Title: “If I Knew Then What I Know Now”

Chuck Schultz is a 7 Stage Consultant, based in Isle, IL, just outside Chicago. 7 Stage
Consultants assist small-to-medium-sized businesses to protect their cash, reduce their expenses,

and create a profitable exit strategy. To learn more about Chuck Schultz and the 7 Stage
Turnaround Process, go to www.7StageTurnaround.com.

“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC
(www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world.
Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training
helps his clients achieve results worldwide.  His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business
Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and
business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”

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“Helping Women Business Owners Create a Work/Life Balance”

Robyn Harris is a 7 Stage Consultant, based in Butler, NJ, just outside New York City. 7
Stage Consultants assist small-to-medium-sized businesses to protect their cash, reduce their
expenses, and create a profitable exit strategy. To learn more about Robyn Harris and the 7
Stage Turnaround Process, go to www.7StageTurnaround.com.

“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC
(www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world.
Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training
helps his clients achieve results worldwide.  His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business
Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and
business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”

Goals are elusive because they are often too complicated. Keep it simple and avoid these mistakes.

Mistakes Most People Make When Goal Setting:
1. Too Vague
2. Stated in the Negative
3. Too Reasonable: Uninspiring
4. Lack of Deadline
5. Out of Your Control
6. Not Worded as a Direct Command
7. Activity-Focused and not Achievement-Focused
8. NO Plan “B”
9. Lacks Leverage

Use this sample format for creating an effective goal….

What: Objective you are committed to achieving (& by when)
• Written as a command, stated positive, 90 Day Time frame
Why: Is this important to you?
• List 3-5 Reasons (Big & Small) that will motivate you to keep going when times are tough.
How: Will you make it happen?
• List all actions (with specific deadlines). How will you know you are making progress

“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC (www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world. Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training helps his clients achieve results worldwide. His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”

Here are my responses to an online interview that I gave regarding mentoring…how would you respond these questions?
What skills are needed to mentor another person?
Carl: To be a mentor, no skills are required. Your willingness to help another person is the number one ingredient in being an effective mentor. Your job as a mentor is to help somebody navigate a process or a part of their life/business that you have already successfully navigated. Experience sharing of how you are successful will be the most valuable to your mentee. You need to be willing transparent and share both your successes and failures with your mentee. A mentor is someone who sees the person inside the problem and helps them navigate through their maze successfully.
What challenges do you face as a mentor?
Carl: You will be judged based on the success (or not) of our mentee. You can guide them but you can’t do it for them. Don’t let the mentoring become about you and your skills. Share your experiences and our subject matter expertise, and then allow the mentee to discover the path and make the decisions for themselves.
What do you wish you knew when you first started serving as a mentor?
Carl: I never realized just how valuable the mentoring process was to the mentee when I first started. As I think back on my earliest mentoring assignments, I wish I knew that then.
What tips would you give someone starting out?
Carl:
• Be authentic and be yourself
• Share real and practical experience – no theory here.
• Ask probing questions – the quality of your questions will determine the quality of the mentoring experience for both.
• Get trained in effective communication and active listening skills.
“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC (www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world. Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training helps his clients achieve results worldwide. His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”

Here is my response to an online interview that I gave recently. Enjoy the stories!

Tell me about the most unusual place you’ve ever found a great sales lead (on or offline — the weirder the better!). As always, please reply with specific examples.
Carl:
#1 – While taking my daughter and her friend to the Hannah Montana/ Jonas Brothers concert, I met another father. While getting to know each other over the obnoxiously loud screaming of tween-ages and teen-aged girls, it turns out we have complimentary companies and we were able to do business together.
#2 – I was involved at a team building exercise. We were on a survival test where we had to trade the skills we learned during the training session for transportation. While hitchhiking through unchartered roads, I picked up two different sales leads.
“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC (www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world. Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training helps his clients achieve results worldwide. His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”

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“The Emotional Benefits of Working with a Business Advisor”

Trevor Crane is a 7 Stage Consultant, based in Butler, NJ, just outside New York City. 7
Stage Consultants assist small-to-medium-sized businesses to protect their cash, reduce their
expenses, and create a profitable exit strategy. To learn more about Trevor Crane and the 7
Stage Turnaround Process, go to www.7StageTurnaround.com.

“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC
(www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world.
Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training
helps his clients achieve results worldwide.  His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business
Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and
business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”

Are there tasks in your business that you hate to do? Is there work in your company that nobody seems to want to do? Of course there is! Just remember that there is always someone out there who calls play what you call work. There is always someone out there who not only do the s**t jobs, they look forward to it. How do you find them?
1. Benchmark their position. Build a prototype of the perfect person to do the s**t jobs in your business.
2. Give the job a significant title. Director of S**t, VP of S**t, Executive Associate of S**t
3. Use the words and descriptors from your benchmarking exercise in your classified ads and posts to attract this champion. Let them know that you not only need the best person for this s**t job, but you have a lot of s**t to be done.
a. Remember s**t people like to do s**t work, and a lot of it.
4. Interview your s**t candidates, letting them know that there is a lot of s**t to do around here. Do they get excited by the challenge? If so, you probably have your know director of S**t.
5. Thank them and acknowledge them as often as possible for their s**t work. Non-monetary incentives are the key to longevity in keeping them in the s**t as long as possible.
“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC (www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world. Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training helps his clients achieve results worldwide. His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”

Unemployment is at a record high and many job seekers struggle with not only getting a job, but securing a salary commensurate to their qualifications. While this blog is historically devoted to entrepreneurs, we do get many employees who are looking for tips in speaking to business owners.
To negotiate or to not negotiate, that is the question…
1. Investigate what the going rate is for your services in the marketplace currently. Find out what people are being hired for and at what salaries. This would give you a good idea as to what the ‘competition’ is doing. This might help you establish your ‘asking price’.
2. Know your ‘walk away’ number. Is there a level of compensation that you would not accept no matter how badly you needed the job? If the employer offers you compensation that is at or near your asking price and far away from your walk away number, then there is no need to negotiate.
3. Negotiate on perks, benefits, and terms if you can’t negotiate price.
a. Most businesses are struggling to hang on and, during this time, most employees are lucky just to have work. The last thing an employer needs is another bill they can’t pay. However, in lieu of increased salary, they may be willing to give you…flexible hours, increased benefits, more vacation or holiday time, etc.
b. Unless you can show your employer that you bring into the company or save the company, five times your salary or more, then negotiating on price will be quite difficult.
Be realistic! Recognize that times are tough. Also, recognize that entrepreneurs are keenly aware that this is an excellent environment to take risks and to grow. Get hired at a rate you can live with and live on, prove your worth, and negotiate from there having shown your value directly.
“Carl L Gould is the President and Chief DISCoverY Officer CMT International, LLC (www.CarlGould.com), the farthest-reaching business mentoring organization in the world. Carl’s unique approach to executive coaching, business mentoring and performance training helps his clients achieve results worldwide. His latest book, The 7 Stages of Small Business Success – From Startup to 7 Figures in Three Years or Less, will provide entrepreneurs and business owners a step-by-step formula to taking their businesses to the next level”