More Profits, More Time, More Freedom

Get Your Business Back on Its Feet

The Smart Way

The Rule of Five

There is a great story behind the success of Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield’s Chicken Soup for the Soul books.They struggled to get the book published and then they struggled to get anyone to buy it. A teacher gave them this advice – ‘If you would go every day to a very large tree and take five swings at it with a very sharp axe, eventually, no matter how large the tree, it would have to come down.’

So Hansen and Canfield developed what they call ‘The Rule of Five’. Every day they did five specific things that would move them closer to their dream of selling books. Five radio interviews, five copies sent to editors for possible reviews, giving a seminar to a least five people …. press releases, talk shows, petrol stations that might sell their book – the list goes on. It was a lot of effort – a minimum of five things a day, every day, day in day out – for over two years. As a result Chicken soup for the Soul has sold 112 million copies in fort-one languages.

Not bad for Five a Day!

What You Can Do

I like to think of the ‘Rule of Five’ as ‘The Five a Day Rule’. It’s just like the doctor telling you to eat your five a day to keep healthy. If you want your business to be healthy, apply the same principle to anything that needs to be done. Just like the tree, if you keep hitting a problem, a project, or a task every day, you will create the result you want.

Later this week I will give you some ‘Five a Day’ tips on Marketing and Finance.

To your success.

Alistair

PS

Please feel free to share any comments you may have.

Telephone: 01875 830568
Mobile:       07981 107914
email:         a.summers@how2businesscoaching.com
Web: www.how2businesscoaching.com

More Profits, More Time, More Freedom

Get Your Business Back on Its Feet

The Smart Way

Leverage

The ability to influence a system, an environment, or yourself – in a way that multiplies the outcome of one’s efforts without a corresponding increase in the consumption of resources. In other words, leverage is the advantageous condition of having a relatively small amount of effort yield a relatively high level of returns.

I remember having to help my Dad lift some old paving stones – boy were they heavy. He was an engineer and surprise, surprise he had a solution to the problem. Rather than use brute strength he explained that we would use a lever. He showed me how to use a length of flat iron and a block of wood to raise the stones to a point where we could safely lift them correctly. We multiplied our strength with the minimum of effort and the maximum return. We applied and maximised what  I call the Leverage Factor.

The problem is that we rarely apply the concept of  leverage, and if we do, we do not always maximise the benefits. The quantum leaps in technology over the last decade should have made life so much easier for us all,  both personally and professionally. In terms of  time poverty we should all have so much more time to go and do the things that we really want to do, but the reality is that we have  just filled up the extra time we have gained with more ‘things’ to do. We continue to be busy fools.

The few really successful people know how to ‘leverage’ and maximise the use of that  extra time to their advantage.

In business one of the key Levarage Factors for me is the ability to Think Smarter – Work Smarter. I look at every aspect of the business – tasks, projects, processes, systems, marketing, products, services .. the list is endless – and I try to think how things could be done better, faster, simpler, and with less costs. The goal is always to use the minimum effort to achieve the maximum return without sacrificing quality, excellence, or integrity.

Action Exercise

Take 15 minutes out of your busy schedule and find one area in your business to which you could apply the ‘Leverage Factor’. It could be as simple as calculating how many hours a week you spend on emails, and deciding to cut that time by 30 minutes a day. That’s 120 hours a year, or three and a half weeks. Now that’s what I call leverage!

To your success.

Alistair

PS

Please feel free to share any comments you may have.

Telephone: 01875 830568
Mobile:       07981 107914
email:        a.summers@how2businesscoaching.com
Web: www.how2businesscoaching.com

More Profits, More Time, More Freedom

Get Your Business Back on Its Feet

The Smart Way

When I was 16 my school took us on projects all over Scotland. I spent two weeks walking on Skye and on the island of Raasay. I can remember so vividly, 4 of us doing our Duke of Edinburgh’s Award practice walk on Raasay. It was one of those wonderful May days in Scotland – beautiful blue sky, the sun so hot that we could so the impressions of our boots in the warm tar, and a couple of golden eagles soaring around the hill next to us. A farmer passed us on his tractor and offered us a lift – but we declined!

