Today’s business leader faces new challenges: less money to work with, greater competition, and customers who now think more than twice before spending their hard-earned money. Everything seems less predictable than in the past. Savvy business owners know they simply have to increase their ACUMEN [keen insight] in order to win.

Five Experts Share
The Acumen Experts will bring clarity and keen insight to issues like these:
• how to convert more conversations into sales
• how to sell yourself on selling
• how to grow in this new economy
• online marketing for your offline business
• the three essential steps to becoming a successful team
• how to BE a leader that attracts talent
• how to get more clients now
• how to free your time while getting more done
• activate your magnetic quality to attract the right clients
• create brand loyalty to keep the clients you already have

Plus Q&A Session
Experts Panel will answer your specific questions so that you can apply business acumen to your unique challenge.

December 7th, 2010
8:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Hosted at the luxurious
Sunset Whitney Country Club
4201 Midas Avenue
Rocklin, CA 95677

Seminar Includes
• Full Breakfast
• Presentations By Each Expert
• Q+A Panel
• Over $3,000 In Raffle Prizes
• Handouts and Notes
Limited Seating – Register Early!

Register Today
online / acumenexperts.com
phone / 916.541.9161

1) Face The Facts. I had a friend tell me that he would love to have my optimism and I told him I would love to have his ability to face the facts.
What I learned after the 2007 was to face reality, mine for it, look at the data, have an open ear to people I respect.

Schedule reality time each week to look at the data. What mission critical scorecards show you the current and future reality? Spend time to listen to team mates and customers. Acknowledge the crisis. And always see the opportunities.

2) Know Where You Are Going. Having a vision of where I’m going and goals to get there has helped me to stay the course, avoid rash reactions, follow my vision in crisis, stay focused, change strategies as needed, keep core values, & have transparency.

You must have your vision in writing.Read it weekly if not daily if in crisis. Share it often, everyone on your team. Build your plans from your vision. How does your plan cause your vision to be more real? It’s ok to adjust your plan but not what you stand for.

Create your Vision, Business Plan and Priorities at this online event for free. Click here.

3) Have A Plan. Life isn’t fair. Economy happens! You make your own breaks. The best way I know how to get the upper hand on my competition is to have a better plan and prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. (Don’t worry about your competition having a better plan than you, because most professionals have none at all, just make sure that’s not you.)

 Follow these business growth strategies:

· Get clear on your 30, 60 ,90 day plans of what matters most.

· Focus on core systems of the company. Execution will be greater with fewer priorities and fewer initiatives, less is more in regards to planning.

· Know exactly what you are going to execute.

· Anticipate and act, look for early signals.

· Work on your bad times even in good times.

· Work on your costs even when you’re making allot of money.

· Analyze various what if scenarios to discuss possible solutions of possible negative future events.

· Build worst case plans, don’t make them your mantra but have them available to not just survive but to thrive. Short term time frames are critical.

· Do 90 day planning. As planning increases, focus improves, which causes improved execution.

· Communicatee and work the plan.

· Schedule time weekly to see where you are at in the plan, face reality and be in alignment with your vision.

· Identify your key players and who else on the team needs to take ownership of the plan.

• Multiple people driving the plan. Delegate, delegate, delegate.

4) Communicate your Vision. You can never over communicate your vision. You get what you focus on, get you whole team focusing on the same end goal.

 · Let others vent their concerns.

· Stay open with communication. During challenging times leaders tend to not communicate.

· Remember the “The Stockdale Paradox” and confront the brutal facts/reality and how you can communicate and use your current situation for the benefit of you and your team.

· Have weekly meetings, share a component of your vision, communicate by video, voice broadcast, email and as many means as possible.

· Have a humble confidence of your vision and communication it, being transparent and vulnerable, but with confidence in your vision, your team, your plan and confident that you will give it your all.

• Confidence comes from what we believe and what we see.

5) Develop A Team. Don’t give up the development of your people. Ask yourself who’s talents are being overlooked? To discover your strengths use this tool, click here.

· Let your team know they are your strongest competitive advantage.

· What are you doing, saying, and how are you treating them that makes them know you value them as the competitive advantage that they are? Or are they getting a different message?

· Look for one person every day to connect with in a deep and meaningful way, one person every day to encourage.

