Innovar Knowledge Solutions

Are you Preparing for Your Next Meeting? Here are 10 Tips to Consider

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 20:43:00 +0000

Meetings are rarely free of conflict. Whether it’s a brainstorming session or completing a major project, tempers can run high when groups are under stress. If you have your goals set towards business success and advancement, it is important to know that meetings are a prime opportunity for making a positive impression, networking and nailing the contract.

When you are invited to or organizing your next meeting, here are tips to get you prepared:

When going for a meeting, it is best to know the names of the people you will be meeting. Also, find out what their job entails and anticipate likely questions they may ask. Try to find out who will be responsible for making the final decision.
Be careful about personal remarks.
Don’t create mental barriers to communication. Mind your body language. Be mindful if you are in the habit of folding your arms across your chest. Sit up, Look alert and maintain eye contact.
Discuss but don’t bring up disputes.
If you are already seated, and an important person enters the room, stand up to shake hands. A woman should rise to her feet as readily as a man.
If you are holding the meeting, your choice of location should be appropriate and impressive. Choosing an appropraite meeting room will add class and value to the meeting.
If you are the one that called the meeting be sure to take the lead. Create an agenda and let people know ahead of the purpose of the meeting. Set your ground rules at the start of the meeting
Time management is key. Start early and finish at the appointed time. See if you can chat up each person in the room before time is up.
If the meeting was called by another party, be responsible enough to participate by listening and asking relevant questions.
Maintain a high-interest level. When people notice your energy, they will also catch the vibe and be willing to participate.

To make a meeting successful doesn't require you to change your entire character. Rather make yourself a critical piece in the meeting. Applying the tips listed above will make your meeting more productive and meaningful.

5 Secrets to Making A Successful Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 14:50:00 +0000

Here are five top secrets to making a successful presentation

1. Professionalism

This is evident throughout your presentation, and it is evident in your dressing and personal appearance. If you show up looking ruffled or the suit you are putting on is not properly ironed, then your listeners may be put off by your appearance. Professionalism is also displayed in your demeanor, the quality of your visuals and your delivery.

Your appearance must be neat and situational. This means that how you show up must be relevant for the audience. Your visual aids must contain no typographical errors. Get someone to help you proofread, or you can download Apps like Grammarly to help out. Grammarly is a great tool for correcting grammatical errors.

Establish your credibility during the presentation. Why should your audience listen to you? You can do this through talking about past experiences or a brief introduction about who you are. During your presentation if you are unsure about a question, be straight-forward and say you are not sure, don’t get defensive. Don’t give half-hearted answers. Instead, suggest that you clarify the information and get it across when you have confirmed the facts. If your appearance matches your performance, then your professionalism will shine through.

2. Be Enthusiastic

The secret of making a good presentation is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm means that you are passionate and excited about what you are presenting. Enthusiasm brings life to your presentation, and this excitement can easily transfer to your audience. Do not be afraid to use humor. Enthusiasm makes your audience have a great experience and keeps them engaged.

When you are making a presentation, your facial expression, your body language, your gestures and your choice of words reflect your level of enthusiasm. This skill comes easy when you are speaking or presenting on something that you enjoy. If you fail to prepare for your presentation, no matter how enthusiastic you are your presentation will not be successful. So prepare what you want to say and practice how to want to say it.

3. Be Organised

If you do not organize then, your presentation will not be as clear, as logical or as complete as it must be. Being organized means that you know what you want to say, when and how you want to say it. If you think through your presentation, it will help with getting a good structure and even assist you in overcoming nervousness.

What are your objectives? Write down all the key points you want to make and then divide them into three structures – Introduction, body, and conclusion. Your introduction is the opening – it should give an introduction of the main idea of the presentation. It should be compelling enough to catch the attention of your listener’s attention. Setting your ground rules at this point is important. Also decide at what time you will be making use of illustrations, energisers, icebreakers or videos.

4. Practice

To make a compelling presentation, you must practice what you want to say. Do not memorize. You can make use of notes but be careful not to fall into the trap of reading word for word. It is important also to practice with time. Keeping to time is important because it helps you stay in control of the presentation.

Practice in front of people who will give you constructive feedback. Anticipate possible questions. If you are going to be making live demonstrations it is important you practice to identify and eliminate potential problems that might come up.

5. Visual aids

You should use visual aids to maintain your listener’s interest. Visual aids also assist the listeners in understanding what you are presenting. Visual aids add impact to a presentation and keep your listeners engaged. Visual aids include Whiteboards, Flip chart, Projector, Video, PowerPoint or other presentation software and Handouts.

If you will be presenting in a place you are unfamiliar with, it is best you check the facilities in advance to ensure that all the needed equipment are available. When using, visual aids be sure to understand the purpose. Are you using it to clarify, summarize or build engagement?

Why Every Successful Entrepreneur Should Have A Coach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 09:30:00 +0000

Business Coaching is a professional relationship that is designed to help people produce new results in their business or organization. As an entrepreneur, we have plans and actions we desire for our business but sometimes getting around to do those things might be difficult.

A business coach can help you monitor your progress towards implementing your plans and keep you in check. They also contribute to modifying the plan to best suit your needs. Coaches are knowledge experts and can be valuable to small business owners. They can help you spot your weak points, identify your blind spots and give you unbiased counsel.

As an entrepreneur we tend to want to do it all by ourselves, we work hard and are determined to become self-made. Why then do you need a business coach?

Having a coach can help you change your business by recognizing values, and goals for your business. They can help with setting forth a plan of action for obtaining these goals. A coach can help you identify obstacles to success and help you overcome these business challenges. They hold you accountable to your business and push you to achieve success.

Having a coach can help you keep up with technology that can assist in building your business. A technology coach can help you with setting up relevant technology that can be used to move your business forward.

A good coach will help you identify areas of potentials within you that is untapped and help you explore those areas. It is easy to get caught up in the running of your business; a good coach can get you to take a step back and think of new strategies that will help both your business and employees.

A good coach can help you move beyond your fears and into achieving results.Coaching deals with mastering skills and figuring out how to apply instructions.

Having a coach is a great investment for yourself and your business.

How Entrepreneurs Can Encourage Creativity Among Team Members

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:18:00 +0000

Creativity means doing things in a new or different way. Creativity means seeing things from a different perspective and reshaping assumptions. Creativity enhances the process of problem-solving. Creativity helps people improve how they approach their work. Creativity leads to happier and more devoted teams.

Inspiring creativity among your employees is a sure way to success. The best way to inspire your employees to think creatively is to let them know that anything is possible is they put the mind to it. Creativity means teaching your employees to think like there is no box.

For people to solve problems creatively, they have to value new ideas and know how to deal with innovations when they are suggested. To encourage the creativity of your team members:

You must be willing to absorb the risk of failure. You need to give your employees the freedom to experiment. Experimenting come with errors, so expect mistakes and be ready to learn from inevitable failure. If you are afraid of mistakes, you restrict the freedom of your employees to be creative and experiment.

You need to be able to welcome rough ideas. In trying to encourage creativity among your employees, you have to support the implementation of an idea you think is great even if it is not yet 100% complete. You must be willing to listen and encourage your team to press on even if what they are proposing seems half-baked, as long as their ideas hold promise do not criticize it. Early criticism can kill creativity.

To encourage creativity among your team, you must be willing to be flexible with your policies. You need to have a feel of when it is best to stretch the companies policies for the greater long term good. If you are too rigid with the standard operating procedures of your business, you will make progress and evade some mistakes, but it is certain that your business will not achieve those big breakthroughs that come with taking calculated risks.

You need to be a good listener. Listen actively to pull out good ideas and build on suggestions. Do not try to impose your solutions without first listening to the other side.

