back with a clear head and lots more stamina to move your big ideas forward. Daily mental breaks for lunch or a quick walk are invaluable but big breaks like entire weekends off and 10 day vacations can work wonders for your bottom line.

3. Schedule dates with friends
There’s nothing like the jolt of joy and positive thinking that comes from hanging with like-minded friends. When you feel a bit low it’s time to book a lunch date, invest in a mastermind retreat or head to a live event. Changing up your environment to learn from others can bring new enthusiasm into your doldrums. Left alone we can fall prey to bad habits or isolated thinking that can stall out your progress. Make it a regular habit to spice up your energy with fabulous friends and colleagues.

4. Get help for troubled waters
There will be times when you will feel stuck or you can’t get past a situation. This is the time to quickly call in an expert to get you back on track. If you stay focused on your issues and challenges then it’s hard to see all the good things that you do love. Hiring a coach to help you clear out the challenges and get refocused on your exciting road map can rekindle the romance again.

5. Get racy.
No it’s not what you think…I mean challenge yourself to play a bigger game. For many of us that means we have to get a wee bit uncomfortable and plow through some limiting beliefs about who we are. Getting racy will bring a burst of power into your game – and can results in achieving some of those dreamy stretch goals you keep talking about.

So what do you do to keep the passion alive? Share your thoughts below . You might also want to grab a free copy of 25 Tips to Re-Energize Your Business in 7 Days or Less for some additional ideas.

You may also know that I’m a firm believer in getting everything off my plate that I don’t do well or is not prudent for me to spend time on so I can always be focused on my personal money making magic! But what if I told you that maybe you SHOULD NOT delegate? Maybe there is some times in which it just makes sense to do the opposite of what works to achieve six and seven figures.

Curious?

Here are my four reasons why you should absolutely, positively NOT delegate or outsource to expand your business this year:

1. The idea of making more money is revolting.

Why allow other people to help you get more money making tasks done? That’s just silly! You love staying stuck exactly where you are because you must do everything yourself. I mean come on, money doesn’t grow on trees so why should you wisely invest it in capable, hard-working, efficient associates who help you achieve more in a week than you normally do in a year?

Even if you could see proof that learning how to hire “A” players to manage your social media, update your website, handle your organic SEO strategies would free you up to triple your income, why bother with stuff like that when you’ve got so much to do today, right?

2. Doing tasks that suck the life out of you is the highlight of your day.

When you wake up you are ecstatic knowing that you’ll get to update your bookkeeping records or spend 2 – 3 hours answering routine questions from tire-kickers who never plan to buy. But the highlight of your day – filing! Why, cause it’s an excellent use of your time. Who wouldn’t want to spend countless hours putting papers in folders when they could be putting together a launch strategy that could result in over $100k in revenue?

Then there are your personal favorites…the tasks that make you feel like a Mac truck ran over you. You know the ones ….you feel completely exhausted afterwards. As you dig into these tasks (if you ever get to them) you think how lucky you are to be an entrepreneur with all this freedom. Why would you ever want to spend most of your time doing things that make boat-loads of money?

3. Perfection, not progress, is the only route for you.

You are committed to getting things done yourself — correctly. Can you really trust someone else to do things right (I mean really what does Bill Gates know about delegation…he’s the genius in the business.) As you release every product perfectly with great pride, you somehow overlook the consequence of this choice – it takes you 5 – 10 times longer to get things done.

Even though you are frustrated with your slow progress you fear handing things off to someone else. You witness your peers who have discovered the secrets to hiring “A” players soaring to new heights and wonder what must be wrong that you can’t get these same results.

4. Work-a-holism is Under-Rated

Who needs sleep, right? There is so much to do you can barely get a few winks at night let alone actually meet your friends for a nice evening out. Family? Who are they? Oh those people who walk up and down your hallway waiting for you to come out and have dinner together.

Don’t they understand that you have hundreds of tasks to accomplish in record time and you don’t have anyone to help you out? Not that you couldn’t – you just have your head in the weeds and you haven’t yet seen the brilliance in slowing down, hiring some capable people and multiplying your accomplishments in record time.

All silliness aside, why on earth should an entrepreneur delegate or outsource? Because it’s how you create a business that can grow into six figures and beyond, profitably, without losing your mind!

When you pay attention to the business owners who consistently generate high six and seven figures, you’ll notice the one thing they all have in common is: they don’t do it alone.

In today’s economy, many make the fatal mistake of holding off on delegation. They key is to find is learning to hire people who will take tasks off your plate so you can focus on doing what you do best — profitably! And that requires a system of identify the right tasks to hand off, the right people who can do the job, and the right delegation techniques to ensure the tasks are done correctly the first time.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing with you some of my insider secrets to exponentially growing your revenue and results through delegation and outsourcing!

