To Get Your Goals You Have to Ask the Right Questions
To Get Your Goals You Have to Ask the Right Questions
Ted and his girlfriend, Tina, were two young chiropractors building their lives and their businesses together. Cheerful, upbeat, and fun, they enrolled in my workshop in order to get clarity and focus on their financial goals. They mentioned that they knew one of the best ways to expand their business would be to buy another existing medical practice. I congratulated them on their astute reasoning, as it is often much easier and faster to buy a business than to build one patient by patient on their own. They asked me to keep a lookout for a business they might buy.
As often happens when a goal is clearly stated, a plan mapped out, and then presented to people who might assist with its accomplishment, it wasn’t long before a friend of mine, Ken, who owned a holistic medical center told me he wanted to sell his practice. He was delighted when I told him I might have a buyer! Excited at the prospect of helping three people achieve their goals by playing matchmaker, I couldn’t wait to tell Ted and Tina when they came to see me that afternoon.
“How much money does he want for it?” was the first question Tina asked.
“$250,000,” I replied.
“That’s too much money!” She exclaimed. “Forget it.”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “You have asked the wrong question, didn’t like the answer and now you’re about to reject this deal without investigating further!” (In AA circles, they call this “contempt prior to investigation.”)
Tina paused. “Yeah, but we can’t afford $250,000,” she started to say, then caught herself as I shook my head and reached for a “No Yeah, but” button. “Okay,” she laughed, “What’s the right question?”
“The most important question is not how much it costs, but how much money does the business make,” I replied. “If the business generated $35 million per year, you’d find a way to come up with $250,000 wouldn’t you? Because that would be a fabulous profit for you.”
Tina and Ted laughed. “You’re right about that!” Ted said. “And maybe we could make payments over time or get a loan to purchase the business outright. Give us Ken’s number and we’ll look into this further.”
Although this particular deal did not materialize, Tina and Ted learned the importance of asking the right questions. How many times do we stop ourselves from going for our goals because we asked the wrong question or let an old belief or attitude convince us we couldn’t have it? It is a habit of thought that begins “That won’t work because…” Replace that thought with “How can I make this work?”
Today’s Affirmation: “My mind is open to receiving my heart’s desire!”
Reprinted from The Wealthy Spirit (Sourcebooks, 2002) by Chellie Campbell.
© Copyright Chellie Campbell. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
To Get Your Goals You Have to Ask the Right Questions - To learn more about this author, visit Chellie Campbell's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”—George Patton
Ted and his girlfriend, Tina, were two young chiropractors building their lives and their businesses together. Cheerful, upbeat, and fun, they enrolled in my workshop in order to get clarity and focus on their financial goals. They mentioned that they knew one of the best ways to expand their business would be to buy another existing medical practice. I congratulated them on their astute reasoning, as it is often much easier and faster to buy a business than to build one patient by patient on their own. They asked me to keep a lookout for a business they might buy.
As often happens when a goal is clearly stated, a plan mapped out, and then presented to people who might assist with its accomplishment, it wasn’t long before a friend of mine, Ken, who owned a holistic medical center told me he wanted to sell his practice. He was delighted when I told him I might have a buyer! Excited at the prospect of helping three people achieve their goals by playing matchmaker, I couldn’t wait to tell Ted and Tina when they came to see me that afternoon.
“How much money does he want for it?” was the first question Tina asked.
“$250,000,” I replied.
“That’s too much money!” She exclaimed. “Forget it.”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “You have asked the wrong question, didn’t like the answer and now you’re about to reject this deal without investigating further!” (In AA circles, they call this “contempt prior to investigation.”)
Tina paused. “Yeah, but we can’t afford $250,000,” she started to say, then caught herself as I shook my head and reached for a “No Yeah, but” button. “Okay,” she laughed, “What’s the right question?”
“The most important question is not how much it costs, but how much money does the business make,” I replied. “If the business generated $35 million per year, you’d find a way to come up with $250,000 wouldn’t you? Because that would be a fabulous profit for you.”
Tina and Ted laughed. “You’re right about that!” Ted said. “And maybe we could make payments over time or get a loan to purchase the business outright. Give us Ken’s number and we’ll look into this further.”
Although this particular deal did not materialize, Tina and Ted learned the importance of asking the right questions. How many times do we stop ourselves from going for our goals because we asked the wrong question or let an old belief or attitude convince us we couldn’t have it? It is a habit of thought that begins “That won’t work because…” Replace that thought with “How can I make this work?”
Today’s Affirmation: “My mind is open to receiving my heart’s desire!”
Reprinted from The Wealthy Spirit (Sourcebooks, 2002) by Chellie Campbell.
© Copyright Chellie Campbell. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
To Get Your Goals You Have to Ask the Right Questions - To learn more about this author, visit Chellie Campbell's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Chellie's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Super Productivity Meditation Guide Program Health Check Think Networking Hiring An SEO Expert |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2008
Top SEO Posts of the Year | |
 |
Top 50 Business Plans
Top Business Plan Blogs | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||