One of the most dramatic ways to improve your bottom-line is to know your numbers and know which actions create the biggest impact.

A lot of my client’s think they know their numbers until I start asking them more in depth questions like:

• What percentage of your business comes from the networking events you attend?
• How much typically does one client bring into your business?
• Which marketing tool brings in the highest percentage of your business?
• What percentage of your clients are Baby Boomers? X generation? Y?
• What are your numbers telling you about your more recent work patterns?
• Are there certain types of clients that bring in more money and require less effort? If so, where did you find them and how can you get your numbers to create a prettier picture?

If you need some assistance in asking yourself the right kind of questions for your type of business, I’d love to give you a free session where we can explore your numbers and what they mean.

To get you started on asking the right questions, just get in touch and we will get your bottom line growing.

Part of staying in your zone is to deal with your negative thinking. When you find yourself feeling like things won’t work, look for the possible.

Anyone who is playing a big game is going to run into a brick wall now and again. I know some of the walls that I have plowed into have been big and thick and stubborn. So what to do? Quit? Withdraw? Keep banging your head against the wall?

Heck no! Forget about that. If I want something bad enough, I don’t let a little thing like a massive wall stop me. And I bet since you are on my list and listening to me, you are not that type of person either.

Remember, if you keep hitting a brick wall when trying to accomplish a goal, there is more than one route or path to get to where you want to go. Look for an alternative route or reevaluate what you are trying to accomplish.

There is always a way around it. Sometimes you have to get REALLY creative, but you can do it.

Since you read my blog, I am offering exploratory session with me where we can get you around, through, or over the block as quick as possible. Simply request your meeting to get started!

Do you have a strategic plan outlined for the year yet? Having such makes it easier to chunk your big ambitious goal down to 90 day periods of time. After you have a big picture outlined with measurable chunks along the way, implement a system where you are held accountable weekly and daily.

Need more hints on how to make the 90 day plan work for you: get the e-book 12 Secrets for Rapid Business Results: http://www.bizonyourterms.com

A struggle that I have often seen with my clients is for them to completely own their value. Now I work with many successful people who to one degree or another do own their worth. The problem lies for them to truly own all their value, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Owning one’s value happens in degrees and levels. It is not an over night process. It does take a willingness to really face the discomfort of believing in your abilities more than you are used to.

Why Own Your Value?

Part of making a commitment to achieve something greater than yourself is an increased level of accepting the value you bring. When you do start owning that you have incredible value to give, and you know what that value is, you will see dramatic improvement happen in your business.

If you are unsure of the value you bring, brainstorm the possible benefits or hire a coach to help completely immerse yourself in the greatness that you contribute.

Since you are a subscriber and one of my peeps, I am offering you a complimentary exploratory session with me!

This will not be a sales call. In the call we will be exploring:

• The value you naturally give
• What you most want to bring into your life
• Give a clear view of your greatest obstacles
• A roadmap outlining and detailing where you want to go in your business and personal life.

E-mail me requesting your exploratory session.

In order to become 100% committed to any goal it is critical to make sure that the goal is in alignment with your top three values to be able to maintain consistency and long term focus.

Don’t know what your top three values are? Take the test right now at http://www.stepitupqueen.com/ValueAssessment

To grow your business it is rudimentary for you to know the difference between what action you take that causes growth–puts money in your bank account– and what actions are not so important busy work.

To determine this answer– figure out what’s the number one thing you do that creates cash flow and step it up and do it! Oh, yeah.

To grow your business on your own terms it is critical to know what your vision for your business looks like and how you play in it. What does your perfect business work day look like? What are you doing? Who works with you? How are you feeling?

Answer these questions and step into it.

I believed in the myth of the artist. To be a real artist you need to be starving, disorganized, impulsive and go with the muses. So naturally when I decided to follow my dream of being a writer, I incorporated all the traits of being a real artist in my life.

The problem came when I woke up one day, single mother of six young children who all thought that eating was a good thing. I launched into the business but some bad habits decided to come along with me. One of those bad habits from my artist days was clutter.

