Let’s face it. Life happens to everyone. No matter how good you are at what you do, no matter how many people like you on Facebook, no matter how many people are on your marketing list, if you are living and breathing, I can guarantee that life is going to happen. Now, the way in which life happens to you I may not know, but if I could leave one thing with you, it would be this:
Focus on what you can control and trust God to control the rest. Period.
This is my 38th year of living mantra, and it’s already serving me well! That’s why when Delores’ question arrived via askdarnyelle.com I could understand her pain.
You see, in 2013, life happened to me several times. Personally and professionally, quite honestly, but my business did not suffer at the hands of life because of the way I answered Delores’ question. In fact, I had a strong year, comparable to my results in 2012 because of my focus on what I can control.
Here’s Delores’ question:
“Hi Darnyelle. I really need some insight. I’m committed to building my business but life is happening to me. How do I start the New Year strong while dealing with a personal issue that is distracting me? I guess what I’m really asking is, how do you handle personal issues in your professional life?”
See my response to Delores’ question in this week’s episode of Incredible Factor TV:
As I state in the episode, building a business is about creating systems. In fact, I recommend that you learn how to create a system for EVERYTHING. Yup, everything.
Here are just a few of the systems that I recommend that you develop as quickly as possible:
1. Marketing systems – these systems include all aspects of marketing – from the who to the how and everything in between. You also want to employ support software to make implementing your systems much more effective and timely.
2. Client management systems – while most focus on getting the client, systems that help you to retain them allow you to work smarter. Remember, it is cheaper to keep her – it can cost 10 times as much to acquire a new client than to keep an existing one.
3. Financial management systems – these systems include but are not limited to accounts payable and accounts receivables, collections and your monthly financial reporting systems and processes.
4. Legal systems – these systems include your agreements, legal entity and anything that pertains to a potential legal concern in your business. Typically, you’ll have an attorney assist you with the creation of these systems but you need them documented as well.
5. Operational systems – these systems govern everything not already covered and are the guts of your business. All of the systems listed above and everything else should be contained in a robust operations manual that outlines each system that you plan to use so that as your company grows and you bring on assistance, everything is properly documented. (For those of you who eventually want to sell your companies, this is essential.)
6. Sales Systems – these systems govern the sales process and sales cycle and funnels you keep to generate revenue for your business. It’s true what they say, “nothing happens until somebody sells something.” So, what will you do after the sale has happened? How will you fulfill it? Is that systematized?
7. Human capital systems – these systems govern when you need to bring others in to work on a project or need to hire members who will extend the life of your brand values and promise for your clients and customers
As you can see, there are ways to stop distractions of life from inhibiting your business building ability. And trust me, I get it – this may seem like a lot but you have to remember that you are a business owner and not just a service provider. If you think that way, you’re really starting a business to create a job for yourself. Honestly, you have to ensure that you set up operational systems for running and managing your business to offset when life happens. Because life is guaranteed to happen, you have to focus on being fully present when you’re in CEO mode. I honestly believe that having systems is one strategy that will help you to grow your revenues and get closer to joining the 10.37% of non-employer (solo-preneur) business owners that exceed $100,000 per year – according to the US Small Business Administration 2011 report.
“When you have systems, sales and revenue activities become easier to perform.” @darnyellejervey <- Yes, you can tweet that!
And the more systems you have, the more time you will give back to yourself to focus outside of your business. Do you think that CEOs of Fortune 500’s don’t experience personal challenges? Of course they do. But they have operational efficiencies that offset their personal challenges. They still feel what you feel but they’ve padded the blows so that their clients, community and share holders aren’t impacted by the challenges they are experiencing personally. Remember, you can control creating systems in your business, you can control the time when you are working in or on your business for the most part… so based on what you can control, create your plan.
Now I want to hear from you, what’s your two cents?: Did I leave out any systems that you have in place? What’s your plan to create and enact these systems for your own business? Have anything else you want to share with Delores?
Need help creating systems? You’re going to love our annual event Unleash Your Incredible Factor because we teach you the core systems that will help you to become a 6 figure or beyond business owner. To learn more and secure your seat, visit http://www.unleashyourincrediblefactor.com
©2014 by Darnyelle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, MBA, The Incredible Factor Speaker, Business Coach and Marketing Mentor, is the founder of Incredible One Enterprises.com, Incredible Factor University® and the Leverage Your Incredible Factor System®, a proven step-by-step program for more clients, more income and more leverage in your business. For more information and a FREE audio CD “7 Critical Mistakes Entrepreneurs Must Avoid When Unleashing Your Incredible Factor So You Attract More Clients, Make More Money and Gain More Leverage” just fill out the form below.
