“The finish line.” — When you read those words, what do you think? And what do you feel?

Do you imagine, or recall, experiences of:

• Soaring across a finish line?
• Struggling to cross it?
• Missing a finish line altogether, despite your best intentions and most dedicated preparation?

If you’re like most people, your experience with finish lines – and goal achievement – covers the full range from exuberance to missing the mark at times.

Goal-setting and goal achievement is, of course, on the minds of many people now, as the year begins.

If you’re setting goals for this year, try these steps:

1. Think back on your greatest achievements.

Recall what helped you see your way through to achieve them. Was it:

• Setting a clear vision of what you wanted to achieve?
• Seeking customer feedback, whoever the customers were for your work at the time, and letting that guide you forward?
• Following a thread of promising results, wherever they led?
• Concentrating on team or individual development so you’d be well-prepared for a future challenge?
• Did you use some other approach or strategy? If so, what was it?

2. Based on what you discover, what does it tell you about what may work best for your goal-setting now?

• Do you need to create a clear vision of your goal, or a strong “felt sense” of achieving what you want now, and next?
• Do you need to seek customer feedback to guide goal-setting?
• Do you need to focus on what’s working well and use that to guide you to what’s best for you in the months ahead?
• Or do you need to concentrate on developing skills or those of a team you lead so that you’re primed for a bigger goal in the future?
• Is there yet another strategy that would guide you best as you prepare to achieve well in 2012?

Speaking for myself, when I do this exercise, I follow several approaches.

• First, I create or refresh the vision that guides my work over several years.
• Then I look at what worked well the prior year, and what I need to improve.
• I use that information to set aggressive, yet grounded goals for the year ahead.
• Next, I create a few annual performance measures to monitor and manage progress.

Finally, when it works best, I convert those annual measures into monthly and weekly measures. I use these to focus and produce steady progress. These more frequent measures provide me almost instant feedback so I know if I’m on pace, and on-track to meet my goals, or if I must adjust my processes, resources, or perhaps the goals, themselves.

By: Jan Richards

We’re human. All of us. (You, too).

Why do people have a hard time asking for help?

By: Jan Richards

As year-end looms and you work to meet the year’s final goals, here are two of many possible scenarios.

Here are a few ways to tighten your focus and increase your chances of success:

By: Jan Richards

It’s harvest season.

That’s true for people who make their living from the land.

And it’s harvest season for you, too, as a business owner and consultant.

These six weeks from mid-September through the end of October can be golden, and one of the highest productivity times of the year.

That’s because, among other things:

- The pressure’s on if you have annual goals that you still need to meet (and most of us do).

- There’s still time to adjust to the lessons you’ve learned this year, for better or for worse.

- It’s a perfect time to work ahead and prepare for a better year ahead.

- The clock is ticking to get things done before attention and energy are diverted by end-of-year holidays.

Here are just a few ways you use the golden days of September and October to bring this business year to a good close:

1. Do a business tune-up

Check the effectiveness and ease of use of your key business processes.

2. Problem-find

List the main sources of aggravation or frustration in your business. Prioritize them for improvement.

3. Cause-find

Identify the root causes of problems you already know you want to, or must solve.

4. Create an action plan

Create an actionable and realistic plan to make changes you haven’t been able to get traction on yet. This may be a clue, too, that the root cause of some problems isn’t what you thought it was.

5. Get rid of low-hanging problems

Take care of some of the relatively easy to solve problems at your company.

6. Do a vision check

Check and/or update the vision that guides your company or team. Start with these questions:
- Is it still accurate?
- Does it address the customers you serve now?
- Is it compelling?

7. Get customer feedback

Update your knowledge about your customers and what they want and need from you. Use surveys, interviews, onsite observations or meetings, or a combination of tools.

8. Innovate

Brainstorm new product and service ideas for your current customers and markets. Or brainstorm new markets you can serve with the products and services you already have.

9. Clean sweep

Simplify, streamline, or do a good fall “housecleaning” of your office, inbox or email stream. Simplify your social media processes.

