While most of the time they may feel alone, they are not. Human beings are social animals and regardless of your profession, family or hobby, people work in teams.

Authors have editors. Artists have fans. Athletes have coaches. Entrepreneurs, even 1-person shops, have vendors, clients, family…heck, some even have friends. We all work with other people. Even if you have become a cyborg and are plugged into your computer, smart phone and Skype 12 hours per day, you are part of a team.

Is anyone as jazzed and committed as you?

Not likely.

In order to boost your team’s energy, there must be a motive, incentive and a deep seated reason to be excited. In order to encourage others to be as fired up as you, there has to be a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency (not panic) can be contagious. With a sense of urgency, what is seen as item #72 on one person’s task list can move into slot #3 rather quickly.

That is where you want YOUR team to put YOUR items. Below are 7 tactics to boost a sense of urgency with your team.

7 Ways to Instill Urgency & Create Energy

1) A Winning Team: With a strong sense of urgency, people quickly identify critical issues and form strong teams that are committed to ambitious change even when those members are already working hard. If any player on your team (even customers) don’t share your sense of urgency, look in the mirror. You didn’t set it and give them THEIR reason to move quickly.

2) Vision and Strategies: Strong and committed teams organize the effort to find smart strategies and envision long-term outcomes when dealing with essential issues, even when the best strategies are hard to pin down. What is your “why?” Plenty of business owners know what they do, but few understand and communicate the why. Watch the TED talk “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) Communication: High urgency teams inherently feel a need to persistently communicate the vision and strategies to the appropriate people to get them on board and generate still more urgency. A confused mind says “no” so make sure you eliminate confusion. When everyone clearly understands agendas, strategies and outcomes, projects move more rapidly. Doubt creates confusion. Confusion feeds on doubt. Get unstuck by being crystal clear.

4) Empowerment: Those with a strong sense of urgency empower others who are dedicated to making a vision a reality by removing obstructions from their path. Leaders who inspire and empower are not micromanagers. Kick the little birdies out of the nest and give your kids more responsibility. Ask your vendors, staff or even your clients how they would do it. You’ll be amazed with the responses you’ll get.

5) Short-Term Wins: High urgency teams celebrate short-term victories and make them visible to the entire organization. When working on any project with a long cycle, it is important to celebrate milestones. 21st century humans are very much “in the now” and used to instant rewards for efforts. Don’t fight human nature, work with it. If you have a long-term project to design and publish a website and marketing campaign, establish some short-term objectives like throwing a small party for the publication of your first newsletter.

6) Never Give Up: After minor and/or great success, teams with a true sense of urgency never let their team slip back to complacent inertia. Instead they expand the effort and strive for improvement. Persistence is the least expensive weapon in your arsenal. It doesn’t matter if you are planning a vacation or designing a new business, you will have obstacles. That’s life. How you deal with those obstacles will always determine your outcome. When in doubt-persist. When faced with setbacks-persist. Just when it seems you have no option other than to quit…persist.

7) Making It Stick: Teams with a true sense of urgency feel duty-bound to find ways to make sure any change sticks. By incorporating purposeful change into the structure, the systems, and – most importantly – the culture, team members won’t feel stuck themselves. When designing a new product, a marketing campaign or even establishing a culture for learning, keep in mind the long-term motivation. Simply insisting your child improve their grades is easy. Creating a culture for optimal study habits, long-term AND short-term rewards requires more thought. Similarly, in business, the marketing and technical environments are changing at a rapid pace. While it may be important to keep up with the latest Facebook application, don’t forget that a handful of years ago, Facebook didn’t exist, but human nature did. The only way to make your marketing stick and your business thrive long-term is to build it on the fundamentals of human nature, not technology.

Your team will work better, faster and harder when they are energized and have a sense of urgency. The key is to make them think it is their idea, so go ahead and put energy and urgency into everything you do. When executed in a positive manner with an expectation of success, the energy will be contagious.

]]> http://dougcrowe.com/2012/boost-your-teams-energy/feed/ 0 http://dougcrowe.com/2011/entrepreneur-productivity-secret/ http://dougcrowe.com/2011/entrepreneur-productivity-secret/#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:54:10 +0000 Doug Crowe http://dougcrowe.com/?p=266 Take a vacation every month!

Yeah, it sounds crazy and non-productive. But if you follow me here, you’ll realize that after you set aside a full WEEK every month, the other three weeks of your month you will be super productive, rested and equally important, work HARDER and SMARTER.

