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1.       A mentoring program of any kind is best if the components fit together in some sort of end game, or cohesive system, rather than as disparate ingredients that don’t seem to connect. There’s nothing more frustrating (well, there are other things but that’s not the point) than learning all this ‘stuff’ and then after the fact, wondering what on earth you do next….

2.       Finding clarity and focus can be a messy, frustrating and confusing process. But when you get through that, your vision will be clear. If you want to build a successful company, you MUST have a vision of what you are building. You must. It’s a difficult process. It’s sort of like giving birth – you have to go through the pain to have the beautiful baby!

3.       The value of a group, even if it’s only two or three people, is huge.

Hence the mastermind concept pioneered by Andrew Carnegie in today’s quote.  I have rejoined my group mastermind purely because of the accountability and support from the group. It’s really invaluable.

4.       What too many people out there teach (and I’m being very general here…) has no caveats and no context. You may be able to attract people with clever marketing, but you need to be able to retain them with something of more value and depth. The important thing you need to ask yourself is: ‘Is this the best strategy for my business right now?’

5.       Client relationships are personal. You can’t expect someone to go through 3 assistants just in order to schedule a next appointment with you. One is enough, but they better be efficient! And, be accessible. It’s good for business!

6.       Never develop a membership based continuity program unless you have a huge list of subscribers. NEVER. The member attrition, constant marketing to refill the numbers, and admin support required to administer, only makes it worthwhile (think ROI) if you have thousands of members, out of a database of many more thousands. And if you have that many on your list, why bother with low end continuity programs when you could be making far more on high ticket items?

7.       If you don’t have any sort of priority management system, you will NEVER optimise your productivity. I have implemented a new system for managing myself and my company’s priorities, taking the best strategies from a number of people to do so. This was not actually an insight from last year, but implementing and sticking to a new system will be a major breakthrough this year. I love it already! I feel like my productivity is on steroids! Seriously, block out focus days where you have NO interruptions and you only work on your priorities.

8.       To be quite frank with you, last year I made lots of mistakes. Not with my clients or my core services, but with the marketing side of the business. My team made mistakes. We survived, and now we know more about what works and what doesn’t work than we did last year. To hell with it, just give it a shot, and if you offer value to your clients and your subscribers the rest of the time, they will forgive your mistakes (as long as they’re little ones).

9.       When it comes to marketing, focus on what fits with your business and if you’re directly involved, focus on what fits with you. I’ve heard people run teleseminars and interview others when they clearly aren’t listening to their guest’s answers, but are focusing instead on the next question. I know of plenty of people – myself included for a while – who have tried to do it all and been crushed by the sheer enormity of the task! Pathetic! Focus on what you’re good at, what fits comfortably with you, and what your target market and clients respond to best. Not everyone tweets 24×7 (thank God!)

10.   If something isn’t working, it isn’t your clients or your subscribers, it’s you. You have to fix something. I’ve thrown my hands up in frustration at ‘things not working’ – usually web-related – and asked how this is possible, when I’m doing all the right steps. I wasn’t. Your website, and your marketing, like your business overall, needs to be dissected occasionally and pulled apart piece by piece, and some things thrown out, and others improved. If it isn’t working, then you have the wrong message, the wrong media, the wrong market, the wrong offer – they’re the key culprit! Keep looking until you find it (and you will make mistakes along the way) and then fix it.

And there it is. We’ve learned from last year, but guaranteed there is more learning in store for 2011!

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© BOSS Management Group Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine? No problem! But here’s what you MUST include:Jenny Stilwell is the founder of BOSSMENTOR®, a business mentoring consultancy providing advice on strategy and business growth for professional, lifestyle-oriented business owners who want to grow the value of their businesses and ultimately spend less time working in them. To get your complimentary copy of Jenny’s special report ‘3 Ways to Dramatically Increase Your Income & Business Growth’ and receive her fortnightly information on marketing and business strategies that will help you create a better business, visithttp://www.bossgroup.com.au