Life After the Vision Board Party
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So you went to a vision board party and you have a general idea of what you’re trying to accomplish.
Or maybe you’ve got a general picture in your mind of something that you’re trying to accomplish by you’re still stuck. How do you turn your vision into reality if you have ideas?
If you need a step by step action plan for how to make it happen. This article is for you. I’ve used this exact process to transition from a job in corporate America over 15 years ago into entrepreneurship.
I’ve used it to create a seven-figure earning business from scratch with my former business partners.
I’ve used it to build a six-figure coaching business from scratch, create and launch a membership program, create and launch a group coaching program, a private consulting system, write multiple books, become a paid keynote speaker, and become a sought after media expert.
Most importantly, I work from where I want, when I want, with whom I want at the price I decide. So I don’t share this information with you, the list of my accolades to be braggadocious, I share with you because it matters who you get your information from. If you’re trying to take success tips and strategies from someone who hasn’t accomplished what you’re trying to accomplish, then they would be a big waste of time. I’m just trying to make sure that you understand that this is the system that I have used to build a business that I love.
The Big Secret: Success Hacking
So here’s the secret. The big secret is you need to break down your Vision Board into one project at a time. Let’s say that you have this big beautiful vision board that you created at a vision board party and you’ve got a new horizon, a new idea of who you are and who you want to become, but you’re not sure how to actually make it a reality.
You’re feeling really inspired. But at the same time, you’re also feeling a little bit frustrated and maybe overwhelmed thinking about, “oh wow! this seems great on paper, but how do I actually make it happen?”
The secret is you’re going to do one project at a time and you’re going to do a process called success hacking. This is my term for it, success hacking.
Break Your Vision Down into Projects
Now the first step in it is break your vision down into projects and then pick a project and then find a benchmark of someone who is already doing that project successfully. For example, when I decided that I wanted to become a paid keynote speaker, I looked to find a keynote speaker in the women’s business empowerment space to model and her name is Ali Brown.
I started looking at how she was positioning herself in the marketplace, what tools she was using, did she have a big fancy website, was she using sales funnels. I started signing up for her lead magnets and her drip campaigns and getting on her email list and following her on social media and just taking note of how she was positioning herself and what tools she was using in order to get her her image and our brand and message out there.
Find a Benchmark
Find a benchmark. It’s a lot easier to accomplish things that other people have already accomplished. If you’re trying to recreate the wheel and do something or build something in your business that no other person has ever done before, it’s going to be a much harder road. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
Look to see who’s already doing this successfully and ask yourself, “what can I learn from where they have gone?”
Analyze How They Execute
Okay, so then you’re going to look at how they execute. Another example I have for you is when I wanted to write my latest book, the Boss Women Rock Book. I wanted the book to be part of my sales process and part of my sales funnel because the other books that I had previously written, were great resources and they were great guides for people that maybe couldn’t afford to pay my coaching or consulting fees or join my membership program.
Books are an amazing way of getting your ideas “out there,” but they also need to be part of your bigger sales and marketing process. I started to look at who was really doing this well, who was using a book as part of their sales funnel. I found a benchmark. Her name’s Kim Walsh Phillips. She’s in the NO BS Inner Circle Program that I’m also in. I looked at Kim’s book, I ordered her book, I started reading it and not just for content and ideas. She talks about Facebook, which is totally different than what I talk about. I didn’t look at just the content, but I looked at how the book was laid out and how she was plugging in her sales funnel links and how she was moving people into her Facebook group and how she was using social proof and interviews with her clients as part of her book too to help build her credibility. So that was really important.
Those are the first two steps. One: find a benchmark Two: analyze how they execute.
Find Your Edge
The third step is to look at what’s different about you related to your benchmark and how they execute.
You could do a SWOT analysis related to this. You could look to see what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses, where’s the opportunity, and how can you become a threat. So that’s how you find your difference or your edge.
Outline a Mini Marketing Plan
And then you apply the three M’s of attraction Marketing, Message, and Media. You just start to look at how you’re going to market this, you don’t create the entire marketing plan. This is important, because before you go build a project or decide that you’re going to be a keynote speaker or write a book or launch a group program or create a membership website, you need to see what’s different about it and ask “is there a need in the marketplace for this?”
You want to be able to make sure that you’ve got your market clearly identified, your unique messaging and your position, and in general what media platforms you’re going to use to promote this product because you don’t want to go spend $10,000 on a keynote speaker website or build out a big membership website if there’s no market for it. And if you don’t truly understand what problem it solves. So you have to do that first, do a little mini marketing strategy, like a one page marketing action plan. That will really save you a ton of time and a ton of money.
Okay. So now you’ve got your benchmark, you’ve got an example project that you’re going to use as a benchmark to hack their success and you found your unique difference or your edge. You have a general idea of how you’re going to market it. Now you need to create a SMART goal for yourself. And now a SMART goal is different from a regular goal.
Set a SMART Goal
Now, a non-SMART goal might be, I’m going to launch a book that helps me land clients. That’s too general. It’s not SMART. A SMART goal is specific, it’s measurable, it’s actionable, it’s results oriented and it’s timely.
You’re going to create a SMART goal for your book project.
“In the next 90 days, I’m going to write a book that becomes part of my sales process and publish the book on Amazon. It will bring me two new clients a week at $3500 each.”
All right, so that is a very, that’s a very specific goal versus “I’m going to write a book.”
Download the FREE 90-Day Action Planner
Inside the Boss Women Rock Rockstar Results Academy Facebook Group, I give you a free copy of a 90 day action plan that you can download as a spreadsheet. And you’ll that it’s really simple to use.
I don’t subscribe to the time management idea of writing to do lists. That doesn’t really work for me. What works for me is to create an action plan and put the actions into my calendar to make sure that I get those things done when they’re supposed to be done.
Now you can do the same thing. It’s really not that complicated when you think about it.
Remember: Good Enough is Good Enough
The final thought that I’ll leave you with is “good enough is good enough.”
Don’t wait until your project or your website is perfect in order to launch it. Get it out there in the marketplace and start getting feedback. Start seeing if it’s really going to help you move your business forward.
You can refine it over time. Don’t fall into the perfectionist trap and never really get your projects out into the world. People want to hear what you have to say. Someone right now on this planet is hoping, wishing, and praying for the solution to the problem that only you have.
This is really important work that you’re doing.
ACTION STEPS TO TURN YOUR VISION INTO REALITY:
- Break your vision down into individual projects.
- Find a benchmark for each project.
- Do an analysis to understand their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Find your competitive edge.
- Create a one-page marketing plan for the project.
- Set a SMART goal.
- Execute.
Do you have a big vision that you want to turn in to a reality? Apply for a complimentary 45-minute Business Breakthrough session with Jen DeVore Richter and unlock your Profit Potential.
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