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W h i t t a k e r
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(MINUS) 101
What you will not be taught
i n B U S I N E SS 1 0 1
Failing as an Entrepreneur has more to do with YOU!
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the Master Entrepreneur and to
those who have fallen and to those yet to join the successful
of society.
Authors Disclaimer
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
11
18
83
107
124
197
271
289
323
347
Conclusion:
382
Do You Qualify?
386
Action Stations!
392
394
Acknowledgments
From the time that I could remember I was being taught one
lesson after the other and endured many challenges throughout
my life. While trying to find my way, like you, some of the
lessons I learned were sweet, some were bitter sweet and
some were just plain bitter. While we go through the good or
sweet times we feel that we are on top of the world as I did.
However, when things go wrong the human and wrong
reaction is to find someone else to blame. I questioned God on
many occasions but somehow always knew that I was the
master of my own demise in almost all of my failures in life.
Having been brought up in an environment which most would
consider being poor and destitute I most certainly may have
been numbered amongst the criminal elite should I have
allowed my early influences to overcome me. In fact, even at
an early age I recognized that there was something or someone
greater than me, and if I was to remain on the straight and
narrow, I would need to have His influence and protection as
long as I lived. Having been walking the Christian life for so
many years now, I can honestly inform you today that my life
has been guided, protected and directed by my Heavenly
Father for as long as I can remember. Therefore, for this book,
and the lessons which I have learned in the business
environment and the rest of my life, I give praise, honor and
glory to whom it truly belongs God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit.
My dear, dear wife, Sunly-Ann, I pay a special tribute to in that
she has been my earthly inspiration for this book. I have never
in all the time that I spent on putting pen to paper so to speak
in order to complete this work heard a single complaint from
her. Instead, what I received from my loving wife is a
tremendous amount of encouragement and a woman who
7
Introduction
not working for a boss anymore and had decided to apply for a
second mortgage in order to finance a business venture. Again,
the passion was there and the excitement and enthusiasm was
abounding but the issue with this couple was that neither of
them had ever owned a business before and had spent the
larger part of their lives working for a boss. It seemed so easy
to get the salary check at the end of the month without having
to be concerned about the actual management of a business.
They thought, after all, how difficult can it actually be right?
The boss goes away when she likes and drives a top of the
range Mercedes Benz. The way that she dressed was always
impeccable and in fact she actually looked rich and behaved
with a great deal of confidence and if she could be successful
in business then it is possible for anyone to do it they thought.
Really!
This couple was different though in that they made some effort
to receive a certain amount of business knowledge and part of
what they learned was that they needed a few things before
they even opened the doors. The banks are very good today
with encouraging potential and prospective entrepreneurs to
first develop a business plan before starting a business and I
agree with this policy and form of encouragement. I think that
every business needs a road map and a formal business plan
does this: the problem is that very few entrepreneurs actually
adhere to their own business plan. This couple went a step
further and also prepared an in depth and reasonable marketing
plan (the problem is that entrepreneurs do not follow their own
marketing plan) for their future business and have their
accountant formulate additional cash-flow projections (the
problem is that entrepreneurs do not follow prepared cash-flow
projections) just to make sure that they were on the right track.
How could they go wrong?!
However, the one thing that I did admire about Ben and Sue
was that they did not reinvent the proverbial wheel. They
found a business that seemed to be going well at the time, and
even found a niche in that they would spend their efforts
developing a specialized cleaning company focusing solely on
10
me though that at least they had not lost their faith and this
pleased me a great deal.
While I can go on citing one example after the other I have to
realize that if you are reading the material contained in this
book then you have either experienced personal failure in
business or at least know of someone who has if you are
neither then you will most certainly be glad that you are
reading the words between these pages should you be wanting
to start your own business. On behalf of people like you and
me then I want to do all that I can to prevent the current
devastation which exists around the world as this relates to
well-meaning people wanting to own their own business but
finding themselves losing everything soon after they opened
their business doors. It is this constant devastation in the lives
of people in the business world which has stirred me to write
this book with the sincerest hope that the right people would
read the material contained herein BEFORE they enter into the
big wide world of entrepreneurship.
The question that each future entrepreneur should ask then,
before going into business is am I really ready for business?
The glamour and prestige of owning ones own business is
alluring. The benefits, so called, of owning a business comes at
a price though. Many prospective entrepreneurs, no matter
how prepared at the initial stages, or during the honeymoon
period which I often refer to, will be prepared for the total
onslaught of owning ones own business. The real truth of the
matter is that the honeymoon period will wane as will the
excitement and initial enthusiasm. These will eventually give
way to the reality of cash-flow management and challenges
when clients and/or customers refuse to pay or pay invoices in
their own time. While legally binding agreements are entered
into by both parties the entrepreneur will soon understand that
these really mean nothing in the real business world as dog
eats dog so to speak. Many times, for all business, when the
economy forces pressure then it becomes a matter of survival
and as an entrepreneur you will soon see the true colors of
those whom you thought were great clients or customers. Your
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15
1
Passion: The Key to Unlocking Human Business Potential
Introduction
Recently I took a trip to the United States and after sixteen and
a half hours of being on an aircraft I found myself sitting in the
Delta Airlines boarding lounge after a session with US
Customs. You must understand that I was tired as I am not one
to sleep sitting up when flying and what did not help matters
was that I was awake when I should have been sleeping (time
zone changes). However, even in my moment of awakened
limbo I was astounded for a moment at what I saw. Hundreds
of people hustling and bustling their way through the airport
terminal and from one departure lounge to the next. The
atmosphere was electric and the noise from people who had
places to go and things to do was deafening to say the least but
the difference here was that all seemed to know what they
were doing and where they were going. I noticed friendliness
in people, cleanliness in the buildings and professionalism all
over the place. People were laughing and greeting one another
as though they had been friends forever, and yet, I was almost
sure that they were total strangers.
I felt that I was missing something but could not quite put my
finger on what it was, and then, out of the blue, a word came to
mind which perfectly described what I was experiencing that
Thursday morning in AprilPASSION!
Having spent many years in business and having truly enjoyed
being an entrepreneur during this time I have always wondered
why it is that so many businesses fail before they reach the
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20
21
What did you feel like when you saw the very first car that you
ever owned? My first car story brings back good memories and
bad. Back in those days I thought that my friend drove the best
car on the road and of course this was a vehicle which would
have appealed to any young man as the girls looked each time
that we drove by. I made a plan and bought the vehicle from
my friend for cash and never stopped waxing it from that day
on. I could not bear to see the car dirty or scratched so I
checked it regularly. The engine and the engine compartment
were absolutely spotless. I polished the tires, used special
leather polish on the upholstery (very expensive I may add)
and added every accessory that I could find to the point where
the car looked like a mobile version of a Christmas tree. I
made sure that I parked the car away from other cars as they
were just not good enough to be close to my baby (I also
didnt want any damage and scratches you understand) and my
garage was hygienically clean or I would not park her until I
made it so. I made sure that the gas (or petrol) attendant was
formally trained before he filled her up (or I preferred to
actually do this myself back then) and any mess would be met
with a serious mouthful from me. At this stage of my life
nothing was more important to me than my Canary Yellow
Nissan 1600Y. The passion I felt for her at the time could not
be compared to anyone or anything. She deeply stirred me!
I found her! This was what I told my family and friends when I
met my wife. I found the one that I can spend the rest of my
life with and despite all our faults we loved each other. How
wonderful it was to know that with all of my wrongs in life I
found someone that could understand me. For everyone else I
was always labeled as too complicated! Not easy to live with!
Too focused on business and not enough on me! While I do not
believe that it is the lot of a partner to change one another my
wife changes me by virtue of who she is. Her gentle and soft
personality understood me better than anyone I know and I
decided to change in order to accommodate such a wonderful
nature. As we grew in our relationship we changed for a better
partnership so to speak and this suitable partnership helped us
come together as one. It was wonderful to see how our love
24
grew but so did our passion for one another and the common
ground achieved through these personal and voluntary
changes. Love must grow in any relationship each and every
day but I am convinced that many marriages do not last
because the passion needed to sustain a growing love wanes.
How sad it will be if we as married couples are not able to
sustain the great passion that brought us together and the same
passion that helped us to plan our families and the purchase of
our first home together. Remember when we chose the names
of our children and the schools that we investigated to ensure
that they receive the best possible education? We bought a
house and the furniture together and chose the colors and the
designs in excitement and abounding passion?
Dedication and passion are a formidable team. Little Ashton
was but six years old when he developed strange symptoms.
The symptoms included the systematic loss of his eyesight
noticeable by him bumping into simple obstacles. Then for
some unknown reason he started falling off of his bed in the
middle of the night and when he jumped up and down on his
trampoline (a favorite pass time of Ashtons) he at times
misjudged the downward motion and landed up on the ground
something which he had never done before. His mother loved
him as any mother would and knew him well enough to know
that Ashton needed to be taken for a medical examination. The
little boy, who was blond, handsome and full of life, was
subjected to some serious medical tests in order to ascertain a
diagnosis and prognosis. No one was prepared for what lay
ahead for Ashton. After a while the doctors came back with a
conclusion and stated that Ashton had in fact inherited a
dreaded disease which attacks little boys under the age of
seven called ALD (ADRENOLEUKODYSTROPHY) and is
a terminal illness. Many may be familiar with this disease
through the movie called Lorenzos Oil (Nick Nolte).
Ashtons disease spread rapidly through his brain and he was
taken from his mommy a year later.
However, I had the opportunity to see how a mothers love
evolved from love to dedication to passion and back to love
25
26
lips how come I have never noticed those before? No, dont
hold my hand, it feels so good! Thus the new found
excitement and enthusiasm builds for the opposite sex and
while we dont call it passion at the time that is exactly what it
is. We develop a passion for the opposite sex and then find our
first girlfriend and go through the immature age of discovering
one another and we all know just how much this passion can
consume a young teenager. Studies at school are virtually
abandoned (if it were not for the persistence of mom and dad)
and so are all sanity and the only thing on their minds is to
impress the first love despite all the zits and pubic
development. While the constant giggling and laughter may
represent the immature part of our first passion this tends to
give way to the so called carefree nature as we mature.
The passion now matures as the adolescent discovers the
one. We often hear of the phrase high school sweethearts or
college sweethearts and while this baby love has developed
into a slightly more mature love we also now tend to add a
playful carefree side to this relationship. The love builds as
does the excitement and enthusiasm as the decision is made to
hook-up and graduation rings are swopped as a sign of a
more committed and permanent relationship and this brings a
sense of belonging which in turn takes the excitement and
enthusiasm levels up another notch. This is a part of young
love which we are all familiar with and this is the passion
which we cannot deny having experienced. At this point it is
imperative that you and I start to understand the term passion if
it has not as yet happened to you to this point. Passion is so
central to everything which we are as emotional creatures and
this is why I am so adamant in helping you to understand that
if you have no passion for business then how can you consider
such a high pressure challenge? Young love has its ups and
downs and challenges and the only thing keeping a couple
together when this happens is the passion which they have for
one another and this same passion you and I consider as love,
excitement and enthusiasm.
30
the very first time it would seem that we needed a cause. Some
issue to focus on. Someone to stand up for and maybe
someone to protect and whatever it was the one thing that was
clear was that the passion was there. Some hated the Vietnam
and Korean wars and made their voices known with passion
while others fought for the right to life of unborn children and
others for the rights of a woman to terminate her pregnancy in
the case of rape and other circumstances. Workers protested for
more rights, better working conditions and wage increases and
are willing to strike in order to achieve their goals. The Syrians
are currently at war with one another because each side
believes they are right and are willing, and are in fact doing
just this, to lay their lives down for their cause. The Egyptians
and the Turkish nation also have two sides who honestly
believe that their argument and their side is better than the
other, and again, the passion is so intense that more lives will
ultimately be lost if sanity does not prevail.
Throughout the various developmental stages of man and
woman there is a time of insanity fuelled by great amounts of
passion; however, one can argue from a psychological point of
view that during this time of turmoil and passion direction is
sought. The human race is always willing to do whatever it
takes to further a cause and that is why some of the most
destructive moments in history such as the first and the second
world wars have been fought. Prior to this terrible time we also
know of civil wars which have taken place in the known world
on virtually every inhabited continent and this continues today
unabated. Men (generic sense) need direction as do countries
and many times it is passion that fuels the search for this. The
cause is the road to direction no matter how chaotic but the
passion associated with this is the fuel to bringing about a
conclusion to the chaos and establishing the final sane
direction.
Teenagers will quickly tell you of their story as they view their
parents in critical areas. It would seem that they tend to
question their parents more and more as they move through the
teen years. They will tell you of the need to feel wanted and
32
the dire need for direction. However, they will also share the
utter chaos they feel at times as they view their own lives not
knowing where they are headed and even if they did they
actually have no idea as to how to get there. One of the areas
of great concern to me personally, and I am most certainly not
perfect, is how many teenagers view their parents
preaching. It has been said that the greatest problem that
teenagers have with their parents today is the great
inconsistencies which they find in their actions and
philosophies. For example, Mommy says, Dont smoke, my
son, while puffing on a cigarette. Dad says, Dont drink and
drive Susan, while drinking a beer on the way to the 7Eleven. Never lift your hand to a woman, says Dad as he is
arrested for battering his wife. Go to church children, its
good for you, but fathers refuse to lead their families
spiritually. Young people also look for and need direction as
they have the most unbelievable amount of energy and will
either put their energy and passion into doing the wrong thing
or into the right activity. Your passion and mine was largely
mentored by what we saw around us and how we reacted to the
same and while we are not a product of our environments (I
dont care what the psychologists say) we may most certainly
be influenced.
The so called early year chaos is waning and the future looks
brighter. The university or college studies are done or we have
now established ourselves in some field of interest. We have
found an occupation capable of cementing our passion.
Finally! We have found the entity which has alluded us for so
longdirection. Enthusiasm gives the energy and excitement is
our booster but our new found passion becomes our drive.
One of my daughters, currently studying psychology at
university, has been a prime example of what we have been
discussing and contemplating over the last few pages. I have
watched her grow from one stage to the other (as I have my
other children) and finally the direction has been found. She is
calm and confident in her studies, has a cool headed boyfriend
and has an amazing passion for autistic children and those
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35
She was young and I was not convinced that this was the
correct procedure for her at such an early age however to my
surprise the physician was prepared to do the surgery after an
initial assessment. A quotation was handed to my daughter and
me after the consultation and of course I almost fell off my
chair. Be that as it may my daughter was adamant that this is
what she wanted despite the repeated warnings by all that the
surgery would be painful. Obviously she was young and the
cost beyond her capability, or so I thought. She bargained with
me until I agreed to pay half of the cost if she could raise the
first half and so the deal was clinched. As she was a waiter for
me in a coffee shop which I owned at the time I had no idea
what I had done by partnering with this little fireball of
mine. In no time at all she had raised her part of the money
needed for the surgery and I had no option but to play my part.
I will never forget the day that I registered her at the hospital
and she was called in for the surgery. I truly felt terrible as a
father for allowing her to go through so much pain. However,
while I apologized profusely to her that day and hugged her to
death all she could say was that it is very painful daddy but
Im so glad that I had it done and that its now over. I realized
for the first time just how passionate she was over her
boyfriend to the point where she would be willing to endure
whatever it took for her to look pretty for him. I only hope that
he will always remember this sacrifice which she made. To me
though, the intense passion for her cause was what impressed
me the most and it was this immense passion that enabled her
when she was not able.
The other thing about passion is that it gives energy. I am sure
that you will agree with me that when we finally identify
someone that is passionate about something the same question
is posed over and over again: Where does he get all the
energy from!? It is fantastic to also see someone so consumed
in performing activities in their passion that they often exclaim
is that the time already? The phrase then: Time flies when
you are having fun is a perfect description for those
consumed with any and all activities related to their passion.
All the cares of the world seem to vanish and the focus has
36
BEFORE the trash was dumped. The way that these gracious
people helped one another with consumables and equipment,
told me that they were passionate about getting the job done.
The fact that there was no loitering to be seen among them was
a clear sign that they actually enjoyed doing what they had
chosen as an occupation.
The one thing that I have noticed about passion, and I sincerely
hope that you will agree with me here, is that people that have
found true passion for their occupation truly dont care what
they do for a living as long as they love what they do day in
and day out. What they dont need is someone, whether it is a
manager, a family member or even a friend, coming into their
personal positive space spoiling the moment. Many
managers do this unwittingly. For example, an employee, who
is quite happy, content and PRODUCTIVE, the manager will
interfere with such an individual with disastrous consequences.
When someone is obviously passionate about what they are
doing and are happy AND are productive what on earth would
make a manager interfere with such an employee-no matter the
level of their task? This is good advice for you as a future and
possibly current entrepreneur.
Once we have found direction in life through our occupation
we will also find our passion and I truly believe that the one
goes hand in hand with the other but I also believe that you
cannot find the one without the other. Passion must be present
when an occupation is chosen or why would you and I
deliberately and willfully choose to spend the rest of our lives
doing something that we will detest, and according to the
scientists, bring about our untimely death through stress and
illness? Psychologically, for some reason, direction has
become all important to the human species. It appears that we
are no longer happy with wilderness wonderings and reckless
hippy, Gypsy or nomad style living and have opted for a more
structured direction filled life. It is often said that if you dont
have any direction then you wont amount to anything and if
you dont have any direction then you wont know how to
achieve your goals and so we can go on. Direction is found
39
the details and wanted to make sure that I was doing the right
thing.
My friend, I have just told you a little bit of my story but there
are countless stories of various kinds out there where people
like you and me who are passionate entrepreneurs who are
being stifled by well meaning (not all the time) people ready,
willing and able to prevent us from fulfilling our passions for
the sake of losing security.
Let me share yet another secret. I have learned through many
wonderful and successful entrepreneurs (and you will hear me
repeat this on many occasions in this book) over the years. If
you are a TRUE entrepreneur, and this is often the difference
between this person and a businessperson, then you will know
that your security lies not in others but in YOU. You are
confident in your abilities, which you are as a person, your
attitude; the way people perceive you but most of all you
believe in your understanding of the way forward and need no
direction from already directionless people around you.
We say then that while enthusiasm gives the energy and drive
we also say that the new found cause in our lives will both
change and secure our direction and whatever so called
rebellion which consumed so much of who we were and our
time finally gave way to sanity. The great thing then about
passion is that while we had our so called wild days and we
wondered around from one stage of life to the next trying all
sorts of rebellious (at times) actions we eventually seemed to
find ourselves. When we find ourselves in the business
environment then we refer to this as direction and when we
have direction in our business and career lives then it is
amazing how everything else seems to fall together in other
aspects of our family life. When we live in chaos then we must
understand that this aspect is a realm not of this world.
Here then is my summation on this first session on passion!
Why look for passion when you already have it?! I am always
amazed at people whom I have the wonderful privilege of
talking to who ask me how they are able to get passion or they
will say to me I want passion like you have. My standard
43
answer is why are you are looking for something which you
have already found? You have had passion from when you
were a little boy or a little girl and I can tell you that it has
NEVER left you but what you have successfully done over the
years is allowed others around you to suppress your passion
whether you know this or not we will deal with this fact in
more detail under the Self-Image chapter. Can you imagine me
telling you that you still have the same passion which you had
when you were two or three? You are looking for something
you already have! You want to get into business for yourself
but dont think that you have the necessary passion to perform
but I am telling you that you are wrong! What I am telling you
is that you cannot go into business without passion, oh yes I
am, but I am also telling you that you have what it takes and by
the end of this book you will understand not only WHAT it
takes to start your own business but also that you HAVE what
it takes.
