It’s just another day, but the start of a new year seems to bring with it such promise of hope for us. This time is so crucial for me for four reasons.
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I love networking but I’ve had to learn how to do it, and I’ve learned to love it.
I’m probably considered outgoing and approachable by most who meet me, but I can be a little introverted at times, and so networking was something that didn’t come easily at first.
Fake it ’til you make it has long been a favourite of mine and it applies well to networking. I don’t mean be fake. Quite the opposite in fact, you need to be authentic and genuine.
Today I won a prize thanks to MYOB. It’s not the first time this has happened to me. I won the prize(s) because I showed up and played the game. And life and business is just like that. Sometimes what it takes is to show up and play. Make the effort, consistently. Play the game of life, the game of business.
The clearer we can get with our goals the better we can prioritise our time and our resources towards actually getting to a position that we want to be in. So often we are so head-down in the daily doing of our business that we don’t have any idea where we’re actually heading. We have never taken the time and devoted the headspace (see what I did there) to figuring out what we’re actually trying to achieve. If we’re striving for success in business then what does success look like? If we’re at Point A and we’re heading towards Point B, what does Point B look and feel like?
It‘s not uncommon to assume that everyone else knows all the stuff that we do. If we know it then everyone else probably does as well, right?
Value what you do. There are so many people or businesses out there who need the skills and experience that you bring. Do not underestimate how valuable you are.
I don’t think anyone would dispute that as a business owner you need meaningful business information in order to make good business decisions, yet I see many business owners flying by the seat of their pants, so-to-speak, making significant business decisions without having much in the way of relevant and meaningful business information.
In order to get meaningful business information, you need to have good business systems in place to capture the information accurately and efficiently.
I’m having the best year yet as a result of actually planning my business and my life. Here’s my take on goal setting and planning and what I do on a yearly, monthly, weekly & daily basis.
I’ve always been a big proponent of networking. I really enjoy it and BNI was integral to the growth of my last business with a tangible financial return. Some of the people I’ve met through networking groups have become lifelong friends and so the relationships that networking fosters can be invaluable and hard to put a figure on.
In among the pavlova eating, champagne drinking and presents opening of Xmas, I spent a significant portion of my summer holidays planning for 2016, improving workflow processes and implementing better systems within my business. I freakin’ love this stuff! I love the process and I love the result. I consider it to be holiday time very well spent.
“I love this time of year. It’s a time of reflecting back on the year just been and of recognizing the lessons learned but mostly about acknowledging the accomplishments and how far I’ve come.”
