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

Business startup – female entrepreneurs rule!

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Your seat?

Your seat?

Entrepreneurs are imaginative business creators and builders who are also good at enlisting others to their cause.  To date, the majority has been male but more and more females are taking on new business startup ventures and succeeding.

In my experience, female entrepreneurs are not better or worse than males.  They are different.  It is the gender differences that translate into different approaches to the conduct of business.

For example, walk into a female’s office and the décor is a little softer and a little more welcoming.  The space is a more organised and there is often evidence of a balanced life outside work.

In my experience, females are good listeners – the best listeners.  They tend to listen first and talk later, after they understand what’s important to others.

Women can be very shy but once engaged in a conversation, they are much more social and vocal.  Women network really well, particularly with other women.  It seems to make no difference whether it is play group or a business breakfast; women are capable of networking with each other many times faster than males.

In general I have always found a higher level of empathy among females.  It seems to go hand in hand with their willingness to engage and listen.  For mine, they are much better at putting themselves in another’s shoes, taking a genuine interest and taking the time to understand.

Women really get it!  They know business is about socializing.  They know it’s about listening, really listening; starting conversations, interacting, bringing people together and collaborating with each other.

There is a lot of ‘businessey’ stuff that many women don’t know.  Many men don’t know it either but women are more likely to ask for advice.  I find that they also heed good advice much better than males.

Women are smart enough to realise that they need help in certain areas and not afraid to ask.  They are also less likely to allow ego to get in the way.

I have found women to be very diligent with planning as well.  It is part of their need to be organised and knowing what is happening day to day.

One of Anita Roddick’s most famous quotes was, “Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.”  It seems to me that women are a lot more practical in their approach and have a lot less ego driving their business decisions.

Women don’t always have the opportunity to spend 14 hours a day in the office because they have other priorities to balance in their lives.  In many cases, there are young children to consider, school hours to juggle, a home to manage and a partner to spend time with.

Opinion is divided on the value of a female’s ability to multi-task.  It is said that trying to do too many different things at once detracts from the singular focus needed to succeed.

However, I believe that females have an advantage with their ability to multi-task.  The reality of daily business is distraction.  It is rare that you get to do exactly what you want in the day with out distraction.

For me, women create a nicer style of business.  It is welcoming, collaborative, empathetic, and fair minded.  I find a lot more win-win activity and a lot less ego-drive win-lose competition.

There are a lot of guys out there who could learn some valuable business startup lessons from our entrepreneurial girls.

Until next time!

Gary

For 100 top business startup ideas and lots more tips and traps for newcomers, read my latest book at:

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

Australian Entrepreneur Dick Smith: Starting Dick Smith Electronics

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I was browsing You Tube when I found this short clip.  Dick Smith is an Australian entrepreneurial icon.  He gives 3 pieces of advice that I really like:

  • Ask advice
  • Copy the success of others
  • Surround yourself with capable people

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

Until next time!

Gary

Make money fun – 7 money kisses

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Money kisses - like a peck on the cheek from Mum

Well I’m not noted for writing articles that might be loosely described as … ummm … light reading – but here goes.

To make money fun, I have come up with 7 money kisses and I want you to send me more.

Money kisses?   Yes the name is a bit kitchy but reading them is like receiving a light peck on the cheek from your Mum.

So please put on your thinking caps.  I know there are over 30,000 of you reading my blog each month so leave your money kiss as a comment.

Leave your link and email address and receive the complete money kisses list when it is done.

No deep thinking or brain strain is required.  They are fun and they remind us what money is all about.

So here are my 7:

1. To say that money means nothing to you is simply an excuse for staying poor

2. Making money is much more self-satisfying than struggling in poverty

3. Stressing over money will not attract it; only positive thoughts and action will

4. Money is the finance for the life you dream of

5. Money allows choices but it is you who must choose the life you want

6. Money can trap you in the illusion of well-being

7. Money is a means, not an end.  He who dies with the most money is still dead

So there you go.  Money kisses sum up things to do with money so well.  The take-home is don’t fear it and don’t take it too seriously.  If you are stressing over it, ask for help.

