What if you couldn’t FAIL?

What if you couldn't FAIL?
You get up in the morning with the same excitement you have every day.
You look around the office and with a smug look on you face you say to yourself “I did this”
Now imagine the possibilities without FEAR?
You have great ideas every day, you visualise the potential of where your business COULD go.
And then it hits you like a sledge hammer, what if I F*** it up and it all goes wrong?  What if this?  what if that?  Can I pull it off?  What will people think of me?
Now, the little voice in your head is driving you crazy because the little voice is starting to make sense, and the voice in your head is given you the biggest problem we all face…..DOUBT.
My question to you, and a simple question it is at that. WHAT WOULD YOU DIFFERENT IF YOU KNEW YOU COULDN’T FAIL?

Entrepreneur is a word that is used far too often to describe a business owner. Anyone can start a business and anyone can call them self an Entrepreneur, however the real test is how we deal with the FEAR FACTOR.
Do we
A:  Give ourselves reasons not to?
B:  Not even consider option A
Fear is merely an emotion that can be controlled

How hard can it be to take your own Advice?

When it comes to giving advice, I love it! In fact its more than that, I get no better feeling than hearing those great words “what would you do Col?”

My advice over the years has become renowned for its brutal honesty; I have always believed that if you ask for my opinion on a specific matter, I will  assume that you really wish to know what my opinion is? Surely if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have asked?

Here’s my first piece of advice, if you have a fat arse, please don’t ask me “does my bum look big in this” if you just wanted me to bullshit you into feeling good. 

Now, here’s the problem, I can’t take my own advice, even when I know that the advice would really improve a situation. If I could practice what I preach (on many a level) I would be the person I always wanted to become.

Just writing this down and reading it back to myself is making me feel like a hypocritical two faced knob.

Take this for an example; I’m slightly overweight, I repeat SLIGHTLY!! I know that I would just feel great if I shed a couple of pounds. If you came to me with the same predicament, I would have you focus on the end product, “how great would feel if you lost the weight” I’d ask you. I would recommend that you journal your weight loss so you can see the progress, and so on…….

Me, I see this

So, the best piece of advice I could offer anybody including ME is to take your own advice, use what you have inside you and practice what you preach. Your self-belief with rocket into another dimension.

Try it tomorrow, I will.

Franchise your Business part 1

This is my first “to be continued” blog. I am in the process of growing my empire using a tried and tested route to market…..Franchising.

Now, here's my issue, to date I have been to 3 different “free” franchise showcases, and all of them say the same blurb,

Step One:- We will tell you if you can franchise and in-return you pay us loads of money

Step Two:- We will then tell you what you need to do to get to where you want to go, and in-return you will pay us even more loads of money

Step Three:- We will provide you with lots of already written templates that you can tweak to suite your business, along with some tried and tested but not unique marketing ideas and in-return you will give us loads of money.

Step four: once you have sold a couple of franchises we will take the credit for all the hard work you put in, and should you fail we will take no responsibility what so ever, and you would have just lost loads of money.

I’ll tell you what Mr Fee earning consultant, if you’re as good as you say you are, then you do it for free and I guaranty to double what you would have charged me by paying you commission for each franchise we sell?  What do you mean no? are you not as good as you say you are?

I’m now caught between a rock and a hard place; I know that if I do pay the franchise consultant, I will never fully appreciate what they are doing for me. If I don’t use the “expert” and go at it alone, I will find it dam near on impossible to find an investor.

I Have A Dream

Are you in the early stages of building your empire?

Before you sit down and put pen to paper to write your first business plan then you need to have one thought in mind

THINK BIG!

There are no limits to your business (well apart from the ones that other people put in front of you)

Do you think Martin Luther King had any doubts when he delivered his “I have a Dream” speech? 

Did Ray Kroc believe that after meeting Dick and Mac McDonald back in 1948 he was thinking small?

These inspirational figures had vision, the kind of vision that is mocked by others, and yes you too will be ridiculed by even the closest people in your life.

The moment YOU stop believing in your dream and accept things for the way they are, that will be the way they stay.

As Winston Churchill once said 

Who is your Business Yoda?

Everyone starting out in business needs help, you don’t always know how to access the answers that believe it or not you probably “already know”. 

Allow me to explain:-

I hate business consultants with a passion, But Why?

The reason is not them but me,  I would get frustrated that all they seemed to do is take stuff that I “already knew” put it in a report and sell it back to me.

That’s the key, you do “already know” most of the answers, the trouble is that you don’t always believe what you tell yourself!

This is sometimes called a  “gut feeling” or “intuition”

What you don’t need to do is spend hundreds of pound that you don’t have paying a fee earning Business Consultant. There is another way; I call them Business Yoda’s (just because its sounds cool).

Where do you find your Yoda?

Well believe it or not they are everywhere, Networking groups, Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn or even in the local pub, you don’t need to crash your X-Wing fighter into a swamp to find yours.

You’re looking for people who understand who you are and what you’re trying to achieve, they don’t need to understand your business, they just need to know how to run one.

Take the softly softly approach with them, find out more about them, join there circles, follow them on social media.  Get them to like you and more importantly find out if you like them! if you don't, find another one. 

Over time speak about your business and the problems you are facing, if they start to respond and give you sound advice, then guess what , you are on your way to becoming a Jedi Knight as you may have just found your Yoda. There are also no rules on how many Yoda’s you can have.

How Do You Stay Positive

How Do You Stay Positive

We all know that starting a business from scratch is no easy task. (and if you didn’t you soon will). Business owners often experience stress far beyond the pressures of a normal job.

Often it’s very difficult to continually remain positive, to keep the belief that one day this will all be worth it.

I’d love to get some feedback from other on how YOU stay positive so that other can benefit on what works for you.

I’ll start you off with my favourite:

Stay away from negative people, they will bring you down. You know the type, the ones that complain about everybody else, and the ones that think they could do it better than you but never try!

STAY AWAY from the people who don’t believe in YOU

Please add your advice in the comments box so we can share them with others

Copycat Marketing

“I’ve done it….yes, I finally work for myself”

Remember that feeling? 

You may also remember the feeling of once being the best at what you do?

You were the best hairdresser, electrician, web designer or retail manager. You know you are that’s why you once said those magic oh so life changing words…….

“I could do this better than my boss”

You must have uttered those words once or at least something like it. You are the best at what you do and that’s why you are now doing it for yourself, and hey, so you should.

The problem most start-up businesses realize very early is that you might be the best hairdresser, electrician, web designer or retail manager, but you don’t know diddley squat about marketing!!

This is when it happens; this is when most start-ups make that first critical error,

“Let’s see what everyone else does, and copy them”. 

 If it works for them surely it will work for you, right?

Let me ask you a question,

When you sat down to write your first business plan whether it was a 10 page manuscript or on the back of a cigarette packet, did you mention that you would strive to be the same as everybody else?

That you would offer the same poor level of service as everyone else? That you would charge the same, look the same or even give yourself the same name? 

Of course you didn’t (if you did then close your business today and go get a job).

You started your business because you knew you could do it better than the rest.

We wouldn’t want to be different would we? What if somebody notices!!!

Try to be a bit different but whatever you do, don’t do nothing and bury your head in the sand.

One result I can promise you is that you will always get NOTHING from doing NOTHING.