Top tip for new entrepreneurs, start ups and those struggling in business

I’ve spent quite a lot of time talking with new entrepreneurs, working with guys struggling with their business as well as putting some ideas and teams together for a few new business ventures of my own.

In all the many hours of discussion that I have had recently – there seems to be a reoccurring theme: do it different.

I am aware of how easy it is to fall into the default of “doing it this way because that’s the way everyone does it”. The trouble is – that doesn’t make for a very interesting business model, and it makes it hard to differentiate. It can be quite boring.

Finding the magic

When I am talking about doing things differently – I am talking about doing it radically different. Is there a way to re-write the rules for the business that you want to start? I encourage people to start with a blank piece of paper and try and think without restraint and the “benefit” of experience.

It’s on that piece of paper that I find that the true magic starts to appear. It is often on there that the real reason you want to do your business comes out.

If you want to set up a business just to make money – you’ll find this exercise hard, which probably means that you should look at another business market. There has to be a passion and a drive in you to change the market place for the better. So how do you do that? Don’t just change one or two things – change everything and see what comes out of it.

Change your industry

If everyone else in your industry opens at certain times, what happens  if you change those? If everyone charges by the hour, what happens if you charge by the session? If there is a lot of competition in your industry, what specific areas are missing that you could exploit? If prices are all around £35 a session – what would happen if you charged £45? Why is it people really use this product or service – and how can I connect with that?

Sure, there maybe reasons why things are done in a certain way – but you’ll be amazed at the cool things that happen when you really test those reasons and assumptions. Most people don’t – which is why everyone else is probably doing it that way, they are just following along. Dyson made a fortune by redefining the vacuum cleaner. Apple changed how we listen to music like Sony did a few decades earlier by challenging the assumptions. Starbucks changed how we drink coffee by challenging assumptions.

Change your price

The great thing is – when you do something different, something that people really want and can connect with – you no longer have to be too concerned about the price. The Dyson, Apple iPod and Starbucks coffee we massively more expensive when they came out. People still paid it because they connected with it, it was different and not the same old. That means I don’t have to try and be the cheapest. I can’t be reckless with the price but chances are you can charge higher prices because you are offering something of more value.

Simple Exercise to rock your world

So – do this simple exercise. Take a blank piece of paper and redraw your industry, product or service by challenging the reasons and assumptions that currently exist. Think without restraint. Don’t spend too much time on the detail for now, or thinking about how to do it just yet. Let God deal with the impossible. Just write everything down as it comes to you. As I said, the chances are – you’ll find something magical as a result.

Let me know how this goes for you! And if you have any top tips for a start-up – then please share them.

First Aid Info Graphics

I have been a little quite on this site (the firstaidforparents.org site)recently but opportunties to practice first aid have been abounding that is for sure (stories to be posted soon).

I came across a survey done by Mother and Baby magazine whilst doing some research on the web (the Mother & Baby Magazine SAVE A LIFE SURVEY 2002). The survey reminded me of why I first decided to learn first aid as well as do this blog site. In all of the busyness of life – I keep coming back to something close to my heart: that people (especially parents) should have some basic first aid skills. Whether it is through this blog or through training courses that organisations like the Red Cross do – it is an important skill set (and confidence to have).

Here are some info diagrams that I’ve created based on data from the survey that show my point:

Interesting figures eh?

• Over 1 in 10 children will have a convulsion or fit in front of you.
• 2 out of 10 parents have suffered the distress of watching their child choke (7 out 10 of those parents did not know what to do).
• 3 out of 10 kids have swallowed a chemical such as soap powder (9 out 10 parents did not know what to do)
• 4 out of 10 kids gets some type of scald or burn

The list goes on…

Every year, over half-a-million kids (more the entire population of Liverpool) go to casualty as a result of an accident in the home. The bottom line, according to the research, was that 9 out of 10 parents don’t know basic first aid.

Kids get into stuff. That is what kids do. It is inevitable, the numbers speak for themselves. It makes sense to be prepared for when that happens. That was definitely my thinking when I decided to learn first aid. And I am not a Paramedic or doctor – I am just a parent who decided to learn some more about First Aid.

Let me know how I can help you learn better basic first aid skills on this blog! Together, we can help keep our children safe.

