For many people it takes sudden shocking external events like the earth shaking under their feet to cause them to pause and refocus on what's important in their lives. For others, the pending loss of a loved one can have the same effect. And sometimes, the right words at the right moment can trigger a shake up that reorganizes our thinking and the choices we make in our lives and our work.



I'm writing to you from a hotel room in San Diego as the sun slowly sets over the golf course outside my window. Everything looks nice and calm. It wasn't so calm six hours ago.

Southern California was rocked by a trembler that registered 5.4 on the Richter Scale. Thankfully there were no significant injuries and very little damage. Now for those of you who live in other parts of the world that don't have quakes, you might find it hard to imagine, but 20 seconds of the earth trembling beneath your feet can shake up your life in more than one way!

The 1994 quake affected millions of people - their homes collapsing, their businesses disrupted. In the Los Angeles, people were sleeping in parks for days, their families held close to their side as their fears over more quakes stopped them going back into their apartments and houses.

Business owners found their companies at risk. Some due to damage they suffered directly. Others, as a result of upheaval in customers' lives and businesses.

We don't have to wait for such extreme conditions to shake up our businesses. Refreshing our assumptions, our goals and our high payoff activities is a choice we have every day.

Here are a couple of approaches you can use while keeping your balance in your business.

Leverage "The Breaking Point"

This past week, one of my clients finally had had enough of the knots she tied herself in for years. She kept trying to make the 'right' offer to each prospective client. And she's spent hours of thinking and proposal writing on each next new client.

We've been talking about a new approach for two years. And her frustration over feeling like she had to shoe horn herself into a new prospect's tight requirements finally acted as the up thrust that shifted her. In under 1 hour, we shifted her business model from customizing each offer, to 'packages.

That change in her business model works for both the short run and the long run. This week she called her new prospect back and explained her company's package choices. It will be up to the client to select how they want to work with her.

In the long run, she's changed her business on a deeper level. She's recovered anywhere from 2 to 10 hours of proposal design work for each prospect, and moved that work into her packages. Now she'll get paid for all of her strategic thinking as well as the implementation.

Viewed from either the short term or the long she's added value to her company. She's got hours of her own valuable attention back on marketing and building her business. And any member of her team who meets with new prospects can make the same sales pitch and offer of packages, so her sales team has expanded as well.

Her frustration was the pressure that built up until it reached the breaking point. You don't have to wait for that same breaking point. You can refresh your business as an act of will and choice.

Use the 80/20 Rule

Another client took a look at where he's been spending his time. As we measured it for a couple of weeks, we uncovered what 80 percent of his time has been spent on. It's been on problem solving the very issues his team needs to learn to solve for themselves.

His habits and theirs have meant that decisions get held up until he's available to give the go ahead, even when it's about repeat work for current clients.

He's now clear that he needs to shift his time to overseeing the work his high highly capable people can manage on a daily basis. As I train him in delegation and teach his team how to work together more effectively, he'll have time to work on new products and mentoring instead of doing the daily work of his business.

You can choose to wait for the earth shaking under your feet. Or you can get good an fed up over something going on with a customer. Either can be your transform your business and your life. I vote for the second choice. How about you?

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz