Why You Need A Coach

Written by JT on March 25, 2008

Business can be a daunting world at times. If you are one of my long-time readers, you will recall the several times I reference the staggering statistics that illustrate a steep and steady attrition rate in business.

Getting started can be intimidating. Knowing what to do first, understanding the ins and outs of your chosen industry, and figuring out how to market yourself are all daunting tasks, especially to the “newbie”.
It was the same for me when I first stated Navy flight training. There was so much to know, so many high expectations, and when it came to attrition…well, lets just say most did not make it. I struggled at times, and other times I excelled. I can tell you with all honesty, that I would not have made it through without the compassion and honesty of a great mentor.
The same has been true in my business career.

In flight school, I had a friend who had been through the whole experience. His name is Noah Bellringer. He gave me pointers on what to expect during certain phases of training. He gave me insight on how to prepare for each flight; what to concentrate more heavily on and what to take less seriously. He guided me along the way, and in the end, his sage advice assisted me in earning my U.S. Navy “Wings of Gold” as a Navy pilot.
Now YOU need to consider the importance of having a similar resource to guide you in building and growing your business.

Why Have A Coach?

Tiger Woods has one. Oprah has one. Even Donald Trump has one. So why don’t you?

Well, business has been very similar to flight school for me. I have had several mentors, but my coach, Patrick Combs, has helped me understand the many phases of business. You have heard me talk about Dave Stech, Larry Benet, and Gene McNaughton…just a few of my mentors. Patrick Combs has been a valuable asset in assisting me in finding my path in business, mold my business style to match my personality and talents, and to bolster my weaknesses and develop my strengths into a complete package of success. The results have been unbelievable.

What Is A Coach?

First things first. When I first met Patrick, he was giving a talk as a guest speaker at a company-sponsored training event for one of our network marketing businesses. The talk revolved around the topics of mindset, passion, and motivation as it applies to business.

Now, something you should know about Patrick is that, while he is very energetic and inspiring, he is also very down to earth. He is not as much the “in your face” or “rah-rah-rah” type of speaker. Instead, he is the engaging type of guy you would want to have over for dinner.

Patrick, I later found out, offered a coaching service. I thought, “What the heck. I’ll give it a shot”. Looking back on it, I can’t believe how fortunate I was to have jumped at the opportunity to have Patrick as my personal coach, because “What the heck, I’ll give it a shot” is a very weak mindset to be in when it comes to business or any other exciting endeavor.

Patrick has helped me overcome that type of thinking. He also showed me how to be a more effective entrepreneur.

Patrick wasted no time in breaking down my concerns about business. He got straight to the root of a lot of hang-ups I had with calling prospects, generating leads, and closing sales.

Patrick has a passion for assisting people. He also has a knack for knowing what makes people tick. And that is the whole point behind having a mentor and a coach.

A coach is someone who can guide you and empower you to build yourself into your business’s strongest and most valuable asset.
How Do You Find A Coach?

Research. Ask a lot of questions. Basically, ask the questions of your prospective coach that you imagine they should be asking you. What is it you are in business to do? What are you passionate about? Where did you get your start? What caused you to get into this business? Do you have any references?

Coaches are great. But as the old saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”. Please do not take what I am saying as gospel. Do not assume that by plunking down some good money that a business coach will make you rich over night. It takes work. It takes study. It takes an open mind. And it means letting go of the old (or current) you.

A coach is a necessary business expense, in my humble opinion. In fact, I’ll go as far to say that if you are not investing in some sort of coaching program, you are not taking your business seriously enough, and you are probably setting yourself up for failure.

Get a good coach and watch your skills blossom and your talents grow. I am telling you, this is important and crucial to your success.
To learn more about my coaching program, email me at jt@shiftofmomentum.com or call me directly at (208) 939-0279.

I look forward to hearing form you soon, and can’t wait for you to see massive growth in your business!

See you in the next post…
~JT

How To Build Your Power of 6

Written by JT on March 22, 2008

First of all, Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you are able to enjoy a little downtime this weekend. I just flew in from Seattle, so let’s get to it…

Okay, so in the last post I told you about my mentor and friend, Dave Stech. I transcribed the incredible training call he gave March 20th with Larry Benet, and now I want to share with you the bulk of Dave’s concepts of The Power of 6. More specifically, I will reiterate Dave’s points about how having 6 high-quality people as your mastermind team is so important.

So, who are these 6? They are people that meet 6 critical, non-negotiable criteria.

