 Blog Series: How I Reinvented My BusinessAre you standing on the precipice? It takes a lot of energy to hold yourself there, doesn’t it? It would be so much easier, less scary, less risky to just step back from the edge. There are days when I feel like I am stepping forward into my future, fully aligned with my purpose, full of energy and intention, potential and desire. And, then there are the other 80% of the days when I shrink back, stay comfortable, use less energy, take up less space. Do you feel that push and pull, too? I want to keep exploring this idea of reinventing your business, letting go of clutter, and paying yourself more because I know that within you there is both great potential and great desire for the work you do and the business you are creating. Last February, I heard Myron Golden present at Funnel Hacking Live. He asked, “Why is a get rich quick scheme worse than a get poor the rest of your life plan?” I see a direct correlation to this question and the precipice. You are either growing consistently, letting go of all that is not in alignment, transforming your customers’ and the world as fast as you can and living an abundant life. Or… you are stepping back, going slowly, slowing getting poor and burning out. Your fits and starts and inconsistent action towards your biggest goals is harming you. It’s not your fault. You’ve been taught that receiving money is bad, playing it safe is good and other platitudes like:
I call bull crap.
It’s not easy, but neither is the constant discomfort of unrealized dreams. As a professional organizer, I experienced daily the dilemma of what to hold on to and what to let go of with my clients. What I learned was that you will continue to experience anxiety and pain until you decide. If you experience that for a short time and have an intense burst when the loss happens. Then you begin to heal. If you wait then that anxiety & pain will last as long as you wait (days, months, years) and you will STILL experience the loss when you let go. You will not begin to heal until you let go. Your breakthrough requires that you:
Are you standing at the precipice or stepping back? (let me know!) Did you know? You don’t have to stand alone. If you would like to experience your own break through, let’s talk. I’m ready and waiting to stand with you.  If you are ready for success, let’s talk. Just comment below and we will find a time.
You can also join the Momentum Millionaire Network right now and gain instant access to colleagues who are also growing and transforming the world. I can’t wait to see you as a Momentum Millionaire. Here’s to your success!
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 Image by Clara Sander on Pixabay. Blog Series: How I Reinvented My Business
Do you know what really stinks? Being an organizer who has trouble with organizing her time. I never wanted to be the like the cobbler (the shoe maker) whose children have no shoes. I even wrote a blog about it! It was my desire to be able to practice the time management techniques that I taught my clients. But in the midst of my business growth and transition, I found myself moving quickly from one task to another, grasping at straws, trying to use what had worked in the past and apply it in my new business model. I was scrambling and ... It didn’t work. There were a few things that I needed to correct in order to create an environment of success.
It’s time to take that idea that is just swirling around in your mind and make it a reality so that you can make the changes to the world that you feel called to make. Frank was where you are. In fact, he believed that, having worked with a coach before, he already had everything that he needed. Hear what he shares about the Momentum Accountability Program: “Nettie’s program helps you think about and restructure the things you think you have a handle on, but actually, don’t. I made the best decision in my entrepreneurial life by partnering up with Nettie and receiving the accountability I needed. She really grounds you and puts you into a state of focus that you will never know existed in your world. And... her program isn’t just about accountability, it’s about action and truly driving home the key elements of your business that need to be put into action. Working with her on this has been a true blessing for me and I can’t thank her enough for helping me along my journey of true entrepreneurial success.” If you are ready for success, let’s talk. Just comment below and we will find a time. You can also join the Momentum Millionaire Network right now and gain instant access to colleagues who are also growing and transforming the world. I can’t wait to see you as a Momentum Millionaire. Here’s to your success! Blog Series: How I Reinvented My Business February 2004... I was 24 years old. I had been married for 2.5 years and my husband I had just moved from California to Maryland. I stayed on consulting for the company I left in California while Jason started in his position as a government employee. I was looking for work but didn't want a 'career' because I knew we would start a family soon. So... I started my own business. Show of hands for those in the room that thought opening your own business would allow you to earn money in your pj's, while watching your favorite tv shows, and having lunch with your friends when they called. Yep, that was me. When I started my company, it wasn't a big bang. It was a slow build, one customer at a time. I was providing services as a residential organizer and learning along the way how to do it well and how to grow my business. But, within a year I had enough business to bring on a contractor to help and I had set my sights on creating a business that eventually could run without me. My business was a Model T. It was top of the line revolutionary for me, at the time. Organizing as a business was still fairly new and novel. Not a lot of people had an organizer and it was easy to offer my services when people would call. I offered 1 thing, they needed 1 thing. Life was good.  