Intro: Success Is Never Accidental

Have you ever heard of an accidental heart surgeon? 

Accidental NBA player? 

Accidental Ballerina?

Hell no! Of course not!

Being successful at anything that’s lucrative takes skills and time and it’s never on accident.

Think models have it easy?

Professional models must:

• Take care of their bodies and outward appearance
• Have poise, confidence, and charm in front of the camera
• Know how to walk like a bad b—– on a runway 
• Understand how to audition, take feedback, and be ok with rejection
• Manage expectations
• Know how to take direction from photographers
• Understand how to adapt to changing situations
• Know how to create angles and pose like they own the place

How about professional gamers?

Professional gamers must:

• Work long hours everyday
• Work well in teams
• Be strategic
• Be willing to sacrifice a “regular” schedule
• Compete in tournaments
• Be willing to find and work with sponsors
• Master the games they compete in

The Process of Becoming Successful

Success follows a general process that goes something like:

You are interested in something that seems cool/fun/exciting

You start and you suck (most people give up here.)

You keep trying and you suck less

You find one small success and build off of that

You become more intentional at building success

You start to have focused goals for success

Success begins to come faster and easier for you (because you know what you’re doing)

You teach others how to be successful doing what you did

Why Intentional Action Matters for Business Success

Success in business is no different than sports, writing, movie making (or whatever skilled profession you think of). 

Success in business demands time and action. 

Where we get tripped up as business owners, is that action can seem productive, and it’s really not impacting revenue in any meaningful way. 

Intentional action matters because it separates what will bring us value and grow our businesses from what seems like it’s bringing value, but is really just sucking our precious time and energy. 

Common Signs You’re Treating Success as Accidental

1.You treat all of the items on your do-do list equally

2.You’re too busy to plan your next month, quarter, year

3.You aren’t tracking your numbers

4.You want to grow, but don’t change anything to facilitate that growth

How to Run Your Business for Intentional Success

1. Become ruthless about your to-do list and only focus on what’s a priority in your business 

2. Every item you plan to work on today – does it map to your goals and priorities in your business right now?

I could:

• post on linkedin
• make a reel
• work on my sales pitch
• iterate my website
• cold call
• follow-up with existing customers
• or ask for testimonials. 

All of these things are potentially useful – but which ONE will serve my business success right now? 

3. Start tracking your numbers and use those numbers to inform the plans you make for the next week, month, and quarter

Start with last month’s revenue – what was it?

How can you add 10% to that number for this month?

• Perhaps you could follow-up with people who haven’t ordered in a while
• Create an upsell
• Start a new offering experiment to test with a few people

4. Start experimenting with new ideas and understand why you’re experimenting and how success will show up in your bottom line

When you know what’s important – you’ll be able to experiment with more focus and intention. 

for example: If network building is important – then networking events are your new lab to experiment with:

• Your introduction
• Your pitch
• Qualifying questions you ask
• Ideas for following up
• Market research

Success isn’t A Solo Venture

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

I’ve spent my career helping businesses become purposeful about success – defining success through numbers we call metrics – and then relentlessly tracking and purusing those numbers – because they mattered for success. 

All successful people get help along the way. 

If you aren’t sure where to start with your numbers, and using them to help you – I’ve got just the thing for you!

I’m speaking at an upcoming free virtual webinar called Metrics That Matter where you’ll learn:

• what metrics are
• how to use metrics to run your business
• and I’ll show you how to craft your own metrics!
  
  Sign up Today!