One, you can just follow the masses.

Just do what everybody else is doing without giving any thought to it, even it means jumping off of a cliff to the ultimate death of your business and dream,

Or two, the other way of looking at it is you’re following a very select few people who are thought leaders, paving the way for the future, exploring new expansive opportunities to grow and expand your business and doing what really truly works.

Which one are you?

Give some thought to how you’re building your business today.

The post Stop Following The Masses! appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

For me, the week after Christmas is always reflective, and anticipative. I feel like the year is winding down, and It’s almost time to begin the new year.

We all know the old chime… “We wish you a Merry Christmas,We wish you a Merry Christmas… and a Happy New Year!”

The “Merry Christmas” is the easy part. But how do we best prepare for a happy new year?

A Goal Setting Blueprint That Actually Works

Preparing for another year is imperative for a contractor. And in order to do that. I’ve found it necessary to do two things: 1) Reflect on the past year, and 2) Plan for the next year. The cool thing about this, is that you can do it in July, and it still works! So, even if you are reading this in July, you can still do this.

Let me show you the exact process I use to reflect on the past year, and plan for the year to come. As we go through this together, I hope it will inspire you to do it as well.

Choose Your Location

It doesn’t really matter so much where this event takes place. What matters is that you set aside ample time to go through it completely.

I usually take at least one whole day and go away somewhere and work through this. A coffee shop. A mountain cabin. A quiet place at home. The important thing is that you cannot be distracted by work or other obligations.

Reflections Of The Past Year

This part of the process is just as important as the planning part of the process, if not more so.

This past year you’ve had wins, losses, personal growth, and much more. All these things have brought you to where you are now, and will prepare the foundation for what’s to come next year. That’s why it is so important to spend plenty of time going through this part of the process.

First of all, look at what you’ve gained and experienced.

Then, look at what needs to be released in order to make room for more.

To get started…Get out your journal, or calendar,  and go through it looking at the events of your past year.

Answer the following questions as completely as you can: Note: Modesty is not allowed here. Elaborate as much as you can.

• What are some of the successes, wins and accomplishments of the past year?
• What was the major area of growth?
• What are you most proud of?
• What have you learned about yourself and your life?
• What insights have you gained?
• What are you grateful for?
• Who were the important people in your life during the last year?
• Is there something that used to be important to you, that no longer is?
• Is there something that used to be unimportant, but now has greater importance in your life?

Time To Release

• What are your disappointments, failures and breakdowns? Acknowledge these as an opportunity to let them go.
• What events occurred that you can make peace with and let go of?
• What negative experiences and associated negative emotions are you ready to leave in the past year?
• Who are the people that you said goodbye to? Acknowledge them … and then let ‘em go, along with any negative emotional association.

The Coming Year

Choose A Theme

1. Choose a theme for the entire year. It can be “laughter” or “financial success” or “health.”…etc.  Pick a theme that resonates with you.
2. Make a commitment to yourself to weave this theme into your work, play and relationships.
3. Visualize the Year
4. Transport yourself to Dec. 31 of next year. Contemplate this for a few moments in silence.
5. Write a letter to yourself or any of your loved ones as if it was written New Year’s Eve of next year. In it, describe all of the amazing things that happened to you over the year. Include items about your career, your financial situation, your love life, your health and your free time. Make it bold and exciting to you. Feel what it would be like to have lived that amazing year. Write this letter in past tense.

Major Goals

• Pick 3 to 9 things from your letter that you most want to attract in the coming year and begin writing a plan for attaining those things.
• Make sure that each goal is constructed in such a way that it is possible to see if you have accomplished it by the end of the year. (Use S.M.A.R.T. Goals. See illustration below)
• Include each major area of your life – health, career, finances, etc.
• Do not choose more than 9 goals for your entire year. You can break each major goal apart into sub-goals. But, you do not need to set more than 9 major goals for next year.

Write Them Down

Now it’s time to write them down and publish them. No, I don’t mean publish them for the world to see. In fact, it has been proven scientifically that sharing your goals with the world has a reverse effect. Your brain experiences a release when you share it with others, which in turn, triggers the same feeling as if you accomplished the goal. So, your brain now thinks you’ve already accomplished it, and there is no need to go for it. So, the experts do not recommend sharing your goals publicly.

However, if you are like me, and you need a little accountability… Then there is nothing wrong with being open and honest with your mentor, coach or friend. but make sure that they will hold you accountable to really accomplish these goals. Otherwise, there’s no point in sharing them.

