VALUE

What do you value, what is your time worth, who shares those values in the form of Co-workers, Customers, and Joint Venture Partners?

 There is a story told, of a General in ancient times. He was living in a peaceful time, but received word that the enemy was massing troops in the borderlands. He wished for his people to experience as little pain and suffering, as possible. He even wished for his enemy to suffer as little as possible. In his wisdom he wrote down what he valued, on an animal skin. He raised those values as a military standard. Do you know what a military standard is? It is rallying point and a measurement tool. In the heat of the battle, forward direction can be difficult to determine. So, an occasional scan to see the standard is advised. If you are moving further from the standard, it indicates success in the battle. If you are being moved closer to the standard, fight harder, because it means that the enemy is advancing. If you can't see the standard, run, because if the standard has fallen it means that the enemy has overrun your position.

In wisdom, the General raised a standard that clearly communicated his values. Why? By doing so, he knew that he would attract those who valued what he valued, and discourage those who did not share his values from joining him. Why was that wise? Some might suggest that any and all would aid the cause. The General knew that those who shared his values probably shared his experience - eliminating the need to begin training from the most fundamental levels. He also knew that those who valued what he valued, would not not need to be convinced in a specific course of action. A divided army that argues amongst itself is the fastest way to failure. Look up "The Fifth Column." He knew that would avoid discord and wasting time in getting organized. When the troops are aligned, the likelihood of success increases. Indeed, the war was short, and in some cases, death amongst his troops was avoided.

When you can clearly communicate what you value, you will attract employees, vendors, trading partners, and customers who value what you value. Obviously, you value your time (I hope you do). When you attract employees who value time, you attract engaged employees who will make a conscientious effort to deliver a worthy effort. When you attract Vendors and Trading Partners who value your time, you attract companies and individuals who will work to   
provide what you need, on time and to specifications. When you attract customers who value your time, you avoid those who would pay you less than you deserve. You avoid those who would avoid paying you on time. Is this making sense? Frankly, correctly valuing your time (it is not more important than anyone else's time) helps you to personally avoid engaging in less valuable activities.

My challenge to you is to clearly identify 11 principles that you hold dear. Examples could include such values as Integrity, Service, Gratitude, Profitability, Growth, Family, and such. To that list I would ask you to add the principle of Vision (more on that in another post). If you cannot come up with 11 principles that you value, then add Activities that you value, until you come up with a list of 11 principles and activities that you value. If your list is still short of 11, add Material Possessions that you value. Now you're ready to raise your standard, and ready to attract those who value what you value. You will find yourself enjoying your work environment more.

This list of 12 (your 11 plus Vision) will become your "Must Do's." In the next post we'll consider the concept of "Must Do's," a core component of the Just Give Me 5 Minutes way. Until then, enjoy getting clear.

Coach Frits

Interview with Coaching Expert Nathalie Virem

Good morning Coach Frits,

Thank you for your time. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to interview you today.

How’s the weather in Utah today?

Coach Frits: “…”Too warm, we need more snow for the farmers and skiers like me

Let’s start with an introduction. Coach Frits is an incredibly wise man and a generous soul. His knowledge and wisdom are very valuable for those who want to make money, succeed and live a life that fulfills them. He has worked with companies all over the world. From large companies like Chrysler, to small businesses and startups. His Model of Learn, Do, Succeed then Teach has helped start-ups go from 0 to 1M in 7 months and clients to make 1M in just a few months. He is also the author of “Major League Selling” and “Just Give Me 5 Minutes”. He makes his self-coaching tools available freely and loves helping people to connect and collaborate.

Now here is the first question. Tell us about one of your greatest success, which is, how you made your first 1M dollars in just 30 days. Walk us through the steps you went through to achieve that.

Coach Frits: “….”I immersed myself in the endeavor, it was my sole focus for the first two weeks, in a self imposed boot camp. I hired a coach. I prepared and memorized (verbatim) a 15 minute presentation (if you don't know what you're going to say, until you say it, you'll probably say the wrong things - at least in a sales presentation. I chunked my activity, broke it down into daily targets. I made it a "must do" to be out on the streets, ready to knock on doors, at 7:30 in the morning - most importantly, I learned the new strategies of goal setting.

Wow! What is your best advice for those who want to make that kind of money that quickly?

Coach Frits: “….”Like anything else, there is great power in focus. That is something that a private coach is great for. They can help you get focused and stay focused on your stated goals.

What an incredible and inspiring story!

The second question is what are in your opinion the key ingredients to success?

Coach Frits: “….”The willingness to learn coupled with a listening spirit

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

The next question is about your life lessons. If a kid walked up to you and asked you to tell him your life best tips, what would those be?

Coach Frits: “….I'd want an hour . But, in a nutshell

1)Get clear on what you value most (it's the old adage of defining failure as getting to the top of the ladder only to discover that it's leaning against the wrong wall).

2)Express gratitude for all you are given, even if it seems meager, for in that moment your wealth increases immediately.

3)Mentally experience your success daily - know what it looks like, feels like, sounds like, even tastes like.

4)Then, behave as if you are already there at your moment of success, Find a great coach or mentor.

5)Then get up each day, get dressed and show up. Go out, even if you don't have anywhere specific to be.

6)And lastly, learn the strategies for effective goal setting and achievement.

Beautiful! Thanks for those wide words.

Finally, the last question is what’s next for you. You have accomplished more than most humans would want to accomplish in a lifetime. What’s next now for you?

