"Your Mission, should you decide to accept it ---Using a Mission Statement to Increase Business Productivity"

by Steve O'Sullivan

In the last few weeks or so I have been approached by a number of friends and associates asking me to participate in some great business projects with them. They all sounded like good opportunities. But were they?

This brings to mind the question "How do I decide what I should get involved with to make my business grow?" What's the difference between an opportunity and a distraction?
The decision can be simple if you have a 'Mission Statement'. Here's mine.
"My Mission is to help thousands of people improve their lives and businesses through coaching, training and education."

When I have to decide on what projects to participate in I just take a look at my Mission Statement. I ask myself, "Does this opportunity fit my Mission?" If the answer is yes, I ask myself "Do I have time for this?" Two simple yes or no questions and the decision is made.
You can apply this process to anything you want or need to do in your business. If it fits do it, if not, just say no!

You can have both a Business Mission Statement and a Personal Mission Statement. Both are effective for deciding what actions to take.

Why have a Mission? Here's a good reason. One of my mentors Earl Nightingale said "People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It's as simple as that."
Missions Statements have broad goals within them and help direct the creation of more goals.

"OK, I get the point" sez you. "So how do I figure out what my Mission is, Coach Steve O? Help me out here!"

Here are 5 Tips to Help Build and use your Mission Statement

1. Keep it meaningful and specific - You have to be clear about what you want out of life or business in order to get it. If you aren't clear about it, take some time to ponder those thoughts or talk it over with a friend, partner or spouse until you have a firm handle on it. Make sure it is truly meaningful for YOU or it won't be an effective guide for your life or business.

2. Make it short and sweet - A great Mission Statement can be as brief as one sentence, but no longer that one paragraph. You want to be able to memorize it easily, incorporate it into your DNA and live or work by this statement. The words you use must "taste good" so you'll want to "eat it" everyday. (Kind of a weird metaphor, but you get the picture.)

3. Answer these questions - "Why am I building this company?" "What is the action or actions I will take?" "What is the desired result?" And these optional questions. "How much money will I make?" "When will I accomplish this by?"

4. Keep it in front of you - When you have your Mission completed, plaster it all over the place. On your bathroom mirror, on your computer, heck, make it a screen saver! The point is to look at your Mission everyday, taste it, savor it, digest it, let it be the sustenance that drives your business or life.

5. Use examples, generators and facilitators - If this is your first try at building a mission statement, I suggest taking a look at some examples for inspiration. Here are a few; "To be the preeminent publisher and provider of self-improvement resources that inspires and empowers individuals to lead the lives they most desire" - Nightingale-Conant Corporation, "To make people happy" - The Walt Disney Company, "To push the leading edge of aviation, taking huge challenges doing what others cannot do" -Boeing. There are some interesting and fun mission generators online. Nightingale-Conant has a handy and free mission statement tool you can use. Try it to create your mission or just to develop some inspiration. http://nightingale.com/mission_select.aspx. This next one is hilarious, and pokes a bit of fun at Mission Statements. http://www.netinsight.co.uk/portfolio/mission/missgen.asp. If you just can't get going on this, call an expert facilitator and get some help. I have several great referrals if you need one.

Just so you know, I balked at the suggestion of developing a Mission Statement when it was first suggested. I rejected the idea as being useless and a waste of time. Boy was I wrong! Eventually, I got some help, did the work and came up with what has proven to be the guiding light of SOS Impact Coaching and Training. As I like to say, "Just do it, Do it now!"

© 2007 Steve O'Sullivan

Business Productivity Coach, Speaker and Expert Author Steve O'Sullivan is the publisher of 'The LifeLine' bi-weekly small biz improvement ezine. If you're ready to make a serious impact on your business, make more money, and get more done in less time, get your FR*EE productivity tips and tools now at http://www.sosimpact.com/

"Setting up Systems to Boost Productivity: 7 Tips for making the most of your day"

Setting up Systems to Boost Productivity: 7 Tips for making the most of your day

by Steve O'Sullivan

One of the first things I learned about business is that if you have to do something more than once, you need to create a system for it. The reason is simple. You'll save a ton of time in the long run if you slow down enough in the short run to create a model that you can repeat over and over.

