Business Planning 101 – lightbulb moment 2 – your mind is your most valuable business asset

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The Aiki-business Coach

In Business Planning 101 – lesson 2, you will learn that your mind is your best business asset.  It governs everything you do.  To help you I have combined the incredibly powerful principles of Aikido mind development with street smart business basics.  I share these with you online in my Aiki-business self development course.

Email me for more information at gary@garyweigh.com

Enjoy lesson 2 below

Gary

Business building tips Brisbane – Use brains not brawn

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As Michelangelo said, “A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.”

So if you are looking for quality business building tips, a great piece of advice this wise old business plan consultant can give you is to build your business with your brains, not your brawn.

Just because you slave away at your office for 14 hours a day does not necessarily mean that you are in any way building a business.  It could be that you are just filling in the day.

Activity does not necessarily equate to productivity.  Regular attendance and routinely performing your trade or profession are not necessarily your highest payoff activities.

Doing those things may cause you to excel as a self employed, labour only sub-contractor.   But that is not building a business.  It is buying yourself a job and effectively working with your hands.

You must understand the difference!  You build a business when you extend your enterprise beyond yourself.  Your aim should be to finally make it independent of you.  To build a business that you own yet it doesn’t need you …. Now that’s brains!

Even though other people are involved, building your business is still building an extension of your self.  You are its brains, so it inherently carries your strengths, your values, your preferences, and your flaws.

Consequently, you can set yourself up for success or failure before you even open the doors.  If you actively seek opportunity, value good advice and surround your self with clever people, then you are setting up for success.

On the other hand, if you are internally focused, cutting corners and trying to do everything yourself then you are in for a rough ride and could be setting yourself up for failure.

There is a certain type of business that will suit you better than others.  There is also a type of culture that you will prefer.  You will have a particular way of doing things.  Your stamp will be all over it, so you should consider planning its design carefully.

That is why a business plan consultant can only guide you and mentor you.  They may even help you out with some of the more technical stuff, but at the end of the day it is your business.  No one else can (or should) ever plan your business without you.

So instead of looking at business planning as a touchy feely exercise or as a chore to please the Bank manager, view it as your golden opportunity to ‘paint with your brains’.

For more business building tips Brisbane, read my article at:

http://garyweigh.com/starting-up-your-own-business-business-basics

Until next time!

Gary

Business plan strategy – control in small business

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Nothing says Downtown Vancouver street corner like Starbucks

One of the secrets to running a successful small business is to maintain control at all times.  In formulating your business plan strategy, there are different aspects of control to consider.

The first is operational control.  This refers to managing the processes used to produce, sell and deliver goods according to an operating plan.  The main tools used here are setting targets and using key indicators of performance.

The second is financial control.  This refers to the management of costs and expenses in relation to budgeted amounts.  The main tools used her are the budget which sets out the desired results and an accounting / recording system that accurately reflects the actual results.

The third is self control.  This is probably the most challenging of all.  This refers to an owner’s ability to steer the business in the right direction and to meet the challenges along the way with a calm mind and optimistic outlook. This is difficult for many new owners because (a) they are untrained in business and (b) running a small business can be a lonely undertaking.

The fourth is not allowing any of the control systems above to be compromised.  There are many ways to lose control, but here are 7 of the most common ways that business owners lose control.

  • Lack of planning
  • Not understanding the difference between profit, cash flow and debt
  • Abrogating all personal interest in control of a business
  • Paying no attention to risk management
  • Working in the business instead of working on the business
  • Inability to make clear reasoned decisions under pressure
  • Placing little or no value on own time.

So business is not really about battling for sales, winning or losing bids, or competing with the person down the street.  Opponents are an illusion.  The harder you try to win, the prone you become to losing.

Engaging in contests of any kind only serves to narrow your focus to the point where you make yourself believe that the person in front of you is the problem and overcoming that person will somehow enhance your business.

It won’t.  The solution you seek does not always appear by solving the problem you see.  It is usually found by widening your focus.

Although it will serve you well to be aware of other market participants and influences, competing with them or attempting to control them is not really something that you should burn your resources on.

There is no such thing as business failure when you are in control.   The only things that you are able to control are your processes, your finances, and yourself.

So when you are thinking about your business plan strategies, your focus should be on controlling what lies within your control.  For everything else, think carefully about the appropriate response.

