Are You an April Fool?

People always ask me about things they should do and I think sometimes the more important question is what are things you should not do.  So in honor of the 1st day of April (or thereabouts) I thought I would make a little list of How Not To Be A Fool In Your Business and make the list of things you should not do in order to be more successful and live a happier live and less stressful business. 

You are a fool if…

• You let non-entrepreneurs or business people influence your work ethic.
• You empower people to criticize you who don’t fully understand you, your life, your ambitions.
• You let your customers control your sales process.
• You treat all of your customers equally.
• You stop doing what works and what is profitable.
• You live your day by a list of random to-do’s instead of Priorities.
• You spend time doing anything that someone else can do that isn’t your highest and best use of time.
• You get distracted or let others distract you with drama or negativity.
• You watch too much TV instead of work.
• You do not have forced structure and discipline around your schedule.
• You try to compete on price, sell with discounts, or otherwise negotiate.
• You do not have a structured sales system.
• You do not focus on the two major things in your business lead generation and customer value.
• You chase bright shiny objects instead of calculated congruent opportunities.
• You do not have a systematic way of following up on people who don’t buy now.
• You do not treat the relationship with your customers as your most valuable asset.
• You do not offer your customers something else to buy.
• You are not embracing sell-through and joint venture relationships.
• You continue to sell only one to one instead of leveraged one to many.
• You are not ruthless with your time and stop at all costs others from intruding on your life.
• You are not operating with a plan, 2-3 years, 12 months, 90 days, etc…just willy nilly day to day.
• You avoid necessary confrontation to remove obstacles and anchors in your life.
• You are not waking up excited and energized to get to where you are going every day.
• You are not maximizing your earning potential, selling at premium prices, and working only with customers that make you happy and appreciate what you do.
• You are in business and don’t want to be.
• You are accepting less than you deserve for lack of knowledge, effort, ambition.

Of course this list isn’t meant to be negative, rather a checklist of things you should make sure you are not falling victim to in your business and daily life.  It is easy to get caught up in the cycle and not even realize what is holding you back, where the sticking points are.   

More often than not, the problems are in this list that I have made for you, not some technical change or new technology or bright shiny object, your breakthroughs will come when you don’t let things, behaviors, people, decisions, modus operandi make a fool out of you.

Your challenge… to borrow words from the crazy Mr. T of the A TEAM – Don’t be a Fool Sucker!