· Celebrate victories. Let you team know how the team will win and they can participate and use the 90 day plan you have created.

· Get in the trenches with your team, observe, interpret, and go back and adjust your plan, but not your vision.

· Always be recruiting the best and adding value.

• Keep the discipline of coaching your team and invest in them to be better.

6) Keep A Bunch Of Cash. Do all you can to maintain a stronger than needed balance sheet.

· Know your numbers, monthly, weekly, daily.

• Ask yourself if it is a need or a want.

7) Have A Good Perspective. What you see and what you believe will impact your reality in the days ahead because all your teammates are going to feed off how you respond.

· Courage is a must in these time and courage will enable you to sustain and survive and thrive in the years ahead. So know what you must do to keep courage.

· Surround yourself with those who see what you see and stand for what you stand for.

· Have a solid board of advisors, have a mentor, have a coach.

· Get a rhythm to have a good day, have a set of priorities that make for a great day.

· Get rest, stay healthy, exercise and don’t let things in life take you off your A game.

· Know your way, plan it, schedule it, ask for help.

· Take small bites and start with little things that will improve your business, life and health.

• Have people that will help you stay on track.

In summary, staying focused on these Best Practices will help you and your organization thrive in any economic time.

Schedule a FREE one-on-one strategy coaching session to Define Your Vision, Set Challenging Goals, Create A Plan Of Action and Achieve Extraordinary Results! Email him at mickey@mickeyobrien.com and put “Hungry For Coaching” in the subject line.

Discover the 7 steps to getting internet famous,
building your business and having a life. I like to keep things simple so here is how I got internet famous in only 7 steps.

1) Passion Is Everything! Your passion is the drive that keeps you going and you never feel drained doing it. So make sure whatever you do, do it with passion. If you haven’t discovered your passion yet, write down 25 things that you are passionate about. You can use this personal branding video to help, click
here.

2) Know Your Strengths. Find your hidden strengths and expose your weaknesses. Individuals who want to identify and maximize their personal strengths and organizations that want to best integrate high-performance teams. Use this free assessment to discover your strengths, click here

3) Reinvent Yourself. Get rid of your stinkin thinkin and change the
way you think to go from good to great. Use this audio to create a new mindset, click here.

4) Get Focused. One of my top distinctions is “You Get What You Focus On”. Make sure to set clear goals. To go from ordinary to extraordinary you must have a clear vision of where you are going. Here are 2 tools you can use to get focused. Use the Goal Mapping tool, click here. Or to attend the BP11 event for free, click
here.

5) Know Your Stuff. If you want to get the attention of others create great content. You already have the content through your passion and expertise. Talk about recent successes and tell stories of real events and people. Example: I helped one of my clients this week free 10 extra hours using this time management audio, click here.

6) Go From a Go-Getter to Go-Giver. People think the more blogs they post or social sites they are on, the more they will get business or get popular. But the best way I found to make a real impact is by blogging less and giving more. So I found that quality is more important than quantity. Check out the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, click here.

7) Implement Now! General George Patton said “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” Start today with one thing you are passionate about. Give something of great value. And most of all have fun.

Use these 7 steps to get internet famous and cash in
on your hidden strengths and passion!

Are you on the verge of a massive breakthrough
or a breakdown?

26% of adult Americans report being on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown.

61% of Americans check email while on vacation.

63% of all employees want to work less, up from 46% in 1992.

88% of employees say they have a hard time juggling work and life.

70% of working fathers and working mothers report they don’t have enough time for their children.

Maybe it’s time to Revisit, Retool and Build a business and life by design….

The question is….Do you need a plan to be successful?  Ask any top producer and they will say YES!

Here’s how to get a life and build a business by design:

1.  Get a VISION.
In business and life, if you can see it, you can build it. Continued focus on your vision makes the difference between mediocrity and excellence. A vision is where you plan to end up and you can reach your vision through many difference routes, strategies and avenues. Vision in business is where battles are won or lost.

2. Get a Life!
Life planning is one of the most important business tools there is; you get what you focus on and if that is only business then you will not have a well balanced life or possibly none at all. Life planning is all about who you want to be, it’s a proactive way to look at what’s most important to you. If you don’t take time to focus on the things that matter most to your heart, it’s highly likely you will live to regret it. Just listen to the song “Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin.

