Onward Nation

Entrepreneur, business coach and business journalist. President of Marty Wolff Business Solutions.

It’s all about the fundamentals. Observe the practice, write down your goals, and try to review them on a regular basis. Get your heart and mind behind your goals. ONWARD!

A morning routine initiated by a brief prayer. Immediately after prayer, Marty reviews his goals, creates a concise to-do list, and continually checks his progress throughout the day.

Success at a young age gave Marty a sense of invincibility. He decided to go into a struggling retail business with the idea of reinventing the organization. He ultimately failed by hanging on too long.

“To thrive in the current business environment you have to read, keep learning, and continually absorb information to feed the mind.”

“You know you young guys think it gets easier. It doesn't. It just changes over time.”

“Financial systems, financial accountability platforms, and systems that help an individual formulate a better understanding of financial projections.”

Share the big picture within your corporation, get everyone rowing in the same direction, and implement internal systems to spread your vision.

An individual can exceed expectations by being a great team member.

1. “Gut check.” Why are you doing what you're doing?
2. Ask for help. Don’t try to do it all on your own.

• [email protected]
• http://martywolffbusinesssolutions.com/

Stacy Tuschl is a speaker, business coach, and the owner of The Academy of Performing Arts in Wisconsin. She is the author of the forthcoming book, Is Your Business Worth Saving?, where she reveals proven strategies for pulling entrepreneurs out of a rut and launching them toward business success.

Do everything you can to prepare for tomorrow before you go to bed tonight!

Delegate -- but -- follow-up to check in on progress without micro-managing -- by scheduling a series of specific, regularly occurring checkpoint meetings each week.

Stacy tells her story of trying to keep her head above water at the time her business began to grow quickly -- so she hired several people without having a plan or management team in place -- all of which compounded in more problems. She was forced to learn how to onboard, train, and delegate...quickly!

“The preparation behind your performance.”

“Things are never as hard as they look.”

“Hire an assistant immediately”...someone who can do all of the $10 an hour jobs so you can focus on accomplishing your most vital priorities each day.

Set up and schedule a consistent rhythm of checkpoint meetings -- and then train your team to wait until the meetings to provide feedback all at once so it can be dealt with all at once.

Be a self-starter. But don’t ask questions -- instead -- raise questions. As a business owner, you should hire people who are smarter and more skilled than you for your various departments and then ask them to self-start projects.

1. “Say no a lot” and protect your schedule and only say “yes” to amazing opportunities.
2. Find a coach or mentor right away to help bring the best out of you (and Stacy outlines an excellent recipe for how to find the right mentor).

• Go to StacyTuschl.com to get details about her forthcoming book, weekly video blog, and training programs.
• Two of Stacy’s favorite productivity resources:
  • ODesk.com
  • Elance.com

Speaker, Author, Successful CEO and Student of the Game of Business. Founder/CEO of MyEmployees, a 26 year-old firm in the Top 1% Worldwide in the Employee Engagement and Recognition industry.

Take your skill set, and the skill sets of your team, to the next level by reading every day. What started as 30-minutes a day has morphed into three to four hours. This recipe has resulted in David being able to build an incredible team and he now takes 25 weeks of vacation a year. ONWARD!

Get up early and then jump start your day with prayer and thoughtful learning while everything is quiet and the distractions are minimal.

David, with full transparency, shares the story of when two people (a family member and close friend) copied David’s business. David battled through the betrayal, the lost sales, and the competitive struggles. It forced him to create a revolutionary sales strategy, which ultimately won his business $3 million in new sales.

“Tap minds that are greater than your own.”

“You don’t have a great business unless you have a great team.” David shares a specific recipe for honoring and recognizing employees consistently.

Read, study, and apply the systems described in The E-myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber. Onward Nation -- get your free Audible version of E-myth Revisited here!

Learn together -- with your team. David describes the massive ROI and teamwork his company has generated through the “Book Club” at his company, MyEmployees.

