All entrepreneurs experience a period of inconsistent and irregular financial performance. If you run or own a business, you’ll know exactly what it feels like.

One month, you’ll be on top of the world thinking “I’m rich!”. You’ll barely be able to resist the impulse to go out and eat at five-star restaurants, order leather furniture, cuban cigars and hire a full time clown… or is it just me who wants entertainment staff who juggle??

Next month, you’ll be on the bones of your ass, eating bread dipped in anything runnier than bread. Meals with two colors in will seem gourmet!

Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating. It’s probably not that bad. And yet, all entrepreneurs experience a period of up and down financial performance.

So what is it inside our brains that makes this bull**** happen?

Why does your business have a profit statement that goes up and down like a yo-yo?

The answer is, because you’re an ass!

Don’t get offended – I don’t mean ass like “asshat”… I’m talking about this guy:

Yes, I’m calling you a donkey!

(By the way, including a cute animal pic auto-magically means this article will get 10,000 page views… right?)

Motivation is what makes entrepreneurs get off the couch and make dollars. As humans, we’re pretty similar to donkeys when it comes to motivation.

We’re driven and fired up by both the carrot and the stick. For entrepreneurs, the carrot is always “wealth, freedom & happiness” and the stick is “poverty and failure”.

We’re motivated to take action to avoid poverty, plus we’re driven to gain wealth. Towards what we want – away from what we don’t want. There’s a balance to our motivation… or is there?

Successful entrepreneurs have a slightly (but all important) psychological point-of-difference to all the wannabes.

The mega-stars of business focus on more carrot and forget about the stick.

The people who get stuck in a never ending cycle of “I’m rich… aaaand now I’m poor again” are the ones who are primarily driven by the stick.

Their financial performance looks like this:

Whenever income crosses over that comfort line of “enough”, it quickly dips back down again. Time and time again.

Why? Because this is the graph of someone who is only motivated by the stick. Once they’ve run further enough, they forget about it!

They may tell themselves they want the big success of a truly successful entrepreneur… but the reality? Once all the bills are paid and they have enough for a six-pack, they virtually check out. No more motivation – back to the couch!

To create an income graph with a smooth curve, upwards to 6 and 7 digits, an entrepreneur must be driven by the big carrot in the sky. Plus, they must never fear the stick.

Once you avoid the stick (not having “enough”), it’s easy to get complacent.

Having a clear vision of the huge, long term carrot…. that’s what makes the difference.

Escape the cycle! Chase the carrot!

What do you think? Have you ever caught yourself fleeing the stick like an ass? I know I’ve been there…

It’s true… at least for 99% of wannabe entrepreneurs and their businesses. Customers don’t really give a s*** about you, your product or your business.

The good news? It doesn’t have to be that way and the alternative means better retention, more sales, raving fans and big profits.

Creating caring customers doesn’t have to be hard. Today I’m sharing the psychological secret that can systematically turn crowds of strangers into hordes of loving clients. Here’s how to make it happen…

Imagine building a business where your customers genuinely care about you. They care so much they open every email you send, look forward to any phone calls and act on any recommendation you make. In other words, they’re infatuated and they consider their relationship with your business a top priority.

Sound like the kind of client you want? Then you’ll need to make it happen with:

The psychological recipe

1. Sell a product that transforms people (and the way they think)
2. Require a significant commitment (i.e. make it “expensive”)
3. Turn away prospects who don’t want “transformation”

Here’s an example:

Last week I was invited to give a talk to an insurance & investment company. These are big corporate players – but the same principals apply, even for solopreneurs.

In the past, this firm has successfully sold savings products (per-week contributions) to people by picking a price point so low that no one could be bothered to say no.

Make something cheap enough and salesperson will have no trouble selling it. The prospect simply thinks:

“Thats peanuts! Whatever… I’ll do it.”

The bad news: These customers had terrible retention or “lifetime value” – they were dropping off and canceling their savings plans (as easy as just not paying) like crazy!

Why?… Because they just didn’t care. They didn’t care about the company OR what the investment they’ve signed up for.

The solution?

