, ,

6 Common Business Mistakes You Want To Avoid When First Starting Out

When I started my first business at the age of 21, I had all the right reasons for why I would be different and succeed. Well, guess what? I lost thousands of dollars because I really had no idea of what I was doing at that time.

In Australia, more than 60 percent of small businesses fail and cease operating within the first three years of starting.[1] This fact is too often ignored by young entrepreneurs who are just as naive as I once was.

I now know that the main reason I failed was because of my lack of marketing skills at the time. I had a good product that people were actually buying, however, I wasn’t able to reach enough of the right people and turn them into buyers. Here’s your chance to learn from my mistakes.

6 common mistakes you want to avoid when first starting out

1. Giving up too quickly

It’s all exciting when starting out as an entrepreneur. Until you hit a brick wall. There will be many obstacles along the way and sadly most people simply give up as soon as the first challenge arises. It’s all too hard and staying in your job is just too comfortable.

2. Not having clear goals

A shiny new product in a pretty box is not a very good goal. After all, you didn’t go into business because you wanted to sell pretty boxes. You went into business to live your passion, make money, and to enjoy the freedoms of a successful entrepreneur. Be very specific and clear about what freedom means to you personally. Then work on those things that truly make an impact and help you achieve your goals faster. Read this post about the principle of leverage and how you can use it to grow your business twice as fast by doing half the work.

3. Not testing the market

It’s easy to assume that your product will sell and that everyone is going to love it. All your friends and family are probably telling you how great your idea is. What would they say though, if you asked them to pre-purchase your product and actually hand their cash over? Test it out. If out of 10 people no-one buys it, it’s probably a bad idea.

4. Ignoring the numbers

Chances are, the profit margins for your awesome product are just not high enough. Did you really think if you bought these cool t-shirts for $10 and resell them for $20 you made $10 profit? If you are serious about building a business, here are just a few things to consider: Taxes, accounting & bookkeeping fees, advertising cost, Marketing and promotional budget, rent, utility bills, shipping & returns, plus all the time required to build a profitable business.

5. Lack of focus

It takes focus to get a new business off the ground. Lots of focus. You need to have a plan of what your business is going to look like in a few months, as well as in a few years. Then, break your plan into smaller chunks and focus on staying on track. If you are like most young entrepreneurs you are probably working on the next project, even before you’ve seen any results. Stay focused. Also, instead of focusing on money, focus on adding value to your customers’ lives. If you can add enough value, the sales will come naturally.

 

6. Working on the wrong things

Yeah, no. Your logo and letterhead can wait. Start selling first. If it works you can start worrying about the cosmetics. You don’t need to spend hundreds or thousands on a fancy website either. Keep it simple and prove that your idea works on a small scale before you start going global.

 

 

 

Why do you think your business will be different? Have you experienced other challenges in your business or seen a new business fail? What’s the biggest lesson you have learned thus far? Leave me a comment below!

—
1. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/
by
, ,

Grow Your Business Twice As Fast By Doing Half The Work – The Principle Of Leverage

Let’s face it. We are all too busy.

Ask any friend or colleague how they are and chances are you’ll hear “I’m just so busy…”.

To cope with our never ending to-do lists, at work and in our personal lives, we look for ways, apps and tools to get even more done and in less time. We attend time management seminars to learn how to be more productive and take our smart phones and laptops to bed, so we can squeeze every minute out of our day. Despite the fact that we’re getting so much done, we aren’t feeling any happier. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

It’s a vicious cycle and for many of us there seems to be no way out.

I must confess, this is pretty much a description of the life that I was living for quite some time.

Until I learned about a simple principle. The principle of leverage.

 

The Principle of Leverage

By applying the principle of leverage, or the law of the lever, we are able to move heavy objects with a lot less effort. This simple technique has been known for thousands of years. The earliest remaining writings regarding levers and the principle of leverage date from the 3rd century BC and were provided by my old friend Archimedes (kidding, we never actually met).

So, since growing a business has little to do with lifting large rocks, how can we apply this to our everyday life and our to-do list?

Simple. The key is not to get more done, but to focus on getting the right things done.

We all have tasks that we need to perform on a regular basis.

Let’s say you have a particular task that takes you an hour to finish and you had to do it three times per week. This task then would take you three hours every week, or 156 hours per year.

