Does your Business Coach Suck? – Entrepreneur of Influence, Douglas Vermeeren

Does your business coach suck? Entrepreneur of Influence

By Douglas Vermeeren

It seems that everywhere you look someone is calling themselves a coach or consultant. But with so many choices how do I know who can best help my business? Before you ask a business coach or consultant if they can help you it’s important to understand who you really are.

Let me share what I mean: I don’t help business owners. I help entrepreneurs. Most business owners don’t know the difference and so therefore they are getting the wrong people helping them.  Many entrepreneurs don’t know the difference either and that’s why they are upset when they have an experience with a business. Business coaches can’t help entrepreneurs.

The real challenge is that traditional business is not the same as entrepreneurship. Let’s share some differences: (Neither of these are in any particular order)

Traditional Businesses

• Typically use traditional methods to generate business
• Typical set up as a brick & Mortar location
• Are biased towards real world connections, marketing and relationships versus online
• Often have employees
• They often have restrictive business rules
• Often there is higher regulation
• Higher bar and cost of entry
• Slower to change and adapt
• Focused on long term strategy and wealth development
• They often provide or create the asset or service they sell themselves
• They are held back by geographical boundaries
• Their growth is measured through structure (ie. Number of locations or number of staff)
• Organization and structure is the fundamental skill
• They operate according to business hours
• Most are not concerned about their passion and purpose during business hours
• They do their best efforts in marketing (typically a shotgun approach and within their community)
• Generally maintains normal business hours
• As a business owner they are more of an operator than an entrepreneur
• Customers found through traditional marketing, direct mail, in-person networking, sharing of business cards
• Often tries to develop alone
• Learning is to keep pace with marketplace (Versus an entrepreneur who learns to set the pace)
• Most businesses are concerned about a local or regional market

 

Even just by looking at some of the things above you can imagine what most business coaches are equipped to teach you. They are fantastic and effective at sharing strategies and systems that thrive under these circumstances.

Let’s take moment to look at the entrepreneur.

Modern Entrepreneurs

• Fast and skinny (what I mean by this is that they are Fast: flexible and can make things happen much faster than tradition business. Skinny: They don’t have a high overhead of cost and they can shift fast without a lot of retooling or effort.)
• They typical use technology in more effective ways
• They have fewer rules that are more flexible
• Often there is less regulation
• Lower bar of entry
• More adaptable to ideas and change
• Able to take advantage of shorter term payoffs
• Does not have normal business hours
• Marketing is directly focused and little is wasted
• Understands the power of systems and delegation
• Mobile
• Entrepreneurs understand the importance of virtual assistances, remote teams, work for hire or creative employment agreements
• Entrepreneurs understand how to create Joint Ventures, Affiliate partners and strategic alliances
• Growth through systems rather than structure
• Sales is an essential skill (versus business where if you take out a big enough ad in the yellow pages or elsewhere people may come to your location -sales skills secondary)
• Entrepreneurs understand the power of attraction marketing and influence selling
• Entrepreneurs thrive on their passion and purpose daily
• Most entrepreneurs don’t have business cards (they use social media)
• Vision led
• Very connected to other entrepreneurs (more likely to connect to peers for support, advice or learning)
• Seeking out and engaging in trends
• Entrepreneurs understand the power of positioning and influence
• Entrepreneurs seek a global reach and are minimally concerned about local or regional markets
• Entrepreneurs understand the power of collaboration
• Entrepreneurs understand the power of leverage
• Entrepreneurs understand the importance of community
• Entrepreneurs define scaling and grow by the number of transactions they create not by the size of their structure

A simple glance over these two lists reveals several important differences between an entrepreneur and a traditional business owner.

As stated earlier most business coaches int he marketplace today are wonderful at supporting people in the traditional business model. They understand, often through their own experience how business unfolds. The big challenge with this however is that they expect your business to unfold in the same way.

