Are You Putting Out Fires or Growing Your Company?

As your startup grows the business challenges (i.e., the fires) you face will grow two-fold.

Your daily to-do list can be determined by the newest fire, the fastest growing one, or the blazing fire you simply can’t seem to put out. This is make or break time – are you simple putting out fires or are you going to get focused and grow your business?

The good news is that every challenge you face is another way to learn. But, the way you solve it can also have a long-term impact on your business (no pressure). There’s a very important question you need to ask yourself before you jump into firefighting mode:

What is the actual problem I’m trying to solve?

Stop, Drop and Problem Solve

This sounds simple, however sometimes you may be moving so quickly that you’re at risk of making changes for the sake of change. Remembering to stop and truly identify the underlying issue will enable you to stay focused and create a powerful solution that will last.

Here’s an example, and it’s one that you may have already faced: Let’s say you’re receiving complaints about customer service, especially when a customer is upset about their ordering experience. This frustrates you to no end because you built this business by always taking care of the customer and making sure they had a smile on their face—no matter what.

The correct firefighting solution is this: Identify specific customer service reps who are tied to the issues and provide refresher customer service training on how to handle complaints.

The powerful, lasting solution comes next. Once you look back at how you handled customer complaints you realize that you spent your entire day interacting with customers and never “bottled” your approach.

After reviewing your customer service training materials, you recognize they walk employees through handling a complaint in a generic manner. There is none of your passion and commitment to taking care of the customer regardless of what the issue such as listening, not being defensive and most importantly, not taking it personally.

So, now what?

You can now create new, simple training methods that begin with your company’s customer service mantra: Listen. Empathize. Do Whatever It Takes To Make It Right. You have everyone in the company take part in this training, including you, so your staff knows that it starts at the top. This mantra then becomes an integral part of every employee’s onboarding, regardless of their role.

Putting Out Business Fires, Permanently

This question, “What is the actual problem we are trying to solve?,” can be asked for nearly any business challenge you face and it can be modified based for the matter at hand. Beyond solving problems, it can also help you frame areas for growth. In some cases you’ll need to ask yourself, “What is the true opportunity ahead of me?” It will make you think big . . . maybe even bigger.

The key when going through this exercise is to peel back the layers and look beyond the surface. Don’t be fooled, this is definitely not the easy solution. It’s the one that budding entrepreneurs follow if they want to evolve from volunteer firefighter to a great business leader.

Source: http://yfsmagazine.com/2014/10/14/are-you-putting-out-fires-or-growing-your-company

5 Ways to Run Meetings Like a BOSS!

The worst thing happened to me on Monday mornings. I hesitantly opened my inbox and there it was, staring back at me:

“Calendar Invite: 9:30 to 11:00am – Weekly Priorities Meeting”

Fuck. I knew what this meant. An hour and a half meeting to “talk” about things we needed to focus on for the week. Sound like a good idea right?

It was. Just not how it was done.

Not only was all my energy drained after that meeting, but I had very little willpower to do work. What began as un update meeting turned into a strategy session on how to tackle  different situations people were in. No bueno.

So how do you run short, efficient meetings that leave your crew ready to fight? Here are 5 ways to run meetings like a boss!!

1. Always have an agenda!

This should go without saying. You need a framework for your discussion. Without one, meetings can easily turn into aimless social gatherings rather than productive working sessions. You can also allot time for each agenda item to effectively use the time you do have. Most importantly, be respectful of everyone’s time…everyone has their own shit to do too.

2.  Decisions should never wait for a meeting

Sure decisions can be made at meetings, but waiting for a meeting to make a decision can be deadly. The velocity of your company slows to its meeting schedule. If something needs to get done that needs a meeting, hold the meeting ASAP!!

3. Everyone should have concrete next steps or action items

Apple drives accountability at meetings by having a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) whose in charge of any given action or task that needs to be done. With every task matched to a person, there will be significantly less confusion about who is getting what done.

4. Invite only the people needed

Invite people only involved with the content of the meeting. The marketing person doesn’t need to to be apart of a meeting on business operations, unless specifically requested. Less people = less time.

5. Know when to have stand up meetings vs sit down meetings

Stand up meetings are great for quick communication-based meetings. For example, at the beginning of each day, it’s good to have a quick 10 min stand up meeting that ONLY communicates what everyone is focused on for that day. If an idea or suggestion comes up, it should be tables for a later discussion. This remedies the “lack of communication” excuse for problems.

Sit-down ‘solution’ based meetings are used to discuss specific topics that need more thought. Even those these take longer, these should have a specified end time and decision on how to proceed.

Source: http://www.thephatstartup.com/2014/09/10/5-ways-to-run-meetings-like-a-boss

All Great Leaders Exhibit These 3 Qualities

When asked to describe characteristics that great leaders have in common, the list is endless. And while they all make for a good read, none of them fully capture the essence of what makes a great leader.

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” – Jack Welch

Great leaders may possess a myriad of attributes, not the least of which are intelligence, charisma and natural charm. All of these things matter. However, you can be a great leader and not be naturally charming or very intelligent. While launching and growing my company, PeoplePerHour, I’ve learned a lot about leadership. I have come to the conclusion that there are three key attributes that great leaders must possess.

1. Vision

   “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” (Jack Welch) The ability to amass a great team, motivate and inspire them is plain useless if you don’t have a clear vision of where you need to go.
   Leadership starts with seeing the future and then figuring out a feasible path to get there. It means doing the one right thing rather than doing many things right. It is about being different, not following the herd, being controversial, and seeing what others don’t see. It is having a nose for what’s coming and the eyes and ears to react before others do. Without vision, you can empower people all you would like, but you won’t get anywhere. You’ll have a following, but no direction.

2. Influence

   Once you have a clear vision you need a following. That requires the power of influence. Whether you are in an existing leadership situation or the creator of a group, this is a very hard thing to do. In either case, the odds are against you.
   A vast majority of people are resistant to change, no matter the odds. In order to fulfill any grand vision, you need to drive change. Otherwise you are just a puppet master holding the strings, waiting for the show to end. You have to learn how to influence people across the board — explain to new hires the benefit of leaving secure jobs to join you; convince investors to give you money; get customers to buy from you; influence a bank manager to give you an overdraft; get your landlord to give you an office space lease and rent-free period; and convince your significant other to put up with sleepless nights, cold sweats and no pay. Carry that burden of influence with you. If you go down, you take more people with you than yesterday.

3. Courage

   Once you have clarified a vision and built a following, after all this work you will realize that it’s only day one. Now you have your raft and your compass. But you still need to cross the ocean. This is the final and truest test of great leadership — courage.
   Intelligence and knowledge are advantages, but without courage they are wasted. Courage alone could and would get you there, albeit slower and with more pain. So, the key question is: Do you have the courage to keep going when everyone tells you to turn back; to know you’re right when everyone says you’re wrong; to stick to your instincts when people call you crazy; to carry other people’s weight when they fall; to set the tempo and beat the drum despite how tired you may be?
   It is your job as a leader to keep people together when they are drifting apart and losing faith, to give them courage, but not false hope, to let go of some to save many, and to weather the storm, but not bask in the sunlight when it ends — because it never does.