To make better use of your time you could instead take one hour to write a system for this task. A step-by-step guide that you can pass on to someone else to perform the task for you.

 

What would you do with an extra 156 hours per year?

Now you might think, hang on David, that would mean I have to pay someone to do it? That money is coming out of my bank account!

Correct. But let’s assume you paid someone $20 an hour to perform this task. That would cost you $3,120 for 156 hours.

Wouldn’t you agree that, with 156 extra hours per year, you could easily recoup this expense and so much more?

Exactly. I’m glad you agree.

Do this for all repetitive tasks (unless you REALLY love doing them) and you will literally transform your life – and your business.

If you have employees or work with a team, you might even want to take it one step further.

Instead of writing a system for each task, write a system on how to write a system and let your team help you with developing your systems.

Having systems in place will not only help you and your team to be more productive, but will also add a significant amount of value to your business, should you ever consider selling it.

Good systems are the reason why large companies pay millions of dollars to buy out smaller businesses. They understand the value of having these systems in place and how much time and money it will save them.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE 1-PAGE BUSINESS SYSTEM TEMPLATE

Start your own business systems library to leverage your time and potentially save you hundreds of hours of work every year.

I have got my systems ready. Now, where do I put them?

A while ago, Tracey, whom I’ve been working with over the past two years, shared one of her biggest frustrations with me.

“David, my staff keep asking me the same questions, over and over again. It’s driving me crazy, having to answer those exact same questions EVERY day! I wish I could have my own ‘Google’, where my staff could simply enter a question and receive an answer instantly, without me having to be there!”

Two weeks later I got back to her with a system I had designed for her. We simply called it ASK. She now has all her systems in one place, stored securely in the cloud, which can be easily accessed by all her staff. Every system outlines exactly how to follow a procedure and where to find things. After a little over a year, she now has over 200 of her business systems documented. Even checklists now reside in that same system to ensure processes are followed correctly.

Staff members can simply grab one of the iPads provided and find anything they would ever need to help Tracey keep her business running, even when she’s away for a week or two, without having to call or email her.

I have since helped a number of business owners implement that same system, which saves them not only time and money, but more importantly, there sanity.

What’s your approach to increased productivity? Do you have systems in place that help you make the best use of your time? Or do you still do most of your tasks on your own? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts, what your challenges are and any tips you’d like to share.

1 Comment/by
, , ,

7 Reasons Why Your Business Is Going To Fail Within Your First Year

In Australia, more than 60 per cent of small businesses fail and cease operating within the first three years of starting out.[1]

This fact is too often ignored by enthusiastic entrepreneurs who all believe they have what it takes to build a successful business.

When I started my first business at the age of 21, I had all the right reasons for why I would succeed. Well, guess what? I lost thousands of dollars because I was overly confident and naive.

In other words, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Looking back, I now know that the main reason I failed was because of a lack of marketing skills at the time. I had a good product that people were actually buying, however, I wasn’t able to reach enough of the right audience to make it profitable.

7 reasons why your business is (probably) going to fail within your first year

In this article, I’m sharing common mistakes in the hope that you can learn from them.

1. You are not testing the market

It’s easy to assume that your product will sell and that everyone is going to love it. All your friends and family are probably telling you how great your idea is. What would they say though, if you asked them to pre-purchase your product and actually hand their cash over? Test it out. If out of 10 people no one buys it, it’s probably a bad idea.

2. Your numbers simply don’t add up

Chances are, the profit margins for your awesome product are just not high enough. Did you really think if you bought these cool t-shirts for $10 and resell them for $20 you made a $10 profit? If you are serious about building a business, here are just a few things to consider: Taxes, accounting & bookkeeping fees, advertising costs, Marketing and promotional budget, rent, utility bills, shipping & returns, plus all the time required to build a profitable business.

3. You give up too early

It’s all exciting when starting out as an entrepreneur. Until you hit a brick wall. There will be many obstacles along the way and sadly most people simply give up as soon as the first challenge arises. It’s all too hard and staying in your job is just too comfortable.

4. You waste your time working on the wrong things

Yeah, no. Your logo and letterhead can wait. Start selling first. If it works you can start worrying about the cosmetics. You don’t need to spend hundreds or thousands on a fancy website either. Keep it simple and prove that your idea works on a small scale before you start going global.

