The 20 Minute Success Plan

Many of the business owner's I meet with want to know how to shorten their path to success. Unfortunately, just like dieting the quick-fix produces immediate results without long term success and all too soon our new wardrobe no longer fits!

Creating a successful business is nothing more than putting together a chain of good decisions and actions. Think of our dieting analogy, if our goal is get to and maintain our ideal weight; our good decisions and actions might include picking a bagel instead of the coffee cake with the sugary crumbles on top. Each day that we make better and better decisions about what we eat and do, the closer we get to our goal. Most importantly, we change our thinking and actions to support the lifestyle we desire, thus guaranteeing long term success.

Let's assume you have reached the point where you can not move your business forward anymore. You are seeing all the clients you possibly can but the extra burden of supporting these clients is burying you. This has limited your income potential. Just like one too many jelly donuts limits our ability to live an active lifestyle our success, ironically, has limited our income potential. Hiring help is a daunting task so how do we go about it?

The 20 minutes success plan is the solution. Most of us can tolerate doing any activity for 20 minutes. Typically we are not tackling these tough issues because of the time it takes to complete the entire project or because we do not like doing what has to be done. We can tolerate a plain bagel at one meal instead of that piece of coffee cake, but the prospect of a lifetime of bagels, not on your life! Applying this to our hiring process goes like this. Take 20 minutes, layout what specific tasks you want them to do. Take 20 minutes, research your hiring options; such as an independent contractor or part time or full time employee, find out what is typical in your industry. Take 20 minutes; determine what will this person do and how your business will benefit from their presence.

We use 20 minutes for several reasons, it is long enough to make progress on a task but not so long that it beats you down. Doing a little bit every day creates momentum toward getting your project completed. As Newton observed an object in motion tends to stay in motion, as we get closer to completing our project it gets easier. Stick to just 20 minutes, we are building a new habit and like exercising overdoing it leads to burnout and all to soon we are back to where we started. In 20 minutes a day you will soon have a hiring plan created and be able to fill your position with the perfect candidate and have done it faster than you thought possible.

The 20 minute success plan can be used to tackle most any issue. Are you in sales and have trouble cold-calling do it for 20 minutes a day, every day and see what happens. Have reports that need to be done, that you hate, take 20 minutes daily and soon you will be flying through those reports. As you apply the 20 minute success plan to your business you will soon find that you are getting more done in less time and have replaced bad habits with better ones.

John S. Benjamin, Business Coach and Strategic Business Owner of The Growth Coach located in Greeley. John's passion is to provide affordable coaching to Front Range Business owners, helping them to have more successful and balanced lives. For more information, questions or comments go to www.FrontRangeCoaching.com, e-mail j.benjamin@TheGrowthCoach.com or call (970) 346-0101

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