Coach Frits: “….”Wow, you're so kind to say that Nathalie. I am most driven by experiencing others' successes along with them. I'm in the process of opening up a composites plant here in my small, impoverished county, where a wage of $15/hr is considered a high paying job. My goal is to create $35 to $65/hr jobs - especially for the disenfranchised. And though I've been to almost all parts of the world, I haven't been to the Canary Islands yet.

Thank you so much for the advice you have offered to our viewers, is there anything else you would like to add?

Coach Frits: “….”I am available to talk to anyone about effective coaching that can great joy and success. I invite you to call me directly at 801-755-6823.

Thank you Coach Frits for this wonderful interview. To our viewers, you can check Coach Frits out by visiting one of his blogs such as http://justgiveme5minutesbusinesscoaching.blogspot.com/, or linkedin. You're even invited to call him directly at 801-755-6823 to speak with him about private coaching. You can also email him directly at CoachFrits@gmail.com

5 Minutes To Success

Is it possible to succeed with a single 5 minute effort? Of course not. But, give a 5 Minute effort everyday and you will see growth, change and success.

I like to say that " man's greatest strength is also his, or her's, greatest weakness."

One of our greatest strengths in the 21st Century is our commitment to success. We are seeing much accomplished, worldwide. Friends who grew up in a world such as India's caste system, promised no more the a meager survival, have gone on to great success. Friends like Ashwini. But our belief in an ability to achieve much greater things than our humble beginnings may have suggested has a flip side. We believe that to accomplish much will not only take a great deal of time; but that we must also set aside great amounts of time to pursue those dreams. So instead of going to the gym and working out, we tell ourselves that we'll go when we can carve out a one to two hour time block to get that workout in. I can tell you that if you simply workout for 5 minutes, each day, you'll most definitely see a difference at the end of the year. As proof I will simply point out that many of us grow obese even, by a consistent effort of daily eating in the absence of exercise, over the course of 20 or 30 years. Now, at the age of 58, I find that those eating habits (some requiring much lass than a 5 Minute effort) are the key to fitness goals. I haven't ridden a bull in over three years now (I started when I was 50), because of the slow but steady weight gain that I've experienced.

So, the bottom line? A focused 5 Minute effort will yield results, even the results you're looking for, if you engage in those 5 Minute efforts daily. Give me a call, I'll be happy to talk with you at greater length. 801-755-6823.  

Coach Frits

Choice

Choose to produce the results that you value. Not getting what you desire, make different choices. Don’t want to make new and different choices? Learn how to be happy with the results that you’re producing. Those two choices are the core choices of our lives. 


I am hesitant to admit it, but I have come to the conclusion that the efforts with my son's business have become lackluster. Because I am accustomed to nothing less than stellar success, it has been a difficult exercise in self examination. But I am firm in my belief that we really only have one of two choices to make, as stated above. I am not happy with my performance, with what I've been producing. Upon inspection, I have come to accept that what I value, is not valued amongst the Retailers that I have attempted to serve. I do not choose to change what I value, at it's core - the desire to help others create more success in their businesses. Recognizing that I can sound pedantic in my offerings of help, I may have offended some. While that may be regrettable, it is a truth that I have to accept. And the greater truth is that I have lost my passion for the work because it isn't consistent with what I value. Perhaps you have felt similar challenges in your work. Whether you own your own business, or work for someone else, if the work is consistent with what you value, you will show up every day excited about what can be created that day. Engaged, fully engaged in your work produces incredible energy and satisfaction. If you're not feeling energy and satisfaction, it's time to do some self inspection. Is what you're doing aligned with what you value? If not, can you make new and different choices? 


Take a look at one of my clients, Randon. I first started coaching him in Real Estate. He was a Licensed Realtor. He was driven. But in the course of getting to know him better, despite the successes we had achieved together, I knew that Real Estate wasn't his passion. His passion was teaching others to fly (there are some great metaphors in that). So I challenged him to begin a new work in our coaching. Starting up a flight school. Any of you who are familiar with that industry know that it's a volatile business. Flight Schools are generally happy to achieve break even, mush less profitability. Applying the principles that I've been taught, Randon earned a profit on his first student, and now a year and a half later, more students have equaled increasing revenue and profits. But most importantly, he loves being up in an airplane doing his favorite work. 


Helping Randon with his Flight School, I discovered another way to create energy and satisfaction in my life. Randon helped me to create a new service. We call it Business Development Implementation. Rather than engage in Coaching sessions alone, I have given Randon the opportunity to simply ask me to complete important assignments. While it may forego his personal growth, we can't deny the explosive growth it has created for his flight school. Additionally, as I have remained true to what I value, and clearly communicated those values, remarkable people have been "attracted" into my life. One of those people is something of a celebrity in the Academic Aviation world, Dr. Ron Smart. Together, we're now collaborating on a project that's International in scope. Again, it provides me with energy and satisfaction.


My wish is for you to enjoy the same energy and satisfaction in your work. Call me or e-mail me at coachfrits@gmail.com with any questions or concerns that you might have and let's get to work on making the choice of either doing different things to produce different things than you've been producing, or making the choice to be happy with the results that you're already producing. 


Coach Frits  

Making 2012 The Best Year Ever!

