Saturday, February 2, 2008

A Success Outline That Has Never Failed

Many well known motivational speakers, authors, and soothsayers from around the globe are very fond of saying, "Success comes to those that are prepared to meet it." NOT SO!! Success only comes to those who have done what is necessary to have it and paid the price to get it.

And...Success can only come when all the parameters, circumstances, and factors have aligned themselves in accordance with achieving your particular goal or quest.
This might sound harsh and unfair, but, unfortunately, that's how it works. Let's go through the outline and you'll come to understand what we mean. And...while we are at it, we might as well, expose and destroy all the other myths surrounding personal, or corporate success, or achievement. In this blog post, you will learn the importance of:

1. Defining What You Mean By Success
2. Determining The Price You Must Pay For Success
3. The Common Law Of Business Balance
4. Determining What You Are Willing To Do
5. Asessing Your Strengths & Weaknesses
6. Developing An Action Plan & Implementing Your Plan
7. Identifying Objectives
8. Managing & Completing Objectives

I: Define What You Mean By Success

This is the Definition Step: Basically, what you are doing at this step is firmly and finally deciding and defining your goal or quest. What do you want to accomplish and; in our case, how much monthly income do you need? This should be a specific dollar amount, for Bayne Street, it's $500.00 a month. Clearly and specifically defining your goal or meaning of success is crucial to whatever you want to accomplish. This is one of the few steps that sooner or later, everyone that succeeds at something gets right.

Your definition of success might be different from Ed's, and Ed's is probably different from George's. Your definition is what success means to you...and this is a good thing. You might not need to live in a mansion, or earn a million a month to be happy with yourself.

Since we are only concerned with increasing income or saving money, we will limit further discussion to these specific topics. Increasing a family's income and improving their lifestyle are attainable and realistic goals. Defining clearly and specifically what you mean by more income is a major break through. More income to you might be $3,000.00 a month. For Lorraine, more income might mean a "Luxury SUV", for John, more income might be a new 5,000 square foot home.

What is your definition of more income? Or..How much more money do you need to earn per month to offset the rising cost of fuel, food, utilities and the cost of living? As stated previously, our goal at Bayne Street Business Development Ad Hoc Committee is to increase the income of participating families by a minimum $500.00 a month; either by saving them money or increasing their income.

In addition to the goals and/or objectives of your Ad Hoc Committee, you can have your own personal goal/s. Think about this long and hard. Be very specific, then write it down. There is a reason for this: Unless you can state clearly and specifically how much money you need, or what your income goal is, you will never achievement it. Why? Unless you and your Committee know where you are going, you will never get there.

Writing and/or typing your goal on paper, or your computer screen helps clarify your thinking, focus your energies, and helps you formulate a comprehensive vision of....

1. What you have to do..
2. When you have to do it...
3. How it must be done...
4. Where it must be done...
5. Who to contact to start getting it done...
6. Why it must be...and...
7. Now is the time to start getting it done....

When you achieve one goal, you can always set a new one. Living a life of setting and achieving goals is a very productive way to live.


II: Determine The Price You Must Pay

This is the Payment Step: Motivational and self-help material rarely ever mention this important step. The reason: This is purely a personal matter that has little or no mass appeal. No one really wants to hear about paying a "nasty", "ugly", price for his/her success. Just like the vast majority of overweight people don't want to pay the personal price to lose weight, the vast majority of people that want or need additional income, don't like paying the price to get it.

Until you and your Committee can come to terms with the inherent cost of reaching your goal/s, your goal can not be reached. You and/or your Committee are the only people that will know the price, because it's your price, and you are the only people that can pay it and must pay it; either individually or collectively.

The amount of sacrifice, what is sacrificed in terms of personal assets and resources, and sometimes who is sacrificed, (literally and figuratively) how often you make that sacrifice, the time allocations for reading, studying, investigating, experimenting, preparing, growing, developing, practicing-rehearsing-practicing, and delaying your satisfaction and gratification are just a few elements involved in the price you will pay.

