leadership

How To Optimize Task Management, Communication, and Training In Your Team

January 26, 2020 by Dan Lok

Do you feel overwhelmed trying to optimize for task management? Or to create effective communication in your team? If yes, you’re not alone. Task management is the most difficult part of project management in almost any team. Companies go out of business due to mismanagement and it happens all the time.

When we look at struggling businesses, we find two main problems:

Lack of marketing – Not enough clients
Poor management – A weak leader and a lousy team

9 out of 10 times, it is one of the two problems that make the business fail. Sometimes it’s both. And the sad thing is – people often find something or someone else to blame. Sometimes they blame the government…other times it’s the market…the economy…you name it. But if we dig deeper to find the true core of the problem – management is almost always the main reason and root cause of all problems.

The way we see it – a leader is really a dealer of hope. He is the artist. The one who can paint a picture and a strong vision and have the rest of the team follow him in pursuit of that vision.

The best businesses have the best leaders Click To Tweet

So…to help you avoid some of the most common and very dangerous pitfalls, we will share with you our advice on task management. You see…If you want to be successful as a leader, you have to plan and execute projects. However big or small they may be. To do this – you absolutely must be able to optimize task management for your team.

According to a PMI study, high-performing organizations successfully complete 89% of their projects, while low performers complete only 36%. The key for success is – whether you manage a remote team, or in an office environment – good communication. Increasing and improving communication should be at the top of your priority list for creating a high-performance team.

The Foundation Of Optimizing Task Management

Your company or team are most likely working on several projects at a time. And every single project is made up of many tasks and steps that lead to the final goal. Knowing how to manage each of those tasks is the secret to getting your projects completed on time.

At the very basic level, you are looking at to-do lists. But task management becomes more complicated when it comes to managing workloads at a bigger scale.

Task management is a process where you have to:

Outline your project. And identify all the tasks to be completed
Prioritize the tasks based on a set criteria
Create a schedule that is firm yet flexible
Delegate to the right people
Coordinate and communicate with them
Monitor, track and analyze their progress

As you can see optimized task management requires a group of people working together. And that requires effective communication within your team. It requires appropriate time management too. You must organize things in such a way that your team spends only the required amount of time allocated to each task and not a minute more.

Priority tasks need to be completed first. You have to ensure your team doesn’t get distracted and stays on track. Optimized task management lets you stay on top of all your work. And helps your team meet their deadlines.

Think of it this way…Your business is a machine. And each project takes your machine forward. To execute each project you want each part of your machine to operate in the most optimized way. You want all the nuts and bolts coming together in perfect harmony. In other words, you want your business to be a well-oiled machine.

And to do that time and time again, you need a structure in place.

Create A Structure

Now, when it comes to managing people, one thing we learned over the years is that people are not manageable. You cannot actually manage people. It is much better if you can create systems so people can manage themselves.

As your company grows, you will not be able to micromanage everyone because you will have a lot of people on your team. You simply won’t have the time and capacity to check in with everyone individually. This is why you must create structure.

If you build a system with a clear path for each team member to walk on, your job will be easy. As a leader, you will show each team member what is the path that they need to walk and how. You point them in the right direction and set them up for success.

Now, the definition of success for you and your team is up to you. It can be defined in different ways. It could be defined in:

Financial terms
Terms of status
Terms of their role within the company

Whatever your goal and definition of success are – your job is to show each team member a path to walk to get to the defined goal. You have to coach them as they walk on that path and help them be successful in what they do. In this sense, one of our important tasks is to make sure they do not deviate from the path set out for them.

Since we already established that people are not manageable, then the only way to ensure they stay on track is to build that path for them and guide them. Create a structure, manage their compensation, manage infrastructure of your projects. When you have the structure in place and clarity on your goals, then finding the people to fit that structure should be easy.

Hire The Right People

We see a lot of business owners hiring their friends and relatives. That’s a big mistake. You see… Business is a game of margins. And friends don’t always result in results. Profitable employees do.

The only reason you hire people in your company is so they give you results. You hire for profitability. Period. There are 3 main qualities that Dan Lok looks at when hiring people for his team. If you want to know what those are, watch this video:

The Structure Of Effective Task Management

This structure is only a template. It is not a definitive structure that would fit all businesses. What applies to you may not apply to someone else’s business. A big company could have hundreds of projects going on. On the other hand, a small business may have 2-3 projects at the most.

Everything depends on the size of your business, your team, your budget and the scope of your projects, etc. Modify this template and adapt it to your business needs and requirements.

1. Establish An Outline For Your Projects

As a leader, you have to first create a general outline for your projects.

For each particular project:

Define the goals and purpose of the project.
Identify all the tasks needed to achieve the goals.
A practical timeframe your team would need to execute them.
Decide and allocate the budget and resources your team requires.

You should break big tasks into smaller subtasks and then focus on getting them completed one by one.

Remember if planning one project triggers an idea for another project, do not add to that project. Instead, create a new one. And create a separate plan for it later.

Let’s say you are planning for the creation of your company’s product catalog. While planning for that, you may get the idea to create other company collaterals. What you should do is make that a different project. Do not add on to the catalog project.

You see… You have to keep each project narrowed and focused. Plan, schedule and gather your team and resources to work on it. And put that plan into action. If your focus is clear and defined, your timeframe and budget allocation will remain in check.

For optimized task management, you have to establish an overall budget and schedule for the entire project first. Then you have to identify and account for other things that would be required for individual tasks within the project.

Having that overview will help you and your team better understand everything you are doing and have to do. It will also keep your budget in check.

Once you have established these outlines…

2. Categorize And Prioritize Tasks

Once you have all the tasks listed out to execute each project… You have to assign a priority level to each task. Define them by a set of properties.

Once you have this structure in place, you would be able to prioritize and assign tasks effectively. Hence, it is important to establish what is important at a specific instance.

One way to look at your tasks is to identify:

Tasks that can be scheduled chronologically
The ones that can be scheduled simultaneously or
Tasks that can be executed at any time within the project timeline

Then create a schedule around those tasks.

Another way for optimized task management is to describe your tasks in detail. Then evaluate them based on a set of assigned parameters.

How hard is the task?

It’s up to you to decide the difficulty level required for each task. But it is important you define them.

You could use tags such as:

Very Easy
Easy
Moderate
Difficult
Very Hard

You could use the level of skill or brainpower needed to define the above tags.

How urgent is the task?

An effective team leader knows not every task on their to-do list needs to be done right away.

You could use tags such as:

Right Now
Today
Tomorrow
In a week

Try to be honest and realistic in your estimations. If you plan to do everything now, you will never get anything done.

How significant is the task?

You could think of it as to how much of an impact a task has on your team. Or even your project or customers.

You could use tags such as:

Insignificant
Minor
Major
Critical
Highly Critical etc.

How much of an impact a task can have is subjective. It depends on the task, the project and your team members.

3. Create A Schedule

When you created an outline of your project you created an overall schedule for the project. Now that you have all individual tasks listed, categorized and prioritized… You have to create schedules for those tasks as well.

Because you have to meet the overall schedule and time frame you have set for that project. This is a critical part of an optimized task management process. You have to set realistic time frames against each task.

Define milestones and deadlines based on the priorities you have assigned previously to each task. Remember that you need to make sure every timeframe you set is actually achievable.

Scheduling tasks is a great task management skill for a leader. It keeps the team focused on work on hand, so they don’t fall off the track worrying about other tasks. As a leader, you have to avoid any undue stress on your team.

Now while keeping a strict schedule is key, you have to be ready for the unexpected.

