What a week and it’s only going to get better! After waiting and waiting for some decent weather, summer has finally put in an appearance and just in time for the Olympics.

There is a real feeling positivity around, regardless of all the economic bad news, as the Opening Ceremony approaches. There are some among us who think it is all a big waste of money and no-one will benefit long term. I wonder if the hotels, sports clubs, universities and many more businesses and people all over the UK, who have been hosting teams from around the world for the last few weeks as they begin their final preparations for London 2012, think that? Financially beneficial it may have been for them, but what about the less tangible benefits of welcoming these special visitors. For many of the athletes just qualifying has been an achievement in itself and although their medal expectations may not be very high, to be representing their country at the ultimate sporting event is reward in itself. To spend time with these athletes is inspirational and must surely encourage all of us to strive to be the best we can be.

The crowds that have cheered the torch along its journey are also testament to how many people feel about the Olympics. Regardless of the weather, even in the pouring rain very early on a Friday morning in Colchester, the crowds were out in force. To be part of something as massive as the Olympics is what draws people. For most it is the closest they will get to an Olympic event and that is what matters.

So tomorrow evening sit back, enjoy the Opening Ceremony, and prepare to be inspired. You never know where it might take you.

I have recently been working with a number of different businesses who have issues with their employees not doing what they are employed to do. In most cases this is more the fault of the business owner than the employees, and this is mainly due to the following reasons.

As businesses grow and develop, more often than not, the business owner gradually takes on employees to take up the work that they themselves cannot handle. However, these people are not employed in specific roles, and therefore the job responsibilities which each new person takes on, may well cross over a number of different jobs. Consequently after a year or two of the “all hands on deck” approach, no-one knows clearly who is responsible for what, and things either become duplicated, or worse, are missed altogether.

The result of this is that the business owner then tries to get control back, and starts to interfere in everyone’s work to make sure nothing is missed, and things are done properly. Of course this then leads to the business owner being rushed off his or her feet, doing things which they pay others to do, and very often annoying their employees enough for some to leave, and others to take a step back (because why do it if the boss is only going to check it or redo it anyway).

To prevent this from happening, or to change it, you need to create a clear organisational structure, with specific roles and responsibilities. You then put the names to the roles, thereby creating demarcation lines for each employee. It is then so much easier to ensure everyone is pulling their weight in the jobs they are employed to do, and the business owner can concentrate on growing the business, and creating future strategies.

“You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink!” How true is that saying when it comes to coaching business owners. I can tell, ask, plead and even convince them that the actions we agree on need to be done, but unless they fully understand why they are doing it, or they want to make changes badly enough, then the chances are that things will not get done.
As I have always said, coaching only works if the business owner genuinely wants to make things better in their lives and their business. I explain to them that the more often I am there to chase them and hold them accountable, then the faster their lives will change for the good. However, very often business owners will still resist having someone coming to chase them up too often (in their opinion) and initially they will commit slightly half heartedly i.e. a visit once every three or four weeks. But as they gradually see the benefits, and feel their lives improving they finally get it.
Just in the last week or so, two of my clients have said that they want to up the frequency of my visits, as they know they are benefitting from it, and they recognise that the power of coaching through being held accountable to carrying out actions in an agreed time period, really does work.
Going back to the start of the blog, if I wait for them to take this on board, then I really get their full commitment to being coached. If I try to force it upon them, then I tend to get resistance, and instead of moving things forward, they tend to remain rather static.
Selling anything to anyone involves the same principles. If you want someone to buy your product, your service, or even a concept, you need them to understand it, and for them to say they genuinely want it.

I went on a one day cookery course yesterday. It was a birthday present, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Lots of fun and laughter, and lots of excellent food (cooked by ourselves) all in a great setting at Braxted Park. Of course everyone had arrived there with the intention of having a good day, so the chances were that it would be, but thrusting 12 people together none of whom knew each other, could have been quite quiet, which would definitely have been less enjoyable if that had been the case.

