Finish Strong. That’s my motto when I run. It’s my motto in business. I was going to start this blog with ‘I can’t believe that it’s November already‘ or ‘the year is flying by‘ but there really is no use writing such platitudes. The truth is that today is the 1st of November. We only have two months to do everything we can to finish strong and get our selves set up for 2017. 
As business owners, consultants, coaches, professional service agencies, we are responsible for growing and sustaining our businesses. And this time of year, I always put my ‘work on the business’ hat on once the marathon is over.
So even though I’m still celebrating my 5th Dublin marathon (here’s a fun photo of me collecting my medal on Sunday), I’m sharpening my pencils and getting into work. I’ve finished strong the last couple of years and it’s down to two reasons.
I wanted to share them with you today.
Finish Strong Ingredient 1: Focus
Decide what it is that you want to do. I focus on maximum three things – so whether it’s to get more sales from existing customers, new customers, create a new training programme, win an award, get press coverage in certain amount of papers, more traffic to the site, more conversions once there. The list of goals can be endless but in order to get maximum return, focus on three.
The Christmas season starts early and by middle to the end of December, people get tired. The nights are longer, the days are shorter so this does play on the mind. So don’t set too many goals. If you achieve your three, then set another one and work through them sequentially.
Finish Strong Ingredient 2: Commit to Action
I’m a procrastinator. My husband says I have the longest fingers in the world! I have to set deadlines and there is nothing like a goal with a deadline to encourage action. And do you know what I’ve found in the 10 years in business? You need to just turn up and DO something every day. Even if it’s only a small step toward your focused goal. Not every day can be super awesome with activities. Be easy on yourself – but do something every day toward your three focused goals.
And with all of that in mind, I’m going to run a mini-training programme which ties in with my love of days. (31 days to write better copy, a TEDx 31 day experiment). I’m going to do a 30 days Rock your Profits Programme, starting mid November. It’s going to be crazy reasonable but I want anyone providing a professional service – accountants, solicitors, coaches, consultants, marketers, insurance and more – to finish strong. I’ve worked with clients in this space for a long time and realise that they tend to focus on marketing first of the year, not at the end of the year.
I’m putting the training programme together – it’s going to be great.
If you want to finish strong, then check out the programme. It’s super affordable – perfect to get you through the year.
Finish strong – so you can truly enjoy end of the year celebrations.
