5 Steps to Ensure a 4th Quarter Comeback in Your Business

So, it's the first week in October and you are growing nervous about whether you will hit your year-end goals. With just under 90 days to go, there is still time to finish 2012 strong, but it's going to take courage, focus and a commitment to do whatever it takes to achieve as many of your goals as possible while establishing which goals you will focus on in the first quarter of the new year.

We've all watched our favorite sports teams who were losing the entire game but during the last quarter, they turned it around. Below you will find my personal recommendation of the steps you should take to make a strong comeback for 2012.

Adjust your mindset. In order to move forward, you're going to have to stop looking back. So what hasn't been completed is the past and there is no future in it. Let it go and decide instead to use your energy focused on what you can still control to influence your goals moving forward. I have always supported a belief that 95% of your success is based on your mindset and only 5% is skill and action. So get your mind right, there is work to do!
Review your 2012 goals. Which can you check off as completed? Which, in your best estimation, are going to take more than 90 days to complete? For those, if you still feel that the goal is important, move it to a 2013 initiative. But before you do, determine why you didn't get to it this year. Is it because you lack the expertise? If so, should you look to engage an expert to help you with that initiative? It's hard to know where you are going if you don't take a look at the plan you set at the beginning of the year.
Determine which you can still achieve. To do this, determine which will take the least amount of time and income to complete? Which have the quickest path to the ultimate result you are looking for with the initiative (i.e. if your goal is income based, which remaining strategies will bring in money the fastest with the least amount of active effort?)
Look for the money on the table and low hanging fruit. There is always money on the table that you can pick up with little effort if you apply yourself. Likewise, you have low hanging fruit (those people who have said they want to hire you that you've yet to follow up with) that if the time is right will buy your products and services. At this stage, you must set aside some time to determine both and then make the phone calls (yes, phone calls) to talk with the people to see if now is the time to hire you. The great thing about this time of year is that everyone who has had a problem all year are more likely to invest in solving the problem now that they are approaching a new year where they will enter with the same problem. No one likes to bring old baggage into a new year.
Create a 90 day action plan. To maximize your remaining time, how should you spend the next 88 days? What should you do first, second and third? What will yield you the biggest ROI? Start by visualizing your end result and then I recommend "backing" in to it so that when you are done, you have achieved the goal. Ask yourself, "If I want to end at X, what do I need to do first so I position myself to end at X?" Keep asking that question for each subsequent step. Write your responses down (you just created your strategic plan.)

If you focus on these five steps, you will have successfully turned what appeared to be a setback into a sure-fire comeback. Here's to a strong finish in 2012!

©2012 by Darnyelle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, MBA, The Incredible Factor Speaker, Business Coach and Marketing Mentor, is the founder of Incredible One Enterprises.com, Incredible Factor University® the Leverage Your Incredible Factor System® a proven step by step program for more clients, more income and more leverage in your business. For more information and a FREE audio CD "5 Critical Mistakes Entrepreneurs Must Avoid When Unleashing Your Incredible Factor So You Attract More Clients, Make More Money and Gain More Leverage" visit http://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com/

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