Vision and influence will make you a well equipped captain. But courage is what gets you there. On the other hand, courage alone makes you a fighter without a cause. You may be good at creating lots of noise, but to paraphrase Sun Tzu’s Art of War, that’s just “the noise before defeat.”

Source: http://yfsmagazine.com/2014/09/15/all-great-leaders-exhibit-these-3-qualities

Sell Like Steve Jobs

While Steve is known for his genius marketing and pulling Apple from the precipice of disaster and captaining it into the most valuable and beloved brand in the world, he was able to do all this because he was the ultimate salesman. And a genius one at that!

Most especially because he is not known or remembered as a salesman, but by all the other accolades given to him by others: genius, revolutionary, leader, rebel, mover, mogul, luminary, and the list goes on.

Here are a few tips on how he achieved such a feat—as a salesman and as a sales leader—and how you can be like Steve.

TIP 1: Do not compete solely on price

Nobody has ever bought an Apple anything because of price.

In fact Apple is typically more expensive than all its most competitive competitors. But people buy Apple because of the value of the products, not based on the cost.

This is a great lesson for you too. Don’t compete with other companies in your market based on price. Instead, compete on value, and do a better job articulating the value proposition of your products or service, the pain it relieves and the virtuous promise it delivers.

TIP 2: “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

This is where customers need to be first educated on why they need your product. Then they can be your best advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of your company or product.

Nobody was out looking for the iPhone when it came out (nor the iPod or iPad), but now nobody wants to be the only one in their community without one. Your product can work the same, but only if you and your sales reps evangelize and educate your consumer marketplace on the “better world” created by your product or service.

TIP 3: Create great presentations

I call Jobs the greatest keynote speaker of our lifetime. Jim Rohn used to describe two orators from antiquity. One was named Cicero. The other was named Demosthenes. It is said that when Cicero spoke, the masses were awed and would exclaim, ‘What a brilliant speech!’ And when Demosthenes spoke, the people would say, ‘Let us march!’

Steve Jobs was the modern-day Demosthenes. When he spoke, people said, “Let us buy!”

Don’t speak to drive applause.
Speak to drive action.

Lots of speakers speak for back of the room sales.

To do several hundred thousand dollars after a speech is an epic day.

Steve would do billions after his speech.

He was that good.

A book I often recommend on how to strengthen your presentation skills is The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo.

How good are your sales presentations?

When you study Steve’s and then your own, do you see room for improvement?

If so, close the gap. There is massive upside for you in doing so.

TIP 4: Create a “Buying Experience”

Jobs wasn’t in it to make a sale. He was in it to deliver a full and complete experience. Look at how an Apple store is set up to facilitate an experience. Look at how the product is designed, packaged, delivered and supported. It’s an end-to-end experience very specifically, diligently and carefully created. This is why Apple has earned such a passionate and loyal fan base.

How about you?

Are you out to make a sale or create a full and complete experience?

TIP 5: Don’t fear failure

Jobs lived his “Think Different” tag line. He was always willing to think way outside the box or create an entirely new box with seemingly radical ideas. He was willing to try new things and fail.

Apple is not remembered for its failures, but they have many. Just to name a few there was the Apple III, Macintosh TV, the 20th Anniversary Macintosh, PowerMac G4 Cube, Apple Bandai-Pippin, AppleWorks, iPod U2 Special Edition, eMate 300, Macintosh Portable, eMac and of course the Newton and Lisa. But by failing—and failing fast, early and often—Jobs learned valuable lessons from his experiences, which shaped his later success.

So for you and your sales team, don’t be afraid to fail; learning through failure is a great way to grow quickly. As another great salesman, Zig Ziglar, would say, “Expect the best, prepare for the worst and capitalize on what comes.”

So go fail quickly, often and continuously. And let those failures sharpen your skills, processes and expertise.

So to summarize:

1. Do not compete solely on price
2. Educate your customers on why they need your product
3. Create great presentations
4. Create a “Buying Experience”
5. Don’t fear failure

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post as much as I did putting it together. Now go on and flex that sales muscle of yours. And when in doubt, just think WWSD (What Would Steve Do)?

Who are some other great leaders in business that inspired, shaped, and transformed the way you perform in your own industry? Share with us in the comments below. 

Source: http://darrenhardy.success.com/2014/08/sell-like-jobs

5 things you MUST do to start your own business

Trying to start your own business can be exciting, but it’s also really scary. It’s a whole bunch of mixed emotions and sometimes those emotions can be so overwhelming that you never even start!

We have dreams when we’re young and as we get older, those dreams change. We start out wanting to take on the world.

Singers, actors, astronauts and doctors, soon become public servants, office workers and tradesman.

While there’s certainly nobility in ANY workplace, the question remains, when did our dreams change?

For some, the dreams is simply to start your own business, but at some point in time, you deviate from this plan.Maybe it was the risk involved, or your circumstances changed. Or maybe you’re thinking about starting a business but haven’t really pushed yourself over the edge yet?

Well starting a business isn’t hard and doesn’t have to be any more complicated than you make it out to be.

Here’s 5  simple things that might give you enough push to start your own business.

1. Follow your dreams

If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed for an entrepreneur, it’s failure. But with failure, comes strength and knowledge.

It takes failure to reach success, because of the many lessons you’ll learn along the way, but unfortunately we’re not built to accept failure easily.

It’s not easy to get back on the horse after you’ve fallen off. In fact it’s very tough! Entrepreneurial spirit is strongest now than it ever has been, but many dreams are never realised because we aren’t confident of our own abilities.

Trying to start your own business can be overwhelming but there’s always someone who can talk you through the obstacles and challenges you might face.

- Friends

- Family

- Networking events

- Mentors

The obvious key to starting a business is to simply start. And if you don’t know where to begin, then look to the resources around you. If you can’t be resourcesful, how do you expect to succeed?

2. Be savvy and minimise costs

With technology advancing faster than it ever has before a lot of savvy small business owners are starting to look at low cost solutions to starting a business. Choosing to rent everything in the office from the reception (Outsourcing to another country or to a virtual office) is a great way to save on expensive overheads when you’re starting out.

It means you can stay up to date with technology without the high upfront costs associated with it. It also allows you better control of cashflow, which is the number one reason most businesses will fail in the first 12 months.

Think about ways to minimise costs, but dont cut costs. There’s a big difference.

- Try the Phillipines for a good quality, low cost, Virtual assistant. You can expect to pay between $5 – $7 per hour for a reliable outsourced worker and if you research the market, you can find one perfectly versed in english, with graphic design and IT skills to complement the service.

- Cross capitalize with another small business start up. Split office space with a non-competing start up business. Advertise in the local paper or online. You’ll not only limit your overheads, but also share a space with someone as motivated as you are

- Create strategic partnerships. Does your business, product or service offer something valuable? Trade that service with someone offering a product or service that YOU need. Bartering is a great way to minimise spend and save money for cash flow purposes. Cash is king

- Rent out un-used space. If you have space in your office, rent it out part time. Make the most out of any opportunity to increase your capital. Work smarter, not harder.

