For example, imagine yourself as the small business owner of a fruit shop that makes $10,000 in profits a month. Let's say that you decided to set a goal of increasing profits to $15,000 a month.

Would that be possible? Probably. You could work a lot harder, raise prices, increase trading hours, sell on-line or create a loyalty program.

What if you set a goal of making $3 million a month from your fruit business? Would it be achievable? Most people would say, 'of course not, there is no way you can make that kind of money from a fruit business like that!'

True enough. Making $3m a month from that fruit business is impossible, if the owner continues to use the same business strategy.

Yet, if he were to completely change the way he now does his small localized fruit business, would it be possible?

For instance, the strategy he could use would start by his studying how to greatly expand his market: he would write a dynamic business plan, raise capital through investments, invest in R & D to develop a superior brand of fruit (for eg. Organic certified food products

are seeing phenomenal growth everywhere as people become health conscious) and widen his range of fruit (eg: offer sun dried fruit without sulfur, candied fruit using organic sugar, pureed fruit rolls for kids), support reliable new suppliers, build a franchise system and then license thousands of business owners around the world to sell his fruit.

Would it then be possible for him to earn $3 million a month? Of course it would! With enough flexibility in our strategy, we can achieve just about anything.

You still wonder how a local fruit shop can possibly expand and go global? Impossible?

Well, how did a British housewife create some skin and hair care products in her kitchen using fruits and vegetables and then pit herself against billion-dollar, heavily advertised international cosmetic brands succeed nationally and then globally?

She developed the right strategy, which included the right unique products. This person I am referring to is Anita Roddick who founded the multi-million dollar chain of Body Shops.

What I have found time and again is that people who are able to produce exceptional results use different strategies from the majority.

When I had the opportunity to work with the top 1% of insurance agents (average yearly income of over $500,000), I found that they did not just work harder than the 97% who earned less than $50,000 a year.

They used a completely different approach in managing their time, generating leads, converting sales and creating repeat businesses.

So, taking your cue from the winners, study their strategies. If you want to be a millionaire, study the strategies of millionaires.

If you want to be a great leader, model the patterns of great leaders.