I Call Bullshit Series: Excusa Numero Dos

***After you read this post, be sure to visit me at my new home here.***

In this three-part series, I listen patiently to the reasons you think you can't achieve your BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). Then I call bullshit, and give you the reasons you can achieve them. 

Excusa Number Dos: "I'm too old, young, smart, stupid, orange, under-educated, over-educated, married, or single."

Excusa Numero Uno: "I don't have enough time."

Excusa Number Tres: "My current situation (job, marriage, status) makes it too hard."

1. You are able and capable. Today. Just as you are. You may or may not "need" additional education. It would have been nice if you would have started a decade ago. But so what? There is enough plenty! of evidence that people without a college education, who started late in life, or are single parents can still MSH (make sh*t happen).
2. Stop with the Stories and Excuses. You can focus on what you don't have, or you can focus on what you do have. Do you speak English? Can you count currency? Do you know how to ask for help? Then you can probably take step -- giant steps -- toward your BHAGs, starting right now, today. Create a story about how you can, you will, achieve your goals. Visualize the end today and every day until your vision is your reality. 
3. What you don't have, you can get, find, or buy. Tons of resources exist to assist you. Lots of people out there love to be part of a successful team. If you don't already have what you need, search the internet, post what you're looking for on Facebook, ask your friends, co-workers, family, neighbors and members of your church. Seek and you will find.

You do have everything you need to success, you just have to look for it.

Need More Information? Read these:

Get Assistace for Business Growth {Honorée}

Leverage {Honorée}

The Holy Grail: How to Outsource the Inbox and Never Check EmailAgain {Tim Ferriss}

29 Ways You're Wasting Time Today {Time Management Ninja}

Tall Order! is a book that gets to the point. It helps you pinpoint what is going to get you the results you want, starting right now. Jeffrey Gitomer says, "Don't let the size fool you -- this book is compact dynamite! Buy this book!"

Honorée Enterprises, LLC. turns service providers into rainmakers, average producers into rock-stars, and dreams into reality. For more information on how we can specifically help you or your organization, click here. You can read all about Honorée here.

*Spanish lesson is at no extra charge.

I Call Bullshit Series: Excusa Numero Uno

***After you read this post, be sure to visit me at my new home here.***

In this three-part series, I listen patiently to the reasons you think you can't achieve your BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). Then I call bullshit, and give you the reasons you can achieve them. 

Excusa Numero Uno*: "I don't have enough time."

Excusa Numero Dos: "I'm too old, young, smart, stupid, orange, under-educated, over-educated, married, or single."

Excusa Numero Tres: "My current situation (job, marriage, status) makes it too hard."

1. Make it a must, instead of a should. There's always enough time for what's important. "I don't have time" says, "This isn't important enough for me to make time for it." You probably watch way too much television, or piddle away precious hours on Facebook, or waste time discussing last night's episode of Gilmore Girls. The average American watches 28 hours of television a week -- refocus that time and in just a few months you'll have read all the books on your bedside table, learned a new language, and still had time left-over to brainstorm ten brilliant ideas that would or could revolutionize your life, business, job, or practice.
2. Use "Wheels-Up University" to your advantage. If you're in the car an inordinate amount of time, use that as a time multiplier, instead of a time divider. Make a list of people you need to call, those prospects, clients or contacts that don't necessarily need to chat with you while you're in front of your computer. Listen to audiobooks or language CDs. Respond to messages and emails by dictating your responses. 
3. Eat Moby Dick one bite at a time. You can achieve anything if you make it at least a minimum priority every business day. I'm learning foreign languages, one a year. I "don't have time" to move to Spain to perfect my Spanish, so I do two quick lessons a day. These lessons take about 20 minutes. In eleven months, I'll be able to carry on basic conversations. I write a couple to a few books a year. Am I sequestered in my home on the ocean six months out of the year? Nope, not yet anyway. I write at least 5 minutes a day. Sometimes I get to write for hours. Most days, I can squeeze in at least 30 minutes. Check out what I've accomplished in just the last few years.

You do have enough time, you just have to discover where you've put it.

Related Articles:

Do It or Delegate It? {Honorée}

You're Probably Not Serious About Balancing {Paul Castain} 
Make Next Week Your Most Productive Week Ever {Honorée}
Achieving Your BHAGs with BST {Honorée}
Your Morning Power Hour {Honorée}

Tall Order! is a book that gets to the point. It helps you pinpoint what is going to get you the results you want, starting right now. Jeffrey Gitomer says, "Don't let the size fool you -- this book is compact dynamite! Buy this book!"