3. Plan to Succeed.
Planning gets us ready to make it happen…and to anticipate contingencies that need to be covered. To execute, it must be clear. Many professionals agonize over the thought of doing a business plan. They get frustrated over the extensive process and if they end up doing it, it ends up in their desk drawer all year.

I’ve developed a process to take you through this planning process with ease to where you will end up knowing exactly what you want in business and life and have a 1 page plan to follow for 2011. And best of all, it’s free for the next 19 who register.

4. Have Priorities.
The number one question I get is “How do I get it all done?” If you find yourself saying “I can’t do it all”, then you may want to look into your priorities, or as I say “choices management”. One of my top distinctions is “Schedule Everything”, don’t get overwhelmed by that statement, there’s an easy way to do that. But basically if you don’t take charge of scheduling your priorities, everyone and everything else around you
will!

5.  Implementing now is key. General George Patton said “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” Look, if you haven’t done a plan yet because you don’t know whether or not it’s a great one or even a good one, you are missing out on the biggest opportunity to grow your business by leaps and bounds in 2011.

Have you decided yet to create your 2011 plan?  If so, I want to invite you to participate for FREE (Limited to the next 19) in Business Plan 2011 Online!

The Business Explosion live online webinar is the must attend event for sales professionals and entrepreneurs who want to reach and maintain top-producer status. Take Your Business & Life to the next level December 9-10, 2010 Get practical tools, solutions, and strategies that work for you!

Create a Step-by-step Plan to grow your business bigger and better month after month.

Free Your Time & Life while getting more done and working less.

Quickly Start Attracting Clients,earn great money, and build a thriving business.

This power-packed program is built to make you dominate your marketplace. This is a 2 half day event with fast paced 30 to 40-minute sessions, you’ll get straight forward materials, guidance and strategies you need on the topics that matter most to your success right now.

Best of all: This Business Plan Online is the only FREE event where you walk away with a step-by-step business plan that gives you a roadmap for your next 12 months that guides you to new heights and successes in the year to come.

Limited spots available. This event would usually cost hundreds per person, so to keep the cost down and make it impactful for those who attend we are limited the attendees. You can have as many people in your office download the provided materials and sit around your desk if they didn’t reserve there spot on time.

Sign up today and find out what a difference it can make to your life.

Click here to register. Once you register, one of our representatives will contact you to confirm that your spot is reserved.

The Passion Centered Life radio show..w/Gary Z & Mickey O from Mickey O'Brien on Vimeo.

* Use this link to Complete Assessment: http://www.ttisurvey.com///137005NMC

Once you have completed you free assessment email Coach Mickey at mickey@mickeyobrien.com for a complimentary debrief.

(The total value of the assessment and debrief coaching is $547)

Limited to the 1st 20 people who respond!

“I’m tired of feeling alone. I want to work in a team”

I hear the above statement over and over from business owners I talk to.

I know many of us THRIVE a lot more when we’re surrounded by people who support us, hold us accountable and who inspire us to rise to greater heights.

This is why I’m inviting a select number of dedicated entrepreneurs to join my highest level coaching program – The Thrive Coaching Program.

The Thrive Coaching Program connects you to a handpicked group of intelligent, go-getting, caring entrepreneurs who will move you forward in ways you’ve never experienced before.

If you have a business that you want to grow to 6-figures and beyond, then join our group and let’s do it together.

To find out if you are a candidate for this coaching program fill out the enrollment form below and receive a FREE SuccessDNA Assessment and the Thrive Coaching Program brochure and application.

The brief enrollment opportunity ENDS at the end of May, which is only a days away. This has been one of the most transformative years of my life, and I know it has been for many of my clients as well.

Throughout my coaching sessions, calls, and business-building retreats, I’ve watched so many entrepreneurs step out of uncertainty and into the most successful year they’ve ever had, both financially and personally. And I’d like to expand the circle to include you. I look forward to working together to make your business dreams come true!

~ Mickey PS: If you’re curious to know what business-building topics are covered in the program, just download the brochure and application by typing in your contact information here:

But there’s one caveat – this isn’t a program that’s about sitting back and learning. I’m putting emphasis on implementation, giving you clear “how-to” instructions, and supporting you to roll up your sleeves and really create the business you want. I will hold you accountable to follow through and make things happen.