Now that we understand that passion is actually a part of what
we are and that it is critically placed in us in order to shake
and move us, and where it comes from and that we have not
truly lost passion, we must now understand that there are ways
to keep the flame of passion burning. While passion in our case
deals with the passion of business we all know that the term
passion on many occasions is also referred to the love between
a man and a woman in its romantic sense.
I will never forget, many years ago now, I was so touched by
an event as a young man that whenever I think of the story I
still get goose bumps. The couple had met at college but both
were extremely jealous of one another and of course this
caused many an argument between the two young lovers.
There were moments between the jealousy though where
tenderness was shown by both but it was at this instance that
the man in the relationship was negatively influenced by his
family as the young lady was not of the standing and
background approved by the young mans parents. They were
prominent politicians and well to do and her family was more
from the blue color community but with stable values to say
44
the least. The point is that there was a conflict of interest and
their passion for one another was seriously tested at all times
as both were influenced and had separate challenges. At one
stage in their lives though I remember, Jason preparing a
surprise for Melanie, a white horse-drawn carriage drove
them down to a lake at Central Park where he unpacked an
amazing picnic lunch with champagne. The two spent the
afternoon at the lake feeding the gees and discussing future
plans as a couple. Anyone looking at these two would have no
doubt of the true love and passion which existed in this
relationship. As the summers afternoon continued more words
of love were whispered to one another and as they looked into
each others eyes they seemed to fall more and more in love
with each passing moment. All of a sudden, without any
warning whatsoever, Jason kneeled down in front of Melanie,
and as she turned around all of her college friends were
standing all around the couple (popping out from behind every
tree it would seem) as he proposed to her, and all in that part of
Central Park that day whom were witness to this most
romantic moment. Needless to say the answer was YES!
The relationship took strain as the parents on both sides were
not happy and placed immense pressure on the couple.
However both were steadfast in their love and passion for one
another. Between classes, in her senior year, Melanie collapsed
for no apparent reason. Jason was called to the infirmary and
while Melanie seemed to recover somewhat the physician
decided that it was wise to request a blood test. A day or two
later Melanie and her parents (who did not want Jason present
at the time) were called into the doctors office that had terrible
newsMelanie had terminal Leukemia. While the doctor could
not be certain of the exact time remaining he did take time to
warn all concerned that only months remained and that there
was nothing that could be done to save Melanie. Obviously, the
shock was palpable but none more so than when Jason was
told of the results. Disbelief, determination to fight the disease
and we will get a second opinion were all of the defiant
gestures which came out of the mouth of a man that was
obviously much in love with his beautiful Melanie.
45
Jason was not going to let go. He was going to love her to the
end and he was going to spend every waking moment with his
love. As Melanie became weaker and weaker she had no
option but to drop out of school and so did Jason. She loved
going down to the local park, sitting on the grass and watching
Jason feed the geese. Little children were always a special part
of Melanies life and for the first time she realized that she
would never have the privilege if having children of her own
or in particular being a mommy to her little princess. She
would never see her daughter grow up or even see her get
married for that matter and this thought upset her a great deal.
Jason, being his sensitive self-had heard her muffled cry and
came over to hear her story. He fought back the tears but he
held her tightly. The worst thing for him was that he knew that
he no longer had the words to help her to overcome her pain
and all that he could do was hold her but somehow she found a
way to help him believe that this was enough. It was a Friday
morning, a little colder for some reason on this particular day,
sweaters were needed, but Melanie wanted to go to the park at
around ten in the morning. In fact no matter what Jason said in
order to persuade Melanie otherwise she was adamant that she
wanted to go to the park. Jason had noticed a difference in her
on this day though but decided that she was more tired than
usual and gave her more love and attention in the hope that she
would start feeling better. Although cooler weather prevailed
the love was stronger and the passion evident through
wonderful words exchanged and the soft gentle kisses felt by
each other. Jason, as he had done on a few occasions before,
had placed Melanie on his lap, hugged her, and used the swing
to go to and fro in the hope of soothing the pain. While they
were talking, after about fifteen minutes, Melanie became
quiet but Jason had not realized this for about a minute or so.
He looked down and realized that she had died gently and
quietly in his arms just like she had always said that she
wanted it to be.
As in our story above once passion is discovered it has simply
got to lead to what I will call PASSION STABALISERS. We
understand that we never truly lose passion but that passion
46
differently all the time and the old adage of out the box
thinking will most certainly apply. Optimism gives you this as
if you are excited and enthusiastic about what you do then I
can tell you that you will have no problem at all looking for
solutions from whatever angle it takes. As an entrepreneur this
is a must for you as your business and your idea is at stake.
Keeping passion will ensure a positive mental attitude. You
will be tested in all areas my friend and if you think that you
have had life tough up to know then I can assure you that you
are about to face the toughest challenge yet. I have often
watched the program called Survivor, like many of you, and
like the challenge of it all obviously. If you think that
Survivor is tough, and if you think that you have had a tough
life, and then get ready, my friend, for the ride of your life as
business and entrepreneurship is not for the faint hearted.
While I hate to do this to you I would rather that you save your
hard earned dollars and stay away from entrepreneurship as it
will destroy you if you do not understand the utmost need to
have the most positive of mental attitudes you will be tested
by all. You will see later how I refer to the fact that people
can see an attitude coming and if your attitude is negative
then that is what EVERYONE will see coming long before you
even open your mouth. I have always been amazed as to how
some well-meaning but most arrogant of entrepreneurs treat
their clients and prospective clients to the point where I
actually question who the client or customer is. If you want to
be served then stay out of business but if you dont mind
serving others so that you can get paid for it then by all means
get into business. Let me say that again you become an
entrepreneur to serve others and be paid for it not the other
way around so you are not doing the client or the customer a
favor being there.
A positive mental attitude will also have other benefits but one
which I like in particular is perseverance. Your business will
go through numerous phases in its life cycle (just like
everything else) so dont be surprised. One day things will
look so good you will not be able to contain yourself and the
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very next day you will come into the office and truly believe
that you have got off at the wrong planet. Now, instead of
getting back on the train/plane and trying another
station/planet or giving up you will need to employ a
wonderful tool known to us senior entrepreneurs namely,
PERSEVERENCE. How do you like this? The Oxford
Thesaurus tells me that for a job requiring perseverance the
following words are best used to describe such an occupation:
persistence, tenacity, determination, resolve, doggedness,
diligence, dedication, application, commitment, endurance
and stamina. Wow! Wow! Wow! How can I compete with this?
This perfectly describes my point but the one that I want to just
spend a bit of time on as while the others do apply; however,
the doggedness has caught my attention and in my opinion
perfectly describes what you and I go through in the world of
entrepreneurship on a daily basis. You (and if your spouse is in
business with you) will find that you will be attacked from
all sides daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly and any other
ly that they can throw at you and this attack will come from
people that you know and people that you dont know. You
will have to deal with client/customer complaints while
dealing with price increases from your suppliers while your
staff is off on sick leave. You will have cash-flow issues
whether you like it or not and you will have suppliers
delivering short stock. You will be chasing the money but
clients wont pay because the level of service was not what
they were promised. Your sales staff has misrepresented and
your installation team has under delivered. Your client is
threatening to terminate the agreement in place due to the
service agreement not being met and this is now affecting five
different sites owned by your client/customerrepresenting a
substantial loss to your new business and a serious threat.
What do you do? What do most people do? I am not
asking you what most people do I am asking you what you do?
Let me tell you what you do you hang in there and you
never ever let go no matter what they throw at you and you
know what they call this action DOGGEDNESS! You will
thank me for this sometime my friend so if you feel that you
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are the kind of person that gives up easy then save your money
or give it to a charity as you will lose it anyway. You will be
challenged and you will be tested so be ready to persevere.
They say that patience is a virtue and if you are a budding or
a potential entrepreneur then you had better take time to
understand this virtue if you believe it to be such. However,
when you are sure of the passion for your business which gives
you the optimism which you will desperately need to succeed
and the correct positive attitude then all of these will lead to
you having the correct amount of patience, and trust me, you
will need this key ingredient beyond measure. All young
men have the same problem somehow and I dont care where
you are from in the world. I had this challenge and so do my
sons however my one son in particular no names shall be
mentioned of course. This particular son we shall call Steven
so we are just a little more personable with him. With Steven it
is the Instant Generation and he wants everything that he
does to be a success overnight or he simply loses interest in the
activity. I mention this to you as you may be reading this book
saying that I have a son just like that and he is in business with
me. Well this is the very reason that I bring this to your
attention. If you have the great fortune (and I still consider it a
privilege to work with my family) to work with a young son
then you will know exactly what I am experiencing at the
present moment but I wont change it for the world. However,
you will need to be careful, impatient people have a habit of
taking you in the wrong direction in the blink of an eye and the
danger is greater if they are somehow emotionally linked to
you and/or your business. Taking the above into account YOU
must understand that it takes time for a baby to walk and
your business is not going to get up and RUN BEFORE IT
WALKS. You are going to have to take the lead in having
patience and while we do not cover business plans in this book
it would be foolish not to prepare such a document and to
adhere to the same as you move forward. As a baby, gets up
and falls down before it even stands so will your business go
through these types of infant stages so be patient. As a baby
crawls for quite a while before it takes its first step so will your
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business before you will be able to buy the Mercedes Benz that
you have dreamed of owning for so long? You may only be
able to move out of your rental home once the baby (your
business) starts to walk at a decent pace so be patient. The
bigger and better things in life will come as the baby has
started to run but not before so dont allow the people around
you, even your loved ones, to distract you and to push you or
your business beyond your means, or its capability. Living up
to the Joness is HIGHLY overrated so never get caught in
this trap EVER. In fact, be patient about where you want to be
financially and if you are deep into debt BEFORE you actually
take the decision to become an entrepreneur, and think that by
becoming a businessperson you will get out of your debt,
forget about it. Dont go into business if you are already in
debt as you will not be able to focus emotionally and neither
will you have the patience to allow the business to build
financially in order to service your debt. The moral here is that
you will bankrupt your business because of your debt before
you have a chance to prove that you are capable of succeeding
and this will have long lasting negative psychological
consequences on both you and your loved ones. Entrepreneurs
must be patient ALWAYS patient!
My philosophy as this relates to attitude is that it also has the
ability to intensify initiative. In the context of entrepreneurship
initiative may also be taken to mean enterprise and this to me
is the ability of an individual to think on their feet so to
speak. This is a resourceful driven person epitomizing the
entrepreneur who finds a way around any and every challenge
and is driven not only to succeed but to also be recognized by
his/her piers for outstanding performances within the industry
of operation. Initiative as far as the entrepreneur is concerned
speaks of someone who is inventive and innovative as in many
cases and countries around the world these men and woman
operate without any support network at all. These people,
though, even when operating with a professional support base
will stand out as entrepreneurs who are not afraid to think their
way out of a demanding and complicated situation. These are
the creators and often become the multi-billionaires of our
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at critical times during the work week. Well I can tell you that
the partnership never lasted long at all as the one partner were
an entrepreneur with self-discipline and the other was simply
lazy. Laziness has no place in business and if you are going
into business you need to be honest with yourself and if you
know for a fact that you have tendencies to be lazy then give
your money to a local charity as you are going to lose it all
anyway. Self-discipline is when you need to get up in the
morning and work the business plan just as you did the day
before and the weeks and months before with no letting up. As
an entrepreneur you will be jack of all trades but in this you
will also have to be the master of them all. You will need to
discipline yourself to keep to ordering schedules, meetings,
sales calls, existing client visits, service schedules, staff
training and the list can go on and on depending on what you
are getting into, however, the point is that you must be selfdisciplined if you are going to be an entrepreneur. The
wonderful thing is that if you have the correct attitude as we
have already discussed then having the correct level of selfdiscipline will come naturally to you. However, as your friend,
I want to caution you in this area that I have found that one of
the greatest causes for failure in this KPA, believe it or not, and
as has been stated before, is well meaning family and friends.
For some reason they seem to think that because you own your
own business your time now belongs to them and they will
consume as much of it as you will allow so never let them
destroy your business as they will not accept the blame for
your failure and you wont blame them but yourself and this is
the more the pity of it all.
My family knows me well so they know that I wont take on
anything that I am not totally passionate about. As a part of
being an entrepreneur you will know that it is highly
recommended by me and others in the know that you de-stress
each and every single day that you are in business. I have
chosen to do my de-stressing by riding my mountain bike. I
love riding my bike and my family will say, yes, youve
guessed it, hes passionate about it all! In order not to stress
on the way to work I choose routes which have less traffic and
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in order to ensure that I dont get into peak hour traffic I only
leave the house at eight in the morning. In order not to get into
the afternoon peak traffic and to get my bike ride in I leave my
office at around three each day great hours you say. Well, in
all honesty, it has taken me many years to get to this point and
I only started doing the new program during 2013. With
regards to work, if I cant finish it today I can finish it
tomorrow or I delegate it to someone I trust to get the job
done. What about my bike? It takes me about fifteen minutes
to change into my bike gear and Im off for at least the next
two hours. I have selected the most difficult course which I
could find in my area and when I get home my family
seriously think that I am going to have a heart attack (may be
the case one day but so far the Doc says Im strong). After a
shower I chill on the couch and then I complain about all
kinds of aches and pains but lately no one takes notice
anymore they know that it wont change my mind at all and I
wont stop riding. When I am on my bike I make it a point to
think of all the most aggravating stressful things that have
happened to me that day, that week and that month if I can
remember that far back. My thought here is that if I think on
the most stressful items then I can get rid of these from my
system. I think it works (my physician friends may disagree)
for me as I feel more relaxed by the time I get home. The point
of telling you all of this though is that my wife once asked me:
Why do you keep on doing this to yourself? She also asked
me on another occasion: What makes you so committed to
riding your mountain bike? I will tell you what I told them,
Its who I am! You see, when you are an entrepreneur, ITS
WHO YOU ARE! You will not be able to be anything else as
the success will drive you as being an entrepreneur is a calling
and if you are called to do something then you are equipped
with the necessary passion and this very same passion will
ensure that you are instilled with sufficient optimism and
attitude. You will not think in terms of failure my friend but
see the opportunity in everything business around you and you
will be called upon to supply the solution to challenges and not
be seen as the problem to every problem. You will be seen as a
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for the sake of success. The values will help you to understand
what comes first in your life and how far you would go to
achieve it. You will also understand when analyzing yourself in
many areas where to place your focus for instance, low value
items or high value items. This is where, as an entrepreneur
you will understand your goals and focus your attention on
activities that will get you to where you want to be rather than
on wasting your time on activities that will make others
believe that you are busy but not actually productive sales.
The great thing about you here is that as an entrepreneur you
will understand, in light of the values which you have set and
understood you will have the ability to analyze each and every
activity in light of your personal goals and not be afraid to
shed what needs to be shed in order to maintain the much
needed focus in order to attain ultimate victory.
Keeping the passion has a lot to do with GLUE and as an
entrepreneur there is no better glue in the entire business world
than GOAL-SETTING. I like the word bond to describe
what I want you to understand here. As an entrepreneur you
have numerous pieces to a puzzle and before you are able to
succeed you must be able to put all the pieces together but the
main challenge lies within your ability to keep them together
and this I call GLUE/BOND. As an entrepreneur everything
that you and I are going to do to now centers on our goals. Our
very passion exists because of our goals as does our business
and aspirations. It would thus be correct to consider the entire
goal setting schedule (a later chapter) the glue that keeps the
entrepreneurship program together without which we would
have no direction at all. The glue then or the bond relating to
goal-setting is the connection or attachment to the entire
process which we call entrepreneurship.
Goal setting as far as the entrepreneur is concerned is the
COMPASS for success for much needed direction. I cannot tell
you how many times I meet great people who tell me of
wonderful ideas that failed. These good people explain as to
how they got things going and how the sales started coming in
and how they started opening other branches and that they took
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wont make it as your passion will wane the minute you face
the very first hurdle.
Generally though as an entrepreneur you will find three critical
things happening to you which you must consider and these
are self-inflicted financial pressure, lack of exercise and poor
health and probably in that order. May I make it quite clear to
you, my friend, in order to be a successful entrepreneur you
must understand the dire need to take care of yourself in all
areas. Should you not look after your finances you will place
undue pressure and stress on yourself. Should you not exercise
then you will become ill because of the stress and pressure. In
other words you will go around in a vicious circle and
ultimately you may even die. The advice then is simple. If you
plan to be an entrepreneur then you MUST exercise, you must
NOT have major debt and be aware of stress and pressure
levels at all times good health also means regular medical
examinations. Be honest with yourself and check yourself in
these areas and if you cannot take the upcoming punishment
then save your life rather.
Many would be entrepreneurs are lured into the glamour of
not working for a boss. I have not yet met an unhappy working
person who would not like the privilege of handing in his or
her resignation with pleasure. I have met many people who
would like to quit while also making a derogatory statement of
some kind to the boss due to some or other maltreatment over
the years. The point is that many people want to become
entrepreneurs but they dont consider their actions or their
desires before they act. The only thing that appeals to them at
the time is the idea of not having to report to the boss or
manager ever again. I want to be my own boss. I dont want
to ask anyone for vacation again! I dont want to ask anyone
if I can go off sick! They will go on and on however what
they are really saying is that they dont want to be accountable
to anyone anymore. If we feel that the entrepreneur can lose
passion through the loss of personal motivation dont we think
that the same may happen should there be a sudden loss of
personal accountability? Susan worked in a corporate company
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for many years and worked her way into the position of senior
HR executive, pretty smart lady some would say, and yes, I
would agree as long as Susan remained where she was. This
wonderful person called me one day in tears and told me her
story. While she was with the corporate she was personally
structured and worked for an even more senior manager but
she was never really in charge of the nitty gritty and day to
day running of things while she was with the company. She
described to me how she had staff at her call from morning till
night so to speak however the day came when she left to do her
own thing and then it dawned on her that she would have to
perform many of the daily tasks on her own without much help
at all. Apparently all of this deflated her to the point of tears
and severely affected the initially high passion levels which
she showed prior to making the decision to starting the
business in the first place. An entrepreneur may also become
prideful as he or she is now an own boss and feels that they
are not accountable to anyone at all anymore. This attitude is
not good at all as if you keep on telling your spouse that you
are not my boss then she is going to back off and when you
exclaim desperately one day you show no interest then she
will just say back at you, You are your own boss remember?
If you as an entrepreneur cannot maintain enough humility to
understand the importance of allowing yourself personal
accountability to those close to you then you will fail. Do not
allow your new found freedom to go to your head and do not
allow pride to destroy your dream. Remember, this is not only
your dream but the dream of your spouse, your children, your
family, your friends and others close to you. All of these want
to be and need to be included in all of your activities and your
successes. Should you deliberately and willfully choose to
exclude all of these that have chosen to side with you then you
do so at your own peril and when you exclude these you will
feel the pain and when you finally feel the pain you will start
to feel the loss of the passion and then all is lost.