3. Get a good work-life balance

Starting a business takes a lot of work and it won’t stop once you’re up and running. If anything, it will get harder before it gets easier.

But this isn’t a reason to quit or to never even start at all!

It’s important for you to be happy, and if you spend all your time in the office, it’s very unlikely you will be. Even if you’re just starting out.

We’re in a position now where we can capitalise on tools to access our computers and work stations for anywhere we want. Invest in good, low cost internet solution and spend one day a week working from your favourite park.

Or take a spontaneous trip. Taking a break over the weekend doesn’t mean you have to completely forget about work – Keep you smart phone close and your laptop closer.

4. Think about your strategy online AND offline

Most small business owners are guilty of letting the ball drop online. They fail to realise the potential that’s out there for online businesses.

Social media allows you to compete alot more evenly with bigger corporations and businesses because you can reach your consumers directly. Sure it might take you a lot longer to develop such a large userbase, but that’s the only advantage they have.

You might spend hours obsessing about the layout of your store, but what about your online presence?

How are you going to build an audience, convert customers and keep engaging with these customers in the digital space? A good starting point to help you think about this are the online insights tools that you can find for free on the internet.

Whether your business is online OR offline, the most valuable thing to you are customers. Before you even think about beginning, you need to think about HOW you’re going to get customers and secondly, HOW you’ll be converting them.

5. Don’t give up

Not everyone will have as much faith in your business as you will.

There’s an old saying that says “Don’t listen to what anyone has to say about how silly your business idea is. Because right now, there’s some millionaire walking around who invented the pool noodle”.

And how true is this??

While it’s always important to heed the advice of others, (your critics can actually be the most helpful) if you think it’s a brilliant idea then you can make it work. What ever the mind can believe and concieve, it can achieve.

Success is about the journey, NOT the destination, and their are plenty of other routes available for you to take. If you find one road’s closed, then simply take another.

Success is about learning and consistently improving and growing. You’ll definitely get setbacks, but prepare yourself for them.

Source: http://thesuccesssoup.com/startups/start-your-own-business

Top 10 Small Business Trends in 2014

R.E.M. once sang “Change Is What I believe in.”  That has to be the credo for small business owners.  Here’s what’s on tap for 2014.

1. Certain uncertainty

The economy is always in flux, and political changes overseas don’t help anything. Ripple effects from the Affordable Care Act only add to the uncertainty.

2. Increasing competition means more focus

Some of the major retailers, including Amazon and Wal-Mart, are adapting and offering an unprecedented battery convenient services such as increased personalization, same-day delivery. This means the table are turned and it is now small businesses that will have to adapt.  Here are some strategies: offer a highly-specialized or customized product or service, focusing on an tight niche, building an engaged community of customers, and cooperating with other local businesses to save expenses and cross-promote.

3. Using virtual assistants and contractual workers

 The small business community as a whole is hedging its hiring plans. According to the February 2014 Small Business Economic Trends survey, just 12% of respondents reported plans to hire in the early part of the year.  One reason for this is that respondents answered that the net economic conditions over the next six months would be worse.

When there isn’t the optimism to consistently hire at a growth rate, the demand for VA’s and contractual workers rises.

4. Difficulty attracting talented employees

There’s plenty of talent out there, but it’s hard to snag for small businesses.  Particularly in tech fields, the talent is going to big companies in a rich-get-richer scenario.  Talented employees have no more reason to be optmistic about the economy than business owners do, and signing up with a small company can appear risky.

5. Possible Raises of Minimum Wage

The city of Seattle just approved a hike of its minimum wage to a slightly dramatic $15.  This particular raise is actually good for small businesses, because it affects only owners of large businesses.  We’ve seen McDonald’s employees clamoring for raises in the minimum, usually involving an increase along the lines of $14 or $15 per hour.  Small business owners need to be up to date on laws in their state or city, even before the laws pass.  Some hikes will apply to them and some won’t, and planning accordingly, taking into account all the strategic factors, is key.

6. Need for Rep Control

Consumers are increasingly empowered to share their opinions, thanks to online product reviews, social media and viral video both good and bad, about the products and services they use. This means that small business owners must be vigilant in monitoring their online reputations.

7. Mobile business monopoly

The developing trends in mobile business include  mobile marketing, mobile payments, and mobile-friendly devices. These demand responses from small business owners–tools and services are out there and relatively affordable.

In addition to using these technologies, there’s the matter of linking them to customer interactions, by linking mobile payments, mobile marketing, and location-based services, to customer loyalty programs.

8. Skepticism Toward Social Media

Social media have been around for a while now.  Many small business owners are aware of tools and metrics for quantifying the ROI of particular social marketing campaigns.  In 2014, we’ll probably see small business owners mounting a backlash and getting rid of social marketing campaigns that don’t work.  Two to three years ago, you were a dinosaur if you weren’t using social media.  We’re now reaching the other end of that cycle, in which people are stepping forward and admitting to unacceptable ROI when these are the case.

9. Visually-simple web designs

You’ve probably noticed spare web designs, with few frames and many pictures.  We’re also seeing increasingly- sophisticated data visualization, the process of turning complex data sets into easy-to-understand visual material.

10. Growth of alternative finance

Scrappy small business owners will, in the last months of 2014, continue to turn to alternative financing, such as microloans, , peer-to-peer lending, accounts receivables factoring and crowd funding, to help regulate cash flow and sustain growth and expansion.

So, there you have the top trends for the balance of the year.

Source: http://frugalentrepreneur.com/2014/08/top-10-small-business-trends-in-2014

8 Tax Mistakes to Avoid

Here are some tips to help you avoid mistakes oft made by small business owners and others classified as self-employed.

Reality: small businesses owners and the self-employed are increasingly pressured to fully comply with tax legislation and reporting requirements. In order to bridge to so “tax gap” (tax dollars actually collected versus what is owed), the IRS has announced increased vigilance on this slice of the tax-paying pie.

If you want to increase your chances of avoiding an audit and of getting your return as quickly as possible, you need to make an extra effort to prevent some common reporting errors:

1. Not reporting all of your income

Part of the IRS’s new vigilance is a crackdown on pre-tax income reporting.  Be sure to archive any Form 1099-K’s that you receive. The new form records payments received in via credit card or through payment tools like PayPal. Be thorough and mistake-free here.

2. Not filing supporting documentation

Deductions are a big part of everyone’s tax returns.  They all need to be documented.   This means receipts or other documentation for medical expenses, property taxes, all brands of  interest and business expenses.

3. Not understanding tax changes

The U.S. tax code isn’t a model of simplicity, and it’s always changing. For this reason, it’s crucial to learn which tax legislation changes will affect you and your business. You can do this by consulting with a qualified tax professional or by using official government web sites with the relevant information.

4. Claiming too many deductions

One red flag to the IRS is a person claiming deductions that are a bit large for her or his income.  Similarly, claiming exorbitant business expenses for a side business that earns low revenue is likely to earn an audit.