Fast forward fourteen years... I had become one of the top organizers in my area serving chronically disorganized people. I had trained dozens of other organizers, created my own organizing system, written two books, appeared on tv, won awards in my industry and my Model T, which had worked so well to get me to this place was no longer working. I felt called to move into a new direction. I was 'leveling up' to a Tesla. More energy efficient and a new energy source, sleek, streamlined, more cutting edge. But now, more people in general, owned cars. There were more varieties, more options, more choices. My business and my life were still built on the Model T format. How would I turn my Model T into a Telsa? Could I reuse some of the same parts? Can you make plastic from metal, I wondered? It looks so sleek on the outside but it's complicated under that shiny hood. At least with the Model T I could see everything I had and how it all worked together. Now, I was yet again in uncharted territory only this time it was so much more complicated. I had to keep the Model T operational while at the same time turning it into a Tesla. How in the heck was I going to pull this off?!? After being in business for as long as you have, maybe you are also experienced a Model T to Tesla Conversion? Or you are in one right now. Here are a few lessons I have learned: 1 - Spend time acknowledging what made your original business great and why. It can be easy to get frustrated with your old model but you built a successful business on it so don't walk away without taking the parts that did work well for you. 2 - Recognize what you have that can be transformed. It may be the case that you can't use the Model T body as it exists now but maybe you can melt it down and use the metal to form the framework of your Tesla. Your client on boarding process, networking, etc are made of the same essence but may need to be transformed for your new model. 3 - Let go of the parts that just won't work any more. This is the point where you recognize that Model T tires will not fit on a Telsa. Period. Sometimes you need to just let go. That is ok. Say thank you and move forward. I would love to hear, what lessons have you learned?  Are you burned out, overwhelmed, and chasing too many ‘good ideas'?
You've built the business, make it work for you, free your time, & create more impact. 1. Join the Momentum Millionaire Network 2. Download the Roadmap to Freedom by texting FREEDOM to 411321 3. Schedule a 15 min CEO Connection Call to discover where you are and where you would like to go.  If we are being honest, there are times that I get stuck on 'putting out fires' mode. I bet you are familiar with the 'fire drill'. This is the time when you know you could work on the tasks that could bring in the highest return (time, money, impact) but instead you rush around like there is a fire to put out, dousing the flames with endless checklists, completing other people's tasks, and quick action. I have absolutely been the fire fighter, even recently! It's a tough roll to shake off. The fires often seem so big and important!
What do I mean by 'flammable'? Flammable businesses are ones where the Vision, Mission, Core Values, Time Management, Organization, Systems, Strengths, Connections and Focus are not in place. Every time you fortify one of these areas you make your business more fire proof. I think the MOST critical piece though is having a clear vision. When you do, you immediately temper the flames because you can apply the vision to the emergency and determine if focusing your attention here will get you where you most desire to go. It looks like turning away from the stuff that will give you immediate satisfaction (putting out flames) for the stuff that will prevent fires in the first place (business planning and development). My fire suit I am most susceptible to fires when I have not taken time to place and evaluate the tasks on my list to the vision I have created. The opposite is also true. If I want to move through my business 'fire proof' I take time every day to recenter around my vision and select the tasks that will get me there. It means saying 'no' to the tasks that may appear to be burning, when in fact they are just an optical illusion. One of the best ways to do this is to select just one clear focus and take this to completion. Easier said than done (unless you check out the One Focus Program). I challenge you today to take 5 minutes to write your vision and then select the one task that will allow you to create a part of it, today.  Are you burned out, overwhelmed, and chasing too many ‘good ideas'?
You've built the business, make it work for you, free your time, & create more impact. Get the Roadmap to Freedom Text FREEDOM to 411321  In the United States, we remembered those who had passed serving our country. For my family this weekend served a 2nd purpose as my family celebrated the lives of my aunt and uncle who had passed way this year. While preparing for the family visits, the trip to Ohio from Maryland and the Memorial Services, one thing I wasn't worried about was the time crunch that would ensue because of a shortened work week this week.