To encourage creativity, you must not dwell on past mistakes or hold mistakes against your team members. Always reminding your employees how their ideas cost your business to lose out on a deal will kill their creativity. Be more future oriented than past oriented. Be willing to begin with the relationship as it is today and work for a better tomorrow. Learn from experiences and past mistakes but don’t wallow in the past.

Trust your intuitions. When presented with ideas that seem right to you, be courageous enough to commit to implementing them on the spot without waiting for further opinions or advice. Try to be enthusiastic. Encourage and energize others to try out new ideas and behaviors. Use your resources to facilitate others in making improvements.

Top 5 Reasons Entrepreneurs Should Delegate.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:56:00 +0000

It is easy for entrepreneurs to become overwhelmed with the amount of work they have to complete. Being overwhelmed with tasks, happens because we sometimes feel like you are the best person to do the job, or you do not have the time to explain tasks and individual projects to your employees. The result of this attitude is that you have a lot of unfinished projects.

Also, employees who are interested in growing themselves and learning new skills become unsatisfied. Dissatisfied employees are less productive, and your business suffers in the long-run.

Delegation means that you assign responsibility to your employees. With delegation, employees can make their decisions. To delegate effectively, you have to empower your employees. To empower your employees means increasing their involvement through participation in decisions that affect their duties. Empowering your employees through delegation can enhance their productivity.

It is important you delegate as an entrepreneur because the fact is you can’t do it all alone. Here are five benefits you gain from delegating tasks to you employee:

1. Delegation gives you free time to focus on your strengths. It helps you manage your time effectively and efficiently. It allows you to focus on overall direction and co-ordination of your business. If you are not good with handling the financial accounts, then you can delegate those finance related tasks to your accountant. Doing this will give you time to work on the areas that your strengths lie. When you get people involved in the process, you are less likely to fail. If you are struggling with delegating tasks, start with tasks that are not risky then you gradually build from there to other important tasks.

2. Delegation helps in improving the decision-making process. Delegation pushes decisions down the ladder of your business; this means that the decision maker is close to the problem and has a better understanding of the problem. Assigning tasks to your employees means that the solution is likely to be of better quality. Also, your staff is close to the problem, and if you have empowered them to deal with a situation, they will be able to respond to queries and issues faster. Delegating tasks, therefore, improves the quality and speed of decisions, this is essential especially for customer facing business.

3. Delegation helps to improve your employees capabilities. It encourages them to expand their knowledge and capacity. It helps them increase their decision-making capability as they do not need to wait for solutions, they can make decisions based on their experience, and this prepares them for future opportunities. When you give your employees meaningful work, they feel important and a likely to put in a lot more effort. Be careful not just to dump duties that you do not enjoy doing on them. Giving them meaningful work make them feel needed and like they are truly a part of the company. With delegation they will not feel like they are being ignored or like you are taking advantage of them.

4. Delegation enhances your employee's commitment. Your employees are responsible for implementing decisions, and no matter how good a decision is if it is not properly implemented, it is bound to fail. As the head of your business, you are responsible for increasing the commitment of your team member. You can achieve this by delegation. Delegation influences the commitment of you employees as they are more likely to be enthusiastic about a decision that they are a part of or that they made. Delegation empowers your team, and a team that is empowered is more likely to deal with customers issues with enthusiasm and exceed your expectations.

5. Delegation build relationship. When you delegate responsibility, it shows that you have trust and confidence in the abilities of your employees. Delegation also helps in building their loyalty towards your business in the long-run.

To complete the process of delegation, you must create accountability; this means that you hold your employees responsible for their actions regardless of whether the outcome is positive or negative. Also to ensure that employees deliver you must clarify what need to be done, your expectations and when you want the tasks completed.

Don’t Try to Do It All! Delegate.

6 Effective Strategies for Setting Goals as an Entrepreneur

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 17:30:00 +0000

A goal describes a final destination point that you desire to achieve. The practice of setting goals is an on-going process.Goal setting provides you the opportunity to measure your success. Goal setting helps you measure the criteria for how you spend your time and energy or certain activities.

As an entrepreneur, if you want to have a purposeful business, it is important that you clarify what you desire to achieve, know why it is important for the business and define an appropriate action plan. To ensure that you set the right goals for yourself and the growth of your business, here are six strategies you can use to motivate you and your team to achieve set objectives:

1. Make it Personal: When setting goal make it personal. The chances are that you will be more motivated to achieve goals that you have set for yourself. Your goals should be yours and something you desire to achieve and are willing to commit time and energy. Your goals should be a direct result of your business missions, vision, values, and desires. As an entrepreneur when you have a clear understanding of what you desire for your business and the vision you have for your brand. It is easier to clearly communicate your vision with your team members when it is personal to you.

Whatever you want to achieve, you need to think about it clearly and then write it down. Where do you see yourself or business in the future and how do you plan to get there. What changes do you need to make in your personal life or your business? What do you need to learn? What changes have to take place? The more clarity you get, the more you will be able to bring your vision into focus and make things happen.

2. Let Your Goal be SMART: When setting goals for your business, popular studies say your goals should be SMART-Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Another explanation for this acronym is this – when setting goals, it should be Situational, Motivating, Relevant, and Trackable. Goals that are SMART are clear and believable. Goals that are SMART are within our control and have a set time for completion.

It is important to set goals with specified timelines as this helps you know when to celebrate your achievements. When you have a deadline to meet up, your sense of urgency goes up, and you can achieve success faster.

3. Visualize your Goals: To ensure that you achieve success, it is important that you visualize. What will it be like after you have reached your goals? What will it be like if you can win more clients, be awarded that contract or how will it affect you and your team members if you can make more money for your business? Your ability to visualize will keep you motivated.

Being able to visualize helps you focus and work hard towards achieving your goals. One way to do this is to have a vision board. This vision board will contain a list of things, or pictures of things that will come after you and your team have achieved a set goal. Personally, a vision board could be a picture of something you will like to have once you reach your goal – the car you want to buy, the house you desire to live in, the school you want your children to attend and so on.

4. Have a Support Group: A support group is important as it can help you maintain focus. Your support group could be people who can and who will motivate and support you towards achieving your goals. It could be your family, friends, coach, co-workers or anyone around you with resources that you need to achieve success.

A support group could also be a group of like-minded professionals, friends who are also business owners like yourself. This type of support group will give you a more personal and holistic view of how you can grow your business. This kind of group gives you a personal sense of belonging, as they are people who understand your challenges.

5. Reward Yourself: When setting goals – set them in stages. You should set operational goals that are small and easy to achieve. When you achieve progress towards your goals, reward yourself. What you decide to reward yourself with is entirely up to you. You can choose to buy yourself a gift or take yourself out to dinner.

Rewarding yourself for each stage of achieving your goals helps you stay motivated and in the long-run keeps you committed.

6. Evaluate and Adjust: The reality of goal setting is that situations may arise which may be beyond your control. This situation may be unforeseen circumstances. As entrepreneurs, you will need to continuously react to setbacks and changing trends in a proactive manner. Make adjustments to your goals where necessary. When things do not work out as you have planned, find out why and make appropriate changes. Sometimes your desires may also change, how this affects your long-term plans also needs to be evaluated.

When we set realistic goals for our business, it leads to a long-term vision and this vision will motivate you as an entrepreneur to lead your business towards the chosen direction. Effective goal-setting makes your business a proactive entity instead of merely reacting to changing events and trends.

The Importance of Increasing Your Self-Awareness as an Entrepreneur

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 11:58:00 +0000

Self-awareness means that you understand what inspires you, your emotions and your personality. As entrepreneurs, it is important you understand yourself, As Socrates said: “Know thyself.” What do you enjoy doing? What do you dislike doing? What poses a challenge to you?.

