Creating A Business You Want To Live With And How Listening To The Opinions Of Others Can Destroy Your Business Plans, Your Dreams And Your Budget

By: Sandi Krakowski

Making decisions is a part of doing business.

Knowing that you've made the best decision for your life and business, is something that many business owners, new or experienced, seem to struggle with, however. One key to making millions of dollars in your business and not having a nervous breakdown along the way is in holding steady to what you know to be true for your company and your life. This doesn't mean, however, that opinions won't abound.

Where success abounds, opinions do also abound.

Let's set the record on one very critical thing as we continue with this topic- coaching is not the art of giving someone your opinion. Any coach worth their weight in salt should be standing on a platform of expertise, so that when they are asked for their input, they have a vast variety of experiences, both good and bad, to draw from. This is why coaching with someone who is much farther down the path than you desire to be is so critical. Opinions on the other hand are merely that, someone's ideas and notions about any given topic. 

Opinions are not bad in and of themselves.

I once had a mentor try to convince me that my opinions and suggestions didn't matter and were actually what was holding me back. This is just a part-truth. Because as the CEO of my companies, my opinions and ideas have paid me millions of dollars. Not being willing to receive advise from someone else who has a proven track record can be a problem, however. Always questioning, doubting and arguing with someone who has a track record, that is a very different story and is about something deeper than just opinions. That's called not being teachable. A teachable person can have very successful and profitable opinions and suggestions. The old school notion that some of those Ponzi Scheme companies used to use on people to program them to dumb down and just obey directions has made some people believe that opinions and suggestions are bad as a means of power. 

This doesn't mean that we seek opinions and we take heed to every one given. Opinions of others can be completely detrimental to what you do.  It takes discernment on the part of the business owner to know the difference.  Discernment, by the way, is a key factor to long term success.

As we've built our company during the last 17 months I can painfully tell you that not a week goes by without someone suggesting something for us to do. Whether the advice comes from other coaches, business people, clients, friends and even family members, everyone seems to know what Sandi Krakowski should be teaching, would be great at, should be doing in the marketplace and would make an 'huge profit' at. I say that with a smile because most of these people are really great people… and many of their opinions are valid and worthwhile!  The only thing is the time line creates a devastation if I don't operate with discernment. 

The time line in which you execute things is also very critical for your business.

For example, if you're on track with a marketing calendar that is working, to become unfocused could be very damaging. If your clients are responding, momentum is increasing and you know what you'll be doing for the next 90-120 days because you mapped it out…. this is NOT the time to listen to someone who says, "Oh my gosh you need to do this it would be so successful and spot on for what you do!"  Rather, if it sounded great, this is something to write down in your journal and consider at a later time.  Personally, I wouldn't write it on my whiteboard or my easel because my "personal tendency and weakness" would be to start feeling guilty every time I look at it. Rather, to stay on track with what is working  the thoughts would be written down… put away, and then reviewed quarterly from my journal.

There's another set of opinions however that you should be completely ignoring.

Let me shine some light on two groups of people who could prove to be very dangerous for your business. Disclaimer: it is not my position that if anyone close to you resides in this category you should cut off the relationship. But it is wise to be very careful who you listen to when you get to implementing things into your business.

Group number one- These are what we'll call information overload addicts.  They are people like myself, born with a question mark on their forehead and they love to consume information. So far so good…. but the tragic epidemic sets in when they make it their full time profession to get some sort of self-esteem fix by giving others suggestions, ideas and opinions in things they are neither experienced in or even good at for that matter. Sometimes, this group of people could be referred to as Regurgitation Hordes. They regurgitate that which they horde, mainly information. This one group alone could confuse you, side track your efforts and cost you tremendous amounts of time and money if you're not careful. Best to carry Information Overload Addict and Regurgitation Horde repellant with you wherever you go.

Mark my words, those who ARE MAKING (I didn't say have in the past) but are currently making six or seven figures online are NOT EVER readily available for everyone who needs them. I cringe when I hear someone say, "This coach is so amazing she'll give me input on a Saturday night at 11:00 pm!" I want to cry back, "If she's that available it's most likely she's not that successful!"  Those who are seeing the kind of success you want in business are NEVER readily available and some of them, depending on how big their business is, are not available at all!

