100 BUSINESS WISDOM FROM THE GREATS – 47 of 100

100 BUSINESS WISDOM FROM THE GREATS THAT MAY CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS FOR GOOD – 47 of 100 

The secret of success lies not in you doing your own work but recognizing the best person to do it. Andrew Carnegie.

Andrew Carnegie was one of the richest men of his era. I have studied the man intensely and he had more wisdom than money; that’s saying something considering the huge size of his fortunes. A note was found in his drawer after his death and he said ‘I would spend half my life accumulating a lot of money and half of it giving it all away’. He was true to his words and gave away over 500million dollars; in today’s money would be more 300 billion dollars.

In business, the best skill for business leaders is finding talents and keeping them; you cannot grow a prosperous business without talented people with the culture that aligns with your vision. The quotes about recognizing the best person to do the job were more than 100 years ago but it is still relevant today with all the technology and globalization. There are a lot of tools you can use to find talents today that wasn’t around even a few years ago.... 

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RESUSCITATE YOUR DREAMS BY KILLING PROCRASTINATION WITH THIS ONE STEP

Why do you procrastinate on the important things that you need to do to change your life?

Why don’t you procrastinate about those things that you know you shouldn’t be doing but you cannot stop yourself? Some people don’t procrastinate when it comes to opening the fridge and eating their pile of chocolate, and for the men, there is no procrastination in bringing out the beer bottles, wine bottles and that’s for the gentlemen; then you have the Jack Daniels and Hennessy for the so-called big boys.

Procrastination is a serious matter though and it would help our community a great deal if we can steer people away from it and get people to develop personal initiative and self-discipline. It is a state of mind and it can be changed whenever you are ready. In my book ‘Goldmine of Your Mind – Your Fast Track to Abundance’ I devoted a whole chapter to the topic because it is one of the most common causes of failure particularly in business.

Sometimes, success is a dangerous thing because you may then feel that you are invincible and then lose those attributes that caused the success in the first place. A client of mine who has been in business for more than 10 years running a successful recruitment agency started experiencing dwindling revenue for more than 2 years. By the time he came to me, his business was barely surviving at break even; i.e. no profit but no loss either; you know that the following year he is likely to start losing money. To cut a long story short, one of the bad habits he developed when things started going wrong was to cope by procrastinating. This came out just 10minutes into our first session out of the series of meetings to diagnose and resolve the problems for him. We revamped his plan and the exercise that changed things for him is what I am going to share with you today. The good news is that he is doing well again, much better than his previous successful period. Does it mean he would never have any challenge in his business ever again? Not really, but procrastination is not going to be one of them!

When I coach successful entrepreneurs and they get miraculous results, they are apt to give me the credit but I usually don’t want to take it because the work was done by them; my role is to help them see things differently. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

This is how to kill procrastination dead in its track and it is an exercise you have to do for at least 66 days to entrench it into your psyche. Before we get to the exercise, let me quickly tell you about the wrong notion about potentials! Today, as you are reading this piece, you are operating at your full potential right now; yes, 100% of your potentials! If you think to yourself that it isn’t true that you are already at 100% of your potentials; then that should jolt you into action and help you take the actions I am suggesting to you now. Your unrealized potential is hidden in what we call in coaching ‘trapped energy’ caused by procrastination. Let me talk a little bit about energy here. Warren Buffett is one of the richest men in the world and he has a way with words that gets you into action. He said, ‘without passion you have got no energy and without energy you have got nothing’! You need energy to manifest any goals in life and if your energy is trapped because of procrastination then you are not doing yourself a favour. So how do you conquer this silent enemy within that is stopping you from getting to your greatness? It is really very simple but would you not procrastinate in carrying out the exercise too? Ok, this is it. Start where you are and take a sheet of paper and a pen. Make a list of three important things that you have been procrastinating about for some time now; pick the first one and do it now. Take note of your energy level after completing the first task, it would be much higher than before. Then take the second item on your list and do it and then the third one. Just to test it, pick things you can do within one or two hours and do then consecutively. By the time you finished this exercise, notice that your energy will be so high that you will be thinking, is there anything I else I need to do. Please don’t use your laptop or tablet for this exercise if you want to get results; because your brain is 40% connected with your writing hand. Andrew Carniegie was the proponent of this idea of writing down goals and he was one of the richest men in the world one hundred years ago. You can google his fascinating story from an illiterate nine year old boy taken to America from Scotland who became of the shaper of American history.

