Posts in Speaking

Personal Strategic Plan

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How do you create a personal strategic plan? How do you live your life with purpose and direction?

1️⃣ Determine what you ultimately want to do with your life. My Want: Travel first class, sightsee, and play golf.

2️⃣ Determine how you could get someone to pay for that, so you don’t have to. My Plan: Companies pay for a day-long visit of coaching, speaking, and training. I stay in that area for a week, sightseeing and golfing.

3️⃣ Determine what you have to look like for someone to pay for that. My Expectation: Companies will pay for a published #author and accomplished #speaker with a #PhD, strong business #experience, and #certifications, who had a strong #network of connections.

4️⃣ Determine the gap between where you are and how long it will take to get there. My Gap: No degree, never published, only experience in the military, strong military network only, just starting out with Toastmasters, and no certifications. Estimated time to close the gap: 20 years.

Developing your personal strategic plan is really just that simple.

20 years ago, I started on my journey — a journey of living my life with purpose and direction; not on autopilot.

Interested in learning more…message me.

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants

Breakthrough Silos

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Breaking ⛏ Through Siloed  Organizations  First Requires Leadership Awareness! 類

Silos exist in practically every company, business, and organization. For profit or non profit … doesn’t matter. I’ve even identified silos in solo proprietorships.

The natural tendency of leaders is to “tear down the silos.”

Oh, I’m sure you’ve heard it all before … maybe you’ve even said it.

Everyone knows silos are bad!!!

Right?

Unfortunately, very few know why silos exist in the first place.

Unfortunately, very few understand why and who created the silos.

And, unfortunately, very few understand why playing “whack a silo” in your company doesn’t work!

The first step in dealing with silos in your organization is to learn why they formed in the first place and why you’ll NEVER get rid of them.

I challenge you to read Overcoming Organizational Myopia and learn not only why they form, but how to deal with them.

Increase your awareness!!!

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
#overcomingorganizationalmyopia

That’s your marketing plan?

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🤔 Are you considering writing a book? 📖 Start with marketing it! 📢

On Facebook, this morning, I saw someone post, “I just published my book, can someone tell me how to market it.”

Too late! ⏰

If you are considering writing a book — I mean it’s a twinkle in your eye — start marketing your book first!

If you wait…your too late!

The first step is to define and hyper-focus on your audience — write the book for them.

Build your social media connections around that audience and develop qualified leads as you write.

Close to final draft, start building excitement with updates, videos, and snippets. Pull pre-release readers to test your book. Send it to someone influential for the Foreword.

Have a pre-release party and make the book available for pre-sale and become a bestseller prior to release.

Have big social fanfare, public service announcements, presentations, and book signings at final publication.

How do I know all this? I did the same as that person in 2012 when I published One Dead Marine, my first book.

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

Success takes time

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True Success … for most of us … takes time! 🏅⏰

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh

This is not a brag fest email–just sharing a personal success story. It’s about being consistent and constant, while focusing on things bigger than yourself.

For 30 years, I’ve been building my knowledge, skills, and experiences in business improvement. For 16 of those years, I’ve been following a personal 20-year strategic plan.

Three years ago, I had great conversations with a company that was doing incredible things and was faced with incredible opportunities. Our timing wasn’t right.

However, I followed this company for the past three years, watched their progress, and stayed in touch.

Two months ago, the company reached out — they had been watching me on LinkedIn too. Our conversations three years ago made more sense now — they were ready.

This week, I started working with them on a strategic engagement and it is so incredibly exciting! My 30-years’ experience is coming to bear on a company that truly appreciates me and what I have to offer.

I am looking forward to huge successes with them!

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

You have no competition!

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What if I told you that, “You have no competition?” 🤠🥳🤓

Well, that’s what 3Sixty Integrated CEO, Will Duke, shared to a full house recently at a recent ACG Central Texas luncheon.

I found this an intriguing statement.

Do you feel as if your company has competition? Or not?

If you do, how would you change your paradigm to think otherwise?

What would the business world be like without competition?

What are your thoughts?

#success #incubator #business #coaching #consultants
Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

Winner Takes It All!

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Does winning matter … sure. I can’t dispute that. But how? 🙉🙈🙊

‼ This update is going to piss a few people off that I know. 🤬 Oh well…

People, who don’t want you to win, care how you did it.