To be a successful entrepreneur, you must be a good leader, and you cannot effectively lead other unless you can lead yourself. Self-awareness is the foundation for developing effective leadership skills. We all are not perfect. When you understand your strengths and weakness as an individual, you gain insight into areas of your life that may need change or improvement.

As entrepreneurs, it is important to build your self-awareness because you have a business that depends on you. If you are self-aware, you have the capacity to observe your team members and you can help them align their strengths to the benefit of the business.

Here are four ways to increase your self-awareness as an entrepreneur:

1. Ask for Feedback: The best way to gain self-awareness is to ask for feedback. The feedback here should be honest and sincere. You can get honest feedback from people whom you trust. It could be your spouse, best friend, coach or anyone with whom you can be completely honest with and share wins and fails.

The benefit of getting honest feedback is that it helps you know how you come across to people. It helps you understand how others perceive you and the effect that you have on people that you do not know. For instance, if you are not used to smiling at people when you meet them, the may perceive you as unfriendly. When you understand these traits and accept them, then you can be truly empowered and use your strengths to take your business to new heights.

2. Take Time to Reflect: To reflect means that you review information, experiences, situations and actions that have happened. You do this to understand and learn from it. You can reflect privately or in a group. As an entrepreneur, it is easy to get caught up in the activities of running your business. It is important that you set aside time each day, either at the beginning of the day or end of the day – whichever time you consider less stressful, to reflect.

Another aspect of reflection is solitude. Solitude means you are out of human contact or being alone for a period. Silence is a vital element of solitude. Solitude gives you the opportunity contemplate on who you are, your goals, your business, and relationships. Solitude builds creativity as it gives you the chance to think through your ideas before putting them forward. Find time today to reflect!

3. Keep a Journal/Write a Blog: Keeping a journal also helps to increase your self-awareness. A journal could include aspects of your interpersonal experience. Your journal could be a collection of insightful quotations, reflections on personal events or notes from your meeting with a coach. A good journal gives you the opportunity to think on paper – it could serve as a source of ideas which could be used later in the future. You could also convert your journal to a blog.

A blog can also be used to get feedback about yourself and your opinions from other people. You could post your journal as an online blog today and see what people think.

4. Appraise your performance: Another way to learn about yourself is by appraising your goals and what you have been able to achieve in your personal life and your business. When you decide to make a major decision or action, write down your expectations. This gives you the opportunity of comparing the actual results you receive with your expectations. Do this activity as often as you can maybe every 3 to 4 months.

Doing this activity will reveal your strengths and your weakness. It will also reveal to you what you fail to do that is hold you back from success. It will reveal what is depriving you of the real benefits of your strengths. Self-performance appraisal will help you discover areas where you require additional knowledge to utilize your strengths.

Being self-aware helps you to develop an original personal brand. Because your business is a reflection of who you are, the success or failure of the business depends on you.

6 Things You Must Do Before You Can Sell Anything.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 17:29:00 +0000

1. Plan

Selling is a process where the exchange of money is the final step. If you have products or services to offer to customers, do not assume that they will automatically buy from you. As a small business what will be your strategy for getting new clients and when you get these customers what is you plan to retain these customers.

Create a sales plan that will give you details of your target market and segment them accordingly – Are your target customers male or female? What age group does your product serve? Are your target customers students or working class people? How do you intend to create awareness about your goods and services? How do you plan to leverage your existing clients? Answers to this question can help you in kick-starting your plan. Remember, your plan should be simple and straight to the point.

2. Sell Yourself

The people who succeed in business are the people who naturally market themselves to the right individuals in the right manner. The key here is to sell your passion and sell with passion. Customers can sense when you are passionate about what you are selling and are willing to buy from salespeople who have a passion for what they are selling. Understand yourself – what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses – leverage your strength and build on your weakness. Another key factor is to develop quality relationships with people so they want to do business with you or refer you to other people. Project confidence and product knowledge. One critical thing about selling is that you have to sell yourself first. People buy into you first before they buy your products.

3. Sell the producer

In selling, understanding your products is important. You can leverage the experience of your organisation to sell to customers – Use this to build trust. You can also use your past clients to create credibility with your client.

4. Sell the Product:

What makes your product or service different from your competitors? What is your unique selling point? What value are you offering your clients that others in the same industry are not offering? How easy is it for customers to transition from the current product they are using to your products? How does your goods or service meet the customer's key requirements like convenience, prestige, superior effectiveness, better value for money? The more customers can sense the perceived advantage of your products and services; the more your product will market itself.

5. Sell the Value, Sell the Price:

According to Brain Tracy, Customer will buy you products or service because they expect to enjoy a benefit that they will not have, in the absence or your products or service – People don’t buy products, they buy the results that the products will give them. Your focus as a sales person should be on explaining how your products and services will work for the customers. If you focus on value, the price becomes less relevant. Customers are willing to pay more to get better value. It is possible for clients to form a perception about your product or service as soon as they learn the price – Customers may buy your products based on value but the price you set should be commensurate with the value you are offering.

6. Be Professional

If you are a business owner or a salesperson, you are accountable for creating revenue for your business. Being professional in selling is about how you help your customers to improve and serve them. Being professional also means you assist them to realise opportunities that they are missing out. Being professional is about helping customers to identify and solve a problem. Being professional involves –listening, probing, exploring, engaging and understanding your customers and their business. Customers can sense when you focus only on what you can get from them and not what value you have to offer.

How Business Owners Can Use the S.A.V.E Model to Drive Sales

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 14:23:00 +0000

The traditional 4 P’s of marketing - Product, Place, Price and Promotion has been modified to the S.A.V.E model – Solution, Access, Value, and Education. How can small businesses use this new framework to reach more customers and make more money? By understanding and using this model, small businesses and entrepreneurs can design and define their unique selling point.

Sell a Solution:

As business owners, sometimes we tend to focus on the features and functions of our products or services. We tend to concern ourselves with the fact that our products use the latest technology or even the best form of advertising. The truth of the matter is that customers will rarely buy a product because of special features or technological advancement. The client is driven by two things need and solution. In designing our products or a service, one key question to keep in mind is – Why do customers need your product? What solution does this product help the customers to solve? It is easier to sell based on needs and solution as opposed to unique features or improved technology.

So let your products be driven by the needs of the customers and solving a problem the customer has. When you think about this, brands that have remained relevant over the years understand this approach. For example, Coca-Cola sells refreshment and feelings as a solution. The solution you sell might be as simple as convenience. So come up with one word that describes the solution you sell.

Sell Access:

Customers want to know that they can easily access your business or service. They are not necessarily concerned about the location of your business as long as you provide an easy access –access could be in the form of fast delivery, instant replies either through social media channels or via email. Customers want to feel the support of your business. They want to see how you interact and engage with your existing customers to understand if they would be ready to take the plunge.

The fact is, the location of your business is irrelevant these days; the focus now is how available is your business the moment the customer needs your product or service? As small business owners what you need to do is leverage social media platforms – You need to understand who your ideal customers are and what social media platforms you will find them. For instance, if your target is university and college students, the most popular platform to interact with them is Twitter, Snap Chat or Instagram.

Sell value:

Research has shown that customers are often willing to pay more for better products or services. Customers sometimes do not care about price. While pricing is a key determinant to whether they will buy or not, pricing comes after they understand the value of the product or service. Businesses should clearly communicate the benefits and value of your products or services to their customers. What value will customers get from using your products or service?

Educate instead of Promoting:

One of the fastest ways to build a client base is by providing educating information. As business owners, you have the opportunity to provide your existing and potential customers with up-to-date information that can help them improve their lives or business. Educating and sharing relevant information with your customers can help you build trust and loyalty even before the customer buys your product or service.

