Business Fit Magazine September 2019 Issue 2 | Page 32

Business
How do you get started?
My first step when working with a new client is
always an assessment.
Have you ever performed an anonymous survey
of all of your employees? If you want to know the
truth about what is going on in your organisation,
this type of survey will tell you. Most likely you will
be surprised and even alarmed when you see
the results!
Until you do an
anonymous
survey, you may
not have all the
facts
This rarely used strategy will help you uncover
hidden issues and challenges as seen from your
employees’ perspective. I worked with a company
of 90 employees once, and their survey revealed
over 540 issues.
Another time, working with an event marketing
firm – not as consultant but as actual staff – I
went through this exercise with seven of our
employees and we found over 300 issues and
challenges. It is hard to believe, but until you do
an anonymous survey, you may not have all the
facts.
So, what did I do with the
results?
First, I took the issues/challenges and categorised
them as Hot, Medium, and Cold.
After thus segmenting the issues, it took me two
years to create sustainable solutions for clearing
that list of 540 plus. But by doing so, the company
moved from $20 to $30 million and is now an
$80 million company.
De-cluttering your
responsibilities!
I’ve applied the same strategy on a much smaller
scale when working 1:1 with small business
owners. My client Anna was working seven days
a week, 12 to 14 hours a day. I asked her what
her vision was for her life, and she wanted to
get married and have two kids. Well, as you can
imagine, that was not going to happen until she
culled her excess responsibilities and activities.
The first exercise I assigned her was to complete
my signature “Day in the Life” exercise. She listed
every single duty she was performing. I asked
her to circle the ones she loved, and we were
going to creatively delegate all of the activities
that someone else could take on. There were 30-
40 action items on her list, and she only LOVED
maybe 5 of those! At that point, I realised one
of the biggest issues to resolve was her need
for control. She would never grow her company
while she was doing most of the work herself.
She had to learn to let go.
I’m happy to report that she did get married, she
had two kids, she sold 50% of the business to
her new partners and then ended up working
only 3-4 hours a day while still making the
same income as when she was working her old
business model.
Instant Returns
Meanwhile, to attract instant abundance while
you are crafting your survey questions, start with
your desk. The desk is ONE single zone in your
office. Now break it into sub-zones. For example,
top of the desk, under the desk, and side of the
desk.
Take a sub-zone and remove everything from it.
When tackling office products, pick up one item
at a time, and ask these two simple questions:
Do I love it? Am I currently using it?
If you get a no/no, let it go.
If you get a yes/no, you keep it until you get a no/
no.
If you get a yes/yes, keep it!
With all the other items, release old files, papers,
business cards, and any other items that do not
need to be on your desk. Then create a system of
processes which supports your working needs.
Make it a daily task to keep your desk in order.
I like to take 15 minutes at the end of each day
to perform maintenance on my desk. I have
ADD; I am a creative and an entrepreneur, so I
generate a daily mess. It is the way my brain is
wired. Many of you might be able to relate to this,
it takes focus for those of us with ADD and ADHD
to keep a clean space. But as you adopt this
strategy, you will notice a significant difference in
how abundance flows into your life!
If you want to live in REAL-EASE, you must master
the art of RE-LEASING!
If you want instant abundance, CLEAR some
space and you will get it!
I promise!
I hope you are feeling inspired to PIVOT and
take the time to implement some of the above
strategies. They will help you with a life of less
stress, less frustration, and over time will bring a
plethora of benefits and substantial gains to your
business!
If you have any questions or would like to share
your “clearing” results, I’d love to hear from you!
Kathleen Ronald , “Business Growth Architect”, for over 30 years she
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has helped companies, business owners and solopreneurs to customise
strategies which support them to have first-year revenue increases of 20-
50%. She is an internationally renowned speaker-trainer, an unparalleled
networker, an award-winning business consultant and poet, a contributing
best-selling author and the founder of Speaktacular. www.speaktacular.com
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