For more business plan strategy tips, read my latest book at:

http://garyweigh.com/recession-riches-and-wealth

Until next time

Gary

Small business marketing – become a teen entrepreneur (part 2)

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Extraordinary photograph courtesy of Spiral Photography

Continuing on from my last post, here are two more innovative ideas for teen entrepreneurs to join the small business marketing process.

Techno problem solver

If everyone over 50 is like me, then they don’t have the first clue about programming the new TV, undoing the onscreen nightmare that’s created when a wrong button is pressed on the TV remote; setting up the DVD player; and what the hell does a router do; getting online with a brand new computer; creating a Facebook page; organizing the first Skype conversation; setting up Windows Outlook; and making the plethora of associated gremlins go away.

The list goes on and on!  I need my adult children around just so I can live my life without an electronic or online disaster.

Therefore if you can effortlessly take care of all this stuff then you are valuable to almost half of the Australian population.  People will pay you handsomely for your assistance and advice.

Personal concierge

Busy people who work long hours don’t have time to do anything for themselves.  The main reason is that they have no time during the week when other businesses are open.

Many are also reluctant to give up valuable weekends to do boring stuff like food shopping.  Here are just a few things that need to get done:

  • Pick up children from school or daycare
  • Make medical & dental appointments
  • Go shopping for clothes
  • Do grocery shopping
  • Make travel bookings
  • Get dry cleaning done
  • Find theatre & concert tickets
  • Find a good restaurant
  • Buy Christmas, birthday & anniversary gifts
  • Organise events and other people

People need things to get done but they don’t have time to do it themselves.  Many are willing to pay someone else to get things done so life can go on harmoniously.

The trick here is to be super-organised, good at multi-tasking, very creative, and to have great contacts around town.  There will always be the occasional difficult request which distinguishes the very good concierge from the ordinary.  Having a good personal concierge is like having a good hairdresser and a trustworthy mechanic.

If you want to read more about becoming a teen entrepreneur and tips about small business marketing go to http://garyweigh.com/recession-riches-and-wealth

Until next time

Gary

Small business marketing – become a teen entrepreneur

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3D animation by the young wizard Daniel Lloyd

Ever thought of becoming a part of small business marketing?

Exams are done, schoolies week is finished and many new school leavers suddenly have an abundance of time on their hands.  For those that have not settled in their career choice, it might be the right time to launch into a small entrepreneurial venture.

For stay-at-home teens, rent is cheap, overheads are low, Mum and Dad are at their most anxious to see their pride and joy on a productive path in life and time is plentiful.  That opportunity won’t come around again.

So while you have an in-built support network at home, think about a business opportunity for your self, or at least a part time income earner that takes the pressure off your parent’s budget.

Business should be fun, so think about your passions in life.  How can doing what you’re passionate about be called ‘work’?  Also think about how you like to spend your time (other than sleeping), what you are good at and what your strengths are.

So if you are among the 40% of young people who dream of their own business someday, here are a couple of ideas to spark your fertile imagination:

1. Social media network consultant

As teens, you have been brought up with Facebook, Twitter and other social media.  You know it inside out.  It’s second nature.  What you probably don’t know is that social media is big business in the outside world.  Teens are the gatekeepers although most don’t realise it.

The fact is that older people in business want to get into social media marketing.  These days it is integral to small business marketing.  Business owners know the high value of accessing social media but many don’t know where to start.

This means that any Facebook / Twitter savvy teen with some imagination can charge for his or her services as a social media network guru.  It’s all about getting paid to do what comes naturally.

For example, I have a personal Facebook presence but I want to set up a Facebook site for my business (Gary Weigh & Associates – coaching, start ups, internet marketing etc) and then I want to attract 5,000 friends to it.   If I was a teen I’d have it done by now.  But as a busy business person I just don’t have the time.

2. Online writer

An online writer is essential to the small business marketing process.  If you love the English language and you always enjoyed essays and story writing then online writing may be for you.

Everyone in the online world needs content in the form of text, images and video.  It might be for web sites, blog posts, commenting in online forums, writing keyword-rich text, or writing articles.

I write two blogs and have just paid an online writer (I have never met) a couple of hundred dollars to write a bunch of articles for me.  So there is definitely money to be made here.

So if you are feeling the slightest entrepreneurial twinge, give it some thought.  let me know at gary@garyweigh.com

Until next time

Gary

Small business entrepreneur – using a management consultant

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Dean Miscamble entrepreneurial owner of new look photography business - Spiral Photography

What is a management consultant?  This is an important concept that many people misunderstand.

The common perception is that of an up market well dressed sales person pretending to be an expert who takes your money for doing very little.  If you can’t get a real job become a management consultant right?

