Focus on Impact: The 10-Step Map to Reach Millions, Make Millions and Love Your Life Along the Way

By Wendy Lipton-Dibner

Never in the history of capitalism has there been a greater need for a shift in business focus. Consumers are cynical, skeptical and cautious, opening a new opportunity for difference-makers. We need to move away from the traditional money-driven business focus and focus all product design, marketing and delivery on making an immediate and lasting impact on people’s lives. This how-to manual provides proven strategies to build and grow any retail or service business that’s focused on impact with step-by-step, proven formulas to make it happen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781630473327

Wendy Lipton-Dibner

WENDY LIPTON-DIBNER, MA is a multiple-time bestselling author and internationally recognized authority in business acceleration through impact strategy. President of Professional Impact & founder of Professional Impact Academy and the Move People to Action System for Global Impact, Wendy is a world-class speaker, sought-after media guest and trusted advisor to doctors, executives, entrepreneurs & top influencers worldwide. She’s addressed the U.S. Senate & delivered thousands of programs on business growth for Fortune 100, healthcare, small business and non-profit organizations, touching millions of lives around the globe.

Book preview

Preface

Never before in history has there been a greater opportunity for impact-driven entrepreneurs, experts and executives than right now.

If you have a message, a product or a service that can help people live better lives, now is the perfect time to maximize and capitalize on your impact.

Why now?

Today’s consumers are more cynical, skeptical and cautious than ever before. They’ve learned the hard way that just because you say you can help them, doesn’t mean you will. They’ve learned to do their research, to seek out the opinions of friends and strangers and to say "no"rather than risk the disappointment, humiliation or danger of poor choices.

These consumers have learned to take full advantage of the Era of Entitlement—a time unlike any in history when they have easy access to a plethora of free information, free entertainment, free vacations, free books, free training, free consulting, free healthcare, free apps, and free samples of just about any product or service—all with a single click anywhere, anytime, on any device.

So how do you capitalize on the new economy? Focus On Impact!

Impact is the new global currency.

Whether you’re just starting out or you’re the CEO of a multinational company, now is the time to Focus On Impact.

Your unique impact is your strongest ally in every market, no matter your message, product or service. It opens doors to strategic alliances, extraordinary adventures and abundant rewards.

Impact lets you enjoy wealth guilt-free, knowing the money that buys your lifestyle is the direct result of the difference you’re making in the world.

Impact is your golden ticket into the hearts and homes of consumers of any demographic you want to reach.

Impact takes you from Who are you? to What credit cards do you accept? without ever doing a pushy sales presentation.

Impact is what people want. And if you’ve got a passion for making a difference, that is very good news for you.

No one can capitalize on this economy better than someone who is driven to make a difference in people’s lives.

Today’s world is the perfect platform for you as billions of people search online, waiting for your impact to appear. So how do you get those people to find you, follow you, choose you, buy from you and send all their friends to your door? Follow the Focus On Impact Map.

The Focus On Impact Map is the only, step-by-step, comprehensive model ever created, tested and proven to build and grow businesses that produce products and services that make a measurable difference in people’s lives.

The success of the Focus On Impact Map has been proven around the globe in booming economies and deep recessions. It provides step-by-step strategic sequencing, clarity-producing formulas and practical solutions that have been shown to be effective across a vast array of industries, products and services.

You can use the Focus On Impact Map whether you’re on your own or serving with a massive team. It enables you to capitalize on what I call Impact Strategy.

Impact Strategy is the process of combining proven science¹ with ethical business growth formulas² to create, market and deliver one-of-a-kind products and services that make a measurable difference in people’s lives.

Impact Strategy formulas make it possible for you to easily identify, maximize and monetize your unique difference while optimizing your freedom and flexibility as you build and grow your success. The formulas become even stronger when used within the Focus On Impact Map.

I originally developed Impact Strategy and the Focus On Impact Map while building my first business. The power of this strategic model made it possible for me to grow with unprecedented speed and results. In fact, as soon as local merchants saw the rapid success of my business, they began inviting me to speak at local business meetings held by the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary® and other groups. As I shared some of the key formulas I’d used to grow my business, I discovered the success of these formulas wasn’t exclusive to my business—their power was transferrable to others who used them effectively.

Since then, I’ve used the Focus On Impact Map to build 10 successful retail and service businesses of my own. Along the way I’ve shared many of my formulas through multiple bestselling books, hundreds of media appearances and thousands of keynote presentations on stages around the globe. I’ve had the honor of serving a wide variety of clients, including multi-national sales and manufacturing corporations, public utilities, educational institutions, hospitals, private medical, dental, wellness, legal and financial practices, non-profit organizations, retail chains, small businesses, entrepreneurs, mompreneurs, MLM leaders, and a vast array of speakers, authors, coaches, consultants and top influencers.³

Through it all, I always followed the Focus On Impact Map, updating my Impact Strategy formulas as needed to accommodate changes in the global economy.