Unchecked negative behavior can take many forms however
none more devastating to a family unit than that of pride and
arrogance. The saying of pride goeth before a fall does not
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you think that you have arrived to the point where you can
actually state on television to millions of viewers that you
believe that people who are meek (by the way someone once
told me never equate meekness with weakness) and mild and
people who are not arrogant are the weak people of society,
then you must understand that you are a prime candidate for
the age old saying of pride goeth before a fall. You will
understand, my friend, what I am talking about here is not that
you need to walk around with your head between your
shoulder blades and hanging on the ground. I am not saying
that you and I must be slouching around in order to show
humility and speak softly in order to make sure anyone around
us does not confuse our loudness with pride. I am not saying
that you must not be proud of your achievements at all but
what I am saying is that if you are so proud of your
achievements that these consume you to the point where you
have no time for anyone but yourself then you have a serious
problem. No matter your achievements you must maintain
your passion and the quickest way to extinguish the flames of
passion is to douse them with pride and arrogance. The same
young man referred to above while referred to as successful for
now has a limited life span in doing what he is currently doing
and he will be the first to tell you that he is not happy as he
cannot keep a girlfriend apparentlymaybe he should ask
himself why dont you think?
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2
Optimism: The Mainstay in Overcoming Lifes Obstacles
The 1st Secret: PASSION
The 2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
Introduction
May I make a bold statement here which may help you right at
the outset and that is if you are prone to being a negative
individual and have pessimistic tendencies then I will be frank
with you and make it abundantly clear to you that the world of
entrepreneurship is most certainly not for you. Please do not
waste your time even researching the possibility as the very
essence of entrepreneurship denotes that of OPTIMISM and
optimism must be based on entities such as positive thoughts
which produce positive behaviors. In your case your negative
thoughts will most certainly produce negative behaviors which
will not be good for a business environment. Let me explain.
A number of years ago I was involved in a business and
unfortunately my ex-partner and I did not see eye to eye so to
speak. While we had worked together for many years tension
continued to build and what did not help is that I was
emotionally involved with his daughter. The relationship with
the daughter happened prior to us going into business so I was
not able to walk away from this at all at the time. The ideas
were great and we developed both a professional business plan
and a successful business; however, the more successful the
business the greater the challenge between the partners. The
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daughter and the mother and the brothers and the uncles and
aunties were all invited into the business over the years against
my advice and better judgment. The idea here now is that you
will have to do your best to use a gift and talent called
empathygenerally stated to mean that you have the ability to
place yourself in someone elses shoes and to look at things
directly from their perspective. Empathy is a gift and ability
only a few people practice but those that do use it to enhance
success, and in particular in the selling environment, which I
discuss in another book on selling techniques and practice.
You will now understand that I was working with the family
and socializing with them all during non-working hours, in
fact, we even did vacations together. However, we actually
started out enjoying all of this partner/family time but the
novelty soon wore off and even more so as the extended family
grew into the business. A sinister view grew amongst them all
that I was about to take over the business and get rid of the
whole lot of them and no one believed this story more than my
business partner. In fact, I had heard of the rumor and met
with my partner to discuss this threat against our partnership,
business and ultimately our friendship. No matter how many
times we met, and how many times I assured my partner that
this was not in fact the case, and spent a great deal of time
proving the contrary, he continued to side with and believe the
family. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I
learned first-hand what people mean when they say that blood
is thicker than water. The other complication by now was that
I had married the daughter and we had a beautiful little girl
together and instead of my life partner trusting in me and what
we were able to achieve together to that point this did not
happen. The marriage soured and simply went from bad to
worse. Life at home was not the same and I resented every
minute which I was forced to spend time with the family.
Going in on a daily basis to my own business was not the same
and I began to detest the very thought of working in a
company which I had worked so hard to build. When I got to
work I looked forward to going home and when I was home I
wanted to run away but only my little angel kept me sane and
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your way and that you will face some of the most impossible
and insurmountable challenges but none of these mean that
you will ever have a license to slip into the deep dark world
of the pessimist. Pessimism will simply mean the end to all
your goals, dreams and desires in business and in life.
I am a firm believer then that an attitude of eternal optimism
will ensure that the entrepreneur is better equipped to
overcome any and all manmade obstacles in life and the
business world. You name the industry and you and I will find
a strong and successful leader. In such a leader, the one thing
that will always stand out as a high and meaningful
characteristic is the presence of a seemingly endless amount of
eternal optimism manifested outwardly. In such a person lies
an endless well so to speak of positive emotions which is so
prevalent that it is contagious to all those who come into
contact with this person. As an entrepreneur you must be guilty
of optimism and never be afraid of showing the signs nor
should you make excuses for your attitude. I can assure you
that you will only find the optimism trait in the best
entrepreneurs and business people all over the world so you
will need to feel that you belong to an elite group of successful
people no matter the industry within which they operate.
One of the best ways for you to recognize an optimist and a
successful business person and entrepreneur is their
determined inability to give any credence or time to the action
known as FAILURE. In all honesty, and this should be the
same in your case, failure is not an option as they will boldly
proclaim to you and me. FAILURE! WHATS THAT!? While I
have stated that if you are an eternal pessimist then it would be
better for you to choose another career as opposed to that of an
entrepreneur. I also want to admonish here that IF you are able
to re-focus your feelings and emotions from thoughts of failure
to opportunity and to the positive side then your life will
change for the better.
I have been studying the phenomenon of optimism verses
pessimism for a number of years now both within the
businesses owned and operated by me and in businesses with
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Management Attitude
1. Optimistic managers do not think in terms of FAILURE.
2. Not pondering failure is a part of their essence or being and
nature internal.
3. Their commitment to the task at hand and their above average
work ethic does not deter them from their view and belief that
EVERYTHING IS AN OPPORTUNITY.
4. The optimists cup is ALWAYS half full.
It was Albert Einstein who stated, which I feel is so
appropriate for the optimist, Logic will get you from A to B but
imagination will get you everywhere.
Industry Related Conclusions (Service Industry)
1. An accidental observation makes me believe that optimism
promotes and many times leads to the great attitude of
PERSISTANCE amongst managers and entrepreneurs in the
service industry.
2. In service related businesses, in my opinion, PERSISTANCE
IS THE ULTIMATE KEY TO SUCCESS AND A HAPPY
CLIENT/CUSTOMER.
3. Optimistic service managers and entrepreneurs who show
persistence will try and try again and again in order to achieve
client satisfaction.
You may be wondering then, like I did, are optimists born?
You may also correctly be asking if there is hope for the
pessimist at all. Is it possible for a pessimist to change? First of
all we must look once again at both entities but as the attitude
of pessimism can destroy your life as an entrepreneur I suggest
that we first inquire as to this miserable attitude. There are
many reasons bandied about as to why people become
pessimists and how this all comes about and these range from a
lack of religious beliefs to the home environment when
growing up and the influence of TV at a young age. While I
am sure that we could study them all; however for the sake of
this book I feel that we should focus on the most prevalent and
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the ones that probably make the most sense to you and me.
After all, we need to have easy reference in identifying these
so an over complication at this point will be fruitless for an
entrepreneur and the business focus.
The following entities affecting the promotion of pessimism is
of great concern to me personally and may be passed down
from one generation to the other either deliberately through
force and/or inadvertently through ignorance. The list that
follows is in no particular order at all:
1. The home lifeearly childhood.
2. Contributions by mentorsadolescence.
3. Early and continued stresses and tensions-school, career or in a
business environment such as a partnership.
4. Existence of prolonged physical ailments and/or trauma.
5. The final result.
In briefly dealing with the above in manageable terms it is
imperative for the entrepreneur to understand truly as to how
close pessimism is to our lives and actions on a daily basis.
Young children (could be yours) are often brought up in the
worst possible neighborhoods and are severely influenced by
all that goes on around them. Should they be fortunate enough
to escape the influences of the area within which they live they
still have to deal with what goes on at home. Parents live in
their own worlds but will not admit to it. They want children
but do very little, in many instances, to protect them from the
daily wrath which is dished out in the home. Parents have
frustrations and stress both physically and financially. They
face these challenges on a daily basis both in the home and at
the office or in a business. They start bringing the issues home
and are not bothered about where they are and what they say
for that matter. In many instances it matters not that the
children are but a few feet away from a full blown feud
between mommy and daddy as the selfish levels have
overtaken the logic which should prevail in both parents. The
shouting, violence substance abuse will eventually take its toll
and the children will inherit these tensions and stresses and
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the answer must be yes but the solution lies in the hands of the
negative pessimist? Rehabilitation will be a long and a hard
road and will be based upon many small victories in order to
achieve total rehabilitation. The problem for the entrepreneur
is that such a road is seldom travelled by the pessimist so again
you are admonished to do due diligence when considering a
business partner. My personal advice is for you is to stay
completely away from someone whose entire make-up is in
direct opposition/contradiction to you and your positive nature.
I remember a family who were living in our neighborhood and
I want to tell you their story with a view to helping you to
understand what may make people pessimistic about life. I also
want to share this terrible ordeal with you so that you would be
more enlightened as to the plight of the eternal pessimist. The
family, as I remember, consisted of a mother, a father, three
brothers and two sistersfive young children all in all. In all
my life I have never been exposed to two adults in my young
life that were more self-centered and more selfish than these
parents. The dad was prone to substance abuse and blamed all
of this on action which he saw during the Second World War
and his very own upbringing. Apparently while his mother was
an angel and treated him with all the love due to him his
father was an animal" and regular beat his son and truly
treated him poorly. What did not help was that he did not do
well at school at all and the father used this as an opportunity
to instill in the young boy that he was totally stupid, an idiot
and would never amount to anything at all. The young child
also grew in an environment where alcohol was regularly
abused by all the so called leaders and mentors in the family.
Everyone that this young boy should have looked up to for
guidance was a drunk, using foul language and verbal abuse
virtually every day. He was forced to serve alcohol at a very
early age and was even encouraged to try the same during the
drunken sprees being enjoyed by the adults. The problem was,
the more the adults drank, the more aggressive they became
and to the point where it would not be uncommon for family
members and friends to resort to physical violence in the
presence of the boy. While the drinking continued the young
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man was not allowed to leave the drunken orgy as he was the
designated Barman or more appropriately you and I would
say, Bar boy.
Imagine the life of this youngster! More often than not he was
exposed to terrible conditions, verbal abuse, abusive language
and physical violence. This was his father as a role model so
may I ask you then what do you think became of the young
man?
The story goes that as he grew so did his anger and frustration.
He found a young woman, married her, abused alcohol and
then abused his wife. At the time they had a daughter together
and she grew up in these circumstances. Her mother was so
abused, as was the little girl, so the mother divorced this young
adult man. All of this frustrated him even more and he once
again, just like his father before him, turned to alcohol but this
time also drug abuse as the alcohol was no longer able to take
away the past frustration and hurt which was absolutely raging
inside of him. He went on through life though and was called
to serve in the Second World War around 1940. While he and
his two brothers were separated they mainly served during the
North Africa campaign against Rommel and his army. The
three survived the war but were seriously wounded on a few
occasions our subject was shot in the throat and lost an eye
during action. After 1945 he returned home and the three
brothers that survived were photographed and this was placed
in a frame with the heading of The Victory Three. The
alcohol abuse continued and the anger and frustration had now
multiplied many fold. The good news was that the war veteran
had met a beautiful young woman a few months after his
return home.
He first saw her when he used a bus for a job interview one
Tuesday morning he fell in love at first sight apparently.
While the young woman made him work hard for their first
date the rest is history. They were in love and soon thereafter,
like things were done back then, they were married. The one
thing which I have not shared with you thus far is that both the
young man and the rest of his family were not well to do at all.
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and his younger brother came out of the house to help their dad
out of the car. He could not walk in his drunken state and had
to be helped into the house. How embarrassing I thought at the
time!
After his first time running away from his pressure and tension
he repeated this pattern many times over; however, when he
did come back home after a long absence he was always
severely intoxicated and/or high on drugs and this led to
serious consequences. Many of these arrivals happened
during the early hours of the morning and the children were
woken from their sleep, embarrassed and had to go and help
the dad into the house while he screamed abuse at the
neighbors and his wife. Instead of the wife calming the
situation (very difficult to do as we can all imagine) she hurled
abuse back which infuriated the father even more. In his
drunken state he was still able to smash the furniture, destroy
the house and hit his wife which on many occasions saw her
lying on the floor covered in blood. The mother endured many
visits to the hospital and had many bones broken over many
years of abuse. The police came and went and nights were
spent in jail by the father however none of this helped at all
and the verbal and physical abuse continued for many years.
The five children in the house had no choice in the matter. As
long as the parents were able to attack each other both verbally
and physically there was no focus or consideration for the
children and many times they had to hide and/or run in order to
get away from the mom and dad. When the dad was away
the mother was frustrated and this frustration was taken out on
the children and even when she was calm she spent most of her
evenings in tears as she contemplated her life and her wayward
husband.
May I ask you a question? Please tell me how you would be
feeling had you been any one of these children. Can you
imagine the trauma emotionally and psychologically at this
point and not one of them had reached their teens when this
started happening. How does a young immature child handle
such selfish parents? How do five children survive the
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3. You have no control over past failure and neither are you able
to change failure.
In the selling environment I recommend a post sales call action
known as Post-Call-Self-Analysis. The entire idea behind
this analysis is that once a sales call has been completed the
sales person should take time out to analyze the good and the
bad parts of the sales call. I have found that by encouraging the
sales person to complete this action after each call, and by
teaching the method of doing these analysis sales people tend
to remember their critical errors during the very next call.
Should they have discovered a failure during a sales call then
this is identified and a solution put in place immediately in
order to avoid a repeat of the error or omission. When in
business then it is my belief that every failure no matter how
trivial the same it should be assessed, first of all to see if it in
fact is a real threat, and second of all if the threat is real then to
find the lessons which should not be forgotten and/or repeated
if at all possible. Once the failure has been identified and dealt
with then leave it in the past as the only thing which you are
now interested in is not repeating the failure and to ponder all
and any future success which has come out of all of the
lessons. Again, listen to me my friend set past failures aside,
learn the lessons and then move on! Understand that neither
you nor I will have any control over any of our past business
failures as the time has left us and none of us most certainly
cannot gain this back. If we cannot get the time back then it
stands to reason surely that we cannot get the failure back even
if your goal is to correct the failure. It is not possible to change
a past failure. Even if you were able to change a failed
marriage from a divorce to a re-marriage are you able to erase
the errors, mistakes or failures that got you divorced to begin
with? It is water under the bridge, in the past a part of life and
history which will never be repeatedmove on. You cannot and
will not be able to change past failure and only you are able to
deal with this eternal concept and if you are able you must
open up a whole new world called OPTIMISM!
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3
Attitude: It Says Yes I can or No I cant!
The 1st Secret: PASSION
The 2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
The 3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
Introduction
The entrepreneur faces many challenges in the life of a
business; however, I am sure that you will agree with me, in
many instances, the entrepreneurs worst enemy as it were is a
truly bad attitude. Being a successful entrepreneur is more than
developing and implementing a business plan and managing
the finances. A profitable business also needs more than an
entrepreneur or business person who is able to focus on and
succeed with a great IT program and a well-organized service
department. If your business is within the retail industry your
success will not only depend on a high foot-count through your
doors and the fancy clothing in the store. In fact, it makes no
difference what you do as an entrepreneur and how well
presented your business in all aspects I want to make it clear to
you that the best and biggest show window to your business is
you and how well your staff represents you. Some of the best
businesses in the world understand the concept which I am
about to reveal to you in this chapter. If you dont understand
that it is not enough to set up your business professionally if
you and your staff have no clue as to how to treat the client or
the customer. Therefore, allow me to introduce you to a key
attribute which you must recognize in yourself and your staffATTITUDE. Not only must this attribute and characteristic be
recognized in you the entrepreneur but also in all of your staff.
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Work environment.
Work performance.
Customer/client relationships.
Working relationships.
The areas above deal directly within the working or business
environment and while one could consider these within family
and personal relationships this will not be the focus for us for
now as the goal is to ensure your success within your business.
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nothing but doom and gloom and will associate all other
businesses, which is either failing or who are suppressed by the
world economic climate, with his or her own. In other words
instead of seeing the challenges around him as an opportunity
these people will view them as an unassailable threat and
consider it only a matter of time before their business joins the
business graveyard. Technically they will use any excuse for
their failure whether actual or perceived. They walk around
with an attitude which is best described as follows: Woe is me
woe is me!
As a staff member in an environment where such a person is
present how productive do you think such a person would be?
Imagine being a client, banker or supplier having to connect
with such a person. This person is more likely to complain
about everything, and I mean everything, than spend time
focusing on solutions to what he or she thinks is a threat
brought about by whatever perceived crisis. A negative attitude
in an entrepreneur will not allow this person to exude
confidence and will most certainly not enhance performance of
any kind at all. In fact, I have seen on many occasions, that a
negative approach to life and business will severely damage
relationships, confidence, mental ability, and as stated before it
has the potential to kill you. As is the case with the positive
person anyone, and I dont care who you are, if you have a
negative attitude people can see a negative attitude coming a
while away!
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economic onslaught but you will also have your business ready
when this all changes for the better-act now to reap later.
2. Understand why you are successful.
Your business is now at a certain stage so what stage are you
at? This is the time to understand where you have gone wrong
by understanding where your strengths are. Assess your
achievements no matter how small and now build on these and
the more you focus on the success moments the more positive
you will become. The good thing about identifying what you
did right means that you focus less on what you did wrong and
the more you build on what you did right the more success you
will achieve moving forward. Many entrepreneurs do this the
other way around and tend to identify what they are doing
wrong. However, most positive entrepreneurs seek out the
positive energy and synergy in the business as this is a natural
skill and a part of their true character.
3. ALWAYS focus on the current Business Plan/and or goals.
At the outset you developed a business plan which surely
included certain goals for the business. The business may have
had growth goals over the short term (1 year?) medium term (5
years?) and the long term (10 years?) and you will do well to
focus your positive attention on these with a view to assessing
these on a constant basis. There is no point in having
wonderful plans when it comes to goal setting without a clear
review plan. Reviewing these plans keeps you in charge and
ahead of the game so to speak. Should the economy climate
and/or your competitors threaten the success of your business
plan then surely you understand that an assessment may lead to
you altering certain aspects of the plan to reduce any threats
against your business. The goal is to succeed but this can only
be done with a relevant business plan and relevancy can only
be achieved through constant review and updating. Once you
are happy that your recent changes to the business plan works
better on paper then it stands to reason that you now ask
whether what you are currently doing (business
activities/actions) matches to the revised goals and potential
achievements. If not then you should make changes to your
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may not come your way and you will treat each idea upon their
own merit/s. Experimenting with new ideas will come
naturally to a successful entrepreneur and you will not be
willing to give up after the first try because you are the kind of
person who will try and try again without a fear of failure or a
willingness to give up. You will also not be afraid to change
someone elses idea if you feel that this will not work for you
if you dont make the necessary changes. Perseverance in this
instance also means that as an entrepreneur you will go for the
goal no matter what hurdle you may or may not have to
overcome as overcoming hurdles is a natural part of who you
are as a person as your attitude is known to all as positive and
determined.
3. Have patience.
Successful entrepreneurs are clear on the fact that many times
they will have to work within the clients timetable and
parameters and not theirs. Despite how you feel you will be
willing to attend regular client/customer/supplier meetings in
order to show your interest and to use these situations to grow
the relationship between you and the associate and while this
may test your patience you understand the need to exercise the
same for the sake of achieving your goals. Patience as an
entrepreneur will be tried and tested in all areas but he or she
will come out stronger in the end and this strength will be
evident in a friendly but confident smile. As a successful
entrepreneur you will sometimes be called upon to take more
than you can handle but handle it you will and the reason that
you will do this is simply due to your determination to
succeed. Professional successful entrepreneurs always
understand the age old saying that patience is a virtue and
are more than willing to show their good side when being
tested to the utmost by an impatient client/customer.