What's even worse, every goal has a different price. If you can not or will not pay the necessary price for your achievement, then you absoulutely and positively can not have it. However, there is always the possibility that luck, fate, or good fortune will send a favor or two your way. Afterall, this is the primary method by which dysfunctional thinkers acquire wealth, and it is the only way, by which, they can stumble upon a fortune. Lottery and sweepstakes winners can attest to this fact.

The "so-called" role of luck, fate, or good fortune covers everything from games of chance, to meeting the right person, or being in the right place at the right time. Even though these happenstances have their role to play in life, they are unreliable as a means to prosperity for the overwhelming majority. When it comes to achievement of any kind or increasing your income, they have no role to play at all. No one will ever know the price you really paid for your achievement, not even those closest to you.

The Common Law of Business Balance
prohibits getting something for nothing. Paying a little and getting a lot, and doing a little, and receiving huge rewards. Embodied in the law is the reality that you must pay for what you want. Genuine success, requires a genuine price. This is why it is not wise to be envious of another's success. Unless he/she is born or marry into great wealth or tremendous success, you will have no idea what price was really paid, or the circumstances that were involved in achieving it.

This is why it is critical to find an occupation, profession, career or an income program or opportunity that you will enjoy doing. As you progress toward your goal, the price you are paying will not seem like a price at all. In fact, you wake up every morning looking forward to the process. Whenever reaching a goal becomes toil and drudgery, achievement is either non-existent, substandard or marginal at best.

Don't ever participate in an income opportunity just for money. Find something about what you are doing that brings you joy, happiness, or a feeling of fullfilment or accomplishment. Otherwise, your ability to succeed at it will be slim and none.

This brings us back to you and your Committee. What is the price you are willing to pay to reach your goal/s? Think about this as deeply and profoundly as you possibly can. Your final decision will determine whether you succeed or fail.


III: Determine What You Are Willing To Do

This is the Reality Step: This is another area rarely covered by motivational professionals or success gurus. It is not profitable to tell the teeming masses that there are many things they can not have or will never succeed at, regardless of how motivated, enthusiastic, positive, persistent and determined they are to have it. Before you decide upon what you are willing to do, first determine, whether or not the goal you want to reach is attainable or right for you.

A positive mental attitude can be dangerous and unhealthy if it is not firmly rooted in actuality and reality. You can be as positive as like about jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet without a parachute. You can do it, but you won't live to tell about it.

For example: If you are a male or female, that is 4' 2" tall and weigh 80 pounds, chances are excellent you won't be playing basketball for the L.A. Lakers, football for the Dallas Cowboys, baseball for the New York Yankees or be considered for any other high profile professional sports team.

The price you are willing to pay, and what you are willing to do to accomplish this goal become irrelevant considerations. It is simply not going to happen in your lifetime. On the other hand, if you pinned your hopes and aspirations on riding the winning horse in the Belmont Stakes or the Kentucky Derby, you might have a better than average chance of making this dream a reality because of your height, weight and size.

The same holds true for income opportunities. Marvin's goal is an online business that generates $70,000.00 a month. He wants to accomplish this feat in 90 days or less. Is this goal attainable or realistic for him? Presently, Marvin can't afford to invest heavily in advertising, or afford to find others that are also willing to invest heavily in advertising. He can not even afford to go offline and bring people online. At this point in his planning, Marvin's goal is not realistic or attainable, regardless of what he is willing to do or how badly he wants to achieve it.

Setting and achieving goals require a heavy dose of reality. This heavy reality dose will always have a positive impact on your life and your plans for personal achievement. The diminutive male or female in our first example, could realize his/her dream as professional athletes in an entirely different sport. If Marvin paced his growth and expanded his business ventures over an extended period his goal becomes more realistic and more attainable.

In order to establish realistic and attainable financial goals, give yourself a heavy dose of reality. This will always improve your thinking and planning. Now that you know setting attainable goals based on actuality and reality is an important step in your fiancial success program, what are you and your Committee willing to do to achieve your goal/s?


