7 Figure Business Secrets
7 Figure Business Secrets
Keith McEvoy | Entrepreneur Coach
7 Figure Business Secrets
#82 How To Make Your Marketing Suck Less
More revenue is key to growing your business, better marketing is key to growing your revenue. In this episode, Keith talks about how insane some businesses are when it comes to marketing. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – The only 3 parameters that matter when marketing your business – The shocking results of a marketing audit he did recently for one of his clients, and – Why your team needs a good shake-up. So listen here to find out How To Make Your Marketing Suck Less, or read the Transcript below.     Transcript   Morning and welcome to the “Let’s Get Your Marketing Sorted Out” edition of 7-Figure Business Secrets! Morning. Well, you can’t quite see, but it’s a very grey morning here. Mid-week, so just on my way to, I’ve got a full day with a client today, which is my favourite type of day, because they’re just so stimulating, aren’t they? Just so many people around, and lots of things to do. Yeah, I’m doing 2, 3 of these a week at the moment, sometimes even 4, which is more than I should be. But yeah, I just so enjoy working with people directly and seeing faces. And yeah, if you’re an entrepreneur or a business owner stuck with a small team, or working from home, or with remote teams and everything, you know where I’m getting to. There’s a real stimulation sometimes just by getting out, yeah? So, yeah, so that’s me today. That’s me actually too many days.   Not Joined Up   But yeah, what I wanted to speak today about is sorting out your marketing. So, if you’ve been sort of, running your business, actually if you’re starting up or running your business for any length of time, you’ll probably notice that your marketing isn’t quite as joined up as you’d like it to be. There’s bits and pieces going on that seem to fight against each other, and, yeah, it doesn’t seem like a united front to the customer. And sometimes you’re a bit embarrassed about some of the e-mails going out, and they’re not quite as good as they should be. Yeah, I know me, even my LinkedIn page is still, it must be, I don’t know, a year old, and I still haven’t actually gone to update it. So, at some stage I’ll get around to that. But I was actually just working with a client there last week on this exact same thing. And that’s why I just wanted to share while it’s still fresh in my memory, just exactly a really handy approach to thinking about marketing, and especially if you’ve got existing assets, assets like websites, and e-mails, and customer lists, and sales teams, and marketing teams, all that type of stuff. And how you can have a quick look at it and figure out roughly what you need to do, and yeah, tart it up pretty quickly.       #1 Your Team   So there’s basically 3 ways I think about going into an existing, either an idea, or an operation that’s actually up and running. And the first thing I always look at is employees, and going into a client, you basically have a look and you see well, * Who are the employees? * What are the different teams? * Who are the key partners outside? * There’s quite a lot of people they’ve outsourced relationships and outsourced suppliers, but who are all they? And you just make a list of it.   Does Everyone Know Your Marketing Objective?   And then the big question I always ask is, if I was to ask any one of these key people what the marketing...
Oct 22, 2018
9 min
#81 Can You Read Your Way To Success?
