I joined the Peak Performers - Mastermind Group

I joined a mastermind group. It's called the Peak Performers group.

So what is a mastermind group?
It's a group of non-competing school owners that get together to develop ideas to help each member out and hold each other accountable. I expect great results from this networking experience.

Why did I join?
Well, I am finding the more successful our business becomes the more resistance I receive from the people around me. If I want to change the curriculum, I am told that I am going to cheapen the art. Later, I do it and find that it produces better students and student outcomes. If I believe we are undervaluing our tuition, I am told that I will price myself out of the market. Only to find that raising the tuition has no effect on the number of students and a huge effect on the revenues.

These are all self-limiting beliefs. I need to get around people that are all ready producing the results I want. This is what a mastermind group is all about.

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Thoughts on Mentors

I have an organization attempting to court me into their business mentoring services.

Common knowledge states that you NEED a mentor or coach in order to be successful. The interesting thing is that the same people professing this wisdom are interested in signing you up for their coaching services.

Sounds like a conflict of interest to me.

In my experience, the more expensive the service the less value it seems to add. It's lots of Hoo-RA and no practical knowledge. Also, I think paying for these services hits a point of diminished returns.

What is a business owner to do?

Well here's some better and free options as opposed to spending a fortune

1. Network with Other Successful Businesses - Make sure that you only listen to business owners more successful than you. I keep in touch with a friend that owns a school like mine but is twice as successful. You better believe that I listen carefully to everything he says. One visit to his school gave me enough ideas to work on for a whole year. Each idea added thousands to my bottom line.
2. Have clearly defined goals - Define your goals for the next year. With these goals, create monthly goals that align with your yearly goals. Finally, work off of a daily task list that is created from looking at the monthly goals.
3. Take massive action - Most people hire mentors as a magic pill for their own laziness, only to find that they still need to do the work in improving their business.
4. Be a forever learner - Reading is one of the best and cheapest forms of learning. I glean more ideas from one good business book than any other source.
5. Look for one good gem - Suspend your judgment of other peoples ideas and listen. Even if 99% of their ideas are off base that one gem may generate endless amounts of revenue.
6. Boost your Marketing efforts - Marketing is one of the best tools for boosting your income. Most businesses market themselves too little.
7. Raise your prices - Constantly look for ways to increase your perceived value to your customers. Most people vastly underestimate the amount that customers are willing to pay for a product.
   
8. Find a Niche - This relates to #7. The better you define your target customer the more you can cater to their needs. The end result is commanding a higher price point.

There's my list of eight things to do instead of paying a mentor.

Can you think of more? Please leave us a comment.

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The Method IS The Message

In direct response marketing, experts always talk about the headline, the message, and the offer. The message dictates why someone needs or wants your service. I find that in most services, you find that the message is outlandish claims and maybe a few great testimonials (I always wonder if the best testimonials would have received the results anyway).

With all of these outlandish claims, I wanted to discover how our school could be different and unique from our competitors in delivering our message. Well, I believe…

THE METHOD IS THE MESSAGE

What does this mean? How we living, think, and eating – The method - becomes our message. I am talking about personal branding here. Living in a small community (~2500 people), I understand that almost everyone knows who I am. People call me the “karate guy” or if they know more about karate, “Sensei”.

I could create any slick piece of marketing but everyone knows me. So if I didn’t living the Martial arts way, people would realize that my message is garbage pretty quickly. Blogging is my way of being transparent and accountable. By journaling, you are building your personal brand.

What is my personal branding? I stand for frugality, the environment, and simple living. I also strive constantly for personal excellence in everything I do. I maintain a healthful diet and a high level of physical fitness. I found the karate was my best vehicle for living my message.

Everyone who walks in our dojo will in someway experience my personal branding because it’s unavoidable. I built all of the schools systems so they naturally reflect my attitudes towards life.

Okay now it's your turn.
What is your personal branding (what are you all about)?

What is your method for delivering your message?

Is your journaling in-line with this message?

What systems can you put in place to deliver your message?

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How to run a successful business without being business obsessed

I liked the martial arts business because I felt that it had the potential to be run only less than 8 hours a day. I said potential too… because when I first quit my regular job to pursue my karate business I found that I was working 12 hours a days. I was business obsessed. I thought the more hours that I worked the more successful the business would be. Instead, it burned me out and hurt my bottom line.

