Refocus Your Business: Second Quarter 2017

Can you believe that 3 months have passed since the New Year?

It’s time to refocus your business second quarter. April 1st marks the second quarter of the fiscal business year. This quarter is an important milestone. This is where the rubber meets the road. The results impacting the business today reveal how successful you were at keeping those end of year business plans you made at the end of 2016.

Have you reached the short-term goals you set for yourself back in December?

If not, you’re not alone! What’s more important are the decisions you make right now. This quarter will determine if the business stays focused on your goals or if it begins to fall back into the old habits of past years.

The first step to having a great second quarter is evaluating the first quarter. To do this, we must first take stock of what happened over the past 3 months. These results should then be compared to the original goals that were set. Are you on or off course?

Whether your first quarter was record breaking or otherwise, the second quarter is a time to start over. We don’t need to sit on the success or failure of the first quarter. It’s time to refocus you business for the second quarter of the game.

Here are 5 steps you can take to refocus your business goals for the second quarter for a more profitable and successful 2017.

Set Goals

Back in December, we put out an article called “The 90-Day New Years Resolution”. This article focused on the importance of making short-term goals as the most effective way for achieving long-term goals. Short-term goals allow for mistakes, adjustments, and changing environments. Click here to read that article.

Goals are vital to the success of a business. The end of the first quarter is the perfect time to evaluate initial plans and goals, tweak them, and reestablish new plans that may be more effective.

There are three steps to effective goal setting:

1. Set Realistic Goals that Are Achievable

Don’t set yourself up for failure. Take time to set realistic goals. If you don’t know where to start, sit down with a financial planner or business coach who may be able to help.

2. Set Rewards for Those Goals

I am a big believer in putting a prize at the end of the price.

Years ago, I had the opportunity to sit across the table from a multi-millionaire business owner at an event. I thought carefully about what I wanted to ask him. This man had achieved many of his long-term goals and was very successful. After giving it some thought, I asked him, “How do you determine what you spend your money on?” After all, this man had quite a fortune. He could buy whatever he wanted. How did he make wise decisions with his money?

His response?

He said, “I only buy something I want after I reach a goal.” He went on to say, “I don’t need more money. What I need is to stay hungry in pursuit of something greater.”

This forever changes my attitude about success and goal achievement.

For those of us who are not millionaires, this principal should be even more tangible. We don’t need to create a hunger. Most of us are already hungry for something. We hunger for our homes, protecting our investments, and ensuring our family’s security. The need to pursue something is baked into each of our situations.

Take some time and determine what you want. Maybe it’s a honeymoon, a new car, or being able to take your spouse out for a nice dinner. Whatever it is, recognize your desire and make it an outcome for reaching an important checkpoint. This will provide great motivation and the necessary drive.

“We don’t need more money. We need to stay hungry in pursuit of something greater.” Joe Pici

3. Don’t Take the Reward Unless you Reach the Goal

Do you eat your ice cream without finishing your spinach first?

Once you’ve attached a reward to your goals, you will need to have the discipline not to take that reward until that goal is reached. Otherwise, the reward system won’t work.

Work Harder

This may seem a little simplistic, but if you want to GET MORE DONE in the second quarter than you did in the first quarter, you will need to DO MORE.

It’s as simple as that.

We so often look for the easy way to do something. We look for ways to work less. And while there are applications and tools out there that can optimize the efficiency of our work, we shouldn’t expect them to do the work for us.

If you want to get to a level you’ve never achieved before, you will need to work harder than you ever have. Don’t set a limit on your success by setting a limit on the how hard you work. Instead, adopt a mindset of doing whatever it takes.

Find a Coach

To refocus your business in the second quarter you may need to get a fresh set of eyes on what you are doing. Hiring a qualified coach may seem like an unnecessary expense but it is good investment in your future.

Don’t Be Afraid to Fail

One of the reasons people don’t stick to their business goals or resolutions is that we get discouraged when we don’t reach our short-term goals. When these smaller set-backs occur, we tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We give up our long-term goals, as we believe our short-term failures make the greater goal impossible to reach.

Failure is only fatal if you allow it to be.

Failure of short term goals can be discouraging. However, we need to recognize their important role in helping us learn a more effective way to do something. When we make this perspective adjustment, our long-term goals come back within reach.

If you read the stories of successful people (and we highly recommend you do), you will find that successful people fail more often than unsuccessful people. Failure is actually a key ingredient on the road to success.

The key is not becoming paralyzed by that failure.

Have you stopped moving forward because you’re afraid to fail? In January, I did a Periscope on failure that helps individuals move past the fear to conquer success.

Don’t Put a Limit on the Price You Will Pay

Outside of integrity and morality, why do we set limits on the price we pay?

When we put limits on the price we will pay, we put limits on the success we can achieve.

Here’s an example from our coaching studio…

When we sit down with potential clients, we find that 90% of them base their marketing and customer acquisition on referrals alone. They do this because inbound sales tend to be easier. The leads are warm and often there is a level of rapport established already.

There are a few problems with this approach to sales. First, the pool of potential leads is very limited, as they only are bringing in new leads in one way. Secondly, this lead generation source is unreliable. Businesses that rely on referrals alone essentially put the success of their business in the hands of other people.

When I ask these clients if they are happy with the amount of business they receive from referrals, they often say “no”. They want more clients and they want to have more control over the amount of customers they bring in.

At this point, I advise that it may be time to find other different ways of generating leads, such as doing more outbound business.

At this point, they find themselves at a crossroads.

More outbound business means the need for learning how to do something new. Making cold, outbound calls, booking appointments, and engaging in the sales cycle can be an uncomfortable process, especially for those who have never done it before. They have to decide if they are willing to fight through the discomfort and pay the price for business success.

We have watched many “ordinary” people do absolutely extraordinary things. These people all have one thing in common. They didn’t put a limit on the price they were willing to pay.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none” excerpt=”When we put limits on the price we will pay, we put limits on the #success we can achieve. #quotes #cupofJoePici @piciandpici”]

When we put limits on the price we will pay, we put limits on the success we can achieve.[/tweet_box]

Burn the Boats

There’s a great story true story from history that I refer to often with my clients.

Let’s go back to the year 1519.

For many years, stories had spread about the treasures of the country of Mexico. Hernando Cortés, a wealthy Spanish conquistador, wanted it for himself. Many other famous explorers and military men had tried to take it in the past, but all had failed.

Cortés invested much of his wealth and time into the voyage. He hired soldiers and sailors to come along on the trip, inspiring them with vivid tales of the famed Mexican treasures. In February of 1519, they set sail on their quest.

Sea travel in the 1500s was not very enjoyable. After a few weeks, the crew began to complain. While Cortés used his immense charisma to keep morale uplifted, he knew he had a problem. These people would not be willing to pay the price for the treasure.

They wanted an escape.

When they finally made landfall, the crew disembarked. Unsure of their next steps, they went to Cortés for the leader’s orders. The words he told them next would go down in history…

“Burn the Boats.” He went on to say, “If we’re leaving, we leave in their boats.

Needless to say, those soldiers fought differently that day. Their commitment was elevated. They knew they didn’t have an escape route. They would have to fight through their situation.

Think about your own business. Have you burned the boats? Or do you have one foot out the door?

When we allow for an escape route away from the uncomfortable parts of our business, chances are, we’ll begin to take them.  And when we give ourselves an escape from failure, we also give ourselves an escape from success.

Find focus. Make a decision. Run for the prize.

Refocus Your Business in the Second Quarter NOW!