A new definition of marketing

I have been thinking a lot recently about how my company does marketing.

We used to have a great girl who worked for us (Naomi) who left a few months ago to set up her own company. Her remit was to handle marketing. It didn’t have any specific definition but Naomi did well because people really warmed to her. She made people feel important and cared for — and that was great!

So, it now comes back to me, so I have taken this opportunity to examine what we do, and perhaps start with a clean piece of paper with the word WHY? in large letters at the top (rather than just take what we do and add to it).

So – why do marketing? What is the purpose of it? What does it mean for our company?

Marketing is simply to build connections

I like this kind of question, rather than taking the one-size-fits-all approach. It’s good to think. So I took my journal and began to write. I came to the following conclusion: marketing is simply to build connections. That’s it. I appreciate that I might be taking old ideas and adding new language to it, but it has helped me.

Read More

59 Seconds to Happiness

I was asked recently, “What makes you happy?”

What a great question! if you haven’t read the book: 59 Seconds: Think a little, change a lot, then I highly recommend it. It is a great read. I particularly liked the chapter on happiness. Here are some of my notes from that chapter. You might want to try the journalling tips too – I really like those.

Happiness doesn’t just flow from success it actually causes it.

Is it possible to buy happiness?

• Ask most people what they need to be happy and in survey after survey “more money” is the top answer.
• Studies showed that those who have won the lottery on no more or less happy than those who haven’t.
• Studies show that when people can afford the necessities of life an increase in income does not result in a significantly happier life.
• Why is this the case? Part of the reason is that we all get used to what we have very quickly. Buying a new car provides a short-term feel-good boost but we quickly become accustomed to it and sink back to pre-purchased level of joy.

The scientific make-up of happiness.

• Research shows that about 50% of your overall sense of happiness is genetic
• 10% is due to general circumstances (educational level, income and whether you are married or single, etc).
• 40% is derived from your day to day behaviour, and the way in which you think about yourselves and others. This is the easiest one for you to change quickly.

The power of positive thinking?

Does the road to happiness really depend on people being able to simply push negative thoughts out there mind?

No. Research suggest that trying not to ink about something makes us focus on it more – so increasing misery. Try asking someone on a diet not to think about chocolate means they will eat more (fact).

Journal your way to happiness

People who have experienced a traumatic event have been encouraged to spend just a few minutes each day writing a diary type account of their deepest thoughts and feelings about it.

Participants experienced a remarkable boost in their psychological and physical well-being, including a reduction in health problems and an increase in self-esteem and happiness.

Writing encourages the creation of the storyline and a structure that helps people make sense of what’s happened and work towards a solution. Just talking about it can be unstructured and even chaotic

Journal outline

Maintain this journal for a week or two. If you feel the effects wearing off, simply repeat the exercise again.

• Monday: Thanksgiving.
  Think back over the past week and must be things which you are grateful for.
• Tuesday: terrific times.
  Think about one of the most wonderful experiences in your life will stop now spend a few moments writing down a description that experience and how you felt will stop to simply commit your thoughts to paper.
• Wednesday: future fantastic.
  Spend a few moments writing about your life in the future. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. Be realistic, but imagine that you have worked hard and achieved or your goals. Imagine you have become the person you really want to be, and your personal and professional life feels like a dream come true.
• Thursday: dear…
  Think about sign your life is very important to you imagine you only have one opportunity to tell this person how important they are to you. Now write a short letter to this person, describing how much you care for them and the impact it had on your life.
• Friday: reviewing the situation.
  Think back over the past seven days and make a note of three things went really well for you.

What makes you happy?

Overcoming writer’s block

I love the web, and the connection. Tonight is a great example. I have been pondering what to blog about tonight, and sat looking at a blank screen for a while. So I posted on twitter and facebook that I had writer’s block and asked what I should blog about.

The obvious answer: write about overcoming writer’s block (thanks Tim and Rob @tweetmktng). So rather than sit there, I thought about overcoming this problem. So – here is what I did to go from having no ideas in my head to lots, from no blog posts to having material and ideas for lots

1. I did a video shoot. I don’t know why I thought to do this – I just did. I set the camera up and just started talking about anything and anything that came to mind. A lot of it is pure nonsense (that will never be shown, I promise).
2. I wrote down all the ideas that came out of doing that – these were: answering some questions that were sent in to me, where I am up to with redefining our marketing strategy, what books I have read recently that I have enjoyed, what gadgets I have got recently that I could review and enjoying family life (even daring to talk about marriage).