4. Have unwavering OPTIMISM.
The goal is to find an opportunity to be of service and to show
a willingness to serve before ever receiving a cent-this is called
building long-term business relationships. You are the eternal
optimist and understand the concept of giving in order to
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tasks and activities and you will know the difference between
being unproductive as this relates to your goals and business
plan and being fully and completely productive on a daily
basis. There is a clear difference between work and play and
your self-discipline will not allow you to confuse the one over
the other. Many distractions will come your way but you are
the kind of self-motivated and self-disciplined person who will
not let any of this get in the way of your success. While you
may see the need for a professional business mentor from time
to time you most certainly are a leader and can manage and
operate your business as the jack of all trades and the master
of them all. You are like most successful entrepreneurs who
succeed in life-you are disciplined.
Conclusion
Optimism in life is absolutely vital to a successful and stable
business. How optimistic would someone be if they were
diagnosed with a terminal disease and the prognosis is certain
death? How would it affect you and your positive attitude if
you found out that you do not have enough money to pay the
mortgage this month and the next? Some entrepreneurs rely on
a single contract as a foundation for their business so how will
this then affect a positive attitude if the client were to cancel or
terminate these services giving only one months notice?
Because of this termination how optimistic would you be if
you now have to retrench staff members or terminate their
services? Have you lost a home, shares, stocks and anything
else caused by the current economy so let me ask you how this
has affected you and how optimistic and positive your attitude
if this has or if it ever happened to you?
Many examples as stated above may be cited but my hope is
that as an entrepreneur you will understand that you can stay as
you are or you can aim for and achieve the kind of success
which you feel is attainable for your life. If you want a great
attitude and overwhelming success then find out what it is that
you will need to change about your attitude and your optimism
levels. If you are a pessimist with a negative attitude then I feel
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for you but you can change and must change if you are to
succeed for you and those that you love. Having a negative
attitude will not only affect you in all the areas mentioned in
this chapter but will also affect everyone that comes into your
life and in your presence. People will see your attitude coming
a mile away so be careful not to give yourself away and that
this attitude does not destroy your business and vital long-term
business relationships. A positive attitude and an endless
amount of optimism cemented into your character will ensure
that you will always have a YES I CAN approach to all the
right people thereby ensuring your success as an entrepreneur.
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4
Self-Image: Are You Missing What You Are Capable of
Becoming?
1st Secret: PASSION
2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
4TH Secret: SELF-IMAGE
Introduction
Mike and James were business partners together with John. On
paper, and according to a legally binding agreement between
the parties Mike had in fact sold the business to James and
John who were then obliged to either allow Mike back into the
business after a period of two years or buy the business in full
after the same period. Time lines were clearly stated in the
agreement drawn up by a lawyer and all went well until the
agreement reached maturity and Mike was neither allowed
back into the business and James and John were not in a
position to pay the amount due for the business but they
refused to leave and/or hand the business back. The agreement
in question lapsed placing both James and John in breach and
subject to legal financial claims.
Attempts were made by Mike to mediate an amicable
settlement between the parties but this was rejected based upon
a claim by the so called guilty parties that monies had in fact
been paid over to Mike during the initial period of the
agreement. There was a dispute and Mike requested proof of
the claims which were not forthcoming and it was clear that
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While all of this was going on Mike was out of work and thus
not able to earn a living with a view to serving his financial
responsibilities. Matters under these circumstances quickly
deteriorated for Mike as he started losing his personal
possessions due to a lack of payment. The first to go was his
Mercedes Benz, creditors started calling which started the
usual stress and pressure, as if he did not have enough already
at this point. His home was now also under threat and he was
forced to put the house up for sale. In order to continue to
ensure that he could eat Mike was now forced to sell off his
possessions one at a time. While all of this is going on in his
personal life he was still faced with financing the battle with
his brother and best friend. His family helped all that they
could but the matter both personally and legally escalated to a
point where many could not keep the financial support going
to the extent that Mikes personal possessions could be saved.
During many of the times as this relates to my communication
with Mike he would burst into tears and have a total meltdown
as he explained the total disappointment in his brother, his best
friend and the entire situation. I had known Mike for many
years, and while his home life was not conducive to building a
high self-esteem when he was younger, he had in fact managed
to become a successful businessman, a well loved and
respected brother in the family and a generous giver in his
community. One will be correct then for saying that this was a
terrible moment in his life and most certainly nothing that he
truly deserved. You would be right, and in fact, this was most
certainly how Mike was feeling at the time and worse. In fact,
the generous act of offering his brother and best friend a true
opportunity in life was testament to his true nature but this
most certainly backfired on the good man and he knew this.
By this time Mikes attitude went from highly positive to the
very lowest ebb. There was no more optimism left in him and
he started going into fits of severe depression. His attitude
could now be seen a mile away. He stopped smiling, stopped
sleeping and lost all the friendliness which was so much a part
of the mans character. He was no longer the Mike that
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your actions or lack thereof, I can tell you that what you feel
about yourself in this area is the main driver of your emotional
state.
Self-image and self-esteem is thus in a nutshell a mechanism
or ability of the mind to serve as a management system that
influences how we think and act, and how we view ourselves
and the rest of the world. A management system so to speak
which allows us unfortunately to have both views-negative and
positive. It is my view that our minds show us the negative and
positive but has no real ability to self-correct (in the event of
low self-esteem) despite the fact that it is also able to warn us
of the dangers relating to the negative.
It may also be likened to a subconscious state of the mind
which has a so called guidance system or mainframe
computer which is capable of being programmed to seek out
an image, a goal or a target. In other words we tend to seek out
subconsciously the things that make us feel good about
ourselves which is positive. However, with such an acute and
complex sense of self unfortunately the guidance system also
allows us to lock onto the things which do not make us feel
good about ourselves-hence low and high self-esteem or low
and high self-image. Self-image may be likened to a software
program for the conscious mind and its abilities or parameters
as it were would be best described as follows:
1. The control of all skill levels.
We here understand that our ability to perform at optimum
levels is influenced by whether we have a healthy outlook or a
pessimistic one and either of these two states of mind will
affect the net result gained by our actions in any given task.
For instance, taking on a business and developing this to the
point of success is better undertaken by an entrepreneur who
has a healthy self-image as there is a better chance of success
due to the better mental attitude which ensures both better
personal skills and the implementation of those same skills in
developing the business. The opposite is said to apply if there
is an unhealthy self-image. As a prime example then we once
again take a look at Mikes experiences as explained at the
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Definitions
Self-Esteem - Respect for or a favorable opinion of oneself.
Self-Image Ones own idea of oneself or sense of ones
worth.
-
Collins Dictionary
Websters Dictionary
into the mirror of life. Susan looks into the mirror one
morning and decides that she has put on weight. She asks her
husband if she looks fat and he takes a split second too long to
respond and by the time he does she has made up her mind,
based upon the hesitant response, that she is overweight. This
situation now plays on her mind and a sense of insecurity sets
in. Until she loses the weight she will feel insecure about
herself and if she cannot lose the weight for some reason she
will continue to be insecure and this insecurity will eventually,
if left unchecked, lead to a breakdown in her self-esteem. Due
to this state of mind the low self-esteem, fed by her desire to
lose weight but finding it difficult to do, she will find that
negative life issues will be compounded as she takes out her
frustration on those that she loves and at her work
environment. If she is an entrepreneur then there is no doubt
that part of her negative attitude will be displayed as a business
woman and both her staff and her clients will most certainly
feel the effects of her negative nature.
The husband, who is in a business partnership with his wife,
looks into the mirror next to her mirror and sees things a little
differently. While he admits that he is not the most handsome
devil on the planet he feels good and looks good about who he
is and who he is becoming. He realizes that he has a good wife,
wonderful children and now God has also blessed him with
two gorgeous grandchildren. A man is generally happiest when
things are going well at the office and assesses this and again
he is content and has a belief that his business will be a
success. The husband has developed a high self-esteem due to
all the positive things around him and thus when he leads his
family it will be done so with a positive frame of mind thereby
producing all the good and necessary vibrations needed for a
peaceful household and a prosperous business. His clients will
most certainly see the positive attitude and nature and they will
respond accordingly.
We must understand this dynamic in that the husband has a
high and positive self-esteem while the wife is struggling with
insecurity issues which has led to the development (self133
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though, are your own lid in our experiment in that you have
allowed your environment, and all of those in it having
influence of any kind over you and you have thus concluded
that you cannot achieve greatness or your full potential
because you are told that this is the case and the lid is that
you actually believe these people. You have also at this point in
your life convinced yourself that they are right and that you
wont actually amount to anything. The problem here is that
not only can you take this attitude into a business environment
but YOU are the only person capable of removing the lid
from your life and true potential. With your current low selfesteem and self-image you may be likened to (depending on
the level of your affliction) the flee that sits on the bottom of
the jar holding on to all that is negative for dear life or you
may also be likened to the flea that has convinced
himself/herself that they are only able to jump as high as the
lid. Which are you then? The problem is that if you have
answered this question then it means that you not only have
recognized that you have a challenge of low self-esteem you
have also disqualified yourself from the pressures of owning
your own business. My advice is that until you have removed
both the negative influences in your life (and by this I am most
certainly not advocating that you divorce your spouse if he or
she is considered the jar and lid in your life as there are other
ways to change them for the better) and have spent the
necessary time and effort into reversing your self-esteem issues
then save your money for when you are ready for business as I
can tell you that it has been my experience that much of the
failure in business may be attributed to jam jar type
personalities.
Again, I am convinced that you and I will only achieve what
we BELIEVE we are capable of achieving so if you have a low
self-esteem I can tell you before you even get going that YOU
do not believe that you can achieve much. However, if you
have a high self-esteem then your success as an entrepreneur is
virtually guaranteed but you will need to add all of the other
ingredients presented in this book. My feeling is in a nutshell:
INCREASING SELF-IMAGE AND INCREASING SELF140
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you will be able to deal with and others not. We are not talking
here of the challenges which you are able to handle and
overcome but we are making direct reference to the challenges
that make you go home in the evening depleted and ready to
give up. It is these seemingly insurmountable challenges which
cause us to lose our positive attitude at times and also the very
same challenges which may seriously affect your ego, your
self-image and your self-esteem. If you face these moments of
sheer despair from time to time in business, and because of
your positive attitude, ability to auto-suggest good things back
into your being and high self-esteem then you have to spare a
thought for those whose personalities do not allow for a quick
turnaround when it comes to the psyche.
There are those, and this is yet another argument for not having
low self-esteem and low self-image people enter into the
entrepreneurial world, which are simply not able to view a
serious challenge as a moment in time that will pass. These
people have a serious tendency to confuse not achieving a set
goal with failure in their personal lives. Failure becomes
extremely personal and the focus is rather on the personal and
psychological impact than on the resolution of the hurdle. The
will to move on is stifled by their own ability to take failure
rather personally and this same single and very particular
failure is blown out of all kinds of proportion and then
becomes a stumbling block for months on end, and in many
instances there is simply no way back.
The tendency then to confuse failure in a set goal (it may very
well be a single and one-time event) may be attributed to many
things in the past but I will mention just a few so that you are
aware as to how far back this may go. For example, there are
many adults, and mature ones at that, who may have failed a
grade in the junior years and/or in the senior years of high
school representing a significant failure to the individual. The
memory of such a failure is still, even today, fresh and vivid in
the memory banks. The effect of such a catastrophe is long
lasting and in many cases permanent to the point where it has
seriously affected their ability to recover and thus are today
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her and she took this rather personally. While I was seriously
talking about myself the matter quickly shifted to the girls who
had somehow assumed that I was pointing a finger at them and
accusing them of having a wobbly bulge. My daughter was not
happy and immediately walked up to her bedroom. My wife
and I spoke and managed to sort the misunderstanding out
between us. We apologized to one another and sorted things
out with my daughter.
It is this very kind of thing which creates the right kind of an
environment for the destruction of a positive self-image and
self-esteem. Can you imagine if I had lost my cool, because I
may have felt that I was being unduly attacked by the girls,
and taken all of the misunderstanding to the next level? This
very example, and many others like it, is what may be
happening in the home on a daily basis and we break one
another down to the point of depletion psychologically. While
we were mature enough to quickly establish that there was a
serious misunderstanding between us all earlier this morning
this same consideration may not apply to many homes around
the world. Low self-esteem people are extremely sensitive in
almost every area of their lives, and had this been the case in
my family, I could have caused permanent damage to both my
wife and daughter this morning. We kissed, hugged and
reassured one another of our love and have since moved on for
the day selfishness could have assured an entirely different
result though.
4. Poor memory capacity.
In my experience I can assure you that having a healthy and
well trained memory and mind is an absolute prerequisite for a
healthy self-image and self-esteem. The inability to remember
the most mundane things such as names, an upcoming meeting
or to get a tender or proposal in on time will seriously affect
the business result for an entrepreneur and his or her
personality. You and I will argue that this situation is selfinflicted, and guess what, you would be correct? However,
putting our personal feelings aside then for a moment we will
also have to understand, as we may have a partner or
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instance where and when they fail at anything at all. They feel
truly that they are entitled somehow to feel sorry for
themselves at any point and in whatever the situation. To those
of us who are more positive people on the outside we are
always astounded when we see negative people using their
self-pity as a means to excuse poor performance, nonachievement of personal and business goals and for their lack
of production on a daily basis.
For now, then, we have spent a great deal of time
understanding low self-esteem and low self-image individuals
who may influence your life and mine negatively; however, the
question remains then is there a way forward?
Building and Developing a Healthier Self-Image
In order to assist an employee or partner, or anyone else for
that matter, in a regeneration of a negative image of
themselves we have to understand two fundamental truths:
1. Behavior and emotions are ALWAYS consistent with ones
self-image whether negative or positive.
2. The good news! A persons self-image can be altered!
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client will more than likely infect the client with pessimism
and embarrassment instead of awe and excitement so be aware
of how you are being perceived by key people associated with
the success of your business.
2. An attitude of SERVICE.
This attitude is most certainly the key to professionalism in
service and in the selling environment. I have always believed
in the concept of identifying the needs of your client and
satisfying those and you are sure to be a winner. Many have
called this type of a philosophy as need satisfaction selling or
service. So go out there and find some needs to satisfy and
enjoy the fruit of your attitude. Always ensure that you are
client/customer oriented ALL OF THE TIME! Remember, put
your client first and his or her needs and wants and not your
own. Satisfy the customer first and you will win by default!
Always be more interested in the clients problems than your
own. While you are with the customer, focus on him or her,
and when you are gone if you want to go back to your negative
and selfish thoughts and needs then do so. Always show the
client your sincere side and be the clients friend as friends
bring a certain amount of trust to the table and trust is always
needed to conclude a successful business transaction. Spend
time building long-term business relationships which will not
only ensure repeat business but will also foster high long-term
payoffs.
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3. An attitude of SELF-IMPROVEMENT.
4.
YOU and YOU alone can make a difference to who you will
ultimately become. The past is the past and really there is
nothing that you can do about what has already been done so
learn the lessons then if you must; BUT move on TODAY!
However, even after you have spent a great deal of time
absorbing the contents of this material and you still remain
your old pessimistic and negative self, and have no internal
motivation to change, and then I will have no option but to
present you with a warning. Being an entrepreneur is not for
you! You being around other people is not going to be good for
them and they are going to let you know this which in turn will
simply reinforce the way which you now feel. Clients and
customers will not want to do business with you and your staff
will not be motivated to produce their best. Should a business
partner be unfortunate enough to be in business with you then
you will over a period of time destroy the relationship and the
first emotion which you will destroy is that of TRUST and
once this is done you will have NOTHING left between the
two of you. My final recommendations then, stay out of
business for the sake and success of others.
To those of you that are positive and have high levels of
esteem and image my advice is to do two things: (1) Protect
who you are; (2) Nurture your positive personality at all times.
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5
Values: Critical Parameters Will Dictate Your Business
Destiny
1st Secret: PASSION
2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
4TH Secret: SELF-IMAGE
5TH Secret: VALUES
Introduction
While we will be dealing with goals and goal setting in the
next chapter it is imperative that you recognize a crucial
mistake made by well-meaning goal settersthey have never
given thought to their very personal value system which most
certainly affects how goals are set and can ultimately
determine the very achievement of preset goals. Personal
values from one person to the next are probably, other than a
fingerprint or DNA, the only other entity which sets us all
apart from one another. The idea of setting personal values
BEFORE a goal setting session never enters into the minds of
goal-motivated people and then they wonder why they never
achieve pre-set goals and when a goal is reached the
achievement is actually considered an anti-climax.
The idea in this chapter then is to first of all get you to
understand this new phenomenon (assuming that you may
not have ever contemplated understanding your value system
before setting goals) of values and then to show you how to get
to your core values in life which will most certainly change the
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way in which you not only think about goal-setting but how
you actually go about achieving the pre-set goals.
Values-Definition
If you have never given any thought in trying to understand
this thing called values then I want to take some time in
order to help you to understand what I mean when I say that
we need to discover your personal value system. However, in
order to do this we will need to investigate the true meaning of
values both as a word and for your life as a businessperson.
My honest conviction is that while many families set goals
within the household, and at times achieve these, I am not
talking about values within the context of the family, although
I have no idea as to how the home goals are arrived at
between partners, I can tell you that the differences in values
from one person to the next in business will cause massive
daily disruption to the intended success of the same. When I
refer to VALUES then what am I really referring to?
The moral principles and beliefs of a person
-
Collins Dictionary
standards and she thinks that this is not healthy for the children
while on the other hand Jack does not see the sense in
protecting the children from something that they will be
exposed to anyway later on in life starting at school. The
difference between the couple will create havoc in the home
and the relationship, and should this continue unabated in other
areas as well then this will simply compound and foster the
frustration felt by both partiesending in divorce in many
instances as they site irreconcilable differences and
incompatibility to the judge. The differences here are what
we are now dealing with VALUES.
Rosemary and Susan have a wonderful business and have been
building their client base over many years now. According to
Rosemary Susan has a problem which is severely affecting
their relationship and is responsible for the current negative
vibes between the two. Rosemary will tell you that the
challenge which she faces with Susan will not go away and
that she cannot take much more of what Susan is doing to their
business. You see, while Rosemary is largely responsible for
administration and operations in their business partnership
Susan deals with all the sales and marketing side of their
relationship. Susan is good at what she does so the sales keep
on coming in which seems to frustrate Rosemary even more. I
was told that Susan is good at selling because she bribes the
client for the successful completion of the deal. While Susan
sees no harm at all in adding a little extra on to her quotations
for the prospect Rosemary feels that this is morally wrongthis
is a part of her VALUE system. The differences in value
system here will ultimately destroy the partnership and
business if this value is not changed by either party and
because ones value system is so deeply rooted within us it will
not be possible for either party to change which will lead to
business and partnership failure ultimately. However, if by a
slim chance that either party is willing to make the VALUE
CHANGE then things may work out I personally have my
doubts though.
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defend your CODE with all of your soul and with all of your
might at all times and against whosoever dares to challenge
you in this regard.
While your understanding of VALUES will continue to be
enhanced as we move forward in this chapter my goal will be
for you to see the value in understanding, identifying and the
setting out of your personal values in writing so that this
exercise will assist you in setting your life goals during the
next chapter. Thus the focus then will be to assist you to arrive
at the values that you are convinced represents you and your
innermost ideas (values) best. We will not only be interested in
establishing your personal values but the idea is to identify
both your CORE values and to set them out in order of priority.
