Are You Supporting Your Empire?

The year 2008 is nearly upon us and it is an
opportunity for us to evaluate and
strategize.

One of the mantras that my clients create
during our work together is ’support the
empire’.

Sounds like something straight out of Star
Wars, doesn’t it?

But really what it means is supporting the
lane that you’ve chosen with every new idea,
product or speech that you develop.  You may
not consider your business an empire, but I
think it’s a great word to help us all think
bigger.

I can’t tell you how often I’m talking to a
client who has an idea for a new product or
speech that has absolutely nothing to do with
the growth of their business.  It takes them
off focus and usually does not get the
attention it needs to get off the ground.

I use an umbrella for a visual of the empire.
Here’s a sample so that you can see how it
looks:

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/umbrella.html

At the top of your umbrella on the outside,
write a label that best describes your lane
or your expertise.  This is the title of your
empire and should be very broad.

Some examples might be sales, leadership,
teams, attitude, etc.

Next step, while keeping an eye on the
empire, in the middle of the umbrella, write
down the topics that you deliver that support
the empire.

You may drop some topics in this exercise,
the fewer the better because clients don’t
believe that you are an expert in 10
completely different topics anyway.  For
example on the sales front you might have:
Sales leadership, closing skills, and
negotiating topics.

Finally, falling underneath the umbrella,
like rain would drip off the sides, write
down your distribution channels (revenue
streams).  Again with the sales example, you
might list keynotes, workshops & training,
coaching, consulting, and teleclasses as your
product mix.

When you’re finished, you should be able
to see anything that doesn’t fit and remove
it.

And moving into 2008, when you have an idea
for a new product or revenue stream, you can
look at your umbrella and ask yourself this
key question:

Is this idea going to support the empire??

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/umbrella.html

Happy holidays everyone!  Until 2008.