Traditional businesses are barely sustainable in the current marketplace, but they do not thrive. Traditional business in todays marketplace are always in a constant uphill battle for marketshare against those who are operating by the entrepreneur rules.

Before you choose someone to mentor, coach or consult your business it is essential you understand where they would like to take you.  A recent survey conducted by Entrepreneur Magazine revealed that a staggering 87.8% of business coaches in the marketplace were teaching and sharing outdated strategies and were able to produce only marginal growth. The same research also determined that many business programs offered through schools and universities performed only slightly better at 71.2%.

The programs that utilizes the support of other entrepreneurs and peer learning had a success rate that generated significant positive outcomes in relation to the investment required. Moral of the story: Make sure you know what support your re actually seeking and then confirm that the one seeking to help you is qualify to do so.

Over the last two decades Douglas Vermeeren has conducted extensive first hand research into the lives of the worlds top achievers. He has the success strategies of top business leaders from Nike, Reebok, Fruit of the Loom, FedEx, KFC, United Airlines, Microsoft, Disney and others to share with you. ABC television and FOX Business refer to him as the modern Day Napoleon Hill.  He has authored 3 books in the Guerrilla marketing series and is the CEO of Entrepreneur of Influence . He is a regular featured expert on FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV, CBC, The Huffington Post, NY Daily News and others.

Entrepreneur of Influence – Business Success tip #3. – Douglas Vermeeren

You’ve heard that you earn to the level you learn. While this is true it’s incomplete. Not only are you required to learn, but you must implement and grow. You must become better than you’ve ever been before in order to receive benefits that you’ve never experienced.

One of the most powerful things that you must become is a master delegator. This principle multiplies your ability to expand. You must learn to learn from others and also use their talents, skillsets, knowledge, networks and resources. The strongest businesses are built by those who understand that expansion comes through collaboration and implementation.

 

 

#entrepreneurofinfluence #douglasvermeeren #entrepreneur #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #businesscoach #businesscoaching #1businesscoach #topbusinesscoach #businesstips #entrepreneurcoach

7 Laws of Influence – Entrepreneur of Influence, Douglas Vermeeren

The 7 laws of Influence – Entrepreneur of Influence, Douglas Vermeeren

By Douglas Vermeeren

(The following is a brief summary of the 7 laws of Influence as taught in the Entrepreneur of Influence program by Douglas Vermeeren.)

Influence and attention are two of the most prized assets that any company can acquire in todays marketplace. Without these assets companies drift into obscurity and the sea of sameness and as a result are left to fight amongst their competitors in price and marketing battles that can’t be won. 

Influence is not just about the number of likes, shares, subscribers and thumbs up that you can acquire on a post or profile page. Influence is about the ability to become relevant to those that matter to your business.  Influence is about becoming a company that people care about.  The following are a brief overview of the 7 laws and things you can do that will make your more influential in your niche and will help you receive the benefits and opportunities that come with being more influential.

Law 1 – Serve the Specific – Most entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to serve masses of people and to try please everyone. The best and most influential entrepreneurs know that influence begins with serving a select group at a high level. Focus is an essential element for beginning influence. Influence starts with becoming valuable to a specific group of people. Specialists in all fields are worth more to those they serve. You only become valuable as you go deeper into a specific niche. Cover less ground, but cover the ground you have in a better way. What are you doing to become valuable to a specific group?

Law 2 – Find Relevance – Influence is all about connection.  Connection comes through being of service in a way that matter most to those you serve. Your personal agenda does not matter and your audience can certainly sense when you are self-serving. Authenticity, constant learning and connection to the individual is an essential part of becoming and staying relevant. What are you doing to become more relevant to those you serve?

Law 3 – Accessibility – In todays marketplace those who are involved personally in their brand are the most influential. Are you involved in conversations with those you serve in real time? Do those you serve feel as though they know you and are acknowledged? If you consider the most influential entrepreneurs in todays marketplace their tribe feels as though they have a relationship with that person. What can you do to become more authentically connected to those in your audience?