1) Your 6 must be equal to or better than you are at what you do, and/or have complimentary and synergistic skill sets to yours and are great at what they do.

The important take away here is that you always want to surround yourself with top-notch people. When you associate with high-level performers, YOU become that much better. And when you become better, you can serve others better and enjoy much more success in any endeavor.

2) Your 6 must meet your 6 “value” filters:
· they don’t have uncontrolled egos
· they don’t have uncontrolled greed
· they can be implicitly trusted
· they are competent at what they do
· you like them
· they are committed – to you and to win – no excuses – just as you are committed to them

Seem like a tall order to fill, finding 6 people to live up to these filters? It is; but remember: You only need 6.

3) Your 6 must be givers, not takers.

As you start to surround yourself with people who have the predisposition of giving, you will be able to feed off their momentum. The hope is that you, yourself, are a giver as well. When you present yourself to the world as a giver first, doors of opportunity open. People want to work with you and hear what you have to say because they sense that you are bigger than yourself; you are dedicated to something special.

As the great Zig Ziglar says:
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

4) You must teach your 6 to find their 6, and they must be willing to
commit to getting the best 6 themselves, and to teach their 6 to
find 6.

I already mentioned Dave’s point about surrounding yourself with
people that are equal to or greater than your ability level, and why it
is important. Can you imagine building an entire network of people
like that? It has been said that there is strength in numbers, so
make YOUR numbers strong.

5) Your 6 must commit to consistently strive to perform at a higher level, and the worst performer must be replaced every year.

Dave gives some sage advice on how to evaluate your Power of 6:
“In December of every year, you will sit down and evaluate your
Power of 6. You’ll rank them 1 through 6, with 1 being the best. You’ll
be calling #1, recognizing and thanking him/her personally, and then
recognizing him/her in the presence of your Power of 6, and then in
the presence of their PO6. You’ll recognize #2 through #5 again, and
also recognize them with their 6. Why all this recognition?
Recognition is more powerful than money. Recognition feeds the
soul. It’s one thing to be successful; it’s quite another to be
recognized as successful.” I cannot emphasize this powerful principle
enough. It strengthens a team like none other when you recognize
people for their outstanding efforts. Plus, as Dave says,
“It’s the right thing to do.”

So what do you do with #6? Well, listen to what Dave does…

“You’ll replace them. Through no fault of yours, they haven’t
lived up to the promise they made to you, and probably not to their 6
either. That doesn’t make them a bad person. That doesn’t mean
they can’t be your friend. They may have had personal or
professional setbacks. If so, and if the setbacks are truly behind
them, and if they genuinely recommit to themselves, to you and
to their Power of 6, you may elect to keep them in your 6. It’s your
call.”

So what is the sixth point? Well, here is Dave’s direct charge to YOU:

“I have a sixth and final point, but I’d rather ask you, the reader, to suggest an idea that may be better. Have at it…”

Now is your chance. Go to www.ThePowerof6.com and tell Dave what YOU would do. Give him your honest input, and expect great things, because Dave is writing a book, and whoever gives the best “6th Point” will get the honor of having their work published in his book! This is tremendous, so go now and give your input.

Good luck and enjoy!

Until next time, I’ll see you in the next post…

~JT

How To Buidl A Powerful Team

Written by JT on March 20, 2008

For those of you who were unable to make the powerful call with Dave Stech and Larry Benet this Thursday, I took the liberty of transcribing the body of the call because I feel so strongly about the message Dave has and how it will radically transform your business.

*WARNING! What you are about to read is part me transcribing and part me robbing straight from Dave’s mouth/written word. Here it goes…

I will paraphrase what Dave said, but I encourage you to visit his website at www.ThePowerof6.com and get the full story for yourself. You may even earn the chance to be in his upcoming book!

Power of 6

Dave started with a story of how he had a Palm Vx PDA (personal digital assistant), and how one day, the battery went out (and with it, the memory). No problem, right? Just sync it with your laptop and you will have all of that info backed up.

Well, Dave did not have such luck, as his back up didn’t back up! He essentially lost 3,000 names and contact info. Ouch.

Dave didn’t freak out, though. He thought deep. He applied the “Pareto Principle”.

The Pareto Principle is the 20-80, or 80-20 rule. Developed by Wilfredo Pareto in 1906, the Pareto Principle is based on his well-known observation that 20% of the population owned 80% of the property in Italy. It’s more commonly known as the rule that 20% of our activities generate 80% of our results.