Let's take a look at McDonald's for a minute. They've created systems for every aspect of their business. That's why you can go to any McDonalds in the world and get the same exact (crappy) tasting hamburger, fries and milk shake. I'm not suggesting you sell a product or service that is sub par, but make available that same product or service in an efficient and consistent way.

If you go behind the counter of that fast food joint I mentioned above, you will see footprints on the floor leading from the freezer to the fryer, directions and pictures of how to place the frozen fries into the oil, what button to push to time the fries, how to salt those deep fried russets after they come out of the cooker, etc, etc, etc...Systems (You can read more about this in Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited)

You don't need to go to this extreme. But you can see how creating these models has allowed Mickey D's to grow quickly and worldwide. So can you see that if you had some systems for dealing with your marketing, record keeping, product ordering and all the rest of the tasks you do over and over, you could stop pulling your hair out because you have too much to do?

So now you know why having systems can be a major benefit for you. But this begs the question, "What is a system?" Here's a couple of definitions from the dictionary.

sys·tem (sĭs'təm) n.
An organized set of interrelated ideas or principles.
A condition of harmonious, orderly interaction.
An organized and coordinated method; a procedure.


Check out these 7 Tips to boosting your productivity with systems.

1. 
   Do the Right Things - Set up systems for the most important aspects of your business. That is, the things that make you money. Typically that means marketing to clients and serving clients. So make a list of the most important tasks that occur the most often. Begin creating your system the next time you have to do one of those tasks.


2. 
   But I Don't have Time - Stop saying this! The reason you don't have time is you don't have your systems in place. It's a bit counter intuitive. Like taking a portion of you valuable time to plan what to do with your valuable time. It works, stop questioning it. Systems don't have to be complex, they can be as simple as a check list.


3. 
   Outsource - For example, unless you are an Accountant, don't do your own accounting and bookkeeping. They already have systems to do the work for you. All you need to do is set up a way of getting the information to your Accountant. Remember, If you don't have an assistant, you are one! Get help as soon as you can. Slowly hire others to do the things you don't enjoy or are not excellent at. You can apply this at home too, hire a "gofer" to pick up the dry cleaning, gas up your car, run to the post office, and such.


4. 
   Set Up New Systems as you Go - Each time you start a new project or introduce a new aspect of your company, create a system for it right away. For instance, create a new file (either physical and/or on your computer) for every new client you get. Each time you do any work for them, file the documents in the proper file right away! Or create a checklist for opening or closing your shop, i.e., 1. Unlock the door. 2. Turn off the alarm, etc.


5. 
   Don't' Worry if it's Not Perfect - Just get started, you can make your plan better as you go. Try it, analyze it, fix it, change it, dump it. Ask for advise on how to make it better, ask your friends, husband, wife or children what they think. If you have employees, get them involved in the process, you'll be amazed how a different perspective can revolutionize your process and your progress.


6. 
   Make it Teachable - Take the time to develop your systems in such a way that you could easily give the directions to a new employee and have her duplicate your efforts right away. When you are brand new in a business you may not think of this, but seasoned entrepreneurs know how painful it is to train a new person only to have them leave after a few months. Now you're stuck training someone new. If you had created clear directions that anyone could follow, that wouldn't be a problem. (Remember the McDonald's example? Follow the footsteps on the floor!)


7. 
   Make it Automatic - Once your systems are in place, your goal should be to make them happen automatically. Sort of a system for your systems. For instance, this ezine is set up through an "autoresponder". When someone want's to subscribe or unsubscribe to The LifeLine (and I can't imagine why anyone would want to unsubscribe ) my system adds or removes their name automatically. That way I don't have to go in manually and add or remove them from my e-mail list.

Finally, setting up systems will completely change your business. You will be able to get so much more done, and be so consistent with your efforts you will wonder why you waited so long. If you need some more help putting your business systems into place, give me a holler and I'll be happy to help.

P.S. Try putting some systems in place for your personal life, they work just as well there!

© 2007 Steve O'Sullivan

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Business Productivity Coach, Speaker and Expert Author Steve O'Sullivan is the publisher of 'The LifeLine' bi-weekly small biz improvement ezine. If you're ready to make a serious impact on your business, make more money, and get more done in less time, get your FR*EE productivity tips and tools now at http://www.sosimpact.com/