IV: Assess Your Strengths & Weaknesses

This is the Personal & Group Assessment Step: Know your strengths and weaknesses. Know who you are and what you are. Know the talents, personal assets, abilities and capabilities of yourself and members of your Committee. The more you know about yourself and participating members, the easier it becomes to select programs and/or opportunities that are right for you, individually and/or collectively. Whatever you select should cater to your strengths and not your weaknesses.

For example: If you or members of your Committee are not good at demonstrating products, don't select an income program that requires in-home product demonstrations. If you or other members of your Committee are mechanically inclined, an opportunity of this type might be perfect for you. If you are good conversationalist, then programs that require people skills would be a good choice.

If you and/or your Committee members don't know very many people, and prefer to live your life in isolation or relative seclusion, then changes must be made, or all of you need to focus more on legitimate Internet based income programs, or select a different community based structure that suits your lifestyle preference.

Income programs that do not require frequent personal contact might be much better for you, than those that do. Regardless of what program/s you and your Committee choose, you want to be comfortable with what you are doing. Knowing what you and everyone else can do well or can not do at all are very important considerations. The bottom line is find income and/or savings programs that are best suited for you and your Committee, the way you are right now.


Since knowing yourself and your Committee are important to reaching your goals, what are your strengths and weaknesses? What abilities, capabilities or talents that currently exist within your Committe will help you reach your goal/s? What liabilities can hinder you?


V: Develop An Action Plan & Implement Your Plan

This is the Planning & Implementation Step: The reason why this step is called "Planning & Implementation" is because: "There is no need spending time, energy, and/or resources developing plans if they are not going to be implemented". To reach your income goal, you must implement your plan. Even a bad plan is better than no plan at all. The reason: Plans can be adjusted, modified or changed when and if needed. Besides, any human endeavor proceeds much better with a plan than without one.

In this section we are going to help you outline key aspects of your action plan, but before we do, let's review and recap what you have accomplished so far. By now, you should have a clear understanding of your particular mind-set.

You should know whether you are an "Empirical Thinker" or a "Dysfunctional Thinker". If you are an "Empirical Thinker", you will proceed through these steps with little or no difficulty, come to your own conclusions, do your own investigations, make your own plans, and go on to develop or participate in income programs that will earn the monthly income you need with little or no additional help or support.

If you are a Dysfunctional Thinker, you can change your mind-set at anytime. Go back to the Life Science section in our previous post and review the characteristics of an Empirical Thinker. Begin adding these characteristics to your life. Otherwise, you might not be able to overcome doubts, inhibitions, and fears. Many of you are probably still not sure of who you are, what you are, or where you are going.

Even though you are participating in an Ad Hoc Committee, and have access to this blog, you might not be sure what to do. You might still lack confidence in your choices, our methods, and inwardly, you might long for a program that will get you rich quick with little or no real effort on your part. If this is you, the only way to help you is to build your confidence as you proceed through these outline steps. Your confidence should be growing because of the positive steps you have already taken. You have already:

1. Joined or formed an Ad Hoc Committee.
2. Decided on an income goal for people in your community.
4. Decided on a price you are willing to pay to reach that goal/s.
5. Decided on what you are willing to do to achieve your goal/s.
6. Assessed your strengths and weaknesses and/or of your Committee members.

You might not realize it; but, these are all major accomplishments from where you were. You are now at a critical point in your Committee's and your personal development. If you and your Committee can not find the courage to act on what you have collectively decided for yourselves and others, have confidence in yourselves, believe in yourselves, and your collective ablilities to reach your income goal/s, then your goal/s; whatever they may be can not be reached.

Developing and implementing plans is not as difficult as you think. All planning follows the same basic outline and have the same basic elements.

1. The first thing you want to do is give your project a name. (This will help you stay focused on what you have to do, and it will help you explain your actions and activities to others. We named ours Bayne Street)

2. Establish a start date. (This is the day you will actively start working on your project. For the sake of this example, let's assume a start date beginning on July 7, 2008.)

3. Establish a realistic completion date. This is important. Give yourself enough time to work your plan effectively. (In this same example, let's assume an ending date on July 7, 2010.)