So there you go – that is how I overcame writer’s block: I did something different and forced my brain to be creative. Honestly – I enjoyed it and will do it again!

What about you? Any advice or tips for overcoming writer’s block?

“You’re hired!” I’m thinking of running my own apprentice-style competition

I am sat in Starbucks at the moment, taking some time-out from the office to catch up with myself. In the back of my mind is the thought that I am going to meet Tim Campbell in a few weeks. He won the first series of the apprentice in the UK, and if all works out – Tim will speaking at the up coming en-thuse.com conference.

This “apprentice” theme is something that has been on my mind for a few months – I have been seriously thinking about the idea of an entrepreneurial apprentice.

The idea, in brief, I take an apprentice and set up a business with them. We’ll then spend 12 months building it. If it works out, at the end of that time – we should have a business that the apprentice could run or sell. Either way – they’ll be a lot of learning along the way, and a chance to own part of a great company.

So, I have started to write down the pro’s and con’s:

PROs

1. Impact: Be great to have an impact on someone’s life. It also keeps business going.
2. More Magic Happens: I have a some great ideas that just need some drive and energy to bring to pass.
3. Already set-up: Already have an place of work setup.
4. Creative: It’s a creative solution to a problem (ie. lack of time on my part and a desire to do everything great).
5. Fun: I think it could be a great thing to do for 12 months, it would be fun and they’d be something amazing at the end of it.
6. Challenge: it would be a challenge to both of us that is for sure. But I love challenge!
7. Publicity: we would, no doubt, get some. We could follow the apprentice with cameras for the year and turn it into a vlog style documentary.

CONs

1. Hassle: More work in the short run.
2. Cost: Is it worth is both in terms of time and salary?
3. …can’t think of any more…

You know what though, I can sit here and think about the pros and cons – but it is not something that I normally do. I simply do things because they just “feel right” – which is not always the best approach to life, but usually works for me (thank God). This somehow feels right as an idea – but the outworking of it is something else.

Which means that I am likely to do it.

What do you think? Any advice or input on this??

Chris Evans – It’s not what you think review

Like many folks, I grew up with Chris Evans on the Tele. A northern lad done good-done really stupid-done good again. “It’s Not What You Think” is a great biography – very honest (and funny!) and almost inspiring (not something that I thought I’d say about Chris Evans in the early days). The audiobook is brilliant as Chris himself tells you his story. It is incredibly captivating (so glad he didn’t get someone else to read it!)

This book is exactly what it says on the tin: it’s not what you think. It really isn’t.

Rating

This definately gets a major thumbs up as one of the best books this year! Highly recommend you order from Amazon (or your local bookstore) right now.

Top Tens

Throughout the book – Chris, in true DJ style, gives you his top tens. You can listen to his top ten school boy errors from his audiobook version. So, I’ll follow his example!

Top 10 things I like about Chris Evan’s biography: It’s not what you think

10. Chris’ admittance of his own failings “so far up my own back passage”
9. Setting fire to the radio stage
8. Stalking Timmy Mallet.
7. His top tens in DJ style
6. The balls required to buy Virgin Radio
5. His unbelievable work ethic
4. his views on reality TV
3. the Can Do attitude
2. Kim Wilde in the big breakfast tent
1. Smacking his science teacher over the head with a chair.

What are your top-ten school boy errors?

Overcoming stuff: Oprah should do this show!

Zach’s oprah deal from Zach Anner on Vimeo.

Ok, anyone else inspired? Anyone else able to put their life into context?

Authentic Selling: Building trust

This is the final post in a series looking at authentic selling (Post 1: general overview, Post 2: Being Genuine, Post 3: Authoritative, Post 4: Truth, Post 5: Create win-win, Post 6: Credibility)

If you remember, the dictionary defines authentic as:

1. Genuine
2. Authoritative
3. True
4. Entitled to acceptance
5. Established credibility
6. Trustworthy

Trustworthy

I wonder whether this should be first on the list rather than last? There is a lot of buzz around the word “trust” at the moment. There is a lot of talk about whether or not people trust you, or your business because without trust – you really are going no where. Especially in the long term.

