Self Employed Success

When asking your customers for their opinion, do you ask enough people?

I recently asked my customers (all small busines owners) for feedback about what time of day, and day of week, they prefer to take teleclasses. When the first 10 or 20 responses came in, it was clear that everyone wanted teleclasses on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. Wow! Who would have guessed?

I should re-schedule all my teleclasses, right?

Wrong!

When I re-discovered my patience and waited to get the full response from 300 or 400 people, the results were completely, totally different. When I waited for a larger sample size of survey results, new and important facts emerged: Wednesday was still popular, but of equal popularity was Tuesday and Thursday. More importantly, because I waited for a larger response group, I discovered the 7:00 PM timeslot slide in popularity, to be replaced strongly by 12:00 – 2:00 timeframe.

Take the “What Time for Teleclasses?” survey here.

Had I made business decisions based on the first 20 responses, I would have created a disaster.

When you have a business idea or decision to make, do you just ask five or ten people? Stop destroying your business by using small sample sizes in your surveys! The more people you ask, the better quality of results you’ll get.

Read more about the fallacy of small sample sizes, also known as “hasty generalizations:”

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/hasty-generalization.html

In the 1960s, Napoleon Hill, author of “Think And Grow Rich” appeared on a series of television shows, talking about his principles of success. Even thought Think and Grow Rich as first published in 1937, the ideas are as fresh today as they were then. (Truth is eternal, eh?)

The first nine of these TV shows are posted them on my website (below). I believe there are 17 of these TV shows in all, but the additional ones are not on YouTube yet. As soon as they become available, I will post them on my site, too.

http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/resources.html

I’ve been teaching my basic Mastermind Group class for 3 years, and I’ve asked all my students, “How can I make these classes better for you?”

Many students asked me for a class specifically about marketing their mastermind group, finding new members and managing the administration part of the group.

In addition, EVERYONE said, “Please give us more tips on facilitating a mastermind group!”

Here’s what I’ve got for you – three new mastermind group classes (woohoo!):

• Class 1: Start Your Own Mastermind Group (class begins November 5) – If you are new to mastermind groups, this class is for you. This class focuses on all the preliminary details of starting your first group.
• Class 2: Market and Manage Your Mastermind Group (class begins December 2) - If you have already developed your mastermind group concept and need to find new members, this class is for you. This class focuses on letting people know about your group through powerful marketing techniques, selecting the best members, communicating with members between meetings, using teleconferencing services, and handling mastermind group administration.
• Class 3: Mastermind Group Facilitator Training (class begins October 5) - If you want to take your mastermind group facilitation skills to a whole new level and really help your group members be successful, this class is for you. This class is limited to a small number of students so that everyone gets a chance to practice their mastermind facilitation skills with the group.

For more class description, specifics about topics we will cover, and registration details:
http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/classes.html

Every weekend, my husband (who is also my business partner) and I take one day off from our busy schedules, either to go somewhere interesting and relaxing, or to visit with family and friends.

We’re just like you: we run our own businesses (which could keep us working 24/7 if we’re not careful) and we have things that need to get done around the house, too. Plus the cars need servicing, the cats need to go to the vet, laundry piles up, and food shopping is a necessary evil. You know the drill.

But being so busy all the time leads to mental, emotional, physical and spiritual fatigue. We can’t be our best in our business if we are constantly doing, doing, doing.

For instance, this weekend we spent the day Sunday at the Delaware Water Gap. There are lovely sites to see here, including some stunning waterfalls. I happily spent the day snapping photos, hiking to the top of the waterfall (ouch!), and puttering around Peter’s Valley Craft Store. I didn’t think about business once.

When I came into the office this morning, my head was clear, my senses calm, and my creativity soaring. I got more done this morning than I could have gotten done in TWO days if I hadn’t taken Sunday as a rest day.

Many people think they can’t afford to take time off. Trust me: one day away from the computer, the phone, the house, the office will gain you far more than the time you took off.

Play hookey…take a day off and do something fun, inspiring, delightful!

What do you do to take time off?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZi9aesxqw