It took just a little bit of time and planning spread out over only the week prior (truth be told, it took about two hours) to account for the normal Monday activities that I engage in with the various programs I deliver. This week, I will pick right back up on Tuesday's regular schedule and it will not feel stressful or overwhelming. There is a growing list of companies that focus on shorter hours, shorter work weeks and longer rest time for their employees to help INCREASE productivity. Your activities take as long as you allow for. So often, we allow little time sucks in our day because of two reasons: 1. We think we have time. This argument sounds like, "This will only take a moment. I'll just take care of it." When what really needs to happen is to delegate, systematize or delete it entirely. 2. We don't value our time. Not all tasks have the same weight. Always, you should be focusing on the activities you were uniquely designed to do. A $100,000 salary can be billed at $48/hour, $1,000,000 salary can be billed at $480/hour. As a business owner, one of my biggest jobs is to create Money Generating Activities, as Fabienne Fredrickson says. What would change if you VALUED your time like a Millionaire? What if you had to pay you $480/hour to do the task you are working on? How would that change your perspective? I challenge you to shorten your work week to 4 days a week every week and use the 5th day to move your biggest projects forward, you know, the ones you can never seem to find time to do! If this sounds too difficult right now, it's ok. Let's find a time to chat and sort it out. Let's Talk. Do people know what you do?
You may think it is obvious but the conversations I have had this week tell me otherwise. Even the people closest to us may not understand what we actually do! How can you effectively communicate the length and breadth of what you do? As you share your business with people, the key is to get referred to people who connect with what you offer. This idea comes straight from Tim Templeton's book, "The Referral of a Lifetime." What if you started viewing the people around you as your unpaid sales force? If they fully understand your business, they can become your biggest advocates! I challenge you to have a conversation with three people this week. Ask them these three questions: What do you do? Who do you help? What do you need in your business? I also encourage you to read "Friend of a Friend" by David Burkus or schedule a time to talk with me!  I recently had the pleasure of being a special guest on A Bridge To Wholeness podcast! A Bridge To Wholeness is committed to bringing awareness to wellbeing beyond what we think health and wellness is all about.
In this interview, I demonstrate for you my process of helping others remove obstacles and create a path to their life's work. Host Jennifer Crisp acts as the “client” and I lead her through on an incredible journey of self discovery. We discuss how your environment affects your well-being and productivity, why organization makes a difference in your productivity, and how to focus on what you really want to achieve. This is a health and wellness episode for all business owners! The episode is titled #21: "How To Stay Motivated: Start With One Task." You can listen to it on iTunes, Stitcher, or online by clicking the button below. I hope you enjoy it!  If you are like most entrepreneur business owners, you started your business to have more freedom with your time, more freedom with how you earned your income and more freedom with how much you could earn. So why is it, that know that you have been in business for a while do you feel trapped? You’ve hit the ‘six figure mark’ that so many coaching programs promise to help you achieve. You’ve even surpassed the make or break, 5 year mark. You have employees (or staff) to support the work you are doing and yet it may seem like your next breakthrough is impossible and you working for someone else would be so much easier. Where is the glass ceiling for you?
I have seen so many programs that help you get started and reach your first milestone, but what about the established business owner. It’s time for you, the hardworking multi-six figure business owner, to become a flowing multi-seven figure business owner. What you need most, right now, is a Roadmap to Freedom. This is a high cost to waiting for your breakthrough to come:
Imagine for a moment, that you have:
Now, until April 8, I am opening up a never-before-offered program for a ridiculously low price and it is ONLY available for 10 people. (How's that for a call to action? :-)) I have created a quick video (13:02 minutes) to explain all the details or you can click here to find out more: http://www.sappariconsulting.com/accountability.html Here is what is included:
The dollar value of this program is well over $9,700 and it’s worth even more as you free yourself to breakthrough to your next level of business. Most participants are able to recoup their costs in the first month. But, you have an opportunity to participate for only $5,000 IF you submit your application by April 8, 2019.