5. Filing too quickly

Whatever the motivation for getting that return in fast, it’s a mistake to rush the process.  A likely outcome is missing out on tax savings, perhaps taking a standard tax deduction when you could benefit from some of the deductions mentioned above.

Although the filing deadline is April 15, you can leverage some extra time by filing for an extension with Form 4867, Of course, if you owe a taxes, you’ll have to send the payment by April 15 or face late-payment penalty charges.

6. Inaccurate information, miscalculations, and omissions.

Double check all your information to combat against these common miscalculations and omissions:

• Incorrect filing status or exemptions- This can be an innocent mistake encountered in situations such as unmarried taxpayers living together with children, parents living with their adult children, etc.
• Mistakes in figuring taxable income (make sure all your W-2s and 1099s are in your possession); withholding; estimated tax payments;  or Earned Income Tax Credit
• Entering incorrect account numbers If you are due a refund and requested direct deposit, review the routing and account numbers for your financial institution.
• Forgetting to sign the completed tax form This will, of course, slow down your return, and in worst-case scenarios can flag you for an audit, since sometimes purposely leave their return unsigned as a way of avoiding paying.

7. Ignoring AMT 

Sometimes, the amount you owe, the Alternative Minimum Tax, is actually more than you think you will if your deductions go through.  Find your AMT and calculate it, and be sure not to file a report that will get you a tax bill thinking you’re getting a refund.

8. Not working with a tax professional

You’re an entrepreneur so you know that skimping on necessary expenses isn’t the way to go.  If tax codes were simpler and static, you may be able to go it alone.  But this isn’t your E-Z form from your first job down at the Radio Shack.

All in all, it’s important to be informed, and perform your due diligence.  Always simplify, never making things more difficult than they need to be.

Source: http://frugalentrepreneur.com/2014/08/8-tax-mistakes-to-avoid

5 Risk Management Mistakes To Avoid

I’ve been mentoring a junior project manager and we were reviewing the risks on his project last week. We went through all the risks on the log and we talked about good practice and what he should be actively doing to manage the risks. Then he asked me a question. “What mistakes should I be looking out for?” he said. I thought this was a great question. Too often we focus on what we should be doing and forget about what we should avoid doing! That’s when mistakes creep in as we haven’t been focused on stopping them from happening. So here is my list of 5 mistakes to avoid when you are carrying out risk management on your project, which I shared with my colleague.

Mistake 1: No Risk Owner

Your notes in your risk management software should always include who is responsible for owning the risk. That means writing down the name of the person who will ensure that the risk management tasks are carried out. That individual doesn’t have to do all the work themselves, but they should coordinate the people who are actually doing the work and make sure that the risk log is updated with progress and that you get status reports as required.

Don’t be tempted to record your own name as the risk owner for every risk. Many risk management plans would be better off led by a subject matter expert and this can also be a useful development exercise for a more junior member of the team who wants to take responsibility for a small, manageable piece of work.

Mistake 2: No Action Plan

Each risk should have a documented action plan. This sets out exactly what is going to be done to prevent the risk from happening. Sometimes, of course, you will be taking no action and are prepared to accept the risk without doing anything about it. If this is the case, make sure that you record in your risk log that you have considered what actions are required and have actively decided to do nothing. And sometimes it will be a positive risk and you’ll want it to happen!

Whatever the approach you want to take, it should be documented so that you know exactly what is going to be done and can track progress against it. Remember to go back to your action plans regularly and update them with what actions have been completed and what new tasks have been identified.

Mistake 3: No Risk Analysis

When you’ve got a lot of risks it can be tempting to skip the analysis phase and not spend time working out which area of the project it will impact or how serious the problem will be if it happens. You shouldn’t do this – it isn’t appropriate to treat every risk in the same way and you’ll only know how much time and effort to invest in addressing it if you properly carry out some analysis to assess the impact and likelihood of each of the risks.

Review each risk and establish how likely it is to happen, and what impact it will have on the rest of the project if it does happen. Get the whole team involved as they will probably identify other impacts and have some useful information to feed into the analysis exercise. This will enable you to focus your risk management budget in the right places by targeting the most serious risks first.

Mistake 4: No Timescales

When do you need the risk resolved by? Or when will it stop being a problem if nothing happens? Risks don’t last forever, so you should also be recording a timescale for the risk in your log.

For example, if there is a risk of bad weather delaying the delivery of some equipment to your building site, then this will pass on a particular day – the day that the equipment is due to be delivered. If you don’t note down this date in your log and then update the risk entry once the date has passed you could be including the mitigation plans or reporting on this risk for far longer than you really need to. Also make sure that any actions related to your risk management plans have dates against them.

You’ll want to monitor that they are being dealt with in a timely manner so you can be sure that enough appropriate action has been taken in time to offset any impact should the risk occur. Otherwise you may be working on actions and find that you are too late!

Mistake 5: No Risk Priority

Use your risk analysis and timescale information to give each risk a priority. Those that are likely to have an impact quickly are obviously more important to deal with than those that may not cause any problems until next year. Those risks that will have a huge impact are more important than those that won’t cause many issues.

Each risk should be given a priority and then you can tailor your work plans to ensure that the important ones are dealt with first. You can also use risk priorities for reporting purposes as generally stakeholders will only be interested in knowing more about the high priority risks. You won’t bombard them with information about all risks if you can tailor your reports to only give them the most important data about the highest priority problems that the project is facing. “Thanks for these pointers,” my colleague said. He had made lots of notes and went away from our mentoring session feeling a bit more confident about handling risk management on his project (or at least, I hope he did).

What other mistakes have you encountered when it comes to managing risk? Let us know in the comments below if you are prepared to share your experiences!

Source: http://www.projectmanager.com/5-risk-management-mistakes-avoid.php

How Do I Choose My Mentor?

If you’ve considered getting a mentor to lead you on your path to management, leadership or business success, it’s fairly likely you’ve spent a good amount of timing thinking ‘how do I find the right person?’ Well, you’re not alone, I write and lecture about mentoring, and I’m often asked this question.

Finding the perfect mentor

Mentors can become life-long supporters, advocates and trusted advisors.  They can steer your path, help you form both good and bad habits, and influence your focus.  When you’re about to ask someone to be your mentor, think carefully: is this person someone I can work closely with? Do I admire them? Do they have the same values as me? Have they ever considered mentoring?

If you already know the mentor as a friend or work connection, consider the impact your new relationship will have on your current one.  There may be times when you don’t agree. Perhaps your new relationship as mentor and mentee may not work out? How will that affect your current friendship?

How to be realistic about a new mentoring relationship

Don’t forget a mentoring relationship isn’t like a marriage or partnership; you don’t have to be fully compatible to make it work.  It’s great if you can be friends, but it’s not a necessity for it to be a working relationship that achieves. That said, like a marriage or partnership, when it goes wrong it can leave bad feelings in both parties.