My job was to help the sales people at this company realise that they weren’t in the business of selling investments… They’re in the business of selling transformation.

They’re selling a transformation of the way you (the customer) think about your personal finances, savings and investment. They’re transforming consumer debt, stress and worry into security, foresight and optimism.

Second, I encouraged them to raise the price of their sales. Encouraging prospects to contribute significant dollars towards a savings plan would help the product be perceived as significant. The client would consider it as a serious investment and stick with the commitment to save.

Finally, the company had to turn away the prospects who would only contribute pocket change to their savings… They’d have to choose only to do business with people committed to transforming their finances.

What does this mean for you?

Psychology tells us that the more people care about a product, the more they’re willing to pay for it.

The most expensive consumer products are produced by companies people feel enormously passionate about.

As entrepreneurs, this is the position we need to be in. When we sell things for lots of money… we win! Better customer retention helps too.

The secret to creating customers “who care” is to sell them a transformation. To do this, we must turn away the lame prospects who don’t want to transform… they’ll end up being more trouble than they’re worth anyway.

• Blogger Johnny B. Truant does it by transforming the way people think about doing business on the internet.
• Ferrari do it, by transforming the way people think about driving from A to B (and how cool they look while in-transit).
• Micro-lending Kiva does it by transforming the way entrepreneurs think about fighting poverty.
• The best health clubs, airlines, cell phones, chiropractors and restaurants all do it.

You can do it too.

Sell transformation, have your customers make a significant investment and turn away everyone who isn’t committed.

I try to sell transformation to all of my clients, my consulting work costs more than piano lessons (but it sure is worth it). I also refuse to work with people who aren’t willing to radically shift the way they approach business.

What transformation could you offer? Let me know my leaving a comment below…

I get to meet and hang out with a bunch of people who are teetering on the edge of the entrepreneurial dream.

They know that they want the freedom, wealth and happiness that small business success can bring. Some of them are keen to build an empire!

They also have read books that drill in the “be passionate about what you do” message.

Problem is, these people still end up utterly stuck and frustrated. Sound like someone you know (perhaps really well)?

If you feel like you’ve been there, it’s probably because you don’t know what you’re passionate about!

For me, this is one of the areas the inspirational authors skim over too quick. Not everyone knows their passion as well as Gary Vaynerchuk or Chris Guillebeau – nevertheless, both links are worth clicking to take a look.

A psychologist, when asked to help a patient discover “their passion” would probably try to analyse the activities that created the most pleasure for the patient. They’d figure out what gave your brain the biggest shot of dopamine.

My solution is simpler:

Turn procrastination into a business

You know that thing you do when you procrastinate?

That thing that you love to do – even when you know you don’t have the time (or money) to do it.

That’s your passion. Now just figure out a way to make money from it. It won’t be easy, but you’ll love every minute of it.

A good place to start is by asking a question in the comment section (below). I’ll happily answer any queries (no matter how broad) about turning your passion into a profitable business.

Sometimes chunking huge goals down to microscope tasks does wonders for motivation.

I just finished up a session with a client’s Business Development Manager (sales rep).

We simply worked out that they could be well on track to an exciting six figure annual income – if they would just spend two hours a day making calls to new prospects.

Previously, the very thought of the 40 to 50 massive, business-to-business sales they’d have to make (over the year ) was absolutely overwhelming.

Conservatively connecting the dots between two hours on the phone and the pie-in-the-sky annual income goal is like a caffeine jolt to the motivation muscle.

How can you chunk your impossible goals into bite-sized fun?

Things going pear-shaped or “the $#*% hitting the fan” are a reality of being in business.

The way we deal with those crisis situations speaks volumes on our character. It is one of the big psychological differences that widens the gulf between successful and struggling entrepreneurs.

This super short article is guaranteed to give you a powerful,”take away” tool for transforming disaster scenarios.

In a crisis situation, from flooded offices to losing that crucial contract, the business owner and entrepreneur relies on their psychological conditioning (whether they like it or not).

When confronted with an escalating, sticky situation our mind tends to naturally start grinding it’s gears. The direction that our “crisis thinking” takes us is what will ultimately determine our results.

