As you know, I am a huge fan(atic) of Apple‘s products – haven been for more than 20 years. Of course with great products and market-leading valuations means Apple gets a lot of news coverage. This week it’s about it’s overseas tax planning strategies and cash pooling.
Even though they are legitimate and legal, the popular press is all over it because of their recent declaration of a share buy back and establishing a dividend payment to shareholders.
Even though it makes for great headlines and sells newspapers and now online advertising, the reality is that these strategies are impossible if you can’t do what financial managers call Cash Pooling.
It’s quite sophisticated and all multi-billion corporations do it. Simply put, it’s knowing where your cash is so you can place and use it in the most effective place which usually involves tax considerations. As a business owner, it’s just another reminder that the practices of the “big boys” still applies to small business – especially those in high growth mode. Knowing where you cash is and having it where and when you need it can be the difference between growth and believe it or not – going bust.
Many high growth businesses (even profitable) ones run out of cash due to irregular cash flows and their timing. If you’re struggling with Excel spreadsheets to figure out where your cash is, you might want to consider an online cash management solution that goes well beyond your accounting and bookkeeping tasks.
Disclaimer: I am currently LONG on APPLE stock. I figure with $100 Billion in cash reserves, they have more than enough cash to deal with any competitors and technological challenges that will come up.
We have all heard the expression “you need to work ON your business instead of IN it…”
Easier said than done.
In fact, for most owner operators, it’s a transition they can never make.
The reason is simple: The personality traits that got them to go INTO business are exactly the ones that will keep them chained to the business, day in, day out.
Those personality traits create behaviours and habits that unfortunately most entrepreneurs can’t break. Sorry to be so pessimistic. It’s just the way it is.
Are you wondering if you’re one of the FEW who can make the transition?
If you are, you need to be:
Open minded
Flexible
Self aware
Otherwise you’re kidding yourself and will waste a lot of time money and effort on trying to change something that’s not going to change – YOU.
If you’re stubborn, intractable and think you’ve got it all figured out – “goodonya mate”. You’re all set and have “no worries”. She’ll be right mate.
If you’re open minded, flexible and self aware and want to work ON your business to grow it with less effort, have a look at my coaching and mentoring philosophy page. If it resonates with you, then contact us.
We all know how effective Apple’s commercials and advertising are, but why are they so persuasive?
In this instance it’s the singular focus on benefits rather than features. In our Killer Kopywriting System, we explain this in full detail, but for today’s blog post ‘exercise’, just watch this video and see if you can do the same for ONE of your products and/or services.
You’ll quickly realise that you revert to FEATURES rather than benefits, which is one of the reasons why Apple outsells its competitors. The other is because their products are way, way better!\
Here’s the thing you really need to fully grasp – people BUY BENEFITS – NOT features. If you want to sell more, you simply need to translate the technical merits of your product or service into “What’s in it for me?”
Easier said than done, but well worth the investment. It’s the single most effective way to increase sales.
Everyone’s heard of the the word Apprehensive. It’s an adjective often associated with accountants…*
But the word prehensive is not so well known – the opposite of what accountants are…
So if you ever wondered why there is often a conflict between entrepreneurs and their accounts – look no further than the dictionary!
Now you might thinks this is superfluous, but it’s not. We are all molded, trained and formed into a pre-defined ‘model’ by our education, training and experiences. To think otherwise is childishly immature.
However, as adults, we do have the power to determine our own destinies, but we can only exercise it by knowing where we ARE if we want to get to where we want to BE.
That’s a discussion well beyond today’s blog post, but I thought I would at the very least trigger the thought and enlighten you with a slightly expanded vocabulary!
* There are great accountants out there who are pro business growth and are not apprehensive about creating momentum. They are a minority, so you have to seek them out carefully. Of course be aware that if they don’t counter-balance your desire for ‘unlimited’ growth, you’ll need to get that balance elsewhere…!
We all remember playing around with a Rubik’s Cube, getting close to solving it only to scramble it even more… Those frustrations are not all that different from business owners who try to grow their businesses…
Now there’s a special tool to help you grow your business – it’s called a Marc-Ka-Ching Kube!