The past 16 months have found me busy developing a new business for my son. That has kept me so busy that I have neglected my first love, Coaching. And it has been evidenced by my lack of new blog posts. To tell the whole story, I have been enjoying my new granddaughter, Marley, since her birth in February, 2011. It was her pending birth that motivated me to start the new business for my son, it was really for her. The new business has been a great place to apply the very business development principles that I teach my coaching clients. As most of you know, I prefer to lead by doing and succeeding. That allows me to prove the value of the principles that I have been taught and continue to pass on.


Business startup in the economy of 2010 has been challenging, but the principles that I have been taught have proven themselves to be timeless and adaptable to any economic environment. Profitability was achieved within the second month. A major change in my largest trading partner’s business model forced me start at square one again in February of 2011. Once again those principles of success proved their value as we once again achieved profitability almost immediately.


As we begin a new year we see it full of promise and the opportunity to make new choices (if we’re not getting the results that we say we would like to enjoy), or choose new outcomes for this year, or commit ourselves to the choices and activities that have produced the desired, successful, results for us.


Let’s take this new year to focus on learning and applying principles of success, as opposed to focusing on strategies. What are the principles of success?


VALUE 


What do you value, what is your time worth, who shares those values in the form of Co-workers, Customers, and Joint Venture Partners?


SERVICE


Don’t ask how you can make money; simply ask how you serve the world best. What are your unique strengths? Remember the Hippopotamus that is my corporate logo. If you don't know the story behind that choice, no worries, we'll revisit it in February.


VISION


If you don’t know what success looks like, you may just walk past it, past him or past her. When you have enjoyed complete success, where are you, what are you doing, and who are you with; both at home and at work? Can you clearly communicate that vision of success? When you can, you will attract the right components required for that success. What does success look like, feel like, sound like, taste like? Experience that success daily, internally.


GRATITUDE


If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, you can’t have more – meaning that what is the point of accomplishment or gain when it doesn’t register with you? Lack of gratitude is at the core of a scarcity mentality. Lack of gratitude focuses on what you don’t have and provides all the excuses for failure. Gratitude allows you to recognize what you already have and allows you to leverage those assets for greater achievement.


CHOICE


Choose to produce the results that you value. Not getting what you desire, make different choices. Don’t want to make new and different choices? Learn how to be happy with the results that you’re producing. Those two choices are the core choices of our lives.


BALANCE 


Balance work and play, home and work, indulgence and discipline, limits and charity, effort and rest.


INTEGRITY


Keep all of your promises and make no promises that you can’t keep.


ATTENTION


Pay attention and listen to the most important people in your life, at home, at the office and in the marketplace. Give them what is important to them, and in a way that allows them to understand that you’re giving them what they ask for.


MUST DO


If I say it’s going to get done I will get it done.


GOOD ENOUGH


Don’t wait for the perfect amount of time, or the perfect set of circumstances to begin achieving your dreams. Start now, even if you only have 5 minutes, even if you only have $5, even if you only have 5 friends or 5 potential customers.


ACCEPTANCE


Accept what is as good and beautiful, and right for the moment, even if “what is” seems painful.


LOVE


Learn to love and care for yourself as you would love and care for those most important to you. There is no integrity to beating yourself up while extending love to others. You can’t love anyone more than you love yourself. Until you can show yourself patience and acceptance, you can’t show it to anyone else, at least not to the highest levels that you are capable of.

I have not been producing all of the results that I value most; chief among them is the coaching that fulfills me.  One of the reasons that I value Coaching so much is that it allows me to revisit the principles of success that have been taught to me. And frankly, I need to hear those message more than most of you need to hear them. While it appears that I am better at applying the principles of success, it is simply a matter of the fact that I hear the messages more often than the rest of you, because I repeat them over and over again in coaching sessions with my clients, my friends. That said, I choose to post to this blog on a bi-weekly basis, and I will use these principles as my curriculum. Let me know if these posts are meaningful. In fact, take the time to post links to these blog posts on your blogs. I promise to pay attention to what you say to make these posts as productive for you as possible. Let's take our "Knowing" this year and apply in wise ways to produce much good for ourselves, our families, our friends  and our communities throughout the world.


Make this “THE BEST YEAR EVER!”™


Coach Frits


and remember... "Once a Client, always a friend!" Get in touch with me my friends, let me know what you're grateful for.

Exciting Announcement and Offer

We're excited to be able to offer our most loyal friends and followers the pre-release purchase of "Just Give Me 5 Minutes" being released in November
2010. Here's what you'll receive as an Insider;

An advance copy of "Just Give Me 5 Minutes"

A One Year Access to your own online 5 Minute Office – Normally $9.95 per month subscription (that's a $119.40 VALUE)

We will make a $2 donation to one of three Charities, or you can even suggest a charity to make a donation to on your behalf. Please recommend a charity that is focused on empowerment.

You'll be able to go into a local book store to buy your copy after release $19.95, or you can buy it now and enjoy all of these benefits while helping someone else out.

Learn and put into practice the powerful success principles that Clients have paid up to $24,000 for 3 days of Private, in person, coaching sessions. These principles include;

Gratitude - the first principle of success

Values - the element of attracting the Co-Workers/Partners, Employees, Vendors and Customers who value you most

Alignment - improving the process by getting everyone and everything moving in the same direction

Consistency - success is about joyful choices not tedious obligation

Action – your loudest "voice"

Brand – the product of your customer's experience

Influence – entice them to action Vs convincing them

Purposeful Games - success truly is a matter of "child's play"

Home - you do not need to "go out into the desert" (a label for going to a special workshop or camp for change) lasting change happens when we implement strategies within the reality of our daily lives)

Presence - the strategies and mechanisms that provide daily growth and maintenance of what you value most.

