You deserve to be first in line…

Do not allow others to pull you off task – when someone asks you to do something – ask yourself – will this take me towards my lifestyle goal or away from it?

Remove the distractions by being clear on your pathway.

Whatever you decide to do – if no-one is watching it matters more. I watch on at the impact of inaction and delay.

The action you take today compounds to tomorrow and the next day. The rolling of one action with the next and the next all come together to build the outcome you set out for.

Delivering outcomes for your business starts with the end in mind and then is a series of actions. Building blocks, activity, whatever you would like to call it.

Actions are the key. Clearly connected to the outcome you set out to reach. Broken down, little by little, the Business Essentials come together to build out your desired result.

It is simple and not easy. One action then the next then the next. That is how you do it – yes – especially when no-one is watching.

But only if it really matters to you……

Authenticity in business – The key to any lifetime of a business is for the owners to be genuine and authentic. For you to have people want to spend their commercial (and some personal) time with you and your business, these days people stay where the owner is an authentic individual.

How to be authentic with so many competing needs?

Being authentic is all about knowing who you are, why you do what you do and why you don’t do the things you should or could do.

Yesterday I was with a client and we were discussing a potential acquisition target. The acquisition target is a friend who is leaving the industry.

The opportunity to take on a range of new clients in this service based business is attractive and the potential scale it could create is significant.

During the conversation we wee having about this opportunity to acquire it became apparent to me that this smart and successful business person was looking to do a favour for a friend.

I get this completely however – I reminded my client that when looking to make any acquisition, takeover or  business purchase, the same due diligence is required.

My client had spent many years building a very clean, very well considered business inside a highly regulated industry.

By his own assessment – his friend probably had not applied the same rigour and therefore there needs to be a discount applied for this to the business that is being acquired.

In my experience there should be the “no friends in business” approach to any potential acquisition or takeover. The reason?

Because there are no friends in business.

Do the deal on the basis of your core values, in this instance, fairness of course was one. So I reminded him he could put a good deal together that suited both parties however it must serve the plan he has for this business.

The growth plan is clearly laid out by me and him – and for good reason – when these opportunities come up the question you always must ask is – “does this decision to takeover this business take me towards my lifestyle goal or away from it?”

When you take any action on any give day – where is it taking you?

Asking yourself this question often and genuinely will give you a real sense of the purpose you are working towards. Without a purpose, your business will find it difficult to grow into what you set out for it to be at the start.

I would encourage you to ask yourself this question each time you are about to take an action.

It is not an easy process to get into. To get into the mindset every day and every action to stop – think – and act in the direction of the dream you set for yourself when you started this business.

so why are you in business for yourself? Where will this thing take you?

Good morning

Who you allow to be part of your day each and every day can determine for the most part how successful your business life will become.

What actions you choose to undertake each day will determine how successful your business life will become.

So how do you choose who to surround yourself with and who can you trust. We have found in our experience that the people you surround yourself with require in the main four qualities.

1. Self awareness – As you are in business, your business must naturally grow or it will end at some point. So the people in your business world must be self- aware as you must be. This provides you perspective on what is important, it provides you people who are looking to continually improve; great company.
2. Truthfulness – You need people around you who are prepared to tell you the truth about your plans, the vision, your strengths, your weaknesses. They must care enough about you to tell you the truth.
3. Respect – If you are not respected by those in your circle, you have surrounded yourself with the wrong people. Respect is the single most important connection point between you and your circle of influence members.
4. Drive – Getting through every day, taking the hits as a business owner, riding the highs, the moderate times and the lows takes its toll on every single person who enters then arena of business ownership.  Drive in those closest to you will help you when you are falling behind and help drive them when you are flying.

Just a thought from me to you – one mans opinion

Different measures for different stages of your business – Business Essentials 50

I attended a multi-unit event on Thursday last week in Sydney. There were a lot of take outs and reminders and I thought I would share this one with you today.

Many business owners who we come into contact with in the first instance are unsure what to measure and when.

I was reminded of this last week and I wanted to remind you also that the key to developing a business is to have the business measures understood for each of the different stages of development of that business.

In practical terms let’s look at an example.

When you start your business your key measures are simply put; new contacts made, new quotes provided, new sales made, revenue in, costs out and profit left over. Pretty simple metrics for the start up in all of us.

When you get to the next stage – there are no more rules. The measures must connect to where you want to take the business. So for example, if you are someone who wants to be in the business fully, immersed and not ever be out of it, your measures will be different from someone who is looking to be the owner and not the operator.

In another example, the business owner who wants to employ staff against someone who needs to have contractors in the group will also have different measures that need to be applied.

So think of where you are in your business development and think about the way you are measuring. Are the measures right for the time of life the business has reached?

Of course as usual you can always catch me on my mobile on 0434690275 here in Australia or at my website www.businessessentials.com