You see…When you create and plan a schedule you have to take all possible outcomes into consideration. As a best practice, you have to analyze all the possibilities. And be prepared to overcome any obstacle that may come in your plan.

But some instances and situations require revisiting already made decisions. Hence, being flexible is a top task management skill for a leader.

What if:

Someone makes a mistake?
Your team member falls sick?
An unavoidable situation arises?
There is a sudden change in the market?
The customer’s priority changes?

No matter how much you plan, there will be things that will be out of your control. So your schedule has to be flexible with deadlines when it needs to be.

4. Delegate And Assign Tasks

This will go hand in hand with the creation of the schedule for your tasks. The integrity of your schedule depends on your team. And as a leader, you have to identify the people who will work on the tasks that have been laid out.

Delegating empowers your team, builds trust, and assists with professional development.

Before you start to delegate, consider:

The knowledge and skills of the person with regard to the task being assigned?
Do they have experience handling such tasks?
Do they require any training?
If so, can you spare the time and resources for the training?

Remember, if you add a new person to your team who doesn’t have enough experience, be patient. An effective leader will let new members learn and grow with time. All you have to do is assign them tasks according to their experience.

Even then, they may take a bit longer to do certain tasks. But if he/she is the right person for the job, they will quickly become competent and reliable. Eventually, you can start giving them more responsibility.

Here are a few other things you should look at before delegating tasks:

What is their preferred work style?
Can they handle it alone or need more support?
What are their long-term goals and interests?
Does their goal align with the task?
What is their current workload?
Do they have time to take on more work?
Would you have to reshuffle other responsibilities and workloads?

Once you have identified the right people for the tasks, clearly explain the desired outcome to them. Tell them why you are delegating the task to them. Never look for perfection or micromanage. But ensure that they know the lines of authority, responsibility, and accountability.

5. Establish Effective Communication And Coordination

29% of people say that poor communication is reported to be in the top five causes of a project’s failure. And they are not wrong. In out experience, miscommunication can lead to disasters.

You see…Each member works on their individual tasks. And that combines to create the completed picture i.e. a successful project. By implementing a clear communication strategy, the whole project comes together seamlessly at the end. Hence, we ensure our project leaders have proper channels for communication with each of their team members.

Any sort of team collaboration software plays a vital role in ensuring smooth communication between everyone involved. When you are done delegating tasks, make sure your people feel that they can:

Ask questions
Ask you for feedback

Your team should feel they’re able to make decisions. At the same time, you have to be consistent with follow-ups. You should not be blaming the team members when something goes wrong. That is not the sign of a good leader.

You have to be involved with the projects. You have to be present and reachable if the team needs you. If deadlines are approaching and workload increases, it is time for you as a leader to step up.

You have to ensure that all steps are followed by everyone in the team. Your inability to do that can lead to major setbacks, in the long and short run. Now, we-re not saying that you have to do it yourself.

It is the job of the team leader who is heading that project. Again, it all depends on the size of your business, team, and no of projects, etc.

6. Track, Analyze And Improve

Effective communication continues to be important when the tasks are completed as well. Measuring each person’s work and results is an important part of an effective task management strategy.

This is the time to assess performance, build motivation, and commitment. And streamline the entire process for further improvement.

It is a continuous loop. When a team member completes a task:

Check and evaluate their work
Make sure they correct their mistakes if any
Give them feedback so that they can improve
Show genuine appreciation for a job done well

You could ask your team members how they measure their performance. When your team can provide input, it gives them ownership of the process. After all, they have the best knowledge about:

How they did it?
What decisions did they take?
And what success of a task looks like to them?
What they could have done better?

If you have hired the right people for the job, you will see in them a strong desire for improvement. Make sure there’s a plan for them to become better and more efficient in their tasks. If they require training, provide it. Arrange for a course or a seminar. Discuss how their success will impact financial rewards, future opportunities, etc.

Provide recognition where deserved. This ensures your organization is running at its most productive. Some tasks will have quantifiable targets to hit. And the effectiveness of your team is based on performance against these goals. On the other hand, some can be more subjective to evaluate.

It’s up to you how you want to evaluate performance. Whatever you decide it is important that you have this step in your task management structure. The key thing is to act on this information so the performance of your business improves overall.

Why “B Players” Are Dangerous For Your Business

January 3, 2020 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is underestimating how dangerous their team’s B players are for their business. B players can prevent your business from reaching its growth potential, and can also prevent your business from scaling.

The problem is that many business owners don’t have high enough standards for their employees, so they think of B players as being “good enough”, and they trust B players with critical responsibilities. These critical responsibilities are duties that can negatively affect the business if done incorrectly, which is why only A players should be entrusted with these responsibilities.

Most businesses have a team that is comprised of A players, B players, and even a few C, D, or E players. Unfortunately, it’s common for only 10% of a team to be top-performing A players. Around 20% of a team will be comprised of C, D, or E players who should have been let go ages ago. Does that sound familiar? This means that at least 70% of your team is comprised of B players.

Business owners typically pay the most attention to the top 10% performers on their team (the A players) or the bottom 20% (the C, D, and E players) while the B players get ignored. Is it dangerous to ignore your B players? Yes. We’ll get to that later. First, let’s discuss what a B player is.

What Exactly is a B Player?

The best way to explain what it means to be a B player, is to compare a B player to an A player. An A player is easy to spot on your team. The coveted A players are noticeably ambitious, self-motivated, proactive, self-reliant, and known for their consistently high energy and peak performance. A players are the winners on your team, and they don’t go unnoticed.

B players need more micromanaging and external motivation in the workplace, as they have trouble with self-motivation and self-discipline. B players are decent at their job and do some things well, but you can’t rely on them to take your business to the next level.

Their work will be fine – sometimes it’s even good – but it won’t be great. If you want great, you need A players.

Think of it this way: The “B” in “B player” stands for bare minimum. Many of them do an okay job, but it’s rare that they’ll do much more than the bare minimum. In other words, it’s rare that a B player will exceed your expectations.

A players, on the other hand, are known for not just meeting expectations but exceeding expectations. A players go above and beyond what’s in their job description.

On the other hand, B players will say things like, “That’s not in my job description” which is an indication that they want to get away with doing the bare minimum – nothing extra.

B players tend to be quite lazy, and they prefer to stay in their comfort zone. This means they will rarely ‘think outside the box’ and get strategic to solve a problem. A players understand that they often have to leave their comfort zone to solve big problems. A players are also much more motivated to solve problems because they strive for greatness.

B players are less ambitious. B players also tend to make excuses for poor performance rather than taking accountability like an A player would.

Why Do B Players Fly Under The Radar in the Workplace?

One of the reasons why B players are dangerous for your business, is because they tend to fly under the radar. They get away with being mediocre because they just barely meet expectations by doing the bare minimum – and they do a decent job, so they often go unnoticed.

B players fly under the radar because they don’t make waves. They don’t make serious mistakes, nor do they achieve anything seriously outstanding. They hide out in their quiet comfort zone of mediocrity. And mediocrity is dangerous. Nobody wants a mediocre business.

Remember how earlier, I mentioned that business owners typically pay the most attention to the top performers on their team (the A players) or the bottom performers (the C, D, and E players)? This is largely why B players in the workplace get ignored, and this is why they get away with their inferior performance.

B-Players Often Repel A-Players

While you, the business owner, might not pay much attention to your B players for the reasons I just mentioned, do you know who does notice them? Your team’s A players. You see, the A players on your team get frustrated with the B players’ level of mediocrity. This is dangerous, since you want to keep your A players happy.