I thought it was normal to be buried in mountains of paper. Now I am not talking a little stack here and there, I mean surrounded with at least two feet of paper everywhere you looked.

Then one day I was challenged by my mentor to clean up my environment. He said that I couldn’t attract any more success than I was currently at unless I got rid of the tolerations of clutter. So I decided to at least give it a try.

I hired a professional organizer to just find out how successful business people kept their desk clean, since it was a mystery to me where they put projects that they were working on.

After going through some painful face your issues and get rid of your stuff sessions with the professional organizer, I started noticing a huge change. Not only was my office much cleaner (not completely sterile -which I found lifeless), but I could find information I needed much faster.

Then some weeks passed by and I watched more clients come in, the right office help show up, etc. It was totally cool. I learned through experience that part of growing your business on your terms is to clear out the clutter and stress that tolerations make in the flow of your work.

A huge toleration that slows down many business owners is messes and incompletes. To stop this from hindering your success: write down all incomplete projects, messes, items needing fixing or organizing that are at your work. Start implementing a strategy to reduce the list, keeping in mind your progress rather than getting discouraged at how much is left to do.

Don’t forget to happy dance when each pile disappears. It is a totally cool feeling.

Recently I had deviated septum surgery. For those who know anything about it, you will know that that surgery is quite painful, and since the operation is on one’s nose, I decided to take great care in selecting a surgeon. So naturally I went for a doctor I heard was one of the best. He had been performing surgeries for years and had a stellar reputation. I also talked to people who he had operated on. This type of reputation is what we should all shoot for in our companies. Plus, if you can convincingly explain the need for your services, like surgeons do for theirs—all the better.

But there are some business practices that you would not want to adapt from a surgeon if you wanted to have an extremely successful business. One of them is that often a surgeon may have the reputation of being kind and considerate as you talk to them about having the surgery, but once you are done with the surgery, you are a number to them, and they don’t care about your pain, or how anything turned out, etc. Their eyes are on the next person they can slice up. I personally experienced this years ago with my ACL surgery by a physician who had a great reputation. Perhaps he had gotten too comfortable with his success, and little things, like treating patients well, were no longer his concerns.

This could be a deadly practice, whether or not you are in the medical field, and it could completely destroy your business. You never, ever want your clients, patients, or customers to think that they are just dollar signs to you.

Fortunately, with the nose surgery, my surgeon was not as cold and callous as some surgeons are, but he did make a mistake that surprised me, and which bothered me as a patient. Because it bothered me so much, I realized how I do not want to do this to my customers, clients, etc. So what did he do that was so offensive?

He didn’t believe me. He asked me how I was feeling the day after the surgery during the check-up appointment. I listed my complaints along with saying I felt raw.

He said, “You don’t feel raw.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

I just looked at him and he finally said, “Why don’t we have a look?”

Turns out the stitches in my nose had gotten buried into the open wound, which was giving me the raw feeling.

Of course I wished he was right and I was wrong, but that is beside the point. The point is that it’s CRUCIAL to believe your customers when they say something. If you don’t, resentment can quickly come.

For me, my first reaction was—“Here’s another doctor that doesn’t believe what I say. I hate doctors.”

Is that what you want your customers to be thinking? If not, believe them when they are telling you their pain. If they are saying I want to do a simple task, don’t create a product that is more complicated.

Sounds simple—believe your customer—but it really isn’t when you set your goals and plans on what to create for your customer, and they don’t match exactly what they want.

Right after the nose doctor saw what was causing my rawness, he dove into my nose with vigor to pull that stitch right out. Despite my writhing around, he worked with confidence, not pausing to second guess. This confidence and his extremely steady hand impressed me. It calmed down my resentment of him not believing me, and he earned my confidence in him right back. I walked out of the office, asking my husband if he noticed how steady the doctor’s hand was.

The lesson for the business owner is, if you do mess up and don’t listen to your customer, you can always redeem yourself by doing your job with utmost professionalism, confidence, and skill.