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Articles from Melanie Benson Strick | Selfgrowth.com
- The Sweet Spot: 5 High Payoff Activities to Amplify Your Success - by Submitted on Jun 11, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickKnowing what to spend your time and money on is not always as easy as it sounds. With time being scarcer than money, it’s easy to put our focus on activities that will generate the wrong results. But what I do know is there are a few activities that highly successful entrepreneurs do ...
Views: 1886(2 votes) - Should I Pull the Plug or Persevere? - by Submitted on Feb 07, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickTwo years ago I was coaching a client who was significantly in debt, had a service-based business that took him 80 hours a week to run, and was so stressed out trying to grow his business that he had stomach ulcers and slept about 4 hours a night. Of course I started running the numbers – how ...
Views: 1283(1 vote) - Too Many Ideas? How to Know When You Have “The One Brilliant Idea” - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickNancy is like every entrepreneur I know. Highly creative and visionary, she has a million ideas. First she wants to be a coach. Then a mentor tells her she should offer workshops. Then she decides she should offer consulting in her old industry. Then, confused and full of angst, she hears about ...
Views: 1554(7 votes) - Six Ways to Spend More Time Doing What You Love - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickDid you start your business with the high hopes that you’d spend every waking moment pouring through piles of receipts trying to update your bookkeeping reports, chasing down past due payments from customers or struggling to keep up with the growing list of marketing tasks to hopefully attract ...
Views: 2770(5 votes) - 5 Tips to Keep the Romance Alive In Your Business - by Submitted on Apr 07, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickAs entrepreneurs our business is a HUGE part of our lives. We spend every waking hour thinking about how to grow our results and often invest more time nurturing our business than we do our intimate relationships. As a matter of fact I consider having a business a unique form of relationship. ...
Views: 1561(2 votes) - Is Giving Vital to Business Growth? - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickThe other day my friendly Trader Joes check out guy said, “Are you doing anything cool for the holidays?” I think I shocked him with my answer of “Why yes, we just dropped some toys off at the Holiday Drive and I’m enjoying finding unique ways to give this year.” Stunned, he responded, “I ...
Views: 1286(2 votes) - Four Business Partnering Ideas for Colossal Expansion - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickJohn is a highly creative person who loves to do one thing – write. And he makes a really great living at it. But when it comes to running a business and dealing with the operations John would pretty much prefer to get a root canal in the middle of the Sahara desert. Dan is a brilliant ...
Views: 1806(3 votes) - 4 Must-Have Factors for Consistent Predictable Growth in an Uncertain Economy - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickIn today marketplace, uncertainty seems to be the constant as we embrace our new economy. What used to work for many businesses to generate sales and increase profits now does not work. Many in the information marketing world have had to face the fact that buyers now want something ...
Views: 2116(4 votes) - 9 Simple Virtual Team Outsourcing Tips To Make More Money - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2007 from Melanie Benson StrickI recently conducted a survey of entrepreneurs who are still doing everything themselves. I discovered that the #1 reason why entrepreneurs hold back from investing in support is they still believe that the cost to build a team is greater than the potential revenue growth. Well that's just ...
Views: 1175(1 vote) - An Easy 3-Step Formula to STOP Overwhelm - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickI'm looking around the room at glassy-eyed stares. It is day three of a big marketing event where these entrepreneurs have been learning all kinds of new ideas, opportunities and strategies. I've been brought into help these entrepreneurs prioritize and focus on the right steps at the right time ...
Views: 1077(1 vote) - Do You Have a Clear Vision of Your Life as a Successful Business Owner? - by Submitted on Aug 12, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickCreate your ideal lifestyle vision first. It's hard to shove your ideal lifestyle into a busy business, but if you create that vision first, you can then build your business to support it. Vision is the ability to create something wonderful in your imagination. There's a spiritual connotation ...
Views: 1254(1 vote) - Power Of The Virtual Team - by Submitted on Oct 18, 2007 from Melanie Benson StrickAn excerpt from the book The Power of the Virtual Team, available at: http://www.powerofthevirtualteam.com/buy.php “There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” George Shinn (Owner of Charlotte Hornets basketball team The reason I feel so ...
Views: 1185(1 vote) - The Power of Business Leverage For Entrepreneurs - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickLearning how to leverage will free you from the burden of feeling constantly overwhelmed and scrambling to succeed. What is leverage? Leverage is the ability to apply a little bit of effort and get a massive result. Think of a lever - you move the lever a little bit and the lever applies the ...
