One of the most underestimated parts of becoming a successful entrepreneur is increasing your level of daring.
You can read a thousand books on business and not see daring even mentioned, but it is a critical character trait to have if you want to build an extraordinary business.
You can be efficient. You can be great at managing your company’s finances.
You can have strong customer service. But if you don’t dare to do amazing and unusual things you will not reach the highest level of business success.
What areas should you seek to be daring in?
◦Moving into new industry sectors.
◦Creating radically different products or services.
◦Offering money back guaranteees.
◦Promoting yourself in daring ways.
◦Challenging industry norms.
◦Standing up for what you believe in at the office.
◦Shooting for huge growth rather than gradual uplift.
◦Massively altering your pricing , either up or down.
◦Adding something dramatic to your menu of products.
◦Starting a business in the first place…
They say that there’s huge competition in the business world.
I beg to differ.
When you consistently take daring actions, pretty soon you will have very little direct competition.
Because most business owners are scared of doing anything really different, you will stand out hugely from your competitors.
Being daring seems at first to be a tough road to take, but it is actually safer than taking the so called safe road.
You get noticed. You attract more customers. You get more PR. You can usually charge more.
Think about it. Are you being daring enough?
Fortune does indeed favor the brave.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Checklist For Fast Company Growth - Siimon Reynolds
I do a lot of consulting for entrepreneurs building their companies.
No matter what the industry, I find the same things lacking in companies struggling to grow.
So this week, I thought it would be helpful if I put these common challenges into an easy to review checklist.
So take a few minutes to look at each of these areas, and ask yourself whether you can score yourself at least a 7 out of 10 in each vital department:
◦Clear vision for company over the next 3 years.
◦Clear company values. (No more than 5, ideally just 3).
◦A manual for running the business. (How you and your staff do things day to day).
◦90 day goals, with exact figures to aim for.
◦A marketing plan that uses at least 3 different media. (Most failing companies are not experimenting enough with different types of media).
◦Outsourcing or delegating non vital tasks. (If you don’t have an assistant you are one).
◦A coach, mentor or board to bounce ideas off. (No matter how smart you are it pays to have wise and objective counsel).
◦A sales presentation with at least a 1 out of 3 success rate. (If you’re scoring lower than that you have either structured the presentation incorrectly, or you’re selling to the wrong people).
◦A clear understanding of who your customer is. (What they fear, what they desire).
◦A system for staying in contact with customers and potential customers. (A company’s biggest potential asset is it’s email list).
There are more areas entrepreneurs should keep an eye on of course, but get these ten right and you can be pretty sure that you’re company will have strong growth over the next 3 years.
Get them wrong however, and your entire company’s future is at risk
No matter what the industry, I find the same things lacking in companies struggling to grow.
So this week, I thought it would be helpful if I put these common challenges into an easy to review checklist.
So take a few minutes to look at each of these areas, and ask yourself whether you can score yourself at least a 7 out of 10 in each vital department:
◦Clear vision for company over the next 3 years.
◦Clear company values. (No more than 5, ideally just 3).
◦A manual for running the business. (How you and your staff do things day to day).
◦90 day goals, with exact figures to aim for.
◦A marketing plan that uses at least 3 different media. (Most failing companies are not experimenting enough with different types of media).
◦Outsourcing or delegating non vital tasks. (If you don’t have an assistant you are one).
◦A coach, mentor or board to bounce ideas off. (No matter how smart you are it pays to have wise and objective counsel).
◦A sales presentation with at least a 1 out of 3 success rate. (If you’re scoring lower than that you have either structured the presentation incorrectly, or you’re selling to the wrong people).
◦A clear understanding of who your customer is. (What they fear, what they desire).
◦A system for staying in contact with customers and potential customers. (A company’s biggest potential asset is it’s email list).
There are more areas entrepreneurs should keep an eye on of course, but get these ten right and you can be pretty sure that you’re company will have strong growth over the next 3 years.
Get them wrong however, and your entire company’s future is at risk
FAQ's
1. Do all multi millionaire entrepreneurs think alike?
They are all different in my experience on the outside, but very similar on the inside. On the outside great entrepreneurs can be rough, shy, conservative or radical. But on the inside they are confident, action oriented and exceedingly focused. Now interestingly they didn't necessarily start out this way - many of them deliberately developed these character traits, as I did. In the Billionaire program I go deep into how to develop the mindset of a great entrepreneur, using many real world examples.
2. If you could do only one thing to build a business what would you do?
I would analyse the top 3 companies in the sector and copy how they run their business, from the point of view of price, range, marketing and distribution. You don't have to invent the wheel. Just taking the best ideas from your competition is one of the fastest and most effective ways to improve your company's results. Yet so few business owners ever do it.
3. What's the biggest marketing mistake entrepreneurs make?
They only do one or two things! If only they tried another 5 or 10 marketing methods they could potentially double the size of their business. Now there's two reasons why they don't try more proven marketing methods. One, they don't have the attitude of constantly testing and re-testing, which is vital to create any successful business. And two, they don't know any other ways to market! That's why we make sure in our Billionaire program we give people real methods and techniques they can use tomorrow to market their business quickly and cheaply.