I recently blogged about jargon and other overused words to avoid. Today’s post is a tongue-in-cheek look at how new words are created…
CARPERPETUATION (kar’ pur pet u a shun) n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.
DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt’) v. To sterilize the piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, somehow assuming this will “remove” all the germs.
ECNALUBMA (ek na lub’ ma) n. A rescue vehicle which can only be seen in the rearview mirror.
EIFFELITES (eye’ ful eyetz) n. Gangly people sitting in front of you at the movies who, no matter what direction you lean, follow suit.
ELBONICS (el bon’ iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest at a movie theater.
ELECELLERATION (el a cel er ay’ shun) n. The mistaken notion that the more you press an elevator button the faster it will arrive.
FRUST (frust) n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.
LACTOMANGULATION (lak’ to man gyu lay’ shun) n. Manhandling the “open here” spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the “illegal side “.
PEPPIER (pehp ee ay’) n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper.
PHONESIA (fo nee’ zhuh) n. The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.
PUPKUS (pup’ kus) n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.
TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay’ shun) n. The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you’re only six inches away.
Sometimes you might think you’re being understood when the exact opposite is true. In business, the art and science of clear communication is the key to success in sales and marketing.
Writing good copy is easier said than done, which is why we developed a system to teach you the most important elements of writing copy that sells – we call it Killer Kopywriting.
Even if you don’t end up writing all your sales copy, at least you’ll avoid the most damaging blunders that can cost you thousands of dollars in lost sales and new leads…
Being exponential, I am always fascinated by how people abuse jargon and terminology to confuse and muddle their messages.
Jargon consists of technical terminology that makes perfect sense to your colleagues and co-workers but is annoying, useless and even confusing to outsiders like your clients, prospects and suspects.
The #1 culprits are politicians who babble forever never saying anything and technical “consultants” who use big words to sound self-important.
Many doctors, engineers, bankers and retailers have great ideas but struggle to make them ‘sell’ simply because their language is saturated with buzz words and jargon.
If you want to close more sales and attract more business then stick to plain English that a typical customer with an average IQ and without a dictionary can easily understand.
What’s interesting is the research involved Dr Daniel Oppenheimer, from New Jersey’s Princeton University, who found that students rated the intelligence of authors who used simple language and easy-to-read fonts as higher than those who over-egged the prose.
Here is a list of useful tips to help you communicate more effectively…
Get clear on your outcome.What do you want the other person to do as a result of your email, letter or discussion? Clarity means making it easy for them to do what you want them to.
Communicate your thoughts in simple, digestive ways. Put your thoughts forward using simple and clear language, ideally in short sentences while avoiding the use of buzzwords and clichés.
Focus on your listener.Focus on what the listener needs to hear to buy your idea or get on your side.
Like seriously, The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion like has released its annual list of like the most annoying words of 2011 after conducting a public survey. Whatever.
Killer Kopywriting is one of the most potent business skills an entrepreneur or business executive can learn to grow a business. There is no substitute for literary precision and artistry when it comes to selling products and services.
That being said, sometimes contrast is needed to fully grasp the power of words to communicate a message, as these explains illustrate so clearly.
In an office:
TOILET OUT OF ORDER…… PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW
In a Laundromat:
AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT
In a London department store:
BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS
In an office:
WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN
There is no doubt about it, New Year’s Resolutions are a powerful tool to achieve goals, yet only a few follow up and follow through on their resolutions..*
Why is that?
One simple reason is that most people forget that decisions are made every minute of every day and they add up at the end of the week/month/year. Non-decisions are the same – the decision NOT made to put your runners on to go for a run. The decision NOT to turn down the (extra) piece of pie. The decision NOT to get up early.
“It is in the moments of INdecision
that dreams are destroyed.” – Dr Marc Dussault
If you made a list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 – take them out right now and re-commit yourself to following through.
If you’re not motivated – the problem is you have impotent goals and dreams.