Your business could be in serious danger if you lose your A players. The problem is that A players want to be around other A players. They don’t want to be working hard, and look over at a B player playing a game on their phone or taking a sip of a beer.

B players can also damage your business by repelling A players who may have otherwise been interested in working for you. It’s harder to attract A players to work for your company if you have a lot of B players on your team. A players attract A players. Remember that.

Can You Turn B Players Into A Players?

I know what you’re wondering. You’re wondering if you can turn your B players into A players, instead of letting them go. Unfortunately, most of the time, it’s too costly to try to turn B players into A players. It’s a wiser business decision to just replace them with A players, and it’s typically more cost-effective, too.

Janine Popick, co-founder and CMO of Dasheroo, told Inc, “You’ve got to nip your B-players in the bud. Either get them to “A” status by coaching and mentoring them, or cut them loose. You don’t want to look back and think about where your business ‘could have’ been.”

My advice would be to only coach and mentor a B player if you truly see potential in them. You should also ask yourself, what is causing them to under-perform? Is it laziness? Ego? Fear? Mindset? Can you change them? You have to figure out if it’s a personality issue, a behavioral issue, or a capabilities issue. None of these can be easily changed, but of the three, it’s easiest to change a capabilities issue with coaching.

Sometimes you can change their mindset to think more like an A player, but sometimes you can’t. Sometimes B players have deep-rooted issues and they are a long road away from being ready for change.

You should only give a B player about six months to improve before sending them packing. I’ve seen B players turn into A players with the right mentor, but it’s rare.

In other words, coaching a B player and turning him or her into an A player is the exception, not the rule. Once you do a cost-benefit analysis, you’ll probably realize it’s better to just let your B players go.

When Should You Let Go of Your B Players?

When is it time to fire your B players? As Larry Yacht, former Navy SEAL and co-founder of Plan Sight says: “The answer is Yesterday.” Yacht says, “I have never been in a situation where I have decided it’s time to let someone go, and not realized I should have let them go weeks ago. If you ever ask yourself if you should let someone go, the answer is that you should have let them go yesterday.”

I’ve personally have learned how toxic and destructive just one bad apple in an organization can be. B players typically know they’re getting away with under-performing, so they know it’s only a matter of time before they’re fired.

It might be a relief for them to be let go. Perhaps your requirements outweigh their capabilities, which has been causing them stress for some time.

Perhaps they’re just not cut out for the mission you had hoped they’d successfully embark on within your organization. You wouldn’t send one of your team members on a dangerous mission knowing they’ll fail, because if they fail, it puts the whole team in danger.

It’s better to just cut ties. The sooner the better.

Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Get Rid of B Players

It’s not always an easy decision to let employees go. However, as a leader I have to make these decisions all the time. I have to fire people. It’s often not a popular decision. Any type of change causes conflict because many of your team members won’t like the change. But don’t worry – they will adjust.

Larry Yacht explains, “We are conditioned to be lazy and to not like change. We want to conserve our resources, which is why we often want to keep someone around instead of letting them go. Any change will require mental resources, physical resources, costs and conflict.” Yacht also explained that he tends to analyze the problem with the employee or contractor in question. If he finds that it’s a capabilities issue, he asks himself, What’s the cost to improve their capabilities, and is it worth it?

You have to focus on your business goals, and stop accepting less or settling for less. Have higher standards for your business, and figure out ways to attract more A players. You business will have a higher chance of survival if you attract more A players. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, less than half of small businesses will survive 5 years, and only one-third of small businesses will survive 10 years.

Speaking of your business’s survival, you can never put B players in charge of sales. They aren’t ambitious enough to feel the need to beat sales targets. They’ll be happy if they just barely meet those targets.

Chances are, replacing three B players with one A player will leave your business in a better position. Your business will then have the potential to be great. I know it’s a hard decision, since some of your B players do good work sometimes. John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest Americans in history, famously said, “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

Hire More A-Players in 2020

If you want to see your business achieve more success, one of your New Year’s Resolutions should be to hire more A players in 2020. You need to replace your B players with A players.

Serial entrepreneur Jon Soberg once said of B players: “Every person you hire who is not a top player is like having a leak in the hull. Eventually you will sink.”

You don’t want your business to sink, do you? Luckily, the A players you bring on board will quickly patch the holes your B players left behind.

You may be wondering how to attract more A players. The thing is, just like closing big business deals requires the skill of closing, so does closing A players. You’ll need to be a great closer to convince a multitude of A players to work for your company. If this is your goal, it might be time to upgrade your closing skills.

If you want to master the art of closing in order to close more A players to work for you, and to close more business deals, watch my free training on High-Ticket Closing here. Your business can skyrocket in 2020 if you commit to your success.

10 Common Mistakes That Business Owners Make When Scaling

December 8, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

There are many common mistakes that small business owners can make when their business starts growing.

Because when things are looking good, business is taking off and the revenue is coming in steadily every month, you’re going to be tempted to start expanding.

But if you’ve never scaled a business before you may be wondering just what you need to take into consideration, or you’ll risk finding out the hard way when everything begins to crumble.

If you’re a small business owner and you’re ready to start scaling, here’s 10 Common Mistakes Business Owners make, and how you can avoid them.

1. Not planning ahead

Most people – not just business owners, fail to plan in life. They take things as they come, and live in the moment.

In business, this is one of the quickest ways to go bankrupt and one of the greatest mistakes business owners make. Things around you are constantly changing, events around the world impact how business will go and it’s your responsibility as the captain to steer your ship in the right direction.

You need to constantly be planning ahead, looking out for anything that is a potential danger to your business. Are there rumors that a recession is about to hit? Is the President making some poor choices that may impact the cost of your goods? These are all factors you need to put into consideration, so you can anticipate and ready yourself for the approaching storm that may be coming.

2. No Goals, No Commitment

You cannot hit a target you cannot see. And when you’re aiming in the dark and firing wildly, you are going to miss your target 99% of the time.

Without a clear goal in mind, you will not have the motivation to continuously improve your business. You will drift along, taking things as they come and hoping for the best. And eventually, your business will fail because you aren’t putting in the time, energy and focus into helping it grow.

Set clear goals and commit to making them happen. Be very specific with your goals, instead of promising something that is generalized. Don’t say “I will improve next month’s revenue”, say “I will increase sales by at least 200% next quarter”.

Be specific and know where you want to go. You’ll have a much clearer image in mind of how to get there.

3. Ignoring technology

Technology is rapidly growing and changing, making things that were almost impossible before a reality today. As a business owner, if you are not making use of technology in your business, you are falling behind.

Tasks like data entry, generating leads and posting updates on your website are all things that can be done with technology. Technology is a useful tool that can save you countless hours on trivial tasks, giving you the time and freedom to handle what’s important in your business.

For business owners that are stubborn and refuse to learn how to leverage technology, my advice to them is to adapt and get with the times, before your competition uses it to run you out of business. Don’t have an old school, traditional mindset – one of the deadliest mistakes business owners make.

4. Not investing in marketing

You’re doing well already, why would you need to spend money on marketing?

That’s the mindset of most business owners who are already successful. But what they fail to realize is that they won’t be successful forever.

If you aren’t bringing in new business, you are going to slowly lag behind the competition. Your competitors are always looking for new ways to get more market share and take away your customers. If you aren’t finding ways to make your customers choose you over everyone else, pretty soon you’ll find them doing exactly that.

Don’t make the same mistake business owners make – thinking they’re ahead when they’re not.

5.‘One Man Business Army’ Syndrome

“I’ve gotten this far all by myself, why would I need anyone else?!”

