Fear Can Stop Us In Our Tracks

We all have something we fear. Fear of flying; fear of heights; fear of public speaking; fear of spiders … and so on and so on. Some of our fears are mildly annoying. Some are totally debilitating. Which brings me to a gem of a Canadian magazine Cathleen Filmore of Speakers Gold introduced me to; Motivated. The theme of the Fall 2010 edition was fear. And, from the many useful articles, the one that caught my eye was ‘How I Pushed Through Fear & Talked To Bill Gates’ by Richard St John.

Through overcoming his fear of talking to people he didn’t know, he developed an effective model to help him overcome fearful situations and take positive action to move him and his business forward. He calls it the 4P’s. Purpose, Push, Practice and Persist.

Purpose – identify why you must do something. Be very clear why you must take this step despite the fact that you would rather chew glass. If necessary write out the purpose. Make it so strong you can’t possibly avoid the situation and absolutely must act.

Push – with the help and backing of purpose, your next step is to push yourself into action. You can’t avoid it; you can’t ignore it. So you must act.

Practice – the more times you do something that terrifies you, the less terrified you become. We know from Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Outliers’ that to become truly great at something you must practice for 10,000 hours. St. John is suggesting, if your fear is public speaking search out as many public speaking opportunities as you can. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much easier it gets.

Persist – and keep doing it. To continue to use the example above, keep delivering those speeches. If you can record them, evaluate yourself so you can get better and therefore less fearful. If your example is getting in touch with someone you’ve never met be persistent until contact is made.

Getting over his fear of talking to people who he didn’t know resulted in the publication of a book ‘The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common’. Think of the possibilities when you get over your fears.

Here are the links:

Cathleen Filmore of Speakers Gold www.speakersgold.com

Motivated Magazine www.motivatedonline.com

Article author Richard St. John  www.richardstjohn.com

www.yourplanningpartners.com

Seven Barriers to Business Success

Through the work we have done with hundreds of business owners and the experienced gained from building our own businesses we have learnt that there are seven key barriers preventing business success.

1. The Owner
Yes that’s us! We are our own worst enemy. Think about it; we didn’t learn how to be a business owner at school. We weren’t able to apprentice for the job before taking over. When we first became a business owner we had neither the knowledge nor experience. We would never have hired ourselves for the position:-) And on top of all that we don’t have the time to do everything that must be done.

2. People
A business is not a business until it has more than one person. A key barrier to success is not being able or willing to find the right people to do those things that need doing but shouldn’t be done by you! These do not have to be full time employees with generous benefit packages. Today we have many options. Part time assistants; virtual assistants; web sites like odesk.com; out sourced work and so on.

3. Money
Business growth devours money. Money for the people we must bring on to overcome Barrier #2. Money to build a web site. Money to move into an office. BUT not only do we need money we must also manage our money. A lack of good financial management has killed many large organizations; it is equally as fatal for small businesses.

4. Customers
I am afraid the truth hurts ~ despite the wonderful products we have to offer, despite the superb quality of the service we provide, people are not going to flock to our door. They have to be enticed. Not only must there be effective marketing strategies to get their attention there must also be sales campaigns to help them buy. Yes, as I said the truth hurts. We need customers and to get customers we must sell! Actually we like to say “bring them into our community”.

5. Focus
You are a business owner and so you love building successful things. You get easily distracted by new exciting shiny objects. You are never short of great ideas and so it is all too easy to lose focus and chase the new idea. Losing focus on the destination, losing focus on the core business, losing focus on the important activities will prevent business success.

6. Processes
The reality is that a business is just a bunch of processes that allow us to profitably produce and distribute our products/services in exchange for money. The key word is “profitable”. If the processes don’t work the business won’t work. By nature business owners are not great business analysts but time and effort must be expended to ensure that processes are in place and are working.

7. Plans
Philip Orsini (author and successful business person) wrote “Companies don’t fail because they grow. They fail because they don’t plan their growth”. Without plans there is no destination, there is no road map to follow, there is no focus (there’s that word again).  Your success is left to luck or even worse miracles. As Peter Drucker ~ the greatest of all business gurus ~ said; “Miracles are great but they are so unpredictable”!

Growing a Business is a Risky Business

Growing a business is a risky business. In fact there are more risks associated with growing a business than there are with starting a business. And so business owners must direct all their talents and energies to the single purpose of building a bigger business. You must focus on these key strategies.