Don’t choose a mentor based on some romantic notion that being associated with them will bring you the same levels of success as they have achieved.  Mentoring relationships can indeed be very successful, but there are times when they are not so great. Achieve very little, and you will leave people disappointed.  I have also known people who felt let down by a mentor, but achieved great things despite the lack of support.

Here are 10 things you should consider when choosing your mentor:

1. Do you respect or admire them and their skills/success/achievement?
2. Do they understand what you are aiming to achieve?
3. Have they been there, seen it, done it, and able to offer real experiences to support your work?
4. How likely are they to give you a ‘leg up’?
5. Do they have a personal interest in you/your career/your business and is it for the right reason – to help you and not themselves?
6. Do you think you can be yourself with them? You need to be honest with them about your aims, your abilities, your fears and your failures.
7. Do they have similar values and morals as you? Or are their opinions likely to jar with your own and cause difficulties?
8. Can you image spending time with them and being able to share experiences and ideas?
9. Do you trust them to be professional, discreet and respect confidentiality?
10. Will they add value to your work and your personal development?

Be careful when choosing your mentor; don’t go out hunting for the right person. You often find someone will come along at the right time with the background and personality that will suit your needs.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of things to consider when choosing a mentor; I’d love to hear your experiences of choosing a mentor. What things do you feel should be considered?

Source: http://birdsontheblog.co.uk/choose-mentor

Red or Blue Pill: You Live and You Learn

If you are familiar with the Matrix then you know about the red pill and the blue pill theory. If not let me give you a description of them both.

Red Pill = painful truth of reality

Blue Pill = bliss ignorance of illusion

So how does this relate to your own life?

Either you have awaken from the dream like state of believing the world is as is presented or you have taken control of your own world. The world we live in today; we are constantly monitored, tracked, grouped and defined by our position along the financial ladder. Why is this the case though? Why are we constantly being monitored for the collection purposes of powerful entities? It is because we are a commodity within a system that has to be compensated immensely in order to sustain. It consist of a deep rabbit hole that has many different holes that sometimes intertwine in order to make the common goal of financial harvesting possible and efficient. And the shocking aspect of it all is that most people do not know how their actions allow this harvesting to proceed forward without interruption. 

What are some of these entities? Credit monitoring, IRS, the judicial system; anything that imposes jurisdiction over you from the time you were birthed. You are instructed to follow certain guidelines and to strictly abide by them or else you will face certain consequences that can make your life hell. And one the most effective consequences people can be faced with are those which affect their finances. This is a known fact which is why these sort of institutions are able to remain in power; because they have power over your mobility in the world you are plugged into. Every movement you make has to be thought about because you are constantly thinking about how it impedes your ability to progress in the “real” world.

Now what I am saying does not correlate to disregarding common sense and becoming a criminal. What I am saying is that you have to beat the systems in place at their own game. The problem that persist for most people though, is that this involves intricate thought and a little sacrificing. Instead of financing a dream under heavy debt and slaving away in a rigged system, play by your own terms. Using myself for example: I will now only pay for purchases with cash, no more unneeded debt. I am creating my own economic production system that is reliant solely on my capabilities and hard work. Instead of letting my community be run by corrupt systems, I will place myself within the process and leverage my power for real accountability to be upheld. Small incremental steps that lead to big results.

Stop living in ignorant bliss! But no need to even rant any further. It is your choice as to which pill you choose to swallow… 

Source: http://entrepreneurialambitions.com/2014/07/31/red-or-blue-pill-you-live-and-you-learn

How to Build Better Digital Products

The digital age has changed everything. Yet we still see businesses and brands — like Blockbuster, Kodak and others — that fell behind because they were married to their own way of thinking or too slow to adapt to the new reality.

Digital demands new thinking, and the process of product development will need to adapt for the digital age. For instance, there is now an interactive TV solution to transform Star Trek fans viewing experience from passive to interactive. Meanwhile, developers have made it possible for Adobe’s global salesforce to access their latest products anytime–anywhere. Also, a mobile platform designed to engage Olympics fans can take them along Team USA’s journey. And when executed correctly, a great digital offering can not only enhance relationships with customers, but create new sources of revenue.

A product becomes a solution when it solves a problem. But not all products can become solutions. To deliver a product that works, there are four key areas necessary for success:

1. A defined value-driven product vision
2. A product design for end users
3. Features prioritized by impact
4. Iterative and incremental improvements

Start With Why

Too often, companies receive an RFP (request for proposal) or a product description of what the client wants to build and how they would like it built. However, a successful solution should start with everyone understanding the problems the product will solve and the value it will provide; essentially everyone should clearly define the why. Creating your product vision (the “why”) will keep your team focused on features that can deliver the most value. Important questions to ask pre-design phase include: “What business problems are we trying to solve?” and “What success metrics should this product hit to drive the most value?”

Focus on the Customer

More often than not, product features are defined by the business team themselves, who are rarely the intended end users of the product. However, great products are designed with the end users’ needs, wants, and limitations in mind.
You do not have to spend significant time and money on qualitative and quantitative research, but you must understand consumer behavior triggers that lead to their engagement and encourage repeat use. Questions to ask at this point are “Who are our end users?” and “What are the emotional and tactical triggers that would bring them back again and again?”

Get Lean and Agile

In recent years, lean or agile development methodology has gained popularity within both large enterprises and startups. Both methods have proven effective for solving one of the biggest product development challenges: How can we be more responsive to the ever-changing needs of businesses and end users?
The answer lies in shorter production cycles, more development progress transparency, improved collaboration, stakeholder alignment, accurate time and budget estimates, and last but not least, a better quality product. These are just some of the many benefits of lean or agile development. But they are more than just processes; they are principles that if applied and executed correctly can fundamentally enhance workflow and end results — and the workflow culture itself.
When implementing lean product development, ask, “What features would make the most impact against key metrics?” And, “What features can we build with the least amount of effort to gain the most end user information?”

Incremental Innovation

There is no such thing as a perfect product. The products we have grown to love and use every day, from mobile phones to the cars we drive continue to evolve and address customer desires. The same goes for digital products.
Listen, learn, build and measure. This revolving cycle of product development focuses on a series of small improvements. This will improve the product’s competitive position over time, thus fostering innovation. A question to ask after you’ve built your product is: “Are we listening to users through continuous analytics and measurement, to improve the product?”
Developing a product that works is not like building a house. If you leave it alone, it will become less useful to users overtime. Focusing on the product vision, designing against your user expectations and innovating based on data will allow your product to become a solution that actually fixes an evolving problem.

Source: http://yfsmagazine.com/2014/08/14/how-to-build-better-digital-products

5 Great, White Business Tips From The Big, Bad Sharks

It’s pretty clear that the entrepreneurs on ABC’s Shark Tank are the great whites of the business world. They’re cunning, successful, and they’re not afraid to bear their teeth,

But these sharks are as diverse as the ones in the sea– they all swam different paths to success. This diversity resulted in knowledge and experience that they’re willing to share.

The sharks’ advice is super useful– pretty much anyone can benefit from it, including small business owners and startup founders like you.

Read on to learn from the guys at the top of the food chain!