Why?

Because if you don’t, you can’t afford to take that next vacation!

By scheduling a one week vacation for yourself every month, you live your life to the fullest. You will be more empowered, more energized and more creative than taking only a day off every week (Or for some entrepreneurs, one day off per month!)

Like you, I was very skeptical of how this would work for me and if it would TRULY make me more productive during those 3 weeks where I was working. I am sure at first glance, taking a week off EVERY month may seem impossible for 99% of business owners. After all, you are probably already working 60+ hours per week just to stay even! Envisioning a system where you work less and earn more goes against the logical side of your brain.

The only way to open your mind to this is to consider the following:

1. If you are working “in” your business instead of “on” your business, you have a systems issue. Begin to put in place independent contractors, JV partners and responsible employees who compliment your team effortlessly. You have strengths and weaknesses. Put in the RIGHT people to compliment your weaknesses. Read Michael Gerber’s “E-Myth” book today.

2. You are most likely a goal-oriented achiever. While long-term goals work OK, short-term goals or “baby steps” can do wonders in giving you instant gratification on your path towards your long-term goal. Looking forward to a week in Hawaii or even a 5 day stint at a bed and breakfast with your spouse doesn’t simply make you work harder for those three weeks, you will work smarter.

3. Weeks before a vacation, you tend to plan, execute and prepare more efficiently. (Reflect upon your “day before vacation” productivity. You get more done on that day than the entire week!) By having a locked in week off, your previous three weeks HAVE to be more productive. You are forced to be efficient.

4. When you are tired, stressed or distracted, you are less productive. Period. Getting away for a week every month will refresh your mind, relax you body and give you the much needed clarity you and your business deserve.

Trust me….this system works. You have nothing to lose but your insane schedule.

We know that media can be audio, video or live presentations of ideas, stories or information. How does the word “social” connect with that? When you write a blog post or article and publish it (digital or print) its media.

What makes it social? Where you publish it? Does Facebook make an article social?

The difference lies in now necessarily what we say or even where we publish. The real difference is how the receiver acquires the content.

When we ‘tune in’ to watch a television program, we are seeking entertainment or information from a media source. When we schedule our life to watch a program, we are engaged with that media on a one-on-one basis. Even when a commercial interrupts the program (how else can they afford to entertain us, Tivo users!) the media is a platform for information dissemination. Reading a newspaper, listening to the radio or watching the television is one-way communication.

There is nothing social about it.

When a group of people have an “American Idol” party or post the results of the competition on Facebook, the same television program becomes social. The manner in which we schedule our viewing, who we view it with and even WHY we view the media becomes a social event or experience.

Social media has been around since the gladiators battled at the coliseum. It is nothing new, mind you. Only the technology and content itself has changed (some more than others). Broadcasting content to a user in a digital format doesn’t create a social experience.

People make it so.

Next time you post a status update on Facebook or share a particular video, article or anecdote, remember you are a broadcaster. You are a media channel. You can advertise yourself on Facebook and post articles and information about your company or your experience. You have now joined the ranks of marketers and advertisers interrupting our otherwise social experience.

Does this strategy work?

Of course not. Viewers of your media channel are there for entertainment and information. Your interruption is ignored as easily as a Tivo user avoids commercials.

To truly communicate your ideas in social media, you must engage your followers with a social experience. The rise of product placement in shows like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” give testament to the wave of influence of social media. We experience the joy a family has with their new home, rebuilt lovingly with Sears power tools. Sears, of course, doubles down and has ads as well. But the incredible power of games, contests and give-aways in a social setting underscores the trend in communication.

For entrepreneurs, engaging WITH your tribe is more important than communicating to them. Your engagement must be there to build association, trust and comfort. Those words sound very social because they are. Socially engaging with your fans means you share personal information, stories, and even pictures of your goofy brother-in-law. Sure, you can step up to product placement by putting your MLM product in the picture…why not? Sears does it.

The next time you think broadcasting a pitch or “testimonial” from a client on your Facebook wall is social consider what YOU look at from your friends and fans, first. When you engage socially with your tribe, you are more likely to transform prospects into clients. Your communication becomes not only interesting, but also welcome and anticipated.

Social media is here to stay…at least until we get sick of it.

How many of you have bought over 100 copies of any single book and given it to your clients?