10. Experiment

Experiment your way to a solution for a problem you haven’t been able to solve yet. Or start learning a new skill you know you will need in the future by creating, and then completing, a learning experiment.

These ten ideas are just a few ways you can create even greater yield…and enjoy it more…during the golden weeks of September and October.

Put harvest season to work…for you and your business.

By: Jan Richards

What stops you, or your team, from achieving your goals?

You might be surprised by the answer.

Sometimes the biggest reason you’re blocked from achieving success is…you.

Do you scoff at the mere possibility that this is true?

First, think back on difficult times and experiences. Perhaps these were times when:

- You became overwhelmed

- Your work – or life – became excessively complex

- You fell short of your goals and expectations

Now, consider how, and why these things happened. These were probably some of the reasons:

      1. Your priorities weren’t clear.

      2. You didn’t make decisions based on your priorities.

      3. Others whose support you needed didn’t take your priorities seriously.

      4. Something changed, but you didn’t change your priorities.

      5. You hit a big setback, became discouraged and retreated.

If these sound familiar to you, you need to be able to address them the next time they occur.

Let’s look at each of these issues more carefully:

1 Your priorities weren’t clear.

If you don’t know what you’re driving toward, anything can move in to tap your money, time, energy and attention.

To solve this problem, take the time to clarify your vision of success.

Then create a vision statement or graphic representation of it.

Post it prominently, and check it regularly.

Once you know your main goals and priorities, competing demands can be easier to sort out.

2. You didn’t make decisions based on your priorities.

Maybe you knew what your priorities were, but you didn’t really follow them.

If this was – or is – the case, ask yourself: are your “priorities” really YOUR priorities?

If you’re not sure, take the time to figure out what you really want.

Goals you are really committed to make a huge difference in your motivation, plans and actions, and of course, your results.

3. Others whose support you needed didn’t take your priorities seriously.

Maybe other people didn’t believe you meant what you said. Maybe they were making assumptions based on times in the past when you said one thing and did another.

Or perhaps they were afraid that in changing your life, you were changing their lives too, and they hoped you’d change your mind.

Whatever the case, they’ll believe you mean what you say when they see that you actually do what you say you will, and continue to do so.

4. Something changed, but you didn’t change your priorities.

It’s easy for this to happen.

When big changes happen in your work or life, it’s easy to get busy with what’s new, without making adequate time and space to be successful.

What’s the way to solve this problem?

Take the time to get clear about what you really want NOW…not in the past.

Then figure out what you can, and will let go so that you can make your current goals happen.

You may have to free up time, money, energy and attention to be able to focus and get the results you want now.

5. You hit a big setback, became discouraged and retreated.

Things happen.

Even the best vision, strategy and action plan can’t foresee all possible barriers, burdens and surprises.

Be prepared that not everything will be known, or controllable, when you hit the road that leads to achieving a new goal.

Commit to yourself.

Be in your own corner.

If you don’t have your own back, really, who will?

So don’t pretend. Take the time to face the discouragement.

Feel it.

And then let it go.

Get back to your compelling vision (you do have one, don’t you?).

Adjust your action plan, based on what you know now.

And get going again.

There are great things ahead for you.

By: Jan Richards

The process of change is largely the same, no matter whether you’re trying to transform a company or just streamline one process or a part of your own life.

To make successful change requires that you also change:

- Expectations

The “story” you tell yourself about what’s likely to happen in the future has a lot to do with the opportunities you can even see.

- Focus of attention

If you believe change is possible, you’ll look for small but steady signs of progress.

And if you don’t think change can really be made, you’ll notice signs or “evidence,” of that.

Either way, what you notice and give your attention to consistently is a powerful reinforcement for the direction you’re moving. That’s true whether the direction you’re moving is the direction you really want to go or not.

- Daily actions or habits

Making a change means changing day-to-day habits in some basic but essential way.

Perhaps the way you spend your time, money or energy needs to change in order to reach the goals to which you’re now committed.

Somehow, some way, habits will need to change.

- Some relationships may need to change, as well

You may need to spend more time with some people and less time with others in order to make the changes you want to make.