We will need to uncover what is most important to you so that
these may be aligned to your goals and business ideas that will
actually enhance your chances of ultimate success VALUE
HIERARCHY.
Many of us have various values, as has now been established,
and while these are all different from one person to the other,
we all have priorities and it will be these very priorities which
will motivate you to achieve your pre-set goals in life. May I
say here then that it stands to reason that lower priorities will
not be a greater motivation for achievement than a higher
value? It is left to the higher value, then, which you will
experience for yourself in practice, which will be the
propulsion so to speak and the motivation needed in order to
get you interested and keep your attention and your energy
until you have successfully completed the pre-set goal. It
stands to reason therefore that once you have identified your
prioritized list of values then you will be able to focus your
energies and focus on aligning these with your potential goals
and will be able to set and achieve these with the highest
confidence.
With this in mind I need your input as to identifying the
thoughts and activities in life that motivate you more than
others. What excites you? What would you focus on more than
anything else if you were given the opportunity? What are your
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(4) ____________________
8. Greatest life inspirations?
(1) ____________________
(2) ____________________
(3) ____________________
(4) ____________________
9. Space filling home/office?
(1) ____________________
(With what do you decorate etc.?)
(2) ____________________
(3) ____________________
(4) ____________________
10. Most organized areas?
(1) ____________________
(2) ____________________
(3) ____________________
(4) ____________________
11. Topics most spoken?
(1) ____________________
(2) ____________________
(3) ____________________
(4) ____________________
12. Topics most in thought?
(1) ____________________
(2) ____________________
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(3) ____________________
(4) ____________________
13. Greatest areas of discipline?
(1) ____________________
(2) ____________________
(3) ____________________
(4) ____________________
No shortcuts! If you have completed ALL the questions and
given at least FOUR answers to each then we are able to move
on. Consider the above list and first place the answers to each
question in order of priority. For instance you have answers
one to four but after further review you may have decided that
number four is actually more important to you than the current
number one so re-number these in order of priority for each
question. Once you have completed this step then you will
need to fine tune just a little more at this juncture. Look at the
questions from one to thirteen and place all thirteen questions
in order of personal priority. For instance, question seven may
be most important to you so place a number one next to the
number seven after you have crossed it out and complete the
sequence for all the questions. The idea here is to get to the
TOP FIVE VALUES (TFV) so that we may proceed to
establishing these in writing as per the next exercise.
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PERSONAL &
PRIORITIES
CORE
VALUESESTABLISHING
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You have the same amount of time in a day as I do. You also
have the same amount of hours in any given day that anyone
else has out there for that matter so it has nothing to do with
the amount of time which you have at your disposal. Rather, it
is what you propose to do with the time available to you as
opposed to what others choose to do with theirs. Your TFVs
will dictate your time, day and the pace with which you
operate. Surely then, if there is no difference in the amount of
time which we all receive daily, we should be spending our
time more wisely and focusing all that we have on energy
toward accomplishing our TFVs? The goal as an entrepreneur
then would be to fill your day with activities that fulfill the
mandate of your TFVs and subsequent goals. Whatever you
do, do not allow distractions and most important of all do not
allow yourself to distract you from achieving the daily
activities which will ensure that you fulfill your TFVs as
distraction of any sort will ultimately consume you. The quest
each day then is to fill each hour with energy and activities into
the TFVs that actually matter. When you are distracted by low
value demands then show good leadership and management
skills DELEGATE! A professional entrepreneur will have
learnt a long time ago the art of delegation (remains a
challenge and a problem with the unprofessional though) and
as a business leader it is imperative that you get rid of the
distractions so pass the unimportant and the distractions on to
people which you can trust to deal with the activity effectively.
I do understand that many would say that they do not have
such a person where this type of delegation can take place and
my answer to this is simple train someone whom you can
trust! Again, your attention MUST remain on the achievement
of your TFVs and your pre-set goals which are aligned with
one another. When you consider delegation, a common
practice amongst the professionals and successful, is to make
sure that you trust someone with the task who will be highly
motivated to perform it. The big mistake with delegation is
those leaders and managers who delegate to staff that actually
dont want to perform the task at all and see no benefit in
helping you as the entrepreneur, leader or manager. Find highly
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What I have been talking about for the last while is in essence
time management! It stands to reason that you will get results
(whether good or bad) in any area that you spend most of your
time in. If you spend more time at the mall having coffee then
you can most certainly expect low output in the rest of your
business. If you are simply keeping yourself busy at the
office doing insignificant and low productive activities then
expect your business to be affected by your low production
this is a fact. In all honesty, I am trying to guide you here, get
rid of activities that you considered insignificant enough to
pass on to someone else at the office and focus on what will
promote your goals and TFVs. Get rid of low production
activities DAILY! Think only of your personal and business
growth and shed low yielding activities in favor of high
yielding high result oriented actions. Focus on any activity that
promotes your business and your pre-set written goals and
ignore distractions at all costs.
I want to reveal something to you now that may shock you! It
is common knowledge in the selling environment that there is
a special relationship between salesperson and client or
customer. This special bond develops from the moment of
them meeting one another but is cemented in the initial stage
which many of us refer to as the ice-breaking stage of the
entire process. It is during this stage or phase that the
salesperson sells themselves (more of this in my next book on
sales for entrepreneurs) to the customer with a view to
becoming more than just business acquaintances. The goal of
the salesperson is to develop a trust bond with the client so that
a successful conclusion to all efforts is enhanced. Here is my
shock news!
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being too busyif you are too busy to plan then you are too
busy, my friends. If you dont plan then you are planning to
fail so consider this and the next chapter. Many entrepreneurs
fail to set goals because, in all honesty, they dont know how. It
will be my absolute pleasure to guide you through a simple
process whereby you are able to establish a plan which will
lead to success as long as you have the determination and
leadership to follow the plan to the bitter end.
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6
Goal Setting: The Aim and the Purpose of it All
1st Secret: PASSION
2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
4TH Secret: SELF-IMAGE
5th Secret: VALUES
6th Secret: GOAL SETTING
Introduction
Lets first summarize our achievements to date! So far you
have been exposed to some extremely critical and thought
provoking topics. You have also understood that the very
reason for digging as deep as we have is to ensure that you
are able to determine your fit in the role as an entrepreneur. By
now you will understand that being an entrepreneur means that
you have all the attributes mentioned in this book to this point
and that should you move ahead despite having contrary or
opposing attributes then the chances of you losing all or a big
part of your investment and/or life savings will be greatly
enhanced-but your choice nonetheless. Thus, if you are not
passionate about the business or the business idea then this is
where you should walk away and not bother to complete the
reading of this book unless you have a burning desire to
change. We have also discussed the need to reflect on other
critical psychological attributes such as optimism, attitude,
self-image, and then of course, values. Each of the above are
absolutely critical to your success and these should be
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we are alive, and despite all the examples of the use of the line,
we simply dont think it necessary to focus on what takes place
between the lines. With all of the examples above it is what
happens between the lines that really mattersthe lines
themselves simply represent the starting and the ending points
in our activities. We accept then that a student needs to put in a
lot of hard work DAILY in order to achieve a degree and yet
we forget to understand that the effort put in always has a start
and a finish. The activity, including the passion, optimism,
attitude, self-image and values will most certainly influence
the RESULT. Thus it is the result that we are after and we are
capable of recognizing and encouraging others around us to
do our best in order to bring about the desired result
EXCELLENCE! Again, we understand all of these things
clearly and yet we very seldom apply these techniques and
principles to our life and business planning how sad. It is no
wonder that we have so many failures in marriages around the
world and have the very high rate of failure in new businesses
around the globe.
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deeper and come up with many more for this crime. I would
like to propose that we investigate at least the following four
reasons:
1. The fear of failure.
There are two areas that we need to look at here: (1) fearing
frustration and embarrassment; (2) not setting goals will avoid
failure from the outset. These people have a phobia about not
actually being able to achieve any part of any plan in writing
so they rather not do the exercise at all. The fear extends not
only to the actual potential failure but they are not able to deal
with the sheer frustration of not achieving the desired result.
However, one of the aspects of this persons fear is that he/she
will be embarrassed (so they believe) should they not achieve.
Part of the goal setting process is that you share your goals
with a LIMITED number of people whom you trust and for
these people this is a major negative factor and a barrier to
them actually participating in a process sure to bring those
results. This person will thus have a low self-esteem and a low
self-image and will therefore not be able to handle the
embarrassment and the possible rejection as a result of their
failure. The common belief among those people affected by
low self-esteem and low self-image is that not setting goals at
all will protect them from abuse and/or ridicule should
failure follow planning. They lack the ability and the
motivation to rise up and take personal responsibility for either
their successes or failures.
2. The HERD MENTALITY.
A herd of cattle usually follow one another as do sheep. So if
the one (the leader) bull stands still then the rest of the herd
stands still; however, if the bull starts moving in a different
direction then the cattle will move in the same direction and all
of this applies to the sheep mentality as well. People love
following others for some reason more a lack of high selfimage than anything else. For instance, try this (you may have
already done so) move the next time you are in an elevator or
outside. When you are in an elevator full of people then do
nothing but look up or even simply fold your arms. When
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going outside, and are in a busy street for instance, just look up
and watch how many people will look up just because you do
so. I have performed the two previously mentioned on so many
occasions now and have stopped doing so but it is so
interesting to see how HERD MINDED people really are. The
point here then many entrepreneurs claim that they dont do
planning and goal setting because the majority of people do
not. Talk about embarrassing one? This attitude, once again, is
self-centered and is nothing more than LAZINESS and is
typical of low self-esteem and low self-image people. If other
people arent planning and setting goals then why should they.
The irony of all of this is that these are the people that really
need to do planning and goal setting for success. What I
always say to them is: Guess what? The same majority which
you claim you follow are people like you who are poor,
frustrated with life, and are typical non-achievers!
3. Always putting out fires.
I can just hear them now: I AM TOO BUSY! I cant cope
with the pressures at my business! Do you know how many
challenges I face each and every day!? I have said it before
and I will say it again, if you are too busy to plan then you are
too busy so take time off and focus on developing your goals
and planning. It is far better to spend some time to prevent
fires than the time wasted in putting out fires. Once again, I
want to submit that the real reason for this attitude is that of
LAZINESS!!! Too busy is certainly not a good enough
excuse for the lack of professionalism in planning and goal
setting. By implementing better planning and goal setting you
will save the time and become less busy as you will be more
focused on the high yield and high value areas to be busy
doing the wrong things. Your focus will always be drawn
naturally to your core values and when you are able to pin
point your number one value you will be even more focused to
succeed.
4. Never had a course in goal setting techniques.
If you have to date used this as an excuse for not doing the
right things by way of professional planning and goal setting
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then I have good news for you. Today is the day where we end
your ability to use number four above as an excuse for not
doing goal setting for a more effective business and life. Not
only will you know all that is needed from a direction point of
view but you will also be taken through all the necessary
procedures for effective goal setting and planning. The good
news is that it is not and has never been difficult to achieve
goal setting. We will also be going through the necessary
planning stages which will help you to effectively consider and
set new goals. In a nutshell then, we will reveal the secrets to
goal setting directions, goal setting procedures and goal setting
plans, and all of this, with a clear goal to make you so much
more effective.
The Result of an Entrepreneur Not Setting Goals or
Performing Life Planning
1. Entrepreneurs will stagnate and end up in a serious SLUMP.
The entire principle and reason why goals are set in the first
place is to give direction to the directionless. Take away
direction, or if you dont have direction in the first place then
an entrepreneur will wonder around in business and in life not
knowing what to do next. The same thing applies to
salespeople when they start the weekly selling cycle if they
dont have pre-set appointments for the current week they will
simply arrive at the office not knowing what to do. Think then
about yourself as you wake up on a Monday morning not
knowing what your priorities are for the coming week I can tell
you that you will be demotivated in no time at all and you
WILL get yourself into a serious slump. The entrepreneur has
constrictions in business as generally resources are always in
short supply and this includes human resources. Many good
business people go out of business simply because they have
no plan as to how to overcome obstacles by the correct
allocation of all resources associated with the business. I have
deliberately used the word SLUMP here because I want you
and I to see that being in a slump is self-inflicted as a moment
or moments of slump is not something that we inherit from
other people and neither can this be thrust upon us by external
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start a collapse from the very day that you open your doors.
Remember, planning is part of the PRE-OPENING exercise
and due diligence. I want to use this opportunity to once again
point out to you the reader that all of the contents in this book
are actions and activities which should be performed BEFORE
you become an entrepreneur. While I am sure that this book
will help those that are struggling in their businesses currently
the idea is to read and ACT upon the contents written within
these pages BEFORE you decide on a business that matches
your value system and life plans and goals. The idea here is to
prepare you BEFORE you take the plunge so to speak. The
idea is to encourage you the very best I can and for you to dig
deep in order to determine whether you even have what it takes
to be an entrepreneur. If you dont heed my words in this book
then you are doomed to fail, and if not fail in totality, you may
probably be in a business which becomes a noose around your
neck as opposed to being a joy and a daily passion.
Once the decline has started in your life and business
(particularly in your business) you will go through a few
phases which are, but are not limited to, the following:
depression and what I usually refer to as the drop, fall and
tumble of everything good in your life. Can you imagine!? All
of this because of a lack of planning which in many instances
could be put down to one word only LAZINESS!
2. Entrepreneurs will not be motivated to complete the basics.
In order to be motivated one needs inspiration. When you or I
are disorganized how is it possible that we will ever be
inspired to achieve? Motivation refers to our ability to drive
ourselves through inspiration and inducement and all of this in
order to encourage us to excel. Being an entrepreneur is very
lonely at times and so many of us have to rely on our own
ability to be self-motivated. What makes self-motivation, or
any motivation for that matter, so difficult at times is when we
cant even begin to complete the basics on a daily basis. I have
experienced demotivation in entrepreneurs to the point where
instead of visiting with them at their place of business I found
myself discussing business issues at their homes or in a
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hospital ward. The very basic action of getting out of bed and
getting ready for work was simply too much to handle the
business had become a noose. These people become so drained
and despondent due to the total lack of direction, and now the
new threat of actually losing it all, that they see no way out and
all the available energy which they have left is reserved for
keeping them going on a daily basis. The basic actions such as
communicating with suppliers who are demanding payment
and the landlord who needs the rent paid is being set aside.
Going into the office to face staff and to organize the days
activities is not a part of their basic activity for the daythey
are totally and utterly demotivated and all of this due to no
direction at all. A written life planning and goal setting
exercise is what these people need, and yet, the sad thing for
many of these so called self-inflicted casualties is that it may
just well be too late.
A formal written plan gives the necessary direction while
following the plan actively will provide the inspiration and
motivation on a daily basis. When we all have direction we
have purpose and it is this very purpose which becomes our
incentive and stimuli to focus and to achieve the basic
fundamentals which are critical in order to assure success.
Alas, many people, despite the current negative situation faced
by the unprofessional entrepreneur refuse to put their current
state down to a lack of professional planning. EVERYTHING
ELSE will get the blame but not the laziness which usually
precedes a proper planning sessionit is too boring a task to
complete! A formal written plan setting out all of ones goals,
dreams and desires is the one action which will ensure that we
at least complete the basic business fundamentals such as
bringing in the sales, performing the needed services,
managing staff, and managing the current client base and the
supply chain on a daily basis. All of these are key
fundamentals in any business and yet these tasks become
arduous to those having no motivation to perform the basics on
a day to day basis. The matter is simple then and that is if we
have no clear written plan giving us direction we will become
demotivated to achieve and when we become demotivated we
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will not perform the basic and fundamental tasks which will
keep the business growing. Thus, production will decrease
consistently and continuously, and this, will simply add more
negative de-motivators. The end result then will be
predictableFAILURE!
3. Entrepreneurs will become complacent and satisfied with the
status quo.
I met with two business partners once who informed me that
they were facing a major challenge. The challenge consisted of
a difference of opinion (values?) between the two men
regarding the growth of the business. The one partner was
younger by at least fourteen years (remember this when
choosing a partner) while the other was in his early sixties. The
issue was whether to continue to expand the business or
whether to put the brakes on so to speak. The younger
partner was progressive and felt that expanding the business is
the best way to protect the business from complacency and
mediocrity. The more senior partner felt that doing so would
upset the status quo in that they had all the necessary material
possessions that they had aspired to from the outset and to
expand now would add to the work load and take away the
finances which were keeping them comfortable at this point
in the business. The younger partner had been progressive
prior to my arrival as mediator between the two men and
presented me with a clear written plan as to how and why he
felt that the business should move forward with expansion
plans. It was clear that the business had great services which it
provided to its client base, the financials were all in order and
the profit levels were great in fact their success had created a
tax issue which was yet another reason cited by the younger
partner as a reason why the money should be better spent in an
expansion program. I happened to agree with the younger
partner as the very nature of a business is to grow and to grow
continuously. The older partner had become distracted by the
success and satisfied with the status quo which led me to
believe that the root cause in the partnership may be the
laziness and complacency of the more senior partner. The
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The worst thing with a partner who is satisfied with the status
quo in the above scenario was that the personality and values
varied to such an extent that it would not be long before his demotivators deepened. The result may have turned out totally
different and such a state will make it harder and harder for the
young partner to get back to work the business would have
become the proverbial noose around the neck which would
have led to an enormous amount of frustration and animosity
between the partners which may very well have led to the total
demise of the partnership and the business.
Complacency will set into a new business and a more
established business at all the wrong times if no written plan
exists. This is another reason why I say that goals and life
planning must be performed on a regular basis and adjusted
according to ones accomplishments and failures. Even
retirement dates need to be planned for! If no plan exists, or if
current plans are not adjusted, the entrepreneur gets up to
mischief as there will be too much time on his/her hands.
Complacency has its very roots, within this context, in the
action known to us all as self-satisfaction. What the younger
partner was facing in his more mature counterpart was
smugness, a dangerous level of overconfidence, over satisfied,
self-righteous and worst of all UNCONCERNED. Businesses
must continue to grow as surely this is the very nature of the
beast? As an entrepreneur you must always ensure the
growth of the business and this can only happen if and when
you have a written system of pre-set goals which are analyzed
regularly with a serious view to updating the old with the new.
4. Entrepreneurs will lose priority of time and the management
thereof.
Without a formal written plan in order to keep one focused on
the high yielding activities it stands to reason, then, that the
entrepreneur will not have the necessary direction needed in
order to ensure business and life success. When the
entrepreneur loses sight (through lack of a written plan) of how
to prioritize time then he or she will also lose sight of the
management thereof. The thing with time is that we all get the
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motivation the
management.
more
professional
the
personal
time
Expending energy in the high value goals will bring about the
associated production levels. However, in my opinion the
higher the production levels the more energy you will receive
and obviously the more focused the energy the greater the end
result. Once you have mastered the art of focusing your energy
into high value-high return activities you will feel better about
YOU in that people with high energy levels usually come
across with drive, tenacity and vigor. All of these attributes are
most admired by people all over the world but is very illusive
to those without a pre-set goal and life planning program. Once
you have developed your working plan then people will most
certainly see you as full of spirit, full of zeal and full of zest for
what you are doing and will most certainly deem you as a
serious contender. This positive attitude affects all those
around you including the dear ones which you love at home.