For hundreds of years, reading has been man’s way to success, but is it about to be overtaken? In this episode, Keith talks about why he’s changed his thinking on the value of reading to get ahead. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – His “sad-ass” book collection – Why Tim Ferris has cast doubt on his reading habit, and – How listening to podcasts has transformed his thinking in a way that books never could. So listen here to find out Can You Read Your Way To Success, or read the Transcript below.     Transcript   Hey and welcome to the “Can You Read Yourself To Success” edition of 7- Figure Business Secrets! Hey morning, actually this is my second, I was actually just on to you, you don’t know this yet, but the episode that you listened to whatever, last week or what, 3 days ago, was actually recorded about 10 minutes ago, yeah? As you can see I’m sort of stuck in traffic, and I said, “Aw, great, I shall use this opportunity to have a quick chat to you about something that’s been going around in my brain that, yeah this whole idea of reading.”   Sad-Ass Books   So, in case you don’t know, I’m an avid reader. I love reading and I read the most sad-ass books you can possibly get. I have hundreds of business books that I’ve picked up in airports and Amazon, all over the world. And, yeah, it’s quite a sad library, but I love it. I’ve got books on teams and advertising and sales and business and you name it, I’ve probably got a book on it, which is grand, and there’s a lot of people who subscribe to the yeah, yeah, yeah, read more and you learn more. BUT, but I was sort of thinking just last week, is that still true, and is that really honestly true? And do you know what?   A Book A Week   I’m beginning to doubt it, and I never thought that I’d ever hear myself say that MAYBE reading books is not it’s cracked up to be anymore. And why am I thinking that? Well for the last, I used to read yeah, probably I’d say about a book a week, maybe a book every 2 weeks, in fact no, a book every week. You’ d basically hop on a plane and by the time you hit the far side of the Atlantic, you’d be finished, and I was doing that, what 2, 3, 4 times a month. So yeah, that on its own, was a book a week, never mind everything else. But, what I realised is lately, yeah, actually it’s all down to Tim Ferris.     Blame Tim Ferris   Tim Ferris, what are you doing to me? Actually my wife bought me “The Tribe of Mentors”. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that book, right? It’s about that thick, I kid you not. Big, massive, thick book of almost I think just over a hundred, almost 200 interviews with different people. Actually, very interesting book. Basically he’s asked them all the same 7 or 8 questions, like what was your biggest failure, and what was your best buy for a cheap amount of money, and what would you say to someone starting off, and what big quote would you put on a billboard? So it’s actually very interesting, 1. Listening to people who you know and how they answered the questions, and 2. People you’ve never ever heard about and how they answered it. And they’re all sorts of people from business people to entrepreneurs to sports people to artists to movie stars to yeah, it’s just very, very interesting eclectic mix. Eclectic – ay ay! I must be on my game,
Oct 18, 2018
9 min
#80 Is This Going To Work?
Let’s be honest, we have no clue if something we try is going to work out, but we can stack the odds in our favour. In this episode, Keith talks about how amazing it is to reach out to your network when things aren’t going so well. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – How entrepreneurs all have the exact same doubts – Why implementing good business advice is never straight-forward, and – Why it’s so important to start any big task with a question. So listen here to find out Is This Going To Work, or read the Transcript below.     Transcript     Hey, morning and welcome to the “Is This Going To Work?” edition of 7-Figure Business Secrets! Hey, yeah, fresh start to the week. It’s Monday morning here, hope your week is kicking off to a good start too. Yeah, just really busy the last week and a bit. I haven’t really updated you on what’s been going on in Keith world lately. But, yeah, lot’s happened that I’ll share with you over the next few weeks, and also yeah, whatever I learn, you learn too because that’s it.   Bitten Off More Than You Can Chew?   I think what’s great about starting a business, and running a business, and growing a business, and building a business, is actually you go through the same problems just on a different scale over and over again. And each time you always have the same doubt, which is, “Maybe this time I’ve bitten off a bit more than I can chew. Maybe this time this product’s going to fail, or maybe this time I’m going to get caught out.” And yet again, we’re just in the process of launching a pretty major, it’s a new product for us. It’s basically, it’s a, do you know what, we’re not even sure what to call it yet, that’s a story I’ll share with you in a second. But, yeah, it’s basically, it’s a Mastermind group, and training course, and mentoring all into one, because what we figured out was actually the main problem that clients come to us, or even personally the problems I’ve had, is actually just not knowing what to do. And there’s no sort of, magic place where you simply go and say, “Hey, what do I do?” And the magic, you know, maybe the top of a mountain someplace and the guru says, “Oh, this is what you need to do, Keith, move on.” And I do it, and my business is brilliant.   Try, Try, Try Again   It just doesn’t happen like that, and the practical reasons are very clear, it’s like your business is different to my business is different to everyone else’s business. And you’ve got different customers, and different employees, and different systems. So everything’s a little bit different, but underneath it all there are principles that are the same. So a guru can tell you one or two principles that probably apply to your business and yeah, but then you’ve got to go and figure out, “Well, how do you do it?” That’s when the old self-doubt comes in going, “Wuugh, will this work for me this time?” Because you’ve got to somehow take the principle and re-apply it to your business, and that’s HARD, because you don’t just apply it once and it magically works, quite often there’s a whole pile of other things going around. What typically happens is, you do something and it doesn’t quite work, and you try again, you try again, and you try again, and eventually it works.     What Do You Do Next?