You need something that will MOTIVATE, INSPIRE and MOVE YOU TO ACTION.
Pick something exciting, but within the realm of possibility – something you can really get enthused about – something that would CHANGE you and your life.
I know too many “peoplewho end up where they don’t want to be” simply through lack of planning and commitment.
No decision IS a decision – it’s the worst one of all – one made by someone else for all the wrong reasons.
There is no joy in living a life by default. To live a life by design, you need to know what YOU want and desire.
You decide.
By NOT deciding, all you’re doing is letting yourself down – no one cares that you don’t make a decision. That’s why it’s so easy.
One day leads to a week then to a month and before you know it, another year has passed.
If you get lulled into complacency, a whole decade can pass you buy.
New Year’s Resolutions… they are aspirational, yet often vague and almost always corrective. People promise to spend more time with family, get fit, lose weight, quit smoking, reduce debt, consume less alcohol… yet just end up cataloguing the failings of the past year. As with most customs, New Year’s Resolutions are observed in gesture only, not followed up nor followed through. It’s a reflexive act rather than one of resolution or commitment.
People have been making New Year’s Resolutions since the time of ancient Rome, when the Julian Calendar was adopted in 45 BC. January 1 was introduced as the first day of the year after the Roman God, Janus (pictured left). Janus was the God of beginnings and endings, represented with two faces looking toward the future as well as the past.
Romans, believing that the gods witnessed the failures and shortcomings of the past year made promises to rectify the situation in the next year ahead.
One of the reasons is that people tend to make the same ones over and over and over again without conviction or belief they can really change. Statistically, it takes up to 10 attempts to change which is well beyond most people’s attention span let alone level of discipline to make the change a reality.
Alarmingly, research shows that 25% of 1 out of every 4 people give up in the first WEEK.
Most people, quizzed today would not even be able to list all of their New Year’s Resolutions… and we’re not even at the end of January!
So why is the prognosis so poor? One reason is that success is limited, yet most people (wrongly) believe it is achievable (when statistically it’s not – only 1 person can win a Gold Medal amongst hundreds of competitors).
Take quitting smoking as an example: It takes 6 to 12 attempts to stop smoking. One survey in 2008 reported that only 11%, 1 out of 9, people who set that as a New Year’s Resolution achieved their goal and stopped smoking.
There is hope – people who did achieve their New Year’s Resolutions did so, on average after 6 attempts.
To achieve your New Year’s Resolutions, you need a plan, simple as that. Ideally, you write a PLEDGE to yourself and you marshal help from others close to you who can help you.
For example, if you want to get fit, get a buddy to walk or run with you, play a sport… If you want to lose weight, have family members help by reducing fatty or high calorie foods in your meals.
Without a plan, nothing’s going to change.
The odds are stacked against you.
New Year’s Resolutions are one of the easiest ways to set the wheels of success in motion. They can be the catalyst to create your ultimate dream destiny…
“What if…”
What if… your childhood dreams actually came true…
What if… you could wave a magic wand and get anything you want…
What if… you could rub Aladdin’s Lamp and get any 3 wishes granted…
What if…
Those are two very powerful words.
Here’s the thing.
Some people get what they want while others don’t.
It’s infuriating to know someone dumber than you is out-performing you in business or school.
It’s aggravating to have someone less physically capable beat you at your favorite sport.
It’s perplexing to see someone who started with less money than you build a ‘fortune’ that allows them to have the luxurious, stress-free lifestyle you’d like to have.
What if… you could learn how to accomplish all your goals?
What if… it took less than 5 minutes a week to implement?
What if… the strategies were proven and tested?
What if… they cost LESS than going to McDonald’s?
Just let yourself imagine those words.
Let your thoughts wander.
Listen to what you would say in the privacy of your own mind.
Feel what it would be like to have those things most important to you.
What if… You believed it was possible.
What if… You learned the strategies, techniques and tips you need.
What if… You applied them, one day at a time.
What if… You achieved one goal, then another, then another.
How different would your life be?
How much more could you do and contribute to others?