No? None? Hmm…I’m sorry, I thought you were in NETWORK marketing? I am not involved with an MLM at this point in my life, but when I was, I was encouraged to read a NEW book every single month. In fact, many of the books I read were promoted from my upline so that I could become a better husband, father, business person, communicator, leader and networker. One of these books was so useful in my MLM business that I actually applied about ½ of the principles to my day job (which I have since retired from) and became extremely successful. You see, about 11 years ago, I was in the cellular phone industry focusing on corporate clients. I moved up the ranks from a standard account rep. to regional and then national sales. Interestingly, during the late 90’s, the Nextel system was still in its infancy and the walkie-talkie feature was so revolutionary, they hired us to explain it to businesses and create a more productive communication for our clients. The work was, like any sales job, full of cold calls, meetings, rejection and occasional sales. Does that sound familiar?

As a new employee I was trained to “dial for dollars” every day regardless of the appointments I had set up. Like your business, leads are the life blood of any business. (Which is why I strongly encourage you to register for our FREE newsletter)

After about a month of cold calling, I pulled out one of the books given to me by my upline titled, Endless Referrals, by Bob Burg. For the next 2 and ½ years at Nextel I never made a cold call again…ever.

I could end the story there and let that be the lesson. However, you may need some additional encouragement to go out and buy this book right now. After utilizing only about ½ of Bob’s techniques, I became the #2 guy at the company. (The #1 guy had ALSO read the book!) And for over 2 years I won numerous awards, trips and made a decent living using the Endless Referral system to create not just new customers, but fans! I was so enthralled with my success, that after I left my MLM company and started my own real estate investor academy, I purchased over 200 copies of the book, gave it to my students and tested them to make sure they read it!

If you love stalking strangers at fast food restaurants looking for leads, or think the idea of building a business is setting up a booth at a trade show, welcome to a painfully long process to build your business. All successful leaders in MLM or any business know that word of mouth is the best form of advertising. This oniker has been around for decades. However, does ANYONE actually teach, monitor, measure and improve upon their word of mouth campaign?

Bob does.

When you read this book, you will learn:

• How to be the center of attention at every networking event
• How to get THOUSANDS of referrals without asking
• How sending a single article can make you hundreds of thousands of dollars
• Why your business card is useless
• How to follow up and remember everyone you meet.

There are dozens of practical and extremely useful strategies and techniques to put you in the top 1% of your industry. Applying even half of Bob’s strategies can make your marketing initiatives as effortless as breathing. Do yourself a huge favor and get a copy of his book today. Do yourself an even bigger favor by reading and applying everything he teaches.

The industry has been aligned with scams, pyramid schemes, and fast-talking pitches that have often relegated us to the dubious honor of being “snake oil” salesmen. Over the years people have tried to figure out a process to distance ourselves from the “aggressive” recruiting tactics, yet enjoy our passion to build a duplicatable, sustainable and passive income stream.

We all KNOW that it is one of the best methods for creating residual income. So why do we have a bad rap? What is it that makes many of our prospects shut down our presentations even before we start? What caused many companies to hire more lawyers than customer support? Why have some companies changed their names or even distanced their business model from their original MLM roots? Why is it common to call some independent distributors members of a cult?

The reasons can be boiled down to a few obvious aspects; all of which rest squarely with the manner in which you present yourself. Basically, the reason our industry has a bad rap is because of you. Are you honest enough to admit it? Are you ready to raise the bar of respect for your business? If so, take the following lessons to heart. Below are 5 simple attitudes and perceptions you must convey to the people you come in contact with. Follow these counter-intuitive strategies and not only will your business grow exponentially, but your reputation can remain golden.

In the end, you want to treat people the way you want to be treated. When reflecting upon your business, be sure to continuously get in front of the RIGHT people to move your business forward. Sharing the “opportunity” with every Tom, Dick or Harry will not only waste your time, but destroy your reputation. Belief in your long-term interests is your primary source of power and recognition. Keeping your lead flow constant is important, but acquiring leads of interested parties is even more important. I am sure you would agree that you would rather have 10 leads from people who have expressed a SPECIFIC interest in your product or opportunity than 100 leads from general “opportunity seekers.” Your laser focus treating people as people, rather than suspects will deliver to you the quality prospects you deserve.

Be cool.

But at the top of any entrepreneur’s list must be passion. Without a passion for the company, its employees, the market or the product, a company will never break out and survive let alone lead.

Longaberger Basket Company is passionate. Take a look at their corporate headquarters at the bottom of this article to see the proof of their passion.

