The Road Map to Your Personal & Professional Success By Donovan Dock About the Author Donovan Dock My name is Donovan Dock and I am an entrepreneur, sales man, and visionary. I didn’t know how or what but I believed that one day I would be able to sincerely give people hope and renew belief in themselves to take charge once again, to engage new opportunities. To look over and say I’m sorry but I cannot let go of my dream. You currently hold the tools to overcome any hurdle and find yourself back on top after any kind of setback. The guiding principles that many have used through the ages have been packaged here to lead you to abundance no matter what you’re going through or challenge your facing. Accomplishing our ultimate purpose leaves lasting legacies that enrich and enhance, not just ourselves, but everyone around us. The result is better leaders, companies, churches, schools, and communities. Our dreams are not just linked to our incomes, but to the betterment of lives. Becoming powerful and deft individuals, who can’t help but make an impact, will in turn bring success to us, rather than us chasing success. Introduction: Write down your dreams and watch them come true? Is it that easy? Goal setting in this fashion produces activity without action. Goal setting encompasses more than simply writing them out. 1) There is no power in writing goals without incorporating some very practical action steps. A timeline will force the hand in accomplishing these written goals. 2) If you can’t discipline yourself enough to sit down and think through the things YOU want to accomplish in this lifetime, you won’t accomplish ALL the things that you are capable of. Your bags are packed and you’re ready to go. You live in New York City and you want to go to Florida, white beaches, Disney World and four-star hotels. Time off work and the bonding experience with your beautiful family is all you care about. You pull onto the street with neither a GPS nor a map. But you know how to get to the freeway and head south. That should be good enough. Next stop, FLORIDA!! Turn on a movie for the kids, turn up the radio and get going. Money for gas and food and we are on our way. Many people treat their dreams and ambitions the exact same way. They have a destination but no map to get there. No map is a good way to assure never arriving. If you are one of those people who say, “I’ve got it all in my head and have no need to structure it all out to assure I’ll be successful in my endeavors,” go ahead and close out this report and send me an email telling me that you’re tired of my actions-oriented attitude, and I will leave you alone. But if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and say, “ok Donovan, I have procrastinated, put off till tomorrow what needs to be done today and I’m ready to start with a serious blueprint for my success,” then the rest of this report and blueprint is for you. Your destiny has been waiting for you and I suggest that you quit making it wait and walk over and embrace her. She has gifts, rewards and treasures that she has been waiting to fill your life with. This is the road map to your dream. Now, a few quick things that you want to keep in mind as you get this road map going: 1) Stay Away from Haters: Don’t share your goals and ideas with everybody, only the people who you know will help support you in a positive frame of mind. Advisors are different, they believe in your vision, and can speak into your life and heart objectively. Their advice and input is invaluable, and much appreciated. But the person who is on a sinking ship who always shoots you down is not an advisor. A positive mindset is crucial to your forward progress. 2) Be Realistic: Your goals must reflect your value system and not contradict any other goals. If you are trying to get a jet, why do you need one? Do you have a multimillion dollar lifestyle already established to support it? Working on other things this year that will get you to that point will be more efficient and rewarding. A jet may be more of a 5 year goal. Get the right things done first. Shooting the moon is always a good idea if you have the right hand but sometimes you have to play a few hands before you get the right set of cards to do that. Not always but sometimes. 3) Be Balanced: Get goals in more areas than one, these are in no particular order on purpose. It is not for me to figure out how you prioritize your plan so I deliberately put them in a goofy order so you can discover the joy of prioritizing the goals that should be first in your life. a) Continued education b) Spiritual and moral c) Physical and health d) Family e) Career A big part of my story, if you are familiar with it, involves me being out of balance early in my life. I got out of whack with a big dream for career and pretty much let some important things slip away. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Set real goals that will ensure your success lasts and in all areas be able to say, “I’m getting it done.” Ok are you ready? I’m excited to get you going on your plan. Once again, please set aside a few minutes in the next few days to do this whole template we prepared for you. Just the act of writing them down will set the process in motion. Write them and review them. The more focused you are on them the more likely you will be successful with them. LETS GET STARTED…. Success Structure Vision Mission Your Success Map Write your Vision here Suggested Structures Whether personal or business know what you are about. You will be what to whom: make a declaration!! We will be ___________ and even if it kills us we will do _____________________________ _____________________________ Write your Mission here Make a strong statement about your service/products and how they will benefit others and accomplish the vision. Our Company helps _____________ get _____________ through ___________by featuring __________________ Smart Goals Write your Primary Goals here How, What, By When, Where, To Who, and Why The goal of our company is to generate $____ monthly. Revenue by _______ (month/year). The goal of the company is to grow ____% in the next ___ months by acquiring ____ more customers who generate ____ revenue for the year. Nonmonetary goals also include ______, _________ & _________ (funding, lead generation, layoffs) Example Statements Vision is your calling or purpose, it’s personal to you, the part that touches your soul or spirit. Be broad and futuristic… Boeing’s vision statement is “Become the dominant player in commercial aircraft and bring the world into the jet age.” Nike: To be the number one athletic company in the world. Ford: To become the world’s leading Consumer Co. for automotive and products and services. Simply put, this is your vision + bottom line = mission. Ben and Jerry’s Product Mission: “To make, distribute and sell the finest quality all-natural ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the Environment.” Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely S.M.A.R.T The goal of AlternativeMedicineConnection.com is to generate $10,000 monthly revenue by Dec 2013. This goal requires us to grow 33% in the next 8 months by acquiring 10 more customers/sponsors who generate $2,500 revenue per year (1/mo.). Additional Goals also include moving out of our living room, raising $5,000 in angel funding & establishing a relationship with ASU. Plan Write your Plan here Know your target and exactly the steps and resources you will need in order to get it. Don’t sell yourself short here, get brutally honest. In order to achieve our goal, we need to do ______________, ________________ & __________. And … Challenges Write your Challenges here Don’t just say money once again. Really analyze what the problems are behind what is going on, use your head. Given the plans we have in place to achieve our goals, these are the things that are standing in our way ___________, _______________ & _________________ This is different than previous efforts because _______ and ______ What is your one biggest challenge? Timeline Use at least a year-long planner and forecast at least 5 years into the future. Write your Timeline here Values Write your Values here What is the deadline to hit this goal to be considered successful? At what point can you tell that you can't make it? Use this space to set just one timeline goal establish the rest later List a few values that you and your company stand for. If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. Our company believes in: _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Once you have established what is important to you need to come up with some concrete criteria for which you will get them. In order to achieve these goals we need to improve the results we get from our sales & marketing program, sell higher priced products and retain 90% of our current clients Our plan includes improving best practices for new customer acquisition; pay more attention to our blog and following up more quickly on customer inquiries You will have some, so identify, address and find solutions immediately, and if everything looks like a challenge reevaluate the mission. Our current challenges center on generating high quality leads that reduce our sales cycle. This is different than 2012 because the change in the market, a new competitor and limited funding. Be as specific as possible with some expectations of this year. Your monthly and quarterly goals should go on a 3X5 card that you carry around in your back pocket We need to start executing on this plan in June in order to be prepared for the August selling season. Back to school is the start of our high season and we want to be in full swing by that time. If we are not able to improve our lead flow within the next six months, we will miss our 2013 sales goals. Take a stand for what you believe in early in your journey. Throw some ethical reasons down for what you are doing. Make sure there is a conviction to get you through the journey. People want to believe in people who stand for something: be that person. Our company stands for integrity, respect and the best customer service in the city. Failure to have a goal and a plan I believe people should have a plan for their life, a plan for their marriage and their families, as well as their careers and business. Have you ever sat down with your wife and children and talked about how all of you, as a family, as well as individually will achieve your personal successes? How you all can chip in and dare to do something big as a unit and a family? Think about any successful organization. It is made up of a team with diverse talents, gifts and skills. Now imagine you and your family functioning in more harmony, more aware of each other’s individuality and differences. Instead of fighting about them embrace them to see where you are going together. I have talked and coached many people who think money and business are the only things they lack, while some of the most important relationships in their life are suffering. Like I said in the beginning of this report, be honest and balanced in your goals. Hesitating to take definitive action Even if you’re on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there. Will Rodgers In my book Succeed Forever, I start with a chapter called Burn Your Tomorrows. It is personally my favorite chapter of the book; I strongly recommend you get it. You can get it for free anytime, just email me and I’ll send it to you. It’s a must read as you embark on your new vision, dreams and goals. This section references how to stop bad habits and be free from negative thinking. Email me at donovan@succeedforever.com. I always love to hear from you. In the chapter Burn Your Tomorrows, I write, “Procrastination is our enemy and needs to be seen as such. Procrastination is the constant thought there will be time tomorrow to take care of this dream. Tomorrow turns into a week, a week a month and months into years until one day our lives have lost the potency they should have held. We must realize that our time here is truly limited and our success will only be realized by the actions we take now.” CONCLUSION As you may have heard, we recently put together a webinar to help you with your goal setting implementation! Becoming exceptional is up to you, pursuing this plan with reckless abandon is an injustice to yourself, so we have included a free webinar that will help you to implement your plan with ease. As you work through the challenges ahead, you’ll save time as we show you how to be experts on solutions - not the problems. Now is the time to learn forward thinking and strategize solutions to problems rather than spending time worrying about past failures. There are several things that should have been put into this report but quite frankly I’m tired of writing and you may be tired of reading. I would like to help you become part of the select 5% of people in our society who not only have written goals but a smaller margin of people who know how to accomplish them! People are reaching their goals and achieving new heights. The level of engagement has been incredible. During this seminar you will find out how to: Promote your dreams and be profitable in this highly competitive world market Enhance your life every day and get the most out of your life’s journey How to Live in the Faith Zone This is a perfect opportunity for you to ask me anything about success planning. If you feel overwhelmed, in this this model you’ll learn how to prioritize your time and focus your efforts. 1) A list of my favorite success-building tools, including the ones I use day-in and day-out. These tools will save you hours every week! 2) Be able to change your current normal to a whole new normal. 3) The three things everyone must do to be successful in implementing their plan. At the very least, you will learn and take away from the webinar how get going and stop having regrets. How to Register for this FREE seminar: An email referencing this free webinar will be in an email coming to you in a few short days and is offered periodically on our monthly newsletter I am excited about this online event. I want to help you take your success to the next level by providing you with the initial tools to help you arrive at your personal success. I know personally what this can mean for your future. If you still have questions, email me donovan@succeedforever.com and don’t forget to request the free chapter of my book. I really love the trifecta of that chapter, the planner, and the powerful things I will be showing you in my presentation. Committed to your Success, Donovan Dock Succeedforever.com