This is especially true with business owners who have had to endure a lot of tough times. For them, they believe they can handle everything by themselves, because that’s how they got to where they currently are. There’s no need to hire people or create a team – they’ll only add more expenses onto the business.

There is an African proverb:
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”.

In business, having a team that you can delegate tasks to is extremely advantageous. Instead of handling everything yourself, you can delegate tasks to your team, which allows you to handle the more important aspects of your business, such as seeking partnerships and negotiating deals.

That’s why you see billion dollar companies like Google and Microsoft with staff from all around the world. They understand that in order to build something great, you need a great team behind you to make it happen.

6. Not Knowing Your Worth

Are you undercutting yourself and you don’t know it? Do you panic when your competition lowers their prices, and you feel inclined to do the same to stay relevant?

When you don’t know your worth, you are going to get pushed around. For example, let’s say you sell soap, and your competitor is having a 20% discount. If a customer walks into your store and complains that your prices are too expensive compared to the competition, someone who doesn’t know their worth will be inclined to match the price.

However, if you have something that you know is valuable, you won’t be afraid to stand your ground. You know your soap is made with organic ingredients that don’t irritate skin the way your competitors does. You also know that there’s no other soap store in the city that offers what you do. And if your customer doesn’t see the value in being able to shower without an itching marathon afterward, that’s on them for not knowing the value of a product.

7. Not Researching Your Market

How well do you know your market? Are you catering to young adults, or are you catering to 18 year old high school graduates, who are looking to enter college but are unsure what path to pursue?

If you aren’t researching your market, you are simply targeting a general demographic. With more and more ads being shown today on social media and popular web browsing sites like Youtube, if your offer does not stand out from the rest, your product will be ignored along with the other countless distractions your customers encounter every single day.

Get very specific with who you are targeting, and know your market inside and out. When you know them that well, you will know how to cater your product perfectly to their desires.

8. Spending Way Too Much Money

Your business is doing well and you’ve got a bit of extra cash at the end of every month. Having that money just sit around doing nothing doesn’t help… so you make a few purchases to help with your future scaling: New software, doubling your ad spend, automated sliding doors, bathroom sensors and even a newly designed company logo.

But when next month’s projected revenue is much less than what you thought it’d be, now all of a sudden you find yourself in debt, surrounded by unnecessary expensive purchases that you now realize you bought too early.

Spending too much money too quickly on unnecessary things can turn your business profits into additional business expenses that have no use or reason for being there as you are not in a position to utilize them yet. If you find yourself tempted to spend money on additional features for your business, ask yourself if it’s going to be used immediately to grow your business, or if you can wait a bit longer before it is needed.

9. Spending Way Too Little Money

Spending too little money can also be a problem.

For example, if business picks up, customers are pouring in but you only have two employees on the floor, you are going to have a problem. Your staff are going to be overwhelmed and overworked, and your customers are going to get agitated at the long wait times and lack of customer service.

In this scenario, the mistake this business owner is making is being hesitant on hiring additional employees. By hiring extra employees, you can process customer requests faster, allowing more of them to be serviced and as a result increase the amount of sales that are made.

You should always be looking for ways to invest money into your business to help it thrive and grow even faster. Just make sure it’s a smart investment.

10. Having a bad team

A bad team is worse than no team. If you are not carefully selecting who you’re bringing on board, you could be closer to failure than you know it. Having a bad team harms your business reputation, and destroys it from the inside out.

If you are going to bring people on board, you need to think about what this person is like. Find out their mindset, their goals, beliefs, their ethics, morals and if they align with yours and the business.

For example I know in many companies when they hire salespeople, they look only at how much revenue their sales team can generate for them. They don’t look at things such as their integrity, or morals. What ends up happening is that the salespeople are able to bring in more revenue as expected, but subsequent quarters their sales go down.

This is because the salespeople are not properly trained, and resort to pushy sales tactics to get the sale. Instead of building a long term relationship with the customer, they go for “one time buys” that make customers lose trust in the company and go somewhere else.

For business owners looking to increase their sales by hiring more salespeople, my advice to them is to make sure you know what kind of salesperson you are bringing onto your team. Learn from the deadly mistakes business owners make, when all they care about is increasing sales.

Summary

When it comes to scaling, there are many mistakes business owners make. Some mistakes have clear implications of what can occur, while others’ mistakes can be hidden and unseen until it’s too late.

For business owners looking for the most effective way to scale, my belief is that they should increase their sales. The more sales they can make, the more revenue is produced and as a result the faster they can scale.

High ticket closing is a skill that allows business owners to scale much more effectively. The ability to connect with people and make them trust you, allows for many more deals to be closed and establishes a relationship with them for potential long term business.

High Ticket Closing Is Not For Everyone

However, while high ticket closing can be very beneficial to any business owner in any industry, it is not for everyone.

People who do not invest in themselves, who believe that success is paid for and not earned, or gives up easily under pressure is not fit for high ticket closing. Like any skill, high ticket closing must be practiced and mastered for it’s full potential to be seen. If you are someone who would eagerly spend a large amount of money on a new car, but hesitate to spend the same amount on improving your business skills, it may not be for you.

But if you are someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to become successful, that understands hard work eventually pays off in great sums in life and business, then you might be a good fit for our newest high ticket closing program – HTC Platinum.

HTC Platinum provides the same type of community and training that develops great leaders and high performers – the same kind of people that use their newfound skills and influence to become celebrities and secure contracts and prestigious business agreements to set themselves up for life. If you’re ready to get access to business coaching and high-ticket closing to help your business scale at the highest caliber, apply here today.

Richard Branson’s Top 9 Rules For Success

December 3, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

There are many entrepreneurs that I study and follow. Richard Branson is one of my heroes. Not just because he is a billionaire, but because he is the only entrepreneur in the world who has built 12 different billion-dollar companies in 8 different sectors.

To build one billion-dollar company in one sector is already extremely difficult for a person to accomplish in their lifetime. So, how did Richard Branson build 12 different billion-dollar companies in 8 different sectors?

To accomplish this, he’d have to be an incredibly innovative, intuitive, intelligent entrepreneur. That’s why he’s one of my heroes.

Richard Branson, one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world, is worth an estimated $4.9 billion. Branson is a British business magnate, philanthropist, investor and best-selling author. He founded the Virgin Group in the 1970s, which controls more than 400 companies in various sectors. His companies under the Virgin group include successful travel companies, airlines, health clubs, hotels, radio stations, as well as the cell phone company Virgin Mobile.

Photo credits: NextNewMedia / Shutterstock.com

Let’s not forget the famous record company Virgin Records, which he sold for a cool $1 billion. He used the money to invest into his billion-dollar airline company, Virgin Atlantic. Branson recently began a cruise line company called Virgin Voyages, which expects to board its first passengers in 2020.

Branson always wanted to be an entrepreneur. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine he founded called Student. Today, Branson is far too humble about the 12 billion-dollar companies he has founded. In the year 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for “services to entrepreneurship”.

Below are Richard Branson’s top 9 rules for success:

Photo credits: Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com

1. Overcome Obstacles

In a TV interview, Branson once explained that at an early age, he found conventional schoolwork hopeless, and didn’t know at the time that he was dyslexic. Because traditional school seemed hopeless, he decided at a young age that he needed to get out of that environment and carve his own path.

As a student, because Richard Branson had a learning disability, the school system labeled him in a certain way to make his future seem bleak. The school system probably wasn’t telling him, “You’re going to be super successful! You’re going to be a billionaire!”