I mean this guy REALLY likes baskets!

Can you imagine a more passionate representation of your company? I don’t think that commitment or passion is an issue with the Longaberger Basket Company; do you?

In the early 1970s, Dave Longaberger noticed that baskets were becoming very popular, and he also noticed that many department stores were beginning to sell imported baskets. Dave wondered if people would appreciate baskets like the fine handcrafted ones his father used to make. So he asked his father, a master basket weaver, to make a dozen baskets, and then took them to a nearby town. They sold immediately and the shop requested more! His father made several dozen more baskets and they sold quickly, as well. Sadly, however, J.W. died at the age of 71, just as the family trade of basket weaving was being renewed.

Dave opened J.W.’s Hand-woven Baskets™ in 1976 in Dresden. Interest in these beautiful handmade baskets continued to grow and his company opened up its own manufacturing facility in vacant woolen mill.

Dave became increasingly convinced that American consumers wanted the handmade craftsmanship and quality of Longaberger baskets. He tried different ways to sell baskets at malls, department stores and other retail outlets, with varying degrees of success. In 1978, Dave discovered that the most effective way to sell the company’s baskets was not through retail outlets but through home shows, where an educated home consultant could show Longaberger baskets and share the history and explain the craftsmanship that each basket holds. The Longaberger Company’s direct sales organization was born. In 1984, Dave’s daughter, Tami, joined the company full-time after her graduation from The Ohio State University. Tami worked in virtually every area of the company, and in 1994 Dave appointed her president. Working side by side until Dave’s death in 1999, Tami learned her father’s management principles first-hand. Clearly cut from the same visionary cloth as her father, she used her own extraordinary gifts to diversify the company into other home lifestyle areas, which now account for nearly half of the company’s revenues.

With their solid wood tops, creative designs and MLM compensation plan, there is no doubt that the Longaberger legacy will live on and be the best place to not only enjoy a premium basket or gift, but be a respectable and long-term business for anyone who wishes to join their team. At the very least, you’ll have zero competition!

You will have to build a business, of course, and that requires a steady stream of leads. Be sure to register for our accountability book by registering on the right.

Here’s proof that the basket building is real…what a hoot!

What does it mean?

Who are you accountable to?

When you make the decision to start your own business you may be filled with excitement, anticipation and visions of freedom and prosperity. You should! Starting your own business, especially an MLM business with the exponential qualities of duplication can and should expand your expectations for wealth and prosperity. None of these visions will come to fruition, of course, unless you are accountable.

First and foremost, you must put the “U” in accountability. You must keep the promise you make to yourself.

Accountability is more complicated than you may think. For the beginning entrepreneur, accountability may simply start with being accountable to his dream or goal. Is that enough? For many of us, it is not. What if you are also accountable to your spouse? How about your kids? Yourself? Is that enough?

For most entrepreneurs it is not.

When we say we are accountable that should mean that failure is not an option. If this were REALLY true, than 85% of all businesses wouldn’t fail in the first year. “But Doug, it was the economy,” you say. So what? Are you accountable to your vision? Did you not promise your spouse increased fortune and freedom? An excuse is our safety valve to relieve us of being accountable. I remember very clearly making the promise to become a millionaire by the time I was 30. Was I accountable? Not really.

Oh sure, I wrote down my goals, assigned milestones to them, and even shared them with my wife. When I missed that goal 3 years in a row, what were the consequences? Did I lose my vision, my dream, or my energy? Nope…that was all still there. When I failed to accomplish my goal in the timeline I committed to, were there any real negative consequences? No.

This is where the problem of accountability really comes to light. If there are no negative consequences, our energy, creativity and fortitude are never maximized. In the movie Apollo 13, there is a famous scene where the mission control specialists were thinking and feeling that the mission and the crew were lost. The spacecraft had suffered substantial damage and was on a trajectory away from the earth. In this famous scene, the character played by Ed Harris states, “Failure is not an option.” Once this option is removed from your thought process, massive amounts of creativity and resources are at your disposal. Certainly when there is a life or death situation, you have MUCH more to lose than your image, humility or a few dollars.

We are certainly taught to place the positive consequences of attaining our goal. Freedom, wealth, happiness are all great things to achieve once our MLM business is up and running. If you don’t attain your goal, however, what negative consequences will occur? Should we outline those, too? Is it “negative thinking” to remind ourselves of what will happen if we quit or delay our success?

