including 10 steps to boosting your self-belief, or “mana.”
by rob nixon
i’m continuing with the 12 critical traits on you becoming a better you, including self-belief … and failure. yes, failure!
more on strategy: 12 traits of a better you | how to calculate a value price | boost efficiency and your bottom line | 4 sales systems and some secret sauce | marketing must generate leads | be an ‘object of interest’ | marketing must be about sales | turn your knowledge into products | why clients really stay | 8 ways to build team engagement | how to create 4 new billable hours per day
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these are the next four traits that when implemented fully will serve you well on your quest to become the best business leader you can be.
i will explain the critical area and you are to score between 0 and 10 how you are on each of the critical areas. the scoring guide is below.
jump on a plane
i have the view that someone somewhere has done what i want to do. they could be in another city, state or even another country. wherever they are i want to find them. and i do find them. often that means jumping on a plane to go meet with them. i will respect their time and i will listen intently. the biggest compliment i can give is to implement what they told me and then write them a thank you note with what i have done.
most people i meet are not prepared to jump on a plane. they complain about the cost, the time and the hassle. yes, quality air travel in a good seat near the front of the plane can be costly! however, the benefits outweigh the costs. the person/company you are about to meet might be a world leader in your field. they may have some insights that could save you years of work and millions of dollars in mistakes.
i am a keen golfer and often random people say to me, “can i give you a tip?” my standard answer is no. unless you are a teaching professional who has runs on the board i am not going to listen to you. i want to learn and follow someone who has done it before, not a 15 handicapper who has read some magazines!
the person or company you seek may not be within driving distance of where you live. sometimes you need to jump on a plane to seek them out.
living large
my personal success mantra is “doing what i want, when i want, with whom i want in a manner i want.” the last point (manner i want) is all about me living my life the way i want to live it. that means i like to live large!
life is for enjoying and there are many things that make life that little bit more enjoyable. i like to fly business or first class on every flight. i like to sleep in 5-star hotels. i like a driver to pick me up wherever i travel to. i like good clothes/food/wine. i like to drive quality cars. i like to donate money to charity. i like to have a cool office in the coolest street in town. i even like to go glamping, glamour camping! i have a camping wine rack among other cool camping gadgets. that’s an example of the manner i like to live by.
when it comes to accountants living large, they may desire to live better but they have a big concern. the concern is, “what will my clients think?’”
many accountants have moved offices and had the customary office opening party. a client will make a smart remark that your fees are likely to go up now. or you’ll buy a new car and a client will comment that they now know why their bills are so high.
the vast majority of clients will not say anything, yet most will remember the client who made the smart comment. i think of it this way: what someone thinks of me is their business and it’s none of my business – it’s their business.
why not be proud of the fact that you are successful? i think people in the advisory space should be more successful than those they advise.
i came back from las vegas once after buying three pairs of really cool cowboy boots. i wore them out one night to a client function. one of my clients quipped, “oh, that’s where our fees are going.” i said yes, and thank you!
if you are living the life you want to live then score yourself a 10. if you are too afraid of your clients, mark a 1. it’s not about flaunting it. it’s about being proud of what you have achieved.
bucket loads of self-belief
my favorite maori (new zealand indigenous people) word is “mana,” pronounced “marrrna.” according to the online maori dictionary it means:
(noun) prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power, charisma – mana is a supernatural force in a person, place or object
i love this word. that person over there has mana. when they walk in the room they have presence, they command the room and they are in control. when they speak they speak with authority and charisma. they are influential in everything they do.
do you have mana? who do you know has mana? i think mana is what self-belief and self-esteem is all about. to succeed in business you need mana. you need to have self-belief and a high self-esteem problem.
i have a view that there are too many partners of accounting firms in the accounting profession. many partners are there for retention reasons, not good business reasons. i meet many partners who are overpaid client managers just doing the job they did before they became a partner. they have not stepped out of their comfort zone; they are not creating new business and new opportunities. even when they try to create some new business they are unsuccessful compared to others.
they are not doing this because they do not have the personal development, self-belief and confidence to be a super-success. most don’t have much mana!
here are my top 10 tips for increasing your mana. geez, i love that word!