What if… you had a system to make them all come true?
* This is why New Year’s Resolutions are so important to me…
At first, I didn’t buy into the whole New Year’s Resolution ‘propaganda’. Like most people, I was skeptical, cynical and thought it was all rubbish.
Then I met someone who explained that New Year’s Resolutions only work if you believe they do.
That changed everything.
I promised myself I would only pick the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions I believed I could accomplish and really wanted.
My life changed – literally from that moment on.
As I explain in My Best Year Ever Program page – the results speak for themselves, but something you need to know is that it’s a process, a system for me. It’s not just a to do list.
Nothing with me is superficial.
The process I share with you in the My Best Year Ever Program is what I use every single year – religiously WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
I look forward to it BECAUSE I know I can craft my new destiny, my new life.
One of my recent resolutions I can share with you was writing the lyrics for and ‘producing’ my rap album- Curve-A-Ceous.
It was one of the highlights of the year for me. I never dreamt of being a rockstar, but I was always curious about the creative aspect of song writing, producing and performing.
I perform every time I get on stage for my events and workshops, but this was a much more artistically creative endeavour.
Something totally outside my comfort zone.
Something totally different.
It was exhilarating to do.
The reason I share this with you is because life is to be lived to its fullest extent.
Steve Jobs was the epitome of this philosophy.
But so many people – too many people – don’t know where to start.
As per my 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine, I believe in small steps on the path to your ultimate destiny, keeping in mind that…
The journey IS the destination.
With New Year’s Resolutions it’s easy and with my program priced at $20.12 it’s a bargain.
It’s my gift to you because it’s one of the most powerful techniques I’ve used and continue to use to craft the life I have – “continuing to live my dream and empowering others to discover and live theirs”.
What’s the alternative?
You don’t do anything – you let things ‘happen’.
There are two kinds of people:
People who make things happen
and those that things happen to
Simple as that – you are either one or the other.
Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s true.
You know it, I know it.
Now it’s time for you to do something about it.
Psst! I want to share something else with you…
This is the end of January and you’d be amazed at how many people think they missed the opportunity to do their New Year’s Resolutions…
That’s typical of people’s limiting beliefs and why my Best year Ever Program is a rolling 52-week program that starts on DAY ONE.
This is the first day of the rest of your life…
I know MOST people don’t see things “this way”…
They are oblivious to the realisations and life-changing epiphanies that are there to be had.
As a PREMIUM CONTENT subscriber, I know you’re not one of these… “MOST PEOPLE”.
The reason MOST PEOPLE are this way is due to IGNORANCE and LACK OF FAITH/BELIEF/CONVICTION.
First is ignorance – they don’t know. They are not subscribed to the PREMIUM CONTENT and no one’s having this heart-to-heart with them.
Second, they don’t have the belief in themselves. They’ve been beaten down and have essentially given up.
It’s the saddest thing I see in ‘my line of work’ – to see someone give up on themselves.
It’s heartbreaking.
Years ago, I would champion the power of the human spirit.
Now, I don’t bother.
I focus on people who believe and WANT more – more joy, happiness, wealth, success and abundance.
Welcome to my world of Exponential Mindset Thinking!
If you come across anyone who is deserving and needs a nudge in the right direction, you could make the investment in THEM and subscribe them to the My Best Year Ever – Imagine how their lives could be transformed.
Now you’ll feel what I feel when I know someone’s engaged and involved in creating their ultimate destiny!
Pay it forward and reap the benefits for a lifetime!
The reason this video is on my Business Coaching And Mentoring blog is because all of our Internet Marketing Strategies are geared for REAL businesses who want to sell more of their products and/or services.
The Internet and its multimedia capabilities enable you to do that at a fraction of the cost, with minimum effort.
This entire campaign took me about 1 hour and cost less than $100 in total.
That’s hard to beat with ‘traditional advertising’.
Determining the right business insurance for your startup business requires careful analysis and thoughtful reflection.