But first, my question for you is:

WHY DO YOU HOLD OFF DELEGATING? Please share in the comments below. I’d love to know what’s holding you back.

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Ready to spend more time doing what you love AND grow your business exponentially? Get a copy of The Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon webinar today!

You interview properly, have a clear role description, and even spend the time to train your new helper but alas, things are breaking down anyway.

Then your worst fear happens…you notice what you are investing in your team is not paying off. I mean really, why am I spending so dang much money when I’m not even getting what I want!

So what is the trick to making sure the investment you make in someone to outsource tasks to actually DOES free you up for your highest payoff activities?

Well, here is what three of the experts told me recently. I hosted a panel discussion for members of my Build Your Dream Team on “Hiring A Players.” The panel included Tina Forsyth, author of Becoming an Online Business Manager, Daven Michaels, founder of Outsource This, and Pam Ivey, founder of the Canadian Virtual Assistant Network.

When I asked them all to share what is the one thing that entrepreneurs do to mess up their outsourcing profitability, their answers actually surprised me.

I think we’ve all found ourselves under-delegating and over-managing at times. But when an entrepreneur hands off a task then checks in 10 times a day to find out if it’s done yet, that’s ridiculous, right? Maybe you hire an expert then insist on telling them EXACTLY what they should do to get the job done. Ouch.

The entire panel agreed that this is the fastest way to kill not just your profits (cause let’s face it, if you are micro-managing then you certainly aren’t doing your highest payoff activities) but to also burn out a talented person.

Learn to let go. If this is a problem for you, then you want to get a copy of Virtual Team Building Telebootcamp so you can learn to delegate with confidence.

If you don’t know what you want, how on earth can you get someone else to do it the right way for you? Let me draw a distinction that the panel brought up. There is a difference between asking your Virtual Assistant to help you brainstorm the outcome vs. giving multiple, conflicting, often changing directions that waste your time, money and everyone’s energy.

Getting clarity up front will enable both you and the contractor you outsource to (or employee) to eliminate costly mis-steps so you can get your desired outcome on time.

I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times. You get busy. Regular communication within the team slows down or disappears all together. All of a sudden breakdowns are occurring, project deadlines slip and tension rises. You are writing terse emails trying to get your team back on track…when really, you screwed up. You disappeared from regular communication.

Now I’m not advocating you have meetings just to burn time and catch up on the latest dancer to be cut from Dancing With the Stars. What I mean is everyone performs better when regular connection time exists, especially in a virtual work environment. Even if you commit to 20 minutes a week, you’ll notice a huge difference in productivity.

Thanks again to the amazing panel for their insights into what we as entrepreneurs can do to increase outsourcing payoff. Oh, if you are wondering how you can get a copy of this audio recording, it’s exclusive to owners of the Build Your Dream Team Program . But I’ll save you a copy if you decide to get one too.

There are two schools of thought on how to get your team started.  Both have pros and cons. You have to decide what is most important to you based on your values and critical priorities.  Once you know your values and critical priorities, you can then identify which tactic best fits your desired outcomes.

The “Lean Machine” Tactic This method is to keep your team and budget lean until the very last minute THEN build a team. The benefit to this is that the business owner is able to keep profits at a premium during the initial growth period. This approach is to have a “low budget” team with “make-do” skill sets where everybody does a little of everything. The perception is that this is an easier way to manage the business because fewer people are involved.

The dangers to this approach may outweigh the benefits. Quality is usually sacrificed because of limited bandwidth and breakdowns are inevitable. The business has limited growth potential due to inadequate manpower.  There is usually little or no focus on team systems leading to time lost due to mistakes, lack of quality control and the necessity to recreate the wheel for repeated tasks. Turnover of team members is inevitable due to stressful working conditions and the business owner incurs huge costs to retrain and time loss due to anticipated learning curves. The business’ reputation can be compromised due to non-delivery of goods or services promised. Most costly of all are the missed opportunities due to chaos in the team model.

The ‘Strong Foundation’ Tactic This method recognizes the future growth of the business and begins to build a solid foundation for success early. The benefit to this method is in building a strong team during “calmer” times so they have time to learn, practice and work as a team to discover and solve issues and “bugs”.  This method creates harmony for the business owner, support team, vendors and clients. The business owner will experience faster and higher payoff results because the owner can replicate themselves, work more systems and achieve greater accomplishments. The short-term investment in building a proper foundation for success will position the business for exponential growth. The drawbacks to this system are a few, but worth mentioning. There may be a sacrifice of short-term profits. The business owner may experience an illusion of “standing still”, or lack of accomplishment while building systems and foundations. The business owner may experience a fear of investing short-term without a corresponding financial payout.

So which tactic best suits your desired outcome?  You can learn these strategies at our last ever Virtual Team Building Tele-Bootcamp starting September 30^th.  Save your seat today!