Demonstrate how you want to be better...every day.

1. Hire slow and fire fast. Don’t make the mistake of keeping an employee on your team who is not a cultural fit -- even if they are a high performer.
2. Constantly look for more and more ways to add value to your clients.

• Reach David here.
• Find MyEmployees here.
• Get a free chapter of David’s award-winning and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Book, Built to Lead, here.

Bonus: Get a free Kindle version and companion workbook to Built to Lead when you buy a copy of the book from Amazon. Just email David at: Davidlong @ toptenmanager dot com with the subject line: “Send Kindle Version”.

ReLaunch – Become Known in Your Niche – podcasts and resources to inspire entrepreneurial confidence, maximize visibility and promote business growth. Founders Joel and Dr. Pei.

Technique learned from Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS Magazine -- schedule a “90-minute Jam Sessions” to work on your most vital priorities.

Consistently working out / fitness has been a game-changer because it provides the energy to carry out what needs to be done.

Joel produced eight podcasts before The Relaunch Show took off. All of those lessons of what not to do contributed to Relaunch becoming the massive success it is today. But it took determination to work through those painful lessons learned in online marketing, business systems, and how to build a strategy to reach the right audience.

Business owners need to master themselves by learning their strengths, features, talents, and skills so they can move their business from A to B.

The power of “Success Vitals” learned from Darren Hardy during his live High Performance Summit in La Jolla, California. We need to zero in like a laser beam in order to maximize our result outcomes.

Developing a good understanding of what content your customer avatar wants -- and then setting up a content funnel inside an email distribution system to deliver exactly that and nurture the relationship. “Your list is your currency.”

Make 15 cold calls every day in order to present offers and pitches to develop new business relationships -- and meticulously track all of the metrics and touch points.

Delegate and teach your team to take more and more off your task list so they can “do things today that will create time for you tomorrow.” Powerful lesson Joel and Dr. Pei learned from Rory Vaden, author of Procrastinate on Purpose.

1. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback (it is the only way you can get better).
2. Surround yourself with the best books and the best training resources.
3. Surround yourself with relationships -- link arms with a mentor -- people who will not only teach you but will let you stand on their shoulders so you can get up there and see what you currently cannot see.
4. Practice the daily rituals / habits you must do...day in and day out.

• About The Relaunch Show
• Get a copy of Joel’s book “Find Your Voice” from Amazon here
• Or, go here and get the Audible version of Joel’s book free.

Stacey is an entrepreneur, author, business owner, attorney, blogger, and mom. Stacey's keynotes, blogs, and radio show continue to offer a compelling message about defining and achieving your dreams.

Wake up early (4:00 to 4:30 a.m.) because by the time 8:00 a.m. hits -- the day is no longer your own. It belongs to your clients, employees, meetings, etc. During those early hours -- focus on several key priorities that are necessary for you to "win the day".

Never focus on the immediate results.

In 2005 - 2006 the real estate market changed. Stacey went from having it all -- to having to sell it all in order to keep her business afloat. She sold her house, sold her cars, and moved into one of her investment properties. She then dug in, used the right affirmations, and has since battled back to success! "The stories in our head become the stories of our life."

If you want to build a successful business -- and have an awesome life -- you must recognize that you are the average of the people you spend the most time with. In this interview -- Stacey shared her step-by-step recipe for connecting with, interviewing, and doing business with the most affluent business leaders, millionaires, and billionaires throughout the Boston marketplace. She is now a contributor to Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. Onward Nation...apply Stacey's million dollar recipe for massive success within your industry. And if you want to get published in Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company -- Stacey can connect you. Contact Stacey directly using the details below.

When you are being mentored by someone -- it is a compliment to them -- if you someday fly the coup and do your own thing.

"Wished I would have applied the strategy of interviewing people 10 years ago. I cannot imagine the size of the network I would have by now had I started sooner."

