This week’s motivational phrase is:

If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it – Anonymous.

I do not know who created this quote, but that doesn’t change the message. If opportunity does not find its way yo you, then create your own opportunity. Your big break may be one that you have to create for yourself.

As an entrepreneur, you are always looking for ways to produce more with less. Or rather, increase the efficiency of your processes such that you can generate more revenue with less cost, less effort, or both. Well, when considering the process of building a sales team, many entrepreneurs can utilize the process called being a “percentage partner.” (Full credit to Mr. Dan Vega for the term as it is described here).

Percentage partners do not fit well in every business. However, in the ones where they do, the cost savings can be significant. Percentage partners are basically entities or individuals that are compensated based upon performance. This may seem like nothing more than a commissioned sales person. That is not the case. Commissioned sales people work for the money only. A percentage partner works with you to maximize the sale, support, and longevity of the product or service along with perpetuating client relations constantly in positive directions. Percentage partners behave more like limited partners than employees. Your commission sales people generally want a base plus commission. Percentage partners generally want a higher commission and can forego the base. Percentage partners many times are other entrepreneurs.

When you place your ad in the newspaper, Craigslist, or on your office window, have it read something along the lines of “Great company seeking limited partners to promote [insert product or service here]. No capital injection required. Ability to work as a team and perform to high standards is a must.” I am not telling you how to write your ad copy, simply suggest some key terms to utilize.

When screening potential percentage partners, pick people that you like and can work with. You may be tempted to bring someone on simply because they can sell. I  suggest you reconsider. If you pick people you get along with, like, and they seem like they can perform, then you have found yourself a good percentage partner. Look for quality, not quantity. Compensation can be any of multiple different options.

Standard starting terms are something like “I have a product that retails for X number of dollars. I’ll give you X number of dollars for each one sold.” Doing things this way allows the percentage partner to establish their base cost and room to negotiate on their own. They know how much you expect for each unit of product or service and they realize that lowering the price lowers their compensation. Doing things this way never lowers your margin though. The percentage partner knows the cost from you is always the same. I do suggest setting a minimum for which they can sell a single unit. That preserves the value of your product or service.

Additionally, you will want to sit down and devise marketing strategies with your percentage partners. Remember, they are partners, not employees. You control the product or service. But they work with you, not for you. With them working with you on tasks like this, you can pull from a wider knowledge base and develop much more refined strategies and processes. This gives you the opportunity to replicate your self without it costing you money.

As you can see, percentage partners are wonderful if they are an appropriate fit for your business. Your sales force increases, marketing becomes better and more efficient and your costs do not go up. Paid for performance is what percentage partnerships are all about. After all, in the entrepreneurial world, if you do not perform you do not get paid. Why not bring others in that share the same risk and enjoy the same rewards?

Still unsure about percentage partnerships or how to approach them? Can’t find a percentage partner? Contact us. We are always looking for opportunities. Want to be a percentage partner? Once again, contact us as we have opportunities to offer.

Opportunity: a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances. If opportunity were to knock on your door would you answer? Most would answer, “Yes” to that question. But when you ask those same people, “What is an opportunity? What does an opportunity for you look like?” Their demeanor will change to becoming perplexed because they do not know the answer. It is a similar quandary to asking someone what they want in life. Most will have a quick answer like, “I want to be rich.” Ok, define rich. What is rich to you? The perplexed look will once again cover their face. Why? They never defined rich. How can you know you have achieved it if you have not defined it? Back to opportunity, how will you know what an opportunity is unless you have defined it? You cannot define it, for your circumstance, unless you know where you are and where you are going.

Opportunities are never missed, they only pass onto someone else. If you are unprepared, opportunity will knock and you will not answer because you will not know it is an opportunity. That may sound strange. But the statement is true none the less. Using a simplistic analogy, if a person wanted to be a carpenter and someone offered to sell him a brand new 22 ounce framing hammer for $10 – would they know it is a good deal? If they are unprepared, they would not know that brand new framing hammers are at least $25. They may not recognize that they have an opportunity in front of them. Similarly, many entrepreneurs are faced with great opportunities and never recognize them. You hear about entrepreneurs being offered or finding a great opportunity and becoming monetarily wealthy. They knew how to recognize the opportunity when it presented itself.

So, how do you recognize an opportunity? Be informed and be prepared. You have to stay educated about your industry to take advantage of industry specific opportunities. You need to have an informed professional team that will contact you when your entity can take advantage of an opportunity that they became aware of that is specific to their industry: accountants with new tax breaks, attorneys with beneficial legislation, etc. You must also be prepared. In order to make preparations, you must know where you are and where you want to go. Spend some time evaluating where you are in the stage of your business. What do you already have? In addition, spend some time evaluating and planning where you want to go. What do you need? Simply figuring out what you have and what you need will be a great start on finding out where you are and where you want to be. Take note, when I say “What do you already have? And what do you need?” I am not referring solely to your physical possessions. I am referring to processes, team members, etc.