Oct 15, 2018
8 min
#79 The Warren Buffett Game-Changer
I know this is really hard for most people to do, but actually Warren Buffett’s advice is spot-on. In this episode, Keith talks about a very clever strategy he learned from Warren Buffett. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – Why Warren’s approach is going to be really painful for entrepreneurs – Why most things you have to do are a huge distraction, and – The ultimate power of the “Do Not Do” list. So listen here to find out about The Warren Buffett Game-Changer, or read the Transcript below.     Transcript   Hey and welcome to probably a shorter than normal edition of 7-Figure Business Secrets! Well, as you know I record these live so I’m never quite sure how long a podcast episode’s going to take. But I suspect this is going to be slightly shorter than normal because I’ve got a very important message, very important quick trick for you to do right this second. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, busy, don’t know what to do, too many things on, loads of things on, whatever it is.   So Clever   If you’re feeling just busy and you need a bit of headspace, here’s one thing that I remember I heard Warren Buffett, of all people say many, many years ago. And do you know what? He’s dead right. When he said it to me, or when I heard it, not when he said it to me personally, but when I heard it from him many, many years ago, I thought that is SO clever. And it was simply as this.     25 Things   He said basically, what he does is when someone goes to him and they’re having difficulty, a business manager or one of his cohorts, which he’s quite a few of, basically what he gets them do is list out the 25 things, the most important things they’ve got on their plate. Because we’re all entrepreneurs and business owners and we’ve loads of things, really important things. So 25, yeah, at a stretch you might be able to cut down all the things you have to just 25. And then his next thing was, okay, now out of those 25, what I want you to do is to pick just 5.   Just 5   Just 5 out of the 25, the most, the MOST important. And yeah, if you’ve ever tried doing that, it’s really painful. But what I want you to do is to copy these instructions now in a second. But, yeah, get down to the 5 and write them out. Circle them, write them out, whatever it is, but write down those 5.   Just 3   And then of the 5, choose 3. Just 3 that you’re going to focus on this week. Right? And yeah, yeah, yeah Keith. I get it, okay. So focus on that. That’s not the brilliance of what Buffett actually spoke about.   Do Not Do   What he said is, “Okay. You’ve chosen those 3. Now the other 22, at the very top of the list write DO NOT DO.” Okay? And that becomes your DO NOT DO list. Because you’ve got 3 things that you HAVE to do. EVERYTHING else, even though you think it’s really really really important. It’s a DO NOT DO. They’re distractions from doing the 3 things that you really need to focus on.   Focus And Momentum   And that was the beauty of his approach because, yeah, the thing that stops us doing and getting where we want is not normally that we’re not incredibly busy and doing lots of really important stuff. The problem is that we’re actually not doing the right things, focusing on the right things,
Oct 11, 2018
4 min
#78 What's Your Entrepreneurial Personality Type?