Develop a Strategic Growth Plan
An Angus Reid poll conducted for the Royal Bank discovered the startling fact that 6 out of every 10 small and medium sized companies do no not have formal business growth plans. This despite the fact that trying to grow your business without a plan is a bit like wandering the desert without a compass; you just go round and round and round.

The Strategic Plan becomes your road map. It identifies your measurable 3 to 5 year growth objectives and links them to 1 year strategies and actions. You can track your growth on a day by day, week by week and month by month basis. This is a powerful tool because it keeps you on track.

Commit time
Depending on how aggressively you want to grow your business you must devote from one to three days per week to plan and to manage your company’s growth. Start small; find 45 minutes each day for growth activities and block off that time in your calendar. This will give you half a day per week! Delegate some of your work. Delegation is not easy for entrepreneurs and it takes a lot of time up front but frees up your valuable time down the road to grow your business.

Manage the money stuff
Growth needs money; in fact growth devours money! You may need a new web site. You may need to develop new products. You may need to hire someone before the revenue comes in to cover their costs. The expenses will initially increase faster than the revenues.

Develop monthly projections of revenue and operating expenses. Make sure you have included all growth costs. Then convert the budget into monthly cash flow projections. For example, if your budget shows April revenue of $10,000 you probably won’t receive that money until May or possibly June. Your cash flow projection provides the financial road map to monitor and manage your money as the growth progresses.

Raise the Expertise Ceiling
You have an expertise ceiling. This is the ceiling that you hit when your company reaches a size and complexity that is beyond your expertise. Business history is full of stories about successful companies that suddenly flounder when they reach their owners’ Expertise Ceiling. So don’t pretend that this will not happen to you; it will! Find a mentor. Hire an expert.

Lead with an Attitude
“Success is an attitude” write Fisher and Allen in their book How To Think Like A Millionaire. You must really want to grow your business. You must believe in yourself; believe that you can take your business to the next level. And you must believe in the people around you and they will be positive contributors to the business growth. If you have the right attitude your team will feel it; they will know that they are going to be part of a wonderful success story.

Urgent Versus Important
Taking the phone call from an angry customer is urgent. Carefully mapping out the future of your business is important. Which has priority? You must be the judge but never lose site of the fact that your business will not achieve successful growth if you do not devote all of your talents and energies to the single purpose of building a bigger business; i.e. on the important activities.

So don’t wait for a miracle to take your company to the next level. As Peter Drucker wrote; “Miracles are great but they are so unpredictable”.

It’s Tough Being Optimistic All the Time

Being a business owner means you are constantly excited about what you do, invigorated by what the future holds, confident about everything and in a constant state of optimism. Nothing gets you down because you are in control and you know everything will be just fine. If you honestly believe the drivel I’ve just written then I suggest you seek help! While we are certainly in this state most of the time we are human. Things do get us down. We do get scared. We do second guess ourselves. We do have moments of sheer terror.

Which leads me to a fantastic book for entrepreneurs; Conquer the Chaos by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau. It is from this book that I got the following list of ways to help you stay optimistic. To not let the stresses and strains of running your own business get you down. And when it does get you down how to pull yourselve out. With no further ado here is their list:
• Read customer testimonials. This does wonders to remind you how good you are!
• Remove yourself. Go for a walk. Take a drive. This is a time to rewire your brain.
• Act quickly. Don’t brood and dwell on difficult experiences. Go to work on them right away.
• Rewire your brain. Stop negative thoughts. Replace them with positive thoughts AND words.
• Do physical exercise. Somehow, physical exercise is therapy for the brain.
• Connect with loved ones. Family and friends have a way of providing great perspective.
• Smile and laugh; this is great therapy.
• Recite accomplishments. Remembering and publishing progress is very powerful.
• Be grateful. List all the things you are grateful for.
• Read inspirational books. This will build your confidence and open your mind to solutions.
• Give a compliment. This does wonders for the person you compliment AND you.

Thank you Scott and Clate. I’m happy to share your advice with our entrepreneurial community. I am also happy to recommend your book Conquer the Chaos to them;  www.conquerthechaosbook.com

Summer Time is Leisure Time

One motivation for many people starting their own business is the promise of more flexible time. Time to do the things they love when they want to and within their family schedule. However, many soon discover when you have your own business you often have less flexibility and there is even less time for you.

