Archive for May, 2010

One of the keys to the phenomenal growth in both my businesses and my life over the past 18 months has been being part of a mastermind group, with a paid leader and a limited number of like-minded peers. So why would I invest a significant portion of my education budget on a mentoring experience like this – not once but twice?

1. Individualized Focus on MY Business Needs and Goals

I am an avid learner – always have been. But you can only go so far learning from someone, whether it is through books, teleclasses, or their live events. To really apply what they teach, you need to have the leader’s personal eye on your business, get their input on your ideas (and how to improve them or avoid mistakes) and to support you through the ups and downs of creating something big. Just one piece of advice or insight has saved me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours I would have spent going down the “wrong” road.

2. Connection with Like-Minded, Big-Thinking Peers

When I go to the first live meeting of the mastermind, I know there will be other people there, and I know that I will have stretched to be there. But to share our goals and dreams with our peers – who have also stretched to be there – and have them accept and applaud you, that’s magical. And we also end up doing business with each other, partnering, and being friends for long past the length of the mastermind itself.

3. To Expand My Already-Big Vision Even More

Another benefit of the Mastermind is that my partners and the leader add more dimensions and resources to the vision that I could not see, making the ultimate result even better! We are each only as perceptive as our experiences allow us to be – and inevitably there is more to be achieved, an easier way to do it, or another way to leverage that the Mastermind experience can provide.

4. For Perspective and Insights to Remove Roadblocks and Self-Sabotaging Beliefs

Whether I think I am “stuck” or not, we all have areas in which we unconsciously limit our success. They may stem from childhood, or they may just be incomplete knowledge about something. But being in front of a group of colleagues and a mentor coach is one place you can’t hide your “stuff”! It can be identified, processed and transformed in the blink of an eye in this focused setting. This too has shaved years off my business growth – not to mention made me a happier person!

I highly recommend that you invest in a mastermind experience if you have not done so to date. My mastermind groups are filled ONLY through our intensives and live events – so to be among the first to be invited to participate in the first 2010 mentoring group, join Purposeful Branding Secrets June 3-5 www.purposefulbrandingsecrets.com and we’ll get you more information during the event!

Copyright © 2009-10 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

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Have you ever thought of the process of starting and growing your business as a “hero’s journey”?

When we are called to entrepreneurship (and I believe it is every bit as much a calling as the one a minister receives!), it becomes so compelling we cannot ignore it. It is the “call to adventure” in the classic hero’s journey cycle.

It may come through an apparent “accident” – an employee embezzles funds and the company closes, you or a close family member is diagnosed with a serious illness requiring time off, or you are offered a position by a competing firm and begin to question your future. Or it may be a deliberate choice – but even then, the decision to become an entrepreneur often comes after years of restlessness, feeling like you don’t “fit” in a corporate environment, or sensing that you have a deeper mission to fulfill.

Once we say “yes” and cross the threshold to being a business owner instead of an employee, it truly is as though we have entered a new land. No more bosses, no more taking the office and its furnishings and equipment for granted, no more support staff (unless we hire them!).

And as we surrender to this calling – which feels bigger than us, irresistibly drawing us forward – and we walk the entrepreneurial path, we find that the old markers for “success” and “failure,” for “good” and “bad,” are no longer valid. We feel like we have lost our way…and then we notice the challenges and temptations along the way.

We attract the mentors and helpers we need…but ultimately, if we are to succeed, the journey inevitably leads to an abyss in which we die to our old ways. We may lose friends – or relate to them in a different way. We will lose the sense of security that came from having a paycheck – and we will even lose the excitement that we had when we started the business. It must give way to an even deeper sense of service and sharing our message that was planted in us from the beginning of time…a calling that must be fulfilled. But its fulfillment – and the accompanying rebirth – requires us to become a new version of ourselves…and therein lies the pain, the fear, and the difficulty.

Now, in 2010 as I write this, the death of the old way of doing business is right on time with the hero’s journey in the world of business. Even mainstream media and the nightly news speak of the “new economy” – and acknowledge that we do not yet know the rules of this new economy, but that it is clearly emerging. This is not a comfortable phase of the process – but a necessary one nonetheless!

If you are feeling uncomfortable – like you are wearing “clothes” that are too small as you continue to market, deliver services and sell in the way you always have…you are not alone. The new consciousness of your customers and the planet at large requires that you also evolve. What are you being called to become now? What call to growth are the challenges in your being beckoning you to?

Thankfully, our hero’s journey continues with a transformation, unexpected gifts, and often, a whole new life – for us, the business we run, and the people we serve. We traverse the dangerous territory of the abyss, learn the important lessons, and return to our staff, our customers and ourselves with a new perspective. Somehow we can now bridge the two worlds of the known and the unknown, the material and the spiritual, with ease. We know that entrepreneurship is, at its roots, a path for discovering who we are…and for offering our gifts to the world. It is a transformational journey, and in the end, we realize that we are one with our clients or customers. We do not have to “market to” them, “close” them, or “find” them – they are us.

See other entrepreneurs’ stories – including Lisa Sasevich, James Roche, Alexis Neely and more – and find out how following their purpose works in real life!

Danger #3: Going for the quick sale instead of building a long-term relationship.

If you have been concerned about sluggish sales or decreasing market share, you may have fallen into the trap of just getting more people to buy – and lost your true sense of self and building a tribe or community around your passionate, purposeful message. Don’t fall into that trap!

Remember, each person who enters your business pipeline has a tremendous potential value to you – first, as someone who can benefit from your message (and create a great success story or testimonial), and second, the lifetime value of all of the purchases they make from you – coupled with those they refer to you and their purchases over their lifetime. That next call you take could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Does that change how you interact with them?

With this perspective, it is critical that you turn your core expertise into a repeatable, reliable Signature System that you can present easily and effortlessly – and with which you can get consistent results. That system can then be delivered in a wide range of products, programs and services – from books to individual coaching to year-long group mentoring programs – that will keep your customers engaged and the relationship deepening.

What this means for you is that you have less turnover in your business/clientele – you have to do less marketing outreach – and you have more freedom to work the hours you want, making more money in doing so, and having more fun too!

Question to ask yourself: Have I been shortsighted in my marketing and sales conversations with prospective clients? If so, how can I leverage my services to build long-term client relationships?

If you want to explore your entrepreneurial journey more – and get my formula for moving your business to the next level, click here!

Danger #2: Underestimating the importance of meaning and purpose in today’s marketplace.

In 1980, John Naisbitt predicted in his blockbuster best seller Megatrends that the more technology became part of our lives, the more we would seek connection. He called this “high tech, high touch.” And was he ever right! People today are starving for meaning and purpose. Dan Pink also touched on this phenomenon as one of the 3 biggest factors in the new Conceptual Age today. Are you addressing it in your business?

One way of course is to offer services or products that directly help someone feel connected, discover their purpose, etc. But have you built your business mission and values around your own individual life purpose? If not, chances are that you will struggle to grow it in the new Entrepreneurial Renaissance – or perhaps not survive at all!

People want to hear your story – how did you come to be doing the work you do? If you can get them to be asking “how can I do what she’s done?” – then you have a purpose-based business!

But beware: you may need to be willing to discuss the “s” word (spirituality) – instead of holding back from fear that others will be offended! Part of meaning and purpose, for most people, is spirituality…and if it is part of your journey, don’t hesitate to mention it.

Question to ask yourself: Have I been afraid to share my purpose with my clients because of fear of rejection? If so, how can I begin to be even more authentic with them?