Views: 1058(1 vote) - The Six Building Blocks of a Profitable Thriving Partnership - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickHave you ever entered into a partnership with someone then found, much to your surprise, that a few months (or years) down the road that the partnership has blown up? Kinda like the moment you discover your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend is no longer the person you want to spend your life ...
Views: 1031(1 vote) - Being Brave And Letting Go: How This Can Revolutionize Your Business - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickIf you’re an entrepreneur you’ve probably come across this situation before: You’ve invested big into a new project, new venture, new employee, or new system… You’ve spent months preparing this new thing, you’ve long been excited about it’s potential, and you’ve planned on it being a ...
Views: 1672(6 votes) - 7 Character Traits of an Extraordinary Entrepreneur - by Submitted on Feb 27, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickIn 2001 I discovered I was a much better entrepreneur than I was a corporate ladder climber. As I turned in my 2-week notice at Motorola after 10 years in business, I was ecstatic to finally be my own boss. Over the next 18 months I was broke, frustrated, overwhelmed and doubting my ability to ...
Views: 1249(1 vote) - It Takes a Village to Raise a Vision - by Submitted on Feb 07, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickAfter years and years of building my business I know it’s a heck of a lot more fun (and a lot less work) to raise a vision when you have a village of people supporting you! I’ve always had a team. To me that’s a no-brainer. But sometimes I lose sight of the other important “villagers” I need to ...
Views: 1432(1 vote) - When Being Driven Takes You to the Dark Side - by Submitted on Oct 08, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickAs an entrepreneur we are trained to focus on results – make more money, get more clients, sell more products, and achieve more recognition. It becomes easy to let these hard numbers dictate our daily levels of success, happiness, and even survival. In order to get more results, many of us ...
Views: 1414(1 vote) - When the Pursuit of More Money Costs Too Much - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickMany years ago one of my mentors taught me this saying: “success is only sustainable when it’s good for you, good for the people around you, and good for the world.” That sounds good and everything…but what does it really mean? Do we mean people like Enron can’t just cover up their big oil ...
Views: 1243(1 vote) - Your Focus can Make or Break 6 Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make Trying to Grow Their Bottom Line a Million Dollar Opportunity - by Submitted on May 17, 2007 from Melanie Benson StrickHave you ever felt like you were running a rat race? Everything seems like it takes forever, costs 10 times as much as you expected and you still feel like you are a million miles away from achieving your financial goals? That’s because people often approach their financial growth with the ...
Views: 778 - 15 Strategies to Conquer Overwhelm in 12 Minutes a Day - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2013 from Melanie Benson StrickOverwhelm is a state of mind that can sabotage your success and create unnecessary stress. Here are fifteen of my favorite techniques I use to help my clients (and myself) dissolve the feelings of overwhelm and feel inspired and powerful every day. Each of these techniques can be implemented in ...
Views: 1226 - 3 Tips To Equalize Cash Flow To Client Flow - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2008 from Melanie Benson StrickYour bills are piling up. Your website is in its fourth reiteration and you still aren't getting clients. You just discovered that you should be posting articles and doing online press releases but you are running out of time and money. You know you need to build a team so you can get things ...
Views: 1030 - 5 Essential Habits to Protect Your Most Essential Commodity - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2007 from Melanie Benson Strick5 Essential Habits to Protect Your Most Essential Commodity A couple of years ago I was at a leadership conference where one of the keynotes, Suzanne de Passe of Motown Productions, talked about protecting the entrepreneurs’ greatest commodity – our energy. Suzanne’s key comment was “how you ...
Views: 847 - 5 Key Elements to Quick-Start a High Payoff Virtual Team - by Submitted on Sep 20, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickOnce you realize you are ready to delegate to other you are probably going to want to get started quickly. That’s how we work as entrepreneurs, an idea gets in our head and we leap forward. Typically we rush to bring a new team member on board because we need help now – we can’t wait to get ...
Views: 1137 - 5 Questions to Catapult out of “Stuckville” and Into Massive, Focused Action - by Submitted on Jun 01, 2007 from Melanie Benson StrickIf you were already a millionaire, what would you be doing differently? Got you thinking didn’t I. That’s the power of a question. So really, what would you be doing differently if every day you got up and went about your business as if you were already a millionaire? Most people who come to ...
