Burke Hedges Speaks

Welcome back to another edition of the Monday Minute! 

I want to share a familiar story with you today.  It’s about a
guy who just got started on your team - let’s call him Steve. 
Steve is really excited about the opportunity and decides to
spend the first day going over all the training materials you
gave him.

On day two, he’s at the bookstore looking for books on building
a network marketing business.

On day three, he spends about 8 hours surfing the net looking
at all the different systems that can build his downline for him. 
He’s really excited at the possibilities and is already counting
all the money he’s going to make next month.

On days four, five and six he spends even more time online (it’s
like falling down the rabbit hole).  One website leads to another…
he’s getting a little confused…but he knows he wants to look into
learning how to build his own website and generate some leads.

He’s written out his plan of action, organized his contact list by
alphabetical order and color coded it to match each persons personality
type.  He wants everything to be perfect before he begins building
his business.

Now, you may be asking me - What’s so bad about reading books about
building a networking business?

Nothing!

What’s so bad about spending time reading the company training
materials or looking online for helpful resources?

Nothing really…except that Steve is focusing his effort on the
wrong things!

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If your house is on fire, you don’t try to fix the leaky faucet under
your sink!  Having a functional sink is great, but put out the fire
first! 
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Steve’s story is all too familiar to so many of us working in this
industry.  We somehow convince ourselves that what we’re focused on
is critical and important; however, if we’re really honest, we’ll 
discover that although many of the activities we’re doing everyday
are useful, they’re not a priority to building our business.

So why do we sometimes choose to spend time majoring in the minors? 

Maybe the things we’re focusing on are more “fun” than the other things. 
Or maybe they’re easier for us.  And somehow we find excuses to NOT do
the things that should have the highest priority.

>> Are you avoiding doing things that could have a drastic impact on your
business in favor of things that have little impact? <<

If so, then I encourage you today to remember this principle:  80% of
your results will come from 20% of your efforts and 20% of your results
will come from 80% of your effort. 

What this means is that there are some BIG things you can do that will
produce drastic results in a short amount of time.  And there are a lot
of SMALL things that you can do that will produce minimal results but
take up loads of your time.

The secret is to make sure you’re doing the activities that get you
the “best bang for the buck” before you do the others.

For example, are you spending too much time with prospects who are
only tire-kickers?  Or are you spending time with movers and shakers
who want to get things done? 

Are you spending all your time reinventing the wheel because your
uplines training manual just sn’t “good enough” or are you making
do with what’s available now and moving on to something more
meaningful like bringing in new customers and business partners?

At every step of the way in building your business, always check
your priority list and ask yourself if what you’re doing will produce
the most drastic positive result for your business.  If so, great! 
Keep doing that!  If not, then refocus.

Make it a great week & I’ll see you next Monday!

Thanks for joining me again for another edition of the Monday
Minute!  This week I’ve got an interesting question to ask you:

Are you willing to settle?

Every day, all around, I see people settling for less.

They settle for less than what will truly make them happy.
The settle for less than what they truly deserve. They settle
for less money because they do not really believe they can make
more.  And they even settle for less because they simply don’t
want to do what it will take to change their situation.  It’s
too hard or scary.
 
People settle for a job they are not happy in because they do
not really think they can change their situation. They settle for
less than fulfilling relationships because at least what they
have offers them security, or maybe they just don’t think it is
possible to have all their heart dreams of. 

People settle.  Are you one of them?

You know, when you decide NOT to settle - it’s scary!  It takes
us waaay out of our comfort zones. We might take that risk and
lose something.  What if we mess it up?  What if we totally fail?

So, to avoid the pain & possibility of failing, we convince
ourselves that it’s not possible to ‘have it all’ - so, we might
as well settle for what we can, and pretend we’re happy and fine
with it. 

But we’re not.

So often we’d prefer not to hang out on a limb that might break. 
It’s “too risky”.  But I’d like to encourage you today not to settle. 

You’re worth so much more than that. You deserve to have it all;
to be happy; not to struggle day in & day out.  You deserve to do
something that fills your soul with contentment. You deserve to have
wonderful relationships with your family and friends. 

If you think perhaps you’ve laid down and settled in some area of
your like, ask yourself:  “What kind of world am I creating for myself
by settling here when I know it’s not really what I want?”

Be honest with yourself and then decide to step out of your comfort
zone and change it. Only you can have the courage to step out into
what scares you…because it’s what is right outside your comfort zone
that your greatest fulfillment and success is found.

Don’t settle for less & make it a great week!

 Well, we’re a week into 2010 … have you implemented some new plans,
or is it back to “more of the same?”

You know, most “new year’s resolutions” are already broken today -
or will be by the end of this month.  So, if that’s you - you’re
not alone.

Last week I spoke to you about needing to set New Years Intentions,
not resolutions.  I say this because I think the whole “resolution”
business is broken.

If one of your resolutions was to get your financial life turned
around, hear me now - It’s not going to happen with a resolution. You
need a plan and you need guidance.

Let me ask you a question.  When you woke up this morning did you plan
your day based on the things that that “fire you up” & that you feel
passionate about OR are you plans made based on what you need to do
to solve your immediate cash situation?

Do you spend your time working IN a successful business - making it
bigger, better & stronger?  Or, are you constantly trying to
‘figure out’ how to make your business a success?  If you wake up
everyday thinking about how you’re going to solve your money problems,
how you’re going to build a big business - but you never actually
GET there, then read on.

In order to get back on track in your life and business, you need
to do 4 simple things. 

1. Stop the bleeding

Where are you bleeding money in your life & business?  Get in there
and find out where and put a stop to it - immediately.  If you’ve
constantly got more money going out than coming in, it’s going to
cause some serious stress. 