For the entrepreneur, it is thinking alone that dictates if she comes out on top… or fails miserably.

That thinking begins with the questions we ask ourselves.

Ineffective Questions to ask during a crisis

• What has gone wrong?
• Why is it important?
• Whose fault is it?
• Why does this happen to me?

These are ineffective questions simply because of the kind of answers they produce.

Mentally answering the first two questions, for example, is only going to create a greater sense of loss and dread… as you contemplate the magnitude of the screw-up or disaster you’re facing.

The 2nd two questions are used by people trying to come to terms with the loss by pushing the cause of it outside of themselves. This kind of thinking robs you of the power to change your situation – focusing instead on blaming others for your plight.

Useful questions to resolve problems

• What (emotional) state would be most useful right now?
• How do I want to remember this in 6 months?
• What can I learn from this?
• What do I have the power to change?
• What resources do I have available?
• What have I got to be grateful for?

These questions demand that you focus on the most destructive part of any crisis: Your personal emotional state.

Secondly, you force yourself to frame the circumstances from a far more useful perspective… Very few disasters have ramifications beyond 6 -12 months.

By focusing on the personal learnings you can make, you reframe any negative situation as a powerful turning point in your entrepreneurial education.

Shouldering the responsibility to make changes forces us to realise the resources that we have – external and financial… or internal and mental.

Use these six questions to avert disaster and transform crisis into something useful.

… mastering this one skill will put you in the same league as the world’s top business leaders.

You can be sure that your business hero didn’t get there by asking “Whose fault is this?” … so neither should you!

My crisis…

Many years ago I lost an enormous corporate consulting contract… at the last minute. Having signed off the deal, I was literally waiting for the first advance payment to appear in the bank.

Like all inexperience entrepreneurs, since I was positive I would get this deal… I had “banked” on it and was relying on the payment to balance my budget.

When a natural disaster (seriously) forced my client to cancel the contract, I experienced a personal crisis of some magnitude. Awake til 4am, I wondered what I would do and where I would find the kind of cash I was relying on.

I personally spent days meditating on the first list of crappy questions. It was an extraordinarily dark time. When a friend (and fellow NLP person) emailed me the list of 6 “useful” questions, it turned things around for me.

The questions gave me the perspective (and necessary change of state) to dig my way out of potential ruin. I lost that particular client, but moved on to others.

In particular, I learnt an enormous lesson about budgeting on dollars that are not in the bank (don’t do it!).

For me, realising that I had so much to be grateful (despite my natural inclination to forget everything good in the world) was the most significant turning point.

Let me know (via the comment section below) when, in your life or business, these questions could have useful for you…

I was recently invited to give a talk on the basics of leadership – at a closed door corporate event which one of my clients hosted for their retail management staff.

It was out in the mountains – I got to fly back to the city while the managers face three days of leadership/team metaphor… a.k.a. Gruelling physical challenge.

The very cool, diverse group of people helped me figure out (and apply real world examples to) the following psychological criteria for exceptional leadership.

Best of all, it’s a acronym (who needs another numbered list anyway?):

G – for “Great Beliefs”

Before you lead any group of people to do something extraordinary, it pays to equip them with a set of awesome, empowering beliefs that allow them to get the job done.

Inspiration and motivation are irrelevant here – before we start playing with those Jedi mind tricks, you must first instil the beliefs that make the job possible.

Great, useful beliefs include:

“It’s possible to change things”

“My actions can and will make a difference”

“I already have or can find the resources (resourcefulness) I need”

R – “Reasons to Act”

Basic rule of behaviour psychology: No one, not even someone already on salary, will take any action unless they have a sufficient “reason why” providing psychological leverage.

Equip your team with multiple “reasons” why they can, must and want… to take action. Scary asshole bosses traditionally go nuts with threats when it comes to “Reasons to act”… and they may even get results! However, the best (most consistent) results happen when there is healthy balance of carrot (cos positivity is cool) and stick (cos we live in “reality”).