With the proper investment of time and effort, you can figure out the most essential insurance products for your particular situation. As a matter of principle, you should review your needs with an experienced insurance representative so you can tap into his/her expertise and experience.
First, as a business owner, you need to accept you need insurance. The question is what kind?
You have to consider all of the aspects of your business activities to make sure you get the proper and adequate coverage. One way to make sure you do that properly is to have a detailed business plan.
Writing every past, current, and future task down in a business plan is necessary so you can quickly and easily explain what your business does to a complete stranger – the insurance representative.
Your business plan can consist of one page or dozens of pages but the business’ activities have to be clearly laid out so the company’s risks are brought to the surface.
For example,
Businesses that own property will require property insurance protection.
Even if you rent or lease your premises, you may be liable for other people’s property and need appropriate insurance. This includes leasehold items as well as plant and equipment purchased or leased from third party suppliers.
Since you use computers you need to consider special computer insurance (theft, vandalism).
Auto liability insurance is made for people who rent, lease or own cars in the name of the business.
Of course there is also workers compensation insurance to protect the well-being of employees.
One of the least well understood types of insurance is business income insurance for business people who do not have the cash flow or personal wealth to keep a business in operation should there be an interruption in business activity. It’s a form of disability insurance for the owner or key person in the business.
Then there’s general liability insurance needed for people who develop and sell products. Products or services that could inflict physical or psychological damage on a person should be covered by liability insurance in the case of a lawsuit. It’s also called professional liability insurance wherein specific professions and trades have detailed provisions, guidelines and/or regulations stipulating the minimum coverage required by law.
If you’re getting a little overwhelmed by all this – don’t despair. That’s what an insurance professional does for a living – make sense of all the options and possibilities to make sure you have enough coverage for your level of activity and risk profile.
Running a successful business always involves insurance. As the dictum goes, “expect the best, but plan for the worst”.
Any responsible business executive or entrepreneur who needs assistance can contact businessinsurance.org for a collection of reliable business insurance quotes.
No one can predict the future which is why insurance is so important and necessary.
Even the most prepared company can suffer from any number of emergencies at a moment’s notice – insurance is designed to provide peace of mind and financial protection and compensation should anything adverse happen.
“A lie gets halfway around the world
before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. ”
Winston Churchill
IF YOU Google the phrase “Middle East rumours”, the first link that pops up is not, as you might expect, a website propagating conspiracy theories. It is Coca-Cola’s website. For several years now the company has struggled to rebut ridiculous rumours about its products.
For example, some people believe that if you read Coke’s Arabic logo backwards, it says: “No Muhammad, No Mecca”. Others insist that the company is owned by Jews, or that it bankrolls Israel. These rumours are one reason why Coke does worse than Pepsi in Arab countries. Yet they are all false, as Coke’s website explains in painstaking detail.
Such rebuttals are unwise, argue Derek Rucker and David Dubois, of the Kellogg School of Management, and Zakary Tormala, of Stanford business school, three psychologists.
By restating the rumours, Coke helps to propagate them.
Its web page is a magnet for search engines. And people who read rebuttals tend to forget the denial and remember only the rumour, says Mr Rucker.
The reason is because as information is passed around, important qualifiers are lost.
A rumour may start as “I’m not sure if this is true, but I heard that…” Then it evolves into: “I heard that…” Finally it becomes: “Did you know that…?” Even when no one intends to spread falsehoods, they spread.
In several experiments, Mr Rucker and Mr Dubois planted rumours among undergraduates. They found that with each repetition, scepticism diminished. The rumours themselves did not change; only the likelihood that the students would believe them.
Instead of denying false rumours, a company should put out a stream of positive messages about itself, reckon Mr Rucker and Mr Dubois. This deprives myths of oxygen and also nudges people to doubt nasty things they may hear about the company in question.
Other companies could learn from this. McDonald’s hamburgers have been said to contain worm meat, Procter and Gamble is reputed to have Satanic links and Facebook is rumoured to be shutting down so that its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, can have his life back. All these rumours are utterly false, but the firms in question would be well advised not to bother denying them.