This approach gives the customer a sense of belonging or familiarity with your brand. When customers feel like a part of your business, they are more willing to refer you to friends and family even though they may not presently need your product or service. Some ways you can educate your customers is by sending them newsletters, eBooks, educative blog posts, interactive websites, etc. Although your aim is to sell, customers should not feel like you share this information only to make a sale.

As a business owner, using this S.A.V.E model will allow you to focus on selling solutions to your customers. It will also help in new product development as your products will be customer-driven to provide solutions, access, value, and education.

5 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 10:30:00 +0000

Most people desire to some day run their own business. The idea of being an entrepreneur is attractive as you get to determine your hours of work and how much you earn.

Being an entrepreneur is also very challenging and requires a lot of hard work and dedication. If you desire to become an entrepreneur you must be prepared for the journey ahead and be truly ready to work no matter the circumstance.

If you wish to someday become an entrepreneur, here are the top five characteristics of a successful entrepreneur:

Drive: Successful entrepreneurs have hardworking and have the drive. They hold themselves accountable for their success or failure. They are able to work independently and do not require anyone to manage them. Successful entrepreneurs are self-motivated. Successful entrepreneurs are determined from the beginning – even before they start.
Thinking Ability: Successful entrepreneurs are creative thinkers – they are willing to think outside the box and create new ways to solving a problem. They do believe that there are different way to explore a situation or solve are problem so they are constantly evolving new ways of doing things. Successful entrepreneurs are analytical and always come up with original ideas.
Human Relations: Successful entrepreneurs are excellent at managing people. They can deal with conflict effectively – in the office and among their workers. They also have excellent selling and negotiation skills. Successful entrepreneur are able to inspire and motivate their team members. Entrepreneurs are very confident are able to manage stress because they understand that with big challenges comes big reward.
Communication Skills: Entrepreneurs that are successful can communicate clearly with people. They also have the ability to articulate the vision, goals and expectations.
Technical Ability: Successful entrepreneur have technical know-how. They understand their products and services and how it is affected by changing systems. They understand the market and their target audience. Entrepreneurs also understand the long and short term implications of whatever decisions they take.

Can you identify yourself in any of the above characteristics? If you can't, what would you need to do to improve yourself? Think on this today.

3 Things you need to become an Empowered Entrepreneur

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 09:46:00 +0000

To be empowered means that you have confidence in your ability. To be empowered means that you know that you can access the resources required to be successful in business or life. Being empowered is the capacity to get things done. As an entrepreneur empowerment means that you have confidence in yourself, your vision and your abilities.

To be truly empowered as an entrepreneur there are three necessary requirements:

1. Competence and Demonstration

Competence is having the right amount of knowledge and skills that will enable take on different situations. Competence is the ability carry out a task efficiently and successfully. In other to be successful as an entrepreneur you must gain expertise in your chosen field of business. Increasing competence means that your employees, potential investors or even the public must see you as an expert in your chosen field.

Having an academic degree or gaining specialist experience in your chosen field can prove competence. If you lack the knowledge or experience, it will be difficult for you to lead your company to success or even be respected by people. If you desire to be a consultant, what academic degree, professional qualification or specialist experience makes you an authority in your chosen field? Why should people or businesses seek your help?

The reality here is that entrepreneurs will not instantly possess all the knowledge or skills that will be required to successful. They must be willing to learn as the go up the ladder of success through dedication and hard work. Greater competence will come from experience and continuous practice. Also, you will be required to continuously demonstrate to people how and why you have earned your position.

Use your story to motivate and inspire people to achieve success for themselves. They must see you as someone worthy to be followed. If you gain all the knowledge skills and experience, and you do not demonstrate this to people, they will not be willing to support you. Just because you have an academic degree or experience doesn’t guarantee that you will be a successful entrepreneur, you must demonstrate it. Put your knowledge, skills and experience to work!

2. Commitment

In other to achieve great results, you must be committed and not just interested in a field or line of business. Being committed means that you are willing to go through the process of hard work and thoroughness involved in success. Commitment means FOCUS – following one course of action until successful. Being interested or even having the passion will not guarantee you success.

If you are passionate about writing, and you must commit to the hard work and process involved in becoming successful. The process of becoming successful as a writer may include late nights, rejected articles, taking the pain to educate yourself and building new skills. If you do not go through the process, then you only have a passion for writing, but you do not want to commit to the course of becoming a successful writer! It takes commitment to be great at something.

As an entrepreneur, your employees must see that you are committed to your vision, goals and expectation. Commitment helps you build momentum. To build a great business, your team members must buy-in to your vision, and they must commit to achieving this vision. In the long run, commitment helps you achieve success for yourself, your team members and your business.

3. Character

To be empowered as an entrepreneur also means you have the right character and attitude that is typical of successful entrepreneurs. The successfully entrepreneur is typically someone who seeks and takes on responsibility. They have the drive to pursue their goals. They are persistent and show initiative. They are robust enough to go through periods of stress and heavy workload.

Successful entrepreneurs are motivated by their passion for the business. They are driven by the need to be successful. They are willing to take risks, and they are not afraid of failure. They maintain a positive attitude; they are ready to learn from their mistakes, and they are never afraid to try again.

The ability to keep a positive attitude is key to their creativity. According to Colin Powell “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier” this means belief in yourself, your vision and in achieving success. An entrepreneur that can maintain perpetual optimism will drive their followers to share their optimistic vision and ideas. Remember that leadership by example is contagious.

To empower yourself as a successful entrepreneur it is important that you gain competence and demonstrate it. You must be committed to achieving your vision and goals through hard work and focus. Ultimately, your success will be greater if you have a positive attitude, optimism and the drive to achieve success.

Set Your Priorities..The Rest is Just Sand

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 04:05:00 +0000

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, read this old story about the mayonnaise jar and the coffee...

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions--things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical check-ups. Take your wife/husband/kids out to dinner. Maybe even play another 18. There's always time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.

Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Please share this with someone you care about....Have a beautiful day.

Are You A Small Business Owner? What is Your Business Strategy?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 03:09:00 +0000

Strategy is about focus. You can’t do everything, so you do the right thing. You can’t please everyone so you select who to please based on common sense, your strength and your weakness and how you are different. You can’t sell everything, so you sell what you are really good at, what makes you appealing different and what sets you apart. You can’t do everything so you do what’s most important, what gives you the most benefit per unit of resources, what aligns you best with your target market and your focused business offerings…Tim Berry

A business strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim. Strategy means dreaming. Strategy is futuristic.

As a small business owner, what is your business strategy? What strategies are you putting in place now to grow your business for the future? According to the Bloomberg research, out of every ten companies, eight fail within the first 18 months. In other to ensure the success of your business here are five questions to make sure that you are executing the right strategy to ensure your business doesn’t just survive but thrives:

1. Where Am I Now?

To answer this question, you will need to do a SWOT analysis of your business to understand what you are doing well and areas you can improve. What are your short and long-term goals? A short-term goal for your business might be to ensure your products are in every retail store in a particular area, and a long-term goal might be planning to take your products to the international market. What is your area of expertise? Is your experience your strength, what makes you think customers will pick you over competitors? What technology or skills can you use to boost your business? What aspects of your business do you need to improve on or drop?

2. Where Am I Going?

What is the vision you have for your business? Why are you in business? A vision gives your business clarity of purpose. You vision for your business should motivate you and the people who work for you. It is important to have a vision because it enables you to link your actions to the goals you want to achieve. Think now and write down – 5 years from now what should you have achieved in your business – let this be specific to show what you will do and what you would not do – For example, I run a home business, baking cupcakes. I currently make about ten boxes of cupcakes a week and sell to friends and family – 5 years from now my cupcake business should move from a home business to owning my cupcake shop which gives me the capacity to serve more clients and make more money.