The thing is, it is all about making the best out of every situation you are in. No doubt we all end up going to things we don’t want to go to, and doing things we don’t want to do, but once you are there and doing it, you may as well make it as good as it possibly can be. It is all about your attitude and frame of mind. If you are determined to have a bad time, no doubt you will, and if you decide to have fun, equally well, the likelihood is that you will.

The same rules apply to your business. If you get into a rut of negativity (which is quite easy at the moment) you start to expect things to go wrong. You stop expecting to convert new leads, and instead of preventing bad things from happening, sub-consciously you let them occur, and then just shrug and assume that the world is working against you.

However, now is the time to keep thinking as positively as possible (not easy I grant you). The more you keep on believing that things will get better, the more you do to re-inforce that belief. In due course, if you do enough of the positive things, then good things will start to happen, and your business will once again start to thrive.

“If only I knew then what I know now”. How often have we said that or heard people say it? I suppose it is a sort of cry of regret, because it infers that if I had had more knowledge or even the correct knowledge then perhaps I would have done things differently. But I wonder if that really is the case? In fact for most people it is their character which determines if they are “doers” or just “talkers”

Of course when we were younger, and we had few responsibilities, and probably no dependents, so we were in a far better place to take a risk. But as we grow older, and we have others who look to us for support and guidance, the risks we take may no longer just affect us, so we tend to back away from them. However, to get what you want out of life you can’t just sit back and hope it all works out, so from time to time you have to take managed choices or risks to move things forward towards your ultimate goals.

The point is, that there is nothing to be gained by looking back at what could have happened if we had done things differently. Hopefully for most of us there is still plenty of time to change things in the future. There is no time like the present to start the process, and therefore why not start now to avoid yet more regrets in the future.

So what do you still want out of life? What do you want to do with your business? Work out what you need to do to make these things happen, assess the risks, and then start taking the first few steps. In essence call your own bluff i.e. now you do know what you know, what are you going to do about it?

Have you ever turned up at a meeting, and the first thing your prospective client says is “I have to be honest, I’m not sure I really need your product/service, but just thought it might be interesting to talk to you”, or words to that effect?

My reaction used to be, “Well thanks for wasting my time and money”, but actually I now realise it is quite a strong buying sign. Essentially they are putting up their defenses just in case they decide that I genuinely do not have anything they could want (or that they may deem to be too expensive in their current cash flow situation), but in reality they wouldn’t want to be wasting their own time, so what they are really saying is “Go ahead and convince me”.

It certainly is a challenge to start from this point, but treat it as an opportunity, and learn how to get around it. For me, I now see it rather like a line of defenses, and I have to probe for a way through. So it is a matter of asking lots of questions. As soon as you can feel the “line of attack” being closed off, back off, and find another way. In the end there will nearly always be something that interests them, and once you have identified that, then you can concentrate on that aspect until you get their business.

Sometimes it can take a while, but you will know when you have hit the right button, as their body language changes, and suddenly the person who knew all the answers is starting to be less sure of themselves, and starts asking questions back. The whole dynamic of the meeting will change, and that is the time to ask for their business.

It can take a while to learn this, but provided you know your product/service well, and you are well prepared with your questions, then more often than not you can overcome what initially may appear as an insurmountable challenge.

How many times have you heard the old saying “If you keep doing what you have always done, you’ll keep on getting what you always get”? Except that now as a close colleague of mine pointed out, you are more likely to get less than you used to get by doing the same old things.

Despite people’s awareness of this, I still find business owners telling me that they know what is wrong with their business, but are still blindly following the same route, with the same personnel doing the same things. When I point this out to them, they swear that they will therefore make changes, and they don’t need me to help them, and to hold them accountable. 99 times out of 100 nothing changes, because once you put yourself in the mindset of “knowing”, then you are far less likely to be open to change. To make changes might be seen as admitting that in fact you “don’t know”, and therefore pride and stubbornness become your worst enemy.