Build your own personal board of advisors by studying the books from all of the top people you want to learn from -- and share those resources with your employees to facilitate continuous learning. Then take immediate action on what was learned.

Hire people who are master networkers and excellent at strategically selecting people they want to spend time with, interview them, and expand their sphere of influence in the process.

1. Never take "no" for an answer. You need to eat rejection for lunch.
2. Believe in "you" even when no one else does. Ignore the naysayers.
3. Break through the fear and pursue your big dreams.

• About Stacey -- register for her weekly newsletter and receive her most recent interviews
• Get a copy of Stacey's latest book, "Reach!: Dream | Stretch | Achieve | Influence"

Don Yaeger is a nationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, longtime Associate Editor of Sports Illustrated and author of 24 books, eight of which have become New York Times Best-sellers.

We simply need to do the common things uncommonly well. Don’s success comes from his ability to delegate to his team of 18 employees around him.

Read something positive in the early morning “before the world gets into my head.” And that led to the creation of Don’s “Daily Dose of Greatness”.

Don tells the painful story of when a close family friend, who also served as the office manager of his company, stole over $300,000 from his business. Don and his family had to deal with the betrayal, unpaid expenses, taxes, etc. that she had not paid. A near crippling situation -- but Don and his team persisted and made it through.

You cannot lead people you don’t know.

“You will never outperform your inner circle. Do you want to know what your capacity for greatness is? Just look at the people who are around you -- the people in your personal life and your professional life -- because you will never outperform them.” -- Coach John Wooden

Great teams are more focused on their culture than their product. Every great team should go through the process of creating a “culture document” and put the culture into practice throughout the company.

Great teams run the most efficient meetings, or “huddles”. They recognize that the habit of great meetings is a strategic advantage.

If we create a culture of empathy -- then our employees will know what is happening in each other’s lives -- and care about each other. As a result, teamwork will improve and that flows to our customers.

Be a better storyteller -- he or she who tells the best stories wins.

Don’t be stuck on finding mentors exclusively from within your industry. There are amazing lessons to learn from people who can offer you different perspectives that they learned outside your industry -- but can be applied to move your business onward.

• DonYaeger.com
• Don’s latest book, The Two Most Important Days of Your Life, can be found here

McKain’s keynote presentations benefit from three decades of experience, combined with his innate talent for articulating successful ideas. McKain has spoken before and consulted for the world’s best companies.

“There are no secrets to success -- but there are systems.” Scott shares his insights including how to understand your best way to learn and create the right system for you.

Scott shared a daily habit he learned during dinner with Zig Zigler.

Scott shares the excruciatingly painful story of losing his wife to a battle with ovarian cancer -- and how it would have been easy to quit the business -- but Scott made the decisions and fought through the financial devastation -- and moved his business onward.

Learn how to create distinction in the marketplace and attract loyal, more profitable customers. Bonus resource: free video training where Scott focuses on how to create distinction and provides a precise recipe you can apply in your business.

Scott’s mentor in the speaking business was Grady Nutt. Scott admired Grady so much he tried to be the next “Grady Nutt” -- until Grady taught Scott this very important lesson.

Focus on setting up value delivery systems instead of sales systems. Make the customer the star of the show.

The precision with which you deliver the customer experience.

Remain focused on creating the “ultimate customer experience” -- make it the priority of the organization -- and do whatever it takes to deliver that level of experience. Hire “customer people” to work inside your business.

1. Are you willing to fire a customer?
2. Go an “inch wide and a mile deep” with your expertise instead of trying to be everything to everyone.
3. Are you customer-focused or more focused on your product / service?

Focus on how you can make a critical difference for your customers. What can you do that will attract them to you?

• ScottMcKain.com
• 7 day free trial at: DistinctionInstitute.com
• FREE book: get the Audible version of Scott’s latest book, The 7 Tenets of Taxi Terry