Branson later said, of overcoming obstacles: “Sometimes, if you see an amazing opportunity, but there is a stubborn obstacle in the way, you have to think creatively to get around it.”

My experience as a young student was similar to Richard Brason’s. When I first came to Canada, I was a C student. I didn’t speak much English, which is probably why I flunked English. What felt worse, was that I didn’t have many friends. I definitely did not have a great report card at school. Considering how successful I am today, would it surprise you to learn that I never graduated from college, either?

C Students – the ones who don’t do well in school – often are the ones who go out there and build mega-successful companies. They often become successful entrepreneurs. And the A students often end up working for the C students.

I didn’t do particularly well in school, and neither did Richard Branson. So, if you’re not an A student, don’t let that stop you. Know that your skills probably can’t be discovered within the walls of a rigid, traditional educational system. If your skills are entrepreneurial, you’ll soon realize that out in the real world, you have high-income skills. Meanwhile, those A students are unhappy at high-income jobs with hostile office politics.

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

2. Just Do It

Richard Branson once said in an interview, “To become an entrepreneur is not easy. A lot of people who try to become entrepreneurs fail along the way. Good ones pick them up and try again and try again until they succeed. An entrepreneur simply needs to come up with an idea that will make a positive difference in other people’s lives. And say screw it, let’s do it.”

“Screw it. Let’s do it.” This quote became a famously-shared quote of Branson’s. It’s still one of my favorite Richard Branson quotes.

Being a great entrepreneur isn’t about knowing everything and being able to do everything. You might have a chance for success if you have a good idea, and have good people around you who support you.

Here is my definition of being an entrepreneur: I believe that an entrepreneur is a person with a vision, who orchestrates other people’s time, money, resources and talents to make his or her vision real.

In other words, the best entrepreneurs are the ones who understand the importance of a good team of people behind you, who believe in your vision and want to be part of it.

Having a vision is one thing, but actually doing something to make it come to life is another feat. So, what are you waiting for? Just go for it.

3. Shatter Perceptions like Richard Branson Did

I remember when I was a copywriter, struggling to get clients. At the time, I was young and I had a thick accent. I spoke with average English, so it wasn’t easy to get clients. What could I do to elevate and get myself to that next level, and start seeing success faster? I needed to pay off my debt and support my mom, so I wanted to start succeeding faster.

I talked to some more seasoned, more experienced copywriters. They told me things like, “Dan, you have to pay your dues. You have to write for a lot of people for free, for many years, and then eventually you can charge what we charge, which is about $10,000 per client.”

I decided to ignore conventional wisdom like this. Why? Because I didn’t want to write for free for years, like they were suggesting.

I decided I’m not taking the stairs to success. I’m taking the express elevator.

So, I came up with an idea to fast-track my own success. I put together a product called, “Million Dollar Marketing Secrets of the World’s Greatest Copywriters”. It’s a long title, and it might not be the best title, but I was young – so give me a break.

I interviewed some of the best copywriters in the world to create this product full of their marketing secrets.

There I was, in my one bedroom apartment, living with my mom. I recorded the interviews using a little cassette tape player. Using just my phone – my landline – and I held the phone up to my little cassette tape player. You can laugh, it’s okay.

I was a nobody. But you’d be surprised how many big influencers are willing to provide an interview to just about anyone who actually asks them. About 18 of the biggest marketers and best copywriters agreed to do it. That’s how I was able to put together this product.

When I approached some of the best copywriters and marketers on the planet, nobody said no to me. Nobody questioned me. Especially if I name-dropped who my last interview was with.

This is branding by association.

I would say, “I interviewed several successful copywriters, and I now have an educational program, and several exclusive interviews with the masters. If you buy my product, you can access all of their secrets for only $3,000.”

I was resourceful enough, clever enough and creative enough to think of the best and most well-known copywriters who others would want to learn from, and call them for an interview.

I built my career from there.

Influencer Tony Robbins would agree that it’s not about having resources, it’s about being resourceful. Interviewing all those people was proof that I was resourceful. This was an early indicator that I was the type of person who would be successful later in life.

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

4. Take Risks

Richard Branson once said in a media interview that he’d be willing to put his house on the line for the next business venture if he believed in it.

Branson also said, “If your dreams don’t scare you they are too small.”

A lot of people think entrepreneurs take crazy risks, and often, they do. Richard Branson takes a lot of risks. He believed your dreams are too small if the idea doesn’t scare you.

I used to take a lot of risks, but now that I’m matured and I’m wiser and more experienced, I now take calculated risks. Before I do anything, I’m not so blinded by my own ego that I’ll put everything on the line. I don’t just look at the upside of the risk anymore, I also look at the downside. Now, I expect the best, but also prepare for the worst.

Photo credits: Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

5. Be a Good Leader

Richard Branson said, “Never use the ‘I’ word. You’re a team. It’s we’re doing this, we’re doing that. Be a great leader of people.” I like that he reiterates the importance of using the word “we” instead of “I”.

One of the most important qualities of a great entrepreneur, is leadership. Leadership is not easily taught. There are many leadership books out there, and you can learn a lot about leadership from the media as well.

Are you a Game of Thrones fan? I learned a lot about leadership from Jon Snow. Yes, plenty of books and media can teach you about leadership, but it can’t easily be taught. Some people, however, are just natural born leaders.

Great leaders treat their team well, so that their team wants to be loyal and help the company grow.

Richard Branson said, “Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

Branson believed in the importance of a good team, and good people. With team Dan Lok, I feel the same way. It’s not about me. It’s about “us”. The company might use my name, but I only play a part in team Dan Lok. Everyone else on my team plays an important role as well.

Photo credits: m.kru / Shutterstock.com

6. Be Good With People

Richard Branson once explained, “The absolute key, is how good you are with people. If you genuinely care about people, and surround yourself with people who are genuinely excited about what you’re doing, and you draw out the best in people. If you inspire your people and praise your people, not being critical of your people.”

This is easier said than done. Part of being a great leader is being able to inspire others to be great. As a leader, you need to get them to believe in themselves, and show that you believe in them. That’s leadership. That’s how you empower and inspire people.

Richard Branson has always been a people person. Branson said, “My family brought me up to always look for the best in other people. I love people. Love spending time with people. I love learning from people.”

In the early stages of my career, I used to be a control freak. I was a rugged individualist. I mistakenly believed in the expression, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself” and, “It’s my way or the highway.” I didn’t trust other people to care like I do, or do something as well as I could do it. That limited my company’s growth.

Now, I have this amazing team, and I count on my people. Each member of my team has their own specific skills, and they’re experts in their field. This means that they can do certain things way better than I could. I know what I’m good at, and now, I only focus on a few core competencies where I excel. I only focus on the things I’m brilliant at (my genius zone) and I delegate the things I’m average at to people on my team who are experts at those things.

7. Think Big and Plan Ahead

Richard Branson said that selling his record company for a billion dollars was a bit like selling his child. It wasn’t an easy decision for him. In a media interview, he said, “People said we were mad for selling the record company and putting the money into an airline. As it turns out, of course, the record industry has collapsed, and the airline industry hasn’t done so bad for us.”

Richard Branson is so humble. He says, “It hasn’t done so bad” when referring to his airline company, when it’s another billion-dollar company. In 2000, Branson received the Tony Jannus Award for his accomplishments in commercial air transportation.

Photo credits: Craig Russell / Shutterstock.com

Branson sold the record company and invested the money into an airline. That was a smart business decision, even though it was extremely difficult for him to let go of his baby, Virgin Records.

