LEADERSHIP: Where does it begin? It begins with you. The motto is simple: Love it. Do it. Teach it. Anyone can lead, but not everyone can be a leader. In order to be a leader, you must have a few key ingredients: integrity, vision, passion, a willingness to succeed, humility, and most importantly, a leader must be able to follow. That's right. In order to be an effective leader, you must first be an attentive follower. In this section we are going to dive into an in-depth look at true leadership and how you can apply these principles in your business or personal life. Even if you are already at a comfortable and rewarding position of leadership in your home, career or organization, these refreshing reminders will help keep you on course for continued success.
Let's start with the basics. The basic steps in leadership, all the way to the most advanced steps, are continually practiced and preached by great motivational speakers and leaders such as Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Jack Welch, and John Maxwell. What do they do differently that makes them so successful? They follow the laws of teamwork. They know that they are only as strong as their team. If the team is not productive, it can become a direct reflection on the leader. Strengthen your team with encouragement, support and reassure them of their value. As John Maxwell puts it, "one is too small a number to achieve greatness...grow with - for - and through - others...that's teamwork."
 |
| Click To Enlarge |
The Jesus Principle works like this:
Level 1. The Creator (aka the President/CEO)
Level 2. Jesus (aka Executive Management/Middle Management)
Level 3. The Apostles (aka the team members/business partners)
Level 4. The world (the customers)
The world follows the Apostles who are disciples (followers) of Jesus who is the Son (follower) of The Creator who then reciprocates the servant-leader model right back to the world. It's one big circle of serving to lead and leading to serve. The 'big picture' principle says we will always give it up for the greatest outcome for the team. So be ready and willing to give up your most precious resource when it comes to teamwork: TIME. Time is 75% about you: The 'T' may be for 'team' but the 'I' and 'ME' is all yours. So use it wisely. It's the one thing you can't get back. Pretty deep stuff for a leader to digest, but you can do it. Let's move on.
Help others to see their gifts, contributions and strengths. Find your strength zone, focus in on it and do the same for others. By building them up, you build yourself up.
As the challenge escalates, the teamwork elevates. Surround yourself with those of equal and greater value. The size of your dream determines the size of your team. As your vision grows, the responsibilities for your team grows. This means as your business continues to take new and exciting direction, you may need to consider adding new members. One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is bringing in too many planes with not enough runway! But you're a proactive leader, not a reactive follower. So you will be prepared for this when it happens in your market and your air traffic controllers will not be sleeping when the customers start rolling in.
Law of the chain. John Maxwell also mentions in his book, Learning the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, the strength of a team lies in its weakest member. Now you have heard that before, said maybe like this, you are only as strong as your weakest link; i.e. the link in the chain. Here is a hard truth you must enforce as a leader: if they are weak and can't be made strong? Let them go. Then reinforce the team's strength. Encourage them to say to themselves, I am not the link-I am the chain. Encourage them to say to each other, I am strong because of you.
While it may appear to be merely boastful entertainment to most, there is a strong truth in what they say. Never forget that you are the leader. Together, you and your team make things happen. You are viewed as the one who has the answers and finds the way to make a way out of no way. You are the catalyst. There is always an answer. There is always a way. So make the call; you're the boss.
Stay Focused. You. Are. A Leader.
Now ask yourself: What are you willing to do to get where you want to be? READ. LEARN. APPLY. EXCEL. Reading is truly fundamental. Reading is growing. Focus on the areas you need to grow in. Sometimes you have to do what you don't want to do in order to get where you want to be. No matter what it is you want out of life, the concept may be simple, but the process will not be easy. 2-5 year plans with reasonable and necessary modifications along the way will guarantee results. Apply what your learn and be rewarded. Your weakness is actually your strength. Think about that for a moment. You are at your strongest in your times of weakness. It's been said that "leaders are readers and readers are leaders." So know your craft. Study your industry. Continue to grow your knowledge and you will prosper.
Commit to the core values, habits and principles and they will reward you. Lead from the heart. You are your greatest selling tool. There is a such thing as too much 'you'. If a potential customer sees that you are overselling yourself then your product or service will suffer. So know your limits. You can lose your audience with overkill. Some are skilled in this, but for others it may take some time to master. But don't worry. You will get it and remember the phrase, "people move products; products don't move people."
Vision. Focus. Yes, saying it again. Personal success is built precept upon precept; brick by brick. Just as your business will grow moment by moment; day by day. Others then to see more in us than we see in ourselves. So if you are one of many that do visualize your own potential, take some time to reprogram your thinking. Choose to stay where you are or move forward.
A great philosopher once said,
Vision. Focus. Yes, saying it again. Personal success is built precept upon precept; brick by brick. Just as your business will grow moment by moment; day by day. Others then to see more in us than we see in ourselves. So if you are one of many that do visualize your own potential, take some time to reprogram your thinking. Choose to stay where you are or move forward.