This problem is exacerbated with the Internet and it’s indexing methodology – giving weight to the number of referenced pages, not their quality, thus making a bad situation worse.
Clients see you in one of two ways, either as a COST or as a BENEFIT.
Examples of companies that are perceived as a ‘cost’
Lawyers
Dentists
Plumbers
Gym
Search consultants/headhunters
Examples of companies that are perceived as a ‘benefit’
Restaurants that you want to eat at (non fast food)
Jeweller
Concerts and events
Zoo and other attractions
Pubs, bars and other entertainment
Here’s the thing – UNLESS you transform yourself from a cost to a benefit, you’ll remain stuck in the vortex of price matching and discounting – BECAUSE the prospects SEE you as a cost and not as a benefit.
I was just talking with a print publisher explaining to her that I am a firm believer in the immense value of print media – EVEN if we are in a digital age, we are still not about to forego print anytime soon. Print just has to COMPLEMENT digital capabilities. Both print and digital can and SHOULD co-exist at least for another 5 years (if not a lot longer).
If we look at email versus direct mail, you’d think the physical mailing would be on its way out, but there has been a resurgence of direct mail BECAUSE of the overload of electronic media. Most people sign up for every email subscription and don’t manage their inbox very well.
Recent research estimates the number of emails sent per day to be around 294 billion which means more than 2.8 million emails are sent every second and some 90 trillion emails are sent per year. Even though most are spam and viruses, emails are sent by around 2.5 billion genuine email users.
That’s why the physical mailing has not only become an attractive alternative to email and online marketing, but a source of pre-screened and highly qualified visitors.
The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA, USA) report that consumers are most motivated to begin an online search after viewing advertisements in magazines followed by ads on television and then newspapers.
Offline Consumers Come Online Via Magazines
What print media publishers need to recognise and appreciate
is the tactile aspect of their product
Nothing beats having a newspaper, magazine or book in hand. I totally understand the sexiness of an iPad, but it’s NOT the same experience. It’s a DIFFERENT ONE.
That’s the point I’m trying to make.
Print is print is print.
When publishers forget that, the game is over.
So what is a print publisher to do?
Embrace digital technology to complement, supplement and enhance the print medium with additional features and benefits.
Link the print medium to online alternatives with polls, surveys, feedback, audio and video components. A print article can easily be an introduction to a full in-depth interview or book chapter available online as an opt-in download.
Print-exclusive promotions such as tear-out coupons (identified as such) can bolster subscriptions and/or increase distribution.
Physical distribution costs can be shared with partners who have a vested interest in the publication’s increased reach.
Want to know more ideas and suggestions, contact us – it’s what we do for our clients!
An analysis by the Magazine Media Fact Book reveals American magazine reading habits include 93% of adults reading magazines for an average of 42 minutes per issue.
If you think it’s only the senior demographic that is holding on to physical print media, you’re dead wrong!
So there you have it, if you want to get more sales in 2012, you need to go back to traditional offline marketing and leverage it with online ‘web enabled’ benefits.
Nepotism is defined by Wikipedia as favoritism granted to relatives or friends regardless of merit.
So what do you think?
Let me preface my answers by stating that I’ve worked in Family Businesses (not my family’s) AND Family Business dynamics was one of my Ph.D. research themes – so I have a lot of opinions on the subject, just not the ones you might think!
Let’s start the dialogue and I’ll voice my opinions in response to your points of view!
Have you ever wondered why success gets harder as you become more successful?
It’s because of your opportunity costs that keep rising as you get more and more successful mixed with a short term focus on “making deals” and taking care of emergencies instead of working “on” the business…
It’s quite a dilemma that paralyses many entrepreneurs. They know they could do better, but remain stuck in the Vortex Of Mediocrity™.
So how do you break out of this stranglehold?
Simple – MAKE time to get away from the business. It can be a long weekend or ideally a whole week. PLAN for it so you’re not stressed and you don’t cheat.
Remove yourself COMPLETELY from the day-to-day pressures and DISCONNECT completely.