The lesson is to be able to see a little further ahead. You want to sell in an up market. You don’t want to sell in a down market. Whatever I’m doing now, what if the technology becomes obsolete? What if consumer behavior changes? What if the needs in the marketplace changes? You need to predict the future, because you don’t want to be reactive when these changes happen. You’ll be better off if you can predict where things will be in a few years from now, and plan ahead.

For my organization, I think of things that could take us out of business or make us obsolete. If I know something is going to disrupt what I’m doing, then I want to be the one that kills my own business and replaces it with a better business. I want to be there first. If anyone is the disruptor, then I want to be the disruptor. I’d like to think three, five or ten years ahead. I want to reinvent my business model and put my old business out of business with a better one.

Blockbuster and Netflix are perfect examples of this. Blockbuster didn’t see how video streaming and the internet would disrupt their business. They didn’t see themselves as being big players in the entertainment business, they simply saw themselves as big players in the video rental business.

If they understood that they were in the entertainment business, and predicted what could disrupt their business. They didn’t predict the changes in how people would consume video content.

Photo credits: m.kru / Shutterstock.com

8. The Secret is Delegating

I remember watching a Richard Branson interview and hearing him explain the importance of delegation. “The art of delegation is one of the key skills any entrepreneur must master,” Branson said. He always said that a great entrepreneur is a great delegator.

He explained that whatever you’re spending all day doing, you need to stop and find someone better than you to replace you. That way, you can use your time to think about the next big thing. You can use your time to be a visionary.

Branson’s theory is that an entrepreneur is held back by trying to be a manager. An entrepreneur is not a manager. Rather, an entrepreneur is someone who is great at conceiving ideas, starting ideas, building ideas and then handing over to really good managers to manage the businesses.

I am not a micromanager, but rather, I am a visionary. I think of ideas, I come up with ideas, but I need implementers and managers to execute my vision. It’s important that I know I’m the creative type. That’s what I’m good at.

Like Richard Brandson said, good entrepreneurs are always thinking about the next big idea, and thinking about where the company’s going, and thinking about what’s next. When they delegate, they have more time to innovate. Elon Musk is another influencer who believed in the power of innovation and creating new ideas.

If you build a great team, and you delegate tasks, that gives you the freedom to spend more of your time thinking of the next big idea.

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

9. Create a Brand That You Can Be Proud Of

Richard Branson has over 350 Virgin brands around the world. Regarding this, he said, “We actually have something we’ve got to protect and nurture. The brand is ultimately what Virgin is all about.” In another interview, he said “We want Virgin to be a company which we can be proud of . . . making a real difference in the world.”

We all have a primary question that drives us everyday. As an employee, that question might be “When is payday?”

For those of your who are entrepreneurs, your primary driving question is “How can I make it better.” We are always looking to come up with a better solution, or find something missing in the marketplace.

As Richard Branson once said, “From my very first day as an entrepreneur, I’ve felt the only mission worth pursuing in business is to make people’s lives better.”

Did you like these rules for success from Richard Branson? If so, check out the Related Posts on rules for success below.

Jon Snow’s Top 9 Rules For Success And Leadership

August 20, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Photo credits: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com

Do you think you know more than Jon Snow? If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, I’m sure you remember one of the most quoted phrases from the show: “You know nothing, Jon Snow”. In actuality, Jon Snow knows a lot – especially when it comes to success and leadership. In fact, there are a plethora of valuable leadership lessons we can learn from Jon Snow.

Game of Thrones was – and still is – one of the most massively successful shows of all time, and Jon Snow’s character is one of the most revered characters on the show. But what exactly made Jon Snow such a beloved leader? This fictional character won our hearts because he lead with his heart, and demonstrated what a true and noble leader looks like.

Jon Snow showed us that leadership is earned. A great leader paints a picture of hope while also having a clear mission that he believes in. Snow also had the best intentions for the people, and he was not power-hungry. People naturally wanted to follow Jon Snow, and the fact that power was not his goal made him an even more attractive leader. He was different than all the other power-hungry Kings and Queens vying for the throne who did not have good intentions for the people. Ancient Greek philosopher Plato said, “Those who seek power are not worthy of that power.” Perhaps this is one of the philosophies behind why the people deemed Jon Snow worthy of ruling.

But what about you? Why do you respect Jon Snow’s leadership style? It’s natural for fans to use popular fictional characters as inspiration for real-life decisions. But what makes a fictional character from TV or movies become an icon or an inspiration? Is it that they are relatable, and they express the human struggles we all face? Because they are aspirational – that they have the life we want to have? Is it that they are inspirational – they demonstrate the qualities we wish to have? I think it’s a combination of all three, and Jon Snow’s character captured all of these qualities.

It’s popular belief that one of the most powerful and defining traits of Jon Snow was his astounding natural leadership abilities. Game of Thrones fans first meet the character as a teenager; Snow is an orphaned Bastard who was taken under the wing of a powerful family. He seemed to have very little power or status. He is sent to The Wall, a place for outcasts, misfits, and nobodies to serve, keeping watch for everyone else’s benefit. Over the seasons of the hit series, we watched Jon Snow evolve from a powerless outcast to a commanding leader.

Against all odds, he was able to gather people to support his cause, draw power away from more established leaders, and inspire people to follow him and risk their lives for him. Jon Snow was a leader for the right reasons. He lead with his heart and had a clear mission. His core values of loyalty, honesty, courage, compassion, resilience, forgiveness, humility, and patience combined to make him the type of leader that we can all aspire to be.

So what exactly are Jon Snow’s rules for success and leadership? I’m going to tell you about the 9 qualities that made Jon Snow a great leader, so that you can follow his example:

1. Lead With Your Heart and Do Not Judge

Where do you lead from – your head, or your heart? Perhaps you think of a leader as being a calculating mastermind, weighing every decision with a purely rational analysis. But you would be wrong. To lead with your full potential, you need to lead with your heart.

What does it mean to lead with your heart? It means that you are able to put aside some of your judgements and snap decisions, and to look at people with an open heart and a generous spirit. It means that you see the potential in people. This is what Jon Snow did: he didn’t judge his friends, comrades, or allies by their claims and resumes alone. He saw them not just for who they are, but also for who they could be.

It’s your job as a leader to believe in people and help them realize their potential. It’s your job to see beyond appearances, and see their promise. Click To Tweet

We can’t underestimate this ability: when you really believe in your team and show them you do, it will increase their belief in themselves. This in turn will cultivate the growth of their skills and increase their output. Being a stern leader or a disciplinarian alone won’t get you these results. You have to see the potential of each team member.

Lead With Your Heart - Infographic: pic.twitter.com/SYpaCTCHTI Click To Tweet

As a leader, it is your job to identify the seeds of success in those under you, and to help them cultivate their abilities and grow towards their maximum potential. There are team members who might be operating at a B level who you can bring up to an A level by motivating them, coaching them, training them, and believing in them.

Your belief in the abilities of those you are leading has a direct influence on their belief in themselves. And in order to operate at their full potential, they must believe in themselves. Click To Tweet

When you lead with your heart and believe in your employees, you will inspire them at an emotional level. This will increase team bonding, morale and loyalty. When they know you believe in them, they will be grateful and want to do their best work for you.

As their leader, your support, your positive feedback, and your belief in their abilities can change their self-concept and self-esteem. They will then produce results that match this higher self-concept. Open your heart and mind to what your team members might be capable of, and watch as they grow to impress and surprise not only you, but also themselves.