Views: 935 - 6 Keys to Solving Any Challenge with Out-of-the-Box Thinking - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2008 from Melanie Benson StrickAs my friends and I hovered in the lobby of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, the reality was sinking in that American Airlines had cancelled all of our flights and we were stuck in Nashville for one more day. As we mentally reviewed the checklist in our heads of all the rescheduling, rebooking and ...
Views: 1117 - 7 Keys to Identifying an Ideal Partnership - by Submitted on Jul 27, 2007 from Melanie Benson Strick7 Keys to Identifying an Ideal Partnership In the world of small business, it seems there is often a common quest: to find the ideal business partner. Usually this stems from a need to “get rid of” the roles or tasks that we struggle with. Like marketing, finance or sales. I know when I first ...
Views: 788 - 7 Reminders Why You Left your J.O.B. to be an Entrepreneur - by Submitted on Jul 25, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickYour client’s check bounced and now you have to call them (again) to get paid. Cashing checks was NOT why you left your job, was it? Come to think about it, you don’t like having to handle all this financial stuff anyway. What a pain! Your new program (or product) fell short of your revenue ...
Views: 1325 - 7 Steps to Creating Million-Dollar Results with Your Own Mastermind Team - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2007 from Melanie Benson Strick“Mastermind” is the one of the greatest “secrets” to success. A Mastermind is a group of people who share a common vision and commit to leveraging each other’s brilliance, skills and big thinking to achieve their biggest dreams. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, talked about the ...
Views: 914 - A Must Have Tool For Your Delegation Toolbox - by Submitted on Sep 20, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickOne of the biggest frustrations of having a business can be managing staff. It’s frustrating to have a team member who is constantly off the mark in terms of what you need from them. This is also one of the easiest problems to solve when you use the right tools that allow you to hire the right ...
Views: 1005 - A Simple Formula For Consistent, Predictable Results - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2007 from Melanie Benson StrickHow would you like to be able to predict your future outcomes? How about achieve any kind of goal? You may not realize this but you have already perfected a simple formula for consistent, predictable results. So why, you might ask, are you not achieving all of your goals in record ...
Views: 845 - A Simple Formula To Guarantee An Instant “Virtual Team” Return On Investment - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2007 from Melanie Benson StrickRecently I conducted a survey of entrepreneurs who expressed interest in virtual teams and asked, “What is your single greatest challenge with building a virtual team? Over 64% answered, “Knowing how to pay for a team.” The funny thing is I never questioned whether or not I could afford to ...
Views: 783 - Are You An Over-Delegator or an Under Delegator? - by Submitted on Sep 20, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickI know you’ve heard me talk over and over about the importance of delegation. It’s crucial to business growth, but figuring out how to do it correctly isn’t always easy. I view it as “part Art, part Science”. The “Art” is knowing which tasks and responsibilities are most beneficial to ...
Views: 1190 - Busyness–It’s Not Just about Business - by Submitted on Jul 31, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickWhen you’re too busy, it has a negative impact on all facets of your life. Those of us in the entrepreneurial world have a tendency to think about the negative aspects of busyness in terms of how it makes running our businesses harder. If we expand our perspective of the problem, it becomes ...
Views: 1275 - Disastrous Unconscious Choices Fast-Paced Entrepreneurs Make that Stunt Growth - by Submitted on Jun 26, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickI’ve been watching something happen lately and it seems that the more our fear rises the more this issue has just gotten out of hand. It typically comes up behind closed doors in one of those private conversations I have with a client or a colleague who has hit the wall. The conversation starts ...
Views: 1484 - Diversify or Focus: The Sand Pail Approach to Stable Income - by Submitted on Feb 19, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickDo you have all your revenue eggs in one basket? It’s the classic situation many entrepreneurs find themselves in – and it’s a precarious place to operate your business from. If you have one big client, one main offering or one key industry that provides you most of your revenue, then you ...
Views: 1406 - Do You Have a "Just Get By" Strategy? - by Submitted on May 29, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickWhat if I could guarantee you that I could teach you a strategy that would keep you stuck exactly where you are right now, designed to generate a predictably mediocre results? Would you race to my “buy now” opportunity? Heck no! But yet so many people spend hours a day perfecting a strategy ...
Views: 1866 - Eoungh Already....Are You a Leader or a Follower? - by Submitted on Apr 13, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickI’ve been seeing a lot of “information” lately about being a leader or a follower. What I’ve come to understand is a lot of mentors, gurus and marketers need you to be a follower. Followers do what they are told. Which means followers will probably spend a lot more money with their “guru” and ...