Then ask yourself the following questions:
If I was to start over again, what would I do differently? What would I change?
If I was a competitor, how would I exploit me/us?
What are we really good at?
What could we be really good at (or better at)?
If I knew I could not fail, what would I try?
What is the #1 complaint of the industry/marketplace that I can solve?\
What am I not doing that I should be doing?
You can’t have the thoughts to start to answer these questions while you’re knee deep in the intellectual quicksand of day-to-day operations.
You need distance.
You need your personal journal (you might even give MindMapping a go!)
You need to do this otherwise you’ll stagnate.
I do this exercise every year at Christmas time which conveniently coincides with my New Year’s Resolutions.
If you have a business trip planned, consider extending it by a day or two and take those unfamiliar surroundings to start the process. Once your business is done – check out of THAT hotel and check into another one t0 completely shift your mindset. I mean it. Pick a hotel near the beach, mountains or go upscale or totally rough and tough.
Make sure there is CONTRAST so that your brain registers the new impulses.
It’s necessary to jolt your system into a new realm, to get a new perspective.
Even though I don’t own a dog, I love em! I especially enjoy visiting Paddington Pups as you can see below. I mean c’mon – life doesn’t get any better than spending it with happy, playful puppiess and dogs who love you unconditionally.
Locals are invited to bring their puppies pooches for a $10 hydrobath tomorrow from 10 AM to 1 PM in Milton / Paddington (Brisbane) Queensland. All the money raised will be donated to the Millan Foundation and passed on to the RSPCA shelter at Wacol.
It gets better.
Anyone who has their dog washed will go into a draw
to win two tickets (valued at $290) to see
Cesar Millan Live at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Thursday November 17 – courtesy of Paddington Pups!
The reason I’m blogging about this is because Paddington Pups is not just a doggy day care. It’s owner, Bree Robbins cares about her clients – dogs (and their owners). She makes sure her team takes a proactive role in community based activities as part of their holistic approach to dog care and education.
If you want the genesis of this concept, watch Steve Job’s Commencement Address To Stanford University Graduates in 2005 shown below.
Listen to one of our Platinum Program Members
who explains this philosophy in his own words:
When we started, we were aiming to assist smaller businesses, those with less
than 20 employees. This is because 55% of all employment income in this
country is paid by those businesses. The multinationals only provide 2%.
So wanting to help Australia be a more prosperous and competitive economy
meant helping those smaller businesses to really become successful,
particularly in export markets.
So we started as a small, lower cost base business able to serve smaller
clients cost effectively. Since then I have grown less enamoured with this
position over time. There is a reason companies remain small. Sometimes it
is because that is what they want. Less. Less is easier and can involve
reduced risk, though not always. But often it is because they don’t have
the mindset, skill or vision to be anything else.
It is clear that for us to grow, I have to have the resources to do more work
and the income to pay for those resources. So our business model doesn’t
scale if we want to move up in size. Particularly with the type of clients we
have generally been working with.
This year I’m thinking about how to take what we are doing and push it past
the $1,000,000 mark. So what I’ve started doing is pricing our quotes as if
we already were that size. Sometimes this means the price is double what it
might have previously been. But I’m also looking at the delivery side and
making sure it also looks like it should for the size of business I want to
be.
And it is working! We are changing. We are looking at moving to commercial
premises before the end of the financial year. A new class of clients are
being attracted to us (and us to them) because our value proposition makes
sense to them. Some of these clients are larger than our previous target
companies. Some are wanting to grow and know they need the right
partnerships to get there. There is a long way to go yet but the progress
is encouraging.
So my distinction is a simple one. Start acting like who and what you want
to be. Don’t wait for the growth and then respond. Change first. Be the
catalyst yourself. Make it happen first in you and then it will flow out to
the rest of the world.
Steve Jobs would be proud.
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As you know, I am a huge fan(atic) of Apple‘s products – haven been for more than 20 years. Of course with great products and market-leading valuations means Apple gets a lot of news coverage. This week it’s about it’s overseas tax planning strategies and cash pooling.
