Laura's Issue 7 Newsletter
20 Point Day
Odds are you are either spending too much time working on or working in your business.
There are two traps entrepreneurs fall into:
1) Spending lots of time designing strategy for the business and not enough time executing the strategy.
2) Spending lots of time selling products and servicing customers and not enough time designing strategy.
Either of these can radically reduce effectiveness and therefore income.
A good rule of thumb for business owners is the following:
*Spend 1 hour a day planning and designing strategy
*Spend 7-8 hours a day executing the strategy
Personally I LOVE working on the strategy. As you can tell I crave education and finding ways to improve personally and in business. I enjoy visiting other business owners and gathering ideas to improve production and retention of clients and staff. Unfortunately unless you are a business owner that is independently wealthy...you must also be doing something that generates income for the business.
There is no direct income related to planning or designing a strategy.
My first three years as an agent I had the opposite problem. I LOVED the sense of accomplishment that I felt from writing a new application or saving a customer that was "at risk." I spent almost no time thinking long-term about what strategies might need to be implemented.
Businesses will not be extremely successful unless there is proactive attention to strategy.
Several years ago I came across a tool that reminds me that I must not just work "on the business" but also work "in the business." I read about it in a magazine. It is called the 20-point day. Reading the article and implementing your own 20-point day can radically improve your effectiveness.
I am putting a link at the bottom of this newsletter. The link will provide a copy of the original article. It discusses the process of determining exactly what a successful day looks like. It includes the authors sample 20-point day and a sample of the 20-point day I use (personally and for business).
My staff also created a 20-point day which they use to stay focused. Sporatically I have provided a daily bonus on days the employees hit 30 points. Determine what behaviors are important, document them in writing and then reward them.
If you take the time to determine which activities add value and refuse to go home each day until you have reached your 20 points...you will be shocked at how much more effective you are and how much more fun you job is.
Find the 20-point document at http://lauraharris.com/Forms/Index.asp
Laura's book Surrender to Win - Regain Sanity by Strategically Relinquishing Control can be ordered through her website www.LauraHarris.com. E-mail Laura at Laura@LauraHarris.com.
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