- people you hang around with. if you want to be successful, hang around with successful people. it will rub off. it’s not about hanging around with the loud people. sometimes people who are overly talkative and loud are masking their own low self-esteem.
- material you absorb. what content are you reading/watching/listening to? there is a rich source of self-development material for free on the internet or, if you’re like me, you buy copious amounts of books and attend seminars every day.
- client successes. take a look at what you have done for your clients in the past. what have you helped them with? how have you made them successful? realize that without you they wouldn’t be what they are. you are amazing!
- team successes. how have you helped your team grow and develop? how are they better off since joining your firm? take the successful stories and relish in them!
- the way you dress. the old saying “the clothes maketh the man” is very true. how do you dress? you don’t have to be in $2,000 suits but a wardrobe makeover can make a world of difference.
- looking at your accomplishments. your career is littered with great successes. from awards to certificates to stories, letters and testimonials, how often do you reflect on what you have done? be proud of yourself and what you have accomplished to date.
- be happy in your own skin. the health and fitness industry is booming by telling people they are fat, unfit and about to die if they don’t do something about themselves – today. ok, if you are obese and a health risk then do something about it. but why not be happy just the way you are and live life well now?
- goals and affirmations. i have four pages on written beliefs, affirmations and energy state every day. i read it constantly to keep myself “up.”
- positive exterior. do you carry a smile on your face or a scowl? when someone asks you how you are, how do you reply? not bad, pretty good or ok – all negatives. why not reply with great, booming, enjoying myself or something more positive? and sometimes you have to fake it until you make it.
- self-talk. this is the big one. what do you say to yourself when there is no one around? is the chatter so negative that it stymies your development? does it make you fearful of the world? stop it.
self-belief is such a critical key to success. it’s not about being arrogant, just being sure of yourself. it’s time to get some more mana. wimps need not apply!
go ahead and score based on where you believe you are now versus where you want to be.
fail a lot
if you’re not failing you’re not growing! who knows where i got that from but it is true. to fail means you are having a go and you are trying new things.
i have tried so many things/ideas/processes/strategies/business models and i must say most have not worked. a few good ones work really well.
but i keep trying and never give up. i keep reading and learning and implementing. i have a healthy discontent for the present, which means i am always looking for the next idea. this drives my team crazy sometimes but they’re used to it by now.
one of my most epic fails of my business career was a few years ago when i had this idea that i could leverage my very successful coaching business around the world. i was looking for 100 licensees who could coach accountants in a geographical area. those coaches would each have 100 accountants as clients and in turn each accountant would have 100 small business clients signed up to our online software platform. we called it 1003. it was a flawless plan on the spreadsheet and the slide deck. it was a $100 million business opportunity (on paper) waiting to happen. we marketed the program and got 650 inquiries from around the world in a matter of weeks. we only needed 12 to validate and get going. we built a team to support it and spent a fortune on it platforms as well.
how could we fail? well, it did.
the reason it failed was because we were looking for the perfect type of person – someone who could hit the ground running with minimal training. if we lowered our standards then we could have found hundreds (as many franchise coaching companies have) who could potentially do the role. we weren’t prepared to do that. instead we canceled the program and moved on.
as a small business at the time (circa $5 million in revenue) it ended up costing $1.5 million. with no borrowings in the business that came out of cash flow. ouch, ouch and more ouch! we licked our wounds for a couple of years on that one. we had a go.
we failed and we learned. out of the exercise, we ended up with an awesome it platform (www.panalitix.com) that is now used by thousands of accountants around the world. so from failure there is sometimes a silver lining.
i find accountants do not fail enough because they do not do enough. they are too comfortable doing what they are doing. maybe if technology (software and robots – not kidding here btw) replaced accountants in the future you would be more active in trying new ideas.
where are you at on my annoying rating scale? if you are trying a lot and failing a lot (as long as you learn) then rate it a 10. otherwise score it lower.