"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
There is no end to the mountain of motivational ideas and materials available to small business owners -- tapes, books, CD's, seminars, workbooks, videos and more. Why are there so many different motivational products, authors and speakers? Because people are buying these materials. Used effectively, they are effective and therefore they sell! But if they are just sitting there gathering dust, they won't do you any good.
But how to weed out the grain from the chaff in the realm of motivation?
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of self-help and rah-rah materials out there. One way to see through the clutter is to find yourself a motivational guru who can speak to the heart of the matter in a way that will not only be easy to understand but helpful to keep you on track when you might be in danger of derailing. You need someone who can get you "fired up" about working and improving your business.
Luckily for our BNI Point To Success chapter, we have just such a guru in our midst.
No. I am not talking about your resident Motivation Manager. (Although, I am pleased if you thought that I might be able to motivate you!)
I am talking about our founder, Dr. Ivan Misner.
Last week Dr. Misner was in Milwaukee for the BNI National Convention. So cool to have that located right in our backyard, so to speak. And even more cool that there were some of our members who were able to take the time to journey to witness the motivation first-hand.
Mark Pinkala, Sarah Mahon, Eileen Davis, Tim Cullen and Rick Pavlik attended the events. Some even had the good fortune to meet Dr. Misner in person. But all of them walked away with "aha" moments. I have asked those who would care to share the golden nuggets of wisdom they learned (and boy, did they learn a lot!):
- I learned that..... if we never give up "No Matter What", we will never fail to achieve what we set out to do. (Rick Pavlik)
- I learned that one of my life mottos “no matter what” has helped a lot of other determined people. (Tim Cullen)
- I met a BNI Director from Connecticut His chapter has 71 members. They always get done on time. They do 30-second 'sales manager moments'. He said that the 30's are much better than the longer versions used to be. They also get more referrals. He said "bigger IS better." (Mark Pinkala)
- It was very inspiring to be in the company of hundreds of people who truly believe in building their business through referral-oriented networking. I came away from the conference, inspired to spend more time on MY networking activities. I occasionally hear people in our chapter comment on how it's so hard to make the time to follow "BNI model networking." These people are not focused on growing their companies! (Mark Pinkala)
- I learned that... it is first and foremost about cultivating relationships by giving to others. (Rick Pavlik)
- My business is willing to serve the market like it has never been served before. (Tim Cullen)
- The motivational presentation by Lisa Nichols caused me to revisit how I interact with the people within my company. Openly recognizing the 'good' in my coworkers is regrettably an all-to-often overlooked part of my professional life. (Mark Pinkala)
- At Hazel Walker's session on on-line networking, I met a guy from Chicago who uses"LinkedIn". He asked me about my business, and advised that I check it out. Bottom line, he believed it would help me sell more work. Hazel also provided a comprehensive list of "do's" and "dont's" of online networking. (Mark Pinkala)
- I've learned that I must keep up with technology like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, for social networking that turns into business contacts. (Tim Cullen)
- I will make great gains in life if I immerse myself in learning. (Tim Cullen)
- I learned that getting "IT" means I either (I)nform members of my products & services or I (T)rain them on how to introduce me to or get me in front of groups of people who are potential clients. (I) gets me a little business and (T) can help me make a living. (Rick Pavlik)
- I learned that members holding other members accountable is one of the keys to strong chapters. (Rick Pavlik)
- I've learned that my life is not about me. (Tim Cullen)
- I learned that you should never prejudge someone because the wisdom that they have to share might be exactly what you need. (Rick Pavlik)
- I learned that Ivan Misner is a very approachable person and enjoys conversation. (Tim Cullen)
- I got to meet Dr. Ivan Misner. How cool is that? (Mark Pinkala)
Be open and aware of what is going on in the motivational industry and how it might help you become more enthused and positive about your business. Do some light research of your own to find some authors and speakers that interest you. Simply doing a Good Search on the term "motivation" yielded 10,413,872 results.
("Motivation in business" brought that number down to a more manageable 4,769,482....whew!)
But I would caution against making a huge investment in this. Check out the library. Borrow from a friend. Download podcasts. Cruise websites. Get yourself on a few mailing lists of e-newsletters. Go to Entrepreneur.com to find the latest and greatest (and even Dr. Misner's monthly column). Sample as many different viewpoints as you can.
But do these resources really work? Yes, but only if you make the effort. Just like exercise, you have to work the muscles -- in this case your mind muscles.
It is up to you to take that information and apply it to your own life and business. Really use the motivational ideas over a period of time and you will begin to see results.
Motivation is what moves us forward in our daily and business lives. Take the time to examine your motivating factors and use some of these keys to improve your focus and renew your enthusiasm. If you keep on track, the motivation momentum can't help but carry you forward.
Working Words of Wisdom:
Courtesy of our guru, Dr. Ivan Misner from the book The 29% Solution:
"Becoming a Master Networker is a journey, not a destination....There's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, just lots of gold along the way and more up ahead."
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