This past week in LA, I hobnobbed with some of the most successful people in music at the major industry event of the year (okay, well, more like I saw most of them, but I did meet David Meerman Scott!) . Having talked over the years with mega-successful entrepreneurs about what success really means, I decided to share some of their success tactics with you.

Mega-Success Tactic #1: Define Success For Yourself.

Consider this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“To laugh often, to win the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”

Think about it- what is your definition of success? Is it freedom, financial independence and wealth, international travel, a happy, healthy family, physical health, doing good for others in the world…what does it mean to you to be successful?

This one can get a little tricky- sometimes we want things because we get the idea we’re “supposed” to want them. As my friend Dixie says, “Do you want what you want or only what you WANT to want?”

For example, when I do the Lifestyle & Business Planning Analysis with clients, one of the areas of the questionnaire focuses on what material things you want. I see a lot of answers- cars, boats, vacation villas in Tuscany. And I think we’ve been trained to believe that’s what success is. We see wealthy people on TV with their conspicuous spending and outrageous purchases and think that’s what we’re supposed to want.

But when it really comes down to it, when you soul search and go deep, when you close your eyes and take a deep breath and envision your perfect life, what do you want?

Once you know what you really want, it’s easy to implement the remaining four tactics:

Mega-Success Tactic #2. State your goals in positive terms.

If you believe in the Law of Attraction, you’ve already heard this message. But even if you haven’t or if the Law of Attraction isn’t your “thing,” your brain receives messages in the same way the universe does. If your brain hears, “Avoid creating problems with clients,” what it actually hears is “create problems with clients.” The brain also hears a negative word, “avoid.” This creates a negative state of mind that follows you around. If, instead, your brain hears, “Create a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients,” it hears a positive and clear message and knows exactly what to do. This kind of positive message breeds a positive, upbeat state of mind that follows you around. (And thank you to Kat, one of my Facebook pals who recently reminded me gently of this tactic when I said my mantra was “I’m not getting sick!”)

Remember, too, that your brain needs clear messages. “Avoid creating problems with clients” tells you what not to do, but it doesn’t say what you should do. There are lots of possibilities that aren’t “creating problems with clients,” but which is the alternative that you want?

Mega-Success Tactic #3. Define your goals in measurable, time-sensitive terms.
Once you’ve stated your goals in positive terms, you need to come up with a way to determine if you’ve achieved your goals. How do you know you’ve achieved your goal? By when do you want to achieve it?

Using the previously mentioned goal, you can change “Create a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients,” to “Create and maintain a pleasant and positive relationship between company representatives and clients, as evidenced by quarterly customer satisfaction surveys.” Here you’ve created a measure of your success in the customer satisfaction surveys and you’ve said that you will initially create and then maintain your goal, which shows you what you need to see in those surveys- an increase and gradual leveling out in positive ratings. You’ve also made it time-sensitive by stating that the surveys are to be done quarterly.

Setting measurements and timing for your goals keeps your goals clear and attainable instead of wishy-washy and vague.

Mega-Success Tactic #4. Plan ahead.
Sometimes business owners experience what I like to call “post-success laziness.” You have a goal, you achieve your goal, and then you take a break, resting on your laurels and, yeah, let’s face it, you get a little lazy. This happens when you don’t plan ahead and set your next goal before you achieve the first one.

Creating a roadmap of goals does a couple of things. First, in creating a series of goals, you assume you will achieve the closest goal and the next one and so on, and that’s just smart, positive thinking. Second, you avoid the post-success laziness because you’re already working toward the next goal before you achieve the first. You do want to take time to celebrate achievements, but don’t let yourself get so bogged down in the celebration that you forget to keep moving forward.

Mega-Success Tactic #5. Follow through!
The single most important tactic to achieving success is the ability to follow through. If you create goals and then don’t set up systems and structures to follow through on your goals, you’re not a mover or a shaker- you’re a dreamer.

Don’t get me wrong- there’s nothing wrong with dreaming. Being a dreamer is a wonderful, important thing, actually. Dreamers can be extremely successful people, but not without follow-through. So find ways to follow through on your dreams- and if you need help, find it! If there are things you don’t know how to do, learn how to do them or delegate them. If you struggle with time management and accountability, hire a coach. Because once you figure out where you’re going, all you have to do is figure out how to get there and follow through.

So, start by  deciding where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, and then build a plan to follow through. With this plan, you’ll find success on your own terms.

My latest post on LifeHack.org, published March 26, 2009:

How often do you get that lazy feeling? You know the one. It’s that heavy feeling that weighs down your entire body so the only things you really feel like doing is watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing your Wii. Or, maybe you just feel like doing something fun instead of working, when you know you really need to get some serious work done. These are serious productivity killers, especially for home-based business owners…but there are ways to fight back. Use these tips to get back to work and see your productivity soar.