How to publish them

Calendar. You can put them on your calendar, first of all. That’s right. Go ahead and schedule the accomplishment of these goals on the calendar. Setting a due date will motivate you to accomplish your goal.

Laminated. You can print them out and have them laminated. Then you can put them up in strategic places around your life.

Screen Saver. You can put them on your screen saver. That way whenever you aren’t active on your computer, you will be reminded what your goals are.

Conclusion

Congratulations! If you make it through this entire process, you have done WAY more work towards creating an inspiring future than most people ever will.

Thinking it through. Visualizing the result. And writing them down. This all takes work. If you have done this, you are well on your way to the best year you could imagine.

I can’t wait to see you, and your results, next year at this time, and wish you “A Happy New Year” all over again.

The post How To Prepare For A Happy New Year appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

We set up a meeting and met at a local coffee shop.

There we were about twenty inches away from each other. We had a small little coffee shop table between us. About ten or fifteen minutes into the conversation, his phone rang.

He looked down at his phone, told me who it was, and then answered it. Then he started talking to the other person.

I’m sitting there thinking, “Okay. What am I supposed to do? We have this meeting to discuss his needs and how I can serve him, and he’s on the phone.”

I opened my computer and I started typing away. I acted like I was working on things I wanted to do. Secretly, I was looking at his Linkedin profile that he had just told me was “Awesome.”

After a while, he got done with his phone conversation and hung up. He then started to try and pick up his conversation where he had left off with me.

I let him talk for a while, and then finally I closed my computer, and brought my attention back to him again.

Should You Answer Your Phone In A Sales Meeting?

The question today is should you answer your phone in a sales meeting? I am going to give you three reasons that you absolutely should not answer your phone in a sales meeting.

#1. Out of Respect

The first reason is out of respect. You are called to respect people. When you have a meeting with someone, you are there to talk to them one-on-one and strengthen your relationship with them.

Suppose someone came up to your table. And you turn your back on the person you are talking to, and start talking with the new person. Your back is now turned towards the original person.

How would that make them feel? That would make them very disrespected, right?

Your phone is that third person. When you answer it, you’re turning your back on the meeting, and talking to a new individual who was not invited to the conversation.

That’s disrespectful.

So, the first reason you should not answer your phone in a sales meeting, is out of respect.

#2. Professionalism

The second reason is to be professional. You’re a professional. This other person is a professional. And you’re having a professional meeting.

It’s unprofessional to answer your phone in a meeting.

It doesn’t matter if you’re the best of friends. You can be best friends that go clear back to childhood. It’s still unprofessional to be having a meeting with someone else and then answer your phone.

#3. To Develop Trust

The third reason is trust. A sales meeting is supposed to build trust in the mind and heart of the person you’re meeting with.

Meetings are more about trust, than they are about content. It’s not about just getting through your content. It’s that unspoken sense that happens between two people, which helps the person determine whether they can trust you or not.

For instance, let’s pretend you are my prospect. I’m having a meeting with you, and you answer your phone. Because this phone call interrupts our conversation, my trust in you will go down. It makes me wonder what you’re going to be like as a client of mine. And vice versa… If you are meeting with me determining whether you can trust me to handle marketing your business for you, and I interrupt our conversation with a cell phone call, your trust of me will go down. You will begin to question what it would really be like to work with me down the road.

Conclusion:

If you struggle with answering your phone in a sales meeting, my counsel for you today is … Leave your phone in the car!

Time For Response:

Here are 3 things you can do in response:

• Share this article with someone you know would benefit from reading it.
• Join my list and be notified whenever I publish new articles like this.
• Send me your thoughts and feedback.

The post Never Answer Your Phone In A Sales Meeting – Here’s Why appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

That’s just the way it goes in the nature of leadership.

In this post, I’m going to give you nine public speaking tips that will engage your audience.

#1. Don’t Start Immediately

After being introduced by the moderator, you come up and take the lectern. You should pause. Give it a little bit of time for the moment to sink in.

Allow people’s attention to be drawn to you. A lot of times people are looking down at their papers or whatever, just give it a pause and wait. Let them look at you, and then begin your speech.

#2. Know Your Content

I’ve done speeches where I was speaking on subjects I maybe wasn’t the most knowledgable about. Those speeches didn’t go so well.

And then, there have been speeches where I knew my subject inside out. I was very enthusiastic and excited about the subject. When I do that, people come up to me afterwards and thank me. That’s, in part, because I knew the content so well.