You are who you are, so how do you make the most of being uniquely you? In this episode, Keith talks about the fascinating area of personality testing and what that means for us entrepreneurs. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – Why personality is not a great predictor of entrepreneurial success – Why there seems to be a lot of entrepreneurial introverts around right now, and – Why he’s got good reason not to be a romantic. So listen here to find out What’s Your Entrepreneurial Personality Type, or read the Transcript below.       Transcript   Hey, and welcome to the personality edition of 7-Figure Business Secrets! Hey, yeah, so just wanted to have a quick chat about entrepreneurial personality types and where you are on that, and whether it matters or not, yeah? And there’s a backstory to this, as there usually is. We just had a really cool weekend. My son arrived home, on I think Friday night, Friday afternoon. Friday afternoon? Yeah, Friday afternoon. He’s got a half day on Fridays. And he’d done his first ever personality type in school. He did the Myers-Briggs one. And he had all of his stuff and everything. But, not only was he telling us like, what type of personality and what he’d learnt about himself, which is always fascinating, isn’t it? You know when you learn something about yourself and you go, “Ah, that makes sense.” So he was all … (chatter sign with hand), about it.   Personality Test   But the coolest thing then happened later that evening is that myself, my wife, and my daughter, we all logged on and we did the personality types ourselves. Actually, it’s something, yeah definitely do. If you’re interested, go Google something like Myers-Briggs free test. I think there’s a website called 16personalities.com. But on there, basically it takes about 5 minutes and you do your personality test. And what you learn is, yeah, again, all these things you take with a pinch of salt, but there’s a very strong element of truth and learning in all these tests because what comes back is basically a reflection of how you’ve just answered a series of questions. And yeah, it’s quite insightful, especially if you’ve got extreme traits. It all makes sense if you do the test. So do the test, 16personalities.com is probably the handiest one.   Not Very Romantic At All   Anyway, so myself, my wife and my daughter did the test and everything and we’re looking at the results and everything and, of course, just interesting conversations. My wife was ribbing me about my one. I’m an ENTP. If you’ve done Myers-Briggs, it makes sense to you. But basically it means that yeah, I’m sort of, not combative, but debative and I’ll always try and figure out what’s going on and see if there’s a different way of doing something and get stuck in, and it’s quite an outgoing personality so, quite on the extrovert side and quite self-confident-type side as well, yeah? So yeah, if you’ve listened to a few of these podcasts by now, you’ll go, “That’s sort of roughly fits,” yeah? That’s me. But on the romantic side, my wife was loving it. It’s basically yeah, not very romantic. The idea of candlelight dinner is like down the list. Romantic gifts and getaways. Yeah you can see why my poor wife suffers so badly wit...
Oct 8, 2018
8 min
#77 Your Most Important Business ASSET
What’s the ONE THING that’s driving your business forward? In this episode, Keith talks about a common problem he sees entrepreneurs hitting all the time. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – What an entrepreneur can always count on – Your best ever business investment, and – The 3 simple steps to take to absolutely crush it. So listen here to find out about Your Most Important Business ASSET, or read the Transcript below.       Transcript   Hey, and welcome to “Your Most Important Asset” edition of 7-Figure Business Secrets! Okay, so you’ve probably heard me say this before, but I’m going to say it once again because this is so important to you. So, so important. Your business has one MASSIVE asset that no other business has, and it’s the one thing that’s going to get you from where you are now to an amazingly successful company. It’s the ONE THING that’s driving your company forward. It’s the ONE THING that you can rely on day in, day out to go and makes things happen, right. This one thing is EVERYTHING to your business. And it’s YOU!   You’re Not The Problem   You are your business’s most important asset. And why am I sort of a bit frustrated about this? Because, yet again, today, met a person, not a client, but probably will be a client very shortly, hopefully. But, yeah, just the, not the lack of confidence, just the, he’s so unappreciating of himself and everything he’s done so far with his company. Basically, his whole thing is, “My company is just ups and downs, and I’m not sure it’s going to work or not.” He’s actually, yeah, he’s sort of past the $200,000 mark. So yeah, he’s about halfway there to having a successful company. But, to him, everything’s a problem, and it’s taking too long, and the teamwork thing is not quite working for him yet, and still hasn’t figured out his marketing and, yeah. And rather than say, “Oh, this is just part of the journey,” and realise that this is what every business goes through, he’s managed to take it all on himself and think, “I’m the problem here.” “Well, you’re not,” is basically what I told him in a nice way.   What You Can Count On   It’s just part of the journey. He’s becoming an entrepreneur, and he’s building a business, and he’s just in phase 2. And phase 2, as we know, is The Grind phase and every company goes through it. It’s, whether we like it or not, 2 to 10 years to get through it, right? That’s it, okay? So get over the killing himself. But, the thing about him personally, right, is that I said to him, I said, “Listen, of all the things in the world that you could rely on, right, what’s the one thing that always has his own best intentions at heart?” Right? It’s ALWAYS him. Because * YOU are always your best cheerleader. * You are always the person that’s consistent in your life. * You’re always the person that, you know, when push comes to shove, is going to be there, yeah?   Why Wouldn’t You?   So why wouldn’t you look after yourself better? * Why wouldn’t you invest in yourself better? * Why wouldn’t you educate yourself better?