People, who want you to win, don’t care how you did it.

Those, who don’t want you to win, see how you’re winning, how you’re getting away with it, and also how you’re being recognized for it.

So, they start doing it as well.

Case in point: “Amazon Best Seller” 🔖

This garbage started before 2010. Forever, I thought it meant that your book simply out sold every other book in its category and was number one on Amazon … for a day or so.

That category could be very obscure. But, it doesn’t have to be. Because, I learned the many ways authors were convincing a lot of people to buy their book (often a $0.99 ebook) in one day — they game the system.

I have been told many times, by both authors and friends, I should do it too.

Recently I learned that some authors are calling #2 on Amazon a Best Seller … as is #14. Basically, if someone says it’s a Best Seller, then it is. Mainly, because there is no way to disprove it.

This is what people consider “Winning.”

Not me…

Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

It’s time to smile

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What’s in a smile? 🙁❓🙂

I never smiled!

In 1988, I entered the Air Force and spent the first 10 years of my 21 as a cop. 👮‍♂️

For about five years, I was unapproachable. There I would be, at an event, crossed arms, dark eyebrows, and a “Don’t you dare talk to me,” look on my face. I never smiled.

In fact, I had taken the Myers-Briggs Type Assessment several times and always came out as a strong Introvert.

I noticed that no one ever talked to me, but could see others that were always approached by others — the life of the party, so to speak.

I made a bold move…I started to smile.

The effect was almost immediate. Not only was I approachable, but now I test as a strong Extrovert.

Do you smile? Are you approachable? Try it…

www.crossctr.com

Are people wasting your time?

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What do you do if a speaker goes over their allotted time? ⏲

How valuable is your time? What do you think about people that abuse it? What if they’re a speaker/presenter?

In my mind, one sign of a professional speaker is that they stick to their time window, even if that window changes at the last minute.

Those that can’t, in my mind, are unprofessional.

Last night, I attended a monthly meeting with a professional association. Every meeting has a keynote speaker and this one was no different. Normally, the speakers keep to their time — last night was different.

The meeting ends at 8 pm, which means the speaker should finish by 7:45 or so for questions and close out.

At 7:58, the speaker looked at his watch (was about halfway through his presentation), and said, “I’ll hurry up and finish up, since I’m out of time.” He finished and asked for questions at 8:30 pm!

For me, I lost interest in his subject at about 7:50 pm and I stopped listening altogether when he realized he was taking too long and refused to care. The way I look at it, he felt his material was more important than the time of the 60 or so people in the audience.

What are your thoughts?

Crosscutter Enterprises
www.crossctr.com

Steps to Writing & Publishing a Book

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Interested in writing & publishing a book? Don’t know where or how to get started?

Successfully writing & publishing is much like starting a new business. The steps are essentially the same and having a plan & a coach really helps.

Many people think that publishing is expensive and difficult, but you can publish for very little money. It does require a lot if work to do it right. Here are my suggested 13 high-level steps to get you there:

1. Define your Purpose for writing.
2. Assess if you are ready to write & what you can write about.
3. Define the Audience.
4. Determine how you plan on writing your book (ways to get it written).
5. Ideation, research, brainstorming, and testing.
6. Outline.
7. Draft – edit – draft – edit – draft – edit – final draft.
8. Publishing determinations.
9. Cover design (and illustrations if required).
10. Draft reviewers and Foreword.
11. Pre-release marketing.
12. Format, Publish, and Release.
13. Post-release marketing.

If you are interested in writing & would like help, let me know.
Crosscutter Enterprises

Social Media — Old School

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This struck me how we have turned our physical world into our social and digital media world.

I have seen many different images, such as this, about social and digital media, but this one is pretty good!

I wonder where Tik Tok fits into this mix?

Take an inventory of the Apps on your phone and computer. What social and digital media tools do you use and for what purpose, personal, business, or both?

For me:
Facebook: Business primarily
LinkedIn: Business
Wordpress: Business
Twitter: Business primarily
Instagram: Business primarily
Skype: Business
Zoom: Business
WebEx: Business
YouTube: Both
Yelp: Personal primarily
Open Table: Personal
Meetup: Business primarily
Pintrest: Personal
Dropbox: Business