Tag: Vision

10 Things You Could be Doing Today to Get More Clients

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What are you doing today to get clients? Every day of your business should include client-attraction activities. Here are my top 10 things you can add to your day. There are a lot more, so don’t stop here. Do what works and then add some more.

  1. making warm callsMake Calls

    Call the people that have said in the past they are interested in purchasing from you or working with you. Check in with them to see if they are ready to move forward.

  2. Create An Event

    Use the event to market to your opt-in list for the weeks leading up to the event. It can be a free teleseminar, training, product launch, or a trade show. Committing to doing the event will give you the incentive to get started. Committing with money will help you get it filled.

  3. Networking

    This is an important part of your business. You cannot run a business in seclusion and networking is a great way to build the ‘know, like, and trust factor’. You are building relationships with people that may be able to get you other marketing opportunities or can introduce you to your client. Add at least one networking event each week to your calendar.

  4. Mailing Campaign

    Using traditional mail can get you in the hands of the people that may not open your email. Try sending something out each month to let people know what you are up to, wish them well, or inform and make sure you add a call-to-action.

  5. Blog – Podcast – Vlog

    Regular communication with your audience helps keep you top-of-mind. Be consistent with your effort, more than once a month is necessary. This media is used to inform and engage, so make sure you are bringing lots of value to your topics and answering questions that your clients want to know about.

  6. Joint Venture

    Create a joint offer with a strategic partner. Identify 2 or 3 key strategic partners that will help you reach more people in your business. You can use each other’s lists to connect with more people and grow your own potential client list.

  7. Social Media

    Engage people online. It is possible to create a great connection with someone online, strong enough that they will send clients your way. As proof this is possible here are two people I have never met but could easily recommend for business: Shawne Duperon, and Teresa de Grosboi. Here are two people that others recommend regularly: Seth Godin and Darren Hardy.  That said, you should solidify this relationship and build on it by making an effort to connect offline as well.

  8. Host an Open House

    If you have a physical location create an open-house day where you invite your clients and the community to come see what you are doing. Make it free and fun. Remember to invite the local media (news and papers), political figures, and community leaders. If you know they are coming make sure you let people know who will be there in your marketing leading up to the day.

  9.  Speak

    Get out there and say something. Make your opinion valuable and be visible. There are many speaking venues in your community. Check your industry associations, the chamber or board of trade, local schools, groups or start your own group. Become the expert in your field people will turn to and think of; especially when they are ready to buy.

  10. Article Writing

    If you are able to write then use this media to become an expert online. Become that someone sought for their knowledge about your industry. There are plenty of places online where you can get your articles published (e.g. EzineArticles.com)

Remember to add some client-attraction activities to your day, every day. If you are not constantly filling your funnel you will not always have people to sell to and then you won’t have a viable business.

Only sales = staying open.

5 Qualities of Top Performers

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People who move up ‘the ladder’ quickly have a few things in common. You may notice this in people you admire; managers, team leaders, business owners, yourself. You may also notice this in people you don’t admire; people that have somehow got that promotion or landed the big project and yet they don’t have the qualities you would expect in a leader.

Well it doesn’t take a leader to ‘climb the ladder’ of success, but it does take a few other qualities. If you want to climb with them then work on these 5 qualities. If you want to exceed them then work on being an amazing leader (check out John C. Maxwell’s new book “The 5 Levels of Leadership” for help with that).

1. Stop Doing All the Work

If you are worth $75/hour then stop doing the work that you could pay someone else $20/hr to do. If it takes you 2 hours to do something you could pay an expert $75 to do in one hour then hire the expert. As Darren Hardy has said, “Stop trading your time for money and start trading your money for time.” If you want to do amazing things you will need your time to truly focus on what you want to achieve.

2. Have a Giant Goal

Make it something that stretches you and takes you out of your comfort zone. Treat it as if it is real and emanate. Visualize it, describe it and work out exactly what it means to you. Maybe you will purchase your first house as a single person at 24, take your the family for 2 weeks to Disney, pay off your $60k school debt in 2 years, or maybe you expect to become the head of the department or the CEO. You want something that feels real and will help you stay motivated.