Be prepared and stay informed so when opportunity knocks, you will be able to answer. The more informed and prepared you are, the less time you have to wait for opportunity to happen upon you. You will be able to start effecting change that leads to your own creation of situations that lead to opportunities. If you have difficulty defining where you are, what do you already have, where do you want to be, and what you need to get there, contact me.

Guest post by Marlene Chism.

Since March is Stop Your Drama Month, this is the perfect time to look at ways we can “stop the drama” and start getting creative. My definition for drama is “any obstacle to your peace or prosperity. While it’s easy to go on auto-pilot and panic, I suggest you see this recession as a way to pull out your very best. My challenge to every business owner and leader is this: Life is calling you to reinvent, realign and rejuvenate. This is the biggest time of opportunity if you are willing to see things differently.

So many opportunities have come to me because of this mindset. I’m doing a weekly radio show (talking about stopping the drama). In addition I registered March as “Stop Your Drama Month” in the chase calendar and the creative efforts are bringing in exposure and income that I would have never had were it not for being challenged to get creative.

In fact, I have even set up a free web resource for managers and leaders at www.stopyourdrama.org. As a result my list is building faster than ever and I’m having fun being of service.

Could it be that a recession can pull out your very best? Could it be that this your time to really step up to the plate? Well, not if you are in the midst of drama.

You can’t take care of yourself or make good decisions when you panic, think irrationally or let your energy drain with useless chatter about how bad things are.  These four action steps help you reclaim your power.

1. Master your mindset
2. Master your inner dialogue
3. Become a creator
4. Focus

Master your mindset

Get control of your mind instead of letting it control you. Excessive exposure to the daily news is unnecessary, as is obsessive conversations about the current situation. Think about how much productivity and wasted time is due to fear and projection about future doom and gloom.

1. Set a time to catch the news, and then go about your life.
2. Refuse to get into mind games about future problems
3. Become an observer instead of a participant.
4. Practice deep breathing, exercise and other positive outlets

Master your inner dialogue

Everyone has an inner dialogue. Scientists say we think about 60,000 thoughts per day and over 85-90 percent of them are either repetitive or negative. Probably most of us are experiencing a background noise that sounds something like this

• I might lose my business
• What if I can’t sell my company
• Our government is corrupt
• They better get something done

And so on it goes. None of these thoughts are constructive.  A good way to start gaining power is to master your communication. The best advice is to create a mantra so that you can rewire your brain.  Here are some good ones.

• All of my needs are met
• This too shall pass
• Nothing lasts forever, not even problems
• I am resourceful and the answer will come.

Completely eliminate statements such as “that’s not fair” or “this always happens to me.” Instead, face what is and make wise decisions. When someone else starts a conversation that triggers your fear, you can get drawn into the addiction or you can simply say, “the drama stops here,” and you can refuse to spiral down.

Become a Creator

Victims feel that they have no choices, while creators always look for the opportunity, the lesson or the options. To learn how to respond rather than react, recognize your choices so that you are prepared for any unfortunate situation.

1. Talk to your financial planner
2. List the areas where you would be willing to scale down if need be
3. Brainstorm about ways to repackage or repurpose your products
4. Make a list of all of your blessings and opportunities
5. Offer “Stop Your Drama Deals” during March and see how creative you can get.

I’m telling all my business friends to “USE” Stop Your Drama Month to offer outrageous “Stop Your Drama Deals” to generate energy and get things moving again!

Being proactive makes you feel a sense of control instead of a sense of panic. In addition, reminding yourself of all that you have already created for yourself is a great mood booster and a reminder that you can create what ever is necessary to move forward.

Focus

Keeping your attitude in check is good for your health and increases your personal productivity. Too much negativity produces stress, anxiety and illness. Even recalling an angry experience for as much as five minutes, suppresses the immune system for as much as six hours. Imagine what happens to your attitude and your health when you watch CNN all day long and hear nothing but negativity.

Attitudes of appreciation increase circulation and promote regular heart rhythms. Which do you want? Only you can choose what you focus on.  Here are some tips for focus.

1. Instead of complaining, ask for what you want or make a new decision.
2. Focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want.
3. Instead of projecting into the future, focus on the now.
4. Separate fact from fiction
5. When researching, listen to all points of view rather than being closed minded.

Instead of following mob mentality, focus on getting the facts. It’s easy to listen to someone you admire, whether it’s Rush Limbaugh, your preacher or your dad. Be your own authority and look at all sides of an issue so that you don’t get off focus and swept up in the tidal waves of negativity. Remind yourself that there may be a bigger picture than what is immediately apparent.

Marlene Chism is founder of Stop Your Drama Month and she works with entrepreneurs and business owners who are in a stage of reinvention. For free resources go to www.stopyourdrama.org