I have a client who struggles. Not because he doesn’t know how, but because he doesn’t believe he can.

We spent several hours during the last two weeks of 2006 planning 2007. We determined where we were, where we wanted to get and developed the plan to get there. He bought into every step of the process when we were done, but he still had to execute. You need to know that his goals are aggressive, but attainable.

(Day 1/Tuesday) – Accomplished his “calls” goal. During debrief at the end of the day, we determined a couple of minor mistakes in an otherwise great performance except that he not only never asked for a referral, but he never thought to ask.

(Day 2/Wednesday) – Accomplished half of his “calls” goal. During debrief, we learned that he did very well. Still never asked for a referral, but realized at one point that he was supposed to be asking. (Baby steps.)

(Day 3/Today) – He called me on the way to his office and left a message saying that he hoped that my day wasn’t as bad as his. His day’s not very good.  He has a stuffy nose/cough. He’s gonna take some ibuprofen and try to get back in the game. I figured this would be a wasted day.

A few hours later, he left me a voicemail asking whether it counts if he gets a referral without asking. He added that these crazy customers are not only calling back and leaving a good time to call, but they also need work done at sisters house. (We were working on leaving voicemail messages that work.) He added that he doesn’t understand some people. Tonight he sends me his results.

He set up three cooperative partnerships where everybody can feed work to the other.

He gave a referral to one of his resources.

He had a short conversation with someone that wanted to play games. Realized it. Called the game and ended the conversation.

He developed SOB on a 5 year contract that’s up for renewal and he’s being asked to bid on.

These in addition to the jobs he got from the customer that called back and the sister.

He overcame his nose/cough issue, got results, and had the presence to insert some humor into his report to me.

Last January, he was probably wondering if he should think about some goals for 2006. This January, he made more calls in three days than he did in the last quarter of 2006. Last January he may have had a stuffy nose and cough all month. This year it didn’t matter. He’s taken control of his head. He’s taken control of his business. He’s taken control of his life. Did he do it alone? Of course not! But it doesn’t matter. He did it!

Congratulations and Happy New Year!

Who’s next?