Written by: Carmen Benton, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Now more than ever is extremely important that you find a way to differentiate your business from the competition to be able to succeed, but being different isn’t enough anymore. Now, more than ever, what you need to maximize your results is the power of leverage. Leverage is an advantage you obtain from being in a unique position because you utilize the resources available to you in a different and wise way.
There are 5 things you need to learn to leverage so you can get ahead of your competition once and for all, and I will cover them in this article for you:
People and Connections Leveraging people and connections has nothing to do with manipulation, on the contrary, it has everything to do with exercising what we need the most today, which is building true, sincere and honest relationships with the people you meet. When you offer your expertise to others, and solve problems without expecting always something in return, you build a solid relationship with people. As a business owner, there will be the time when being able to leverage those relationships could mean many thousands of dollars, and frustrations saved; for example getting to a key business partner may require you to go through a key assistant that serves as a gatekeeper with the power to help you or make you wait. However, having a trust-based relationship with that person might mean the difference between growing your business or not.
Skills The second thing you want to learn to leverage are your skills, but also the acknowledgement of the things you are not skilled at. As I mentioned in past publications in social media, as a business owner with a strategy, you need to know what things your are meant to be doing as the expert you are, and what things you are going to outsource to other experts that I like to call the brokers. In plain English what I mean here is that you need to decide what things you are going to do in and for your business, and what things you are going to delegate to someone that has more skills than you on the topic.
Education and Accomplishments Believe it or not the idea of leveraging your education and accomplishments may come as a new idea for many business owners. For once, if you have accomplished anything good, I want to let you know that you are entitled to brag about it, as long as there is a purpose with that. "Leveraging your accomplishments could be the difference between landing that next big client or not." For example, when I mention in my bio that I’m a Mechanical Industrial Engineer with an MBA from a branch from Harvard, it’s not because the long title suits me, but because I want to ease your fears by sharing with you the fact that I’ve gone through a lot of difficult tasks, yet I figured out a way to be a successful woman, therefore someone that can help you get there too. Leveraging your accomplishments could be the difference between landing that next big client or not.
Fears This is one of my favorite things to teach entrepreneurs, how to leverage their fears. Most people tell you to conquer and overcome your fears, but I want to tell you today, that this actually doesn’t work. Fears are feelings our bodies are designed to experience. Fear is an impulse created by our brain to help with the survival of the species, therefore what makes you think you’ll be able to live free of fear. On the other hand, if you embrace your fears, and understand what they are trying to tell you and then leverage that information you will be ahead of your competitors without a doubt, because they are stuck trying to conquer their fears, which we have established is impossible, while you will be on march to conquer the thing that creates the emotion of fear itself. In many cases, this is as simple as acquiring new skills or guidance from a mentor like me. I love this topic so much that I created a whole process dedicated to leverage one’s fears, and the results from my clients have been incredible.
Time And of course, this list can’t be completed without the idea of leveraging time. Time leverage or time hacking as I like to call it is another of those areas where I specialize, because my approach to this topic is to go back to basic and re-engineer your thinking, your habits, your process and your systems. When you look at these four areas, you can then create on demand consistent extra hour each week, as you need them or want them.
As you can see now, leverage these five things, so accessible to all of us, presents an extraordinary advantage for your business, and even if you only take and apply one of these tips today you would be 100% much better than before. Now imagine if you do apply them all.
For more details about how to get ahead with the power of leverage and other business strategies for success, follow me on Facebook or Instagram, join my Facebook Community or visit my website
Carmen Benton, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Carmen Benton is an International sought after Business Strategist, dedicated to help entrepreneurs around the world stop feeling overwhelmed and overworked, by showing them how to create a real growth strategy and powerful action that is proven to eliminate burnout from any business, including yours so that you can feel passionate about what you do again, and scale you business with ease. Carmen is a Mechanical Industrial Engineer and she holds an MBA from a branch for Harvard Business School. She has served in high management positions in large corporations in the US, and she also has helped companies of all shapes and sizes, create and established a concrete strategy that's actionable and profitable.