Well, Dave basically applied the “Double Pareto Principle” (DPP) to what many would say is a very unfortunate incident.

So, of the 3,000 names he had just lost, he figured about 80% were people he barely knew. If you are following along with the Pareto Principle, this meant Dave could account for 2,400 of the 3,000.

But 20% of 3,000 were much more manageable (which came out to 600). Applying the Double Pareto Principle, he came up with 20% of the 20%, or 4% of the original 3,000 – a total of 120 people. Are you still with me?

Now, for Dave or anyone for that matter, it is one thing to know 120 people well. It’s quite another thing to have had meaningful relationships with all of them. You just can’t have meaningful relationships with that many people. The truth is, you can only have genuine quality relationships with a handful of people.

To boil it down… According to Dave, this meant exactly 6 people.

How did he arrive at 6? Here’s what Dave had to say about that epiphany, “Truthfully, it was a complete rectal extraction! I knew I had to give up quantity for quality. I knew it had to be manageable. I knew I had to keep it small in order to give completely of myself to the 6. 6 just felt right. After all, there’s the 6 Degrees of Separation philosophy; there’s 6 billion people in the world; there’s the three life sabbaticals I’ve taken that ended up taking 6 months each. Hell, beer comes in 6 packs, so who am I to argue with that? 6 it is. 6 genuine quality relationships – that’s plenty. You only need the Power of 6 to get anything you or they will ever want.”

So, tune in tomorrow when I share with you the 6 critical, non-negotiable criteria in which to build YOUR very own Power of 6…

I’ll see you in the next post…

~JT

Now THIS IS How A Prospecting Call Should Go

Written by JT on March 9, 2008

Today, I called a friend I had not spoken with in months. It was great to talk to her again and catch up on what she and her husband had been up to. She has been in one of the network marketing companies with my wife, Mia, and I but took a hiatus to redefine where she wanted to go with her path in life.

She and her husband had been building their new house, taking care of his parents, and making preparations to start an offline business. She told me how she had been considering getting back into network marketing, and attacking it with new focus.

Now, one thing you should know about my friend is that she is very driven, very focused, and extremely bright. Her marketing skills were really getting sharp before she pulled away. In fact, it was a shock to both Mia and I when she announced she was pulling away from business for a while to reassess her path, etc.

Anyway, she asked what Mia and I were up to, asked about our daughter, Callie, and how Mia has been feeling (Mia is 27 weeks pregnant with our son, Max). Since I had last spoken to my friend, Mia and I started an additional network marketing opportunity and it has been amazing.

The point of me recapping my conversation with this friend of ours is that we hadn’t talked in over four months, but yet it felt like just yesterday. The conversation went fluidly and two of our objectives were met.

First and foremost, we caught up on where we were in our lives again. And secondly, I was able to direct a friend to our new business without pressuring her and making her feel uncomfortable. To be fair, this phone call was not intended to be a prospecting call at all, but it highlighted some important clues that I will use as teaching points.

This was not a typical “prospecting” call. I followed the advice of Michael Oliver and his natural selling techniques and I highly recommend this method for both your cold and warm markets.

I have to tell you, this way of approaching a conversation is to say the least, so much more comfortable… Unlike the traditional methods of “selling”, there was no pressure, no attachment to the outcome, and the intention was first and foremost to catch up and secondly to see if she was open to a new opportunity.

If you approach all your conversations, whether you’re friends, they are a member of your family, or you don’t know them at all, you will find that this method will make everyone feel at ease. Here’s the gist of Natural Selling:
1. Set the intention before you pick up the phone that you are out to HELP the other person and that you’re NOT attached to the outcome.
2. Inquire about them, their family, their work, etc. (because it is ALL about them)
3. Ask questions that will see if they are open to an opportunity at this time (After all, this is about the right timing for them).
4. Do NOT be eager to “tell” them everything about what your business when they ask how you are doing.
5. Make sure you give them a website or directions to get the information on their own terms, their own time, with no pressure.
6. Really listen to their answers and respond rather than react (if you react, you’re more likely to be thinking of what you want to say next while they are talking and are too much in your head… therefore you’re not truly listening!)
7. Let the conversation take its natural course.
8. And again, do not get attached to the outcome (Remember, you were calling to see if this opportunity was the right fit for THEM).