As you may know, I am reading Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why at the moment, and he writes:

Trust does not emerge simply because a seller makes a rational case why the customer should buy a product or service, or because an executive promises change. Trust is not a check-list. Fulfilling your responsibilities does not create trust. Trust is a feeling, not a rational experience. We trust some people and companies even when things go wrong, and we don’t trust others even though everything might have gone exactly as it should have.

How true this is. Early in my sales career, I made a point of telling customers about all the great things that we did and all the great projects that have been done. I showed them the best designs and most creative solutions. But there came a point when I realised, actually – it works just as well to tell the clients about the ones that didn’t go right and what we did when we landed in that mess.

I started to trust my clients and my clients started to trust me (trust is a two-way thing after all!).

It was hard to trust my clients with information that I thought might be damaging to my business – but by extending trust, I became trustworthy. My best clients are the ones that I trust the most, without a doubt.

Trust is an irrational feeling that can be jeopardised in a second. When clients do start to trust us, protect it at all costs. The simplest way that I have found to do this is to keep them informed, even when it is going wrong. Tell them what you are doing about it. Reassure them. Even if the calls are hard at times, it is worth doing.

Communication breads trust. It is that simple. And don’t just give your customers half-facts. Trust them.

Are you trustworthy? Do you have trustworthy clients?

Authentic Selling: Established Credibility

This is the 6th post in a series looking at authentic selling (Post 1: general overview, Post 2: Being Genuine, Post 3: Authoritative, Post 4: Truth, Post 5: Create win-win)

If you remember, the dictionary defines authentic as:

1. Genuine
2. Authoritative
3. True
4. Entitled to acceptance
5. Established credibility
6. Trustworthy

Established Credibility

If you have been doing the other items: being genuine, authoritative, tell the truth attractively and creating a win-win – then you should be well on your way to establishing credibility with your customers (your customers believe you, and you are proving yourself to be reliable).

My 8 year old set’s up his first company

Today, I came across a new business venture. It was really unique and one which I think I will always remember. It was my son’s first business (he is 8). The photo at the start of this blog is a sign that he has put on his bedroom door. Josh has realised that his mum likes being “fussed” (hair stroked or brushed, back rubbed) and decided to turn it into a business.

I am really quite proud as he has done this all on his own initiative. He checked with his customers what prices they would be willing to pay. He set his opening hours and is advertising his services. Josh was talking to me today about this business and wondering if he needed to extend his opening hours. He was also telling about his half price offer on Thursdays.

He had thought about all of this himself…I was amazingly impressed (and proud!). He wanted me to buy his services – which I did after negotiating the price.

Of course, the one thing that Josh didn’t have is credibility. He was a new company. Fortunately, mum and dad didn’t mind that – but it was something that he did think about.

He asked us to rate his performance, and that rating has gone on the sign on his bedroom door. He wanted to know if it was a 1 star, 2 star, 3 star, 4 star or 5 star rating. When I said 3 – we had a talk about how he could improve.

What he did, though, was build a facility that enabled him to build credibility. He had his customers provide feedback about his service and now he has made that public so other people can read it. It builds credibility as other customers are talking about his service. It is not just him telling me about all the good things he has to offer, it is his customers. That is believable.

Everyone reads Amazon‘s reviews. We like to read what other customers have said about the product or service. The web makes it easy to do this. It is imperative that customers see what other customers say (the good things and the bad things). This makes our message credible because it is not just us saying it.

Building credibility is a key to my success

But it is not just about what our customers say, it is also about what we say. Is your message, and your product and your service credible? Is it believable or reliable?

When I took over the sauna business that I now have, the first thing that we went to work on was the credibility (it was in ruins). The product was great. The back and service was in a complete mess. We weren’t being credible by offering a sub standard service and great product. We worked hard on rebuilding the service and thereby the credibility of the business and the trust with customers.

It took a while – but we got there. We became credible, believable and reliable again (in all aspects of the business).

How is your product and service credible? How is your message credible? Do you give a chance to your customers to speak to your other potential customers?