2. Your Title Doesn’t Make You a Leader

In Game of Thrones, the people believed in Jon Snow and followed him even though he didn’t have any sort of official title or claim to power. Jon Snow didn’t have a royal title or royal ties, but he was extremely passionate and sincere. He was driven by a mission, and people believed in his cause. A good leader like Jon Snow has a great mission that they believe in, and people who naturally want to follow them.

I believe that a great leader leads without a title. Having the title of “President” or “CEO” does not automatically make you a good leader, and you can actually be a great leader without any sort of official title.

If you do have a commanding title, don’t expect it to hold much weight. Sure, you might have an authoritative title, but if nobody follows you and nobody respects you, you aren’t a good leader. That’s why your title doesn’t really matter that much.

3. Accept That You Don’t Know Everything

In business, you can’t do it all yourself. You can’t know everything – that’s what your team is for. In order to grow and be successful, you need to hire talented people and delegate. As a leader, it’s crucial to be able to spot great talent, and empower those talented individuals on your team to make decisions, contribute solutions and execute the vision.

You don’t want to be the most knowledgeable or the most skilled person on your team.

What you want is for different people on your team to possess different skill sets so that your team’s combined knowledge becomes a force to be reckoned with. Click To Tweet

A great leader finds team members who know what they don’t know, and they’ll fill knowledge gaps this way. You don’t have to be an expert at everything – that’s why you hire experts in various fields.

Jon Snow didn’t really “know nothing”. He knew a lot, but he was also humble enough to accept that he didn’t know everything. He was aware of what he didn’t know and who he needed to consult with or delegate to.

A humble leader like Jon Snow will accept that they don’t know everything, and also accept that they will make mistakes. Jon Snow made lots of mistakes, but he learned from his failures, and he grew from those mistakes.

As a leader, accepting that you don’t know everything aligns with an understanding that different people on your team might have different perspectives on how to solve a problem. Someone on your team might have a completely different perspective than you on an issue, but your job is to keep an open mind that they might be right, and you might be wrong.

When Jon Snow says, “We look up at the same stars and see such different things” he demonstrates his deep understanding of how different people have different perspectives.

4. Don’t Be a Lone Wolf: Form Strategic Alliances

Instead of being a lone wolf, form intelligent alliances and unite your allies towards a common goal.

One of the rules of success and leadership is that you not only have to accept that you don’t know everything, you also have to accept that you can’t do everything. Click To Tweet

That’s right: you simply can’t do everything by yourself. Great leaders collaborate with others and share knowledge, resources and strategies because great leaders understand that two heads are better than one, three heads are better than two, and so on and so forth. As Jon Snow would say, “I need you with me if we’re going to beat them.”

A lone wolf can still be successful, but a lone wolf will have a much more challenging journey towards success. For example, a lone wolf often focuses too much on their competition. They’re too narrow-minded. The lone wolf often thinks about how to beat competitors, instead of thinking about collaborating with their competitors.

If all you focus on is how to beat the competition, you won’t be a good leader.

Instead of thinking about how to crush your competitors, think about how you can benefit from working with them. Click To Tweet

You could cross-promote, share customer bases, share resources, and create strategic alliances.

5. Lead With Integrity: Have Strong Ethics and Morals

Jon Snow is a leader who has a strong moral compass, plenty of empathy and good sense of ethics. One of Jon Snow’s famous quotes is, “When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything.” I love this quote because I think staying true to your word is incredibly important in business and in leadership.

I believe that integrity is very simple: You do what you say you’re going to do. You follow through. If for some reason you can’t do what you said you were going to do, at least have the decency to communicate this from an honest and moral position.

If you lead with integrity and keep your promises, you’ll protect the reputation of your business. Click To Tweet

People often make false promises in the business world to get ahead. When you do that, your customers and team members lose faith and lose morale. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Don’t promise more than you can deliver. It’s better to underpromise and over-deliver.

6. Lead By Example

A successful leader knows they cannot just talk the talk – they have to walk the walk. If you have a clear mission and clear core values for your brand, you must demonstrate those core values at all times. Lead by example by living and breathing those core values.

Jon snow put himself out there, fought for what be believed in, walked the walk, and showed those that followed him that he was willing to fight for his mission because he truly believed in it. He also showed his followers that he was willing to make great sacrifices for his mission, which is why his people in turn sacrificed as well.

When you’re a leader, you can show courage by stepping out of your office, getting out from behind your desk, and leading by example. You can’t always sit at your desk and delegate. Sometimes you have to get up from your desk and show them how it’s done.

7. Be Driven By Your Mission, Not By Your Ego

A great leader is mission-driven, not ego-driven. That’s why having a mission statement is so important. Having a clear mission gives your people something to get behind. Your mission statement is how you communicate to your team – and to the world – what your company is about. Your mission isn’t about making money, it’s about making a difference.

Businesses will stay small if the business owner thinks too small, and is only driven by their own ego or only driven by money. Ego-driven leaders won’t be successful in motivating anyone, and they won’t attract top-tier talent either.

People want to be part of something bigger than themselves, and be driven by an inspiring mission or purpose. Click To Tweet

Do you think you are going to attract the right people with the right intentions if you have no mission to attract them with, other than making money or gaining power?

Remember that Jon Snow never wanted power for the sake of power, which made him a better leader because he’s not ego-driven or power hungry – he just wanted to lead for his cause.

8. Know What Battles Aren’t Worth Fighting

Perhaps you remember when Jon Snow said to Ygritte, “Six times you’ve invaded, and six times you’ve failed. The seventh will be the same.” Snow then says, “You don’t have the discipline. You don’t have the training. Your army is no army. You don’t know how to fight together.”

What is the lesson here? It’s good to believe in your vision, but it’s also good to know when your strategy isn’t working. This way, you can either decide that it’s a battle not worth fighting, or you can decide to change your strategy and change your approach. You have to be flexible enough to pivot and come up with a new approach, or decide not to fight a battle you know you’ll lose.

Successful leaders pick their battles and know which battles aren’t worth fighting. They also know when to let go of a strategy that won’t get them there.

Keep your goal – your mission – as your North Star, but be willing to give up on fighting certain battles that aren’t worthwhile. Imagine you are in a ship heading towards your North Star. What currents and storms do you really need to fight to get there? Can you recognize when it is wiser to avoid the storm, change course and find another route that will get you to your destination? Can you recognize when it’s best to abandon a sinking ship?

9. Fearlessly Make Tough Decisions

As a leader your team counts on you to make tough decisions during tough times. These decisions aren’t always going to be pleasant or easy to make. Something like the decision to end a partnership or letting go of an employee won’t be easy, but if it’s what’s best for the business, perhaps it must be done.

A great leader must get comfortable being uncomfortable. If you want to be liked by everyone and you don’t want to rock the boat, you won’t be a good leader.

In Game of Thrones, Jon Snow stands by his decisions, even when his advisors are against his decision. His character says things like, “It is my decision, and my decision is final!” A famous quote from Jon Snow about making tough decisions is, “Sometimes there is no happy choice, only one less grievous than the others.”

If you want to make the best decisions for your company, know that it might not always be the popular decision. Your leadership skills really get tested when it’s time to make an unpopular decision or cause disruption, because it’s not easy to do.

Not everyone has it in them to make these uncomfortable decisions, and that’s why not everyone has it in them to be a leader.

Summary

Jon Snow was a natural leader because people naturally wanted to follow him. But why? We know that he was an attractive leader because he believed in his mission and was not seeking power. He was authentic and genuine, not power-hungry or ego-driven.

