Category: Startups

Get Out of the Rat Race

We’ve all had jobs we despised. We were underpaid, underappreciated, and bored out of our minds. We either quit these jobs or were fired for poor performance because we just checked out. Instead of falling into that trap, you need to consider every job an opportunity to learn something new that you will apply down the road to find success.

When you give people the tools they need to develop extraordinary solutions, you enhance their lives for the future. You need to take this approach with your business. What if one of your terrible jobs had been one with no pay and you needed to devise some ingenious ways of making money? I bet you could have found a diamond in that rough. This idea can also be used in your own company.

I don’t recommend going into your next meeting and advising your employees that no one will be paid anymore, but you can tell them that their potential raises, bonuses and other perks are now commensurate with their creativity to enhance the business.

Let’s reflect on a great concept called financial literacy. This certainly isn’t something that was taught in school but is still an essential skill. So what is financial literacy?

The “old school” way teaches people to be good employees, not employers. This mindset will never offer you wealth. You need to focus on becoming a good employer.  Not only do you need to learn how to acquire wealth, but also how to sustain wealth for generations. This is what financial literacy is all about.

So how do you get out of the rat race and start working towards a future building wealth? You need to understand the difference between an asset and a liability. If you take a look at your own life you’ll probably find the following:

Assets

  • Real Estate
  • Stocks
  • Bonds
  • Intellectual Property

Liabilities

  • Mortgage
  • Consumer Loans
  • Credit Cards

You’ve probably been conditioned into thinking things like your house, car and entertainment system are assets, which isn’t true. Assets should be working to MAKE you money. When you continue to struggle, you are not building wealth. If your primary income is derived from wages and each time your wage increases you pay more taxes, you are not really creating wealth, are you?

So if buying a house isn’t an asset (and it’s not, because you spend about 30 years of your life paying it off), then what is? Here are some of the best assets to acquire and when you can actually start to see wealth being created as a result:

Average time of holding onto an asset before selling it for a higher value:

1 year

  • Stocks (Startups and small companies are good investments)
  • Bonds
  • Mutual funds

7 years

  • Real estate
  • Notes (IOUs)
  • Royalties on intellectual property
  • Valuables that produce income or appreciate

So here are the steps to getting out of the rat race and onto your journey of building wealth:

  1. Understand the difference between an asset and a liability;
  2. Concentrate your efforts on buying income-earning assets;
  3. Focus on keeping liabilities and expenses at a minimum;
  4. Mind your own business.

If you need help getting out of the poor way of thinking and into a mindset that focuses on building wealth, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for guidance.

Next time we will discuss how to mind your own business to keep your eye on the prize.

 

Are You Aiding & Abetting E-Myths?

We are going to embark upon a journey through the world of e-myths and debunk them to help you avoid falling into the e-myth trap.

First, let’s take a minute to talk about what an e-myth is. An entrepreneurial myth, or e-myth, is an assumption that anyone can succeed at business with:

  • Desire
  • Some capital
  • Projected a targeted profit

This sounds great, but it is just not realistic. Think of starting a business as a marathon. Sure, everyone starts out of the gate at a record pace, but after a few miles, people start slowing and some drop out entirely. Building a successful business takes stamina and agility.

The reality is that there are many different facets to a successful business and none of them can be ignored if you plan to find success.

Let’s take a minute to talk about an entrepreneurial seizure. This defines the roller coaster of emotions that comes with starting, nurturing and the potential failure of a business.

The emotions that occur, in order, are:

  • Exhilaration
  • Exhaustion
  • Despair
  • Sense of self-loss

This is usually caused by the e-myths and assumptions we talked about. You can get your hopes so high on the instant success that even the smallest lag and you are sent into an emotional tailspin. This is also brought on by the stark realization that you can’t do it all and will need help in the areas where you don’t have the knowledge. Now, faced with limited choices you may feel like you need to back out and hide, but don’t do this.

Use our FREE test drive to get the business coaching you need to avoid feeling overwhelmed and defeated.

Kick Start Your Marketing

Today I’d like to teach you about the three most important start up marketing tools you need to get and keep new customers.

  1. In person: It’s essential you meet with customers/clients in person whenever possible. This shows you respect them and take the time to work with your clients to give personal attention to each of them.
  2. Follow up letter: Always take a moment to send a follow up letter about what you talked about, new agreements or partnerships made and to thank them for taking the time to meet with you. Likewise, you should always send thank you letters or small gifts to partners you find success with.
  3. Phone call: Use a telephone call to follow up with them to talk again about the matters you talked about in your meeting and offer any assistance you can to help their business run smoothly and more successfully.

None of these will work if you don’t have a quality product/service to back you up!

Here are the key steps for putting together your start-up marketing tools:

  1. Research potential customers, buyers, competitors and their preferred methods of distribution.
  2. Talk to potential customers. Take a hard look at your product from a customer’s perspective and see what it needs to be successful.
  3. Follow up with your 3-step process from above.
  4. Develop systems for contact follow through, quality control standards and customer service.
  5. Develop post-sale follow up system to keep lines of communication open is customers and build on your current relationship which increases future purchases.

“Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs” Peter Drucker, management consultant

Here’s another one I love from an icon:

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.” Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

This lesson has offered you the tools to put together a start-up marketing plan that can be used over and over again to help your customer base and business grow in a manageable way.