Rules of the Game FREE Business Plans!

Explaining the Game!

Hi Everyone!
I know that you are all getting geared up for next year and I’d like to help.
I’d like to take a moment to invite you to a few special sessions of my FREE small business coaching series. For years I’ve used Coffee, Tea, You and Me as a wonderful outlet to facilitate the advanced networking education of small business leaders in the area. As a result, I’ve had a tremendously powerful impact on many small business leaders and have been inspired to use this venue to conduct a workshop and contest for small business owners to create their own word-of- mouth marketing plan for the upcoming year.
That’s right, for the next 5 or so weeks we’ll be helping our clients and contestants to create their own personal winning strategy. I’ll be right there to guide you in the development of a plan for phenomenal success in the next year. The winners of the contest will receive thousands of dollars in prizes and gifts! If you’d like to check what others have said about our skills, I invite you to review our testimonials here.
Be prepared to take lots of notes and to introduce your business to more than twenty other professionals. Feel free to hand out your business cards and brochures.
This website will be our online meeting place, and will contain the information you’ll need to participate.
Professional transformation is yours soon and I can’t wait to help you unlock your plan for success. Welcome to your revolution!
Stay tuned every week to see updates to this post and join the game at any time!

Ready to get started? Read on!

The Rules of the Game!

• Log onto the website (www.ninetydaypowrplay.com)
• Read all rules pertaining to the contest and it’s timelines
• The contest is open to the entire on-line business community
• Answer all required blog post in a timely fashion
• Assignments will be posted weekly in the blog section of (www.ninetydaypowerplay.com) every Saturday for the next eight weeks
• Report any inappropriate, offensive or inflammatory language used on the site immediately it will be removed immediately
• The discussion will be monitored but not moderated
• All plans submitted in week 8 will be read and judged according to submission standards written in syllabus below
• Prizes and supporters will be announced to all participants as the contest unfolds. We anticipate $1000’s of dollars of prizes and cash

Syllabus and Weekly Assignment Posts

Establish (VMGD) Passionate and Powerful Vision and Mission Statements, Appropriate Goals, and Daily Action.

Week 1-tasks to be completed and submitted before 2PM on January 9th:

• Read each blog entry 1-6 on Vision at www.ninetydaypowerplay.com and leave comments for the community your comments must be at least five sentences for each entry (everyone will know if you fake it so don’t)
• List at least ten real measurements of success for you becoming the best networker that you can be in 2013
• List the values and principles that you will have to embrace and focus on to achieve these results
• List at least five weaknesses that you’ll have to strengthen in your current personal behavior to insure success
• List at least five strengths that you currently have that you’ll have to maximize and explain why
• List at least five opportunities that you must take advantage
• List at least five threats that could keep you from achieving your networking goals if you don’t get in front of them
• Look back over previous lists lessons and list why each is important

Week 2- tasks to be completed and submitted on or before Jan 16

• Look back over you previous list and for every entry ask what do I have to do specifically to achieve or get better results here?
• ­ List out your answers as in the example below (you may have more than forty entry’s). I’d use free form think like in your own personalized brain storming session for about 1/2 an hour
• ­ Prioritize your top ten items; these are you real goals that you must achieve
• ­ Break your goals into tasks that must be completed to achieve the goal. You might want to try some back wards planning here. There is a sample back up plan on my #4. You’ll need one for all ten. Begin with achieving the SMART goal and work backwards from there. If you are not use to doing this it will take some practice get started right away. Remember each of your ten items needs a backwards plan!
• ­ Now which of these tasks must you focus on daily for the rest of the year-choose five. Clearly you will do more than this but these will become your wildly important goals that we want to focus on everyday
• ­ List why each of these tasks is important

Develop a Powerful Diverse Network of Contacts

Week 3 –tasks to be completed and submitted on or before Jan 23

• Compiling your current and future contact data – It’s important for a master networker to be able to collect and use data from his/her networks. Today you are going to need more than the basic contact information. You’ll need to know their cell address, do they have a Skype account, are they using LinkedIn, Facebook maybe even Ning? You’ll want to understand what kinds of contacts they have that might want to use your services or help you find a job. Decide how you wish to assemble all your contacts in one location through whatever medium is easiest for you. It may be a combination of things such as your: Computer database Vendor/client list (I use Outlook and Excel), Mailing lists Rolodex (maybe LinkedIn or Jott) or Business card box etc.
• Segment your contacts – Decide how you want to segment your contacts and post results
• Define Your Team – Contact Spheres are businesses or professions that can easily provide a source of referrals for one another. They have a symbiotic, compatible, noncompetitive relationship with one another, such as a lawyer, CPA, financial planner, and banker.
• List the unique talents and skills that might make you attractive to them. They may make great reciprocal partners later.
• Plan to quarterback your own team – You must take responsibility for your networking activity and results. The quarterback is central to every offense; in this case every business acquisition or networking strategy. You’ll be the key figure to a host of others that have similar interest to you. Your team members may have the same client demographics that you do and work in the same markets. Each team member should be unique but not a competitor. We already talked about the symbiotic relationship above. Guess who the star player is? That would be you! You’re the one that knows all of the plays!
• List five habits that you’ll need to be a good quarterback.
• List at least five types of firms that you should build partnerships or alliances with to better enable you to serve your market. We sometimes refer to these as “golden geese”. They continue to lay the “golden eggs” that you want but you have to care for them. Don’t eat them! Selling to your team members could be hazardous to your health!
• Establish contact goals (remember goals are always SMART, back to week two)-Don’t become a cave dweller. You will have to constantly engage your networks. Set goals for the number of appointments you will establish with the people you want to have in your team or will build an alliance with.

Week 4–tasks to be completed and submitted on or before Jan30

• Start to identify your playing fields and your team mates-The selection process is very important. Don’t let chance decide where you’re going to spend your time and efforts. Remember, the key is to diversify your activities. One type of business organization will not serve all your needs. Therefore, you should consciously select a well-rounded mix of groups. Try to avoid being in more than one group that separates their membership by having one per category like a BNI chapter. If you have associates, partners, or employees, take their participation into account when deciding what groups you need to become active in you may not need to go!
• List the names of the groups that you now belong to. Remember networks are active groups of people that meet regularly and know you by name. Ideally they have existing communications mechanisms like meetings, conferences and newsletters that allow members to interact. Groups today might even have a social networking component on-line for its members. Some groups are all virtual and never really meet physically
• Analyze group information using any and all available methods
• List groups that you would like to consider for membership and provide details about the group’s demographics

Create Powerful Messages Delivered Effectively

Week 5-tasks to be completed and submitted on or before Feb 6

• List your five strongest personal character traits (PCT).Make sure these character traits are backed up and validated by others.What would your best friends say they are?You’ll know this because they already said it (that’s a hint).
• Of your PCTs list two ways you can leverage each of them to achieve your vision and mission.Think of things or ideas that can help others engage with you.What will make make your networking partners interested enough to commit to helping you?What’s the best way to communicate your vision and goals to them?
• Create two affirmation statements that you can repeat to yourself to increase your positive attitude or keep you focused
• Describe the image you would like to create amongst your networks

Week 6

Create Your Personal Plan for Networking Success

Week 7
Week 8
Welcome to the revolution!