3. Invest in Yourself First

No matter what you do, where you are, how old you are, or who you are with, if you are not healthy and constantly gaining knowledge then you are in trouble. In this conceptual age you will be required to know more and more. Get on the learning train and stay on. Learn about your business, industry, competition, wellness, technology, etc. I am not suggesting you need to be an expert at everything, in fact quality #1 takes care of hiring experts to do what you should not be doing. You need to understand what is changing, what is relevant, and what is going to affect you or your business.

4. Have a Destination

Always know what short term goals you are working towards. Set 2-3 goals that will add to your bottom line. Goals like; add 6 new clients in three months, increase online list by 1000 people in one campaign, hire a marketing specialist by the year end. Break down your goals into monthly and weekly goals and then define 2-3 daily actions to help you achieve those goals.

Example – For the goal of 6 new clients in 3 months – that is 1 new client every 2 weeks (approx.). You may need to attend 3 networking events to generate 10 prospects and then make 10 calls to get 1 new client. That means you need you will have to go to 3 networking events every two weeks and be making at least 5 calls a week to the prospects you had qualified at those events.

5. Tell Someone

You cannot do this in isolation. My best suggestion is to get an accountability partner, someone you can tell what is happening and that will give you honest insight and feedback. Think about the people you know have made it to the top. Many of them belong to elite clubs to be among their peers and find those people that can provide their level of support. You only need to find someone at the same level of success as you.

Make an agreement to connect daily (no longer than weekly) and spend 5-10 minutes discussing what you have accomplished, what you have to do, and what you will do next. Make sure you call them out if they are not meeting their goals. Your best accountability partner is one that will not only hold you accountable but is also willing to be accountable.

Climb the ladder with those that know how and keep on climbing by becoming the best leader you can.

 

Success or Fail: The Middle Ground – Don’t Sit HERE!

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We covered the Positive and the Negative aspects of your attitude towards your current working condition and your future options. For this post let’s talk about the middle-ground. This is where many of us ‘sit’ in business. We work like crazy for many years with limited growth and intermittent short term success.

Four Quadrant analytics - Middle Ground

The Negative Optimist

When you have an optimistic view of the future but a negative outlook on your current situation, you may end up becoming your own taskmaster. Working hard with the hope that something good will eventually happen is not enough, you have to create the perfect situations right now. Jump on opportunities right now. You cannot manifest future success without accepting the current opportunities. The problem lies in that the negative person will always find an excuse to say ‘no’.

So a great exercise for you is that you are not allowed to say no. That doesn’t mean you accept everything but what it does is helps you start thinking of other ways to refuse or accept a situation.

For example, if a client says to you, ‘I really think you should be offering X’ and you would have normally returned, ‘we looked at that and it didn’t make sense’ then this is how you will change your response. Start by asking a question, listen carefully to the answer, and then acknowledge your client for wanting to see your business grow.

  • ‘Why do you think that would be good for us?’
  • Listen to the answer
  • ‘Hmmm, interesting point of view. Thank you for suggesting that. I will think about how that might fit with our current offering.’

Be genuine because after you leave this client you need to actually think about how that might work. After you have visited the concept you might find it does not fit, or maybe not now, or you might bounce the idea off of your support team and get something else that would also appeal to your client. The act of just engaging in the review of the possibility will change your outcome and open new doors.

The Positive Pessimist

This person is often living a lie. With a pessimistic view of the future it is not likely that the positive outlook on the current situation is genuine. Likely it is a facade of positive energy meant to let people believe things are OK. It is very easy to end up in the fourth quadrant (The Negative Pessimist) from here, so it is important that this be a very short lived attitude and that you focus on finding the future you want to work towards.

You can still be very successful when this attitude is short lived. You need to re-evaluate your future goals so that you can take action and start making changes to get there. If you cannot see yourself in that future being successful then seek the help of someone else that can help you look past the worst things that are challenging your point of view.