Ask yourself and your team questions like:

“What is the cost of not doing this?” … and…

“What is to be gained by taking action now… as opposed to next month?”

O – Outcome Clarity

This gets included simply because most folks forget the important parts of goal setting. Tangible measurements of success… plus, total certainty of when, where and with whom (more important than you think) are what well-formed “outcomes” are all about.

This is the stuff that makes “The Secret” work.

Practical approaches to turning a lame “goal” into a laser-precise “outcome” include asking:

“What will it look like when I have this?”

“Where will I be/What will I be doing the moment I realise I’ve achieved my goal?”

The more vivid and emotionally compelling the better.

W – Wilful Action

Simultaneously the simplest and the most regularly overlooked “essential ingredient” in the recipe for leadership success. Wilful action is getting up and doing it – once you’ve got all the other stuff.

Many times, people with the right beliefs, reasons, outcomes and even skills (see below) will still sit around waiting for someone to go first!

This is where you, the one who doth utter “Simon says”, stands up and leads! It isn’t called leadership for nothing.

S – Skills

This is where the technical training and real life “school-of-hard-knocks” stuff comes into play. Don’t bother leading folks who are incompetent. Invest time (and money) in first giving your people all the know-how required.

They don’t need to be masters – that comes with the actual “doing” part.

The best leaders are always already masters – they lead with so much more integrity by being able to say:

“Come, follow me down this road… I know the way.”

Got a question? Think something is missing? Want to know how this could apply to your specific leadership situation? Reply in the comment section (just scroll down) and we’ll figure out the answers together…

Why do so many people say they’re interested in becoming “successful” entrepreneurs and do nothing about it?

How many folks are committed to financial freedom, yet consistently offer up twenty-seven reasons they haven’t “got-it-together” yet?

I’m sick of it and it’s time to have a rant.

Read on to find out what holds these wannabes back and what you can do to get results FAST…

I was having dinner with a great friend and client of mine last week, when these questions came up during conversation.

Like a responding to a super-market checkout operator who asks “how’s your day?”… I dismissed the questions with a standard, out-of-the-box answer.

Why do so few people achieve real success? Simple: Only a very tiny group get their head in the place that creates big success.

But like a super-market operator who follows you home and spies through your windows, the question continued to prey on my mind.

Making money

I’ve witnessed the simple recipe for biz success – actioned by total amateurs to produce astounding piles of cash (in record time). Sometimes, the folks driving all the money-making are also rewarded with freedom and control over their time as well!

So what is the simple formula – that most people need in order to quit making excuses and make money?

1. Get ignorant

2. Find a strategy that works

3. Mindlessly copy it

First off, embracing your inner idiot is important. Give up the notions that you have about how to be successful.

I’m sorry, but if they were valid, correct or useful ideas then you’d already be a millionaire right?!

The harsh truth: All those ideas you’ve got – and the reasons why you can’t action them – are just an advanced form of excuse making.

Get ignorant by admitting you’ve got everything to learn. The knowledge you currently possess has produced the results you’re enjoying today… right?

It’s time to learn something new – start by realising you don’t already know it all.

Finding a strategy that works happens when you realise you’re ignorant.

You’ve cut through the bull$&%# and you’re not making excuses. Now you have to find someone who has done what you’re wanting to do.

In Neuro Linguistic Programming (an entire field devoted to this process of “copying for success”) there are libraries full of books on how to copy genius strategies – no matter what industry or weird field they’re from.

Mindlessly copying the experts is something 99% of the wanna-bes miss.

Many believe their years of intellectualising and non-action give them a license to “do things differently” yet get the same results as the millionaire guru who they’re copying.

I see this all the time with businesses with proven cold-calling marketing strategies.

Franchise owners freak out about making the calls and convince themselves that since they’re so special, they’ll be successful super-stars without ever picking up a phone.

Again, I call bull$%#*

There is a reason Richard Branson, Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump have become ultra tycoons – thinking you can do it different and somehow “better” is at best, woefully ignorant.

In Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki talks about his background.

This guy spent years working for Xerox developing “sales skills” and learning how to consistently perform, despite being outside his comfort zone.