And enjoy access to the "self-coaching and team coaching" tools that will allow you to put into practice these simple truths in an affordable way that allows you to succeed within the context of your daily lives. Affordable tools that your employees and vendors can use, putting your entire team in alignment.

 

ProFormance SOLUTIONS

"Results through coaching you to discover what the right actions are, and holding you accountable to do those 'right things' consistently."

As a 17-year-old student at Newport Harbor High in Newport Beach, I enjoyed a diverse circle of friends. Some of the kids in the community had their lives planned out. We knew that John Wayne's son Ethan would be an Actor. Other friends would follow in the footsteps of their successful parents and go to Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Stanford, and become Physicians, Attorneys and Business Owners. But I also had friends who were the children of Immigrants. I knew that most of them would not attend College. And while attending college is not a perquisite to success, I had a sense that most of those friends would not achieve the real dreams of their hearts without additional education. I asked myself how to best serve those friends. The answer I came up with was that I would learn the Art of Sales, Practice it, Succeed and then Teach. I chose a very competitive industry, Copiers. As an employee of Royal Business Machines (later Konica), I was privileged to learn from some masterful teachers and Mentors. I applied what they taught me and became the recipient of every award that was available. I also enjoyed a wonderful lifestyle as a result. Sailboat, sports cars, vacations and a great young family. I was also given the opportunity to begin my Coaching career. It established a success pattern of helping business partners find success through the training I was allowed to offer. In the Diamond Industry, as a Manager and then Brand Manager for Ditta Myor, that strategy allowed us to bring a new division to market and achieve profitability in six months from start up. Moving over to the role of Eastern States VP for F-Matic of America I was allowed to firmly establish the value of bringing sales training to our Dealer Network in 16 states of the northeast. As a consequence of gaining a reputation for helping Distribution Partners enjoy increased success which led to increased sales for my company, I was recruited to become the Director of Training for a multi-national manufacturer, National Super Service. Now I was allowed to take my training and mentoring strategies worldwide. The first book I published, Major League Selling was implemented in a training tour with the largest companies in our industry. I reveled in the joy of witnessing students double their incomes while dramatically improving their quality of life by freeing up time to spend with family and friends. While it was very satisfying, I had a dream of coaching a student to $1 million of success. My family told me they wanted to move back to the Western States, and I felt that the time was right to start my own coaching company. I challenged myself to achieve a remarkable start up. With the help of a Mentor, I was able to generate my first $1 Million, in only 30 days. It was liberating to learn that "Success is as easy as we allow it to be, or as difficult as we want to make it." I still hadn't coached a student to achieve the same. The Universe provided me that opportunity when I was recruited into an industry that relied heavily on coaching. My model was "Learn, Do, Succeed, and then Teach. I do not teach principles I've only read about. I only teach that which I've learned, put into practice and yielded success with. During the past 6 years especially, I have witnessed clients acquiring $1M, and more, in as little as 7 months. I still have a desire to help a Client create $1M in 30 days. It's been a great adventure. It has inspired me to write this book. "Just Give Me 5 Minutes" as a Self Coaching tool. I know that not everyone can afford to pay for one on one coaching. This book and the accompanying tools are an answer to making Executive coaching a reality for even starving students or artist's Let me know how it works for you. And as a side note, I still take private clients and corporate assignments. Perhaps we could create some "purposeful play" for your team.

How do You Select a Good Coach?

SELECTING A COACH

It's important to give an executive coach the same scrutiny that you would give any other professional. These are six questions that are valuable to ask.

1. How do you define coaching?

Coaching is the Art and Science of helping Clients 1) Get Clear on what they value most. 2) Get clear on what their individual value is. 3) Assist Clients in getting more of what they value most. This is done by helping Clients become accountable for what they say they want to produce, and by doing it through asking the right questions.

2. May I see your code of ethics?

1. I do not possess all of the answers, rather the answers lie within the Client.

2. You are enough. You need not change a thing, unless you desire to produce something that you've not produced before.

3. You do the "heavy lifting." I'm here to help you decide on what that needs to be.

4. A good Coach will help you create systems that are sustainable without relying on the Coach as a crutch.

5. I value Coaching and have my own Coaches as well. Coaching reduces the learning curve by avoiding the repetition of "trial and error."

6. I guarantee the value of the Coaching I deliver. If you don't produce 4 times the value of what you pay me in 1 year, I will refund your coaching fees. I am a Business Coach Vs being a Life Coach because we have a scorecard. That scorecard is your bank account. I will regularly ask if you put money in the bank.

7. Our relationship is based on trust. There is confidentiality in our conversations, even if your boss or Manager hired me and pay me to provide coaching for you. I'm not here to be another set of eyes on you, nor to provide additional review and rating services for your company. I work for you.

There is no "lesson" of the week. My focus is on you and your specific needs and situation.

8. I am not here to change you, I am here to support whatever growth or accomplishment that you desire.

9. I focus on the process.

10. You are responsible for keeping your promises to yourself. If you say you're going to get something done for a purpose that serves you, you must get it done. Keep your promises, and make no promises that you can't keep.

