photo by Vvillamon

The world’s a pretty complicated place right now.  Politics are complicated, technology (although exciting) is complicated…business is complicated – but it doesn’t have to be.

I’m working with a couple of different clients on strategic planning and if we’re not careful it’s really easy to get bogged down into a lot of complications, to lose the message, to spend a ton of time and walk out with a plan or an idea that no one is going to really ‘get’ or be able to execute on.

Instead I propose that we consciously simplify.  Take a slow, deep breath…hold it for a few counts and then slowly let it out.  Do that again.  Focus on a simple streamlined approach in your business.

What would a simple approach do for you?  Think it would make a difference?  Here are the keys to the simple approach:  Simple is clear, simple is not easy and simple gets done.

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Would you like to make more money?  How about having clients who absolutely rave about you and are willing to pay you a premium for what you do for them?

Then you should definitely consider Getting Naked for your business!

Of course I’m not talking literally…I’m saying you should start adopting the ideas from Patrick Lencioni’s latest book ‘Getting Naked’.  The premise of the book is using a different kind of approach with clients – being vulnerable and opening yourself up without any pretense or cover.  I think of it as being really authentic…all the time, with everyone, warts and all!

You may have heard of Lencioni previously – he’s the author of several extremely popular and insightful business books, including ‘The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team’ and ‘The 5 Temptations of a CEO’.  His books are written as business fables, which makes them fun to read, but the ideas are still very powerful.

So what does Getting Naked really mean?  Let’s take a look:

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photo by mikejmartelli

It’s the start of a new year and the possibilities are endless!  Although that sounds like a great situation, the problem is that the possibilities are endless, and if you’re like most business owners (or most people for that matter) it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you have that many things you could focus on.

What tends to happen is you get distracted with all of those possibilities and you ultimately don’t make all that much progress.  Your efforts are diluted, you get distracted before things really get done and there’s not a serious push behind any one effort.

If you really want to hit what you’re aiming for in the long run, you will be a lot better off limiting the number of targets you have at any given time.  In fact I’d recommend thinking of it like an old fashioned revolver – you only get 6 bullets at any given time and you have to make it count!

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photo by kalleboo

Have you ever had the experience of shopping for a new car, where you finally decide on THE car that you really want to buy.  Let’s say it’s a new Honda sedan…and at that point, you suddenly started noticing all of the Honda sedans on the road – they are everywhere!

The reality is that the number of Hondas on the road didn’t change from one day to the next, you just tuned your Reticular Activating System!

The Reticular Activating System is the part of your brain that helps you filter out the unimportant stuff going on around you…and conversely focus on the important stuff.  Without that filter, you’d be overwhelmed with stimuli and likely lose the ability to function, so it’s an important part of your brain that most of us don’t know anything about!

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  photo by Terry Johnston

Trust may be the most important thing you can develop when it comes to your business success.

If people like you they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you they’ll do business with you.   – Zig Ziglar

There are lots of ingredients when it comes to success, but trust is one that permeates everything you do.  If you don’t have trust, you’re not going to be in business very long.  And these days, with access to the internet, camera phones and 24×7 media – trust, credibility and authenticity are more important than ever.

How does trust impact your business?  Let’s take a look:

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