Hard work is a virtue, but only when balanced with leisure. Leisure time is defined as time spent out of work and away from essential compulsory activities. Experts all agree leisure time is essential. Leisure activities allow you to rejuvenate. It relieves stress and when we are stressed, we don’t think clearly and our creativity is reduced or eliminated. You have a responsibility to yourself, your family and your business. You must make leisure time.

You need to know what leisure represents for you. Think about activities that bring you fun and add variety to your life. You want to relax and recharge. Really think about it. Remember it is time away from compulsory activities. Time to recharge your batteries. What does leisure time or down time look like for you?

Whether it’s an afternoon at an Art Gallery, a weekend reading a romance novel, a week with the kids or two weeks in Italy learning how to make the perfect pasta … it must have one compulsory quality, it must be dedicated leisure time. That means:

• no checking business emails
• no calls to or from the office
• no working or taking work with you
• no turning a vacation into a business trip

Here are 5 ways to help you take leisure time:

1.  Schedule the time – Put it in your calendar well ahead of time and when it is there, honour it just like you would a client meeting. If you need to, buy a non-refundable ticket to wherever you are going.
2.  Communicate it – Tell your clients, give them lots of notice. Tell your team and let them know you expect them to schedule activities around your leisure time.
3.  Schedule email news blasts for distribution while you are away so marketing continues.
4.  Before you go, schedule meetings with prospects for the week you get back in order to minimize the impact on your revenue generating.
5.  Respect yourself, treat yourself like you would a client – make it your responsibility to take full advantage of your leisure time.

Have a full, fulfilling and fun summer!

Seven Barriers to Business Success

Through the work we have done with hundreds of business owners and the experienced gained from building our own businesses we have learnt that there are seven key barriers preventing business success. In this blog I will summarize the seven; in future blogs I will deal with each in more detail.

1. The Owner
Yes that’s us! We are our own worst enemy. Think about it; we didn’t learn how to be a business owner at school. We weren’t able to apprentice for the job before taking over. When we first became a business owner we had neither the knowledge nor experience. We would never have hired ourselves for the position:-) And on top of all that we don’t have the time to do everything that must be done.

2. People
A business is not a business until it has more than one person. A key barrier to success is not being able or willing to find the right people to do those things that need doing but shouldn’t be done by you! These do not have to be full time employees with generous benefit packages. Today we have many options. Part time assistants; virtual assistants; web sites like odesk.com; out sourced work and so on.

3. Money
Business growth devours money. Money for the people we must bring on to overcome Barrier #2. Money to build a web site. Money to move into an office. BUT not only do we need money we must also manage our money. A lack of good financial management has killed many a large organization; it is also fatal for small businesses.

4. Customers
I am afraid the truth hurts ~ despite the wonderful products we have to offer, despite the superb quality of the service we provide people are not going to flock to our door. They have to be enticed. Not only must there be effective marketing strategies to get their attention there must also be sales campaigns to help them buy. Yes, as I said the truth hurts. We need customers and to get customers we must sell! Actually we like to say “bring them into our community”.

5. Focus
You are a business owner and so you love building successful things. You get easily distracted by new exciting shiny objects. You are never short of great ideas and so it is all too easy to lose focus and chase the new idea. Losing focus on the destination, losing focus on the core business, losing focus on the important activities will prevent business success. Luckily there are many tools to help stay focused; we will cover them in a future blog on focus.

6. Processes
The reality is that a business is just a bunch of processes that allow us to profitably produce and distribute our products/services in exchange for money. The key word is “profitable”. If the processes don’t work the business won’t work. By nature business owners are not great business analysts but time and effort must be expended to ensure that processes are in place and are working.

7. Plans
Philip Orsini (author and sucessful business person) wrote “Companies don’t fail because they grow. They fail because they don’t plan their growth”. Without plans there is no destination, there is therefore no road map to follow, there is no focus (there’s that word again) and so there is no means for getting to nowhere. Your success is left to luck or even worse miracles. As Peter Drucker ~ the greatest of all business gurus ~ said; “Miracles are great but they are so unpredictable”!

So these are the Seven Barriers to Business Success. Over the next few weeks I will deal with each in more detail and provide solutions to overcome the barriers.