Success Made Easy - Five Simple Steps

Many great minds have produced books on how to succeed in life. Some of my favorites include: "Seven Habits of Highly Successful People," "The Road Less Traveled," and "Good to Great." I have 12+ years of marketing experience and have read many "how to achieve success" books, but I have to say I have learned more about myself and how to achieve success just in the past year and 10 months. Many have asked how I make it look so easy—and between you and me, it's not—how do I do it? Just keep the following in mind...

1. Know who you are
Know who you are and what you are good at—and hopefully what you are good at is the same thing as what you are passionate about. Since you met with your high school guidance counselor to discuss college options, people have been telling you to do this. Did you follow their advice?

For those of you who did, you realized it does not happen overnight. It takes time, planning, and a few false starts. It took me ten years of bumpy road to get there. A friend of mine got there, got promoted, and realized he was not there anymore. Other friends are just starting out—they are passionate about blogs, children's nutrition, and photography, just to name a few. The money is not rolling in yet, but it will.

What is your passion? Learn about it, write about it, speak about it—just get out there! You can figure out how you can create a career around it as you go.

2. Know who you are not
Quick, which is less expensive, to pay someone else to complete a task or do it yourself? After ten years in the corporate world, I would have answered the latter. But is it really about the money you would spend or is there more involved? The best way to answer this question is with the story about the star salesperson who stunk at administrative work. If he managed to do it, it took him forever, and it was never accurate. Do you continue to force him to do this or do you hire him an assistant and let him focus on sales? In the end, deciding to spend the money is more about revenue than expense.

A great marketing consultant mentor of mine once said, outsource, outsource, outsource. For all those tasks you are not good at or passionate about, give them to someone else. You do not have to spend a lot of money and it will give you time to grow the part you are good at—and the revenue will exceed the expense.

3. Relish in your successes—learn from your failures
Why is this commonly given piece of advice only used in business? Why not use it for all aspects of your life? Yes, it is always good to give yourself a pat on the back for each success. Successes give you renewed energy to keep moving forward. I have to say though; it's through your failures that you learn. The word "failure" is typically used for big events, but it can be something as small as a misunderstood conversation or a stutter during a speech.

Hopefully, your failures, big or small, are few and far between, and each time you come upon one, you brood for a moment, and then pick it apart—you ask yourself why it happened and how you can fix it moving forward. Every evening, praise yourself for what you have achieved that day and think about how you can do better the next.

4. Have lots of mentors
Make sure you surround yourself with mentors. Mentors from large companies. Mentors from small companies. Executive mentors. Peer mentors. Really, everyone in your life is a mentor. Listen to your parents, your siblings, your friends, your co-workers, clients, and bosses. There is so much to experience in this great big world and I can guarantee you that someone has been through a particular experience before you. I can also guarantee he or she has learned a lot and is eager to tell you all about it. You may not agree with his or her approach, but learn from it anyway. The more you internalize from the world around you the wiser you become. And if all else fails, Google it!

5. Practice what you preach
I tell my clients about how perception is reality. I tell them to put processes in place and track their results. I tell them to nurture their leads and retain their customers. Yes, I practice what I preach... Well, in the beginning I did. Before long, I faced the same issue my clients face—I became too busy. What did one of my peer mentors say to that? If it is important, you have to make time for it, end of discussion.

Taking his bit of advice and combining it with the outsourcing advice and voila, today I launched a new, professional website clearly defining who I am and how I can benefit you. I am also bringing back my newsletter which you can expect to receive quarterly.

To stay ahead of the Internet marketing curve, I will be launching a new blog focused on Internet marketing tactics. With my knowledge and all those smart people out there, my plan is to help educate my prospects, clients, friends, and family about Internet marketing and how to effectively integrate it into traditional marketing plans.

To close, I would like to thank my husband, family, friends, and clients for their continued support and guidance as Caro Consulting continues to grow and find its way in the coming years. In return, I look forward to helping all of you take your visions and create serious results.