Unless you want to hire a hit man to break your legs if you don’t attain your goal, you better focus on different outcomes to insure your goal doesn’t have an escape clause AND doesn’t affect your health.

Try humiliation.

Recently, I began a project that had several timetables and these milestones were going to be difficult to meet. Not impossible, but difficult. By aligning MY timetables with others I was able to create a synergy of accountability that made me responsible not only for my family’s welfare but the families of my vendors, associates, and downline. Imagine the humiliation and financial consequence of telling someone, “I can’t meet the deadline that I set for myself. Sorry…tell your Christmas won’t be that good this year.”

Being accountable isn’t just a word. It is the manifestation of your character, values and commitment. Placing positive consequences to insure your habits are congruent with your thoughts is vital. Just be sure to not give yourself and out if you don’t make it. Failure is an option for most of us and an unpleasant one at that.

One important way to insure your success and lock down a business that lasts a lifetime is to keep your lead funnel filled at all times. Register for our free newsletter at http://www.bexsi.com and get our FREE book on success and subscribe to our monthly news magazine and learn from other business leaders and successful professionals like Robert Kiyosaki, Loral Langmeier and dozens of others.

The attention, the limo’s, the free lunches. Fame is a wild and wonderful thing, isn’t it? Becoming famous (even in your narrow business niche) can open doors for you faster than all the patience and hard work of being ordinary. Our society bestows honor and riches upon anyone who is in the limelight REGARDLESS of how they got there!

Certainly the proliferation of reality shows has done nothing but amplify everyone’s desire for their 15 minutes of fame.

So what?

As a leader in your organization (Yes, everyone is a leader) your job is not to earn accolades and press about your achievements but to LEAD! The progression of true leadership removes one’s ego from the equation and gives credit to those who worked together on a unified goal.

True leadership does not seek the limelight. True leadership moves the spotlight to the individual members of your team. Just as Norman Schwartzkopf gave credit to his officers and infantry in the Gulf War, business leaders who remove their ego from their work and share the credit create a sincere humility that will give them more than just free press.

They create a lasting legacy of nobleness and character that transcends the media.

True leaders create other leaders.

]]> http://dougcrowe.com/2010/your-ego-is-in-the-way/feed/ 0 http://dougcrowe.com/2010/speed-kills/ http://dougcrowe.com/2010/speed-kills/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:57:48 +0000 Doug Crowe http://dougcrowe.com/?p=44 The faster you drive, the more likely a fender bender becomes a deadly crash.

The speed of our actions both in driving and in business certainly move us quicker to our destination. When moving at high rates of speed, however, any mistake or error in judgment amplifies that error and can transform a bump in the road to a life-threatening event.

Why do so many entrepreneurs have this insane desire for a fast buck, quick response and immediate action? Does speed of action translate to saving time, money or relationships?

In the world of business, speed is normally associated with success. An “overnight” sensation always gets more press because building a thriving business over 5, 10 or 20 years simply isn’t newsworthy. It is less interesting due to our fascination with the quick hit and the unrealistic desire for the “get rick quick” method. Sure, we all SAY that we don’t buy into fast money schemes. In our hearts, however, we all want to save time and get to our destination faster. There is a curious dichotomy between our tortoise and the hare attitudes in business. We WANT our customers to engage with us quickly but we KNOW that relationships require time to develop.

The next time you consider any method, technique or process that hastens building a relationship, pause and consider the last new relationship you developed. Did you engage with the person quickly or over a longer period of time? Did you transact business in a matter of minutes, hours, days or months?

For many of us the speed of our engagement is a direct result of the amount of our investment. We don’t think for more than a moment when deciding on a $20 dinner, whereas we may research a $30,000 vehicle for weeks before a purchase.

When it comes to relationships, your are putting more than our money at stake. Oftentimes, you are engaging your network, your contacts and your reputation. For new relationships the slow process of building trust is not only good business, it is wired in our interpersonal communication. Move too fast and you may not only lose the sale, but lose any chance to recover later.  The golden rule works 100% of the time.

Speed kills on the highway of life, too.

He has been honored to share the stage with Robert Kiyosaki, presented to the Chicago Real Estate Investors Association and the Illinois Association of Administrative Professionals, to name a few.

Doug is a rare speaker and trainer who has the skill to align an individual’s goals and passion with their parent organization. With a strong emphasis on action, accountability and sustainable reinforcement AFTER his trainings, organizations are benefiting from the effects of his message months and years afterwards.