A great philosopher once said,
Do you dance to the music of your heart...
Do not take counsel of your fears, but instead take leadership from your heart.
You see, new information always leads to new opportunity. The teacher in you will appear when the student in you is ready. The student becomes a teacher when another follows. The teacher is the leader.
Lay the foundation for your business.
The way most successful small and large businesses are set up is part of the business is in the hands of the employees. Some of the best ventures include Avon, Mary-Kay, Amway, World-Wide, just to name a few. This business model for some is actually the "better" model. It says everyone wins instead of just owners/management wins. Share the wealth. Why? Because your profits had to come from somewhere. Bill Gates did not get Microsoft where it is today by himself. Donald Trump did not accomplish his achievements on his own. They shared their wealth. This means more than money. This means sharing talents, skills, strengths, weaknesses and the finally yes - profits! No one wants to or will continue to work for someone who is unappreciative and downright cheap! Monetary reward for professional accomplishment never goes out of style. Just as you share love, patience, gratitude and appreciation in your home with your marriage and family, share your wealth of knowledge, finances and team efforts with your colleagues and associates in the workplace.
But wait! There's more!
You have heard it said over and over and it's true. If you want something bad enough you have to be willing to do what it takes to get it. You must want it bad enough to change your own spending habits. Whenever possible, Buy from yourself. You own it so be loyal to it. If your goods or services are truly beneficial to others then it's beneficial to you. Some product lines are designed to pay you back. By purchasing your own products, you increase sales and then you can take the extra surplus and either resell it on the wholesale market, give it away as promotion or actually use it for yourself. Here's a classic example of how it's done in the Music Business: You make a new song; press 5,000 copies. You buy back 1,000 copies on the open market at retail value. Resell the 1,000 copies again on resale markets and while you have generated sales just by recirculating that mere 1,000 copies, the other 4,000 copies sold all on their own to the general public. Now that's part one. Part two is marketing your sales sheets to distributors and showing them how quickly 5,000 copies of our product flew off the shelves. This in turn puts you in a position of demand. The distributors then press another 100,000 copies and so on and sell them on larger markets for retail plus mark-up. All involved get paid and you get money in the pocket without ever actually buying another copy of your own CD.
And it all started from being the best partner, the best teammate you could be.
I once asked a self-made multi-millionaire what he did to be so successful and he said a few things that stuck with me, he said, "I didn't like my job-so I bought it...changed it...now it's more profitable than ever."
There is no such thing as a dumb question. This is also true! You must ask questions in order to get answers. Some answers are productive, others are not. You may act on bad business or personal advice and the outcome is horrible. This happens. Bad things are going to happen anyway, regardless of what you're doing and what you're going through so keep going! Keep asking questions until you are asking the right questions. Then you will get the right answers, apply them and then you will bounce back from that bad thing that happened. We've seen many examples of this from Exxon to Toyota. Even after all they went through, they are still here and still quite profitable. By asking the consumers what they want and what they need to recover from downturns, they were able to apply productive and constructive feedback and answers and in turn resulted in improving goods and services that increased profitability over the long haul. Now with all that being said, there are still those who are not convinced. Some potential customers and return customers may still turn away from you. So learning how to cope with objections is crucial. Turning NO into YES is possible. Here's an example:
The way most successful small and large businesses are set up is part of the business is in the hands of the employees. Some of the best ventures include Avon, Mary-Kay, Amway, World-Wide, just to name a few. This business model for some is actually the "better" model. It says everyone wins instead of just owners/management wins. Share the wealth. Why? Because your profits had to come from somewhere. Bill Gates did not get Microsoft where it is today by himself. Donald Trump did not accomplish his achievements on his own. They shared their wealth. This means more than money. This means sharing talents, skills, strengths, weaknesses and the finally yes - profits! No one wants to or will continue to work for someone who is unappreciative and downright cheap! Monetary reward for professional accomplishment never goes out of style. Just as you share love, patience, gratitude and appreciation in your home with your marriage and family, share your wealth of knowledge, finances and team efforts with your colleagues and associates in the workplace.
You have heard it said over and over and it's true. If you want something bad enough you have to be willing to do what it takes to get it. You must want it bad enough to change your own spending habits. Whenever possible, Buy from yourself. You own it so be loyal to it. If your goods or services are truly beneficial to others then it's beneficial to you. Some product lines are designed to pay you back. By purchasing your own products, you increase sales and then you can take the extra surplus and either resell it on the wholesale market, give it away as promotion or actually use it for yourself. Here's a classic example of how it's done in the Music Business: You make a new song; press 5,000 copies. You buy back 1,000 copies on the open market at retail value. Resell the 1,000 copies again on resale markets and while you have generated sales just by recirculating that mere 1,000 copies, the other 4,000 copies sold all on their own to the general public. Now that's part one. Part two is marketing your sales sheets to distributors and showing them how quickly 5,000 copies of our product flew off the shelves. This in turn puts you in a position of demand. The distributors then press another 100,000 copies and so on and sell them on larger markets for retail plus mark-up. All involved get paid and you get money in the pocket without ever actually buying another copy of your own CD.