1. Remember That Ideas Aren’t Special

Remember that time you were stuck in traffic and had that great idea for a teleportation machine? That’s an awesome idea. It would be cool and useful. And it’d probably make you pretty successful. But did you get home and build a teleportation machine? Probably not.

“Ideas are actually the easiest part” says Mark Cuban. According to him, the hardest part is actually making your idea happen, “knowing what you need to do and then executing on your plan and staying focused with it.”

If having a great idea was all it took to be a millionaire, we’d all be yacht shopping right now. What sets successful entrepreneurs apart is the drive and the dedication to make those ideas into a reality. Bringing your idea to fruition is a matter of hard work and focus, doing whatever it takes to make your product a success.

So if you’re planning to start out on your own, don’t expect it to be easy. Just expect it to be worth it.

How to Make Your Ideas a Reality:

• Whether it’s a crazy marketing idea or a dream of a totally new business, put your ideas on paper. Write a business plan.
• Put up a website. See how people respond to your idea.
• Take action in any way possible. Success does NOT come to those who wait!

2. Don’t Get Too Caught Up In Your Business Plan

It’s pretty common advice that if you want to start a business, you need to develop a business plan. But Robert Herjavec says otherwise.

Robert says, “When you start, it’s important to have vision, but … any plan beyond the next quarter is a dream.” At the beginning, things can change at the drop of a hat, and your business plan can be outdated before the ink even dries. “Spend less time on your plan and more time talking to people who will actually buy your product,” Robert advises. When it comes to starting a business, cold, hard facts are your friend. You should spend your time discovering who will buy your product, what they’re looking for, and how you’ll get it to them.

Once you’ve grown, size will offer you some level of predictability. Then you can start worrying about planning more than a quarter or two ahead.

How to Start Without a Business Plan:

• Just start! Put up a website, ask people what they think of your idea, hone and improve.
• Get sales-y. Talk people into buying your product.
• Learn about your audience. Do everything you can to get out and talk to those who might buy from you.

3. Hire Attitude

Speaking of growth, Barbara Corcoran has some advice for when it’s time to start hiring employees. Whether you’re hiring one person or 20, Barbara says to “always choose attitude over experience!”

It’s relatively easy to train people on new skills and processes, but there’s not much you can do to modify someone’s attitude. That’s why Barbara doesn’t even look at resumes when she’s hiring. “Positive people are willing to learn, eager to try, and somehow find the solution to anything they don’t already know.”

The person with the right mindset will add way more value to your business than just skill and experience. Plus, they’re just more fun to work with!

How to Hire The Right Attitude:

• Consider your values and mission. Make sure any new hire buys into them.

4. Fall Under The Big Three

Oftentimes when you have an idea to start a business, it can be hard to tell if your idea is actually any good and if it’ll be successful. Daymond John has a foolproof test for this.

According to Daymond, a business idea is viable if it does at least one of three things: “solves a problem (i.e. helps you do something faster), satisfies a need (i.e. makes an existing product cheaper), or improves quality of life (i.e. medical devices).”

If your product or service can do one or more of these, you’re definitely on the right track. Great companies give customers what they need and what they didn’t know they wanted.

How to Test Your “Big Three”:

•  Talk to customers who’ve already bought your product. Understand WHY they chose you.

5. Demand R-E-S-P-E-C-T

As a female business owner, you might encounter some roadblocks that men simply don’t. Entrepreneurs have an uphill battle convincing people to get behind themselves and their product. But women entrepreneurs have an even steeper climb through the world of business.

Lori Greiner has some advice for all of our women entrepreneurs out there. “Do not let any men put you down or be chauvinistic to you. Do not let that happen. Call it out and command respect,” Lori advises.

You know that you’re smart, cunning, and more than capable, so make sure others recognize you for those traits and show you the respect you deserve.

How to Command Respect:

• Read books by others who have gone through similar struggles.
• Don’t believe what others say about your path to success.
• Be a leader. No matter what, lead your team in the direction you believe is right.

There’s Chum in the Water

All right, now you know the secrets to life underwater. It’s time to get busy and start climbing up the food chain.

Your Turn: What are your thoughts on the Sharks’ advice? Let us know!

Source: http://grasshopper.com/blog/5-great-white-business-tips-from-the-big-bad-sharks

No One Told Me Entrepreneurship Would Be Like This

I thought I knew what I was in for when I took the leap to become a full-time entrepreneur.  I had read all of the books, taken online courses, and spent hours upon hours reading expert blog posts on entrepreneurship. “What I didn’t know was this: I was signing on to feel an acute sense of daily panic — all day — every single day.”What I didn’t know was this: I was signing on to feel an acute sense of daily panic — all day — every single day. At first, I thought I was merely decompressing after leaving a cushy job with a steady paycheck. However, slowly, but surely, I realized this anxiety was following me around and coloring my ability to think clearly and get things done. I wondered why no one had warned me about the fear and anxiety that many startup founders face. I had read all about “resistance” and “growth” and other nice descriptors people had used to describe the experience of becoming an entrepreneur, but really what the headlines should have read was “panic”, “terror”, and a “constant sense of impending doom”.

My Search for Startup Wisdom

But what was a girl to do? I was committed. I had left my job, set up shop, and told all of my friends and family that I was pursuing my passion. There wasn’t any going back. I knew that if I didn’t figure entrepreneurship out, and quick, I was definitely going to have trouble getting my business off the ground.

So, I started asking other entrepreneurs to learn what they had experienced. As a fellow entrepreneur, I feel it is my duty to pass on the wisdom I learned along the way:

• You will develop tolerance.

  Over and over again I was told that entrepreneurship gets easier. Not because the work gets easier (though that happens as you build momentum), but because feeling uncomfortable will get easier. You will build up a tolerance for the unknown, the resistance, and the growth. You will build confidence in your ability to figure it out as you go and land on your feet.

• You will develop new associations.

  In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning business reporter Charles Duhigg explains why habits exist and how they can be changed. Duhigg suggests that when developing any new habit, you have to create new associations, new rewards for doing the work that is in front of you. As an entrepreneur, the only way to experience a new reward, is to do enough work that you eventually experience a win. The practice of building successes, one upon the other, will change your perceptions around the work because you will begin to associate achievement with the tasks on your list. Soon, pitching that story, writing a guest blog, and asking for financial investment, will no longer be associated with the fear of failing, but with the possibility of success.

• You will let go of things that don’t serve you.

  You will learn that sometimes the feeling in your gut isn’t discomfort — it is intuition. With time, you will know the difference and then you will be able to identify when to let go of the things that don’t serve you … things that aren’t your strengths or your path. This is the art of being an entrepreneur and something you hone over time.

Now don’t get me wrong. Knowing these nuggets of entrepreneurial wisdom will not magically make the resistance go away, but they will reassure you that it is all part of the process. You will be stronger for buckling down and seeing your dreams through to the finish line.

Source: http://yfsmagazine.com/2014/08/13/no-one-told-me-entrepreneurship-would-be-like-this

The Power of Your Network in Real Estate

I was chatting with Chris Winterhalter, a successful apartment building investor and active participant in the Bigger Pockets forums.