Let me give you an example. The current economic situation of the world is often not promising. If you were to focus on the fact that some economists are forecasting little growth and higher unemployment rates, which equates to less business, then it will be hard for you to look into the future and see your own business growth. But if you look at the people that have successfully launched a business or been able to increase their sales during this time, like 99 Designs or Success Magazine, then you will start thinking, ‘well, how did they do that’ and ‘ how can I replicate those results’. Changing your point of view will give you something different to focus on and more possibilities will become available to you.

Work towards being The Positive Optimist. It is true that you cannot always be in this quadrant in all aspects of your life at all times, so recognize when you are not, make your changes, and strive for something better.

Here is the full 4-Quadrant Evaluation

4-Quadrant Evaluation - Strive for the Positive Optimist

Article 1 – Succeed or Fail: Which Quadrant are You in?

Article 2 – Succeed or Fail: The Double Negative is NOT Positive

Article 3 – Success or Fail: The Middle Ground – Don’t Sit HERE! (this article)

 

Succeed or Fail: Which Quadrant are You in?

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There are a lot of things that can add or take away from your success; much of which you have control over, like your skills, personality or leadership traits, experiences, and education. Over the next three e-zine articles I want to focus on The Four Quadrants of the Positive Optimist.

The ability to succeed in business and life, and maintain that success can be attributed to attitude about what is currently happening in your life and your outlook. You’re best and most successful attitude is to be positive about what is currently happening within your life and business and have an optimistic view of the future.

The Positive Optimist

This person tends to be surrounded by a lot of successful people that they can count on and will share their successes with. They see longer lasting success with larger rewards and overall will experience more happiness because their goals are met.

These people focus on the positive aspects of their current situation. Even when things are not going the way they want it is important that they spend time focusing on the things that are going right and their accomplishments. This allows them to take responsibility for the conditions of their current situation (good and bad) and be able to strategize on what can be done to change it if needed.

The optimist part of this person also has a positive outlook of the future. This makes it easier to put short term setbacks into perspective and keeps them from crashing an entire company.

The best way to stay the positive optimist is to have goals and a plan to implement changes to reach those goals. Spend time each day evaluating what has been accomplished, what challenges where encountered, what opportunities are available and what has to change to continue in the path, or to create a new path to success.

Stay tuned for the other 3 quadrants in my next few e-zines.

 

Are You Ready to Close Your Doors for the Holidays?

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Get set to stop working, at least for a couple of days. No matter what season you are celebrating the days around the Christmas statutory holidays are often slower, completely shut down, or can be incredibly busy, depending on your industry. We all know that business never really takes a break. So what are you going to do to ensure you are still marketing your business and helping your clients while you shut your doors for a couple of days?

In Canada there are two stat holidays, Dec 25 and Dec 26. This year because they fall on the Sunday and Monday the holidays will be the Monday and Tuesday following the weekend. Most businesses and government offices will be closed from Friday December 23 to Wednesday the 28th. Retail will be open on the 26th for Boxing Day Sales. If your company is closed for the four day weekend you will need to ensure you have everything in place so you can do what needs to be done or not do anything at all.

Here are three steps you can take to ensure you truly enjoy the holidays and don’t loose sleep over your business.

Get Organized!

Give yourself one or two days before the holidays without any booked events. This means that you should try to have large open times on the Thursday and Friday this year to prepare your ongoing marketing and to help clients last minute if needed. If you are completely booked on those days you will likely need to do work throughout your days off to ensure that your marketing is ongoing.

Get as much of your work complete and then book what is not complete into the days you are working the following week or after the New Year. When you book something it is like tying a knot in your shoes. You don’t have to worry about tripping over the laces as you walk through the holidays. You don’t have to worry about what is not done because you have made plans to complete it.

Who’s Available?

Decide what days you will be available for clients and what you are willing to do on those days. My local spa is open for pampering, but on a much reduced time and increased staff level. If you need something between Christmas and New Year you had better book it now. My dentist is only available for emergencies and my Optometrist on the other hand is not available at all.  I would have liked to have been able to book my kids checkups while school was out, but they are not open and that is OK; I booked for another time.