When I think back, those two weeks forged a love of the outdoors, and of the hills and mountains of Scotland and beyond – but they also instilled an understanding of purpose, direction, focus, and the idea of reaching ‘The Summit’.

You cannot get to the top of a mountain if you don’t know which one you are aiming for, and once you have decided which one, you then need a map. You also need the right levels of skills, fitness, and equipment to get you there and back safely. Last but not least you need to plan every aspect of your journey, and follow that plan if you want to achieve your goal. Remember, your focus is not just on the summit, but also on the journey that takes you there. You spend a lot of time on the journey, so you may as well enjoy it.

It’s really pretty simple when you think about it – it’s common sense. It’s how you get from A to B, it’s how you get from where you are to where you want to be.

So, look at where you are going with your business. It may seem really difficult or complex at the moment -  but are you following the ‘pretty simple’, ‘common sense’ approach to climbing any mountain?

If not – ask yourself – ‘Why not?’

Imagine being able to set out an Ordnance Survey Map of your business on your office desk. You can see where you started and where you are going. You can identify obstacles, short cuts, different paths – all leading to where you want to go. You can assess the skills, fitness, and resources you will need to meet the challenges and opportunities of the journey.

If you don’t have that map – how are you ever going to find your way to the summit?

To your success.

Alistair

PS

I like acronyms – MAP – Make A Plan

Get Your Business Back on Its Feet

The Smart Way

You Need to Create Extraordinary Results in 2012

Have you decided whether we are in a recession or out?

If you are not sure, then stop trying to figure out the answer. Regardless of the state of the economy, you need to:

1. Build a business that can operate in any environment
2. Focus on creating sustainable business growth by creating and accelerating Profits, Performance, and Productivity
3. Create a ‘Business TurnKey Operation’ that runs on autopilot – without you!
4. Create a business that has value that supports you or can be sold as part of an exit strategy

You cannot affect where we are in the economic cycle, but you can ensure that if anybody is going to Survive and Thrive – it’s going to be you.

Forget what the media, colleagues, and friends may be saying about gloom, doom and double dip recessions. This is the time to be bold and use the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in 2012. Nobody says it’s going to be easy, but the rewards are there for the taking.

This is a great time to get ahead of the competition, to innovate and differentiate, to create new products and services – to be better that the competition.

The Business ProfitMAP Solution has been designed to create extraordinary business results. There are three core elements that underpin the ProfitMAP:

1. The Business Philosophy
2. The TurnKey Business System
3. The MTH Action System

The TurnKey Business System was developed so that:

1. A business can be seen as being capable of being broken down into it’s key elements
2. Those key elements can then be developed and combined in such a way so as to create extraordinary results

The system has 10 Key Elements:

1. Strategy – Diagnosis and BluePrint

2. Action Plan – RoadMAP

3. Planning, Organising, and Prioritising

4. Work The Numbers

5. Do It Today Marketing

6. Manage Your Time

7. People

8. Systems

9. Think Smarter – Work Smarter

10. Action, Results, Monitoring, and Review

The TurnKey Business System is all about Thinking Smarter and Working Smarter - about Building Smart Businesses - about creating More Profits, More Time, and More Freedom.

The Business ProfitMAP Solution provides an integrated and systematised approach to running a business that allows business owners and staff alike to develop, manage, and control any business.

I believe that the Business ProfitMAP Solution provides a unique opportunity to take your business, your staff, and yourself on a journey that will help you to overcome your challenges, seize your opportunities, and build the vehicle that will create the life you truly want.

If you want to find out more about this new innovative business solution please contact me using the details below.

To your success.

Alistair

Telephone: 01875 830568
Mobile:       07981 107914
email:         a.summers@how2businesscoaching.com
Web: www.how2businesscoaching.com