For example, if you’re driving all over town doing one-on-one
meetings with people to show them your business opportunity,
you’re probably spending money on gas, wear & tear on your car,
and perhaps some coffee for you & your prospects.

How much are you spending each month on this?  Are you seeing
a return on your investment?
2. Put a stop to stress

Chances are there are several factors in your life that are making
your situation more stressful than it needs to be.

Maybe you’ve got an unsupportive spouse because of all the time
and money you’re spending without getting anything in return.

Perhaps you’ve got “toxic” team members who call you non-stop
to complain.  You’ve got to get those folks off your back - fast.

Once you make the decision to stop the bleeding in your business
and you move forward in profitability, you’ll find a lot of thing
often change - spouses become more supportive and you’re often
too busy to take phone calls from complaining team members
anymore.

3. Generate some income quickly

If you’re stagnant in your business and really need to make
some income fast, then sit right now and make a list
of the ways you could so that. 

How many new customers would you need?  How many new
business partners?  How many people do you need to talk
to this week to make that happen?

Map out some ideas right now for generating income this
week in your business.
4. Refocus

Finally, ask yourself this important question:

Will the thinking that got me where I am right now get me to where
I want to be in the future?

If your answer is “No”, then now’s the time to refocus your thinking
and make plans for the future.  Plans that you put into action!

I’d like to encourage you this week to look at your business
like a business…not a part-time hobby.  A business has to be
profitable in order to stay in business and so much stress can
be eliminated from your life once you get your business into
profitability. 

Look at where you’re bleeding money, get rid of distractions,
make a plan of action to generate some fast income, and focus.

Have a great week!

Happy New Year & thanks for joining me again for another issue of
the Monday Minute!

For all of us, this is not just another new year, but the start
of a new decade.  Are you happy with what you’ve accomplished
over the last 10 years of your life?  Where do you hope to go in
the next 10 years?

Over the next few weeks I plan on giving you some tips about
a subject that’s preached about often - Time Management. 

You can purchase audios, videos, online courses, day planners,
calendars, and much more - all geared at helping you manage
your time.  And what better time to start focusing on this than
the new year?

Would you like to know a little secret? 

Time management really isn’t about managing your time.  You see,
we all have the same 24 hours in a day.  You can’t add to those
hours…they just ARE.  But you can choose what to do during your
24 hours each day.  You can manage yourself.  And that’s the
key - Time management isn’t about managing your time, it’s about
managing yourself.

Here are 3 great tips to get you started:

1. Find out where you’re wasting time.

How many times a day do you check your email?  How much time do
you spend surfing the net or playing games on Facebook?  What
about talking on the phone?  How many useless, unfruitful
conversations do you have each day that deplete your valuable time?

You know how the diet gurus will tell you to write down everything
you eat for a week if you want to create a solid plan for losing
weight?  Well, I’d like to challenge you to start keeping a log
of what you do with your time every day for the next week in order
to help you make a solid plan for using your time valuably. 

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Write down everything you do from checking email, to cooking, working,
cleaning, sleeping, driving, eating, chatting on the phone - write it
all down. 
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If you check your email 3 times a day and it takes you 10 minutes
each time - write this down.  Don’t judge yourself just yet (this
comes later).  For this week, you’re just keeping track of how you
spend your time.

Then, after the week is over, take a look to assess how you have spent
your time and how much time was used for every activity.   How much
time this week did you spend watching TV or playing games on the
computer?  More than you thought?  How much time did you spend making
prospecting calls?  Less than you thought?

By taking a look at how you REALLY spend your time (not how you THINK
you spend your time) you can implement a plan to improve how you manage
yourself and reduce, if not eliminate activities that just waste your
precious time.

2.  Create some goals.

A goal tells you where to go - it gives you a starting point to work
towards.  In order to better manage your time, you have to set your
goals. It starts by setting up your calendar and know what you need
to accomplish every day. This means that before doing anything, when
you start your day, you should plan things out and dictate what will
happen for the rest of the day.

Make a commitment to control this and discipline yourself to follow
your commitment. 

Some great ideas for time management goals are:

>> Only checking email twice each day
>> Spending 20 minutes MAX per day on Facebook
>> Just because your phone rings, doesn’t mean you have to answer it. 
   If you’ve got a busy schedule, let your calls go to voicemail & schedule
   a set time each day when you listen to all your messages at once &
   return phone calls.
3. Implement your plan.

Setting up a daily calendar is only part of implementing a
time management plan.

Making sure you’ve got the proper resources is another part. 
For some people, having a written agenda and a list is helpful
at keeping them organized and on track for the day.  For others,
a digital recorder works great at keeping track of time spent
or notes of things that need to be done.  Make sure you’ve got
the tools you need to succeed.

Also, you should take into account the distractions that you can
encounter as you go about your day.  It is important to identify
them so you can determine the measures and steps to avoid them. 

For instance - Let’s say you’ve decided to schedule 2 hours each
evening to make prospecting calls and return calls from potential
prospects.  Then, just as you’re getting ready to make your calls,
your phone rings.  It’s your spouse….your child…your parent…a
friend….someone who just wants to chat.  You answer the phone and
before you know it, 30 minutes of your prime prospect calling time
has been spent chatting. 

The key here is focus.  If you’ve scheduled the time to do an
important business building task, then stick to your schedule. 

Your plan should clearly indicate the steps that you need to do
not to fall into the trap of these distractions, which can take
some productivity time from you.

After you’ve begun to implement some time management steps into
your day, make sure to pay attention to your success.  Review the
results you’ve gotten as a result of spending focused time on
what’s important to you - and less time on the unimportant.

This time of year is the perfect time to reflect on what you have
accomplished and how you can accomplish more.  You will be amazed
by how much success you will create!

See you next week!