The model you’re about to discover is precisely what I’ve used to grow my own businesses and to help my clients maximize and capitalize on their impact.

While I became known worldwide as a leading authority in business and personal development, I’d never revealed the complete Focus On Impact Map to anyone until I accepted an invitation to speak at an entrepreneurial conference. My host’s request was specific:

"Give us a 90-minute training that will have something actionable for everyone from Start-Ups to Fortune 100 CEOs."⁴

I’m a social researcher by training and passion, so two months prior to the engagement, I attended one of their conferences and interviewed the 200+ entrepreneurs in attendance. I also conducted a random survey of my own community, yielding a total of nearly 1000 respondents representing a wide array of business acumen and experience.

The data clearly revealed what was missing for these difference-makers:

✓   Clarity of vision and operationalization so their ideas could be translated into measurable results;

✓   Consecutive Sequencing to create optimal outcomes while minimizing time and expense;

✓   Comprehensive Strategies to identify, maximize and capitalize on their impact;

✓   Customization so they could use proven formulas without compromising their personal and professional uniqueness;

✓   Collaboration with other difference-makers to increase reach and revenues exponentially; and

✓   Community to support them along the way.

There was no doubt I had the solution for these success-seekers. They needed my complete Focus On Impact Map. But...

It’s one thing to have proven solutions... It’s quite another to reveal them to the world.

The Focus On Impact Map was the foundation of my business, my proprietary process, my secret sauce! Why would I give it away?

Because if 1000 difference-makers aren’t getting their impact out effectively, that means there are more like them who are struggling to get their messages, products and services seen and enjoyed. And that means there are men, women and children worldwide who can’t access the unique help only these people can provide.

I thought about my corporate mission:

Our mission is to make an impact on people’s lives so they in turn can make an impact on every life they touch.

As long as I held onto my secret, I was limiting the impact of others and not living up to my mission.

It was time to pass the baton...

On August 21, 2014, the stage manager pulled back the curtain and offered his hand for me to step up onto the stage. My eyes filled with tears as the audience rose to their feet in applause. Standing in front of me were entrepreneurs who could shape the future with their impact. I saw their hopeful smiles and felt deeply humbled to be serving them.

They interrupted my presentation frequently with spontaneous applause, whoops of joy and more than a few tears as I walked them step-by-step through my Focus On Impact Map. I’d given them a supersized handout of the Map and barely saw the whites of their eyes as they filled the page edge-to-edge with notes. It was an extraordinary launch of what has become a passion-filled journey to spread this information to every difference-maker worldwide on stages, online and in media.

And now here you are, holding my complete Map in your hands. That’s what happens when you Focus On Impact.

What kind of success can you build when you Focus On Impact? That’s entirely up to you! Here are some examples:

✓   Start a new business and get paid for the impact you bring the world

✓   Drive more of the right customers to your local retail and/or service business

✓   Release your next Annual Report with celebratory pride (and relief!)

✓   Increase referral-based sales in your local, national and international markets

✓   Attract and engage your perfect market online and offline

✓   Get people to click, like, buy and share without sleazy sales tactics

✓   Build funds and awareness for your charitable organization

✓   Make a greater difference and capitalize with MLM teams

✓   Share your life lessons through speaking and bestselling books

✓   Get more clients for your coaching or consulting business

✓   Get off the low-reimbursement treadmill by building a healthcare practice that’s right for you

✓   Develop your reputation as a top influencer across multiple industries

✓   Ethically generate extra money so you can spoil your grandchildren

✓   Maximize Impact Investing results by giving the Focus On Impact Map to everyone you support

✓   Finally get what you truly want—for your business and your life!

Whether you want to make your impact locally, nationally or internationally... in your kitchen, a skyscraper or traveling the world...

There is no limit to the opportunities that await you when you Focus On Impact.

I’m so excited you’re finally going to have the information you need so you can convert your ideas into impact and your impact into revenue by systematically building your business within a structure that gives you the freedom to be who you are and live a life you love.

It’s time to take total control over the shape of your impact, the size of your impact and the rewards you receive as a result of your impact.

Your desire to make a difference in the world will be your best asset in this economy and the Focus On Impact Map will be your strongest ally.

Now turn the page and let’s do this together!

¹   Sociology, social psychology, clinical psychology, anthropology, biology and neuropsychology.