Views: 1639 - Getting Over Idol Fever - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickRecently I watched a somewhat cheesy movie, Rockstar, where Mark Wahlburg plays an obsessed cover band singer who is impersonating a popular 80’s heavy metal band. Chris, the main character, takes his role so seriously that he learns everything he can about the lead singer – and completely ...
Views: 1465 - How Control-Freak-Itis Can Derail Your Success - by Submitted on Mar 14, 2008 from Melanie Benson StrickImagine what it would be like if you could run a profitable six, seven or eight figure business and enjoy as much freedom as you desire? For many, the moment you decide to grow your business you simultaneously think of all the hard work ahead. You begin to question the dream and wonder if it’s ...
Views: 1165 - How to Boost Your Bottom Line by Strengthening Your Power Factor - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2008 from Melanie Benson StrickHave you ever noticed how hard it is to fill a bucket that is full of holes? Imagine for a moment how silly it would be to try and keep the bucket full of water when the water just keeps pouring out the bottom. Well that is what most of us do when we try to leap forward in our growth with a ...
Views: 980 - How To Breakthrough Your Glass Ceiling - by Submitted on Mar 14, 2008 from Melanie Benson StrickYou are working your buns off every day, with the pedal-to-the-metal and yet, the realization has sunk in, you can't squeeze any more in. The experts however are telling you that to make more money you have to fit in these tasks: • Set up a blog and post 3 times a week • Systemize your ...
Views: 1090 - How to Conquer your “Control Freak” to Increase Results - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2011 from Melanie Benson StrickAs entrepreneurs, our strengths can become our greatest weaknesses. By nature we are fast paced, highly creative risk takers. But when it comes to building a team, it’s like forcing us to take a nap at 10:00am. It’s just not our natural way of doing things. The most important aspect of ...
Views: 1689 - How to Get a 10x Increase in Revenue in Record Time - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2009 from Melanie Benson StrickThe last few weeks I've been testing a new high performance technique. Having been trained in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, I'm always fascinated by how when you give your brain a new directive how it responds. It all started on a phone call with a client of mine who was planning out a ...
Views: 1399 - How to Get Your Life and Business Out of the Constraint Box - by Submitted on Aug 15, 2013 from Melanie Benson StrickThe other day I was at yoga class and was chatting with the owner about attendance. It’s a relatively new studio in a rural area of Los Angeles so I knew that it would take some time to build the word-of-mouth buzz she needed to sustain full classes on a regular basis. I threw out a few ...
Views: 1013 - Is Determination Alone Enough to Change Those Bad Habits? - by Submitted on Aug 15, 2013 from Melanie Benson StrickMost of us are taught that if we try hard enough we can accomplish any goal. But sometimes, when we’ve spent years training ourselves into a habit, determination isn’t going to be enough to change that pattern. Of course being determined is an essential ingredient in changing your habits but in ...
Views: 1549 - Is Your Ladder on the Wrong Wall? - by Submitted on Mar 10, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickJohn had a dream. He wanted to live his passion and make a difference in the world. He knew that self-employment was a key to creating wealth and freedom. So John set out to be the owner of his own business. He did everything right. He watched what other successful people were doing. He modeled ...
Views: 1128 - It's Time for a Revolution....But Not THAT KIND! - by Submitted on Feb 13, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickSome people think I’m nuts but I don’t watch the news. If I did, I think I’d be in a constant state of panic as the media churns up the frenzy by constantly focusing us on: How our economy continues to decline. That unemployment is at an all-time high. Company leaders that are downright ...
Views: 1131 - Lost and Found: Why Clients Who Leave Can Be Your Profit Goldmine - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2012 from Melanie Benson StrickI was talking with a colleague the other day about their business. Like me, their ideal client already has an established business and knows they want to grow through scalable strategies and automation. As we were bouncing around some ideas of where those clients are I asked him, “Do you think ...
Views: 1303 - Monkey Management: 3 Simple Solutions to Reclaim Your Time, Focus, and Sanity - by Submitted on Jul 27, 2007 from Melanie Benson StrickDo you ever feel like you are carrying the weight of a thousand people on your back? Somehow no matter how good you think you are at delegating it still feels like you have a thousand things to do. It’s a feeling many entrepreneurs, managers and business owners have. William Oncken, author of ...
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