Honorée Enterprises, LLC. turns service providers into rainmakers, average producers into rock-stars, and dreams into reality. For more information on how we can specifically help you or your organization, click here. You can read all about Honorée here.

*Spanish lesson is at no extra charge.

Shaklee Saturday's Featured Product: Basic H2® Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate

This little 16 oz bottle creates an unbelievable 48 gallons of super-safe, really powerful, uber-concentrated all-purpose cleaner. As a matter of fact, one bottle of Basic H² (just $10.35*!) equals the cleaning uses of 5,824 bottles of 26 oz. Windex^® (about $2/bottle). 

You can use it any time to clean just about everything ... from spilled milk, to bug guts on the window, to splattered spaghetti sauce. I use it on countertops, floors, windows, and mirrors. It's non-toxic, non-flammable, so it's safe to breathe, for your kids to use and for your pets to be around. As a mom, I love the fact that it's safe for everyone, and works better than the toxic and more expensive cleaners in the grocery story. Just sayin'.

For all-purpose cleaning:
Add 1/4 tsp. to 16 oz. of water.

For windows and mirrors:
Add 1-2 drops to 16 oz. of water.

For degreasing:
Add 1 1/2 tsp. to 16 oz. of water. For bigger jobs, add 2 oz. to 1 gallon of water.

Basic H²® is all you need for thousands of household jobs

• Ultraconcentrated – 16 ounces makes up to 48 gallons of super powerful cleaner when mixed with water.
• Versatile and powerful cleaner – removes dirt, grease, and grime from any washable surface, inside and out. Dilute according to directions.
• No rinse, no residue, streak-free formula.

Use on any washable surface – indoors or out

• Walls, Windows and Mirrors, Countertops, Floors, Appliances, Stoves, Sealed Woodwork, Pots and Pans, Furniture

Clean Credentials

• Nontoxic
• Natural
• Doubly concentrated
• Biodegradable Surfactants

Click here for Basic H Instruction.

Click here to order some Basic H. 

*Member Price. Suggested Retail Price: $12.15.

Honorée considers herself "powered by Shaklee." You can be, too. Learn more here.

You Must A-S-K to G-E-T

***After you read this post, be sure to visit me at my new                                        home here.***

That's right, folks.  You don't get what you don't ask for, but when polled, professionals rank "asking for business" right up there with getting a root canal or delivering a speech, naked, in Macy's window, at Noon time. In fact, most would rather do the latter. (How do I know? I just do.)

Rather than asking for the business, they make assumptions. They assume their friends, family, contacts and strategic partners somehow magically just know what they do, who they do it for, and that they'd gladly take on new business, especially the new business of their friends, family, contacts and strategic partners (and their contacts).

Umm, no. That's not at all how it works.

If you want new business, you've got to ask for it. If you want a referral, you need to make it known you are looking for a referral.

Would you go through P. Terry's Drive-Thru, skip the ordering part, and just show up at the window to pay? Of course not. You say, "I want a Number 1 with cheese, a chocolate shake and curly fries with extra ketchup." Otherwise, you're just a crazy person at the window.

Stop making assumptions and start asking for business. It's simple. You say, "I'm a CPA. I do tax returns for companies with revenues between $100K and $2M, and I would enjoy doing your returns for you."

You could even throw in, "No is an okay answer, but I just had to ask."

Will you get a "NO!"? Maybe. But so what. Find out why getting more "no's" can lead to more "yes'es".

Still not convinced you want to put yourself out there? Let's flip it around. Have you ever hired a friend to do work for you? After, perhaps, they went out on a limb and asked for your business? You were thrilled, right? To have someone you know, like and trust taking care of you, most likely way better than some stranger would have ... 

Were you horrified when they asked for your business? Of course not. You were most likely grateful. 

If you're going to make an assumption, make it a positive one: assume your new client will be grateful to have you in their corner.

That's how your friends and contacts are going to feel, because you're going to take great care of them after they hire you.

Remember: 

Related Articles:

Find Your Limits and Push Past Them {Go for No!}
A Different Way to Ask for Referrals {Paul Castain} 
It Doesn't Hurt to Ask  {Seth Godin}
"A" is for Ask (Or Don't Ask) {Honorée}
How to Get Everything You Really Want {Honorée}
R is for Referrals, Parts 1-8 {Honorée}

Tall Order! is a book that gets to the point. It helps you pinpoint what is going to get you the results you want, starting right now. Jeffrey Gitomer says, "Don't let the size fool you -- this book is compact dynamite! Buy this book!"

Honorée Enterprises, LLC. turns service providers into rainmakers, average producers into rock-stars, and dreams into reality. For more information on how we can specifically help you or your organization, click here. You can read all about Honorée here.