4. How important is using time effectively?
That's one of my favourite topics. You can have a great business idea but if you don't use your time effectively you'll get nowhere. No single profession puts more demands on your time than business ownership. You simply must develop sytems to save you huge amounts of time or you'll get exhausted and downhearted by business. Over 25 years I've developed a fantastic sytem for being super productive at work, and it's helped me enormously to increase my wealth.
5. How do you develop super confidence in business?
Just like any other skill, confidence can be learned. Here are 3 quick ways:
A. Remind yourself of all the times you've succeeded- at least weekly.
B. Read biographies of great entrepreneurs. Many tell amazing true stories about overcoming obstacles through sheer will power, confidence and persistence.
C. See yourself as someobody that is highly confident. Focus on it, act like you're confident, move like your confident, take actions like you're confident , and pretty soon your confidence will skyrocket.
They are all different in my experience on the outside, but very similar on the inside. On the outside great entrepreneurs can be rough, shy, conservative or radical. But on the inside they are confident, action oriented and exceedingly focused. Now interestingly they didn't necessarily start out this way - many of them deliberately developed these character traits, as I did. In the Billionaire program I go deep into how to develop the mindset of a great entrepreneur, using many real world examples.
2. If you could do only one thing to build a business what would you do?
I would analyse the top 3 companies in the sector and copy how they run their business, from the point of view of price, range, marketing and distribution. You don't have to invent the wheel. Just taking the best ideas from your competition is one of the fastest and most effective ways to improve your company's results. Yet so few business owners ever do it.
3. What's the biggest marketing mistake entrepreneurs make?
They only do one or two things! If only they tried another 5 or 10 marketing methods they could potentially double the size of their business. Now there's two reasons why they don't try more proven marketing methods. One, they don't have the attitude of constantly testing and re-testing, which is vital to create any successful business. And two, they don't know any other ways to market! That's why we make sure in our Billionaire program we give people real methods and techniques they can use tomorrow to market their business quickly and cheaply.
4. How important is using time effectively?
That's one of my favourite topics. You can have a great business idea but if you don't use your time effectively you'll get nowhere. No single profession puts more demands on your time than business ownership. You simply must develop sytems to save you huge amounts of time or you'll get exhausted and downhearted by business. Over 25 years I've developed a fantastic sytem for being super productive at work, and it's helped me enormously to increase my wealth.
5. How do you develop super confidence in business?
Just like any other skill, confidence can be learned. Here are 3 quick ways:
A. Remind yourself of all the times you've succeeded- at least weekly.
B. Read biographies of great entrepreneurs. Many tell amazing true stories about overcoming obstacles through sheer will power, confidence and persistence.
C. See yourself as someobody that is highly confident. Focus on it, act like you're confident, move like your confident, take actions like you're confident , and pretty soon your confidence will skyrocket.
You Can Rise Above The Economic Crisis - Dr. John Demartini
If you feel that the financial crunch has cost you your job, your house, your car, or even all three, or if you feel that it has robbed you of your dignity, responsibility and productivity. Then I suggest you stop; there is never a crisis without a blessing, never a window that shuts without a door opening. So let's just stop right now and look at what blessings we have. As strange as it may sound, your thinking is more sound if you balance out your perceptions. If you don't, you will create emotionally impulsive reactions.
The first step towards regaining emotional and financial health is a lesson your parents may have tried to teach you as a child: the art of being grateful. You might feel so down and out that you feel you have nothing to be thankful about. But it is important at this point to stop your story of financial distress in order to get you out of the hole. Persist in defining your blessings: you still have your talents, your knowledge, you may be closer to your family as a result of your financial problems, you could be more determined and you may be less reliant on others.
Take the time to realize you have power that you are denying. Find out what you can do that fills a void, tackles a challenge, solves a problem, answers a question or - if you want to go really big - solves a mystery. In other words, cultivate the ability to adapt to a changing environment. Anybody who's stagnant and infatuated with the way it was will probably be more hard hit and stressed.
There is consistency in the existence of opportunity and challenge and the wise person embraces both. Warren Buffett says that "if you can't manage your emotions, don't expect to manage money". And I think there's some truth in that. When people get in the high mode, they start leveraging themselves with other people's money and gamble, and when they lose all that because they went beyond the regressed mean, then they go in the other direction and sell out, giving people their money. They lose money on both ends.
Whatever's highest on your value you'll always have money for, whatever's lowest you're going to run out of money for. So if you don't have a high value on saving money, investing money and building wealth, it's not going to happen. It's a fantasy. Many people think when they get extra money then they'll begin saving. That's not the way to do it. You've got to let piggy banks become 'biggy' banks, you've got to save something every day. If you don't link your goals to your value system, the probability of becoming financially independent is just going to torture you.
Here are some examples of perceived challenges, along with their compensatory blessings that may help you become aware of the other side:
Depressed about finances: If you or someone you love is having feelings of depression or suicide, know that when you take the time to see and count the blessings in your current situation, that you alleviate the tensions in your mind. If you look you will become aware of the blessings such as increased support, love and advice from family and friends. There are many more so take the time look. There is never a crisis without a blessing. When a door shuts a window opens. It is now time to count your blessings.