Yes there are a few of these pretenders around just like there are rogues in every industry.

True management consultants are problem solvers and lifestyle enhancers who put people in a far better position than they were before.  They are experts in their field and invaluable resources of information and experience.  They are relationship builders, not transaction processors.  They value long term clients, not one time customers.

Consultants listen and take the time to gather information and understand the particular circumstances and needs of the client.  They give specific advice and deliver solutions tailored to individual client need; they don’t push-sell clients into pre-packaged products.  In a nutshell, they help clients get what they want.

During the consulting process, the consultant will listen, advise, guide, add to the creativity, suggest solutions, propose alternatives, play devil’s advocate, challenge conventional thinking and be a sounding board, but it is all geared around helping clients get what they want.

Because there is regular and meaningful interaction during the process of reaching the desired solution, it is inevitable that part of the process is client education.  In many instances, clients are better off because instead of simply being sold a fish, they are taught to fish for themselves.

So what is it that consultants are really selling?  Themselves mostly!  It doesn’t matter whether a consultant works in business, real estate, law, internet marketing or road marking, it is all about mutual trust and client satisfaction.

Until next time!

Gary

Thinking of a business start up?  Check out how we help you get where you want to go at http://www.garyweigh.com/blog/business-startup

Business start up – mind first, business second

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Yep, that’s me! At a 70’s party two weeks ago

I have been a business coaching, consulting, training and mentoring for 25 years now.  For 24 of those years I would never have believed that I would be conducting mind calming and centering exercises with clients in the local Botanical Gardens.

One of the greatest gifts I have ever received is the gift of Aikido.  Yes it’s a Japanese martial art and its great self defence but that’s not important.  The important part is the accompanying mind development.

I have practiced Aikido for quite a few years now and the penny has finally dropped.  My mind switch from ‘fearful, over-competitive and stressed’ to ‘non-fearful, calm and non-aggressive’ has been an amazing transformation for me.

Losing my fear has been nothing short of a revelation.  I don’t mean that now I have a brash disrespect for obvious danger.  What I mean is that it is great to lose that brain-chatter level of worry and self doubt.  Those two critters and the raft of negative thoughts they create really do sink a lot of otherwise successful ventures.

What makes an entrepreneur successful is his or her mindset – nothing else.  The opportunism, motivation, persistence, optimism, creativity, leadership, hard work and the other defining attributes all come from the mind.

The reason people fail in business is because they don’t have the right mindset.  It is as simple as that.

Now I’m not a psychologist but I have come to realise that it is mindset first, business second.  The symptoms I commonly see are fear and self doubt which can manifest them selves as lack of focus, procrastination and inertia.

In many cases, it results in over-compensation with aggressive and over-competitive behaviour.  Most of those rude, blustering, aggressive, always-right business types are train wrecks on the inside.

So anyway, back to the Botanical Gardens story.  One day I decided to conduct an experiment on a client.  I arranged to meet her at the gates of the local botanical gardens and I was prepared with a set of exercises based on the relaxation exercises and centering techniques used in Aikido.

My goal was to calm her mind and guide her to a state of feeling grounded and centered.  The Botanical Gardens was the only place of peace and beauty I could think of.

It worked and I wrote down the exercises for her so that she could do them at home.  I have never heard of a business coach doing such a thing.  I reckon I might be the only one but if it helps people to break the mind-shackles and achieve their dreams then I am happy to share.

Until next time!

Gary

If you would like to know more about how to start your own business contact me at gary@garyweigh.com and visit http://www.garyweigh.com/blog/business-startup

If you would like to read more about Aikido mind development visit my Aikido Secrets site at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Business start up – all in a day’s work for an Aussie female entrepreneur!

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One of my very good friends is an amazing female entrepreneur.  Over coffee this morning she told me this amazing story.

Last Saturday, she met a new client for lunch in a local coffee shop bistro.  It was supposed to be a straight forward business start up meeting with this lady for an online internet marketing business.  It was a hot day and they sat inside the restaurant in the cool air conditioning.

My friend had her handbag sitting on her lap with her arm resting on top of it but did not have her arm through the strap.  They hadn’t been seated for very long when my friend’s handbag was taken from this position – and she didn’t feel a thing!

It took her client to point out several times that a young well dressed guy had just snatched her bag and was now out the door and running away down the street.   By the time my friend came to full realization of what had just happened the guy had a considerable head start.