Why then do so many dreaming entrepreneurs think they can launch their idea into a big business without any sales and marketing experience?

Ultimately, it’s a tough learning curve building your own business.

Any one else who tells you otherwise is either lying, or trying to sell you something.

Quit making excuses and follow the simple formula.

It’s worked for hundreds of people (who are now probably lying on a beach somewhere) and it sure beats sitting around trying to think of reasons to explain why you’re not producing results.

Rant over.

I’ve recently found myself frustrated to the point of tearing hair out, by clients of mine who believe that generating more word-of-mouth, referral sales is the answer to all their bottom-line problems.

I’ve got to admit, the logic is appealing:

If you (Mr business owner/sales person) could only find a couple of friends within your social network who want what you’ve got, you can meet up with ‘em… sell it to ‘em and you’ll be on easy street!

The problem is, this principal is absolute bull$*%@…. and in the real world, it seldom works.

The reason sales people and biz owners are attracted to this method is that it enables them to feel a little more comfortable about the selling process.

By phoning up old friends or ex-colleagues to schedule a coffee and tell them all about “what I’m up to these days” you’re actually side-stepping around any real selling.

You’ll get a major kick (and a dose of warm fuzzy satisfaction) out of the short term success of setting “appointments”.

Problem is, when you go along to the appointment you’ll discover that your “networks” are filled with people who are keen for a coffee and a catchup… often just as an excuse to get out of the office.

Ready for the harsh truth? They don’t want to buy anything.

A lot of sales-reps use this strategy to keep their schedule bursting with appointments – it really helps them look productive.

Want to know the worst part? By engaging in this type of pseudo-sales networking, you actually risk damaging valuable personal relationships with some of your great contacts.

When you phone up to ask for a coffee date, your buddies don’t expect to be sold… any attempt at doing so is only going to lower the temperature on their lead status (and your personal relationship).

Nevertheless, biz owners and sales people are out there doing this everyday. More often than not, they’re also getting frustrated about their results…. which would be inconsistent at best or (more likely) dismally poor.

Don’t get me wrong…

I believe in networking. I’m positive that word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of advertising in existence!

What I’m really trying to say is that, in order to be succesful, our understanding of how networking works needs to change.

The Facts:

1. The only good-quality referrals (i.e. that make you money) come from people who have already bought something from you

2. Having coffee with the friends of your existing clients/customers is infinitely more profitable, professional and ethically enjoyable than subjecting your real friends to untimely, inappropriate soft-selling.

3. Referred business should be calling you. If you have to chase them up and harass them for a coffee date, then you’re doing something wrong and it isn’t a real referral.

It’s all true – successfully getting your head around numbers 1 through 3 is what sales (and to some extent business) success is all about.

I welcome your feedback, questions or examples-to-the-contrary in the comments section below…

There is a psychological “a-ha” (I call it a “Eureka” moment) that every successful entrepreneur just “gets” at some point in their career. Usually just before they absolutely master the science of achievement.

Thing is, it isn’t easy to “get”… it fact, it is one of the most painful lessons you’ll ever learn.

The secret lies in knowing this, expecting the hurt… and then going for it anyway. Really, the lesson is all about embracing pain.

Let me explain…

I’m in the zone. Hurtling at high speed straight down a super steep ridge… slicing and dicing snow into a huge cloud of powder behind me. Clearly, I am the the coolest thing skier on the whole mountain today.

Just when I’m feeling the most confident, everything changes.

Before I can blink, I’m airbourne and the crashing down the hill. In a motion described by experts as “tomahawking” (picture a spinning ax), I flip head over heals and finally come to a not-so-graceful halt with my head buried in the snow.

My entire body is aching like I just finished a bar fight with a 300kg gorilla. I try to get my breath back and simultaneously realise I’ve got snow all through my mouth, nose and trousers.

Worst of all, I have absolutely no idea how this even happened!

When you’re speeding along in business, sometimes you’ll fall flat on your face. It’ll happen so fast that it’s hard to pinpoint the cause.