Knowledge is power? Rubbish! If you don’t know how to apply basic principles of life to get what you want then your knowledge is not that useful. I have found fulfillment in helping businesses thrive applying these principles that is potentially life-changing. It is a far cry from my days of juggling figures as a chartered accountant but all my business knowledge is now being deployed to help businesses succeed. If you want to have a chat with me on how to transform your business then go to my website www.mbckonsult.com or call 07939500053

4 STEPS TO DEVELOP THE POWER OF FOCUS AND PRODUCTIVITY IN BUSINESS

We live oddly structured lives.  For most of us, the week starts with a groan on Monday and finishes with a sigh of relief on Friday.  We dream of cutting free from a job we probably dislike and a time constraint we certainly dislike. and as such become less productive on the job, and also in our personal lives. However, focusing on the important tasks we need to achieve and how to go about it can bring about the best in us, as individuals. Here are 4 steps to develop the power of focus to increase productivity.

1. Critical thinking- The most important way to develop the skill of focus is to critically think about what it is that you actually want. Think about what it looks like. Think about what it'll take to get it. Think about how you feel once you actually achieve it, think about the challenges you'll face, and what you can do to overcome such challenges.

2. Time Mangement-  Time is not a luxury, we are credited with 24hrs Daily and those who make use of their time of productive activities are those who usually succeed in life.  To increase your focus, and achieve business growth, you must be able to manage your time well. The easiest way to do this is to create a to-do-list. Before going to bed at night, I literally write and schedule everything I need to do from the start of my day till the close of work. Managing your time is a key attribute of success.

3. Clear your mind of distractions-  We live in a world filled with too much noise and distractions. It's either we are pressing our phones or listening to someone on the radio or watching a program on TV. All these are distractions which we need to get rid off in order to focus. So when you have a task to do, turn off your phone, turn off the TV, and concentrate your mind on what you want to achieve.

4. Rest- As much as you want to achieve your goals, find time to rest. Resting helps you regroup and come back stronger. Find time to take a break.

SOME OF THE CHALLENGES FACED BY STARTUP AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

According to the Global Business Report, 90% of startup do not survive the first 3 months, and 95% do not survive the first year. These figures got me asking some questions, and I have decided to share with you what I feel are the problems startups fail within their first trimester.

1.     Funds- Fund is a major part of a business which you can’t overemphasize. Major of startups fail because they can’t access funds. You need money to run a company. Unless you’re remarkably lucky and the cash flows in straight away from sales or investors, you will be in trouble.

2.      Lack of organization- This a crucial part of any business. As Mentor always says “Randomness is a kiss of death”. Small Business and startup launch without having a proper organizational structure, procedures of doing things, as such they overcrowd themselves and focus all their energy doing the wrong thing. Organization gives you a clear protocol for doing things.

3.      Selfishness- Most startup founders are selfish, in the sense that they want the company to be about them alone, and are always scared of sharing their ideas with other people. Jack Ma the richest man in China. started his company Ali Baba with 18 people as co-founders. 75% of the top businesses in Silicon Valley were co-founder by 2 or more people. What I’m trying to emphasize is that you should share your vision with someone, and work together so they can help you bring it to fulfillment.

4.      Hiring the wrong people- Certain skills are crucial not only for your business to survive, but also to grow. Knowing the exact skills needed – and how to get those essential people – may determine how well your startup thrives. Delays in finding the right personnel will not only eat up valuable time but also lead to severe bottlenecks. You may also have hired the wrong people, and their deficiencies may be more apparent as a startup grows, especially if they are in the wrong roles.

5.      Competitors- There’s no autonomy in the industry you are going too, therefore it won’t be easy despite your product or services being great, it’s a crowded marketplace. New rivals may have altered the playing pitch, so having the right strategy, or being able to think on your feet quickly and adapting to the new reality will define your success or failure.