Send out the Message.

Prepare your messages and notices. In any correspondences leading up to the holidays you can let people know when you will be open for business. My friend Lara puts this into her email signature about 3 weeks before so that every email message is a reminder which days she will be available. For her clients, marketing during the holidays has to continue so they need to know if she will be available to help them, and when. On the other hand, my dentist sends out his Season’s Greetings cards and includes his hours.

Here are 5 places you can include your notice for your clients

  • Put a notice on your door or behind your counter in your store
  • Add it to your email signature
  • Update your voicemail to include a holiday wish and your dates and hours of closure
  • Put your seasonal hours in your holiday cards
  • Include the information in your newsletter

Remember, you have to be organized because if you want to enjoy your time away from your business, you will need to make sure your clients feel you cared enough to let them know when you would be available to help them during that time.

Relationships Are Like Soundwaves

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In the physics of soundwave interference there is something known as ‘Constructive and Destructive Interference’. This occurs when two (or more) waves interact with each other. The amplitude of both waves are changed by the other. Specifically, the amplitude (which refers to the height of the wave) can be increased or decreased by the positive or negative height of the other wave at the time they interact.

Wave Interference

Relationships are like this. Your positive energy can be increased or decreased by the positive or negative energy of the people you interact with. If you have ever had a friend that is typically negative, you know that it takes a lot of your energy to support your relationship.

For example:

I have a close friend (let’s call her Jane) that has just come to realize that one of her best friends fits this description. They are very close, but Jane has never been able to explain why she feels exhausted after spending time with her friend. During a conversation with Jane about the energy of our relationships, Jane had an epiphany; the things that she is passionate about and can spend hours speaking to, without effort, are not the things her best friend finds interesting.

In fact, her friend will not accept the ideas and will often nay-say the topic. The result is that Jane will only bring topics to their conversations that they can both speak to and share interest in. Unfortunately these topics are not Jane’s passion.  To hold a sustained focus on something that is not your driving passion requires more energy. So for Jane, her friend’s negative response to and lack of acceptance for her highly-positive passion requires Jane to actively engage in conversations that require more of her energy to focus on and thus is not as positive experience for her.

Relationships in Business

We have all heard that we are the combination of the success of the five people we spend the most amount of time with. That is that we can only achieve the level of success that is a result of the highest level of success of our closest support and peers. If we are more successful than all the people we spend most of our time with, we are then seen as a mentor to all and that requires energy and stops us from growing.

Ken Robinson, in his book ‘The Element‘, refers to this as our ‘tribe’. We choose our tribe for how they make us feel and how easy it is for us to communicate within the tribe. The people in the tribe understand us and make it easy for us to be understood. We are usually supported for the way we think and encouraged to reach goals that are seen as achievable.

This is why, when we want to change our level of wealth or health or other, it is important that we reach out to others that have done it or are going through the same thing. So, in business you want to reach out to the others in your support system that can increase your positive energy by easily understanding what you are doing and support your goals. Their positive support should match the energy of your passion so that you can reach the greatest level of success as possible.

If you have a negative friend, don’t dump them, just spend more time with the people that will really help you with your vision and make it easier for you to achieve it.

 

How to Escape the Funk: A Positive Attitude Will Make You More Successful

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Happy Birthday CakeMy birthday was this past week and I must admit that it was a tough week for me. I had been in a funk all week. This is way out of character for me and everyone that knows me well could immediately tell something was not right. This is not a landmark birthday for me, but I think I was expecting to be doing something more. All I could do was think about what I had not accomplished.

Thankfully, my guest expert for the Entrepreneur Club this month said something that really resonated with me and set me straight again. To help him stay in his success mindset Mark Rhodes starts his days by first giving gratitude for what he has and then he envisions successfully reaching his goals, visualizing the details of living the actual success, whatever that might be.