3. How Do I Get There?

In other to achieve your goals and make your vision a reality what skill will you require. It is best to work on improving your business every day – do one thing every day that takes you closer to your vision –learn a new skill, learn a new trick. What technology can you leverage to boost your business, what trends do you need to follow. It is easy to write down your vision, but you will need to apply an action to make it a reality – do you have your business plan written down, have you assigned responsibilities and have you set realistic timelines. In other to take my cupcake business to the next level, what do I need to do, I need to write new recipes, learn different decorating techniques and learn how to bake different types of cake.

4. What Resources Do I Need?

Your most valuable resource is your business. What other resources will you require – how can you access capital, what human resources will you need? And what kind of technology or equipment will you need? Is your business duly registered – what level of education do I need? An understanding of what resources you need will help you take your business from one level to another.

5. When I Get There, How Do I Sustain It?

Building a business that will be sustainable in the long-run takes deliberate efforts – you need to hire the right people, prospect the right client and continuously respond to change. Change here can be technology, market trends, economic changes and the evolving customer. Your business should remain aggressive in the marketplace. Recognize what is going on around you, what are your competitors doing, plan for the worst –Innovate or die! To build a sustainable business requires adaptability and foresight.

When you can answer these five questions clearly, then you are ready to take your business to the next level.

7 Ways To Use Small Talk to Build Relationships.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 09:59:00 +0000

Have you ever found yourself in a situation whereby you find yourself with a group of people you just met, and you don’t know what to say? Does the fear of sounding stupid or saying the wrong thing make you keep silent in a gathering? Does the fear of making the wrong impression keep you silent? If the above scenario describes you, then do not lose hope. In this article, you will understand the art of the small talk.

To be an expert at small talk, here are 7 Tips to get you started:

1. Use open questions: Open questions are questions that help you get information. They are a good conversation opener. Open questions are What, Why, Where, When, Who and How. Using these questions in conversations help you build gradually on the conversation. However be careful not to use them over so it doesn’t seem like you are over inquisitive or intruding on another person’s private space.

2. Be a multi-topic person: In other to start small talk, you need to keep abreast of what is happening around you and in the world at large. You can get a lot of information from reading the newspaper, blogs and the internet. You can get information from watching TV or listening to radio. Be interested in everything. Your knowledge about events and happening can help you to start and maintain conversations. Say for instance you find yourself in a conversation where you are not so informed; you can keep interest by saying something like “That’s interesting, tell me more” this allows you to listen and also learn from what others are saying.

3. Ask for Advice: Research has shown that people like to talk about themselves and the experiences they have had – this makes them feel good. You can leverage this understanding and ask for advice, use this as an opportunity to learn something. Asking for help is an excellent way to start and maintain a conversation. I used this skill on my very first day in the university – I was not sure on what the registration process was, and I needed advice on what to do. I walked up to a lady (we are still friends to this day), and I asked for advice, which she gladly obliged.

4. Listen more and talk less: As simple as this sound, this is one of the most difficult skills to master. To be great at small talk, you must learn to listen – listening involves paying attention to what the other person is saying – listen to understand as opposed to listening to respond – this shows the other person that you care about what they are saying. Listen for pointers towards what the other speaker is passionate about and build on their interests and passions to make interesting conversations.

5. Mind your body language: Your body language makes up about 60% of communication. What message are you passing across with your body? People can tell if you are interested in the conversation or if you are not. Body language signals include – eye contact, smiling, leaning forward, crossing your arms, arms at akimbo, and nodding. What signals are you giving – by not maintaining eye contact or having a frown might mean that you are uninterested in what the other party has to say

6. Drop your phone: One of the greatest conversation killers is your phone. We may sometimes see our phone as an escape route to making conversation – instead of interacting with people we tend to transfer our nervousness to our phones by constantly fiddling with it. Leave your phone in your handbag or pocket during conversations so it does not distract you during discussions. If you are expecting a call, you can let the other party know.

7. Give compliments: Another great way to start conversations with people is to give compliments. The compliments should be honest and true. That way the person will know that you are genuine not just because you need to start a conversation. Also, you can start conversations by finding common ground – in a matter of seconds; you may be able to tell what a person loves and build up the talk from that point.

Small talk is important because it can help you build business relationships, develop your networking skills, make friends, maintain relationships and get jobs. Small talk can lead to real conversations, and it helps you put people at ease. Remember that you are still judged if you do not say anything.

4 Business Lessons From Formula One - Blink and You Miss It!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 16:59:00 +0000

A pit stop is when a racing vehicle stops in the pits for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustment, driver change or even a drink. A pit crew is made up of about 20 mechanics – 4 tyre changer, eight tyre carriers, two stabilizers, a front wing man, front and rear jack men, fire extinguisher man and a starter man. The primary responsibility of the fire extinguisher man and the starter man is to STAND READY

The fastest pit stop time is 1.89 seconds. This time was set in the 2016 European Grand Prix by the William Team for Felipe Massa. So let’s think about this – if you were driving your car and you had to change just the tyres how long will that take you? The change in a pit stop happens at a speed of light – in the blink of an eye. The pit stop crew harness the power of team work to pull out the perfect change, at the perfect time.

As an entrepreneur what lessons can we take from the pit stop and the pit stop crew?

1. The speed of Change: The business environment is evolving and highly competitive. For a small business to survive you have to go with the speed of change – what changes can make to bring your business even closer to the customer? How can you use technology to boost your business? What channels are you leveraging to interact with the customers? If you fail to move with change, be sure that your business will be left behind. Take note that the needs of your clients are also changing with the trends – what new ways can you further enhance your products or service to meet the needs of the evolving customers?

2. The Power of Synchronization: The Pit Stop crew have to work in synchrony to pull the perfect change. To synchronize mean to operate at the same time or rate. The questions to ask here are - who do you have on your team? Do they buy into the vision you have for your business? Are you moving at the same rate with your team member? In other to run your business successfully, your business processes and team members must all be in synchrony – the pit stop crew has 20 mechanics – all with different roles, working in synchrony you achieve the time of 1.89 second – blink and you miss it. If one of your team members falters it might cost you the race – Who do you have on your team?

3. Every Second Counts: What is the decision-making process in your business? Are your team members empowered to take decisions? How willing are you to take risks? If the decision-making process is stiff, you may not be able to meet the needs of your customers, and you will lose them to your competitors who are willing to be flexible. Timing in important in the business environment – Open your business on time, deliver your products or services on time, be quick to respond to queries – timing can make the difference between how much you make now and how much you can make.

4. Stand Ready: The role of the fire extinguisher man and the starter man is to stand ready in the case of an eventuality. They are prepared for a fire or if the driver’s engine refuses to start. What is your contingency plan for the business? If your services are no longer required again due to political, economic or technology changes – these are factors you cannot control. What would be your backup plan? Are you standing ready? Is your business proactive or reactive?

In the Formula One race, deciding when to make a stop and how many stops you make is crucial to the success of the contest. The pressure is on the pit stop crew to get the driver back on track as quickly as possible. In your business, do you stop and evaluate your strategy? When do you stop and re-evaluate your business strategy? Answers to these question will determine the success of your business.

Kintsugi: Mending With Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 13:04:00 +0000

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold. This method of mending treats the breakage as a part of the history of the object rather than something to be hidden. In this art, there is no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally highlighted.

Kintsugi is a general concept of highlighting or emphasizing imperfection. Lets imagine you have a precious piece of China you love so much and it gets broken - if you had an option to fix it would you not embrace it with it's imperfect state.Sometimes as parents we have no choice but to love of children regardless of their behavior - we embrace them with their imperfections.