Jon Snow lead with his heart and had a clear mission that reflected his good intentions. His core values of loyalty, honesty, courage, compassion, resilience, forgiveness, humility, and patience combined to make him the type of leader that we can all aspire to be. Below are 9 lessons of leadership and success that we can learn from Jon Snow:

Lead With Your Heart and Do Not Judge
Your Title Does Not Make You a Leader
Accept That You Don’t Know Everything
Form Strategic Alliances – Don’t Be a Lone Wolf
Lead With Integrity: Have Strong Morals and Ethics
Lead By Example
Be Mission-Driven, Not Ego-Driven
Know When a Battle is Not Worth Fighting
Make Tough Decisions

More Rules For Success:

Bruce Lee | Elon Musk | Tony Stark | Jack Ma

How I Built A Powerful Team Of Independent Entrepreneurs

May 20, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Business is a team sport. If your team doesn’t work well together then it will be like a soccer team with half the players trying to kick the ball to one side of the field, and the other half trying to kick the ball to the opposite side. That kind of thinking doesn’t work.

If you’re a business owner trying to build a successful team, you must think of it like a team sport. The people you hire must work together and share your passion for what you are doing.

Most organizations hire employees who work set hours and quit if they aren’t paid what they’re worth. You cannot build a powerful team with this kind of employee.

I hire entrepreneur-minded people who work together to reach the same goal. My organization grows quickly and moves quickly, adapting to change within hours.

Finding the right people for your team is not easy. As your business grows, you’ll notice you cannot do everything yourself. You need to start building a team of people around you. The problem with a lot of entrepreneurs is that they are control freaks. So as an entrepreneur, you must learn to let go of some control. Then you can start building a team.

To start building a powerful team, you need to have four key elements: vision, mission, culture, and talent.

Watch this video about building a powerful team.

1. Share Your Vision With Your Team

You want to have a very clear vision of what you want your business to look like. Your vision will be your greatest asset when it comes to leadership. You cannot inspire anybody without a vision.

Historically, when someone wanted to conquer a country, or start a movement, there was always a very clear vision of what they were going to do. They were clear about what the outcome would look like when they won.

Having that vision is extremely critical. As a leader you need to sell your team on the vision every single day.

You then get them excited because people go through ups and downs so you can’t tell them the vision once. You have to keep selling and selling it.

Sometimes as a leader, even you aren’t sure if you can actually achieve what you say. But you had better not share that doubt or show it. You need to have unstoppable, unshakeable confidence. You have to inspire them with words like, “Let’s do it together as a team.”

That vision is extremely powerful once you have it. You want to be able to tell your team, this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to dominate the real estate industry. We’re going to change the energy sector. Or we’re going to help the people of this community.

2. Sell Your Team On Your Mission

Once you have the vision, the big picture, then the next thing you need is the mission. The mission can’t be that you’re building a business so you can get rich. That doesn’t inspire anybody. Why should they help you get rich? You have to have a mission that inspires people beyond your self gain.

People want to belong to something bigger than themselves. They want to know what they do matters and makes a difference.

Lifestyle entrepreneurs have trouble building a team because they lack a sharable mission. They just want to make enough money to work from home or work so many hours per week. It’s just about me, me, me. That kind of mentality doesn’t attract talent because it’s too small.

Bill Gates’s dream was, “We’re gonna put a personal computer in every household in North America.” Steve Jobs wanted to put a computer in the hands of everyday people. Elon Musk had dreams of making space travel for everyone.

These big dreams are what get people inspired. There’s a purpose. You’ll have a more driven organization with a mission that goes 10 to 20 years into the future.

3. Develop a Team Culture

What do you stand for as a leader? What makes up your culture are your values as a company and as a leader? There are usually four to five key ideas. Everything else builds around those four to five things.

In my company, culture is very important. People don’t think about what is or isn’t their department. Everyone helps each other and is very supportive. We learn, argue, fight, and then get back to work the next day and focus. We are focused on growth and excellence.

Having a strong team culture is important when building a team.

4. Find Talented Entrepreneurs

When you’re interviewing somebody for your team, tell them what you stand for, the vision, and where you’re going.

Potential employees who are looking for a 9 to 5 job are not a fit for my organization. They just want a pay cheque.

Anyone who works for me or works with me knows it’s very intense: long hours, hard work, and a high standard. I don’t tolerate excuses. I don’t tolerate bad performance. Those kinds of 9 to 5 people don’t last in my company, and I’m upfront about it. If a candidate is willing to accept those conditions, and they can thrive under pressure, then I want to get to know them.

That’s my management secret. I want to know their personal goals. It’s not a good sign when they ask me about the salary or how many hours of work are required. I don’t want to hear that. I want to hear what motivates them. If their dream is to buy a car, I want to know what car and why.

When you tie personal goals with company goals, you and your team are aligned. You get loyalty.

Most employers play just enough so their employees don’t quit. In my organization, I don’t dictate how much each person gets paid. If someone’s income goal is $100,000, they need to find a way to add value. Then I’ll increase their compensation to get closer and closer to their income goal.

Strong Leadership

You are who you attract. So look within yourself if you want to lead a team like mine. Leadership always starts from top to bottom.

Final Thoughts On Building A Powerful Team Of Entrepreneurs

Today I’ve given you a glimpse of the mindset to build a powerful team. If you want to build a team of entrepreneurs, not employees, first, have a vision and a mission that your team can be a part of.

Then develop the team culture. Look for good talent. Ideally, you want to find people who are willing to put in hours of hard work because they love what they do, not because they want a pay cheque. Work on becoming a strong leader, because if you are strong, you won’t have any problems attracting talent. Strong leaders are the foundation of powerful teams.

What is your mission statement? Comment below.

leadership

The Foundation Of Optimizing Task Management

Create A Structure

Hire The Right People

The Structure Of Effective Task Management

1. Establish An Outline For Your Projects

2. Categorize And Prioritize Tasks

3. Create A Schedule

4. Delegate And Assign Tasks

5. Establish Effective Communication And Coordination

6. Track, Analyze And Improve

What Exactly is a B Player?

Why Do B Players Fly Under The Radar in the Workplace?

B-Players Often Repel A-Players

Can You Turn B Players Into A Players?

When Should You Let Go of Your B Players?

Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Get Rid of B Players

Hire More A-Players in 2020

1. Not planning ahead

2. No Goals, No Commitment

3. Ignoring technology

4. Not investing in marketing

5.‘One Man Business Army’ Syndrome

6. Not Knowing Your Worth

7. Not Researching Your Market

8. Spending Way Too Much Money

9. Spending Way Too Little Money

10. Having a bad team

Summary

High Ticket Closing Is Not For Everyone

1. Overcome Obstacles

2. Just Do It

3. Shatter Perceptions like Richard Branson Did

4. Take Risks

5. Be a Good Leader

6. Be Good With People

7. Think Big and Plan Ahead

8. The Secret is Delegating

9. Create a Brand That You Can Be Proud Of

1. Lead With Your Heart and Do Not Judge

2. Your Title Doesn’t Make You a Leader

3. Accept That You Don’t Know Everything

4. Don’t Be a Lone Wolf: Form Strategic Alliances

5. Lead With Integrity: Have Strong Ethics and Morals

6. Lead By Example

7. Be Driven By Your Mission, Not By Your Ego

8. Know What Battles Aren’t Worth Fighting

9. Fearlessly Make Tough Decisions

Summary

More Rules For Success:

1. Share Your Vision With Your Team

2. Sell Your Team On Your Mission

3. Develop a Team Culture

4. Find Talented Entrepreneurs

Strong Leadership

Final Thoughts On Building A Powerful Team Of Entrepreneurs

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.