PODCAST EPISODE 1:  Welcome to the first edition of my business podcast, GROW FOR IT!  It’s a podcast for small business owners, managers and professionals.

I’m installing links on my website, adding episodes as blog posts and on my business Facebook page.  You’ll be able to find, listen and subscribe on various 3rd party channels such as iTunes.

These are brief episodes are meant to help you focus on what you’re doing and why.  Each episode will contain a specific exercise to help you to put the concepts into action.

I hope you’ll take time to listen to this episode and consider sharing it with friends and colleagues.  There will be a new episode every 2 weeks.

I’ll help you to consider key activities to help you achieve your business goals.  We’ll discuss issues and topics that occupy your head-space.  I’ll do my best to help clarify situations and to provide you with helpful tips and tactics to move forward.

If you’re ready, give this episode a listen.  Let’s get ready to GROW FOR IT!

PODCAST EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to Grow for it!  I’m Jim and I want thank you for deciding to invest your valuable time in this episode.  It’s the first episode, so you’re bound to be asking “what’s in it for me?” – For you sales professionals out there, yep, that’s the WIIFM.

This podcast is going to deal with your mindset, your focus.  Over time, we’ll discuss key activities and decide if those activities are in alignment with your overall vision for your business, your career and maybe even your life.

Most importantly, I’m going to challenge you to think differently about what you’re doing…and why you’re doing it.

If you’re a small business owner, a manager, even just a professional trying to achieve more, you’re in the right spot.

I’m a small business consultant.  I’ve been working with professionals for over 12 years.  During that time, I’ve given tons of seminars, spoken at national sales meetings, been featured on a few national webinars, and written business articles for multiple publications.

But it hit me, most of you out there have probably never heard of me because you’re not in those organizations or working in those industry segments.  So, I decided to change it up.  Just like you, I’m ready to GROW FOR IT!

Let’s jump into today’s episode…

Have you ever heard stories of large companies bringing in big consulting firms and paying them a lot of money to produce giant binders full of information?

Maybe some businesses need that validation.  It’s kind of like when you finished that midnight term paper, printed it out and said, “yeah, that feels like an A paper.”

See, I believe most companies simply can’t afford to hire those big firms.  I think there’s another solution.

Most of the business owners I work with need to be more EFFECTIVE at defining the issues and opportunities, then constructing a plan for implementation.  I think a lot of great ideas actually die in binders and on the backs of napkins.

That’s why I have a much more tactical approach.  We can get into all sorts of charts and graphs and academic theory.  All the while trying to eliminate 98-99% of the risk.  What they end up accomplishing is PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS.  Some of them never actually end up pulling the trigger.

But I really think that what most of my clients want is help moving the ball down the field so we can actually put some points on the board.

If we do that consistently, because we’re thinking differently and acting more quickly, we’re going to win.  That’s exactly what I do with AND for my clients.  Quite often it comes down to challenging the status quo mindset.

Let me tell you a quick story, as an example.

Years ago, I have an initial conversation with an attorney. I used to work exclusively in the legal industry, and still work with quite a few law firms and other businesses.

During our conversation, the attorney described himself as the DUI King of the City.   So, I asked him, “Okay, how did that happen?

He went on to explain that early in his career he took on several drunk driving cases. He did alright, so his colleagues referred other cases to him. Those clients begin talking about the results. Before he knew it, he started getting inundated with DUI cases.

As a follow-up, I asked him a series of questions:

• Did he make it through three years of law school to focus on DUI law?
• Did he study several months and then sit for the bar exam to practice DUI’s?
• Did he actually hang out a shingle to put up with all the stress and headaches of running a law firm, just to handle DUI cases?

He sat back in his chair and laughed. He looked at me and said, “Actually no. What I really wanted to do was to get into Federal criminal litigation. I wanted to work with highly complex cases with a ton of moving parts.”

Sounds like he missed the mark, doesn’t it?

Let’s step back and take a look at what happened. It sounds like his day-to-day activities resulted in a lack of alignment with his overall vision. In fact, in his case, it may have resulted his abandoning his vision.

You see friends, I think that’s a risk for all of us. If we’re not careful, we could quickly end up in the same situation. That’s the difference between an existing versus thriving.