Law 4 – Speed – We live in a world where people expect to be acknowledged and receive what they want instantly. This concept of speed has not only created a desire to have what we want now, but also an expectation that we can receive it in the way we wish. Speed therefore, is not just about timing, it is about flexibility as well. Entrepreneurs today are expected to be able to support their communities quickly and with flexibility. Influence requires trust. Trust is developed by consistent delivery. And when you deliver faster and more flexibly than others in your niche your influence grows exponentially. How can you be faster and more flexible than others in your niche?

Law 5 – Premium Exchange – We often hear entrepreneurs talking about the importance of creating a fair exchange of value. (More on this another time) I find that most do not understand what that even means. However even if they did, it is not enough. They must create scenarios where prospects and those they serve receive a premium exchange. In fact, the exchange needs to deliver higher value to the others in their niche. When they do it gives their tribe incentive to be more loyal to the brand and help it grow. How can you create more value for your audience than anyone else?

Law 6 – Build Community – A community is a group of people with similar values, beliefs, desires and opinions. When people feel as though they are part of something important they tend to care about it, promote it, support it and even make sacrifices for it. Recently a friend told me about how he woke up early and stood outside in the snow to get tickets for a concert to a favorite band.Your prospects will make the same kind of efforts when they feel this sense of ownership.  When the are truly part of a community they will almost feel a sense of betrayal when they do not support you. In a sense, it is genuinely like belonging to a family. How are you currently building and supporting your community?

Law 7 – Leverage possibilities- There is a reason why this law arrives as the final step in the laws of influence. Leverage is utilizing the support, networks, knowledge, money, time and other resources from other influencers or high level partners. However, if there is one thing that is clear about leverage is that those worth partnering with will not partner with you until you can demonstrate value to them also. To use leverage at high levels you must demonstrate competence at the previous laws of influence. Who can you work with to create power and influence through leverage?

Influence is not something you either have or you don’t. It grows by degrees. As your level of influence rises you will see more opportunities unfold for you. Your profits will rise. Your name and brand recognition will improve. You will be considered an authority or expert in your niche. Your sales will arrive more from inbound inquiries rather than outbound campaigns. 

Get started now to look for ways you can improve your influence today.

 

Over the last two decades Douglas Vermeeren has conducted extensive first hand research into the lives of the worlds top achievers. He has the success strategies of top business leaders from Nike, Reebok, Fruit of the Loom, FedEx, KFC, United Airlines, Microsoft, Disney and others to share with you. ABC television and FOX Business refer to him as the modern Day Napoleon Hill.  He has authored 3 books in the Guerrilla marketing series and is the CEO of Entrepreneur of Influence . He is a regular featured expert on FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV, CBC, The Huffington Post, NY Daily News and others.

3 Morning Rituals from an Entrepreneur of Influence that you’ve never heard… Douglas Vermeeren

Entrepreneur of Influence and Effective meetings

By Douglas Vermeeren

Meeting are required for operating an effective meeting. Some of these meeting swill be with potential clients, hiring people to help and support your business, potential partnerships and joint ventures and to train your staff to implement new strategies and take over jobs you need to delegate. Whatever the purpose of the meetings they need to be effective if your business is going to thrive.

For those of you familiar with our Entrepreneur Influence program you will know that I had the chance to observe and learn first hand from more than 400 of the worlds top achievers. Some of the companies whose leaders I was privileged to learn from included FedEx, nike, Fruit of the Loom, Uber, UGG boots, Disney, JW Marriott and others. In this relationship of learning I was able to observe how they prepared for and participated in meetings.

The following suggestions will help you to make your meeting more effective and valuable for you:

1) All meetings should have a clear outlined purpose. One of the top achievers that learned from stated it this way, “We don’t attend meetings without a purpose and we don’t attend unprepared.” Speaking to the point of purpose first, all meetings must have an objective. I see many entrepreneurs who will accept and participate in nearly any meeting that any one wants to have. This included meetings with a client. Many small business owners and entrepreneurs take meetings too easily and too quickly. They meet with anyone who could be a potential client or relationship without qualifying that individual and without determining a purpose for the meeting.