Free advice, coaching, 24/7 help and on call more than an ATM machine is not the sign of someone to follow.

So my best advise for you today is this- consider the source. Carefully.

Group number two- These can be people who are good at what they do and maybe you've met them in a mastermind or a group somewhere. Some of them are even great coaches! But here's the clincher, their business model is very different than yours. Recently I was in a private strategy session with a VIP client and he was telling me how people were pressuring him to release his high-end coaching information as a $10 per month product. Doesn't sound so bad from first glance, but let's examine this a bit further. The advise he was getting was to take what he typically was charging $ 100,000 per client for (this is a very exclusive business, the information typically earns the clients millions of dollars!) and and to step into some form of continuity program where he could get thousands and thousands of people paying $10 who would most likely forget about it after they paid it.  The logic was, you'll get easy money, no big deal! 

Let's examine this in "Sandi"s Marketing Science Lab" shall we?

I am not against $10 continuity programs. Nor am I against offering bite sized pieces of one's expertise. I am profusely and adamantly, however, against taking someone's expertise and making is so palatable that any Tom, Dick or Jane would now want it. That is NOT a long term vision for one's business! Creating something that everyone wants is not only faulty wisdom, but it reminds me of the dumbing down we see taking place in schools these days. Create a program that anyone can pass, so that our test scores look better. Dumbing down and making yourself loved by all will not result in the business you want to live with and the dream you've always craved. It will cause you to feel pimped. Sure, your launch might be huge but you'll feel horrible after awhile!

A low price continuity program is great for businesses that are offering beginner steps to certain clients. It is not, however, something that you can build a plumline on. Even if you have 60,000 people on your list and 250,000 people following you on Twitter, eventually you will have a harder than heck time getting anyone to pay full price for your products again. Now you're stuck in low price balling forever, or reinvent yourself. We see this a lot, don't we? 

Conversely…. you need to be cautious you're not trying to overprice your items, either.

This is some of the advise we've received through the last several months that we've built A Real Change. Some well meaning direct response marketers have advised that I create some $ 5000 and some $ 8000 and even some $ 1995 per month for 6 months products. These are not coaching programs, nor are they even VIP days that could triple your results! They were suggesting that we create for our clients a bunch of very high end Ever Green Products. My only response to this nonsense was this – "My clients are not in the habit of paying that much money for our items. We are fairly priced and they get results. To throw a curveball like that would only be selfish on my part it would be CONTRARY to what we've come to be respected and honored for."

Before you send me hatemail, here is another disclaimer- I am not against high end products or Ever Green Items. Truth be told, I've spent over $30,000 this year on such items just to be aware of what is in the marketplace from other companies and to be quite honest, because I gave into some insanely good copywriting! 🙂

But here's the deal…. you, as the CEO and owner of YOUR company are going to have to know what is best for you, your life and your business.

It is so utterly critical for you to know who your client is, what you have to offer, what you can and cannot charge for the services or products that you offer and then…… the Superhuman, Superhero trait that so many business owners are lacking- good old fashioned Stick To It GRIT!

This is why the biggest factor of long term success is not only knowing what you're going to do with your marketing, but also, how to stick to your plan and make millions of dollars long term. We are so passionate about you reaching this level of success that we've completely rewritten our schedule, reengineered our coaching programs and put into place something that will surely rock the entire internet world. Well.. maybe not the entire internet world, but you know…. I'm a copywriter, I couldn't help it. 😉  It will revolutionize how you do business online!

The "Get It Done And Build It Long Term" combination of Sandi Krakowski and PJ McClure in our 2012 Your Best Business Coaching program. 

NOW is the time for you to begin thinking about what you want your 2012 to look like, what you want your life to look like and what kind of business you can live with. We are here to serve you with everything we've got! The only thing left to consider is this. Are you ready to give it all you've got!