First, plan ahead. You can’t always predict your moods, but you can plan ahead so you start out with the right state of mind. If you wake up without a concrete plan for your day you can easily waft into checking e-mail and social networking sites before doing any actual work. This is the sort of time-sucking activity that can eat up half of your workday (if not all of it!). If you develop a plan of action and go to bed with a strong commitment to wake up the next morning and get to work, you’ll do exactly that.

Second, as part of your plan, wait until late morning or early afternoon to open your e-mail software or check any social networking sites. This is something that Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Workweek, recommends. If you check your e-mail, there’s a strong chance that there will be something in your Inbox that will require action on your part, and you can bet you’ll feel compelled to deal with that e-mail before you get to work on the tasks you had planned for the day. Talk about derailing your productivity! Even more importantly (especially if your work requires you to check e-mail first thing), keep your personal and work e-mail accounts separate, and only check your personal accounts when your work is done for the day.

Third, once you’re ready to work, minimize distractions. Turn off the TV and the phone ringer and disable any chat or text/instant messaging software. I have a client whose productivity is regularly disrupted by phone calls from friends and family members throughout the day. It’s especially important when you work from home to make sure your friends and family know when you are working, so you can maintain a consistent, productive environment.

Fourth, if you’re trying to work and keep getting distracted by thoughts of something else, take care of whatever is distracting you and then come back to work. If it’s “fun” that’s distracting you, take a half hour out to go do something enjoyable. My husband and I regularly break to take walks outside on a pleasant day, or to bake a loaf of bread. Sometimes you just can’t focus, and if that happens, it’s best not to try to force it. In fact, the stress and pressure can make it even harder to focus and you may end up doing poor work. So take some time out, have a little fun, relax, and then come back with a fresh, new perspective.

Fifth, for some, it works well to build in a system of rewards and punishments. Generally, most people recommend positive stimuli only. But sometimes you want to avoid something just as much as you want to gain its opposite. So the reward and punishment can actually be two sides of the same coin: if you accomplish your task, you get to do a particular fun activity and if you don’t accomplish your task, you don’t get to do that activity. This can be a powerful motivator (but if you really are struggling for motivation, see my article from last week).

Finally, there’s the powerful “just do it” strategy. Once you start working and getting in the groove of productivity, you’ll find that it’s much easier to stay in that “productivity zone.” And once you’re in that zone, you may find that you can get more accomplished in an hour than you might normally get done in a entire day. Sometimes you may have to do some real self-direction to get to this place. One technique that works well to get you into the productivity zone is the “act as if” exercise. In this exercise, you think of someone who you respect and admire who is good at whatever it is that you want to accomplish. Then, you envision what that person is feeling at that moment, step into their shoes, and “act as if” you are them. It’s not enough to act like them, you actually want to act as if you are them. This enables you to temporarily leave the you that isn’t “in the mood” to work behind and in essence, be someone else for awhile.

Use these tips and your productivity will be high with consistency. You’ll avoid the time-sucking, distractions and derailing attitudes and “I can’t believe the day is over and I didn’t get anything done,” will be a thing of the past.

My latest post on LifeHack.org, published March 19, 2009:

Maybe you’ve been trying to kick-start your business and it just hasn’t worked yet. Maybe you’ve just started but you’re already frustrated. Or maybe you’ve wanted to hit that next level for years and haven’t been able to get there. Regardless of your situation, getting motivated and on-track isn’t difficult. It’s staying that way that’s the trick. And when you’re struggling to “make it,” sometimes it’s even harder. You find yourself wandering, letting yourself get distracted, and wondering if you’ll ever really make your mark. Want to end the cycle of struggle? Master these tips and you’ll be virtually unstoppable.

First, know that this is a temporary state. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been where you are. All that you need to know is that nothing is permanent. All things change, even if it seems that they don’t. It’s simply a law of nature — nothing stays the same forever. The universe is constantly moving, evolving, and changing, and so are you. So instead of seeing this as a neverending path into darkness, know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and every day, it’s getting closer. And as soon as you get a new client, sell your first product, or hit that next target, everything within you will shift.

Second, remind yourself what you’re fighting for. When you’ve been trying to make something happen for awhile, you can start to lose sight of the end goal. Instead of focusing on the reason you started this journey in the first place, you begin to focus on smaller, more immediate outcomes. For example, if you started your business so you could eventually free up enough time to spend with your family, but you’ve been working for a long time and haven’t seen the results you’d expected or hoped for, your goal may have shifted from “be with my family” to “make my business work.” This has exactly the opposite effect than you originally intended. By shifting your priorities, now you’re probably spending less time with your family.