Gratitude: A Daily Journal (Jack Canfield)I often end my days by writing in my gratitude journal and visualizing my future successes. I also keep an accomplishment journal that I write in each day. What I had been doing that week was waking up and immediately start thinking about what I had not accomplished, when I could get it done, what it  would take, and what it meant not to have accomplished it. But not what it meant to me, what it meant to everyone else. These were useless self-loathing thoughts. There was no positive energy in these – not for me and certainly not for others around me.

How to Escape the Funk

We can all slip into these emotional quagmires, but what is important to note is that you don’t have to stay there. Acknowledge it, let it go, and then move on.

On my birthday I woke early and started with my gratitude. I could immediately feel the difference in my attitude and my energy. I knew I was going to be much more productive today. Before I rose I envisioned one goal I wanted to accomplish and visualized me actually achieving it. The path to that goal is not difficult; I just needed to be focused on it.

I then decided to give myself a gift. I would make a list of 100 accomplishments I had done over the year. I did about 50 in less than 15 minutes. I was surprised to remember so many amazing accomplishments over this year, including being a contributing author in an Amazon #1 best seller, being asked to chair the Advisory Board of the International Business Program at Georgian College, creating a new business while running another, meeting one of my mentors, Fabienne Fredrickson, several times, and helping more than 40 people find more success and self confidence in their businesses! It has been an incredible year.

Use the Past, Present and Future

Past – Give gratitude for the things you have

Present – Acknowledge the things you are doing now

Future – Visualize achieving your future goals

Follow these 5 points to stay positive

1.       Start your day with Gratitude

2.       Visualize your goals

3.       Write down you accomplishments daily

4.       Keep a living list of life time accomplishments and revisit it regularly

5.       Don’t go to bed in a negative mood. Use Gratitude to find your positive emotions.

Why Does Being a Parent Give You an Advantage in Business?

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I wanted to reissue this post to add some additional information from John Warrillow. Check the link at the end of the article.

There is a truth to the thought that starting a business is a lot like having children:

  • There is never a perfect time to start
  • There is more to know then expected
  • You cannot guess how it will change your life

In Business, like having children, there is an overwhelming sense of love and satisfaction that comes when you have a business you are passionate about. Unlike having children you will have more control over how it operates when it is mature.

So why is being a parent an advantage to a business owner? Let’s take a look at the three items above that these two life courses have in common.

No Perfect Time to Start

Children

Before I had children, in a time when I knew I was going to have children, I spent a lot of time trying to define (with my husband Brian) how my life needed to be to be able to manage a life with kids. I needed a job with some flexibility. I wanted to be in our own home. I had to be finished my degree. We wanted to have a combined income of a certain level. We wanted to have traveled together. Well, as you can see I had a list.

I’m very good at implementing, so most of my list was complete when my first child was born. What I could not believe was how much time I must have had before children. I mean really, what did I do with all our extra time? I should have been able to finish two degrees.

Business

Before I started my first business I needed to know exactly how I was going to be paid, who was going to work with me, how I could get extra funding, and where my clients would come from. Everything I needed to know about business, or so I thought. There is so much to know about business that if you started down the learning path before you launched, you’d be in an MBA before you opened your doors and still you would not have enough information.

Somehow I was  able to take on an enormous amount of work I did not have before: Work that runs into family time or weekends and yet it still seems to fit into my life.

To completely understand your business you have to be in it – you have to start. Each business has its own personality (Brand) and friends (target market) and family (mentors and peers).

There is More to Know

Children

I could not have guessed I would have had to know so much about child psychology, conflict resolution, mentoring, leadership, delegation, and diplomacy as a parent. Dealing with kids, their friends and their friend’s families, teachers, schools, sports clubs, etc. has been a huge ‘eye opener’ for me.

Business

I could not have guessed I would have had to know so much about human psychology, conflict resolution, mentoring, leadership, delegation, and diplomacy as a business owner. On top of this I also must understand accounting and bookkeeping, sales, marketing, business development, and operations among other skills. I am truly grateful for the learning I received dealing with my children which helped me more quickly become a leader as a business owner.