The challenges we face in life sometimes leaves us scared or broken. As an entrepreneur we often question our abilities to continue after we have failed several times - the challenges we face may have been something we couldn't control: for example having your business demolished after five years of hard work and sweat by the government. Are you having a rough start with setting up your business? Apply the philosophy of Kintsugi to your situation.

The challenge most aspiring entrepreneurs face is PERFECTION. They are waiting for the perfect time to start, perfect location, perfect investor and so on. One thing I have learnt over the years is that your ideas are not unique to you - what actually differentiates us is the will to move and the ability to risk it all. So I had this idea to set-up a food shop: I was quite excited because based on my study of the area I would have little or no competition. When the location was put up for rent, I wavered with whether to start or not - I was waiting for the perfect time to speak with the owner of the space, waiting for the right amount of money and a host of other excuses. Today, that very space has be rented out to someone doing exactly the same business I had intended to do! So while I was waiting for perfection, I was overtaken.

It is the challenges that you face in your business that tells your inspirational story of success. Be proud of them, celebrate and know that one day you will be more valuable for having them. What ever situation that has been broken can be fixed with gold to make it more precious.

“There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.” ~ Leonard Cohen

How Small Businesses Can Leverage Positive Customer Experience For Profit.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 13:57:00 +0000

Starting off as a small business does not mean you will always remain one. As you market your products and services there will be an increase in your customer base. An increase in the number of customers should also mean you increase in service delivery. How prepared is your business to handle increasing questions or even complaints? Remember that your customers will judge you based on their present experience - this means then, that one bad experience a customer has can snowball to giving your business a bad reputation. Research has shown that 91% of unhappy customers will not do business with a company where they had an unpleasant experience.

As a growing small business, creating positive customer experience should be your number one priority. A positive experience is what keeps customers loyal and happy and you smiling to the bank. As a small business you have the leverage to achieve this competitive advantage. Take advantage of these 5 tips, to ensure you maintain quality customer experience with your clients:

Be the customer: As a business owner, you should be a model for your perfect customer - if then you are the model customer, how will you want to be served, what kind of service delivery will you expect and what kind of service failure will make you unhappy. Think from the customers perspective and make changes accordingly.
Welcome feedback: We are always happy to receive positive feedback from our customers as it is an indication that we are getting things right. In the same light, you should also welcome negative feedback as it will open your eyes to the blind spots in your business. Create effective feedback channels through which customers can share their experiences be it positive and negative.
Be customer-led: Don't focus only on increasing sales and making money - let the services be customer-led. The products should address the customers needs. Your sales people should advise customers based on their identified needs as this will build trust between the customer and the business. Being customer-led means you have the interest of the customer at the heart of the business and if your products don't address their present needs you can advise them on alternative options.
Continuous innovation: According to Peter Drucker "Innovate or die" this applies to both big or small companies. Create new products or invent new ways of serving your customers. Are your products still relevant in this age or has technology created a better product? What impact will this new technology have on the business in the long run? As a small business owner, think forward and go with the trends of time because the speed of change is fast, so also our adaptability as business owners should be faster. Be flexible in your products and services and constantly innovate or risk extinction.
Go the extra-mile, spend an extra minute: It is the little things we do daily that makes us great - in business it is the extra steps we take to keep our customers happy, that makes them advocates. Sometimes going the extra-mile means going out of our primary duties. Going the extra mile shows the customers that your business not just after making sales but your business is after building lasting relationships. Don't be in a hurry to get the job done. Spend an extra minute or two with your client to ensure that they are fully satisfied. Customers want to feel special and when you give them special attention, it creates a positive experience for them and this will increase the word-of-mouth advertising which is the fastest and cheapest form of advertising. In the same light, when customers feel rushed they will leave your business with a negative perception and may never return.

STOP! READ THAT E-MAIL AGAIN.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 14:32:00 +0000

Have you ever received emails from friends or colleagues and you wondered if they clearly thought about the message before hitting the send button? Or have you sent an email out and then wished you had read it again before sending it out? We sometimes find ourselves in such situations, Emails are a major form of communication in this age and time. E-mails are 95% of business communication.

Email etiquette refers to the principles of behavior that one should use when writing or answering email messages. If you have ever found yourself in one of the situations described above, here are top 10 tips to help for better E-mail etiquette:

1. Limit e-mails to a single subject, and make sure the subject line reflects it.

2. Maintain the same level of formality that you would when writing a letter.

3. Be careful when using sarcasm and humor.

4. Only use capitals when using acronyms. Otherwise, using capitals is seen as shouting and is considered rude.

5. Keep it short; less than a page. Anything longer should be sent as an attachment.

6. Don’t write anything in an e-mail that you wouldn’t write in a letter or say in person. Always be professional and calm.

7. For important, sensitive, emotional, or longer e-mails, it is often a good idea to save the e-mail after writing it and come back to it a while later to proofread it.

8. Always ensure the e-mail is addressed correctly.

9. Unless you are absolutely sure it is OK, avoid sending large attachments. You should also make sure your attachments are virus-free and can be opened by common programs.

10. Like other business documents, remember to keep your writing clear, concise, and correct.

To improve your electronic rapport with customer and colleagues, apply these tips to sending out E-mails.

HOW PREPARED ARE YOU FOR SUCCESS?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 12:26:00 +0000

Success happens when opportunity meets preparation. This quote is simple, but very true. Often times we feel that our career life or business is not working out the way we expect. While the opportunities around us may seem small, it is often these small opportunities that we can build on to a great future.

We are going to reveal to you ten things you can do now and continue to do each day, to help you prepare for opportunities at the workplace and in business.

1. Dress smart: When you dress well and smartly, it positively influences the way you carry yourself and interact with people. People will always have a good impression of you, when you are always dressed well.

2. Walk smart: The way in which you walk is a direct reflection of what’s going on inside you. When you speed up your walk, you speed up your thinking style and confidence. The impression it creates is a person with purpose and drive.

3. Good posture/body language: Your body speaks volumes. 63% of communication is body language; Bad body language/posture can override the meaning of the words you say. Your posture is speaking just as loud to those who are observing you, irrespective of whatever words you utter. If you are happy, confident and prepared your body will show it.

4. Positive internal message: Your internal dialogue powerfully shapes your self-concept. Whether you believe you can or can’t, either way you are right. Tell yourself how great you are every day and watch how this positively impacts your work attitude.

5. Appreciation: Take time out every day to identify those things for which you should give gratitude. By doing this, you will realize that you have overlooked a lot of positive things that have happened to you. Count your successes, no matter how little it seems. This feeling will consistently give you the confidence to take on new challenges and the unknown.

6. Give compliments: Form the habit of acknowledging the positives in you and others. This puts you in a positive mindset that will make you well liked and appreciated, by those around you. When you look out for the best in other people, you are unconsciously bringing out the best in you.

7. Be visible always: Most people tend to gravitate towards the back row, intentionally keeping themselves out of the lime light. Keep yourself in the limelight and you raise your performance standard and confidence level.

8. Find your voice: Typically, people shy away from speaking at meetings because they are afraid of coming across negatively. This fear is unfounded and the more you confidently ensure you speak at least once in every meeting , you will become skilled at public speaking and will be confident in your thinking and expressions and thereby admired by your peers.

9. Know your stuff: Perhaps the most important element that will grow your self-confidence is your ability to be knowledgeable about all the things that concern your job and further, about other critical elements that impact the business. The quickest way of growing this attribute is by taking an interest in your role and the company at large. The impact of this habit is awesome as your self-confidence is boosted tremendously as you find yourself equipped to engage in diverse situations.