And it all started from being the best partner, the best teammate you could be.
I once asked a self-made multi-millionaire what he did to be so successful and he said a few things that stuck with me, he said, "I didn't like my job-so I bought it...changed it...now it's more profitable than ever."
 |
| Dealing with Objections |
How to get over the word, "NO".
Don't take it personal-rejection is personal; objection is business.
They don't know you better than you do. Keep going.
The first objection is normally not the REAL objection.
So reply, "...but in addition to that, what else is there..."
Too busy-No time
Agree and ask, "is what you're doing rewarding or draining?"
An even better rebuttal is, "so is that your goal-to be busy and drained?"
No
(Here it comes, you gave them the problem, now give them the solution.)
"If I could change that for you and in the end give you more time and more profitability
would that be something you would be interested in?"
YES
Don't take it personal-rejection is personal; objection is business.
They don't know you better than you do. Keep going.
The first objection is normally not the REAL objection.
So reply, "...but in addition to that, what else is there..."
Too busy-No time
Agree and ask, "is what you're doing rewarding or draining?"
An even better rebuttal is, "so is that your goal-to be busy and drained?"
No
(Here it comes, you gave them the problem, now give them the solution.)
"If I could change that for you and in the end give you more time and more profitability
would that be something you would be interested in?"
YES
And there it is. You turned that "no" into "yes" and it only took a few seconds of their time to listen. But then you must do the same. LISTEN to your client or customers. By really listening to the needs of the client/customer you can determine which one of your products or services will be the absolute best fit for them.
With most small businesses, the message is very clear. I own a dry cleaners, a shoe store or I am a plumber. So we already know what you do. You clean clothes, sell shoes and you fix pipes. Great. But what if your business relies on network marketing as it's foundation? How do you tell someone that you are not a fraud or a scam artist attempting to sell them a dream and take their money and run? Again-listen to them. How much does your customer really know about what you do? If you are a Realtor, an independent contractor or a salesperson, you may find yourself more often than not, explaining what your profession is more than actually pitching your product or service. Then there are the multi-level marketing businesses, social marketing businesses and Independent Business Owner partnerships. It's a fact that most of the consumer base see these organizations as Ponzi Schemes or Pyramid Schemes.
It is also a fact that most people who use these Schemes as objections don't even know what they are. Not to mention how they might even remotely apply to you. So you need to be prepared.
Is this one of Ponzi or Pyramid Schemes?
Ask them if they know what that is, if they do, tell them no.
If they don't; educate them and then tell them no.
Remind them those Schemes are illegal, unethical, immoral
and NEVER profitable. Now turn your NO into YES
by saying, is my product or service legal, ethical, moral, licensed,
bonded, insured and a member of the Better Business Bureau?
YES. And that's why you're business ALWAYS profitable.
Believe it or not: we are all salespeople on one level or another at one time or another in our personal and professional lives. In relationships, jobs, business ventures, and customer relations, we are constantly reminding our lovers, our spouses, our partners and our clients of why we are the best choice for them. We do it everyday unconsciously and consciously. So many times you hear people say they can't run a business or start a business, because they are not professional salespeople. They have the brains to run the operation, but don't know how to market their own ideas. That's where the team comes in. The team helps with that and other very important areas of running the business that you created. But remember what I just said, without knowing it, you sell yourself to others everyday. You even have times where you are selling yourself to yourself! And what about when you ate a great restaurant, saw a really good movie or bought a really nice outfit, you can't stop talking about it to anyone who will listen well you have to focus that same energy on yourself. When it comes to something as intimate and personal and selling ourselves it's not the objections we are afraid of. We can deal with that. It's REJECTION. That's what we're truly afraid of. I don't care if you don't like my shirt or the same kind of ice cream, but if you don't like me then we've got a problem.
So I leave you with this: focus in on what your positives are and talk about what you are passionate about. When you're excited about something, you don't care about "NO" you're just excited to be sharing with someone else, regardless if they agree or not. If you believe in your product, goods or services then others will as well. And lastly, if you are passionate about "you" and you believe in "you" then others will also.
Until next time, I Am De'Master Thomas and this is - Real Living.
So I leave you with this: focus in on what your positives are and talk about what you are passionate about. When you're excited about something, you don't care about "NO" you're just excited to be sharing with someone else, regardless if they agree or not. If you believe in your product, goods or services then others will as well. And lastly, if you are passionate about "you" and you believe in "you" then others will also.
Until next time, I Am De'Master Thomas and this is - Real Living.