5. You are lacking focus or simply focus on the wrong things

It takes focus to get a new business off the ground. Lots of focus. You need to have a plan of what your business is going to look like in a few months, as well as in a few years from now. Then, break your plan into smaller chunks and focus on staying on track. If you are like most young entrepreneurs you are probably working on the next project, even before you’ve seen any results. Stay focused. Also, instead of focusing on money, focus on adding value to your customers’ lives. If you can add enough value, the sales will come naturally. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was a genius at creating things that people want. The sales were a by-product of Apple’s early success.

6. You don’t have the right toolbox (or no toolbox at all)

If you are a mechanic and want to build a car from scratch, you are going to require some serious tools. You’ll also need to know exactly what tools you require to get the job done. Your toolbox as an entrepreneur might look a little different, but there is no doubt that you will need one. Do your research on what you really need in order to achieve your goals work hard on getting smart.

7. Did someone say goals?

A shiny new product in a pretty box is not a very good goal. After all, you didn’t go into business because you wanted to sell pretty boxes. You went into business to live your passion, make money, and enjoy the freedoms of a successful entrepreneur. Be very specific and clear about what freedom means to you personally. Then work on those things that truly make an impact and help you achieve your goals faster. Read this post about the principle of leverage and how you can use it to grow your business twice as fast by doing half the work.

Why do you think your business will be different? Have you experienced other challenges in your business or seen new businesses fail? What’s the biggest lesson you have learned thus far? Leave me a comment below!

—
1. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/
by
,

Change Your Habits, Change Your Life – 10 Things Successful Business Owners Do

Have you wondered what are the things that successful business owners do? Habits truly are a powerful thing. Develop the wrong set of habits and you are destined to fail in various ways. Develop the right ones, however, and chances are you will soon see your business thriving, regardless of the economic environment.

These ten life-changing habits that you should adapt today to accelerate your success in business; and virtually every other area of your life.

 

1. Have a Daily Morning Routine

The way you start your day has a major effect on how it will pan out. If you have a sleep-in, a long breakfast in bed and don’t leave the house until after 1pm, it’s unlikely it’s going to be super productive day. If you get up early, however, and have a routine that puts you in the right mind frame, you are much more likely to have an extraordinary day.
I was first introduced to the idea of a morning routine by Tony Robbins with his Hour of Power.
A while ago I came across a book called The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, which is all about developing a morning routine designed to fit into your everyday lifestyle. This one habit alone, if implemented into your daily life, will catapult you into a different league.

(Don’t think I don’t love having a sleep-in every now and then. They surely have their place.)

 

2. Regularly Schedule Implementation Days

Boost your productivity by incorporating implementation days into your work. I started having these days with my clients, where we plan out an entire day in advance and then set a date where I come into the business and help them implement a certain strategy. These days have literally doubled my productivity, compared to working on a project for a couple of hours and over a number of days. My credo on those days is that I’m not leaving until our to do list is completed.
Be sure to have a well-planned agenda for the day. I usually plan it out a few days in advance and schedule tasks in 15-minute slots.

 

3. Go on an Information Diet

I am a big personal development junkie. I believe that we should never stop learning, evolving, and striving to fulfill our true potential, at work and in our personal lives. However, taking time to let your mind rest and reflect is in fact necessary to keep high levels of productivity (and your sanity). Take a few weeks every now and then where you consciously reflect on what you have learned and focus on actually using your newly acquired knowledge. It’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of jumping onto the latest tool and strategy without ever having implemented anything you learned in the past. Remember, the best strategy of all is the one you implement, not the ones stuck in your head.

During this time, try to also stay away from technology, email and social media as much as possible. I like to have occasional no-tech weekends with my kids to enjoy quality time without all the daily distraction.

 

4. Develop a 90-Day Action Plan

Four days per year that can change the entire course of your life. Literally.
Take a day every quarter to re-write your vision for your life and business. Get clear about where you want to be in life in 2 years, 5 years or 10 years from now. Then think of the 5 tasks or projects that you believe will have the biggest impact in moving you closer to your goals. It might be launching a new website or implementing a new lead generation strategy. Make sure you it’s not more than 5, as you are much more likely to lose motivation if you pick too many. Make these 5 projects your absolute priority for the next 90 days.

Hint: It’s often the things that are not urgent that are in fact the most important ones to work on. We tend to give all of our attention to the most urgent tasks and as a result never actually get to the things that truly matter. A great way to ensure you will actually tick off your top 5 projects is to schedule a number of implementation days (see habit #2).