It all depends on how substantial the change is, and how supportive your current environment is for the “remodeling” you’re doing in your business, your work, yourself, or your life.

Here are five steps to make successful change:

1. Make a clear choice

Decide specifically what change you want to make.

That sounds simple and straightforward, but often, it isn’t.

Sometimes people – or companies – know what they don’t want, but they don’t really know what they DO want, instead.

Be clear about what your target is, or take the time to find out what it is.

Otherwise, you’re just randomly shooting arrows into the air.

Get a clear target.

2. Believe

To make change that lasts, you have to believe the change is really possible.

And if you don’t?

Work on that.

Start by reading about, talking to, and learning from people or companies who have made the changes you hope to make – or dream about.

3. Reinforce

In simple ways, reinforce your goal, again and again.

Find a picture, create a drawing or mural, or select a simple phrase or theme song (or “rallying cry”) that captures the essence of what you think success will be like as you move toward it, and when you get there.

Use that reminder often to remind you of your target.

This goal reinforcement sounds simple—simplistic, even—but it works.

4. Review

Monitor your movement toward the goal.

And measure the positive impact of progress, along the way.

You’ll see positive results long before you reach your final destination.

Notice and appreciate them. They matter, in a big, BIG way.

5. Adapt

Pay attention to how the change is playing out.

Often the plan for how you will create change will itself require some changes.

Some things you thought would be easy may turn out not to be so. Other things you thought would require great effort, energy and sacrifice? They may turn out to be simple, after all.

Just be ready to adapt your plans as you move ever closer to your target.

By: Jan Richards

Connections can make you if you have them. They can make success take far longer to achieve, if you don’t. To connect for success and results, follow these four basic steps:

1. Strategize
2. Be creative
3. Be prepared to exchange
4. Plan ahead – things always take longer than you think they will

Let’s take a closer look at each step:

1. Strategize

You have a vision or goal (whether you realize it or not, you do).

Knowing that, what resources do you need for success? Of these resources that you need, which ones do you already have? What gap in resources is left that you must still fill?

Perhaps you need connections for these and other reasons:

- Build your market
- Find the right people to work with, or for, you
- Get the business or financial resources you need, in the right flow
- Find the right materials at the right price
- Get the right information easily
- Test and refine your product or service
- Figure out the easiest way to make your product or service

Once you know the reasons you need connections, you can start to plan where and how to get them.

2. Be creative

Remember a time in your life when you were especially resourceful, perhaps at a time when the odds seemed to be against you.

What connections did you need at that time to make success happen? How did you create or find these resources and connections?

You can be that creative and resourceful now.

3. Be prepared to exchange

There’s a big difference between reaching out and actually connecting with the people you need to know. And while you can attempt to make a connection, it’s not something you can control.

What’s in it for the person you’re trying to reach, to connect with, or help you?

To get their time and attention, consider what you have, or can offer, that can help them meet one of their goals.

Keep their needs as well, foremost in your mind as you try to create a connection that will serve both of you well.

4. Plan ahead – things always take longer than you think they will

Making connections, like many things in life, often takes longer than you expect.

For example:

- Someone you hope to meet and get advice from has a calendar that’s impossibly full.
- Another person turns out not to be the right resource at all, but knows someone else who may be able to help you.
- Still another person has a competing project, and can’t help you now.

You see how this goes.

Reaching, finding the time to try to connect, and then actually connecting in a meaningful way often takes far longer than you hope.

Start now to have the connections you need, when you need them.

Create the right conditions for connections to thrive. Your connections will grow when you’ve prepared and tended your grapevine well.

By: Jan Richards

Do you sometimes struggle to stay focused and moving forward?

Are you uncertain at times about what your next best move is as you work to reach and connect with your target customers?

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with all there is to do as a small business owner?

We may be able to help you through WIC Mentoring.

Our spring session starts soon. It will run for six weeks from April 5 through May 10.

We’re looking for a group of 6-8 people who are ready to build their business skills, and to make improvements in their business, who would like mentoring support to help them get that process well underway.