3. What principles do you favor in your coaching?

1. G.R.O.W. the organizational model for our coaching sessions;

G. - GOALS Everything we do together is driven by YOUR Goals.

R. - REVIEW Review the activities and results of the previous week

O. - OPTIONS We consider optional ways of achieving what you desire, or to get better results out of your actions, or to get you to do what you say you want to do.

W. - WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO, AND WHEN WILL IT GET DONE? Weekly Assignments

MUST DO - There are actions that you agree to that must be accomplished before our next meeting. Failure is not an option with "must do's," they are the things or actions that will be taken, and would get done even if you went to the Emergency Room, but were physically capable of doing, before you go to sleep that night.

VALUES - One must be clear in what they value most, so much so that you can effectively communicate those values to the world. As a result, you will attract Employees, Vendors and Customers who value the same things and are willing, even anxious to do what you have them do or pay the price that you would have them pay. Values are raised like a Military standard which; a) Gathers the team b) Provides a sense of direction and a sense of achievement for the team c) Provides for the morale of the team.

TIME VALUE – If you sell your time for less than it's worth, you will not find satisfaction. You know what your time value is. It's important to get clear on what that time value is so that you communicate that value to others.

INVESTMENT - While scholarship may be provided, I have discovered over the past 25 years or so that individuals do not take the required action (I challenge you to do the things that have been avoided up to this point) unless they have a vested interest.

CONSISTENCY - Success is nothing more than making the right choices, at the right time, consistently.

PRINCIPLE CENTERED Vs STRATEGY ORIENTED - Principles are lasting, strategies are situation based. Principles allow us to create the best strategy for the moment, but do not require going back to school, as it were. 

ONCE A CLIENT, ALWAYS A FRIEND - I have a vested interest in your success, whether that may be accomplished in a day or 20 years. I remain dedicated to your success, even when you may wish to give up.

4. What will you require of me?

 

1. Weekly meetings at the agreed to time and day.

 

2. Accountability. Reporting of achievement, or lack of.

 

3. Complete Honesty, including letting me know when you disagree with me.

 

4. Elimination of the words, "should have" and the concept of guilt. Instead, the use of "I choose to" and acceptance of the results as what you desire more than perhaps even stated desires.

 

5. Does the proposed program match my needs?

 

Minimal time requirement is 1 hourly meeting each week, for a minimum of 12 weeks. Ideally we will work together for 1 year.

 

A minimum of 5 minutes of daily effort on each stated objective or accepted assignment.

 

6. Is confidentiality clear?

 

Once again, our meetings, and what we discuss is held in strict confidence between us, even if a Company or Manager pays for your Coaching.

 

Lastly, ask my current and previous clients if they would hire me again. I'm more than happy to provide you with a list of people that you can call.

Are Your Clients Experiencing Any Kind Of Economic Recovery?

A multi-millionaire friend of mine asked that question of me the other day. I thought that my answer was worth sharing with you as well. In response to his question I said that many of my small business owners have been enjoying, and continue to enjoy economic success, regardless of national or worldwide economic conditions. People are still spending what money they have. Tires still wear out, books are still being read (indeed, witness the overwhelming success of the iPad), people are still buying computers and technology, people are still buying houses and getting mortgages. Regardless of the community that they are in, I am witnessing client successes throughout America.

SUCCESS IS AS EASY AS WE ALLOW IT TO BE, OR AS DIFFICULT AS WE CHOOSE TO MAKE IT – THE PRINCIPLE OF ALIGNMENT

Raji Rykert (her nickname is Superwoman) lives in Southern California. She has been enjoying success on two fronts. Real Estate Investing (how many people can say that today) and a new business startup (www.3facesmedia.com) signing new clients like Shari Belafonte the actress daughter of Harry Belafonte. I had the opportunity to sit and coach Shari briefly. What a remarkable person. Shari is introducing Raji to her best celebrity friends and growing Raji's business for her. How has Raji enjoyed such remarkably rapid success? It's not by hiring a great sales team or implementing an aggressive sales approach. Surely, Shari had many options when it came to hiring a Publicist. The traditional approach would have been costly. But by simply "seeding" the success of others, Raji seeded her own success. This is consistent with the behavior that I model in "Once a Client, Always a Friend." Would you like a friend who will be there for the long term? Give me a call at 801-755-6823.

There's a wonderful article about Augie Nieto, the founder of LifeCycle which grew to become a $550 Million business. Augie started out with a national sales tour that would ultimately cost a great deal and show no success. He found his success was much easier when his efforts came into alignment with his value of "Reciprocity." Read the article HERE and buy his book.

Mike B owns a towing and auto shop service in small town USA (population 4,505). When we began the coaching process he told me in our third session "I got mad at you for getting me to dream again. I had grown to accept my situation." Because of our work together he became aware of business losses that would ultimately force him to shut down his business (as so many small business owners do in America). By getting clear on what he values most, we are now identifying remarkable profit enhancing opportunities for his company. How many of you have struggled with business expansion opportunities when cash flow just isn't what it needs to be? Do you go out and finance your inventory, only to further erode profits? Have you offered products and services at deep discounts, not only eroding profits – but devaluing your products and services further? Or have you implemented measures that allow for profitable growth, like Mike?

STEP 1: GET CLEAR ON WHAT YOU VALUE

How can we align with our values if we don't know what they are? Stanford University research points to this as the fundamental reason for lack of success in peoples' lives. We have a great free tool available to help you get clear on what you value, and document them in a way that adds to more exercises that will grow your business. Again, IT'S FREE. Just email me at coachfrits@gmail.com for your copy.

