Over the last couple of months I’ve been reading a book called “The Goal” after having it referred to me by my friend and colleague, Aaron Parsons.

Now “The Goal” is actually a book about the manufacturing industry which is written like a novel.

But it has had a huge impact on my thinking around business.

Why?

Because it talks about bottlenecks.

Bottlenecks are those things which hold you up in business… and they stop you from moving forward because unless you shift the bottlenecks nothing else can move forward.

For instance, in the manufacturing process a bottleneck might be that you need to have one piece before you can add another piece on top of the first piece.

And until you do that, you cannot move any further down the path. So if that piece hasn’t arrived yet, you are dead in the water.

In a nutshell, when one part of the process gets overloaded, it holds every other part of the process off.

In my business, I am usually the bottleneck.

I am the overloaded part.

And if I cannot get one thing finished, then my suppliers cannot move onto the next part.

For instance, if I cannot get an hour to complete the sales copy for a new web site I am creating for myself, my web designer cannot get onto creating it – sometimes FOR WEEKS.

So what’s the answer?

Take the load off yourself and start outsourcing. Outsource everything that doesn’t need to be done by you and can be done more effectively by someone else.

And think of everything that’s eating into your daily routine which is causing you to become the bottleneck.

And then get someone else to do it.

However sometimes my suppliers can be the overloaded part. And they can stop things moving forward. For instance, if your web designer takes months to do a job which could have been done in a few days, then that stops you from moving forward.

Start thinking of your processes like a manufacturing firm would. Look at where you breakdown, where you bottleneck, at what holds you back from going to the next level.

And then do everything in your power to get rid of the bottlenecks.

For most business owners I know, the bottleneck lies in getting more customers.

They don’t have enough customers which stops them from expanding their business… living a better lifestyle… taking more holidays… employing more staff so they can take the load off themselves and spend more time with their kids, etc.

But the good news is you can learn how to solve this problem at http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com

I remember attending an Anthony Robbins seminar when I was about 16. I begged and pleaded to go and eventually my parents gave in and my mother and I went to Darling Harbour for the weekend to check the “BIG MAN” out.

Fantastic event. And I enjoyed it so much I ended up promoting Mr. Robbins several years later.

After that, I had learnt what I feel I needed to learn and haven’t attended any of his events since.

But he was someone who influenced my thinking and progress along the way.

Now what most people don’t realise is that Anthony Robbins mentor was a guy named Jim Rohn.

And you might have heard that Jim Rohn passed away yesterday.

That made it a sad day.

Over recent years, we have lost some true legends.

Gary Halbert in the world of copywriting.

Michael Jackson in the world of music.

Patrick Swayze in the world of acting.

Christopher Reeve, the world’s Superman.

And now Jim Rohn in the world of motivation.

So I thought I would dedicate today’s email to Jim Rohn, the father of motivational speaking and the guy who has influenced many thousands of people over the years.

And what better way of doing so than by talking about one of his famous quotes:

“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”

After all, that’s the way it can feel in business sometimes, can’t it?

You find it tough to get customers.

Client don’t pay on time.

Jobs fall through.

Employees leave you in the lurch.

The reality is business can be very, very tough at times.

I can remember my first year in business… wondering where the money was going to come from every single week… living from hand to mouth… it all felt like an uphill struggle.

I got locked out of one business.

I almost got kicked out of my apartment.

I sometimes felt like throwing in the towel.

But I was inspired by mentors like Jim Rohn to keep going, even when I felt like giving up.

I knew that if I could just get that piece of knowledge… if I could master the art of getting more customers… of getting my message across… then I would succeed.

And a lot has changed since then.

But let’s face it. Business never gets any easier.

Those who succeed just get better.

They put in the discipline…

“For every disciplined effort, there is a multiple reward” – Jim Rohn

They manage their time because they understand that

“Either you run the day or the day runs you” – Jim Rohn

They take time to learn something new every day because

“Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune” – Jim Rohn

They start to give more, understanding that

“Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process” – Jim Rohn

They learn to have discipline. After all…

“Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion” – Jim Rohn

They ask for what they want. Think about it…

“Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don’t go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least take a bucket so the kids won’t laugh at you” – Jim Rohn

And the understand the power of ideas, because…

“Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.” – Jim Rohn

Note: if you need more ideas on getting more customers, you can find plenty of them at http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com

Yesterday was the passing of a legend.

Someone once said “when you are born you enter the world crying while everyone else is rejoicing and when you die hopefully you have lived such a life that everyone will be crying while you are rejoicing.”

And I believe Jim Rohn lived such a life.

With the festive season upon us, there is going to be a lot more junk food for us to feed our bodies over the coming weeks.

Chocolate.
Cakes.
Pies.
Pizzas.
Lamingtons.

You name it and you can probably eat it.

And one of the things about junk food is it feels SO GOOD as we are chewing… enjoying the taste… and allowing it to pass into our bodies.

But there are side effects, aren’t there?

We feel like crap afterwards. We stack on the weight. And we leave our body more open for disease. Not to mention the long term effects which sugar (some people refer to it as white poison) has on our bodies.

Bottom line is 99% of the population will still feast on all the goodies this Xmas despite all of this.

I have certainly had my fair share over the last couple of weeks.

So why do we do it?

One reason: short term pleasure.

You see, the results we achieve short term are often very different than what we achieve long term.

For instance…

- It feels so good to sleep in. But it also means you miss out on being the early bird that catches the worm and giving your business the extra time it needs to thrive.

- It’s always attractive to get distracted when we are focusing on something important at work. It gives us short term pleasure to check our emails, jump onto facebook or whatever.

But it also means we miss out on the long term benefits of focusing on the things which are most important.

- It gives us a greater deal of short term pleasure not to exercise and just sit in front of the television instead.

But the long term benefits of exercise are well documented. As for the long term benefits of sitting in front of the TV????

So which are you going to choose?

Short term pleasure and long term pain.

Or short term pain and long term pleasure.

The two do not always go hand in hand.

For most people, there is a certain amount of pain in investing money to improve their education and knowledge through programs such as http://www.morecustomersmadeeasy.com

But I’m sure you’ll agree the long term effect of not having enough customers is certainly more painful.