So, make sure that when you are giving your presentation you know your content very well.

#3. Have a Clear Message

When you give your presentation, it needs to be orderly and laid out in a way that’s easy for your people to understand.

Spend some time and prepare your speech in such a way that the main points are easy for people to digest and take home.

Have a clear message.

#4. Keep It Real

Don’t exaggerate.

Don’t go outside the lines of reality or possibility. Keep it real.

People love authenticity.

People love it when you are real with them, and you share with them your experiences, your failures, and your successes.

#5. Use Good Body Language

Be aware of what you’re doing with your hands.

Often, when I’m giving a presentation, I tend to want to put one of my hands in my pocket, and gesture with my other hand. This makes me feel more relaxed.

You don’t need to do that. Keep your hands out of your pockets.

Keep your hands above your waistline, and use general gestures and body language that adds to and accentuates your message. Use good body language.

#6. Use Good Eye Contact

You must communicate with your audience via your eyes, as well as your mouth.

Look around the room. Look into the eyes of a person, and deliver your point. Then shift, and move over to another person. Look into their eyes and deliver that point. Then, shift around the room, and continue to do that.

Maintain clear eye contact with different people throughout your audience. That makes everyone feel included with your message. Use good eye contact.

#7. Make It Fun and Engaging

We all love a good story. We all love to laugh. When we laugh together, it bonds us together. If you are able to bring your audience into good humor? They’ll appreciate you.

Make them laugh, but also, make it useful. Make it fun. Use stories, anecdotes or illustrations that bring light to your message in a fun, engaging way.

#8. Use Pauses Well

When you make a point, pause. If you tell a joke, pause.

Use pauses throughout your message in order to maintain the attention of your listeners.

#9. Close With Purpose

So often, when we are just beginning in public speaking, we’ve put so much attention into the content that we forget about the closing.

We ramble through our content. Then when we realize our time is up, we abruptly close.

Think very clearly, and specifically, what you want your people to take away from your presentation. Maybe it’s a call to action that you want them to do after the speech. Or, maybe it’s a way to tie in with the introduction, and wrap it all up in a nice package with a bow on top that they can take home. Whatever it is, make sure that you close with purpose.

And there you have it…Nine public speaking tips to help you engage with your audience.

Here are 3 things you can do in response:

1. Share this article with someone you know would benefit from reading it.
2. Join my list and be notified whenever I publish new articles like this.
3. Send me your thoughts and feedback.

The post 9 Public Speaking Tips To Engage Your Audience appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

Our group leader was teaching through some materials, and that particular day his subject was, Called To Work. 

I took ravenous notes, and let the truths sink in. I remember how monumental it was in my life. The Truth really stood out to me that day. My biggest lightbulb was that “Work” is not cursed. But rather God cursed the ground and told it to bring forth thistles. 

But from the beginning, God had called Adam to work. And to Adam it was pure joy to do his work. Sometimes we get the picture that Adam was lying around enjoying his vacation in Eden. But that is not the case. God gave Adam work to do. “God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it… take dominion over everything that moves on the earth. See Genesis 1:28. And Adam enjoyed every single minute of every day that he worked. 

Here Are 3 Reasons to Embrace Work as Your Calling

1. Work Produces Food

We are called to provide for our own the Bible says. That means that if you have a family you must provide for them. There’s nothing quite so ungodly as the man who is lazy, and refuses to get up and provide for his family.

On the contrary, there is nothing like the satisfaction of being able to work hard and bring home food for your family. Can you think of anyone who is exempt from this reason to work? I can’t. We are all called to work to provide for our own.

2. Work Touches The Community

When you pick up your tools and go out into the community everyday, you take Jesus with you. Or rather, He takes you with Him into the community. Our work is the perfect opportunity to join Jesus in what He is doing in our community.

Work puts you in touch with the “common people”. The people who will never set foot in a Church, are the very people who are contacting you to come and serve them. What better way to minister to the community than to get out there and work in their midst. 

3. Work Pleases God

God is a creator. What I mean by that, is that God takes great pleasure out of creating things. In other words, God loves to work. He loves it. We are made in the image of God.

Therefore, I believe that when we are creating stuff, God is smiling. He enjoys watching us work. No, not the sweaty part of work. But the creative part of work.

He likes that, because He is in it. Seriously, it’s not a sin to enjoy your work. Unleash your creative power, and get to work. Your work pleases God. 