Desiree Lehrbaum and I, both WIC Members and experienced consultants, created, tested and refined the WIC Mentoring Program through three rounds in the past two years.

Desiree and I will lead the mentoring again this spring, as we did in all of the prior sessions. Desiree leads the marketing and business development aspects of the program. I lead the vision-setting, action planning and process streamlining parts of the program.

As part of this program you’ll receive and experience:

- Six weeks of webinar-based mentoring sessions, one every Tuesday morning from 10-11 am, April 5-May 10.
- Homework each week and feedback on it to help you apply the mentoring content to make improvements in your own business
- Two 30-minute one-on-one mentoring calls, one with each mentor
- The support of a group of peers who are going through the mentoring experience with you, who can be a continuing source of support after the program ends

WIC Members’ price for the six-week program is $150, while WIC Community Members can participate for $270.

We would love to have you join us, if you believe this mentoring program is right for you.

Here’s a little more information:

- We learned from our earlier rounds that our program works best for people who have been in business for at least a year or more. At this point, mentees have tried some things that work with their businesses, and have tried some that haven’t. They’re ready to make improvements in their marketing and business management processes and skills.

- Being able to fully commit the time and energy to the mentoring sessions and homework is an important part of success for individuals and the group in this program.

- Our mentoring sessions will be held by webinar. In addition, if it works for the Spring 2011 group and if we can find an appropriate location for it, we’ll hold the kickoff and closing sessions in person, which the Spring and Fall 2010 groups found valuable.

- We’ll gather mentee feedback at the end of the session. It has been a vital part of our continual improvement of the program, and the program’s ongoing success.

Here are the next steps, if you’re interested:

1. Contact me at jan@jgrichardsresults.com to let me know you’re interested.
2. I’ll send you a questionnaire to complete with information about your mentoring objectives and availability for the program.
3. You’ll e-mail the completed questionnaire back to me.
4. We’ll finalize the Spring 2011 group of 6-8 mentees based on the order in which the completed questionnaires are returned, as well as the appropriateness of this program for individual needs and mentoring objectives.
5. If you’re one of the Spring 2011 mentees, I’ll send you a link for the page where you can officially sign up, and pay to hold your spot in the program.
6. If more people are interested in the program than we have mentoring spots available, we’ll create a waiting list for the Fall 2011 program, which we hope to have.

If you have questions, as always, let me know.

We hope to include you in Spring 2011 WIC Mentoring or a future mentoring session.

By: Jan Richards

The Fall 2010 WIC Mentoring Group is quickly taking shape, with just a couple of spots still available.

Again this Fall, WIC Members Desiree Lehrbaum and I will lead the Mentoring Group. We developed and piloted the program in 2009, and also led the Spring, 2010 group.

If you think a peer-to-peer mentoring experience may be right for you, take a close look at this opportunity.

We will meet by webinar (and have an in-person kickoff session, if we can) on Wednesdays, 10-11 am, starting Oct. 20. Our last session will be right before Thanksgiving.

WIC Members pay $125 for the fall session, and WIC Affiliate Members can participate in the program for $200.

The WIC Mentoring Group isn’t right for everyone.

Here are some of the ways to know if you’re a good candidate for mentoring in this particular program:

1. Do you work well in a peer-peer group?

The focus of the WIC Mentoring Program is a peer-to-peer mentoring approach.

Mentors who are experienced in their areas of expertise design and manage the group process, then teach, guide and give feedback to a group of peers, all of whom are learning and making improvements to their businesses at the same time.

When you think back on your experiences in peer-to-peer learning situations, how well did you do in those? Were you able to make your own progress in such a setting, as well as to support a successful group experience?

That will give you an idea of whether you would find the group learning and improvement experience valuable, again.

2. Can you set aggressive, yet realistic improvement goals for yourself?

Six weeks, the length of the mentoring program, isn’t a long time.

But it’s often exactly the right amount of time for you to:
- Look at your business, including what you do well, and areas where you can improve
- Prioritize and plan a few improvements
- Begin to make those improvements

3. Are you open to feedback?

A good part of the success of this program is in the sequence of exercises we guide you through.