Existing is when we’re getting by, and paying your bills and maybe even putting a little money in her pocket at the other month.

But when you’re thriving,

That’s an entirely different story. That’s when you feel that swagger. Things are popping! You’re not just putting a little money in your pocket, you’re putting a lot of at there. Isn’t that we would all like to be?

I’m going to challenge you to answer an important question. And I really don’t like this phrase, but it’s appropriate. So here it is:

Are you in your zone?

If you answered yes, what are you going to do to stay there? Because the markets going to change, client demands we’re going to grow, Competitions going to get smarter and you’re going to be forced to adapt.

If you answered no, would you like to find your path leading back to the zone?

That’s why I think it’s so important to make sure your day today activities, you’re D2D activities, are closely aligned with your vision.

We need to explore and understand the importance of a laser-like focus on your vision. It taps into that primal instinct, that drive, allowing and enabling you to excel and achieve.

Quite honestly, I think that’s a step the many professionals, Managers and even small business owners are tempted to skip.

It takes time to think through that process. It takes time to boil it down and refine it. It takes a lot of our most precious asset, our time.

But, it’s critical to your long-term success.

When your day to day activities, you’re D2D activities, are closely aligned with your overall vision, there’s an inherent rhythm, a natural cadence.

You know why you’re taking once a specific task, getting involved with a certain project and pursuing or working with a particular group clients.

Yeah it feeds the family, but more importantly, aligning the D2D activities with the vision feeds the soul!

That’s what each of us should be aiming for. That flow is what it enables us to be OPTIMALLY EFFECTIVE.

• We feel it
• Clients sense it
• And our colleagues can tap into it

But what happens when we miss the mark?  When our actions are NOT aligned with our vision?

We’ve all experienced it at one time or another.  It’s what I call THE SISYPHUS EFFECT.

If you’ve ever read mythology, there’s a story about a guy named Sisyphus.  Through a series of events, he was sentenced by the gods to spend eternity pushing a giant boulder up a steep hill.

Each morning, Sisyphus would crouch down, grab ahold of the rock and begin straining to roll it up the hill.  His feet constantly slipped in the soft clay.

His legs and arms cramped under the immense weight.  Sweat poured down his face and back.  His cheeks and shoulders were scraped as they were pressed up against the huge stone.

After an incredible struggle, he finally reached to top of the hill…only to watch as the boulder rolled backwards and crashed back down to the bottom.

Sisyphus slowly walked back down the muddy hill and began the struggle again.  This was his sentence for the rest of eternity.

Have you ever felt that way?

That’s the pressure you feel when you’re struggling to deliver, but you know you’re not doing what you instinctively know you should be doing.  That’s why I call it the Sisyphus Effect.

When your day to day actions don’t align with your vision, you won’t achieve your success…regardless of how hard you strain under your own boulder.

You want to achieve at a higher level? It’s possible.  It doesn’t matter if you’re thinking about your organization, your department, or even your own budget targets.  Begin by narrowly defining your vision.

Then, carefully work backwards to understand exactly the activities you need doing gaging on a day-to-day basis to get there.

I want you to take out a piece of paper. In the top center, write a V as in Victor.

In the right margin, write a D as in delta.

Directly across from that, in the left margin, write a capital A as an alpha.

Now, connected three letters with curved arrows in a clockwise fashion.

What does that represent? It’s an important concept.

VISION feeds the desire. DESIRE drives the activities. ACTIVITIES lead your progress in the pursuit of your vision.

It’s all interrelated.  To be successful, it has to be.  Doesn’t it?

Again, the goal this podcast is to help you constantly assessed the “WHY” behind what you’re doing today, and what you should be doing tomorrow!

This is about a process; an evolution.

It’s about your growth in both professional and personal terms.

If you’re ready for that, then I encouraged you to subscribe to this podcast and join me. I’m Jim Ray and if you’re ready, Let’s Grow For It!

Thanks for taking a few minutes to join me today. I’ll be back with the next episode soon. In the meantime, feel free to visit Jim Ray consulting services.com. I’d appreciate it if you consider Liking my business page on Facebook.

It’s going be exciting journey. I’m glad we’ll get the opportunity to walk together. Here’s to your success!

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