I hope those 3 reasons have sparked your thoughts and inspiration. I want to encourage you to provide for your family, touch your community, and bring pleasure to God. 

We are called to work. 

Questions for response.

• Have you ever thought of your work as your calling? 
• Do you ever wish you were “called” to a ministry like pastor, or missionary, but instead you just “have to work” ? 
• Does this truth inspire you to view your work differently from now on? 

Please join the conversation and share your thoughts and feelings in response to this subject. 

The post Called To Work appeared first on Martin Holsinger.

So, I spent quite a few weeks preparing my presentation. I decided to tailor my content to non-profits instead of my usual focus on local small businesses.

I drove 4 hours to the retreat and spent the day hanging out with the students. I spent the night down there with them. The following day was my big presentation.

This entire event probably cost me around $2,500 including my time preparing, my time down there, and everything else involved. But, because I am growing in my speaking career, I was happy to “donate” my time to help them out, and learn a few things in return.

Learn a few things I did…

As I usually do, I gave them an evaluation form to fill out at the close of my presentation. I usually get tons of great feedback and lots of great reviews.

But, not this time. As I scanned through the small pile of evaluation papers, I noticed that most of them were negative. Wow! That was not what I was expecting. One person even made an attack on my personality, which hurt.

So, on my 4 hour drive home, here is what I did. I said, “God, help me not to waste this opportunity. There is no way I could buy this kind of education at college. So, please teach me what you want me to learn through this.”

Here are the 10 lessons I learned through this failure:

1. Failure is a metric.
How else can you know that you need to adjust your sails? Failure is the gauge that says, “You need to make a slight adjustment to your course in order to get where you want to go.” View failure as such. You are not a failure. But your current course is, so make adjustments and keep going.

2. Success does not come to the idle.
There is absolutely no way to succeed without sticking your neck out. You have to take a few steps in order to get on the road to where you want to go. If you sit and wait for success, it will never come.

3. Harsh criticism may be just what you need to hear.
There was a common thread in the negative feedback that said I wasn’t engaging my audience enough throughout the presentation. I will take this to heart. I will try to look for ways to be more engaging in my next speaking engagements. If you find yourself receiving harsh criticism. Try to keep an open mind, and learn something from that will help you become a better person.

4. My presentation could have been better.
There was some negative feedback about the presentation itself as well as the slides I had made. Seriously, there is definitely room for improvement. Even though I was proud of my slides, and the content I had created, obviously it could have been better. Look for ways to improve, even though you know you did your best.

5. I frustrated them by not speaking directly to their situation.
I did not talk about their specific non-profit organization, and apply my points accordingly. I talked over them about all non-profits. I sense their frustration about this. Like, “how do we apply that point to our situation???” If you are going to speak to a specific group, make sure you know as much as possible about them before hand so that you can give them specific pointers. You will help them the most this way.

6. University students are a lot different than business owners.
I learned that university students are more concerned about their homework, passing their exams, and getting on with their careers. I am used to speaking to business owners who hang on my every word, because it will help them grow their businesses. These two audiences are vastly different. Learn what your audience is most concerned with and speak to them.

7. This was not my target audience.
My target audience is small business owners. So, I’m not sure what I was expecting… but this group was sure not my target audience. Do you know who your target audience is? If you don’t know who exactly who you are called to serve, then you MUST get clear on this.

8. Volunteers are not responsible for feeding their families.
These students are just simply volunteering for this non-profit. My presentation had no correlation with them putting bread on their table. Or helping them make an income. There is a huge difference in the atmosphere when people are trying to making a living vs. volunteering.

9. People value what they pay for.
I’m all for doing free workshops, especially when just starting out. However, it’s so true that people value what they pay for. It might be best to find speaking opportunities where they will pay you for your expertise and knowledge.

10. I’m not staying down.
This is my most important lesson that I learned. I refuse to stay down. I am going to get back up and keep going on. I will adjust my sails. But I’m not going to let this failure get me down. Now, I want to ask you what you do when you fail? do you wallow in self-pity? Or do you ask God what you can learn, and get back up and go on? The reason I’m openly sharing this failure with you is not for your pity. No, not at all. I want you to succeed. And I want you to experience growth through your good times and through your “bad” times. Take at least one of the points above and apply it to your failure. You’ll be alright. I want to see you succeed. But much more than that, I know that God is “for you”. And if God is for you then who can be against you?

Blessings,
Martin

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