 

5. Write a blog or journal

When we write down our thoughts and ideas, our brains are forced to organise these thoughts. This will help you to clear your head and bring structure into all the knowledge you have acquired through seminars, podcasts, books or audio books. Every now and then, I take the time to sit down, pick a topic and simply put everything on paper that shoots into my head. It doesn’t always end up on my blog but it helps to get it all out of my head. If you don’t want to make it public, you can simply keep a journal instead.

 

6. Pay attention to what you pay attention to

Did you ever pick up your phone to quickly check your emails or look something up and suddenly realised that an hour has passed? After checking your numerous social media profiles and watching yet another useless YouTube video, you ask yourself, where did all this time go? With all the noise and distraction these days, it’s easy to get sidetracked and lose focus. Fact is, the more you indulge in these distractions, the harder it will become for you to regain focus and dedicate your time to what truly matters. You can think about it this way. We all start our day with a limited number of attention credits. Every time you pay attention to something you are giving away some of your credits. Until you have no more credits left to focus on the right things. That’s when most people simply zone out and turn to Netflix. Be mindful of how you spend your time and stop wasting precious attention credits.

 

7. Practice the 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule – also called the Pareto Principle – has been around for over a hundred years and states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. For example:

80% of your problems can be attributed to 20% of causes
80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers
80% of complaints come from 20% of your customers
80% of your profits come from 20% of the time you spent
80% of your sales come from 20% of your products or services
By focusing on the 20% of tasks that make the biggest difference in your business you will free up a lot of your time and drastically increase productivity and profits.

Ask yourself, who are the 20% of your customers that generate 80% of your turnover? Or who are the 20% of your customers that create 80% of your headaches? Maybe it’s time to let them go? (Yes, sometimes it’s wise to fire our customers.)

 

8. Have a not-to-do list

We are often so busy worrying about all the things we need to do that we don’t realise that we fill our spare time with habits that are not only unproductive, but can be absolutely draining, even harmful to our bodies, minds and overall health. There used to be a time where I’d come home after a long day of work and, without giving it any thought, switch on the TV, wasting the rest of my precious evening. I’d watch random shows, go to bed late and wake up the next morning exhausted and with a lack of motivation. The longer I kept going, the harder it seemed to break the cycle. Until I made a conscious decision to change my habits. A not-to-do list was a great start and helped me keep on track. My list looked somewhat like this:

  • Do not switch on the TV when coming home
  • Do not check your phone at random intervals and get sidetracked
  • Do not eat out of boredom

You get the picture. I then added things I could do to replace my old habits. Instead of watching TV, I would go for a run, have a shower and go out with my kids for an hour. Instead of having my phone next to me at all times, I started switching it off during times where I want to be productive and only check my messages during a break or at the end of my day. What are some bad habits that you should/could stop doing right now? You probably already know what they are.

 

9. Have a Think Week

In his book Essentialism, Greg McKeown writes about the concept of Think Week. A week where you take time out of your busy schedule to simply indulge in good books, articles and magazines to learn, gain new insights and, most importantly, think. We are often too busy to think about if what we are doing right now is still congruent with our values and purpose. Taking time out to re-evaluate where we are and where we want to go in our lives is crucial to our success and, more importantly, our happiness.

If you are too busy to take an entire week off, start by dedicating a few minutes each day to read, learn and reflect. Your morning routine would be a perfect time for this (see habit #1).

 

10. Streamline & Automate Tedious, Repetitive Processes

One of the fastest ways to free up your time and budget is without a doubt the use of the right tools and software to streamline and automate the most time-consuming processes in your business. With the technology available today, many repetitive tasks can easily be fully automated, so you can focus on the things that truly matter to you.

Here are just a few things that I have helped business owners to automate and streamline:

  • Lead generation
  • Email marketing
  • Social media marketing
  • Invoicing
  • Answering Customer Questions and Enquiries

How many of these things are you currently doing yourself or have staff doing, when they can be fully automated? The goal of my 90-Day Marketing Transformation program is to automate all of the above, as well as other aspects in your particular business. You can find out more about the program here.

Do you have certain habits that help you to be more productive and accelerate success? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below to share what’s worked for you or what challenges you are facing right now that are holding you back.

To your success,

 

3 Comments/by