10. Stakes in the ground: Aggressively seek to achieve things as opposed to just being part of things. Be known for providing solutions, not identifying problems. Count the stakes you have put in the ground on your way to success.

One major question you must ask yourself is – “What stakes have I put in the ground” a truthful answer to this question would lead you into the light on your preparedness for career growth and business opportunities.

12 TIPS TO BECOME A SMARTER ENTREPRENEUR

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 11:44:00 +0000

Richard Branson sold Virgin America to Alaska Airlines in a $2 billion deal - less than 10 years after he launched the airline. Even after selling it, he will still keep getting income by licensing the Virgin brand to the company.

This is yet another billion dollar deal that Richard’s Virgin Group has achieved while he spends eight months of the year on his Necker Island.

What does it take to think more like Richard?

Tip 1 - Listen more than you talk. Nobody learned anything by hearing themselves speak.

Tip 2 - Three steps to success: Hire great talent, give them the tools to succeed, and get out of the way.

Tip 3 - Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to.

Tip 4 - It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside. The brave may not live forever – But the cautious do not live at all.

Tip 5 - Have courage. Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

Tip 6 - I never get the accountants in before I start up a business. It's done on gut feeling, especially if I can see that they are taking the mickey out of the consumer.

Tip 7 - You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes.

Tip 8 - There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions – in a way that serves the world and you. As soon as something stops being fun, I think it’s time to move on. Life is too short to be unhappy.

Tip 9 - Fun is at the core of the way I like to do business and it has been key to everything I've done from the outset. More than any other element, fun is the secret of Virgin's success.

Tip 10 - If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!

Tip 11 - I have always believed that the only way to cope with a cash crisis is not to contract but to try to expand out of it.

Tip 12 - For a successful entrepreneur it can mean extreme wealth. But with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. And the responsibility for me is to invest in creating new businesses, create jobs, employ people, and to put money aside to tackle issues where we can make a difference.

Which one or more of these could you start practicing today?

Take the time each year to connect with the role models who inspire you and, in the words of Richard, “Listen. It makes you sound smarter.”

Source: Entrepreneur Inspiration - Roger James Hamiliton

Building on Imperfection - "The Leaning Tower of Pisa"

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 14:08:00 +0000

I know a former boss, who preached the concept of perfection and how the little things we do right could make us perfect. This concept is true in its own essence but what happens to people or business who are not getting it right. I came across the history of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and this changed my perception - so instead of striving for perfection, I can build on my imperfections to become monumental. Read the story of the tower below and the learning points you can take from this story as an entrepreneur:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the 3rd oldest structure in Italy and it is over 1000 years old. The Tower of Pisa was designed as a bell tower but its main purpose was to visually attract people to the cathedral in the town of Pisa. In the second year of its construction, the tower began to tilt - this was because the ground was too soft on one side to support the structure's weight.

The construction of the tower was halted for almost a century because of war and this allowed time for the underlying soil to settle. Numerous efforts were made to restore the tower to a vertical orientation or at least keep it from falling but most of these efforts failed, some even worsened the tilt

John Burland, a professor of soil mechanics, came up with the system of removing soil from the north side in order to make the building settle back into the ground and thus reduce the tilt. This worked and the tower was reopened to tourism in 2001.Today, the restored Tower of Pisa leans at a 3.97 degree angle.

Learning Points

Successful businesses do not spring off overnight. It takes hard work, dedication and persistence to create a business that would impact generations.

What you perceive as a short-coming today can become a stepping stone for greatness tomorrow. Think differently, Act differently and Be unique.

If you are having difficulty in building your business, maybe things do not go as planned. Instead of starting over, build on you rocky start and create a monument. The Tower had a rocky start and instead of pulling down the building they started to think of ways to reinforce it - reinforcing your business could take a longtime but its sure to guarantee success once the right formula is discovered

In business, instead of thinking of what to add to your business - think of what you can take out of the business to give it a better balance.It could be your processes, systems or even customers. In other for the tower to be what it is today they had to remove from the foundation to make the building settle back into the ground.

Entrepreneur Inspiration: Will Smith’s Story

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 14:59:00 +0000

If you’re up against adversity or overcoming challenges, this story is for you. Will Smith's first career as a rapper led to him going broke in 1990 when the IRS came knocking. Will says, “They wanted $2.8 million and I had two dollars and eighty three cents.”

“There’s nothing more sobering than having six cars and a mansion one day and you can’t even buy gas… the next.” Overnight, his hip hop friends disappeared and he was left trying to figure out

what to do next. Early success and fast spending had led to big failure. It was producer Quincy Jones who became Will’s white knight. Quincy was planning a new comedy for NBC, and thought of his own experience bringing up his kids in Bel-Air. He remembered one call from his daughter who was

away at camp: “Dad, the water here sucks. Please FedEx Evian.”

So Quincy put his experience together with Will Smith’s “Fresh Prince” image, and created “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”. Will auditioned while struggling with no money, and took the job. The series became a hit, but Will had to keep paying 70% of his pay to the IRS for the next 3 years.

Given a fresh start, with just enough to money to survive, Will threw himself into acting: "I was trying so hard," he said. "I would memorize the entire script, then I'd be lipping everybody's lines while they were talking… My performances were horrible.”

Will persevered, and set himself the goal of being "the biggest movie star in the world”. He threw himself into studying other movie stars and what they did. Then he picked the right movies:

“The biggest movie stars make the biggest movies, so I looked at the top 10 movies of all time. At that point, they were all special-effects movies. So Independence Day, no-brainer. Men in Black, no-brainer. I, Robot, no-brainer.” His mix of failure, resilience, determination - and another 20 years of work ethic - finally led him to his goal: Will is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million

internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally.

He’s been ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes and set a Guiness World Record for attending three film premieres of films he featured in a 24 hour time period. The path to success is never a straight path, and it’s the seeds we sow in our failures that create our success.

So cut out the noise on the outside, listen to the voice on the inside, and keep your eye on the prize.

All it takes is will.

Source: Entrepreneur Inspiration by

Roger James Hamilton

Entrepreneur Lessons from Candy Crush Saga

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 10:57:00 +0000

If you are familiar with the game Candy Crush Saga, you will understand this post better. I used to wonder what the fuss was about this game and how my friends would stay up late playing this game, until I got sucked in.

Now since I started this blog, I started playing this game with a different perspective and here some things I learnt from playing this game. I have come to understand that in life there are lessons around us to learn and If we are listening to these lessons and applying it to our life daily we will definitely succeed:

Lesson 1: You must start at level 1

No matter how far you wish to take your business, you must take the first step. The biggest brands all took that very first step and they are successful today just because they had the courage to take the first step. Taking the first step to starting any business comes with uncertainty and different levels of constraints. My advice is do not second guess yourself or your vision. Take that business idea and run with it. What follows next is dependent on what level you want to take your business. You can decide to move to the next level or stay put on level 1 making the same amount of money!

Lesson 2: The next level is a different level

The higher you go the colder it becomes! The more you desire to expand your business, the tougher it becomes. The saying tough times never last but tough people do applies here. Do you want your business to remain a small business or are you thinking of taking it global. No matter the level of complexities you face in the business world, be as tough as the challenge you face.

Lesson 3: Chocolates as Distractions

Distractions will come in different forms. What will keep you afloat is your ability to focus on your vision and goals. Play the game strategically - understand the game, learn the tricks or you will remain stuck on the same level for a long time. Sometimes, you will be offered life lines in the form of color bombs that clears the path for you - Be patient when you use these lifelines on the other hand if you take too long to decide it will be covered up by a chocolate.