BTW do you have any money kisses?  🙂   or maybe a money quote or a saying?

If you want to help make money fun or make fun of money, please send them to me.  Leave a comment.

If you make a contribution and leave your email address, I will email you the comprehensive money kisses list when it is completed.  The target is 400.  Have fun!

Until next time!

Gary

Gaining competitive advantage – kick-start your business mindset

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Rising above the Stanley Park treelineAll business owners are interested in gaining competitive advantage, but it is difficult to rise above the pack with a durable competitive advantage.

Do any of the statements below describe you or the way you feel about your business?

  • I feel as though I am in a rut and going nowhere fast
  • I feel frustrated and become competitive with everyone
  • I am focused inward; I rarely get out
  • I wait to see the cards I am dealt and then deal with it
  • I don’t try too hard in my business relationships
  • I make decisions according to how I feel at the time
  • I have a set system and I do what I have always done
  • I have everything I need to know in my head
  • I get by and survive; that is the best I can hope for
  • I blame others for my problems and bad luck

Maybe its time for a change!

As a business owner you have chosen a path where your destiny is firmly in your own hands.  You have the power to decide whether your journey is going to be exciting and rewarding, or just a frustrating dead-end.  It is only through your decisions and actions that your future will evolve.

You are the driver of your business and its most valuable asset – YOU!   Your attitudes and values will always reflect in your business.  You are responsible for the quality of its product and service output.  You shape its culture and reputation.

The rewards will not come to you if you sit back wishing and procrastinating.   You must embark on your unique journey of discovery.  No one can take your journey for you.

One way or another, you must experience it for your self.  Not only is it a journey of external discovery, it is a journey of self discovery as well.  If you try, you will discover that you can do things that you never thought possible.

Open your eyes and open your mind to the challenge ahead.   Re-ignite your passion and enthusiasm.  The benefits make the journey worthwhile.  Your family will welcome you home as a much happier person.  Your employees will thank you for it because you will make their dreary work lives more exciting.  Most importantly you will feel fulfilled and self satisfied.

Contact me at http://www.garyweigh.com to kick-start or re-ignite your business journey and gain competitive advantage.

If you want to see part of my competitive advantage as a business trainer visit my aikido secrets blog at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

If you are starting your own business or want to boost your existing business read my latest book Recession Riches and Wealth at:

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

Until next time!

Gary

Ways to make money – get the money mindset right

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As you are aware I am a business coach and financial planner.  In the course of any ordinary day at the office, I talk to people about ways to make money.  In doing so, I see a wide variety of attitudes towards money and some very poor money mindsets.

In my experience, the majority of people have an unbalanced view of money.  It doesn’t seem to matter whether people have money or don’t have money people have a tendency to focus on money as an end, not a means.  From there, many undesirable money behaviours can ensue!

Focusing on money as and end in itself rather than a means can create a preoccupation with the lack of money.  It can also create a preoccupation with hoarding, spending money and the accumulation of personal debt.

An attitude of concern among younger people is the attitude of ‘I want it too, and I want it now’.  It means that people are increasingly choosing debt over wealth creation because it is the path of least resistance and instant gratification.

Maintaining a narrow focus on the lack of money creates a perception that money itself is somehow the problem.  Money is never the problem.  Attitude towards money is the problem.  To put it simply, it’s your money mindset that is the problem.

Money is simply currency for trade.  It is the societal glue that makes buying and selling easier.  It means we walk around with a wallet or purse instead of a herd of cattle and goats to trade.

The amount of money you have or don’t have is entirely a function of what is going on inside your head.   The solution of abundance and wealth begins in your mind, as does the perception of lack.  Neither is luck nor is it the result of great mysterious forces at work.

If you think about money in terms of how much you don’t have, you are thinking negatively in terms of lack.  If you are thinking negatively about money, you are probably not putting yourself in the responsibility seat to find an abundance and wealth solution.  Wishing and procrastinating is as far as you get.

To be continued next time!

Gary

If you want to read more about ways to make money and the money mindset,

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