Losing a home: This could assist you to realign your expenditure to your income by renting at a level you can afford. Not having a house can actually bring you relief as you are released from your indebtedness to the bank and ongoing costly home maintenance and taxes. Possibly your children get to learn about the realities of life and discover that no matter the outer challenge, the family survives which assists them in the future when they face their own life's challenges. Instead of saying "why me," begin saying "try me."
Employer guilt over retrenchment: You may be setting someone free to fulfill their dream. By streamlining the company you give job security to those who remain behind and by doing so you have the most efficient team to help you ride the turning tide when the market increases thereby making it possible to hire more people down the line. You may help former employees become more prosperous in the long run since they can now become even more daring and begin their own companies.
Insolvency: If your company is declared insolvent, you are absolved of all business debt, released from all the pressure of figuring out how to pay it back. You get to start afresh but with all the business learnings from the past. And you get to discover that your friends and family still love you no matter your situation.
Hard financial times: It could mean streamlining your purchases to things you truly value, changing your financial management and increasing your portion of future savings. Ultimately this is the key to long-term financial success. Outside challenges often unite families to figure solutions towards a common goal. It can prevent your children from taking things for granted and initiate them into the realities of providing others great quality service and mastering fair exchange.
Additional challenges and benefits related to financial crisis.
Every event has two sides. The universe conserves this balance. So in these market crunch times, it is important for us to not lose sight of both sides of life's equation. It may seem to the populace of the world that the current situation is a loss without gain, destruction without construction, but this is not the whole truth, for ignorance blindly sees only one side.
The first step towards regaining emotional and financial health is a lesson your parents may have tried to teach you as a child: the art of being grateful. You might feel so down and out that you feel you have nothing to be thankful about. But it is important at this point to stop your story of financial distress in order to get you out of the hole. Persist in defining your blessings: you still have your talents, your knowledge, you may be closer to your family as a result of your financial problems, you could be more determined and you may be less reliant on others.
Take the time to realize you have power that you are denying. Find out what you can do that fills a void, tackles a challenge, solves a problem, answers a question or - if you want to go really big - solves a mystery. In other words, cultivate the ability to adapt to a changing environment. Anybody who's stagnant and infatuated with the way it was will probably be more hard hit and stressed.
There is consistency in the existence of opportunity and challenge and the wise person embraces both. Warren Buffett says that "if you can't manage your emotions, don't expect to manage money". And I think there's some truth in that. When people get in the high mode, they start leveraging themselves with other people's money and gamble, and when they lose all that because they went beyond the regressed mean, then they go in the other direction and sell out, giving people their money. They lose money on both ends.
Whatever's highest on your value you'll always have money for, whatever's lowest you're going to run out of money for. So if you don't have a high value on saving money, investing money and building wealth, it's not going to happen. It's a fantasy. Many people think when they get extra money then they'll begin saving. That's not the way to do it. You've got to let piggy banks become 'biggy' banks, you've got to save something every day. If you don't link your goals to your value system, the probability of becoming financially independent is just going to torture you.
Here are some examples of perceived challenges, along with their compensatory blessings that may help you become aware of the other side:
Depressed about finances: If you or someone you love is having feelings of depression or suicide, know that when you take the time to see and count the blessings in your current situation, that you alleviate the tensions in your mind. If you look you will become aware of the blessings such as increased support, love and advice from family and friends. There are many more so take the time look. There is never a crisis without a blessing. When a door shuts a window opens. It is now time to count your blessings.
Losing a home: This could assist you to realign your expenditure to your income by renting at a level you can afford. Not having a house can actually bring you relief as you are released from your indebtedness to the bank and ongoing costly home maintenance and taxes. Possibly your children get to learn about the realities of life and discover that no matter the outer challenge, the family survives which assists them in the future when they face their own life's challenges. Instead of saying "why me," begin saying "try me."
Employer guilt over retrenchment: You may be setting someone free to fulfill their dream. By streamlining the company you give job security to those who remain behind and by doing so you have the most efficient team to help you ride the turning tide when the market increases thereby making it possible to hire more people down the line. You may help former employees become more prosperous in the long run since they can now become even more daring and begin their own companies.
Insolvency: If your company is declared insolvent, you are absolved of all business debt, released from all the pressure of figuring out how to pay it back. You get to start afresh but with all the business learnings from the past. And you get to discover that your friends and family still love you no matter your situation.
Hard financial times: It could mean streamlining your purchases to things you truly value, changing your financial management and increasing your portion of future savings. Ultimately this is the key to long-term financial success. Outside challenges often unite families to figure solutions towards a common goal. It can prevent your children from taking things for granted and initiate them into the realities of providing others great quality service and mastering fair exchange.
Additional challenges and benefits related to financial crisis.
Every event has two sides. The universe conserves this balance. So in these market crunch times, it is important for us to not lose sight of both sides of life's equation. It may seem to the populace of the world that the current situation is a loss without gain, destruction without construction, but this is not the whole truth, for ignorance blindly sees only one side.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)