Oct 4, 2018
6 min
#76 The ONE THING You Can't Afford To Mess Up
I’ve noticed there’s a very interesting difference between businesses that are ultimately successful and businesses that stagnate. In a follow-up to last week’s episode, Keith talks about how the reason WHY we start our business has a massive impact on HOW we run our business. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – The 2 types of entrepreneur – The problem for your business with wanting to “Escape From”, and – What’s so different about successful businesses. So listen here to find out about The ONE THING You Can’t Afford To Mess Up, or read the Transcript below.       Transcript   Hey and welcome to the very windswept edition of Seven Figure Business Secrets! Yeah, so we’ve got a gale going on here at the moment. If you see the trees and everything and the car shaking a little bit, that’s the wind. Yeah, that’s the wind. I just got into the car and you can see my hair is a bit all over the place. Actually no, it actually looks pretty normal, in fairness. But yeah, I definitely feel windswept. Still a bit wet in the face from the rain as well. Yeah, it’s one of those days.   What’s Driving You?   But yeah, I wanted to talk you about the last podcast I was speaking to you about was about the post office, and do you have a job or do you have a business? Well there’s another layer on top of that one when I was thinking about it later was that I really want to share with you, is actually there’s a little bit more to it than that, and I think a lot of the entrepreneurs, there’s something going on, so our motivation for why we’d create a business in the first place. And a lot of entrepreneurs I meet who, probably hundreds, maybe even thousands now at this stage, but they have 2 kind of motivational factors that are typically driving where they are going to be. And you’ll see where this relates to the job and the business now in a second.   1. Escape   The first group of entrepreneurs is, entrepreneurs that are driven by escape. By actually escaping from something, and typically it’s: * Escaping from a job, or * Escaping from an old boss, or * Escaping from poverty, or * Escaping from something that they don’t want to go back to. And I know for me that initially, when I first started my entrepreneurial career, I was escaping from, basically, the job. It wasn’t fulfilling for me anymore. It was hedging me down, it was not allowing me be who I wanted to be and develop. And I felt a strong compelling to get out of that. And you probably shared that initially when you started your business was, yeah, typically you’re driven by, “I need to get out. I need to change lives. I need to escape from what was previously.”   The Problem With “Escape From”   And that’s well and good when you’re starting off. The problem is, is that a lot of entrepreneurs, probably 80, even 90% of the entrepreneurs I see is they’re still in that mindset. They’re still in the “escape from” mindset. How do you know you’re still in it? You’re typically, you’re “I am the boss. I will not, this business has to work because I’m not going to go back to that.”   Yeah? And if that’s what’s driving you, if there’s a fear factor driving you,
Oct 1, 2018
6 min
#75 Is Your Business Just Another JOB?
