follow throughI had a conversation with a friend and fellow entrepreneur that has remained with me. She was sharing how much she has loved the Finish Strong blogs I’ve been writing.  What I discovered was very revealing and on the off chance her story is yours, I wanted to share it with you today…

Her: I LOVE the finish Strong Challenge. Your writing is so easy to read and real.

Me: Wow, thank you for sharing that. I’m so glad you like them. Was there one in particular that you found helpful?

Her: All of them really. You had me at hello with the first day’s blog. I was inspired by your transparency and openness and thought, I could learn from this woman, and opted in.

Me: That’s cool. Have you been reading them daily?

Her: Are you kidding me? I can’t wait to get the email letting me know it’s posted. It’s one of my favorite parts of day now.

Me: Do you think it will make a difference in how you start the New Year and what you will accomplish?

Her: No doubt. I’m already feeling more excited than ever and man, the ideas and creativity are pouring out of me.

Me: Yay! That’s what I was going for.  I’d be happy to hop on a call so you can share your vision and we can look to see what quarterly projects you’ve identified. It’s always so helpful to have a sounding board.

Her: Pause… Well I haven’t actually done the exercises. They were all really good suggestions and I know I should actually do them. I’ve saved all the emails and I’m going to come back to it.

Me: Got it. OK. I’m curious, why didn’t you do the exercises along the way?

Her: I don’t know. I feel like I needed to give it more time. I wanted to really think about it. But don’t get me wrong, I love them and they have helped a lot. I’m hoping to find time in the New Year.

Now I applaud my friend for opting in and reading my daily blog posts. She’s an action taker and it’s why she is successful in her business.  However, when she made the choice to not go the extra mile and actually do each exercise (there’s really only four main steps by the way) she exhibited a behavior that is stopping 90% of all entrepreneurs from having the success they desire… lack of follow through.

Whether we call it procrastination, avoidance or over thinking the process – it all comes down to the fact that, when we put off the important stuff (like planning out your life and business), we end up falling short of what’s possible and settling for less than we want and deserve.

Where in your business are you not going the extra mile? Where do you stop short of excellence and settle for less.  What is it that’s costing you in missed opportunities, lost revenue or feelings of regret?

Getting honest about where you are not following through or going the extra mile, and then resolving to develop new habits could be the very thing that makes this coming year outstanding— and one of your best years yet.

While I’ve honed the practice of follow through in a lot of areas of my business, there are two places I know I am failing to follow through… I’d venture to say it’s cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenues this last year.  Want to know what they are?

Opportunity Missed #1: Not following through on a product launch. I notice that leading up to a launch I am totally psyched and completely on board. Visions of success dancing in my head, I carefully plan out the step-by-step plan, then when the numbers are not what I expected I watch myself lose steam.  I skip an email in the string, forget to post in social media.  I simply let my marketing mojo fizzle.

Opportunity Missed #2: Not following through with potential clients. This is an interesting one because I can have a “love fest” with a potential client, they can be all gun ho and on the edge of a YES and I notice after one follow up email or call I sometimes give up and move to the next. Now, every fiber of my being knows this isn’t smart and just a few more connects would likely lead to a sale. But like a squirrel on a nut farm, I’m off to the next tree.

Can anyone out there relate?

So my question to you dear reader is this… If I told you, with absolute certainty, if you were to invest a bit of time in taking the steps I’ve suggested in order to start this next year strong and that you could increase next year’s income by 50%, 100% event 200% would you do it?

Decades of research tells us that the act of… 1) writing out our vision, 2) identifying our priority projects, 3) creating a plan to make it happen and then 4) creating accountability are the cornerstones of breakthrough success.

So please email me or post! Tell me about your experience of the Finish Strong Challenge.  Have you enjoyed it thus far? Which posts have been the most helpful to you?  More importantly, did you complete the suggested steps and if not, why?

We’ve got a handful of posts to go in this challenge and your feedback will inspire me to finish with relevant, real-world blogs that will truly make a difference in your life and business.

To your best year yet!

Love, Jane

FinishStrong200