Try this approach the next time you feel like stuffing your excitement about your business opportunity to someone else, whether you know them or not, and you’ll walk away a lot more content with yourself and the conversation.
~See you in the next post,
JT

How To Boost Sales In Your Business

Written by JT on March 5, 2008

I saw a funny bumper sticker today that read, “The flogging will continue until morale improves”. I’ve seen this quote before, but I usually just laugh it off and go about my day. For some reason it really stuck with me today, though. I thought about it, and how it applies to business as well as life.

I guess the reason the bumper sticker quote stayed with me was because, recently, an acquaintance complained to me that she felt unfulfilled. She complained that, despite her best efforts, life and business were getting the better of her. She felt tired, beat down and defeated. Nothing, she claimed, was working.

Jim Rohn often talks about the importance of ambition and personal responsibility with respect to being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs can’t make the same excuses that employees make; in fact, they can’t make any at all.

Entrpereneurs have to be leaders; employees don’t have to lead, they just have to punch a clock. If the goals, deadlines and commitments are not met, the business fails and the entrepreneur suffers.

The bumper sticker seems to indicate that the flogging—also known as difficult times, trials and tribulations, etc—will continue until a shift in mindset grabs hold of the leader and he or she takes a decided stand against failure and mediocrity.

For the record, I do not fear failure. And while I try not to fail, I see failure is the supreme teacher…IF you posses the maturity and open mind to learn from it.

But repeated failure with a lack of learning; acceptance of mediocrity; willingness to feel defeated when things don’t go your way…THAT is unacceptable, and completely against the entrepreneurial spirit.

So how do you shift your mindset away from that of the “victimized employee”? How does one stand tall in the face of adversity? Where ought one turn when business is slow and the bills are piling up? Here is what I told my acquaintance, only because it worked for me when I used to have the same challenges…

Get Grateful. I do not care how bad you perceive your current situation, there is always someone else who has it worse. Yeah, I know…it sucks to hear that. But it is true. Mia and I sponsor a child in the Philippines, and her family doesn’t even have running water. How crappy is that? Try brushing your teeth, or washing dishes, or staying healthy without running water.

And if that is too dramatic for you, then consider this Jom Rohn quote”
“If you think the grass is greener on the other side, it’s most likely because that field is getting more care the owner.”

Remember; every single person: Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey and even Mother Theresa all had lousy times in their lives. But the strong ones…the winners…refuse to lose. They get resilient by going against that which put them in a bad place to begin with.

By focusing on the things you are grateful for, you immediately shift your body chemistry and begin to transform your brain from the “fight-or-flight” mode to the “vacation mode”.
When was the last time you were running for your life and you thought, “Man, it is sure great to be here. I love this place in life…”?

Probably never.

But by concentrating on the positive aspects of life, you can literally convert nervous anxiety into a restful calm and get back in control of the situation and yourself. Okay, so let’s say you are grateful. Now what? Its time to…

Get E.A.G.E.R. Being E.A.G.E.R. does not mean being an over-zealous spaz. I use the acronym E.A.G.E.R to stand for Enthusiastic Action Generates Exciting Results. Simply put, the more passionate you are about your pursuits, the more successful you will be and the less daunted you will be by failure and setbacks.

Case in point; when I was a kid all I wanted was to be a Navy pilot (that and play for the Seahawks). I ate, drank and slept Naval Aviation. But I struggled in school and despite those struggles, still sought out tough classes and stayed with it.

I even had the Navy tell me I was too old (the age cut-off was like 29…I was 30 when I started flight school). But I found a way to use my prior service time to get a waiver. I made it. Earning my “Wings of Gold” was a huge personal triumph.

Was I unsure of myself? Sometimes. Was I enthusiastically dedicated? Always. And I am deeply grateful for that experience because it has taught me tremendous lessons about business. Get E.A.G.E.R about your life’s pursuits. Ask the experts of whatever field of business you are in how they got successful and mirror what they do. Learn from the best, and then join them! And finally…

Get Coaching. Let me be clear; you do not need to spend tons of money on a coaching program. In fact, you are getting coaching right now. Going to blogs, visiting forums, attending seminars, and reading books are all great ways of getting coaching.

I don’t have all the answers; I give you honest advice from a place of personal experience. Now, if you are serious about success, I strongly suggest you make a modest investment in top-notch coaching. If you would like to contact me about my coaching program, drop me a line at: jt@shiftofmomentum.com

Okay, friends, that is all for now. I am excited to share this information with you because everything you just read came from my own personal experience. It means a lot to me to help successful people just like you. Thanks for being a part of my passion!

See you in the next post…
~JT