Many will say that you are a person full of exuberance and
strength and may not understand the change in you but the one
thing which no one will doubt is the fact that there is a
permanent change in you and while they dont understand it
they most certainly like the new you.
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that you will lose it all anyway and I want to add that you will
also lose all respect from those around you and your dignity in
the end.
I always remember one of my most favorite money games as I
was growing up and am proud to say that while losing a game
here and there the people I played the game against had a very
tough time beating me. I loved playing the game you know as
Monopoly! Wow! I always got so excited at throwing the dice,
getting the correct numbers so that I can land on properties to
purchase. I needed to get all three (or four in some cases)! The
three would give me the ability to build houses and hotels and
then I would wait like a vulture for the suckers playing against
me to land on these valuable assets which brought in mega
income so that I could buy everything else in site. The obvious
goal was to choke the business life out of them. I usually
planned to win and had a method of playing and when I started
playing Monopoly I played to win, my friend, and you had
better believe it! I was ruthless and showed no mercy to
my opponents (many of which were family and friends so you
can understand that things got heated at times). I played to win
but the only way for me to know that I won and that my
opponents had lost was that I had to KEEP SCORE! If I
succeeded in bankrupting everyone else, and I landed up with
more money than everyone else, then I won the game KEEP
SCORE SO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE WON OR NOT
RIGHT!!?? The question is, then, in business today why play
BUSINESS if you are not going to keep score? I mean truly
what is the point? Business is no more than a serious game of
Monopoly so if we keep score in a simple game then why not
view your business as a game in the first place to make it more
exciting and in the second place to keep score so that you may
come out a WINNER! Planning and goal setting allows you
the ability to keep score and it is the method by which you
both achieve your strategy and assess the depth of your
success. How would you measure either way if you have no
benchmark from which to measure success or failure?
5. Goals serve as a map which keeps us on track day after day.
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your plans coming together one step at a time until your goal is
finally realizedhow motivating will this not be to you and me
and how much good would this not do to an entrepreneurs selfimage? The other thing that I am convinced of is that an
entrepreneur who is constantly achieving goals, one step at a
time, will most certainly be promoting personal self-discipline.
Self-discipline means that you are growing in your knowledge
that you must take a step toward success daily and that you do
not need to be pushed by anyone else to KEEP SCORE or to
be motivated to business action. You become your own person
more and more and self-discipline will enhance success and
success ONCE AGAIN will enhance self-image which in turn
will make you a well-respected business person to all those
that feel a need to judge you. The idea then is to understand
from day one that you are only able to achieve the above if you
have actually planned and set goals with a view to achieving
this one step at a time. Goal setting then will also encourage
the entrepreneur to improve his personal responsibility for
accepting all results of all actions whether good or bad
keeping score! If you dont like your score then you have the
personal responsibility to change your reactions which in turn
will or may lead to a strategy change which should thus lead to
an improvement in your score ultimately. How it saddens me
sometimes to see great business ideas being squandered by
entrepreneurs who refuse to change course because they have
never learned the art of accepting personal responsibility for
decisions and when these go wrong they stubbornly refuse to
change strategy for re-alignment to a winning course. The
question is then posed, many times with exacerbation and
frustration: Why and how did I go out of business?
6. Personal goal setting will assist in turning obstacles into
stepping stones.
The absolute worst thing for a budding entrepreneur is to get
into a situation, largely through ignorance, and not reading this
book say I tongue in cheek, where they are faced with
mostly unnecessary and self-inflicted obstacles at the outset
and/or during the business practice. With professional planning
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and concise financial and life goals. It begs the question then
as to how these people get into the university in the first place
with the entrance requirements as high as they were at the
time? I also wonder what has been done to change matters
since this discovery. However, let you and I not judge the
success or failure of these graduates (twenty years after
graduation I want to remind you) until we have taken a deep
and close look at our own state of affairs. You will now see
that my advice and admonition to you is to do all your goal
setting and life goals BEFORE you enter into business as you
can only imagine the tremendous financial loss to you and
your family should you be like the Harvard graduates who
were assessed AFTER twenty years from date of graduation.
The question then is not what has happened but rather what are
YOU going to do with your new found knowledge of the
Harvard graduates?
Goal Setting Major Parameters
We must now move into phase two of the three parts of goal
setting and life planning and while the next section may
contain new thoughts for consideration I want you to be
prepared to hear some of the most important aspects of this
exercise yet again so I will ask you to forgive me for this in
advance. I am not only writing a book but I have a serious and
genuine concern for you, your family and your business
success. With this in mind I would now very much like to
focus your attention on five absolutely critical areas which will
deal with your business and your personal lifewithin the
context of the topic at hand namely goal setting. We will need
some direction (beacons if you will) as to what areas to focus
on so we will develop at least five goal setting parameters
which are as follows and we shall discuss these individually as
per normal practice:
1. Personal Values (Yes again!).
We will quickly review as you cannot set goals until you
understand what these are and what these represent in you as
an individualall else from this point on is reliant upon your
values and this you now know without a shadow of a doubt.
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Values are your personal moral beliefs and life principles and
these represent who you are to those around you and will affect
every part of your life and decision making process. Therefore,
in order to set goals and life planning it is imperative that you
identify CLEARLY your Top Five Values (TFVs) as a matter
of urgency using the exercises as was previously stated in
Chapter 5. The ultimate objective is to set goals and to do life
planning to such an extent that these would enhance your
TFVsyour TFVs are of prime importance and should
ALWAYS be enhanced through your planning or none of what
you do will make sense and you simply will not be motivated
enough to overcome obstacles with a view to achieving your
goals no matter what. To date, you have had what we all call
missing links or as others may put it voids in your lifewe
need to uncover these in the values analysis stage presented in
Chapter 5. The best way to identify your TFVs then is to ask
yourself a question with a view to answering it honestly and
the question may be put in the following way: As this relates
to my business life, my personal life and my personal life
satisfaction levels what do I feel that I am missing at this
stage? Once this vital question has been answered you should
have identified the five voids or missing links as it were
(TFV5s). This will then lead you into the next phase of setting
your values being entities known to most as Life Divisions.
In fact these are usually broken down into seven parameters all
of which will be familiar to you and these are (The order and
the preference is something for you to determine):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Spiritual
Mental
Physical
Family
Business
Financial
Social
Again, you are the determining factor when it comes to placing
the order of priority for you and your family when it comes to
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3. Professional Aspirations.
Professional dreams and goals must also be carefully
considered and placed down in writing. Professional
aspirations and considerations should be done in at least the
following four areas:
a.
Education
We have said that knowledge is not knowledge until you put
it into practice; however, we must always consider what
knowledge will be applicable in your particular case in order to
support your advancement with achieving your goals and life
planning. What is the point of putting knowledge into your
head which will not support your efforts, and also, what is the
point of placing knowledge into your head which will have no
lasting value to you. I refuse to read fiction books as a rule
(does not have to be your rule), and this, simply because I
cannot see how this will help me to promote by personal
business and life goals. While I am sure, that once I am retired
and have achieved all of my goals in life it would be rewarding
to finally sit down with a good action book for a change, but
until I am done my personal feeling is that I will simply be
wasting my time. I have said it before in this book and to many
people if you want to be better at what you do then study for
EXACTLY the subject and information which will enhance
your chances of success within that very area. Study to the full
extent of your capability in any subject that will make you
more proficient. I believe that not every attempt at study need
be a degree at a university but at least read three books on a
single subject matter that is pertinent to your challenge and
you will surprise yourself as to the level of knowledge which
you will gain together with the solutions to the potential
challenges within the same area. It has been said that
LEARNERS ARE LEADERS EVERYWHERE! So ask
yourself then: What kind of information will I need to absorb
in order to help me to achieve and be a leader among leaders
within my field of business? You want other businesses to
follow you and not the other way around so the only way to
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Contribution
What part do you want to play in moving your business and
your family forward so think on these things and place these
down that will clearly state your intentions and contributions
toward this goal? Your actions and goals must answer the
following questions:
- How will you make your business stronger?
- If your company has a board then how will your
contributions make them stronger?
- You operate within an industry so how will your
contributions set your industry apart and make it stronger and
more admirable?
medium and long term? You have two things to consider here
and that is business expansion goals and personal growth
goals. Some of the areas which you need to consider and factor
in are:
- Your position within the business as the CEO, CFO,
COO, MD and the like (each position will change
exponentially with the growth of the business and will directly
affect your goals and position within the organization as it
grows.
- How many branches will you start out with as a
business?
- How many branches should you open within the goal
period or short term, medium term and long term?
- In fact is it your goal to expand at all?
- Will you go NATIONAL?
- Will you go INTERNATIONAL?
- Is it your goal to eventually sell the business and if so
when?
- You may believe that first prize will be to list on the
NYSE or other relevant stock exchange/listings within your
part of the world?
- Would you enter into a merger arrangement if the terms
were conducive?
- Would you consider acquisitions as a means to grow
your business?
4. Material Aspirations.
Unfortunately we live in a material world and we all have
material needs. Remember, there is a vast difference between
needs, wants desires and then GREED. Many people want to
set goals for themselves and their family and if the desire is to
be GREEDY then that leads them to ultimately set goals that
are unreasonable and unattainable. As we now know, not
achieving pre-set goals will cause motivation levels to drop
and have a severe effect on both you and your familys self233
Business.
- Emergency Fund Development 3 months to 12
months plus cash reserves.
- Capital Expenditure Fund Development Monthly
Cash reserve build-up for purchases of major equipment and
machinery.
- Material needs for business expansion program as
previously discussed.
- The question to ask as you go through this exercise
as you will see below is what your NEEDS are and what are
your WANTS in these critical areas?
b. Personal.
- These are what I refer to as goals of necessity (NOT
GREED!)
- GOALS OF NECESSITY= this deals with YOUR
NEEDS (Daily, Monthly etc.)
- Only now do we deal with what I refer to as goals of
luxury (NOT GREED BUT DREAMS!)
- GOALS OF LUXURY= this deals with YOUR
WANTS, DREAMS AND ULTIMATE DESIRES (More
medium to long-term goals)
c.
Family.
- These are what I refer to as family goals of necessity
(NOT FAMILY GREED!)
- GOALS OF NECESSITY= this deals with your FAMILYS
needs (Daily, Monthly etc.)
- Only now do we deal with what I refer to as goals of
luxury (NOT FAMILY GREED BUT DREAMS!)
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how you achieve these must be yours and yours alone. Only
YOU can achieve the goals and not your family and neither
your friends. Your family, friends or influencers will not have
the same ability to be persistent when it comes to facing and
overcoming obstacles and they will most certainly not have the
same kind of self-image which you project in order to see the
entire plan through to the finish.
Must be in Writing and Affirmation Format
You have already seen the results of the Harvard geniuses
who do not place their goals and life planning in writing. I am
giving you all the credit in the world here and know deep
down that you will learn by the very expensive lesson taught
and learned by not placing your goals and strategies down in
writing. Any goals and life-plans which remain in your HEAD
will not and do not count when goal-setting is done. This will
be the time to take all that is in your head and in your heart and
to place it all down in writing. Direction and strategies will
ultimately be much clearer when you see these before your
eyes in writing. Many excuses are offered by entrepreneurs as
to why goals fail but none is more abused than the eternal
curse of forget. Placing all goals, life-planning and strategies
down in writing will reduce the temptation to revert to the age
old forget/forgot tacticyou will be held accountable to what
is in writing and not what you may or may not have forgotten
at any stage of the program.
Affirming your goals on a DAILY basis is imperative. Stating
your goals in a way wherein which you DAILY declare your
intentions regarding your daily goals is what will set you apart
from those who will certainly fail for not doing so. Affirming
your goals then on a DAILY basis will mean that you
absolutely state your intentions to succeed and that you loudly
and boldly declare your sheer will power in overcoming any
and all obstacles that may present themselves while you are on
the way to ultimate victory. You must announce, pronounce,
confirm and assert your intentions to succeed and this is all
done with each and every DAILY goal. Some ways to consider
the affirmation process are: (1) Daily computer reminders; (2)
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Dollars earned.
Quality quotations/proposals out.
Sales in.
Cold calls accomplished.
Appointments set with prospects.
Site surveys matched to proposals out.
Please note: NOT I will increase my company sales this
year!General vague statement with no benchmarks attached
for measurement purposes.
Must be Achievable and Realistic
Challenging and realistic are often words used to describe the
constant battle of balance when setting goals and doing lifeplanning. Some believe that goals should be challenging while
others believe that these should be realistic while yet
challenging. When goals are set to challenging standards it is
taken to mean that the goals will test one and try one to the
limit. It may also mean that the attempt at achieving the goal
may stretch ones abilities and most certainly tax motivation,
self-image and resolve if taken on.
When we assume a more realistic approach to goal-setting then
we assume that while the temperature is hot it is not
unbearable. A realistic stance on goal-setting means that we
have gone about things in a more practical and sensible way
and that reason and common sense has prevailed. The plan is
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Setting specific goals, then, will entail you being very specific
and this in turn means that you have a definite and exact aim at
what you want to achieve. The goal must be precise, special,
detailed but clear-cut with a clear and an exact meaningvery
definite and particular in every sense of the word. Another way
to define the term specific then would be to understand that it
is some or other goal or target which has very particular
qualities or aspects of something (Websters Dictionary).
A clear target is easier to aim at despite opinions to the
contrary. The emphasis here is on the word clear. The target
must be unhindered and clear of any obstacles and debris so
that there is a clear line of site. For instance, an archer takes
aim at a target during the Olympics and another takes aim at a
deer in a forest. The question is that while they are both aiming
at very specific targets which archer is more likely to actually
hit the target? Well, the archer that aims at a target at the
Olympics faces no obstacles to her shot other than a wind
adjustment; however, the archer in the forest also has the wind
to contend with but there are trees, shrubs and other
distractions which may hinder her in her aim meaning that
these influences may eventually make her miss the mark or
target completely. The idea is to fix the goal and/or objective
with a view to unhindered aim and achievement.
If the goal is specific it is easier to visualize! The simple
interpretation of this statement is that a target is easy to see if
you know and see what you are aiming at. Simple! It is said
that things are clear as glass but I have also heard the saying
which goes like this: things are as clear as mud! The last
thing that we want is to have a specific goal so muddied-up
that we cannot see what we are aiming at and if we cant see
what we are aiming at then how will we ever see to hit the
target. In order to see the end result before it actually happens
one needs a clear view of the route to the target. The word
clear in our current context must mean then that we have a
clear sight to the target and such a clear vision must be free of
any doubt or confusionclear. In order to be more effective in
achieving our goals they must be stated in terms that is free of
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toxic. In fact the sensation of taste may in fact save our lives as
this may prevent us from swallowing bad smelling substances
which may be poisonous. Now, while one cant really lick the
new car, house, motorboat or jet-ski should this be a goal for
you but one can most certainly taste the meat off an upmarket
gas barbeque if this has become a goal or that expensive bottle
of whisky or the box of chocolates which you have always
wanted to buy. I once had a goal to purchase an expensive
water purifier for my home and went about tasting the water
from one competitor to another in order to cement my goal in
my mind. I also know of an entrepreneur whose goal it was to
buy a cottage at a river and part of what he did in order to
cement the goal was to taste the river waterit was good
enough to help him cement his goal which he later achieved.
4. Touch a means of communication
Consider this will you? A woman is blind and thus has no way
of seeing so she meets a young man and asks if she can see
him. How does a blind person see? Many times they see by
means of touch and this lady will navigate the face of the
young man which she wants to see. The senses in her hand will
communicate the facial contours and features in no uncertain
terms and an assessment will be made in a very short period of
time as to the looks and make-up of the facethe wonderful
thing is that most blind people will match the voice up with the
looks (the hearing sense) and form a pretty accurate picture of
the person in front of her. Touch involves rough, smooth, soft,
sharp, rounded, contoured and the surfaces available and their
textures are most certainly too numerous to mention here.
However, touch is an amazing gift given to us all which has its
part in the five senses and touch, together with the other senses
has been designed to help us create a total picture and sensory
experience of everything in life. Add this then to the viewing
of the car and the smelling of the leather seats and the
visualization process, using all of your senses, is almost
complete.
5. Hearing second most developed physical sense.
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water for sure! The great thing about your imagination and/or
visualization is that you are able to actually hear the water
running and the birds singing and this makes the entire picture
more real and achievable and instills in you a determination to
achieve this goal something which you have never done or felt
before. You have used all five senses in order to make your
goal come alive and when your goals come alive to the point
where you see, where you touch, where you hear, where you
taste and where you taste the reality of it all then we call this
successful visualization. You will need to imagine and
visualize all of your goals using the gifts which you have
already been given called The Five Senses. Your personal goal
should be to develop this gift on a constant basis as only then
will you understand the true power of using visualization to
cement a pre-set goal with a view to achievement.
Here is a simple example of a goal stated in general terms and
then the same goal stated in very specific terms:
1. General and incorrectly stated goal: I want to be a better
parent!
2. Specific and correctly stated goal: I want to be a better parent
so I will listen patiently to my children for at least one hour
every day!
Must be Kept Private but Shared with Key People Only
We have already in this book had a short discussion on how
your friends, family and acquaintances will view your attempts
at entrepreneurship I must once again take this opportunity to
get you to understand that not everyone is interested in your
success. The goal here then is to get you to understand that the
people which you will least expect to will be the very people
who may doubt you and most certainly will have no intentions
of supporting your efforts as an entrepreneur. In fact, these
people are eternal skeptics and sharing your goals and dreams
and desires with them is probably the worst thing that you can
do so think very carefully. You will have skeptics and you will
have those that are naturally jealous of anyone (family, friend
or foe) succeeding in life. They will most certainly not
consider what you tell them as private and confidential and
255
her pray but then take her time in order to get into a position of
attack. Going in too early may lead to the pray recognizing her
intentions and usually the result is the natural instinct to flee.
Taking too long in getting into the attack position may see a
competitor sneak in for the kill. However, the target is
identified and locked on so the stalking process begins. She
will not be unrealistic in her approach as trying to get to the
pray as quick as possible may place undue pressure on her and
things will begin to go wrong to the point where her goal may
not be achieved. Getting to her goal then is a process which is
most natural. She eases into the stalking process, and her body
is crouched, comfortable and natural nothing FORCED! She
uses her surroundings well as a camouflage and understands
that sudden and unplanned movements will be disastrous for
her and her family. The more natural the process toward the
goal, or the target, the easier the chase and eventual killgoal
achieved! Her NATURAL MOTIVATION then hunger!
Here is something that I want you to seriously contemplate if
you are going to be successful on the practical side of goalsetting. The unprofessional entrepreneur only uses deadlines
on goals which they may not truly want to achieve! The
question here then is why set such goals to begin with and I
would say to you then that you are one hundred percent correct
in posing such a question? Do not waste your time on setting
goals which you have no plans of actually achieving and this in
essence the very topic of discussion in this chapter. You and I
will have goals which we place under the urgent category
and I am not referring to these; however, even when setting
such goals you must set reasonable time lines for effective
completion.