How do you know if you’re building a business or just a job? On this episode, Keith talks about how most business owners think they’ve got a business, but actually they don’t. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – How to tell if you have a job that you’re calling a business – What you need to do to really get your business firing, and – Why you should be extremely wary of VC funding. So listen here to find out Is Your Business Just Another JOB, or read the Transcript below.       Transcript       Hey and welcome to the “Do You Have A Job Or A Business?” edition of 7-Figure Business Secrets! Yeah, it’s just before 9 o’clock and I’m actually sitting here waiting for the post office to open, of all things. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been to the post office in aw, about 3 or 4 months. But every time I go to the post office, I’m always amazed, because you know the modern economy and online stuff, you’d expect that post offices are, you know, dead.   Is The Post Office Dead?   Sure who needs to send letters anymore? Well, if you have a look behind me, there must be about 15, maybe even 20 people queuing and waiting for this post office to open, which should be in about 3 or 4 minutes, which means I’m going to speak to you for more than 3 or 4 minutes, wait for the queue to go and then go in. But yeah, it’s mad isn’t it? There’s a whole pile of things that we just presume aren’t working, or aren’t there anymore, or you know, just don’t exist anymore. It’s only when you go and look with your own eyes, and see, that you realise, “Hang on a second. There’s something going on here.” And I think the post office is a brilliant example of that. I remember, what, about four months ago, when I first was thinking about this, and actually went in and just watched and listened to what was going on. And wow, the services that get offered, the post office has really adapted. Because basically what they’ve got is, they’ve got a shop, yeah? And previously, all they did was, they accepted letters in and they sold you stamps basically, and did a bit of savings. But now they’ve got tie-ups with banks, they offer insurance, they have, it’s almost like a grocery store inside. So they’ve actually diversified, and they’ve used the asset that they’ve got, which is the shop. So they still have the shop, they still have potentially people coming to it, and now they’ve just built on top of that and they’ve got a thriving business. It’s quite amazing.   Job Or Business?   And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about is, yeah, the difference between a job and a business. And yeah, it’s a lot of yada, yada, yah, about yeah, this is a job and this is a business. Have you got a job? Have you got a business? But yeah, it’s important I think, to really understand the difference, but not in the way that most people talk about it. Most people will say, “Oh well, you’ve got a job if you’ve got a boss, basically.” But it’s not quite like that at all. I think most business owners that I know, are actually in a job. Here’s how I define it. And actually, this is critically important for you.   Light Years Ahead   I’ll be all serious for a second. Yeah, Keith in serious mode. No kidding aside, right?
Sep 27, 2018
13 min
#74 Vanity Metrics Don't Pay No Bills
What are you on social media for? On this episode, Keith talks about why LIKES are officially DEAD and why you’ve got to focus on the RIGHT METRIC. Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – Why getting Facebook Likes is a complete waste of time for your business – How Mark Zuckerberg could be killing your business if you don’t keep up, and – The REAL social media metrics that you should be focusing on. So listen here to learn why Vanity Metrics Don’t Pay No Bills, or read the Transcript below.       Transcript     Welcome to that “Social Media For Businesses Edition” of  7-Figure Business Secrets! Hey so yeah, social media and businesses. This is something that most business actually get wrong. And what I’m hoping to do today is to make sure you get it right. So what’s right and what’s wrong?   What Are You On Social Media For?   Well actually there’s loads of differing opinions, but what I can share with you today is actually what I’m actually witnessing is working for both me and my clients. And also, yeah, just to get rid of some of the, I suppose, old-style thinking that’s still going around and permeates businesses actually running social media. So if you’re a business and you’ve got a social media presence, so on Facebook or YouTube or even LinkedIn, so what are you doing right and what are you doing wrong? Well the first thing is the question that you need to be asking yourself is, is what are you on social media for? And a lot of businesses they’ll come up with, actually a client just last week, their main focus on Facebook was to get Facebook likes, right? And they actually have a person actually employed in their business, and their job is to go and find interesting posts, and interesting information, and put it out there and then boost it, right? And this is her job. It’s not full-time, it’s almost full-time, it’s about three-quarters of her job, she is their social media manager.   The World Has Changed   And what I was asking, you can see I’m flummoxed by it because that’s something that maybe 3, 4, 5 years ago, you did. Social media was all about getting, and growing your page. And having likes. Well the world has changed since then. And in particular, if you take where Facebook is going, for example. So Mark Zuckerberg came out, what, about 6 months ago, and reiterated what you could actually see happening behind the scenes all the time, which is that Facebook is more and more prioritising either the user experiences they see.   Going Down   If you log on to Facebook to your own account, you’re seeing more of your own friends’ and family’s feeds, and much less organic feed from businesses, you know, those business groups and pages that you signed up for. You’re not seeing a lot of their traffic at all. And it used to be you’d see about 15%. And now it’s 5%, even less than that. And there’s only one way it’s going. It’s going down. So if you’re doing what my friend’s business is doing, which is employing someone to just put up posts and boost them, well that return is getting less and less and less, right? Now, it’s not all bad news.   Post Content & Follow-Up   Because there’s actually what’s happening is, is Facebook is now becoming a pay-per-play. So if you advertise on Facebook, WOW!