He talked about some of the advances he made in his investing career, and many of them were tied to people he met. In fact, he met his current business partner at a real estate investing conference. That partner owned a commercial construction company and wanted to expand into apartment buildings. Chris was a wholesaler/flipper and wanted to get into apartments. A perfect match.

This conversation made me reflect on what networking has accomplished in my career but also made me think about what I could be better.

We Can Accomplish More with Others, Then We Can Accomplish on Our Own!

I had an apartment building under contract, due diligence was completed, the appraisal was completed and we were 14 days away from closing.

Everything looked good. Until I got a call from the loan underwriter who informed me that the local bank I was working with changed their mind about the deal. “The loan committee didn’t like the area the building was in”, was all he said.

Wow, really ?!? Two weeks before closing?

Fortunately I had been working with 4 other lenders, got them to present me with term sheets, and picked the best one. The second best one looked pretty good at this point! Sure enough, that bank jumped on it, we transferred the appraisal and they closed on it in 23 days.

I would have been stuck had I not been networking with other brokers.

The Power of Your Network

While I get the majority of deal flow from commercial real estate brokers, occasionally I get one from someone in my network.

One time I got a smaller building through a wholesaler from whom I had previously bought houses to flip. He knew another wholesaler who had this build under contract and was looking to sell the contract. The deal didn’t work out, but it looked promising for a while.

I do better when I have mentors. They give me confidence I didn’t have before. They might say “buying a 100 unit isn’t so bad. So you need to raise $1M, so what? It’s not that hard, I know you can do it!” Even if they don’t directly help, they’re confidence in me lets me expand my own comfort zone so that I, too, start believing I can do it.

I can Improve with My Networking

My friend Jonathan is my model in what it means to be a good networker: he’s constantly introducing people to each other.

He spends time with people, he calls them regularly. He asks you what you’re looking for and then keeps his eyes for something that could help you. He doesn’t ask “what’s in it for me?” but “what can I do to help you?”

I’m outgoing enough, but I’m not intentional enough with networking. I need to be more like Jonathan and find ways I can help others in my sphere of influence each and every day.

The lesson here is that we need to be more intentional with our networking. Put it on your list each week. Make that phone call, schedule that lunch, follow up with conversations, attend that investment meeting. Then figure out how you can help people achieve what they’re striving for.

What do you do to network with others? What can you do better?

Be sure to leave your comments below!

Source:  http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/08/11/power-network-real-estate

Simple Accounting Tips for Growing Small Businesses

Your small business has reached that point where excel spreadsheets just can't cut it for accounts any more. This growth is great for your business but it means you may be facing the task of creating an entire accounts department, potentially from scratch.

It is worth taking a moment to consider this move before you dive right in. These few points should be kept in mind when you find your small business accounts growing.

Don't DIY

While accounts are a vital part of a business, without the business there is not much use for accounts. As the owner of a business you are the driving force that keeps that business in motion, pushes sales and sustains the income that makes accounts necessary.

Spending your valuable time struggling with accounts to save on the expense of an accountant is a false economy. Bookkeepers and accountants can often be hired on a freelance basis as you determine what your requirements are.

Accountants can also provide much more than book balancing. They can advise on many issues such as tax planning that can result in substantial savings for a business.

Don't Skimp on the Hire

A less experienced accountant might be less expensive but they will have to learn a lot on the job and much of that learning will come from making mistakes, at your business. Larger companies can afford to take on junior staff who can be supervised and mentored by experienced co-workers.

For small businesses this is not an option. Not only will an experienced accountant be far less likely to make errors they will also be able to advise you on spending strategies as well as act as a CFO, negotiating on your behalf with banks or other creditors.

Make Sure your Staff and Software Match

Your new accountant may have years of experience but if its in another accounting software package that might be a problem. Getting to grips with new software may take some time and understanding its finer points will take even longer.

Make sure they have time to get to know the software you have or if you can, implement the software your new accountant is familiar with.

Don’t Be Afraid to Implement Direct Debit

It may ruffle a few feathers but you should always insist on receiving payment by direct debit. Primarily it ensures a healthy cash flow for your business. Any small business owner will tell you how vital cash flow is to the survival of their business, particularly in transitional growth periods.

The other key benefit of using direct debit is the simplification of record keeping. Using accounting software that not only records but implements direct debits can save on a lot of accounting work and also ensures more accurate accounts.

Be Smart About Tracking your Expenses

Everyone knows how important it is to keep track of expenses. But somehow everyone always forgets to do it. For many small businesses keeping track of expenses means stuffing every receipt from every expense in a folder then forgetting about it until it’s time to do the books.

This is fine until people start forgetting to keep receipts, or misplace them or even start a second expense folder because they can’t find the first. Taking the time to set up a dedicated expenses debit or credit card means that all expenses are recorded automatically, eliminating the need to keep receipts.

Source: http://www.brook.ie/expert/accounting-software/simple-accounting-tips-for-growing-small-businesses

Surprising Secrets of Entrepreneurs

Business success can mean accepting what others deny.

There are a lot of pieces of advice or information that a lot of us have heard.  In fact, certain bits of conventional wisdom are repeated many times over, readily available in dozens of business books.  But the biggest piece of information for an entrepreneur is to leave no stone unturned—look for and find ways to succeed that most people never would.  This can mean bucking conventional wisdom and doing things that are nearly the opposite.  Or, it can mean just being able to embrace certain strategies or methids that might seem too risky or even undesirable to less adventurous types.
In particular, certain things that not everyone is quick to admit about the world we live in can lead to success as an entrepreneur.  Aiming your business and your products and services to satisfy certain conditions is the key to success.  Here are those conditions.

1. Lack of Drive and Energy

Consider the person who conceived of the Snooze button on an alarm clock.  This is based on the idea that people shouldn’t decide between getting up and just lying there with music on, but that they should be able to have both: nice, quiet sleep for five more minutes (since they set their alarm for five minutes before they really wanted to get up).
Ultimately, if you don’t want to hear the annoying music, you can get up (which is what the alarm clock is there for in the first place) and turn it off and get the day started.  But how well do alarm clocks with no Snooze fair in the marketplace?  Thus, designing your products, effectively, around the laziness of your potential customers, may be a good idea.

2. Learn as You Go

You’ll hear a lot about the business plan and the blue print.  Some people make it seem as though if you don’t have the next fifteen or twenty-five years of your business mapped out meticulously, you’ll fail as a result.  However, it’s great minds that succeed, not always great ideas.  That’s because the first several versions of whatever product you put out will need tweaking and recover spontaneity on your part.  How good you are at rolling with the punches will determine your success.

3. Names and Logos are Important

It may be the case that your customers have a certain intelligence or savvy that you’d be good to honor.  But they’ll exercise a lot of that actually using your product.  Your first have to pull them in, and this is best done with a simple name and simple logo.  Don’t try to dazzle customers with some arcane or overly-clever brand.
An article on the subject from Entrepreneur.com counsels starter-uppers to “resist the urge to name the company after the mythical Greek God of fast service or the Latin phrase for “We’re number one!”