 The goal is not efficiency. The goal is productivity. Completing a process that doesn’t need to be done at all, efficiently could be wasting your business thousands of dollars. Here are a few real life examples of efficient processes that waste money. Hiring Process If you are hiring and firing employees at a high rate, you are absolutely losing money. If you have an efficient system that brings in 10 new hires a month but you are losing 10 employees monthly because there is no system for retention. You are losing potentially $80-$100,000 a month. Even though your hiring system is efficient. The cost of recruiting, on-boarding, training and then removing, covering for and retraining an employee are high. One study shows the cost of losing an employee to be ~$8,000. Other studies indicate the cost of employee turnover to be in the tens of thousands of dollars per employee. This is especially true in the skilled fields and managerial roles. Even slight improvements in this area will yield significant financial gain and improved morale. Creating a repeatable system that ensures you hire well, train and on-board for the right fit employee so that they stay with your company saves 10’s to 100’s of thousands of dollars. Invoicing Utilizing effective systems to invoice clients automatically always pays off in dividends. This is one area I see the most that owners hold on to. The owners have become efficient at creating and sending invoices such that they spend no more than 4 hours a month on this process. However it usually happens on quiet weekend mornings or in the evening while watching TV. While that may not seem like a big deal, it is cutting into deep work and personal time. Creating a system that can be automated such that you are paying software to invoice and follow through on payments can bring the cost down to a negligible amount. Creating a system that a bookkeeper can implement brings the cost to $140 month for 4 hours at $35/hour. If the owner remains involved and they bill at a rate of $300/hour (that is typically a low amount for what the owner can bring into the company) the cost is $1200/month. You are losing approximately $1,000 a month on this task alone. Client/Lead Followup Again, if we imagine that the owner of the company bills at $300/hour, which is low, they may create an ‘efficient’ process that allows them to complete follow-up in just 1 hour a day (~25 hours a month or $7,500). Many owners enjoy this process as it keeps them in front of new potential clients and existing clients. However, this efficient process could be implemented by an administrative assistant bringing the cost down to $1,250. Parts could be automated or eliminated and the cost could be under $500 a month. Report Creation This one is easy to overlock because the workarounds seem so small and inconsequential. And, if you don’t know the tools you are using, you may think that solving the problem is more difficult than it really is. Your Goal - Have the information in hand to see what invoices are paid (or not). In the example below, there is a 10x cost savings to automating the process (in the example, that savings is $9,161!!)  
A deep dive into your systems and processes will always yield a high return. Not sure where you stand? Let’s chat. Schedule a 15 minute CEO Call here.  I have invested in the Frequent Flyer program with Southwest Airlines. I applied for the credit card and receive points for shopping. In this situation, being a frequent flyer has served me well and I love the dividends. Flying with Southwest, I have structure, I know what to expect and I am served with consistency. Flying is good.
Flying by the seat of your pants, outside of an airplane? This frequent flyer plan not only doesn’t yield great dividends, it can easily end up costing you a LOT in time and money (and your sanity). These are the excuses that I hear for business owners who are part of the frequent flyer club: 1 - I don’t have time to create systems 2 - I can’t afford more help 3 - I love the novelty of new ideas Let’s look at each one. Systems, contrary to the feeling of dread you feel when you read that word, are a big part of the structure that your business needs to thrive. I get it, you have built your castle successfully without out them (or with few) but a well documented system can save you jet planes full of time and money in having a repeatable, easy to follow process, that provides a consistent experience for the customer and frees you up to do the work that you love (that brings in the bigger dollars). Use a Hit by the Bus System. This is a system that is so well documented that even if you were hit by a bus it could be implemented easily. (Join in the Systems Masterclass on April with Jen Hickle) Money: Early in your business, it made sense that you were bootstrapping tasks to help you grow to your next level. But there comes a point of critical mass (critical mass is like in the movies when the thing begins to generate energy itself rather than be fed energy) where if you are still doing tasks that you could be paying others for to do faster, more efficiently and better then you are not yet a Momentum Business Owner and you are still in the frequent flyer club. Doing the payroll at midnight happens because you have not yet set aside a few hours of time to find and hire an appropriate person to do this job and free you up to (again) work in your unique brilliance. Where is is this showing up? Where else are you using money as the excuse for not finding and hiring the right person for the job? Novelty: I get it. All the entrepreneurs that I know at 7 figures are visionary. They love new ideas. However, the ones that have really hit their stride in success have picked Just One Focus to put their energy towards. They are not bored because they are using their unique brilliance to make this Just One Focus blossom. Instead of being frustrated that they never quite get where they want to go, they have the accomplishment of seeing success and then tackling a different aspect or a new project that will give them that thrill again. What is your Just One Focus that you could get behind and stop the flying by the seat of your pants club? If you are ready to ditch your Frequent Flyer Card, join me in the Momentum Business Association. It’s a group of entrepreneurs and business owners, just like you, who have already built their castle and are ready to make it operate to serve them and their kingdom best. And, it’s a complimentary benefit of being part of MY domain. Join here: CreatingMomentumProgram.com/Club Ready to find out how you can take your business to the next level of success, operating efficiently and reclaiming your time? Let’s chat. |
AuthorHi! I'm Nettie Owens, Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization and Productivity Consultant. Archives
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