Change Your Life

Child at desk - poised to take over the businessChildren

As I mentioned, I don’t know what I must have done with all my extra time before I had kids, but I can tell you I love the time I spend with them now. There is humour, growth, development, companionship, maturity, fun, tears, and love. There is a wonderful feeling of belonging, not only to my family but to the community my children tie me to.

Business

Being in business also ties you to a community of peers, supporters, family, mentors, teachers, advisers, partners, affiliates, and clients. There are literally hundreds of opportunities to be connected in business in ways you could not necessarily have foreseen before you started. The more you give to these connections the more you will get back. It can be an extremely gratifying part of your business.

Growing a business is a life lesson. Be excited to learn. Learn from your children to apply to your business and learn from you business to be a better parent and leader. Remember to teach your kids the benefits of being an entrepreneur and model the way so that they will bring that enthusiasm to all they do in life. Who knows, maybe they will take over the business one day.

I wanted to re-issue this post because I just read another article that brings even more credence to this topic. Check out “Do Parents Make Better Startup Founders?” by John Warrillow.

No One Can Make You Believe You’re an Expert

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Pawn sees self as King

Have you ever had someone comment on your expertise or say you are an expert at something?How did you feel? Were you surprised maybe? Did you thank them or did you tell them you have a long way to go?

Why don’t we just say ‘Thank you’?

Your answer to that last question says a lot about your personal view of your own expertise. When we have something that other people like and we get a compliment, for instance, “I like your new car”, we then thank the person. If we have something we think has a lesser or no value and someone compliments on it, we may not feel worthy to accept the compliment. Have you ever had a new used car that was the only thing you could afford to buy? When someone said, “I like your new car” you may have been embarrassed that it was not the class level you want to be at and would answer something like, “Oh, it will do for now”.

What does our mindset have to do with it?

This mindset is the same for our own worth. If we do not believe that we are an expert then no matter what someone says to us we cannot concede the truth without a change in our own perception. Unfortunately, in human behaviour, it is what we believe in ourselves that comes across to others. Therefore if you want others to know you are an expert you have to first believe you are an expert.

In the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, a person only becomes an expert after they have put in over 10,000 hours of work. It is not that ‘practice makes perfect’, it is that ‘practice develops experience’ and with experience comes wisdom and intuition that cannot be had without it.  Just because you have 10,000 times put into something does not necessarily make you feel like an expert. There is a mindset shift that must occur. This mindset must overcome our fear of being seen as arrogant or pompous. In Seth Godin’s recent blog post he goes further to say that if we do not believe in ourselves the market won’t do it for us.

I have some amazing friends and very talented family members that are very good at what they do. Recently I realized that they spend time worrying about their expert level, their value, their worth. No matter how many times we have discussed their skills and value – the statements coming from me do not resonate as clearly as if they had come from themselves.

How do we get that mindset?

The concert pianist that steps on stage is not thinking, “geez I hope they like me”, the motivational speaker does not worry that she will be able to actually motivate people, the world renown advertising company CEO does not worry if people will find value from their campaigns – they just do it. But they do it with the knowledge that they are very good at what they do. So how does a person get to that stage of mindset?

Practice

Put in your 10,000 and build your expertise. If you are not there yet, act as if you are so that you will become that person. I’m not saying you should lie about what you can or cannot do, I’m saying, live like you are the best at the pieces you are very good at.

Acceptance

Accept that you are good at some things and always be thankful for them. Practice having a thankful heart and mind. When someone compliments you your mission is to just say, ‘thank you’. Hold those hesitations and lesser thoughts to yourself for another conversation. Allow that person to get the full effect of the gift they gave you by simply accepting it for what it is, a compliment.

Accomplishment

Keep an accomplishment list or daily accomplishment journal. When you recognize your own accomplishments it becomes easier to see what others see in you. For a description of these two exercises see my blog on Accomplishments.