Must be Converted
Affirmations
to
Visualization
and
Positive
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7
Setting Objectives: Strategy & Goal Setting
Procedures
1st Secret: PASSION
2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
4TH Secret: SELF-IMAGE
5th Secret: VALUES
6th Secret: GOAL SETTING
7TH Secret: SETTING OBJECTIVES
Introduction
If you have read the previous chapter with a view to action
then by the time that you read this next chapter you would
have completed the worksheets. Together the knowledge and
worksheets now gives you more direction than you may ever
have had before. My hope here is that you have taken the
exercises, admonitions and needed planning seriously as these
deal mainly with the theoretical side of your work and effort to
date, however, there is more! We will need to deal with the
implementation aspect of your plans as there is no point
whatsoever in having plans without having a plan to moving
all of this forward with a view to the actual achievement. It is
at this stage where many entrepreneurs fail as they dont seem
to take the third step or even have knowledge of a step number
three as this relates to goal-setting and life-planning. I have
said it before and I will say it again, having a written plan is a
great start but the idea is to take the written plan and MAKE IT
COME ALIVE! This chapter deals with this very idea and will
guide you into the realization that your plans are nothing
unless you start achieving them and you can only achieve them
269
if you are guided as to how this all comes about. With this in
mind then please follow me into the practical aspect of all of
your efforts to date. I want to make sure that you achieve your
goals so read on and read well as you will be amazed as to how
easy it is to set the practical path for achieving what you now
have in writing setting objectives for strategy and for goal
setting procedures.
The objectives then deals with the MEANS OF
ACCOMPLISHMENT. To date, you and I have dealt with two
critical aspects of goal-setting and life-planning and these are:
(1) setting values; (2) setting goals. However we have three
aspects and steps which need to be accomplished in order to
now achieve the goals and this third and vital step is:
SETTING OBJECTIVES!
The entire process consists of the following three steps: (1)
Setting values; (2) Setting goals and (3) Setting Objectives.
Thus, the means of accomplishment must answer the
question: How am I going to achieve my personal goals
which I now have in writing? The most exciting part of much
work to date will now begin in earnest. Because of your
heightened motivation levels for achievement of your goals we
will now discuss methods of actually bringing your goals to
life so to speak. The more we make goals happen the more
motivated you will become and the more motivated you are the
more chance of you continuing to achieve your goals. The
more you achieve your goals in a practical sense the more
successful you become and the more successful you become
the more you are admired by those around you and the more
you are admired the more your self-esteem will grow and be
established in the positive sense. Remember, people love doing
business with successful people and nothing breeds more
confidence than you actually achieving pre-set, pre-determined
and pre-meditated goals. The more you achieve your goals the
more excitement you generate and this will motivate you to
seek out different and better ideas for achieving all the goals
which you have written down. New ideas for achieving your
goals are the life blood to continue success as sometimes old
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Stated as income
The objective here, or plan of action if you will, would be to
assess and arrive at a money value in totality for all of your
pre-set goals for the pre-set term of achieving your goals. The
overall value then of the totality of your goals for a five year
achievement term may amount to $250,000.00. Great! Now we
know that the value of your five year goal is $250,000.00 and
this in essence becomes the actual goal and the planning or
objective will now shift focus to the achievement of the
abovementioned amount and not the material item. While the
money value seems unreasonable and unattainable at present
you must now understand that what will change this is your
ability to break this amount down into bite sized chunks so
that you dont choke. $250.000.00 divided by five years is
equal to an annual financial goal of $50,000.00 in order to
achieve your five year strategy and pre-set goalsnot bad and
much more acceptable than looking at the entire picture of
$250,000.00! When we break the $50,000.00 down even
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c.
283
f.
Conclusion
Most people never achieve their full potential simply because
they have never been trained to set effective goals and then to
strategize as to how to achieve business and family pre-set
goals. We have now seen over the last three chapters contained
in this book how important it is to focus on the three critical
areas when setting goals (any goal), namely: (1) Setting of
ones values as a fundamental and crucial first step in the
process; (2) The professional process of setting goals and
performing strategy planning; (3) Aligning all objectives which
clearly define the pathway to achieving all goals, dream and
desires. It is absolutely imperative that you understand that
there is a clear sequence of events and the one action logically
follows the other. However, if you forget everything else you
must not forget this and that is that within the three steps as
mentioned above there are absolutely and plainly NO
SHORTCUTS! You either make a determined decision to be
professional in all three phases as mentioned above or dont
start the program at all. The difference between your success
and failure lies within your ability to recognize that you need
direction and then to perform all the tasks professionally in
order to assure that the much needed direction is found and
acted upon. Like anything else in your business and in your
life, goal-setting must be done in order and in turn it will bring
order out of apparent chaos. Therefore, goal-setting, lifeplanning and strategy planning, if done professionally, will
give new meaning to your life and will also ensure that your
dreams turn into reality. Plan the goals for your life and work
the plan and you will be absolutely amazed at the results.
Whatever you do though dont plan to fail!
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failure lies
you need
the tasks
the much
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8
Self-Discovery: The Foundation of Your Own Success
1st Secret: PASSION
2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
4TH Secret: SELF-IMAGE
5th Secret: VALUES
6th Secret: GOAL SETTING
7TH Secret: SETTING OBJECTIVES
8TH Secret: SELF-DISCOVERY
Introduction
My second oldest daughter is studying psychology at
university. She has a very soft and a giving heart and had
decided to dedicate some of her time and growing knowledge
to a worthy cause. After doing some research she decided on a
foundation (registered as non-profit but not so in practice it
would seem) which specializes in providing special needs
facilities to autistic children. As a Junior Therapist she is
assigned to one child only and it is her responsibility to mentor
the chosen child when she puts in her time at work. I want to
tell you about this story because one would think that with
such fragile children that all would be committed to the task
and to the needs of these very special little ones and that there
would be a reasonable sense of team spirit and helpfulness
within this organization. The other thing lacking it would seem
is any form of professionalism at all.
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things could and will go wrong? The second email from the
owner was from someone out of touch with her business as she
then proceeded (after accepting my daughters first email) to
explain to her that she should have followed protocol and
reported the incident to her Team Leader. The Team Leader
was in fact one of the people who were too busy to respond
to my daughters call for help. After the event the Team Leader
did nothing to address the situation at all and carried on with
life as though nothing ever happened so the Team Leader
was not an option. While it was not her function my daughter
was lambasted for not ensuring that she had toilet paper and
wet-wipes at the time of the incident-apparently she learned
later that the owner was responsible for placing all orders and
that the lack of the necessary items was in fact an oversight on
her part. Staff employed to assist with these emergencies were
nowhere to be found, and again this was the Team Leaders
fault as she was apparently responsible for ensuring that staff
were properly managed. No matter what the correspondence
between my daughter and her employer she refused to accept
responsibility for any of the negative behavior of her staff and
the lack of needed items for the children. I have also been told
that there is a high staff turnover in the business and instead of
the owner doing introspection of her business practices and her
management thereof it would seem that at no time will she
accept responsibility for the obvious challenges faced by one
and all in the business. My feeling is, and I am sure that you
will agree with me, the business will not last long at all. The
fact that this entrepreneur spends many hours away from her
business has no control over her staff and has no idea as to the
needs of the business. According to her, is not her fault as its
the fault of the Team Leader, my daughter, the child in
question and the housekeeper who should be there to assist in
these types of emergencies!
So often in the business world and society in general we are
way too eager to blame others for our own shortcomings,
mistakes and weaknesses. Our failures are willingly placed
upon the shoulders of either our great staff or our family
members. Blaming someone when they are wrong is one thing
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become the business owner when you either buy the same
and/or do a business start-up. The most unbelievable things
about Max was that I never ever spent time in convincing him
of our roles as master and mans best friend as all of this
seemed to develop automatically over the years. While I have
never taken advantage of Max he has never taken advantage of
me (except for his insatiable appetite for digging with the
purpose of either hiding or retrieving a bone) in that he knows
my position in our relationship and I know his. Max is a large
breed black German Shepherd and has the capability of hurting
me should he no longer feel that I am his master. The chance of
him misunderstanding his position both now and in the future
is pretty remote and I want to say, knowing Maxs size, that I
am very happy about this. The point of all of this is that I dont
allow Max to tell me what to do. When I walk him in the
mornings, and if I was not his master in charge of him, I would
let him go so that he can attack all the dogs in the
neighborhood that continuously bark at us as we pass. I control
Max and he not only knows this but I get the distinct feeling
that he appreciates my willingness to be his master. YOU are
the master so YOU are in control of ALL circumstances around
you in business and this includes YOU, your staff, your clients
and your suppliers but mostly YOU! As I am the owner of Max
my beloved friend I am also my best friends keeper. If you do
not understand who you are then you will never realize that
YOU are the master of your business, the owner of your
business and the keeper of your business and in order to
achieve your business and personal goals, and to reach your
true potential, you will have to understand that YOU are the
leader and manager of it all. A master then is one whom is or
becomes an expert and a genius in his/her field. How far
away are you from being exactly that?
We now understand what a master is but we also need to
know what a master does (verb format). As we are dealing
with YOU, and we want to understand more of who YOU are,
within the business environment we need to understand all of
the actions associated with being a master and with who you
are as a person and entrepreneur. A master then will be
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2. Mastery.
As a MASTER ENTREPRENEUR you will have complete
control over who you are and over your business. In other
words you will be known as a master entrepreneur who has
outstanding expertise and skill over his/her life and business. It
is this expertise that allows you to accept the responsibility for
all areas of your life and your business and thus you are not
one to shun the saying the buck stops here. You will thus
have complete mastery over all aspects which affect the
success of your business.
You will have a professional command of your identified
weaknesses and the fact that you have identified these means
that as a professional you will learn through whatever means to
overcome these to the point where you become the master of
your weaknesses and not a slave to them. Remember, as we
have said on many occasions now knowledge is not
knowledge until you put it into practice. The idea is that once
you have completed an introspection exercise, and have
identified those areas that even you agree are a source of
weakness for you, then you must draw on the knowledge
presented in this book in order to overcome them. This action
will turn you into a true entrepreneur in that you will then
comprehend and grasp what it will take to make the changes
necessary and the ability to finally grasp and comprehend what
constitutes a true MASTER ENTREPRENEUR. Becoming
proficient in business, and not just any business, but your
business and your industry, will make you capable in more
areas than you are able to comprehend. As you raise the levels
of business proficiency you will raise the levels of your
mastery as a master entrepreneur. Only when you have a clear
mastery over all aspects of your life and your business can you
then claim that achieving success is but one more hill away.
Thus mastery as an entrepreneur will mean that you are an
expert with great skill as a MASTER entrepreneur.
It is imperative to realize that unless you know who you are
you may never reach your true potential. May I suggest
another important consideration? You are only able to use
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the young mans weakness and dread and managed to use the
Kryptonite against him in order to accomplish some evil deed.
We are all happy that the super hero lived through the ordeal
and won the day due to his ability to overcome his weakness.
In both of the examples above our heroes had amazing
strengths but in order to use the strengths they had to discover
them and nurture these to the point where they could be used
for good. When you understand what your strengths are then
you know what you have to use for the good of your family
and your business; however, I say again you will have to
discover them. While our super heroes use their strengths to
conquer evil and protect mankind you and I can do the same
thing for our families and as master entrepreneurs in our
businessesso discover what makes you be the hero as a
master entrepreneur.
2. Discover and understand your personal weaknesses.
Samsons weakness was short hair. Supermans weakness was
Kryptonite. What is your weakness? In order for Samson to
regain his strength he would have to re-grow his hair and
Superman would have to avoid Kryptonite at all cost if he
wanted to live and continue to save the world. Thus identifying
our weaknesses does not only give us a way to overcome them
but the discovery also provides us with awareness, and
awareness, ensures that we avoid our weaknesses for fear of
failure. Why would Superman deliberately and willfully go
near Kryptonite after he identified the substance as deadly to
him? Samson re-grew his hair not because he thought that it
was cool to do so but because he knew that having short hair
could get him killed and probably would have had he not
grown his hair again and be given back his power for one last
time. Samson destroyed his weakness by destroying his own
life as he brought down the buildings upon himself and his
enemies. Identifying your weaknesses also helps you to
understand your ability of either allowing your weaknesses to
destroy you or, as with Superman; he decided to manage his
weaknesses by steering clear of Kryptonite thereby saving his
life and allowing himself to be a perpetual hero.
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to know who you are and because of this what impact you are
having on those around you and those whom you love. Being
an entrepreneur is never easy but what will make a greater
challenge is if you think that you know it all and that there is
nothing left for you to learn the age old saying goes: you are
never too old to learn! The idea is that you affect what
happens around you at all times either negatively or positively
so you must develop an eagerness to know who you are and to
learn more about yourself on a daily basis if your
circumstances dictates such a need. You need to know what
makes you tick and you will always need to know what your
off buttons are as well as your on button. Learn what you
are capable of and what you do well and then learn the
opposite and what you can do to make the changes for success.
Be aware! Monitor your level of interest in learning more
about yourself on a consistent basis as the day may arrive
when you develop a low tolerance for this learning process and
develop an incurious nature or an indifferent nature and an
unconcerned philosophy of introspection which will forever
remain vital to you becoming a MASTER ENTREPRENEUR.
7. Discover and understand your curiosity to always learn more
about OTHERS.
What is your current level of interest in other people at this
very moment? You and I will understand as entrepreneurs that
people are our business. People buy services and products not
companies. People receive and accept quotations and tenders
for products and services not companies. People pay your
invoices not companies. Companies and businesses are made
up of people and we are to deal with people on a daily basis
who are capable, in most instances in business, to make or
break the entrepreneurs dreams, goals and desires. If you
dont like people then stay out of business! People are critical
to your success! Understand who you are dealing with and
never stop understanding who you are dealing with! People
will enter into legally binding agreements with you and then
break these soon thereafter understand why? People will tell
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you that they never read your agreement so you will need to
understand why people behave in this way. The
agreement/contract contains agreed upon payment terms but
people dont settle your invoices accordinglyyou simply must
understand why they behave in this fashion as not paying
invoices is a serious threat against your business. Your staff
underperforms which affects the good name of your business
but it is your job as the owner and entrepreneur to find out why
such behavior exists so that you are able to correct such
detrimental behavior you have to understand your staff and
why they behave the way that they do. There is no point in
burying your head in the sand like an Ostrich when it comes to
understanding people as they are your life-blood as this
relates to your plans.
8. Discover and understand your eagerness to receive feedback
from those who care.
Feedback is the food of champions! Criticism in any format is
always better than no criticism at all! It is unfortunate that both
the media and society in general have led us to believe that
there is only a negative side to feedback/criticism. Within the
context of business and entrepreneurship there can be nothing
further from the truth. Master entrepreneurs have long since
embraced the concept of valuable feedback and criticism
whether negative of positive as a means to understand the
direction of their business and the effectiveness of services and
products. Criticism of sales staff, services staff and
administration staff is vital in order for correction to take place
any negative feedback which is used to change behavior for
the good of the business must be embraced with open arms and
a warm heart. Personal feedback and/or criticism of the
business owner, partners and any other area for that matter is
worth more than gold so to speak as only after the same has
been received can changes be made either way.
Constant feedback is considered so vital in the retail sector that
many have opted for IMMEDIATE feedback by providing
various electronic means by which to give immediate feedback
of service at all critical areas throughout the store. The
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Behavior.
As human beings we have been handed a gift from on high
which allows us to determine within a moment someones
behavior. With this in mind then may I ask you as to what
behavior your clients are seeing in you? When your partner has
to approach you on issues what does he read in your behavior?
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When you and your spouse have had a tough day what
behavior do they see in you and how does this behavior affect
your relationship with your spouse? People read our behavior
and in reading our behavior they make certain assumptions
about who we are as people and as entrepreneursno wonder
many entrepreneurs struggle to succeed throughout the world.
When people review our behavior, and make up their minds
about us in a split second then they are reviewing things such
as: (1) Personal conduct, (2) manners, (3) attitude, (4)
demeanor, (5) deportment and our (6) reactions. The other
aspect worth pointing out about behavior is that behavior can
be put on. This is prevalent for arguments sake in a new
relationship where the one party wants to present only the
good side of the personality for fear of termination of the
relationship by the other party or the loss of interest due to a
poor attitude. The one thing about an attitude, though, is that it
is always true to itself! Eventually what is on the inside will
reveal itself on the outside only a matter of time. What you
portray may affect your business either way so make sure that
it is never the wrong way.
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d. Communication habits.
Communication comes in many forms and is as easily
misunderstood or understood as is a poor attitude. Again, we
have been endowed with the ability to understand another
individual without even saying a word. May I ask you then
what are you saying to those around you without even saying a
word? Communication may occur by means of writing, verbal
and body language and may manifest itself in personal contact,
a letter, one-on-one meeting with business associates, advice,
relationships, messages, associations and other interpersonal
dealings. If you use any or all of the above means to
communicate then have you asked yourself as to whether you
feel that you have developed certain habits (good or bad) when
doing so. You and I have both met people who seem not to be
able to help themselves in talking down to people no
matter who they are. Others are inappropriate in their language
and have a limited vocabulary of words with which to
communicate. Some have a habit of overemphasizing a point
to the point of boredom. What are the habits which you have
developed over the years? Communication must be
professional at all times in business with clear goals and
objectives for the communication. What is your attitude in
your communication process and is a bad attitude coming
through in your communication process or do you impress
those around you with your ability to be professional in all
spheres of the communication process? My advice to you is
that if you cannot spell then use the spell-check application on
your computer and if you have no talent when it comes to
writing then take classes that will help you to present a more
professional attitude in your communication. Study to show
thyself approved There is nothing worse than an
entrepreneur who cannot present himself/herself in a
professional manner when it comes to written communication
and much can be said of a person when they resort to writing.
Whatever you do never assume that the person to which you
are communicating will have a tolerant attitude toward you or
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Habits (from what will destroy you to what will save or build
you)
A habit is a habitual tendency and/or action which will result in
either negative or positive results over time. You and I are
aware that certain habits are hard to break once they have
taken hold. The habit of alcohol and drug abuse is certainly a
negative habit with severely negative consequences. We will
also agree that cigarette smoking is a nasty habit with ultimate
life threatening consequences. The one habit which has been
responsible for many entrepreneurs destroying their businesses
and families is that of gambling. If you are an entrepreneur or a
want-to-be entrepreneur or a prospective entrepreneur and you
already have a gambling challenge then my advice is that you
stay away from entrepreneurship as you will not have the selfcontrol in order to avoid gambling houses and casinos for the
sake of your developing business and for the sake of your
family. Because a habit is considered a practice of something
on a constant and consistent basis and has a pattern and a
routine such a phenomenon can be used for good and for bad.
While the results may vary from one person to the next I am of
the opinion that in order to turn a bad habit into a good habit
the practice must be repeated for around three weeks without
fail the opposite may also be true.
A habit means that this is the persons way, the persons
tendency and generally a rule for this person whether the
action is negative or positive. Your habits need constant
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7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
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9
Loyalty: Exceed all Expectations
1st Secret: PASSION
2nd Secret: OPTIMISM
3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
4TH Secret: SELF-IMAGE
5th Secret: VALUES
6th Secret: GOAL SETTING
7TH Secret: SETTING OBJECTIVES
8TH Secret: SELF-DISCOVERY
9TH Secret: LOYALTY
Introduction
Superior client service is one of the major separators
between serious competitors. There are many ways that a
business is able to compete but the most difficult way to stay
ahead of the game is by superior standards. In corporate
business today many millions of dollars are being spent on
major advertising campaigns, and the promise of:
Outstanding customer service! I have witnessed the false
advertising as much as you have and can tell you that there is a
huge difference between the talk and the walk. What the
customer is promised on television and what actually happens
at the business interaction level is vastly different, and in my
opinion, represents false advertising. However, one could
argue then that while it is the goal of executive management
within the corporate environment to provide superior service it
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would seem that top management and grassroots staff are not
on the same page and in fact are miles apart on the subject. My
feeling is that when one faces this scenario, whether in the
corporate world or your very own business, you should
understand why this difference exists and what needs to be
done to get the parties to practice the very same thing when it
comes to fulfilling promises of superior service. You may be
saying at this juncture: up until now you have been dealing
with the development of the entrepreneur so why the sudden
shift to superior service? This is a very good question, my
dear friend!