But to get you started, answer this question. If you were admitted to the emergency ward today, and were coherent, what would you make sure got done before you went to sleep tonight? The answers to this question will give a huge head start on getting clear on your values.

An ancient story is told of a General living in peacetime, only to discover the enemy's preparations for a new war. The General was wise and caring, and desired a short war with minimal casualties, on both sides. In his wisdom he decided that the way to ensure a short conflict was to gather around him seasoned warriors who valued the same things that he valued. He knew that they would have experienced many of the same things that he had already experienced. He also knew that he would avoid having to convince those warriors of his strategies and tactics, saving additional time and avoiding loss of lives. With the lives of his friends and family in the balance, he wrote down the principles that he valued most, on an animal skin, and raised it as a standard. Military standards are used as a rallying point. As long as the standard flies, is held aloft, in the heat of battle it provides an inspiration to keep working towards the goal. Listing his values attracted warriors of similar value to his cause. A standard is also valuable as it allows us to measure progress – ground gained or lost relative to the standard. So a standard also provides a sense of direction, especially in the disorienting moments of a melee.

So it is in our communities and our companies. Success is so much easier, the challenge reduced, when we are surrounded by others of a like mind and value. You can save yourself significant hours and dollars when you are surrounded by those who value what you value. Get clear on what you value and then communicate it to your universe of potential customers. You'll discover that you are acquiring new customers that are very much like your best customers. The customers who value what you value, and allow you make a profit. We know that 80% of our revenues and profits come from 20% of our customers. By duplicating that 20%, and "firing" the 80% (or at least not expending as much time and energy on them) you can almost double company revenue and profits while getting you home earlier, or at the least allowing you more time for the activities that you value most. You can grow your business, even if you only have 5 minutes, by getting others to sell your products and services for you. Who better than your best customers? You'll discover how much easier success becomes at this point.

Coach Frits

MARCH MADNESS REPORT: Tourney Could Cost Employers $1.8 Billion

"It is March once again, and like the swallows returning to Capistrano, basketball fans across the country will return to their favorite sports websites to research every one of the 64 teams playing in the NCAA men's basketball championship tournament, fill out tournament brackets and enter one or more betting pools in what has become an annual rite of spring as sacred as green beer on St. Patrick's Day." This was reported by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. "The original outplacement company" on their blog @Work.

It's absolutely amazing how much distractions at work can cost. The implied question is; "How do we avoid the costs of "distractions?"

 

"In fact, with worker stress and anxiety heightened, a little distraction could be just what the doctor ordered. The key for companies is finding a way to maximize the positive aspects of March Madness so that they outweigh any potential negatives," Challenger noted.

This report brings a focus to the issue of increased Employee Engagement. And that focus presents significant opportunities for companies to bring about improvements in corporate productivity. Workplace distractions are certainly not limited to March Madness. In fact, corporate America would be relieved if distractions and the impact on productivity were limited to a few weeks each year.

Allow me to add two additional strategies for increased focus and productivity among employees;

1. Convert employees into acting as Corporate Owners or CEO's. How do we achieve that level of engagement? The solution is actually very simple; teach employees how to present their ideas for improvement as a Senior Executive might make a presentation to the CEO, by creating a presentation that documents the improvement opportunity with Needs, Requirements, Costs and Return on Investment. We can help you accomplish that with powerful employee training and tools. In fact, with our "90 Minute Profit Recovery Jumpstart" we will pay for ourselves as well as pull additional and significant pure profit dollars out of "thin air." It's really not as "magical" as this choice of words may appear. In truth, it's a simple process that we guide your employees through. In fact. We are so confident that we can produce these results for your company, regardless of size, that we will deliver this powerful approach at no cost, until we produce those dollars.
   
2. Another great approach to producing greater productivity within your company is to enable your employees to engage in their work "foe their reasons." What does that mean? We can help you show your employees how to show up on time and work a full day by spending a few extra hours at work each week as they build new business opportunities for themselves. New business opportunities that will contribute to additional revenues and profits for your company. Let's face it; we are losing employee focus to their efforts at building their own businesses through Network Marketing and traditional business startups. Why not harness that energy in a way that builds your company as well?
   

Improved employee focus on the job can produce remarkable improvements for your company. Whether you need to show performance for the board or shareholders, or you have a small company that can benefit from improved revenue and profitability (face it, who doesn't need these improvements in today's economy) these strategies are powerful. Imagine what those improved profits can do at a time like this. Those profits can fuel market expansion (read – take market share away from less profitable competitors), invest in capital improvements and leave your company in a superior position that would be difficult to compete with, only allowing you to grow your company's market share, revenues, profits and efficiencies in sustainable ways.

March Madness, $1.8 Billion loss, or improvement opportunity, you choose and we'll support you. Regardless of where in the world you company is located, regardless of the business you're in, these truths can serve to help you build a business that's unstoppable.

Coach Frits

coachfrits@gmaiil.com

801-755-6823

From Miracle Monday last week, to today, the miracles keep rolling in

I want to share some powerfully valuable truths with all of you. The important thing to note is that they will only become valuable and true for you when you choose for them to be valuable and true for you. Interestingly enough, I have already shared these ideas with most of you, but I thought you might find it valuable to hear these ideas from someone who has earned great credibility with the world at large, the actor Will Smith.