Lesson 3: Repetition is Key

When you fail, you are given a brand new opportunity to do it different - How often do you fail and how often do you learn from this failure? Practice they say makes perfect. Repetition gives you a chance to learn something new every time and do it a different every time. In Business, you are not guaranteed success on the first attempt. If you fail the first time, go back to the drawing board and learn from the mistakes - it could just be a minor detail that needs adjustment - what are your marketing strategies, how are you engaging your customer, how is your product package, what is your unique selling point. When I design a product or watch a movie or read a novel there is a tendency to miss some minute details because I can't wait to get to the end - I read it all over again and this time it is even clearer to me. If your end is to make profit in business then take your time to repeat the processes involved ultimately you will get to the end if you get it right over and over again.

Lesson 4: The Power of Engagement

So I am on level 200! Most times I wonder how I had the time to get to this level because I used to think that playing this game was a waste of my time. So how did Candy crush get me hooked? Engagement! What are you doing differently at each stage of the customer’s life-cycle to make sure that they are always hooked to your product or services? Are you springing surprises at each level or is your business offerings the same year in year out? Think of what you can do differently to your products or service to make it more appealing to your customers and take them to level 200 or higher!

Lesson 5: Never give-up

As simple as this sound - It is fundamental. You will only reach certain levels in business if you are resilient, if you are willing to repeat the process differently and if you are willing to engage with your customers consistently. Remember - How high you go depends on how often you are willing to try again.

Instagram and 3 not-so-simple steps to $1 billion

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 14:57:00 +0000

18 months & 3 simple, not-so-simple steps to $1 billion...

Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 billion. A week ago, when TIME asked Instagram founder, Kevin Systrom, if he would sell the company, hesaid “It’s not really on the top of our minds right now.”

Kevin is 27 years old and started Instagram 18 months ago with Mike Krieger, in October 2010. The company has grown with just 4 staff, and today has just 9 in the team. With the $1 billion deal that was announced today, was Kevin just plain lucky, or was there some simple steps that he (and others who have had the same luck) have in common?

Here’s three steps he followed. They may not guarantee you exactly the same success - but they will increase your own good fortune:

1. THINK BIG FROM DAY ONE - THEN LEARN FROM OTHERS:

It was while Kevin was studying at Stanford 7 years ago that he had the idea of a photo-sharing site, from his passion for photography. That was before iPhones, and before Facebook. Step one is to cultivate your idea by learning from others. He met Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and talked about his idea. Mark then offered him a job at Facebook, which had just launched (in hindsight, a cheaper option that the $1 billion he’s just paid to work with Kevin). Kevin turned him down but they stayed in touch. He went to intern at Odeo with Evan Williams, who sold Blogger and Jack Dorsey, who launched Twitter. This is where Kevin got to understand the power of social sharing. Kevin later said “Comparing Instagram to photography is like comparing Twitter to Microsoft Word”.

He then went on to work at Google. All in all, it was a full six years after having the idea of a photo sharing site that he worked with others leading the field: Getting paid for his own education before he launched his own start-up. As Kevin says, “I was given the opportunity to be in the middle of a ton of

innovation, and meet some of the smartest people doing the coolest stuff inthe world. When I finally did it [myself], it just felt so right.

"Who could you (and should you) be working with today to lay your own foundation?

2. KEEP 100% FOCUSED ON WHAT PROBLEM YOU’RE SOLVING - AND FAIL FIRST:

When Kevin launched Instagram in October 2010, he explained in his first blog what problems Instagram intended to solve. He listed the top three problems users were having:

“My mobile photos look lame.”

“It’s a pain to share to all my friends.”

“Photos take forever to upload.”

How would he know these were the problems? Just by talking to people? No, by getting it wrong the first time. In early 2010 he launched his first attempt “Burbn” as a location-based photo app, using Foursquare. It was a one-manband, but after a year of hard work it had failed to catch on. It was, however, a failure that allowed him to learn from his users what would work, and to

attract interest from like-minded people, including his future co-founder of Instagram, Mike Krieger.

By focusing on these three problems, Instagram launched in October 2010. Kevin relates the first moments of launch: “It was 12:15am, October 6th and we had been working on the app non-stop, day and night for 8 weeks. With a bit of hesitation, I clicked the button that launched “Instagram” live to the Apple app store. We figured we’d have at least 6 hours before anyone discovered the app so we could grab some shut-eye. No problem, we figured. Within a few minutes, they started pouring in... The night of sleep we were hoping for turned into a few meager hours before we rushed into the

office to add capacity to the service. Now, only a couple months later, we’re happy to announce that our community consists of more than a million registered users.”

What problem are you solving, and what are you learning by failing, that is setting you up for your own overnight success?

3. CUT OUT ALL THE NOISE:

Kevin explains the difference between Instagram and Burbn: “We actually got an entire version of Burbn done as an iPhone app, but it felt cluttered, and overrun with features. It was really difficult to decide to start from scratch, but we went out on a limb, and basically cut everything in the Burbn app except for its photo, comment, and like capabilities. What remained was Instagram.”

Kevin cut out all the noise. He then launched Instagram just on the Apple App Store (It just came to Android last week) and focused on sharing on Twitter and Facebook (Three platforms that didn’t even exist when he first had the idea). That’s it: Photo, comment, like. No other platforms. No other noise.

Simpler means sharper means easier to cut through the noise. Instagram went from one million users by Dec 2010 to 30 million users today. In 2011, Apple named Instagram the “App of the Year”. Why would Facebook buy inow for $1 billion? Because Mark already knows it will add more value than

that to Facebook when it has its upcoming $100 billion IPO.

If you are already thinking big, connecting smart and focused at the problems you are solving - How could you solve them in the fewest number of steps?

Source: Entrepreneur Inspiration

Rented Out Her Garage. Made $300 Million - The Story of Susan Wojcicki

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 13:00:00 +0000

What one small step you take today could lead to a multi-million dollar chain reaction?

That’s what happened to Susan Wojcicki when she was 30 years old: “I had just got out of business school and bought a house. So I needed to get some renters in order to help pay the mortgage...”

So she rented our her garage to two Stanford students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who used it to start up their new company, Google.

Susan remembers the first year, with many “late nights together in the garage eating pizza and M&Ms, where (Larry and Sergey) talked to me about how their technology could change the world."

They finally convinced her to join as Employee No.18 and their first marketing manager, when she was four months pregnant. First job? Relocate them all to a proper office.

Called the “Mom at Google”, Susan was the first in the team to have a baby, and her “family first” philosophy led to Google topping the ‘Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For’ list.

The “family” grew, literally, with Sergey Brin marrying Susan’s sister, Anne, and having two kids. Susan herself had five kids. All while growing the marketing side of Google. In charge of products, it was Susan who came up with the idea of Adsense, which grew to become 97% of Google’s revenue within the next 10 years. That earned Susan the nickname “The Money.”

She then focused at video, only to find a new start-up, Youtube, was growing much faster than Google video. While working out what to do to compete, Susan stumbled on a Youtube video of two boys in China lip-syncing to the Backstreet Boys. She recalls “That was the video that made me realize that 'Wow, people all over the world can create content, and they don’t need to be in a studio.”

Instead of trying to compete, Susan convinced Larry and Sergey to buy Youtube, and six months later Google bought Youtube for $1.65 billion.

In February 2014, Susan became the CEO of Youtube, and today she is worth $300 million. What began with a simple decision to rent out her garage has led Susan on a journey that has included being named No.1 on the Adweek 50 list in 2013, being called “The most important person in advertising” and “The most powerful woman on the Internet” by TIME in 2015. And for Susan, the journey is still just beginning. As she says, “Google is fascinating, and the book isn't finished. I'm creating, living, building, and writing those chapters.”

Now it’s your turn. If Susan can do it (while raising five kids) you can too.

Take a step forward today.

Any step.

Source:Entrepreneur Inspiration by Roger Hamilton