Entrepreneurs

Rich Schefren is one of my business heroes, and here he gives you insights on the inner game of growth from his three previous live streams on:

1. How to Easily Scale Your Biz
2. Biohacks & Business
3. Life Lessons of an Entrepreneur

The video is 2 hours and 22 minutes long, so it does take some stamina and determination to get through.

Here is the video.

If you want to dig deeper into any of these three subjects, here are the original videos. [continue reading…]

I pay a lot of attention to Brian Tracy because he always provides concise, insightful advice. In this 16-minute video, he explains goal setting.

I’m a big believer that business owners must be intentional in their actions. They must decide what it is that they want, how they will achieve it and then organise their time and resources to do the necessary actions. Goal setting is a big part of this thinking.

What do you want from your business?

That’s a fundamental question to ask when thinking about your business strategy.

But how often do you stop to think about it?

The answer probably has two categories:

1) what you want for your customers;
2) what you want for yourself as business owner.

Much of this blog looks at what the business can give its customers in terms of unique customer value.

What should you get for your time, energy, ideas and money invested?

I think it comes down to more money, more fun and less effort.

The job of strategy is to make sure you get what you want while giving customers what they want.

The full title of this book by Walker Deibel is

Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a Four Stars rating. This means it is Good to Very Good.

Here is my book review.

Very well written guide to being an acquisition entrepreneur

Can you succeed by buying a business? [continue reading…]

My eyes were opened on this work life issue when I read the ground-breaking book “The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work And What To Do About It” by Michael Gerber. As far as I’m concerned, it is a must read book for the vast majority of business owners.

In it, Gerber identifies three roles played by the business owner in a small business and believes that few do the last one well. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Scott Hallman is

“The 7 Success Drivers to HyperGrowth: How America’s Fastest Growing Entrepreneurial Companies Achieve Greatness“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the FIVE Stars level, this means that I consider it excellent.

Here is what I posted.

Packed with important lessons

Many years ago, I bought an excellent audio training product by the author that provided detailed implementation advice for Jay Abraham style marketing and profit building strategies. Since then he’s been one of my favourite experts and I’ve been looking forward to the time when he publishes his first book. [continue reading…]

Many people dream about “being their own boss” and, perhaps, you’re one of them.

Others find them forced into self employment and starting a business because they were made redundant from what they thought was a secure job and either, are struggling to get another job or don’t want to go through their recent traumas again.

I started my consultancy/training/coaching business in 1995 and I’ve never regretted it even though I had a few nights where I’d wake up in a cold sweat, wondering what I was doing.

The Different Ways You Can Become A Business Owner

There are many different routes into becoming a business owner:

1. Starting a business from scratch on your own.
2. Starting a business with a partner.
3. Buying a business on your own.
4. Buying a business with a partner.
5. Buying into an existing business, perhaps because the existing business owner either needs more cash or wants to reduce his or her hours of work.
6. Buying a franchise.

[continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Charlie Gilkey is

The Small Business Life Cycle: The No-Fluff Guide to Navigating the Five Stages of Small Business Growth

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars. This means Worthwhile.

The business life cycle from the entrepreneurial idea through to mature businesses is taught in theoretical studies of entrepreneurship and business. It also has real world implications because the challenges facing the entrepreneur change as the business grows and becomes more established.

This short book gives an overview of the stages which is useful for aspiring entrepreneurs. The challenging work is only starting when the business is formed and there will continue to be plenty to do. In fact, there is always more than could be done.

I think it’s less useful for business owners with businesses. They have problems that need to be solved and real life doesn’t fit neatly into a theoretical model. As the owner tends to work with a short term detailed focus, wherever the business is currently, the book doesn’t have much to say that’s relevant. This is inevitably the weakness of a book that looks along the life cycle and the shorter the book is, the less it can say that’s helpful to navigate away from any one stage.

I much prefer a book like The E-Myth Revisited which is packed with light bulb moments. Owners can relate to the frustrations, recognise themselves in why they started and then accept they need to change.

Perhaps it’s caught me on a bad day but I thought the book was quite dull and uninspiring.

Recognising that businesses differ with age and maturity is important to understand. There is an adrenalin rush at the start and then a series of frustrating problems. Some businesses stay very small and don’t experience many of the growing pains. In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on “scaling up” which can be thought of as an optional stage or perhaps a series of optional stages. There are a huge number of books telling you about the startup phase and an increasing number of books that look at the issues around scaling up.

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The full title of this book by Ken Blanchard Don Hutson and Ethan Willis is

The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars. This means Worthwhile.

Here is my review.

Not as good as I’d hoped but worth reading if you’re thinking about starting a business

I love the early One Minute Manager books and I had high hopes for this one. It follows a story format as usual for the One Minute series, looking at the story of Jud and Terri McCarley and their speaking business JTA. [continue reading…]