"There is a redemptive power to making a choice"

"The first step, before anyone else believes it, is that you have to believe it"

"There's no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A"

"I think that there's a certain delusional quality , that all successful people have to have"

"You have to believe that something different, from what has happened for the last 50 million years of history; you have to believe that something different can happen"

"Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity"

"Why would you be realistic? It's unrealistic to bend a piece of metal and fly people across the ocean, fortunately the Wright brothers thought otherwise. I'm gonna do it, it's done. It's already done the second I decide I'm going to do it"

From a Will Smith interview with Charles Osgood

As I shared my "delusional" spirit with one of my clients today, Bill Sturman in Minnesota, he was quick to thank me for the delusional attitudes that I both possess and impress upon others to adopt in their lives. Bill is a software engineer by profession. About 5 years ago, he closed the doors of his own software engineering company, and went to work for a much larger company. Towards the end of 2009, he went to the hospital with what he thought was a heart attack. Wow, talk about a wakeup call. Fortunately it turned out to be an acute anxiety attack (okay, better to be relaxing on the beach in Tahiti – but definitely better than a heart attack), the product of working for a company that put sales revenue ahead of customer satisfaction. Bill was getting stressed by long hours and too many meetings with unhappy clients, because his employer couldn't deliver on promises made. Most of you know that I believe that there are no accidents in life. So Bill said to me this morning, "Because of your coaching Frits, and I really do mean that, …the (School) Board was very complimentary of the strategic plan that I presented, and they went on to approve the first half of my 6 month project for them. That represents about $80,000 that I'll put in the bank. Not bad for 6 months of work." Continuing on as he spoke about a Budgeting system he had created for Vo Tech through 4 Year Colleges, and in reference to the "fire sale" strategy that I had shared with him; "I actually helped wrap up a project on that. This afternoon I go out to one of my old customers (5 years ago) to establish a maintenance/improvement service contract. There are ½ dozen Universities that are using my budget management, software that will yield $20k to $50k annual contracts." So Bill will enjoy his best income and his "Best Year Ever"™ in 2010. From stress to joy in about 4 months flat, that's faster than a Ferrari's 0 – 60 performance.

Bill reminded me of the conversation we had regarding riptides. The key to surviving a riptide is to not fight against it, but to let that energy do its job and swim across the riptide. The "Universe" has perfect love and generosity towards each one of us. As we allow its energy to guide us, rather than struggle against it, life will become much easier.

Witness Raji's, (my awesome Publicist) successes in finding great new clients, or Mark's success in the corporate world as he "rises to the top" of a large multi-national pharmaceutical company "I put more money in the bank this year Frits." They provide additional evidence that what you dream is within reach, as long as you follow five simple rules; Ready for those "rules?"

1. Dream, or as my friend Chris Nelson the famous Jamaican bobsledder of 1988 says, "Dream Big." Be delusional and unrealistic. Regardless of what your life has been like, good or bad, you are allowed to have more. Get clear on what "Success" looks like.
   
2. Wake up, get dressed and leave the comfort of your home. You don't need to know what it is that you will do after "leaving home," simply step out in faith, with no preconceived notion of what the "steps to success" have to look like, just be clear on what success looks like. After you take the first step, the next step will be revealed. Just be sure to "wake up" from your dreaming, and "go to the well." Regardless of whether or not the bucket comes up empty or full, keep going to the well (or perhaps find another well to go to).
   
3. Be delusional, unrealistic and demand the best for yourself and all that you love (like Lynda who loves millions of people in Peru).
   
4. Remember that life and success are both simply the product of choices. Don't like the life that is being "produced?" Make different choices. Don't want to make different choices? Love the life that has already been produced. That choice, to love what you have, brings you "more" in the moment that you make that choice.
   
5. Destroy the expectations of perfection, great joy and beauty can be created from that. For example, through the years, many of you have seen "horrific" typos in my communications with you (I thought I was going to be a professional football player, so I skipped typing class – for you youngsters, that's what we called it back in the day, you know it as "keyboarding"). Today, my beautiful wife is sometimes addressed as "Oyu" [sic], and it's a designation that we both have come to appreciate as a result "good enough." As my new friend, Dr. Brian Alman, said over dinner last week; "I am perfectly good enough." Everything really is as it should be. In this moment, you are what you need to be. Your life is what it needs to be. Or, as the great teacher "Sandy" Meisner taught his students to say to themselves, say to yourself "I am enough." Each of you has great beauty and value, I know, I've seen it. If you can't see it, allow me to help you "see it."
   

I cherish what I was told today (some of you will recognize this). "It's working, Coach! Every day you're getting closer! Everything you've ever wanted is being pressed toward you. Everything is clicking. Don't let the illusions trick you. Don't let the events of today dampen your spirits. Things couldn't be any better than they now are. You couldn't have more reasons to celebrate. Now! Do it! The hardest work is done! Just show up, be present, open every door and let events unfold. Life is your stage. This is your parade." What's the hard part? Dreaming Big, being delusional and unrealistic. But those aren't very difficult, are they? When that stuff becomes easy, life becomes easy. I hope your 2010 is exciting and rewarding as mine. Thanks for being a friend of mine.