Sometimes it’s helpful to create tangible reminders of the reason you started down this path.  A vision board may be useful, or just a statement, penned boldly and tacked to a bulletin board near your workspace. If you want to remind yourself of a forgotten goal and reintegrate it into your thinking process and mindset, set your alarm a few minutes earlier each morning and spend that time meditating on what you’re working towards. Reaffirm what you’re fighting for and you’ll find the will to fight is restored and renewed once more.

Third, believe in yourself. It can be hard to believe in yourself when you’ve been trying to make something work for a long time. Sometimes you just lose faith in your own ability to make it work or see it through. One of the best ways to stay strong in your belief in yourself is to keep track of your successes, even the small ones. When you’re feeling down on yourself, go back to the list of successes and review them. Remind yourself that you are capable and you can make this work.

Another way to rebuild your confidence involves something social psychologists have known for decades — that our feelings about ourselves are frequently a reflection of how we think others perceive us. So take advantage of that! Read through your client testimonials and e-mails. Ask your clients for periodic evaluations and you’re bound to receive some fantastic feedback (and if there are some negatives, folks, that’s a great learning experience — it tells you exactly what you need to do to improve and make your clients happy). Even if your faith in yourself falters, others still believe in you.

Finally, get help before you’re in crisis. If your business isn’t where you want it to be, if you aren’t making the leaps ahead that you want to be making, there’s obviously something going on. Before things go too far, before you get lost and become totally unmotivated, get help!

The problem may be with your business — it could be a branding issue, a marketing issue, or maybe just you aren’t giving your clients what they want.  Hire a consultant who can turn your business inside out finding ways to improve your results. The problem may also lie within — you yourself might benefit from some “fine-tuning.” Hire a coach and work through any roadblocks that may be getting in the way of your success. Hire a mentor and model his/her behavior. Or if you’re struggling with self-discipline and need a budget solution, ask a reliable friend to be your accountability partner so you both can improve.

As you begin to master the ability to keep your motivation high, it will become easier to stay on-track. Moments of frustration will be fewer and farther between and, as you master your mindset, you’ll find that you actually achieve success and reach your targets faster.

A friend recently asked me, “When you have a Business in Blue Jeans, what do you do all day? Do you work?”

At first this made me giggle. Of course I work! Any business, requires work, at least in the initial stages, and most businesses, especially the ones we love, need our presence some of the time. Anybody who tells you otherwise is just lying to you.

When I first start a company, my days are pretty full. I spend most of the day working on developing the concept, building the idea, the brand. And once the concept is established, then there’s a corporate identity to build and a list of products and services to create. There are marketing plans and set up and tax IDs and web sites and financing and e-zines and future planning…so much goes into the initial stages of a business, and skimping on this time is a critical error that a lot of people make.

That said, a lot of the work done in these stages can be (and is) outsourced to trusted professionals. I have a team of people I’ve worked with for years and I trust each of them to know what I need them to do and to do it well.

When the company is launched, the kind of work you do changes. Now you’re spending more time doing what you love, combined with getting your name out there. Here again, creative outsourcing can free up a lot of your time. As your company grows, you’ll spend more and more time doing what you’re truly passionate about, and you’ll have more and more free time as well, if you’ve structured your systems properly.

So what does my life look like? I put in two hours at the gym, five days a week. I work most, but not every, day. Some days I may work for 1 hour, responding to e-mails and emergencies from my outsourced professionals. There are occasional 12-hour days when I have a Relaxed Fit client who’s launching his/her business. But those long workdays are few and far between. My days are typically more like today, when I’ve worked off and on for about four or five hours, while simultaneously baking an herb-olive ciabatta.

For me, a Business in Blue Jeans is all about flexibility. I can take my business anywhere in the world, and I have.  I’ve worked from cafes in Paris, Edinburgh, London, and Montevideo. I’ve worked in Chicago, L.A., Orlando, Hilton Head, Houston, Dallas, and San Francisco. I can work from home, the library, the art museum, coffee shops, and wherever else I feel like working that day. Point is, if I’m in a fantastic place like Paris, I can work for an hour and then go enjoy myself. And I’ve set up my systems so I can pretty much leave for a couple of weeks when I want to see the world and everything continues to run perfectly.

During regular times when I’m not traveling, I have a lot of free time. I’ve structured my business that way. I have a team I can call on, so whether I’m baking fresh pitas, playing with my cats, or traveling the world, they’re making sure everything continues to run smoothly. And if I had children and wanted the freedom and flexibility to spend more time with them, it would work the exact same way.

That’s what I do. I design businesses to suit your lifestyle and what you want that lifestyle to look like. I work with you to create a business that fits the needs of your life and your family and that provides you with the time you want- whether it’s to travel the world or stay right at home.

That’s what I do with my Business in Blue Jeans. What could you do with yours?