I see now that being business obsessed is a huge problem. I needed to work smart, not harder - to make a business more effective. This idea started me on the path of working towards reducing the number of hours but at the same time increase my results. Now that we're $10,000+ a month business, my business makes more money, but I actually work only about four hours per day.

Eight Steps to conquering business obsession and working fewer hours
Step 1: Automated billing – This step alone saved tons of hours. Chasing after people every month for their tuition is no fun. Automated billing makes collect tuition a cinch. We require this for every student. Okay, I hear someone saying that I will lose customers with these strict billing terms. Actually, I found this helps qualify good customers. If a customer does not like these terms, in essence, they are saying that they really cannot afford your services.

Step 2: Train your staff – For every hour of staff training, I free up about two hours of my time. A good staff multiple your effort ten-fold. In addition, you need to avoid the temptation to do tasks for them. During the day, I could easily finish the administrative tasks for my student manager, but I remind myself that it’s not my job. I use to do this and watch my student manager sit at the front desk bored out of her skull.

Step 3: Forward Business Phone to Cell Phone – During the typical day, we receive very little phone traffic. Most of the phone traffic is at night after people return from work. I was hanging out at the school all day, but found this added to my burn out. In addition, the only walk in traffic I received was time wasters like sales people attempting to sell advertisement or local vendors looking to chat. By forwarding my phones, I can work from home and still answer the important phone calls during the day.

Step 4: QuickBooks Integration - My billing company offered the option to integration my billing system with QuickBooks. I paid for the upgrade. Now, I push a button and in a few seconds, I’m done. The extra money is well worth the hours of time saved. As a bonus, I save money in accountant fees too.


Step 5: Website Opt-in - Here’s another upgrade I paid for. My website allows customers to Opt-in. The website opt-in automatically enters their information into my system for follow up. This saves the effort of manually entering their information and puts them in the cue for automatic follow up e-mails and our monthly newsletter.


Step 6: Create our own customer list – When prospects coming to my school or call, we get their address and e-mail. It’s easier than you think. This way, I can put them on my mailing and e-mail list. If they don't sign up right away, we consistently try to reconnect on a regular basis with them through mailings and our e-newsletter to entice them to join our school.

Step 7: E-newsletter – We had a newsletter that we printed and mailed every month. It was time consuming, expensive, and ineffective (not to mention wasteful with all the paper). Instead, we e-mail a monthly e-newsletter. No paper, no stamps, and it’s easy to put together. Customers can unsubscribe automatically (I don’t want to spam them). I blend elements together to easily make the newsletter. Feedburner Buzz Boost is great for this. With Buzz Boost, I create an automatically updating calendar of events, blog articles, and school announcements. I post this newsletter on our student section website too. All these elements create a synergistic effect because I use the same messages in many forms.

Step 8: Write a Blog – My personal blog at http://timrosanelli.blogspot.com gets more hits than my school website, therefore, casting a larger net for capturing the attention of potential students. In addition, you’re creating an atmosphere of being the obvious expert in our community for the martial arts. Currently, I have hundreds of reader following my own and schools adventures at the blog. Since not everyone is in my community, it also creates the opportunity to generate other products that you can market to these remote students.

Next steps: I generated more ideas to maximize my results and minimize my time. I plan to implement them by the end of the summer.

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Rapport Building - Gaze into my eyes

In business, your success hinges on mastering rapport building skills. One of the best ways to build an instant rapport with someone is through eye contact and a smile. This will lead to a relax and friendly conversation. People will feel an instant connection to you - almost like you are an old friend.

But... most people feel uncomfortable and don't know what the appropriate level of eye contact is.

Well, here's a cool drill that will help.

I love little drills that you can basically practice through the regular course for the day. When you say "hi" or greet someone, just make a mental note the color of their eyes. It's so easy and works like a charm. Recognizing the color of their eyes will give you the exact proper amount of eye contact - about two to three seconds.

I found this work for one-on-one conversations, and also for groups when I teach my classes. You know, most of rapport building happens through non verbal communication. That little eye contact with each of my students during class makes them feel that I am paying attention to them. They also seem to listen better because it makes you more engaging.

At first, you will find yourself thinking the colors of their eyes - blue, brown, hazel, etc. but in time, I will become more natural. Give it a try for a week and see how it goes...

Do you have any good rapport building drills? Please comment below.

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