Make this the "Best Year Ever,"

Coach Frits

Making Life Easy

I realize that this week's posts seem to be centered on technology. But as a business owner it is imperative that you discover and using any and all tools that allow you to get to the most important part of your business, as quickly and effortlessly as possible. While you don't get paid to select the best computer or office equipment, making good selections can make your life easier. The last thing that you need in a busy day is to have your computer stops working, or for you to experience problems with your software. Today I'd like to talk to you about incredible tool that will help you get through the administrative tasks quickly and allow you to move on to finding new customers or providing service to your customers.

Microsoft Windows 7 contains within it a powerful speech recognition technology. It's like having a secretary taking down dictation for you. All of your correspondence, forms and e-mail is all so much easier to deal with when you have a powerful speech recognition tool available. I'm using an inexpensive gigaware a USB stereo headset (which is Skype certified) and the powerful new Microsoft Office 2010, in combination with the speech recognition tool available in windows 7. Set up was easy and the microphone performed well.

So now I can type as fast as I can talk. Which frankly, as much faster than I am capable of typing. It's amazing to watch these words appear on the screen, exactly as I intend them to. If you've ever used speech recognition in the past, you'll have to agree that it could be a bit difficult. The computer doesn't recognize the words you mean to say, leading to typos that took too much time to go back and correct. But you will find that the new speech recognition technology is amazingly accurate right out of the box. And of course, you still have the opportunity to teach your computer how you speak. As you go through the process of teaching your computer your speech patterns, as well as making corrections in text as you speak it, the computer is less likely to make errors. You'll find with today's new technology that you will not be as frustrated as perhaps you were in the past. There is an end of sentence absolutely no reason to put off the decision of use speech recognition call technology any longer. Life and success really are all about choices. And ultimately that comes down to two fundamental choices. Those choices are; 1) what do I need to do to get the results that I desire? 2) can I make choices and be happy with the results I'm getting? "Success is nothing more than choosing to do the right thing, at the right time, consistently." What is the right thing? The thing that produces the results you want. When is the right time? Now! So you can continue to say use the old fashioned way and either type correspondence out yourself, or hire a secretary to do it for you (which I highly recommend, as an assistant can do so much more for you), if it's in the budget. Or you can make a small investment in today's new word processing and speech recognition technologies.

 

Coach Frits

Here’s a Great Profit Improvement Tool – Part 2

As an update that underscores the ease of use and versatility of this tool, I want to report that I have made 22 new blog posts in under an hour. Pretty cool. So let's consider how this tool saves you the added expenses of upgrading your office computer system or systems.

Forget the fact that software now costs more than the computers that we're buying, the biggest expense of a new computer system in the office is learning to use the new productivity tools, especially if you are the only "employee" of your Small Office/Homes Office based business. If you aren't familiar with "opportunity cost," it is simply defined as the possible profits that you could have earned by using a resource differently; in this case it's the resource of time that we are considering. As the only employee of your company, you need to be busy doing whatever it is that customers pay you for. If you don't have enough customers yet, then the most valuable activity that you can be engaged in is Selling. Even if you are a tech support company, your time is best spent fixing other people's computers, or improving other businesses computers, rather than working on your own computers. There is a legend that great businessman Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic (known as the god of manufacturing," I'll post his story later) once walked into one of his manufacturing plant offices and saw a "computer" sitting on an employee's desk (it was actually the monitor). Legend has it that he picked up the "computer" and in front of his astonished staff walked to a window and threw it out. He proclaimed that "computers do not work, people do." I am certain he was aware of the power of the computer, but he wanted to make the point to his employees that they could get bogged down. Certainly, the learning curve of a new system is just like that. Some of you may remember WordPerfect, after they took over WordStar's market (yes anyone who remembers WordStar and Lotus, and even Word Perfect is as old as Steve Jobs and me. Of course I remember when word processing was an electronic typewriter with a small 1x4 lcd)? If you do, you'll remember how we had a new learning curve. We used keyboard templates, and competing software companies had "WordPerfect commands" capabilities wherein we could switch back to WordPerfect commands because it was too difficult to relearn the new Microsoft commands. It seems almost laughable to today's generation of computer literate workers. But that reality helped us to understand that when new technology was purchased, we had to pay attention to the training element of learning how to use the new equipment.

Today, that challenge is made so much greater as we have to learn how to integrate all of the equipment in our office, while at the same time learning how to get it all to work with the Internet, Networks - both physical and virtual, email and email Clients. It has simply gotten to be too complex. Have you ever felt like you have become the Computer Help Desk or Tech department in your small business? Have you ever felt like tech requirements and technical support (calling up the mobile technicians and paying them to fix a problem that wasn't' there yesterday)is draining your working capital as well as your precious time? The entire Office 2010 suite seems to have the potential of eliminating most of that. Buy Word 2010 (of course, you're already seeing that I would recommend buying the entire suite), and you won't have to go through reading a "Cloud based" service's "help pages" trying to figure out how to get it and your word processor to talk to each other. With the growing cloud computing model, it was time that a software company figured how to simplify all of that for us. Once again; bravo to you Microsoft, for getting it right for us and making it so we can focus on our businesses not our office equipment.

Last, but not least, it seems that Microsoft's marketing department has been working in unison with the Developers, and made "getting Office 2010" as east as using it. The new pricing model is in line with our needs as small to medium sized business owners. In addition to being a more affordable pricing model, Microsoft has made it possible to "try it, before you buy it" buy allowing free downloads of the Office 2010 beta. The new suite of tools is scheduled to arrive on store shelves in June, 2010. I strongly suggest that you download it now, and see if you aren't as excited about its features as much as I am.