Everyone in the meeting should be aware of and in harmony with the purpose. The more all involved are moving in the same direction and with the same conviction the more powerful and effective your meetings will be.

If you come to the meeting in a careless and casual way your results will be the same way.

You can’t create results without creating a purpose.

2) All meetings should be timely — What I mean by this is that all meetings should be at the right time and have a time limit. Firstly, what I mean by the right time is that meetings should be in their proper sequence and when those in the meeting are in a position to act on things. Part of this can be described as qualifying. For example, you wouldn’t meeting with a customer who is not ready to make a decision. But I also see many entrepreneurs who meet with potential services even though they are not yet in a position to hire those services. They claim they are just doing research. Why would you research services in an ever changing marketplace if you are not ready to act. Research when you are ready. Have meetings when you are ready to take action.

Another important consideration is to take the appropriate time to have your meeting. As I interviewed the worlds top business achievers I had one of these leaders teach me this lesson in a unique way. When I first approached him I asked if I could have fifteen minutes of his time. I believed that asking for less time would make it more likely that he would say yes to meet with me.

I was surprised that when I showed up for our meeting he placed a stop watch on the table and indicated he would measure our fifteen minutes. Thankfully I was prepared and the timing worked. After the conclusion of our fifteen minutes this individual thanked me for being on time and commented that I had earned his respect to be able to qualify for future meetings.

In a future meeting we talked about time. He pointed out something very interesting to me. He observed that most people when they meet with a client or group meeting they feel a need to have it be at least an hour. He further pointed out that this was a pattern we grew accustomed to through our time in school,. The teacher told us it took one hour to learn math or social studies and so therefore that’s what we think it takes. And now when we meet with people we automatically assume it takes the same. When people plan on meeting for an hour they fill up an hour.

He then asked me to think back over our fifteen minute meetings and point out how much more we had been able to get accomplished because we were focused.

In all our business activities we are training people how to treat us and respond to our business and brand. How you use your time in meetings is a powerful teacher.

3)All effective meetings require preparation — Determine ahead of time what you would like your outcomes to be, your objectives, your questions and what you would like to have taught. Make sure you consider all possible questions and difficulties. As I observed and worked with the top business leaders mentioned about I found it interesting that their meetings were rarely brainstorming sessions to consider questions that they were paying other people to come up with solutions for. Most of the time these meetings were session where people presented their findings and answers they had already prepared and thought about.

As we work with top entrepreneurs and train them for success we encourage the same patterns. When you meet with a client you should have already considered their questions, challenges and objections. You should have answers to these that make sense. This is what will position you as the expert. No one wants to hire a brainstorming partner. They all want resources they can trust and benefit from. The more you can demonstrate competence in your relationship the more trust and confidence you will earn.

In addition, when it is time to meet with someone for the purposes of hiring, partnering or joint venturing the more clarity you have around what you need and can offer and how you will support and train that individual the more likely success is in the end.

While there is more more that could be said about meetings these are three of the most important things to get you started. Remember never take a meeting unless it has the potential to reward you for your time and effort and move your business forward.

Over the last two decades Douglas Vermeeren has conducted extensive first hand research into the lives of the worlds top achievers. He has the success strategies of top business leaders from Nike, Reebok, Fruit of the Loom, FedEx, KFC, United Airlines, Microsoft, Disney and others to share with you. ABC television and FOX Business refer to him as the modern Day Napoleon Hill. He has authored 3 books in the Guerrilla marketing series and is the CEO of Entrepreneur Influence . He is a regular featured expert on FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, CTV, CBC, The Huffington Post, NY Daily News and others. Come listen to the Podcast Entrepreneur of Influence for more business ideas and support!

