A few years ago I asked a client of mine, who is very proficient at making lots of money,

“How can I make my money work for me BETTER?”

His response taught me a very powerful lesson. He said, “Troy, I want you to understand something. People of average wealth have their money work for them. However, the secret to true wealth is not about having your money work for you, the secret is learning how to work your money.”

I see most small business owners are so focused on trying to make enough money to get by they fail to advance to the next step. As business owners we need to spend some time focusing on learning how to work our money to move into greater levels of financial independence.

In several conversations I’ve had with successful business owners, who have built and run multi-million dollar businesses, I’ve heard them tell me that if they had learned this lesson in the beginning that they would be retired today. Instead they are back in the rat race working to build up their financial stability once again.

Here are three very important money mindsets to keep you focused on the most important element of your success…making, keeping, and growing your income.

Mindset #1 – When you hit the lottery and your business takes off understand that it doesn’t always last forever.

            This sounds so simple but it is one that is hard to remember when we are experiencing the “lottery effect” of a good success wave. One of the biggest mistakes over the past 10 years is how a lot of small businesses hit the lottery due to the amazing economic growth conditions. As a result, business owners began living as though this phenomenon would always occur for them. They believed that since they had gained massive momentum that it would just keep happening. It did not. As a result they are back in the daily grind of trying to rebuild the momentum they once had when they easily could have found themselves retired and living the good life while everyone else struggled to stay afloat.

            Take every momentum boost with your business as a true gift to be cherished and handled carefully. Use the boost to improve your confidence while always strengthening your financial foundation.

Mindset #2 – What I have today matters.

            It is easy to think that the income I have today is not enough to warrant my careful attention to my financial planning. Therefore I neglect to set up or follow a plan. It’s easy to say, “I’ll do that when I have more money. I don’t have enough now to make a difference.” The problem with this is that you’re neglecting to reinforce a habit that will serve you in the long run. Once the money starts coming in, it will be too late to learn how to be an effective money manager.

The energy of money says that we will have what we are capable of managing and nothing more. Begin implementing the strategies for effective money management today regardless of where you are on the scale of success. This will set the foundation for being able to handle more.

Mindset #3—Take it from the money gurus…learn how to work your money.

            Take advantage of all the opportunities you can to gain money education. There are many amazing strategies that can be implemented from day one to help you to leverage your money, set yourself up for continued future success, and protect yourself from losses. These are strategies that we can be using right now and are likely already paying for in other areas.

            Check out this month’s Million-Dollar Business Strategies & Secrets Program to gain some knowledge and highly effective strategies for leveraging you money today for protection and future wealth options.

Million-Dollar Business Strategies & Secrets Program

April 26^th 8-9:30 am

RSVP here

http://milliondollarbusiness.eventbrite.com

Over the past couple of years I’ve picked up a very important piece of advice from doing my million-dollar business owner interviews. Making money is only the beginning step yet is often the only step considered. I’ve spoken with several very successful business owners who have built a business into the multi-millions of dollars and because they didn’t effectively learn and implement the key steps to manage and leverage their financial “lottery” they ended up right back in the rat race.

Keep in mind making money is only the first step. To ensure you get to the true wealth levels and experience the freedom of life that goes with it, it’s crucial to be proficient in the next steps of learning to manage and leverage your financial success.

We are going to begin this journey at the next Million-Dollar Business Strategies & Secrets Program on April 26^th where I will have a very special guest speaker.

RSVP Here to save your seat

http://milliondollarbusiness.eventbrite.com

The critical element is taking the right actions that allow your business to grow. The great part that I’ve discovered is that the majority of people I talk to already know exactly what they need to be doing. For those who aren’t sure I have a simple step-by-step system that I use to help them become crystal clear on what needs to be done. That’s actually the easy part.

The big challenge is that they aren’t taking those critical actions. Here are three strategies that will help you to focus your energy and your efforts on exactly the right actions to grow your business.

Get a coach- Yep I’m just going to come right out and say it!

I just completed my latest interview with a man who owns 12 companies, has surpassed the million-dollar business mark, and has goals to reach $14 million in annual revenue. I asked him, “What have you done that has had the biggest impact on your business?” Without hesitating he said, “COACHING!” In just three years his coach helped him to transform his business into a million-dollar business. Something that he was unable to do on his own.

Coaching is the single most effective growth tool you can use. Your coach will ensure that you are on track, focused, and producing results. They challenge you and stretch you to breakthrough barriers, knock down walls, and get stuff done faster and easier. The only downside to coaching is that you no longer get to complain about your problems and challenges holding you back.

 Identify who you are trying to please.

Are you running your business out of a fear of disappointing someone or trying to please everyone? The simple answer is “of course not.” I invite you to look a little deeper. Quite often the reason for not taking the right actions revolves around a fear of disappointing, upsetting, or feeling disapproval by someone. This typically happens without our conscious awareness.

When you consider taking that bold step forward take notice if you recoil or hold back due to a thought or feeling of someone’s disapproval or judgment of you.

 This is a real experience and has destroyed many an entrepreneurs dream. The best way to breakthrough this obstacle is through a strong support structure. Build a great peer support team, find a powerful mentor, and get a coach. Those three elements will help you in those critical times when you need to overcome the internal fears that keep you from taking the RIGT actions.

 Shift your focus off of your to do list

Is your goal each day based around crossing items off of your list? If so, you might be stuck in a rut. A great strategy for moving forward and generating momentum is to simply put your head down and go. Quite often any action that gets you moving is good action. However, we can easily work ourselves into a rut, or pattern, that is based on habit and not on results. If you find yourself jamming from one task on the list to another and your goal each day is to get stuff done on your list…most likely you’re stuck in a rut.