²   I define ethical as the process of being ever vigilant to assure the impact we bring to people’s lives through our marketing, products and services is designed to help them get what they want without causing physical, financial or emotional harm.

³   I’m not going to distract you now with my life story. If you’re interested, it’s available for you in Meet Wendy on Page 181.

⁴   I’ll be forever grateful to Berny Dohrmann, founder of CEO Space International for providing me the inspiration and privilege of revealing my Focus On Impact Map for the first time on his stage. Meet Berny at www.FocusOnImpact.com/resources.

Introduction

It’s one thing to buy a book.

It’s another to read it.

It’s everything when you implement it.

There is a timeless truth in business: Success only comes to those who put in the work. The question is: what kind of work will you put in? In my experience, the work of building and managing an impact-driven business is wonderfully joyous when it is customized to your uniqueness, reflects your purpose and actually succeeds.

I believe success is not measured by the money we make but by the number of people we serve and the joy we experience making it happen. As it turns out, I’m not the only one who holds this belief, nor am I the only person to prosper from it. In fact, the most successful, sustainable businesses have historically been those whose products and services were designed to make a difference in people’s lives.

WHO CAN SUCCEED WITH THIS BOOK?

The secret to building your success is to identify your unique impact and package it in a way that helps you reach all the people you want to serve so they click, like, buy, use and share everything you create while you enjoy every step of your Journey of Impact.

This book will help you make all of that happen as long as your primary goal is to make a difference in people’s lives.⁵

If your primary objective is to get rich, the Focus On Impact Map will probably not work for you. However, if your goal is to get rich as a result of your impact, you’re in the right place!

The Focus On Impact Map will help you succeed if you follow the sequence in order, apply the strategies effectively and consistently, and if you are in one of the following groups:

1) Start-Up Transitioner

You’ve been living your life and now you want to transition into something new—ideally, something that will enable you to make a difference, leave a lasting legacy, make enough money so you can stop thinking about money and provide plenty of flexibility to put it all aside when family and friends need you to be there for them. You may not be sure about what you want to do or how to do it, but you’re itching for something new that will challenge you, fulfill you and give you the freedom to live your life as you choose while you build your new business.

2) Passionate Messenger

You have an important message to share with the world and you’ve been actively trying to find a way to get it out. You’d like to get paid to speak, publish a bestselling book, get invited for media interviews and produce products and/or services to help people. Your friends and family think you’re a little crazy for trying to do this, but you’re driven to make your difference and would do it all for free if you could just make enough money to know your family is secure. You’ve attended seminars, teleseminars and webinars, listened to podcasts, MP3s and CDs, purchased online courses, DVDs and coaching programs, and your shelves and devices are filled with self-help, motivation and business books. You’ve learned a lot, but you’re still not getting your message out or making the impact you know you can make. Your passion keeps driving you forward—but you’re running out of time and money.

3) Small Business Owner

You’ve been in business for at least a year and, while you’ve made progress, you’re not where you’d like to be. You’ve gotten caught up in the day-today details and now you feel like you just need a better plan—something that will make sure you’re heading in the right direction, help you stay on course and bring your business where you want it to go without getting sidetracked by all the ideas everyone has for you about how to succeed. You’re looking for guidance, strategy, practical tips and validation that you really have what it takes to make this happen.

4) Results-Driven Entrepreneur

You’ve been involved in one or more successful businesses, you’ve brought multiple products and services to market, and you’re respected for your results-driven approach to getting things done. You’re always looking for fresh ideas to increase and accelerate your growth, reinvigorate your team and sharpen your edge. You’re actively seeking alternative perspectives and proven strategies to maximize multiple areas of your business and capitalize on the success you’ve already built while keeping yourself open for opportunities that come along.

5) Non-Profit Leader

Your cause is strong, your volunteers are driven and your board is supportive. But when everyone else goes home, it’s you sitting at your desk trying to figure out a plan that will raise funds and awareness without burning out your team or your donors. You look at the retail parking lots filled with cars, so you know people are spending. That tells you the secret to making this work is to use proven business strategies, but they all seem sleazy and inappropriate for your impact-driven mission. Still, you’re actively looking for a strategic plan to get more people engaged in your mission and to show their support with donations.

6) Executive Maverick

You get it. The game has changed and everyone is talking about impact. CEOs are smiling into video cameras, doing their best to look compassionate and sound authentic while they talk about social responsibility and their commitment to their customers. You get it. You also get that behind closed doors, the conversations are about profitability, cost reduction and ROI. Your instincts are telling you to get on top of this impact thing and that it