The most successful people in business have some things in common. They have mastered and maintained excellent habits and attitudes.

They know what they think and expect and how they direct their energy has absolutely everything to do with their success.

The habits and belief systems that you have right now is a direct reflection on how you are doing in your business.

If you are not happy with where you are now, you can change, reorient yourself and start a new trajectory.

Here are some tips that I hope you will find helpful.

1) Have specific goals
In my coaching practice, I’m continually surprised about how many people just don’t have specific goals accompanied by the action plans needed to achieve them. What’s even more significant, is that too few people who have specific goals don’t have a compelling reason WHY they want to achieve them.

Goals should serve as an inspiration for you to achieve. They should pull you forward. They serve as a starting point. Having specific goals allows you to create a blueprint for how to achieve them. This blueprint contains both the strategies and tactics for how to get there with benchmarks along the way to gauge your progress. These benchmarks will also allow you to make any course corrections that are necessary.

2) Develop your niche
Who is your ideal client? I’m not talking about what personal characteristics they possess or which demographic group they belong to. While it’s important to know those things, you might not be able to leverage those factors to get in front of more qualified prospects.

Niches have three requirements:

There are enough prospects in your niche to last at least one year.
The people in your niche have something in common.
The most critical requirement of a niche is that the members of the niche have enough commonality between and among its members that your reputation can precede you!
The members of the niche should have a formal or informal way to communicate with each other. Ideally, they should meet as a group on a regular basis and that you can be a part of that group. Participate as fully possible. Serve on committees, write articles for their publications, conduct value added workshops or brief presentations. You be surprised how many members of the niche will feel that they know you, even though you may never have met them face to face.

3) Implement a consistent marketing system
Do you have a marketing plan? If so, do you carry it out on a deliberate and regular basis? Here’s a brief checklist of potential marketing activities and actions.

CRM (Client Relationship Management) – Do you stay in touch with prospects and clients on a regular basis? This also applies to Centers of Influence and other referral sources.
STRATEGIC ALLIANCES – Have you developed any proactive relationships with other professionals whose clientele matches your ideal client?
WRITING – Have you or can you write articles that will appear in the places that your target prospect and current clients can see?
SPEAKING / WORKSHOPS – Can you regularly speak in front of groups or conduct workshops that will attract your ideal prospect? Whenever you can get in front of more than one person at a time is an excellent use of your time.
NETWORKING – Do you regularly attend appropriate networking events?
4) Get control of your time and practice management
Do you know where you are investing your time? Can you describe what is the highest and best use of your time and currently what percentage of your time do you engage in it?

DO FIRST THINGS FIRST - Increasing the percent of time you invest in the highest and best use of your time will make a significant difference in your effectiveness and in the achievement of your goals, whatever they may be.
TIME BLOCK - What many people do to make improvements in this area is to time block. Schedule specific time slots in your daily and weekly calendar to do specific tasks and then have the discipline to stick to doing those things at those times.
WRITTEN SYSTEMS - The next area to make big gains is to have written systems and processes so that you can become more effective and efficient. They save time and reduce errors. If you find yourself re-inventing the wheel or solving the same problem repeatedly, this strategy will yield big dividends.
5) Surround yourself with effective teams
You can only grow so much working solo. At some point, you need to get help in order to continue to progress. For some, it means hiring your first assistant. For others who may already have help, it’s how can your team be more effective.

I have a system that many of my clients use called Most Important Objectives (MIOs) and Expectations, Standards, and Sources. It lays out in very specific terms what needs to get done, how it should be accomplished, and how will you know it was accomplished in that way. Here’s the gist of it. MIOs clearly define:

Roles and responsibilities
What needs to get done (expectations) and how it is to be accomplished (standards)
Procedures and processes
Measures of success
The key to the system is meet on a very regular basis to review and discuss both the achievement of the expectations and any obstacles that may be preventing their accomplishment.

No matter where you are in your business, there is always room for improvement. When you constantly try to improve your skill set, attitudes and habits become more effective. When you become more effective, the more successful you will be.

Good luck on your journey to success.