Last weekend I attended my first in-person coaching event which took place in Calgary, Canada. The VisionMaker event was run by Dave Conway, my mindset and sales mentor. Dave and his team are world-class.
Just over six years ago, he was a carpenter earning $5,000 per month, and since July of this year, his business is earning over $500,000 per month. And just to bust the ‘money isn’t everything’ argument, Dave will be the first to tell you that his peace of mind now is way better than before. Developing a successful mindset comes before any evidence of external success.
Even in business, earning money happens by applying certain principles and this is what VisionMaker is all about, following the principles of achievement. Here are my 10 hot takes from this amazing event!
1. Purpose and Goals.
How many times have you heard me, or others, say you need to have a goal? Knowing your ‘why’ is critical for your business because it gets you thinking of what you hold dear and your desires. When you write out your desires and sequence them in order of importance you can set a goal and live a fulfilling life through achieving this goal.
2. Think Big.
There is no nobility in setting small goals. Small goals don’t require much growth, they don’t require much change, they don’t require you helping more people, and whilst realistic, they won’t bring as much fulfilment as going after something big. Practice thinking big using your imagination. If you have an idea, ask yourself ‘how far do I want to take this idea?’, ‘is this idea inspiring?’ and see can you take it to the next level in your imagination.
3. Develop a Clear Vision.
Once you have set a goal, it is absolutely paramount that you build a clear vision of what this goal looks like. Every goal has a specific way of life and specific results associated with it. For example, my goal to coach clients on mindset has allowed me to leave my full-time employment and devote my time to doing what I love. You need to be crystal clear on what your goal looks like.
4. Build Your Faith.
You don’t have to be religious to develop unwavering faith. I want you to think of faith in terms of Understanding, because this is what faith really is. The more you understand about yourself, who you really are, what power you’re working with, that you are not on your own in this vision, that you are supported, and how you are supported, the more you will believe it is possible. Build faith through study.
5. Accept the Vision.
Your level of faith will determine the decision to accept or reject your vision. As mentioned above, the more you understand the easier it is to believe. If you don’t believe that you can do it, you won’t accept the vision, i.e. you are basically saying NO to your vision and your dreams.
6. Be Willing to Change.
Let there be no doubt about it, your vision is going to cost you! It will cost you in time, in money, and in sacrifices. But here’s the truth, you cannot get something for nothing. You must change because your past success can slow you down. Anyone who tries to offer you ‘something for nothing’ is lying. So, are you ready to let go of what you don’t want for what you truly desire? Are you ready to get out of your own way?
7. Know your values.
I hadn’t thought much about my own values until this weekend, and I had never written them down. But I see how important they are in business because you want to match the values of your team, your clients, and others you work with, with your own values. If they’re not a match, the chances of you forming good relationships are low.
8. Put a Plan in Place.
The truth is, when you accept a big goal and get clear on your vision, you’re going to know very little about what it will take to achieve it. If you do know everything, you must make your goal a lot bigger. A plan is developed through imagination and experience, and helps you structure what you do know into coherent action. Focus on 2-3 key areas that you are going to work on over the next year. Commit to them by taking daily and weekly actions, and what’s around the corner will begin to unfold. Then you can plan to take it to the next level.
9. Money Making Activities.
Profit is the top priority of every business; it must make money to survive. If you are the business owner or founder, you need to focus on what makes money and what you love to do. You need to master the detail in what you do best. Sales and marketing should be high on the list. Too many people fail by trying to master everything, this is not a good strategy as you become a jack of all trades and master of none. Understand you can attract the rest!
10. Support system.
You must attract a support system that can offer you mastery in other important areas of the business. Imagine a situation whereby you have a team of people around you, who love what they do and are strong in all the areas you are weak. You might be the overall leader, but they lead in their area of speciality. When they buy into your vision, it will be like running a business on jet fuel. It will be success after success. So, who do you need? What do you need? Also identify 3-5 people with similar values that you can mastermind with weekly to help each other succeed.
It was hard to confine this event into ten short bullet-points as I have about 50 pages of notes, insights, and ideas that I know would help take your business to the next level!
So, if you want to find out more, join me next Thursday 26th October at 7.30pm for my upcoming webinar 3 Mindset Hacks to Scale your Start-Up. This event is for new and existing business owners who are looking to get the edge in their industry by using mindset to attract more customer and clients. You can register here: https://bit.ly/JD3mindsethacks