Persistence

You may have people that will always recognize your expertise, maybe before you do, but not everyone is going to believe you. Constantly eventuate your skills and knowledge. Openly concede your mistakes and learn from them to become better at everything you do. Every successful person is just that – a person. You are as worthy to be successful at what you do as they are. Continue to believe in yourself and the numbers of others that believe you will continue to grow.

6 “Musts” that make a Great Entrepreneur

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This is part of my presentation that I like to give to high school and college level students. I’m sharing it with you so you can see the qualities and experience that went into the business you have built.

Must be educated

OK now you’re thinking, “she’s nuts.” “I didn’t have to go to school to get an MBA to run my successful business.” True, but you did have to have some type of education; whether it was training, apprenticeship, experience, or a traditional education you definitely did not come into your business without skills and knowledge.

In the book, “The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind,” T. Harv Eker talks about failing over and over again at his jobs, but as the book eludes, he does become very wealthy.  His first big idea took a few thousand dollar investment to open a fitness store, which he grew into a chain in 2.5 years and sold for over a million dollars.  He attributes his skills and education to the jobs he had.  He explains how he viewed each job as a paid education to owning his own business.

Must see something where others do not

There are so many opportunities out there. The best ideas are usually fairly simple in concept and sometimes very hard to implement but it is the idea to do something in a way that no one else does it that allows a business to stand out and become successful.

Yesterday I had the privilege of being at an expo where Amanda Lang of CBC News was talking to Peter Aceto, the CEO of ING Direct Canada. When ING Direct Canada opened in 1997 people could not believe that there was a bank that had no physical presences. The founders of this bank knew there was a better way to ensure people could “save their money” and that was to cut out all the overhead. “How do you build a bank without a bank”, was the question they had to answer. As we know, it has become a very successful business model, started in Netherlands in 1991 and now in over 40 countries. It even has competitors, like Presidents Choice Financial launched in 1996. Someone saw the need and then looked for a solution that was not what everyone else was looking for.

Must be willing to Act

This is the key component of an entrepreneur. We have all heard someone say, “I could have done that,” or “my 10 year old could have done that better”, and yet they do not act on it. The entrepreneur can see the opportunity and does something about it to make the change. They are willing to take a chance, to struggle, to build, to create, to manage and to succeed or to fail.

Yesterday I also had the privilege hearing Amanda Lang of CBC News interview Sir Richard Branson. She asked him why he did what he did even after his businesses were successful. He explained that in the beginning of a business the owner need to be the figurehead or brand. The business, if built correctly, would become the brand as it grows. To do that he likes to “exercise his creativity” and he has acted on many of those creative moments. In his company Virgin there are over 300 branded companies. He explains that he does what he does so that “at the end of the year you hope to have enough money to pay the bills so you can go on creating.” Like many entrepreneurs he works to be able to create more and his simple answer to “why?” was “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”.

Must be willing to risk their own…

We all know of the very successful entrepreneurs like, Gates, Jobs, Brin & Page, Trump, etc. Our society holds entrepreneurs in high-esteem because what they do seems unreachable to the average person. But when these people started out they were just average people. They were scoffed at. They worked out of their homes or garages. They enlisted friends to help. They risked their own money to make things happen and they risked being known as a dreamer or unrealistic. The entrepreneur must risk a lot to find their path to success.

Must have unshakeable vision and dedication

It is very uncommon for a business to be instantly successful. It took Google many years to even make their first commercial product. Their vision was so clear they were able to get funding for their development even when they did not know how it was going to become commercially viable. They answered a need with their authentic passion and it paid off.

Must be willing to learn, grow, and change

An entrepreneur must be familiar with every position within their start-up, from bookkeeping to sales. To be able to understand how to communicate to suppliers, prospects, clients and past clients as well as your peers and competitors the entrepreneur has to take on a bigger role.
Who?

There is so much to learn about being an entrepreneur that as you go through the process of implementing you will be inundated with tonnes of new information, ways of thinking, and ideas. If you do not accept the opportunities to change, your business will not be able to make the changes it needs to grow and become successful.

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