6.      Lack of guidance- You may have a great product/idea, but lack the necessary guidance, market experience, and knowledge to move a stage further. That’s where a mentor comes in, with the wisdom and confidence to help you clear those roadblocks that are holding your startup back. Mentors can also help you strategize better. Get yourself a mentor. What if you can’t meet your physically because of geography or the fact that they are big goons are you are just starting- then read their books, listening to their interview, follow them on social media. The internet has made it easy to cut across borders and bring us closer than ever.

WHO IS MY CUSTOMER?

When running a business, everybody cannot be your ideal customer.  If you target everybody, you’re going to lose limited resources available to you. I was speaking to a friend who's an IT expert, and he shared with me this wonderful idea of his, and then I asked him, who are your customers? And he replied he is targetting everybody who has a smartphone. Ask great as this idea was, I told he should look for a niche to sell his idea and from there grow and expand. As my mentor usually says "Targeting Everybody is Targeting Nobody"

You might ask, how do I find my niche?  What is a niche you might ask? A niche is a small area of the industry you are covering.  Let me give you an example. Agriculture is an industry on its own, and I haven’t seen any farmer who focuses on everything agriculture. They will wreck themselves and the business as a whole. However, In the Agriculture industry, a niche can be rice production. A farmer who focuses on rice production alone, is likely going to succeed than someone who focuses on rice, beans, poultry farming etc.

1.       Build an avatar/a buyer persona of who your ideal customer should be. In fact, give the avatar a name.  Highlight their job description, their gender, their economic status, and also their age description, if possible, the challenge they are facing (which your product intends to solve). For Example- Name- Paul, Age- 30-40, Gender- Male, Job description- Accountant, annual income- $10,000. As you can see this illustration above gives you a clear picture of who your ideal customer is.

2.       Research your industry and most importantly, your competitors. Every business has a competition either directly or indirectly. Research what your competitors are doing and reengineer it to work for you.

3.       Invest in knowledge. You can’t build a business with limited information about that industry. Read books, attend webinars, listen to podcast, go to networking events, ask questions from experts in that field. As my boss always say, ignorance is not an excuse for failure. On social media, you can follow people who have succeeded in your field whether locally on internationally, and learn from them without necessarily meeting them in person.  

100 BUSINESS WISDOM FROM THE GREATS (2 of 100)- Henry Ford

'Thoughts are things' said Napoleon Hill and this was corroborated by Henry Ford (one the richest men of his era) in this quote. Is your belief system about what you are capable of true or false? Is your belief about your worthiness for success true or false? In business, you must totally believe in yourself and your idea/product for you to align yourself to the right strategy to make it happen. If not, it's gonna be one step forward, two steps backward. If you are feeling stagnant in your business or career, you may need to examine your beliefs. Chapter 18 of my book talks about 'The Question of Money and Your Belief System' The audiobook for this chapter is free on youtube if you want to search for it

Register for our upcoming webinar holding on the 15th, November 2018. Titled "How To Build A Profitable Consultancy/Coaching Business Rapidly- without networking or cold-calling"

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100 BUSINESS WISDOM FROM THE GREATS 1-100 (Andrew Carnegie)

100 BUSINESS WISDOM FROM THE GREATS (1 of 100) ‘The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell’ Andrew Carnegie

This is a lesson about procrastination. Your time is limited and if you keep putting things till tomorrow, others will beat you to it and they get the oyster and you get the shell. Bill Gates dropped out Harvard because he thought if he stayed other people would advantage of the opportunity and I emphasized this in one of the chapters in my book. I have written an article about procrastination and you can find it on my page here. Whatever you are procrastinating about is a secret to your next level of achievement. Go and do it now! Would you like to share what you are procrastinating about now? The truth will set you free!

Register for our webinar on How To Build A Wildly Profitable Consultancy/Coaching Business Rapidly.

Follow this link below to register- https://ayobenson44.clickfunnels.com/how-to-build-a-profitable-consultancy-business-3-0