4. Re-state your goal with your starting time and ending time and how you will accomplish it. (For Example: Starting July 7, 2008 our goal is to increase our monthly income by $500.00 a month or save $500.00 a month by July 7, 2010. We will accomplish our goal by developing and implementing the following operational procedures.)

5. Devise operational procedures of what you will do and how you will do it in a timely and consistent manner. (This will help you stay on course and direct your ongoing daily or weekly activities.)

Your operational procedures might include, but are not be limited to the following:
  • Going to your home office or online virtual office for your business/es and learning all you can about the company/ies you are working with.
  • Thoroughly examing the support services your company/ies provide that will help you develop your business.
  • Reading and studying to improve your knowledge, skills and/or abilitiesyou feel you need it.
  • Setting target dates for specific activities.
  • Analyzing your local market to find more like-minded people.

Your overall operational strategy is your blueprint for completing your objectives and reaching your goal. Give this strategy serious thought. Revise it when needed to compensate for situations and circumstances you encounter that you did not foresee occuring.

6. Establish a work schedule. (Set aside time on a daily or weekly basis to work on your project.)

7. List the objectives that must be completed in order to make your goal a reality or complete your project. To complete your objectives as quickly as possible, it would be helpful to have a daily or weekly do list. Set a deadline to complete each objective. (Objectives are the activities and actions that must be completed in order to reach your goal or complete a project.)


Your objectives list may include but not be limited to the following:

1. Decide on a name for your business (if you want to go beyond an Ad Hoc Committee).
2. Get an Employer Identification Number (if you want to go beyond an Ad Hoc Committee).
3. Establish a business bank account, if you need one (if you want to go beyond an Ad Hoc Committee)
4. Decide on a legal structure {non profit, sole proprietor, corp, etc} (if you want to go beyond an Ad Hoc Committee).
5. Set an advertising budget (Committee or Legal)
6. Get a prospects list of likely people to approach or an opt-in list (Internet based only).
7. Find a hosting company (Internet based only).
8. Decide on a website or blog (Internet based only).

Sponsor or recruit our first person (networking enterprise) or complete our first sale (business enterprise). Establishing and completing objectives is an ongoing never ending process that involves, your spiritual, business, personal and family life. It can also help you amd members of your Committee improve themselves and how all of you relate and interact with each other and people in general. Self management by objectives is also a useful method to enhance personal and Committee strengths and improve or correct weaknesses.

Use the following formula to manage and complete your objectives

Start Date>>>Your Objective>>>State the Method Needed to Complete It>>>End Date

Below is an example of how this self management system works:

Start date: November 7, 2008
Your objective: Find products, services or programs that will earn or save participants $500.00 a month.
The method you will use: Investigate and research government and business programs that will accomplish these goals.
Completion date for your objective: March 7, 2009
  • Since objectives are relative and specific to a particular plan, and plans are specific to goals or projects. It is difficult to give you any real help with specific objectives in this section. We don't know how you have organized your business venture/s, or what your current lifestyle requirements are. Therefore, if you need help with your action plan.
  • Tell us about the goals or objectives of your Ad Hoc Committee. We will contact you by phone, regular mail, electronic mail or post it on this blog.

8. Divide your income goal or project into 30, 60, or 90 day intervals. (This will help you monitor your progress and measure your effectiveness on a regular basis.)

9. Reward yourself and Committee Members at periodic intervals when specific activities or objectives have been completed. This is necessary to deal with the ups and downs of daily life.)

If you like, you can write down the benefits you will receive from reaching your income goal. We prefer not to include this as a step, because we believe you already know the benefits, otherwise, you would not be involved in an Ad Hoc Committee that was formed to increase your monthly income. Some success gurus like to include "indentify obstacles" in their success programs. However, objectives are really only objectives to reached.

There are other elements you can add to your plans as well, but these are the ones you need to reach your income goal. Therefore, any steps, procedures, or guidelines that do not directly relate to accomplishing your goal are not needed, and should be discarded.

Additional Information and Support

Online Safety
Finding The Right People
Your Mind-Set - Key To Success Or Failure
How To Evaluate An Online Opportunity


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