4. Success Consumes Time

One mistake business starters make is to not realize how many hours they have to put in.  If you work really hard but not insanely hard, and still can’t make ends meet, you really just need to put more time in.  In other words, you have the option of trading some of your time for what it takes to bring in revenue exceeding expenses.
Perhaps this means doing—up to a point—some of the work you’d otherwise pay for, etc.
It’s absolutely true that it’s best to have a work-life balance, and it’s best not to run yourself into the ground or risk your sanity.  But if doing so, short term, is what it takes to turn that crucial corner, then you have little choice.  Don’t let your business go down because you don’t realize how much of your time it takes.
The secrets to successful entrepreneurship come at us from all directions. It’s all about figuring out all aspects and coming up with the best way of looking at each individual problem.

Source: http://frugalentrepreneur.com/2014/08/surprising-secrets-of-entrepreneurs

Why entrepreneurship? – 36 Reasons I discovered

The decision or choice to be an entrepreneur is no easy one (usually).. – whether you are a new kid on the block or you’ve had a corporate career for some (or large) part of your life.And yet, I increasingly read see and hear of so many people taking the deep plunge into entrepreneurship..

I always wondered “Why entrepreneurship?“…And I discovered 36 compelling reasons:

(1) To create something new / unique / innovative

(2) To have a fair chance to make money that a corporate job can probably never really pay you

(3) To fell the thrill / high of building a new business / enterprise (This is very different from 1 above)

(4) To be your own boss

(5) To get away from your current boss / company / life

(6) To work on a purpose larger than yourself / life

(7) To generate employment and improve the quality of life for someone somewhere

(8) To work wholeheartedly on something that you are deeply passionate about, and strongly committed to

(9) To create wealth

(10) To experiment with something you’ve never done before

(11) To fulfill a dream

(12) Entrepreneurship is in the blood ; They can’t / won’t do anything else

(13) To lead from the front (really from the front)

(14) To make life worthwhile

(15) To truly solve a problem / market need

(16) To make life easier for someone somewhere

(17) To address a higher calling

(18) To challenge yourself, and push the envelope

(19) To be in control of your life – and not dependent on someone

(20) To live a life (style) that you’ve always desired

(21) To be in full-control of your time at work

(22) To take-over the family business / set-up

(23) To be in power, and to have the power to control, influence and determine the outcome of a zillion things

(24) To build / create / groom / mentor individuals ; a great opportunity to do it your way

(25) To prove a point – to yourself or someone else

(26) To dis-prove a theory / hypothesis / widely held popular belief. For e.g.: He / She can never be an entrepreneur

(27) To find a way to do something better / faster

(28) To pioneer the way to do something in a cost effective manner

(29) To settle past scores with someone. Sometimes jealousy or revenge are the cause for one to embark on entrepreneurial ventures

(30) To heal wounds of the mind and heart; To some entrepreneurship is therapeutic I’m told

(31) To do something worthwhile / productive with your time, skills and knowledge

(32) To pay the bills and put food on the table

(33) No one else is ready to employ / hire you :(

(34) To make a difference in someone’s life

(35) To maximize usage of both sides of your brain :) – Entrepreneurship needs optimal usage of the left and right side of the brain. Ample role of creativity and logic

(36) To leave a legacy which your forthcoming generations will be proud of

Did I miss any? Leave comments to let me know

Source: http://nischalamurthy.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/entrepreneurship

Small Business Tips: How to Beat Your Competition

Richard Branson: 'There's No Shortcut or Magic Recipe to Success'

Q: Are there any quick ways to succeed in business without spending a huge amount of money on marketing? -- Geraldo Kandonga Fillipus, Geraldo Financial Solutions, Namibia

Source: Google+

Unfortunately there’s no shortcut or magic recipe to success -- or if there is, I haven’t found it yet. Creating a successful and profitable business takes time, since you build your reputation as customers learn to trust and rely on you, one by one.

Also, there’s no guarantee that spending a huge amount of money on marketing will slingshot your business forward. If you spend your time looking for shortcuts, you will find one -- right out of business.

While there are no set rules for succeeding in business, over my 40 years as an entrepreneur I have embraced some rough guidelines that can be very helpful:

1. Create a Useful Product or Service

Above all else, you should not go into business purely for financial reasons. Running a company involves long hours and hard decisions; if you don’t have a better reason than money to keep going, your business will more than likely fail, as many new businesses do.

So it’s important to create something of use that is going to benefit society as a whole. If you do something you truly care about, you will be in a much better position to find customers, connect with them, and keep them coming back.

Once you have decided on the type of product or service that interests you, focus on how to do things differently from the competition: Do your research, find a gap or an area ripe for innovation, and position your business in a way that sets it apart.

2. Simplify Your Message

Customers don’t just shop for a brand and its products, but also identify with its core values. Ask yourself, why did I start my business? Be honest -- this will help you establish an authentic value and voice. Then distill your message into something simple.

At Virgin, we stand for great customer service, good value and innovative alternatives to our competitors’ offerings. Most importantly, we view business as a force for good. Knowing who we are and what we stand for ensures that we don’t waste time or money on messaging that doesn’t represent us or resonate with our customers.

3. Market Yourself

Marketing is a powerful tool, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. My mentor, Sir Freddie Laker, a man who had started a company to challenge British Airways on their home turf, gave me some invaluable advice when I was starting up Virgin Atlantic Airways. Knowing that we couldn’t match the more established airlines in terms of marketing budget, he encouraged me to drive the publicity myself: “Use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you won’t survive.”

I took his advice and I’ve been thinking up fun ways to stand out from the crowd and draw the media’s attention to our company ever since, from breaking world records to pulling pranks.

While I’ve always been interested in sports and physical challenges, that might not be the route for you. Find your tone, know your brand, do things your own way, and create waves. The free advertising will follow.

4. Embrace Social Media

Tools like Twitter and Facebook are wonderful ways to get your message out to a wide audience. Social media is not only more cost-efficient than advertising, but it also offers great opportunities for innovative engagement with your customers. Use it to your advantage.

Remember that there is a difference between selling and marketing. In my experience, selling a product through social media doesn’t work -- it’s better to simply communicate with your customers in an authentic way and have fun. As you build an online profile that people can identify with and trust, you’ll find that they will soon become customers.

The feedback you receive on social media can be invaluable, especially when your business is just starting out. Listen to your customers’ comments about your company’s offerings to gain an understanding of what you are doing right and wrong. You can also use this feedback to sharpen your social campaigns and measure the effectiveness of your calls to action.

5. Keep On Enjoying What You Do

If you genuinely love and believe in what you do, others will take notice and share your enthusiasm. Geraldo, in your case, this might prompt people to take out a loan with your company instead of another provider, or encourage them to recommend your company to a friend.

If you find your interest flagging, it’s time to make a change -- switch from operations to management, move on, expand into new territories, anything that interests you. To find success, you need to be fully committed or your work will show it.

Good luck!

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235955