Sep 24, 2018
5 min
#73 Stuck In The Grind? Here's How To Get Out
You wouldn’t plan a scout hike without some basic preparation, would you? So why do we so often wing it when it comes to our businesses? On this episode, Keith talks about how to recognise and plan each stage of the entrepreneurial journey we’re on and maybe even learn to really enjoy it ;-) Amongst other things, Keith discusses: – The 5 stages of the entrepreneur’s journey – Why most businesses get stuck in Stage 2 and never get out, and – How to get through and have fun with it. So listen here if you’re Stuck In The Grind, or read the Transcript below.       Transcript   Hey and welcome to the hiking preparation edition of 7-Figure Business Secrets! Yeah, so if your business feels like ups and down and highs and lows, and you’re not quite sure what you’re doing, and you just wish you had a plan and it all made sense, and you knew what to do next, then this is for you. So yeah, we’re doing the bi-annual hike with the cubs and everything, so hence, I’ve got hiking on the brain. But just one of the conversations I had with one of my business clients, he’s an entrepreneur and just twigged that actually there’s a lot of similarities between how we prepare for a hike and how we prepare for business success. Unfortunately, we never prepare for business success at all.   Be Prepared!   So that’s what I want to share with you now is, yeah, I know if I was going to take, which I’m doing, I’m taking 45 kids up the side of a mountain basically. No idea what the weather’s going to be like. But there’s no way would I do that without a bit of preparation. And what we do is, it’s really obvious, you take out the map, just like if you were going to go outside, or if you’re going to go to drive to a different city or something, you’d at least look and see what’s going to happen, roughly. So we take out the map and we have a look. We always have a starting point, so we know we have to be here at this time. And then you roughly figure out actually, we have to be back here at another time, yeah? And then you basically figure out, well how long does it take take to sort of go around, and do you have to climb hills? If you have to climb hills, you have to bring hiking boots. If it’s flat, we can get away with runners, or sneakers.     What If?   If the weather’s going to be rainy or forecast is a bit dodgy, jackets, raincoats. If it’s going to be really cold, heavy jackets, coats, yeah? So basic preparations. Also, we’ll do things like, okay, so if we start off at nine, we need to be stopping somewhere around 12 for lunch. So where about on the map looks good? Oh yeah, we’ll stop there. We have a rough plan. We know that, yeah, things might go wrong. We might hit a patch that’s pretty marshy in the middle. But we know that we’ll go around that or get through it, and on the far side we’ll pick up the path again, yeah? So having that rough plan, and it’s very basic. It’s roughly, start here, finish there. Rough time start, rough time finish, rough time lunch, and bring the right gear. That’s really it at a basic level, right?   The Entrepreneur’s Journey   And I’m going to put it to you that actually we don’t plan for our entrepreneurial journey in the same way. Because our entrepreneurial journey is, it’s actually, it’s 5 stages, right? Beginning and the end,
Sep 20, 2018
13 min
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