 Once momentum is rolling it’s important to shift focus from activity to RESULTS. I suggest setting up a visual display of projects and completion dates. Then focus each day on the RESULTS that need to be produced and not just the tasks that need to be completed. Track each result daily with your team and remember to celebrate each and every win (um…result produced)!!

Raising the bar for success involves a lot of focusing and re-focusing of our strategies to ensure we are taking the RIGHT actions. It is a constant balancing act between strategy and execution. You may have one or a couple of these pieces in place already. Whatever you have, use this as an opportunity to refine your strategy, put one more piece in place, and keep building your foundation for success. The more work you do on this now, the easier it gets later.

I’m super excited. I’ve been really working on how to help you as a business owner, professional, and  entrepreneur to move forward and improve your focus, your effectiveness, and your results in a simple, fun, and effective way that doesn’t take you out of your focus, distract your from your goal, or is just too much effort to achieve.

The M.D.B. Habits of Excellence program is perfect. The whole idea is to add into your daily life a habit that will help you to be more productive, more focused, get stuff done easier, give you more energy, lift your spirits, and overall help you produce better results. Sometimes thinking about this process can be scary and daunting. The reason for this is that we often take on too much. When we have an elephant to eat we can get very discouraged. The trick is to take small bites and just keep moving forward consistently.

The whole essence of the The Habits of Excellence program is to take small bites and just keep going. We’re going to focus on setting up one habit that you really want to focus on and YOU KNOW will make a huge difference for you.

I’m going to walk you through a very specific process, give you a step by step method, and be here to support you and encourage you to make this positive and fun shift. Then together we’re going to celebrate how this one little personal growth project completely impacts every aspect of your success.

If you want some more information here’s the link to the official registration page with the most important details. http://habitofexcellence.eventbrite.com/ Or you can post a comment below!

Stay focused on excellence, play BIG, and put your passion in action

Coach Troy

Why? Why would I spend hours on meaningless tasks, busy work, and chasing smaller clients around for pennies when I know, you know, and the whole world knows the best way to success is to get paid more for doing less? That means attracting bigger opportunities and getting paid more for the work you do.   

What most small business owners do is focus their efforts on the most pressing and important tasks that need to get done. While this strategy seems absolutely necessary based on the amount of “stuff” there is to do, it actually only serves to create the endless “hamster on the treadmill” effect which simply leaves us feeling exhausted and worn out without much progress toward our big dreams.  

 Here are three tips that I’ve used in my business over the past 11 years to attract million dollar level clients even when I was too young, too inexperienced, and completely unknown in the community.

Tip 1- Understand that you will never get “caught up.” I know this sounds a little pessimistic, but this is what my coach has taught me is an unrealizable fantasy. Thinking that if “this” gets done, then I can do “that,” only leads to procrastination of my dreams. The reality is that there will always be something else that needs to happen before you can go after what you really want. You have to start doing what you want NOW! Find a way, make it happen. Git-r-done!

Tip 2- Ask for what you want. You miss 100% of the shots you do not take. There’s no way to hit a homerun if you don’t step up to the plate. I suggest hedging your bets and starting with the people you have the strongest relationship with first. It’s easiest to ask a favor of the people you have a comfortable relationship with. Make a list of those people. Clearly identify what you want. Ask them to help. Nobody gets to the top by themselves and people love to help the ones they care about. 

Tip 3- Tame the drunken monkey…and I’m not talking about that really good noodle dish at theSzechwanPalace. I’m referring to that annoying voice inside your head that chatters like a drunken monkey. It’s the one that says “no,” “don’t,” “you shouldn’t,” “wait,” “hold off,” “you’re not ready.” You have these thoughts, I have these thoughts, and so does everyone else on the planet. It’s natural, however we cannot let the drunken monkey run our business. My greatest opportunities came when I became conscious of the thoughts that were flowing through my mind and deliberately replaced the bad ones with the right ones. “Yes!” “Go for it!” “I can do this!” “Give it a shot.” Whatever your limiting thoughts or beliefs are it’s time to replace them with ones that will benefit you in the long run.

Attracting bigger and better clients has little to do with the prospect and a lot to do with you. Follow the sage advice of success guru Jim Rohn and always be “working harder on yourself, than you do on your job.” Find a way to take action on the things you want now, reach out to those who are dying to help you, put the drunken monkey back in his cage, and watch the great opportunities magically appear before your eyes.

Your passion, the pursuit of excellence, and a keen coaching eye to help you to bring out your best. I can’t think of a better recipe for success.

Stay tuned for more on passion, excellence, and strategies to drive your leadership, your business, and your life to a whole new level.

Keep playing big,
Coach Troy

        Today’s business environment demands a clearer focus, a more deliberate product and service, and the ability to do much more, faster, with a lot less. Success as a small business owner boils down to our ability to set clear expectations and direction for the company and inspire our team to innovate in order to produce results at a whole new level.

This is a lot to manage while focusing on the never ending hunt for unique and new ways to attract new business and compel customers to return over and over. It’s a big job but we feel, as with anything, there is a fundamental skill set that allows for ease and simplicity.

Our new brand, image, message, programs, and resources are being designed with one major element in mind, to help you as a small business owner, entrepreneur, or professional to master these fundamentals, bring out your best, and really drive your business beyond good, past great, and into the elite levels of excellence.

I cant wait to share the new business with you and I look forward to being a part of your incredible success for years to come.

Check back very soon as our new launch is happening in just a few days.

Coach Troy

If you’ve been to any of my workshops or talks over the past couple of years you’ve probably heard me talk about one of my favorite mantras,