So it is a breath of fresh air every time I meet business owners who want to make changes, and are prepared to accept that some outside help and advice can be hugely beneficial. In fact one of my clients is always pleasantly surprised by the path our meetings take, but equally well is delighted with the outcome, and the new level it takes them to.

Of course every investment you make at the moment must be carefully thought through, and where possible a level of return on investment assumed. However, if you are stuck in a rut, wondering how to change and move things forward, why not think about investing in a coach.

Whilst we are being bombarded with bad news all around us, it is important to keep focusing on the here and now, and what we are doing to avoid being sucked into this general despondency.

With that in mind I have just heard from another of my clients that he has had his best year ever turnover wise. He now becomes the fourth one of my current clients to have achieved their best year ever, and it just goes to show what can be done if you concentrate on the key areas of your business.

So remember, doing the right things, and plenty of them will always hold you in good stead. Of course in tricky times such as these, there are bound to be “elephant traps”, and unforeseen problems which are going to throw you off course. But the key thing is to have a clear target of where you want to get to, and know why it is you want that, and then set the strategy to allow you to get there. If you are then thrown off course you still know where you want to get to, so you have to reset the strategy and plans as to how to achieve it.

Having financial targets (forecasts/budgets), having the right business structure, having robust systems and procedures in place, and having a great team to make it all happen, are still all principles which you should work towards. And if you’re not sure how to achieve this, having the right coach may be the answer. Just because the world is collapsing around our ears doesn’t stop these things being the way to move forward.

As has been proven by my clients, if you keep doing enough of the right things with a clear focus and direction in mind, the chances are you will rise above the rest, and come out safely on the other side of all this turmoil.

I have just returned from a whistle stop trip to Australia, taking in Sydney, Canberra and Cairns all in the space of 6 days. It was a wonderful trip with my father, who had been asked to attend the dedication of a memorial to my grandfather in Canberra, and I was there ostensibly as a chaperone.

It just goes to show it is never too late in life to do or change things. My father (now 86), who has never been to Australia had more or less given up all hope of ever seeing where his father was born and bred. However, due to a combination of unforeseen events the opportunity arose, and my father was determined to take advantage of the situation. It was a tiring and emotional trip for me, let alone my father, but it goes to show how if you truly want to do something then you can make it happen.

The key to achieving your goals is actually setting goals that are genuine. Very often I find that people set goals for themselves which sound good, but in reality they are not things that they really, truly want. So there has to be a genuine desire to create the determination and drive behind anything that you really want.

To test this out, think of the things you most like doing, and then imagine what you would do (or actually have done in the past) to make those things happen. You clear your diary, you make time, you make money, or you do everything in your power to allow you to achieve it.

So next time you set a goal, make sure you really want it, believe that there will always be a way of achieving it, and then set yourself mini targets so bit by bit you make it possible, and ultimately realise your dreams.

SEO, platforms, back links, HTML, these are not the latest fashion tips but that mysterious language of the computer and more specifically the internet. And immediately I know some of you will have mentally switched off. I know it all seems a bit strange, another language, and best left to the experts, but why?

Anyone with children will know how easily they deal with new technology. How often have I asked one of my daughters to install some new software or set up a new piece of equipment? An expert on tap, but is it really that difficult?

Now I am a real novice and I don’t always get it right first time, or even second, but I keep trying and bit by bit it is becoming clearer. And for businesses today, like it or not, a presence on the web is important, especially with the massive increase in the use of phones and tablets that can access the internet. More and more people are turning to the internet to find out information, be it the times at the cinema, cheap car insurance (is there such a thing?) or booking a holiday. Imagine how big your market could be.

So my advice is to take the plunge. Begin with one thing, why not join LinkedIn for example and once you are feeling more confident try something else, and before you know it you’ll be wondering why you were so reticent.