Ultimate learning:

1. You now know where your learning curve is…

2. You now have the feedback you need to know when to start paying extra attention

See, as soon as I fell down the mountain, I limped back to the hut for a warm drink and a moment’s thought.

I realised that I hadn’t been focused – my attention was on performance (going faster and faster) and I wasn’t paying attention to the conditions underfoot.

This lack of focus in the right places caused me to catch a ski in a patch of soft powder. End result = me flying!

The ironic thing? Powder is supposed to be “ideal” for skiiers, but because I wasn’t paying attention, a pocket of this perfect snow totally ruined me.

The ultimate, ULTIMATE learning:

Without falling over, we cannot learn. The more spectacular the fall, the more neccessary and urgent it is to make the learning.

All really good skiers who know how to go fast, are always (as I learned) keeping an eye out for variable snow conditions.

This is something beginners don’t need to know about. When you’re slowly cruising down a slope, sudden ice or powder (or change fullstop) is easy to deal with.

… You make a few changes to your technique and keep on cruising!

It’s only when you’re on the fast-track that you need to watch out and utilise lighting-fast reflexes to adjust to the conditions.

Learning this is something I would never had the opportunity to do, had I not skiied (stupidly) fast in the first place.

When I go really fast, I realise that the chances of a fall increase dramatically. Still, I consistently ski to my absolute edge because that is the only way to rapidly increase skill.

I know to expect pain.

The big secret: If you’re not looking forward to the pain of falling over, you’re wasting your time and the pay off probably isn’t worth it either.

Anyone who finds skiing boring isn’t going fast enough. Anyone who finds skiing hard isn’t falling over enough.

Make your life, hobbies and business easy – Discover your absolute edge and push yourself beyond it. When you pick yourself up again and keep at it, you’ll soon realise that your personal “edge” is getting bigger and bigger….

As a Master Practitioner of NLP I get to meet a lot of people who have jumped on board the self-development/human-potential movement. More often than not, these people are big believers in “the power of positive thinking”.

What they don’t know is that, at a psychological level, positive thinking and affirmations can cause major damage to your thinking and ability to get motivated. Ultimately, positivity can damage your results – in life and business.

Read on to find out the one technique that eliminates this problem – it’s roughly thirty times more effective than positivity…

The secret is simple: Instead of affirming positive “beliefs” try asking yourself questions that produce positive answers.

A huge number of people discover pop-psychology and start practicing the worst kind of positive-thinking.

They tell themselves they are healthy, wealthy and fulfilled. They repeat it as a mantra, over and over. The idea is, through repetition, to slowly drill the message into one’s unconscious in the hopes that results will be forthcoming. 

Problem is, while they’re busy affirming good stuff, they’re not actually doing anything. I’ve never known a single person who has been hit on the head by a bag of money while meditating.  

A nasty incongruency begins to develop: The unconscious mind receives repeated messages about how happy, healthy and wealth you are, but knows that it isn’t the truth.

Talk about internal conflict! Your unconscious mind isn’t stupid. All it’s going to do is learn to tune out the un-true affirmation chatter and get back to focusing on reality.

Second bad news: In the meantime, reality isn’t going so well. Positive thinkers bottle up their frustrations and sit around thinking happy thoughts. Smart go-getters use negative emotion as leverage to take immediate action.

Ask better questions!

By asking oneself clever mental questions, you can actually direct your unconscious mind to come up with clever, positive and empowering answers.

A mental dialogue of empowering, unconscious Q & A lends itself well to action and then results.  

Example:

By internally asking, every morning: “How much positive impact can I have on the bottom line of my business today?”

… you are forcing your unconscious mind to focus on positive, practical actions that will improve your results.

The secret is in the question and the presupposition it implies: By asking “how much” you force your unconscious mind to quantify… zero or “nothing at all” simply isn’t an option!

You could ask yourself:

How much fun can I have today?
How much have I got to be grateful about?

All questions like this will transform your state of mind and the results you produce. Rapidly. Positive thinking takes years of frustration to apply properly and doesn’t even come in close in terms of effectiveness.

Smart questions beat positivity every time. You heard it here first.