We have all heard it - "well... I think you are too expensive".

This is a common issue, but it only comes up if you have not laid the ground with your customer and properly helped them see the value that you offer, and the impact you can have on their lives with the products and service you can bring to them.

There will also always be the sticker shock.  Most home services interventions are an unexpected distress purchase. Nobody expects to be replacing their ac unit, and when it comes up it eats into their disposable income and something else usually has to give.

So your customers are wrestling with this and are generally unhappy about the situation they find themselves in - and sometimes you can really feel that and feel their pain - which is why many companies believe that they can only compete on price.

But this is not true.  

Once your customer has accepted the reality of their situation, they enter into buying mode and are receptive to consider many other...

Business is solving a series of problems, so having a framework to approach this is a great idea to help you cut through the chaos of overthinking and overwhelm.

This simple thinking framework of clarify, simplify, multiply is a great place to start.

Too often, the impatient business owner will go straight for taking massive action without first being clear about what it is they are actually trying to do.  Marketing is a case in point - the phone has slowed up, we need some work, let's throw some cash at Facebook and boost some posts to see what comes back.

The more effective thing to do would be to have a planned marketing campaign that had a specific promotion and content that converts, so that you get a better return on your marketing investment.

Taking the time to get clear on the outcome you want, to think it through, and to make a plan BEFORE you try to maximise your efforts is the sensible thing to do.

Making sure you have a parachute prior to jumping out the plane is a...

Good question!  Your business is your biggest asset, and in many cases is the source of all the money you generate.  It will provide for your family and your future, and it is a very important part of your lifestyle.

Without it, what would you do?  So considering how important it is to you, how well do you know it?

In this short video I ask you countless quick fire questions to stimulate your thinking about getting to know your business - worth a watch.

Most of the decisions you make, in your life and in your business, are guided by your unconscious values and beliefs - but some of your beliefs do not serve you, and so affect your decisions on what you do.  This training will help you understand & recognise this and intentionally alter your actions.

Here is a training module I have lifted straight out of our Uplevel Mastermind program, which explains how you are able to make changes in yourself - and help others make a mental shift too.

This is some big thinking.  It shows you how making one simple change in your own thinking can make a dramatic impact in your life, not just on the results you can achieve, but also on how easy you find achieving them.

Self sabotage is a real thing.  Have you ever wondered why you do it to yourself?  Why that even though you know what to do, you don't do what you know?  

Or why it is that some of your team like to sell, and others just won't do it?  Well, this...

Intentional identity - what is that?

As you grow your business to reach your goals, then you will experience a personal transformation.  It takes a different kind of person to run a $250,000 a year business than it does to run a $25 million business.  But often it is the same person!

Transformation like this can sometimes be hard, it takes us outside of our comfort zone, and we have to push ourselves to do new things and be ready to learn from our mistakes.

It requires a shift in identity of who we are and in what we see ourselves capable of doing. otherwise we are in danger of self sabotage.

Intentional identity is taking back control of our unconscious choices to deliberately push though our comfort zone to get what we truly want, and this little fun exercise is a big step into making this transformation less painful and more permanent.

This is another module taken directly out of our Uplevel Mastermind program.  Our members are coached and guided through all of...

Two big questions answered here - how do I effectively handle worry?  Plus, what should I be doing right now to prepare for the rest of 2020?

So, this was a session I put together for our clients, but we have received a lot of good feedback about it that we wanted to share it with you too.

We are in tough and uncertain times, so taking decisive action, looking after our own mental health and focussing on innovation in our business can only be a good thing.

I truly hope this helps you.

If videos are not your thing, then we made this into a podcast too that you can listen to here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mastermind-q-a-30-april-2020/id1464905340?i=1000473800122

How often do you turn to someone you consider to be an “expert” for guidance and advice?

How often in your day to day life do you  find yourself talking about the same problems or issues over and over again to the same group of people,  and going around and around in circles - and then end up concluding that things are like it just because that is the way it is?

I see people talking about how to handle Millennials.  How recruitment of good people into the home services and trades industries is a growing problem.  How working extended hours in your business is an accepted norm.

But what I also see is that we are talking to the same kind of people as us, in a similar industry.  And they confirm to us that they are in the same boat. This is confirmation bias right there in action.  

Be aware of it.

It is the old adage - the same thinking that got you into your current situation is not the thinking that will get you out of it.

You know this -...

Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

The thing is though that what you learn from your failures will always outweigh the temporary loss or the cost of not getting what you originally wanted over the course of your lifetime.

You hear this all the time - fail forward, there are no mistakes, only lessons. Get back up just one more time than you fall down.  

It is all true.  

But when you are in the thick of it, these can seem like pointless words spoken by people who don’t know shit about you or what you are going through.  You are living in the moment and dealing with the world falling in around you right now..

When you are almost out of ammo, pinned down by snipers, bleeding to death with no sign of the cavalry - the last thing you need is loads of experts telling you to think differently and it will all be alright.

I totally get it.  

I have been there in life and in business.  I have been in life or death situations in...

Whatever business you are in currently, or trying to get in to, you will encounter other people.  How you connect with the people around you will directly determine your level of success.

An important lesson I learned from a much younger colleague of mine some years ago is this..

"It doesn't matter how you feel about them - what matters is how they make you feel."

He went on to say "If they are not bringing you love and laughter, hope and inspiration or contributing to your personal growth or uplifting your spirit in some way, then why do you allow them to stay in your life?"

As simple as that one is, it had a truly profound effect on me, and as a result I actually cut some people out of my life - (including my now ex - wife).

But thinking about this in another way has really changed my thinking and enriched my relationships with the people around me.  

Instead of considering this from my own personal point of view, I realised that every other person is thinking this as...