Business is applied learning…not theory. And to really learn, you must do.

That means we have you do homework to apply what we’re teaching you. It helps you to lock the learning in, and to begin to make real, not theoretical improvements in your business.

4. Are you willing to take action to make the improvements you say you want?

Change takes more than just good intentions. It takes action, as well…outside of the homework, and beyond the six weeks of the mentoring experience.

You own the changes you make in your business.

In the WIC Mentoring Group, mentors and peers help to pace and support you through the initial stages of change.

Beyond that, it’s up to you. It’s your choice about what changes you want to make, and will see through to completion.

Six weeks isn’t a long time.

But it’s the perfect amount of time to get a great start on business improvements that can make a big difference in your success.

If you have questions about the WIC Mentoring Group, let me know. You can reach me at jan@jgrichardsresults.com.

If this style of mentoring program is right for you, we hope to see you in this, or a future mentoring group.

By: Jan Richards

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the need to make improvements in your business, yet you can’t seem to find the time to do so?

Have you lost some of the fun you once felt from having your own business?

And do you sometimes feel the need to have a team of peers to bounce ideas off?

If so, you may be perfect for the next session of WIC’s Mentoring Program, planned for this fall.

We’re looking for both mentees and possible mentors for the fall session of the six-week program which helps WIC members focus on and improve their business marketing and operations.

Desiree Lehrbaum, Lumen Consulting, and I worked together to create the pilot program last fall, and then led a spring session, too. Desiree focused on the marketing and business development aspects of the program, while I led vision-setting, action planning, and process streamlining.

We learned from our pilot that the program works best for WIC members who’ve been in business for a year or more. By this point, they have some experience as business owners, and have tried some things that work and some that don’t. They’re ready to make changes and improvements in their marketing and business management processes and skills.

The program is designed around a series of webinars, held once a week for an hour. Mentees have homework assignments each week that are due a few days before the next session.

We found that the homework is an important part of the mentees’ learning process. It helps them try out what they’re learning, and get feedback about what they tried. It also helps pace mentees through some specific changes and improvements in their businesses that they’ve often long been meaning to make.

Another important part of the program’s success is the 1:1 mentoring call that each mentor holds with each mentee during the last three weeks of the program. This  reinforces the learning and helps to tailor it to each mentee’s specific needs.

Because members of the spring Mentoring Group were all based in the Bay Area, we tested a recommendation the pilot group made, that we meet in person for the kickoff session, when possible. This helped mentees get to know each other well right from the start, and strengthened their sense of being part of a supportive group.

I’ll share more information about the WIC Mentoring Program in future blog posts, including an exercise or two that we used in the group so you can see if the program may be a good fit for you, too, at some point in the future.

To help you understand more about the program, here are comments from a few of the spring participants about their experience:

“This was a WONDERFUL program! I’m so glad I did it!” said Gabriela Martinez, Texto. Asked if she would recommend the program, Gabriela added, “Absolutely! It helps you view your business from a fresh point of view and allows you to find where you are stuck.”

“I would highly recommend the program. It’s reassuring to know that there are others out there struggling with the same challenges you may be struggling with,” said Mary Ann Rheinberger, MarGoMar Medical Marketing Solutions. “Sometimes just a change of thinking may be all you need to help you along the way,” she added.

“It is a great few hours in a crash course and it is well designed and taught. I really enjoyed it,” said Mojdeh Marashi, Blurred Whisper LLC.

“The mentoring program was very helpful,” said Amrit Dhaliwal, Expert Quote Insurance Services, adding, “It helps to learn from other professionals.”

“It’s a great experience,” said LouAnn Conner, Sagacious Consulting.

If you have questions about the program, or are interested in being considered for the fall session, just send me an email at jan@jgrichardsresults.com and let me know whether you’re interested in being a mentee, or think you might be a good candidate to be a mentor for the program.

We look forward to seeing you, too, in a future WIC Mentoring Program group!

By: Jan Richards