Douglas Vermeeren – Decisions and taking the easy road

#douglasvermeeren #dougvermeeren #personalpowermastery

What are people saying about Business Networker?

Several entrepreneurs have recently been invited inside the new and upcoming social networking site for Business owners, entrepreneurs and business innovators. The following are what they discovered in using Business Networker:

In addition here are some written comments about Business Networker:

“Business Networker is helping me find my perfect strategic alliance partners. It’s exciting to be part of this premium community full of qualified, serious business owners… and the way they have combined commerce, business networking and CRM is pure genus!” – Bevan Bird, Connection Coach

“I’m so excited to be utilizing Business Networker for my organization. Business Networker is just what I need to take my business to the next level, and next level for me means global!” – Karen L. Walker, Rodan + Fields Dermatologists Independent consultant

“Business networker has revolutionized the way we do business online. The doors of opportunity have been blown wide open with the ability to connect with other business owners, create mastermind groups, search for qualified clients and leads for products all in one place. Business Networker is simply amazing. I cannot recommend it enough!” _ David Dyer, CEO market resources

“Business  Networker is the paradigm shift in which all businesses have been waiting for. It is the forefront of combining business with social media. We are in full contact with all customers and other businesses in one simple platform. It manages all aspects of business in one central place. Talk about Linkedin on steroids.” – Melissa Macky & Melissa Sterling, Empowerpreneurs!

 

“I have no doubt that Business Networker will grow into a giant powerhouse that will connect best service providers with the best leaders.” – Andre Mincov, Lawyer, Trademark Factory

For a FREE 30 day trial of Business Networker to see how Business Networker can help your business go to http://www.BusinessNetworker.com

New Guerrilla Achiever coaching program announced – Make money as a trainer!

Guerrilla Achiever

The Guerrilla series is the #1 Best selling business series of all time! The Guerrilla series is by far the most trusted business book series of all time. Well-known for providing practical, proven and powerful strategies for growing business and individuals. The Guerrilla series has been translated into more than 62 languages and has old more than 22,000,000 copies worldwide.

Now it’s your chance to get involved and profit from 

the success of Guerrilla Achiever as a certified trainer!

About Guerrilla Achiever!

Guerrilla Achiever is the first personal development book in the Guerrilla series by Jay Conrad Levinson & Douglas Vermeeren. Douglas Vermeeren, the principle author has conducted extensive research over the last decade into the lives of more than 400 of the world’s top achievers. You may realize that this was the same journey that Napoleon Hill embarked on to create his landmark books Think and Grow Rich and The Laws of Success. In Napoleon’s day he studied the behaviors of innovators and inventors like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. A lot has changed and Guerrilla Achiever explores deeper into business models that didn’t yet exist in Napoleon’s day, but more importantly the research goes beyond behavior and explores habits, psychology, neuroscience and findings into success that are just now being understood. This means you will have the best cutting edge materials to teach your clients how to become a top achiever in the most effective ways possible. No other coaching program can offer what we do!

In this coaching program you will be trained to teach this material through direct support from Doug Vermeeren and his team.  The primary goal of this program is to help you become a profitable and successful coaching/ speaking business.

Additional Benefits of becoming a certified GA trainer

Affiliation with a recognized world-wide brand

Proven business coaching strategies

Regular Curriculum support for your coaching business

Regular Marketing support for your coaching business

Additional income opportunities for your coaching business

SPECIAL ADVANTAGE *** This training is approved for continuing education credits in many locations around the world* These credits are generally mandatory for all insurance sales people, financial planners, real estate brokers, mortgage brokers and other professionals.

And most of all GA certification provides a proven systems to 

increase your profits and grow your business! 

The number of trainers & coaches we are accepting in to this program will be limited. Specific geographical locations will be available on a first come basis. For more information on our next certification event near you call 1-877-393-9496 or email Rachel@douglasvermeeren.com