She described him as being in his twenties, tall, of slim build and well dressed in casual clothes.  My friend is about 5’7” (170cm), almost twice his age, not so fit, with a heart condition and was wearing high heels.

She mowed this guy down inside two blocks (in high heels).  She recalled that after sprinting down one block she was running out of gas fast.  With a ‘now or never’ attitude she found overdrive and scorched down the second block running on pure adrenalin.

His mistake was to turn a corner and stop to see if she was still chasing.  She was, and as she rounded the corner, the guy took off again up a short hill.

She planted her hand into the middle of his back and grabbed a handful of shirt.  Some how without losing her own balance, she kicked him in the back of the knee and felled him to the pavement like a steer that had just been roped.  The momentum caused him to skid for a metre or so to a skin grazing halt.

Without allowing him to take his face out of the pavement she reclaimed her handbag and let him have it with a few well chosen expletives.  Unfortunately for the thief, that section of pavement was finished with exposed aggregate.

He wasn’t a pretty sight when he staggered to his feet bleeding profusely from gravel rashes on his face, hands and forearms.  He ran off and once again stopped (slow learner) at the next corner to look back to make sure he was free and clear.

He wasn’t!  Moments later a police car entered the street and followed in hot pursuit.  Fortunately, someone in the footpath crowd, which moments before had magically parted like the Red Sea, had called the cops.

My friend hasn’t had as much as a minute of tuition in any martial art, but due to her profession she does have a deep understanding of the Universal energy.  She said she connected with the thief and stayed connected.  The rest was pure heart and adrenalin (and her body’s distant memory of high school running).

Knowing I am an Aikido practitioner, my friend said she realises that it wasn’t the aikido thing to do to run after a thief or a mugger but, without conscious thought, as her primal fight or flight reaction kicked in, she decided that she wasn’t going to be a victim.

Who was I to argue?

Until next time!

Gary

Post Script: When she finally recovered from the shock, spoke to police and returned to her client at the restaurant, they decided the business start up could wait a couple of days and went to the pub!

Visit http://garyweigh.com/business-startup

Business start up – 7 entrepreneurial traits to start & 3 to succeed

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The Empress, Victoria B.C.

Entrepreneurs are often described as impulsive, energetic, genius risk takers and charismatic leaders.  No doubt there have been quite a few of these personalities in business start ups throughout history.  But does that really help define the underlying traits of entrepreneurship?  I don’t think so!

When we think of entrepreneurs, we automatically think of successful entrepreneurs.  We tend not to associate the word ‘entrepreneur’ with failure or unsuccessful business people.

It is easy to laud successful entrepreneurs as heroes and visionaries.  It is just as easy to label unsuccessful entrepreneurs as egotistical losers.  To do so however, is to misconstrue the concept of entrepreneurship.

It is in a similar way that we misconstrue the concept of ‘risk’.  We focus only on the downside of risk – the risk of loss.  No one except trained finance boffins ever talks about upside risk or the risk of winning.  Yet risk is a positive and negative concept.

It is the same with entrepreneurship.  Some entrepreneurs are successful and some are unsuccessful.  And some try and fail many times before finally succeeding.

So merely exhibiting entrepreneurial traits is no guarantee of business success.  It merely defines the type of person most likely to get off their ass and give it a go.

So with that in mind, I have listed what I believe to be the 7 entrepreneurial traits required merely to give a business start up a go – with no guarantee of success:

  1. Uncomfortable working for others
  2. Enthusiasm and motivation to make it work
  3. An ethic of hard work
  4. Sees opportunity, not problems
  5. Can enlist others in their cause
  6. Has intuitive good judgment
  7. Can attract necessary knowledge and skill

Now here are the final three entrepreneurial traits that, in my experience, distinguish the successful from the unsuccessful:

  1. Has sharp awareness of own strengths and special skills; an honest recognition of own weaknesses plus an appreciation of what is lacking; doesn’t presume to know everything or do everything
  1. Takes much of the risk out of risky ventures by carefully matching products and services to consumer demand, by thorough business planning, by excellent team building and by adherence to sound business practices, particularly financial management
  1. Is doggedly persistent and not deterred by setbacks and failure; recognises that success is a journey, not an overnight outcome; always finds a way; has the ability to maintain a calm positive mind in the face of adversity; recognises that mind is everything; becomes creative to survive

Until next time!

Gary

For 100 top business start up ideas and lots more tips and traps for entrepreneurs, read my latest book at:

http://garyweigh.com/recession-riches-and-wealth