It always has been my goal in this book to ensure that you have
all the necessary information with a view to enhancing the
prospects of success for you, your family and your business. I
can assure you that my goal has not changed despite the shift
from you to the client/customer as we approach the end of the
book. You see, my dear friend, should you have implemented
everything else which I have presented to you through all the
previous pages, and forget the fundamental reason for why you
are in business, then you will fail in any event and this will
disappoint me to no end. Providing superior customer service
will set you apart from your competitors and the wonderful
thing about this business phenomenon is that it is not necessary
for such a policy to cost you any more money at all. In fact,
providing superior customer service will most certainly
increase profit and promote business growth. Companies that
decide to do business with you have been made false promises
year after year so I want you to be different so when you go in
and challenge the client/customer to test your resolve as far as
great service goes that you are actually able to fulfill your
promise in all service areas. Great service will satisfy the client
and will most certainly justify the cost of the product or
service.
Our goal in this chapter then will be to understand a satisfied
client. We need to understand that while we provide great
service there is another reason why the client/customer will
keep on coming back time after time. There are many ways to
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get a client to keep coming back over and over again but the
one that I believe is the most over looked business activity of
all is that of building client LOYALTY. The question then is
am I saying that great service and customer loyalty go hand in
hand and that even in the unlikely event that your great service
fails on any given day it will be the loyalty which you have
built up that will save the client from moving to a competitor?
This is exactly what I am sayingBUILDING CLIENT
LOYALTY MUST WORK HAND IN HAND WITH THE
PROVISION OF GREAT SERVICE!
According to some top business men and women whom I have
had the pleasure of interacting with in the business
environment I am led to believe that when taking on a new
supplier the expectation is that three criteria should be met at
all times, namely:
1. A friendly atmosphere during the business relationship.
2. A positive attitude by the companys management and its
entire staff.
3. A professional and superior service.
The three keys words apparently are then (1) friendly, (2)
positive and (3) professional. As a potential entrepreneur or
young entrepreneur I want you to understand that what I have
just given to you is not taught anywhere. The business gems
as I refer to them come directly from the mouths of some of
the most powerful business people in the world LISTEN TO
THEM!
Friendly Atmosphere
It has been said many times throughout history: In order to
make friends you must show yourself friendly! Clients and
customers alike have often shared with me the great battle
which they face with company representatives in that it would
seem that they are more friendly than the people who approach
them for business and that this makes them extremely
uncomfortable and the situation unpleasant. Being friendly is
not difficult surely unless you are a miserable person in that
case I will refer you back to the previous chapter in this book.
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Positive Attitude
I have advised you before STAY AWAY FROM NEGATIVE
PEOPLE AS THEY WILL BRING YOU DOWN TO THEIR
LEVEL BEFORE LONG! Again the understanding of negative
and positive and negative and positive people around us is one
of the most natural things in the world. For some reason, while
people assure us that snakes are good for the environment we
still detest them and the natural instinct is still to kill them or
run from them. The same sentiment seems to apply to negative
people and while most of us realize their place in society we
would rather not associate with them at all. Clients/customers
love dealing with positive outgoing entrepreneurs and
company representatives.
I recently followed a sequence of events in my own business
which intrigued me but did not surprise me in the least and will
probably prove the points which I made above. We have been
looking to take on a second supplier for one of the services
which my company provides to our client base. I had
instructed my staff, assigned to this task, to set up the
necessary appointments with a view to allowing the
introduction of the new lines and suppliers. All of this was
done and two potential suppliers were chosen and the meetings
were set up. I had been notified of the times and date of the
meetings with the two potential suppliers but had decided to
allow the staff to control proceedings without me being present
and was I glad that I made this decision. I sit in an office just
above the boardroom downstairs. I could not help but overhear
the proceedings which went on below and was most certainly
intrigued to say the least. The first appointment was set for
around 09h00 and the other for around 10h30.
The time for the first appointment arrived; however, I could
hear very little as this related to the activities below me. In
fact, I was quite surprised as to the low noise levels as I know
my staff and they are usually animated and vocal. However,
time marched on and before I knew it the second interview
began. The one thing that I can tell you is that I heard more
laughter during this meeting than I had heard coming from the
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A bad experience.
Dissatisfaction sets in.
Confront the source of the bad experience.
Wait in anticipation for the response.
Personal and business recovery only if result is positive.
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6.
7.
8.
9.
Satisfaction is restored.
If dissatisfaction is not resolved the result will be negative.
No loyalty building would have been achieved.
A positive experience after a complaint will result in
loyalty/brand building.
Many clients view complaints in a negative light as much as
the businessperson does. The client/customer does not really
want to lodge a complaint or non-conformance as this makes
them feel uncomfortable and takes them outside of their
comfort zone. This may astound you but many people who
complain are actually madder at having been forced to
complain than the actual reason for the complaint itself. No
one likes to complain and no one likes to be labeled negatively
because they do so it upsets them to no end. The question
should be asked then: Why do we place well-meaning people
in a position whereby they have to do something they actually
hate
doing
COMPLAIN?
As
a
MASTER
ENTREPRENEUR you must understand the politics of
complaining and surprise your client/customer by your
professional willingness to assist in all matters and then see
how quick you develop long lasting loyalty with the same
person. Instead of viewing complaints in a negative light why
not use these to your business advantage at all times? Never
shy away from client complaints or challenges as this
represents a clear opportunity to show what you can do with
the sole purpose of satisfying your client/customer. Once you
have taken the time to resolve a challenge or a complaint you
and your staff should do all in your power to prevent the same
instance from happening yet again.
The long and the short of building loyalty is that the
client/customer does not spend his/her time making up stories
about you and your business YOU DO! Whatever you do
never give your client a story to tell about you and your
business and if you do you had better make sure that it is a
positive story. If you are good at building loyalty and
satisfying your client then this will be the only story that they
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can spread about you but not achieving client satisfaction will
be the story that YOU force the client/customer to tell about
you and your business. The biggest issue with stories which we
create as entrepreneurs is that our clients/customers repeat
them to all who have the time to listen. If your story is positive
then how can a negative story be told to others? However,
when the story is negative then the word will spread and the
result will be a termination of a service or a cancellation of an
order. This way no brand loyalty would have been built but
rather it will be broken down. The idea is that you realize that
in your own business the truth of the matter is quite simple and
that is that true brand loyalty will only come from SUPERIOR
CUSTOMER SERVICE!
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10
Listening: An Art That Could Save You
1st Secret:
PASSION
nd
2 Secret: OPTIMISM
3RD Secret: ATTITUDE
4TH Secret: SELF-IMAGE
5th Secret:
VALUES
th
GOAL SETTING
TH
TH
Secret: SELF-DISCOVERY
TH
Secret: LOYALTY
6 Secret:
7
8
9
10
TH
Introduction
My mother was a wonderful woman (I am sure that you will
say the same about your mom?) and had a very direct way of
communicating which generally would be referred to today as
shouting. While it is now too late for me to ask her why she
thought that it was necessary to shout at us siblings all the time
I am sure that I can use my own imagination to answer this
question. My feeling is that she was utterly convinced that we
simply did not listen when our mother barked out orders for us
to complete our chores. Obviously we did not agree with her
and felt that it was virtually impossible not to hear our dear
mother if you consider the volume with which the orders were
communicated by mom and received by us. The key hear
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a.
Active
The opposite of active listening then has got to be inactive
listening a general state for most people one would say. Ask
me, I know! My mother often spoke and I did not listen
because I was not listening. As simple as that! Inactivity refers
largely to our ability to have no action at all a state of
limbo while we are being spoken to. I have often tried an
experiment (which you may or may not agree with sorry if
you dont) and this happens very seldom and only when I am
in the mood. I will be discussing an issue in a meeting in the
boardroom and will notice that one of my managers seem far
away and deep in thought, and while looking at me and
playing his part well, I can see that he is not paying attention
and that he is distracted for some reason. In the middle of my
sentence I will shout out the word SEX! At that moment
even the managers paying attention to what I am saying sit up
straight. However, the one inattentive manager actually
undergoes a total metamorphoses in that the usual response is
something like this: What did you say? In a flash he is back
to reality and I can move on with my session. While I do agree
with you that the way a message is delivered is sometimes the
message killer I have no sympathy for managers and
entrepreneurs who cannot control their thoughts and attention
span for the time it takes to ACTIVELY LISTEN!
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view,
your client/customer will not say the word SEX in order to get
your focus back on to the matter at hand but will simply move
his/her business to someone who will both listen and act upon
a complaint and/or a challenge.
Being ACTIVE in listening will then mean that you and I
become busy listeners and this in turn meaning that we are
intense and energetic (actually expending energy in the
listening process) and get ourselves ready for a lively
response within the communication process. Being active will
also entail you and I being diligent, hard-working and
dedicated to the entire listening process (including body
language). The word which I can think of to best describe the
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Poor
The worst thing to be guilty of (after not listening at all) is
poor listening. To the client/customer and to your staff, this
must be at that moment the lowest form of contempt. Showing
people contempt during the listening stage will cost you and
will assist you in developing a reputation as a poor business
person and an unprofessional character to say the least. Poor
listening will be perceived as a deliberate attempt to ignore the
transmitter and/or messenger. One of the words used to
describe poor in the English language is impoverished. Now,
if you and I understand the context of the use of this word in
the business environment, and in particular within the listening
stage of the overall communication process, then we must
conclude the following. To be listening impoverished will be
taken to mean that we actually do not have the capacity to
listen. By the use of the word capacity then you and I
understand that this will entail (within the context of our
discussion remember) a mental capacity, a focus capacity, an
interest capacity, a willingness to listen capacity and a caring
capacity. Not to have the capacity to include any or all of the
above in the listening process is how we become labeled as
poor listeners. We are thus incapacitated and/or impoverished
to listen through either a willful act or a mental and emotional
incapacity to listen. Which of these will apply to you? Place
this on your list of weaknesses if you must and do something
about it before you lose everything that you own including
your self-respect.
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basic amount of words needed for effective communicationone would think! The challenge which an entrepreneur may
face will have to do with the lack of the technical vocabulary
needed in the case of technical products and/or services. Not
being able to keep up with the sender due to a limited technical
term vocabulary will most certainly cause miscommunication.
Some of my sales staff, at the beginning stages, seems to
struggle a great deal with increasing their personal vocabulary
to include some of the new terms which we introduce to them.
Our clients use the words daily and consistently communicate
these terms being used between us all over the years. For
instance, one of our services happens to be what we have come
to term as a Hygiene Service (mentioned previously in this
book). A team of highly trained service technicians perform a
service which includes decontaminating, descaling and
sanitizing the washroom area in order to reduce the risk of
cross-contamination between staff members. Thus you will
understand that it is vital that the salesperson have the ability
not only to add these words to their technical vocabulary but
that they clearly understand the meaning of each word just as
the client/customer does. If the client/customer uses and
understands the terms as mentioned above, and the salesperson
does not, well then you have a perfect recipe for
miscommunication. The entrepreneur must understand that it is
not enough to simply know the word and pronounce it
correctly but that the meaning of the word must also be
understood in order to avoid miscommunication.
3. An ear for the language.
The idea here is that you and I must be tuned in to the
language. In other words it will help a great deal to have had a
good few years of experience in sending and receiving a
second language before one feels proficient and confident in
actually communicating in the language. As an example, I
speak a second language which is an evolution of the Dutch
language spoken in Holland. Having been exposed to the
language since a young boy I am able to read, write and speak
the language fluently. The very same language though not only
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has a Dutch tone to it but also German and Belgium. Does this
mean that I am fluent in German and the language spoken by
the Belgians? NO! I know my limits! I will not even venture
into the languages associated with the Afrikaans language
which I am able to communicate in effectively as I know for a
fact that this will create a great deal of confusion if I am after
closing a business deal with a German, Belgian or even
someone from Holland for that matter. Having an ear for the
language then must be taken to mean that you and I are totally
familiar, in all aspects; of a language should we choose to
communicate effectively therein.
As stated before, up to this point I have spent time in helping
you understand the dangers and the challenges as far as not
being able to communicate effectively. Our focus has largely
centered on our perceived inability to listen and while the
communication process has many aspects I am of the opinion
that a major cause for miscommunication is because
entrepreneurs (and people in general) do not listen effectively.
The frustration which arises from entrepreneurs who never
consider their level of listening skill will cause
clients/customers to feel that they are not being heard. When a
client/customer feels this way the result is easy to predict. Prior
to this point I have spent a great deal of time in trying to reveal
the challenges which many face when it comes to listening but
now I would like to focus our attention on the solution to the
problem.
How do we change the entrepreneurs listening behavior
and attitude in the communication process?
The client has a right to compliment and he/she has a right to
complain. This statement is a basic customer fundamental right
in any business environment and if you and I can understand
this concept then it will change the way we listen. The problem
with many unprofessional entrepreneurs is that they either
dont want the client to complain or compliment and/or they
refuse to recognize a fundamental right in business. The initial
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There are only two types of listeners (in my book anyway) and
they are POOR listeners and GOOD listeners. Obviously, and
unless there is something seriously wrong with you, your
desire and goal should be to lean toward the good listener side
for the sake of your business and family.
What are the obvious signs of a poor listener? The first thing
noticeable about a poor listener is that she/he will generally be
found to slouch in their chairs. Slouching when sitting can be
traced back to an attitude problem and this behavior makes it
clear that the attitude is most certainly not positive but that of
I dont care! Slouching within the business environment (and
most any other environment) is deemed to be arrogance. With
such a person there is always a challenge in that they come
across as though they just simply dont care what you have to
say, and even when they respond, it is minimal just to show
you and me that they simply dont want to participate. They
will not look you and me in the face but will not look at us
directly in the eyes. One would be mistaken for believing that
such a poor listener has something to hide and may even be a
criminal. The impression given to us is that the individual
simply cannot be trusted. An obvious sign that a poor listener
is not listening to you is when their eyes wonder all over the
place and that they are very easily distracted. I can tell you I
have had business meetings with this type of a listener and it is
the most frustrating thing in that you have a distinct feeling
that you will not get anywhere with this person. Another
obvious body language sign is that they most certainly give
one the impression that they are utterly and totally bored with
the conversation with you.
The good listener mold belongs to the professional and
MASTER ENTREPRENEUR. This professional sits upright as
a sign of confidence and invitation. The invitation is taken to
mean that the client is welcome to our ears so to speak. In
fact, the impression that the customer will receive when
dealing with such a person is that because they sit on the edge
of their seat they immediately take this to mean that they are
interested, concerned and are sitting in the office, or
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more than they listen and everybody seems to believe that their
opinion is more important than the next and are fixated on
getting this across at the expense of the sender. My own
managers tend to read into what may have been said as
opposed to focusing on what is actually being said. As an
entrepreneur, your customer expects you to get results when
they are not happy and your staff will need professional
guidance and this can only happen if you hear and understand
through effective listening. Not being able to resolve a client
complaint due to a lack of clearly understanding the intended
message will cost you dearly and will ruin your good
reputation as a professional person and that of your business.
Guiding and training staff to perform based upon the incorrect
assumptions brought about through a misunderstanding will
not help your staff or your business in the long term.
One of the most critical times for ensuring that professional
listening takes place is during the selling process. As you will
see in my next book, the ability to listen will allow you to
identify all the buying signals being transmitted by your
prospect. Your inability to pick up on any and all buying
signals will result in you not closing the sales process, and
those of us that truly understand the importance of sales in any
organization will tell you that not using a buying signal
correctly will retard the selling process and/or lose you the sale
altogether. For instance, as an example of the point which I am
trying to make, I had a client who had mentioned that a paper
towel dispenser (which the company were renting from a
competitor on a monthly basis) up in the washroom area was
old; however, the biggest problem was the course paper which
the competitor supplier was providing each month. I was
asked: Are you able to provide a better quality paper and in a
softer paper with your units? By not picking up, due to poor
listening and sales skills, that this question, as was posed by
the client, is considered a buying signal, an unprofessional
entrepreneur may answer with a simple YES! However, the
alert entrepreneur would immediately consider this as a
moment to do a trial close as he or she will be aware that
most sales cycles are closed only after six and more attempts. I
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Conclusion
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DO YOU QUALIFY?
Please consider the following questions and your answers
BEFORE you decide to become an entrepreneur. The results, if
negative do not mean that you will never be a successful
entrepreneur but will most certainly highlight your weaknesses
BEFORE you make one of the biggest mistakes of your life.
Work on turning your weaknesses into strengths and become a
successful entrepreneur dont do so at your own peril.
Score: 0 to 5 (0 being POOR and 5 being GOOD)
QUESTION
SCORE
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RESULTS
1. 0 to 50: identify weaknesses; make critical changes DO
NOT MOVE FORWARD! IMMINENT FAILURE!
2. 51 to 65: identify weaknesses, make needed changes DO
NOT MOVE FORWARD
3. 66 to 80: identify weaknesses, make necessary changes
WORK TOWARD ACHIEVING 80% PLUS AND MOVE
FORWARD WITH CAUTION
4. 81 to 90: turn weaknesses into strengths soonest MOVE
AHEAD WITH CONFIDENCE
5. 91 to 100: SUCCESS IMMINENT
Final admonition regarding your participation in the above
assessment: BE OPEN AND BE HONEST OR DONT
WASTE YOUR TIME!!!!!!!!
The results above must be taken together with the context of
each chapter in this book and at no point must your results
dictate your desire for entrepreneurship. However, the results
as produced by you must be considered carefully and as a part
of your overall decision making process as you consider the
major commitment needed for business success.
All the best!
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Action Stations!
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I do not want you to fail at business and this is the very reason
why I recommend that you seriously consider acting upon the
contents before you.
ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS!
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Nothing will drive home the realities of this book more than a
personal appearance and motivational discussion by the author
himself. Trevor K. Whittakers passion for the entrepreneur
and business people around the world is evident in his lively
and enthusiastic approach to public speaking.
The message is spread and is clear, concise and hard-hitting.
What the listener will come away with are the clear and
present dangers which they will face BEFORE they enter the
much sought after title of Master Entrepreneur. Many will also
understand that entrepreneurs are needed worldwide but that
the need relates to Master Entrepreneurs that remain in
business and grow the business. The world community and
governments are concerned about the mounting new business
casualty rates and the statistics which reflect the high failure
rates of entrepreneurs.
It is time to face the reality that the blame for the high failure
rates with start-up businesses may have to be laid at the door
of the entrepreneur. The world needs start-up businesses that
actually stick around this is the secondary message! The
primary message is that losing ones life investment due to a
failing new business may destroy more than just the business
THE FAMILY! The best way to save the business, the
investment and the family is to ensure that a prospective
entrepreneur considers what qualifies such a one for the
position. This reality is communicated and brought to bear
during a session with Trevor K. Whittaker.
Trevor K. Whittaker is a highly motivated speaker with a
passion for getting his message across for the purpose of
assisting the struggling and potential entrepreneur. His sense of
humor makes his presentation fun while maintaining an
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