Isn’t it amazing how much you can achieve in the days before going on holiday? With a firm deadline looming and a strong desire to get things under control, I know I can make decisions fast, work like a demon to finish off those thousand things that have been sitting around for weeks, and leave the business […]
How to Create a Target Market Avatar (free Worksheet)
A section of your business plan should be to provide clarity on exactly who your target market is and what products/service and benefits you’re providing to them. But really understanding your intended customers using a target market avatar takes your understanding to another level. And one that you’ll wish you did earlier! Most businesses won’t do this but having a […]
Actionable Business Plan Template
Is it just me or have other people searched and searched for the perfect business plan template too? It’s something that’s haunted me forever. Anything I found online and in business text books just didn’t seem right. For starters, most business plans are actually not designed to help you run a business. In fact, most seem to […]
Do I Really Need a Business Plan?
Not so long ago, business plans were given *a lot* of importance. In fact, they were seen as being the first step to starting any business and the most essential part of the process. Many business awards were judged on the business plans their founders had created, and having a weighty plan under your belt felt like real […]
Make Better Decisions Using 2 Business Metrics
When it comes to business metrics, there are two that are far more important than all the rest. Two business metrics that all businesses should know and be actively monitoring to help guide decisions and make for a stronger business. So what are they? The first one is the “Lifetime Value of a Customer” – […]
The Big Lie Entrepreneurs (have to) tell
Are you aware of the Big Lie Entrepreneurs Tell? It goes something like this… “Everything’s going great! Customers are loving our product. We were just featured in the press – did you see our article? We’ve got a great team in place! We’re absolutely killing it!” Although this sounds a bit over the top, it’s […]
Your Personality Traits are PERFECT for Entrepreneurship
Personality traits are funny things. For one, it’s almost impossible to be objective – especially about ourselves but even about other people’s personality traits. And for another, there’s a flipside to every negative or positive attribute. Not just an opposite, but an alternative way to describe them. This means you can turn any negative into a positive. […]
How do you make important business decisions?
Every now and again, any business that’s innovating and growing will be faced with making important business decisions …and it’s often extremely difficult to know how to approach this type of decision making. These are not the kinds of decisions that you can just “Google” the answers, and in fact, there aren’t necessarily any right or wrong answers […]
What Climbing Everest taught me about Business
Exactly 10 years ago today, after about 2 months of trekking, climbing, acclimatising and waiting, and years of training, I managed to stand on the summit of Mount Everest. In many ways it feels like it was another person as I now lead a much tamer life, but it was an experience I’ll never forget. There were […]
Old School Marketing Ideas – 14 traditional marketing tools that can still work
There’s so many great online marketing tools out there – many of them clever and very effective when used correctly. But in my opinion these are over-represented in business media and many businesses are forgetting that there are plenty of off-line, traditional marketing tools that can be equally effective. The key is to choose the […]
How to Stop Procrastinating and Take Action
Do you find yourself constantly questioning the direction of your business, putting off decisions, or doing things that seem productive – like searching for a better business plan format or diving into learning about something that could help your business? It could be that you’re stuck in the Thinking Trap – but maybe you’ve got other procrastination vices. […]
10 Reasons you Lost the Sale
When was the last time you missed out on that sale you were hoping to win? Ever wondered what went wrong? There can be lots of reasons you lost the sale you were hoping to win – but often we focus on the wrong things. There’s a lot to be learned from lost sales that […]
How to Stop Hating Your Business
Has your business become the bane of your existence? Something you dread? Something that weighs you down and seems like a hopeless cause? Do you find yourself hating your business – even though you can’t bare to admit it? Don’t worry, although rarely discussed, it’s a common scenario. Owning and running a business is hard […]
The Two Best Job Interview Questions
I’ve interviewed and recruited quite a lot of people over the years and with time, I’ve found that there are really two best job interview questions that shed the most light on candidates and help choose the best person for the job. During an interview, obviously you’ll do a run through the candidate’s resume to get […]
6 Things to do Before Recruiting
Getting the right team in place is definitely one of the most important things you can do for both your business success. It’s one thing to bite the bullet and start recruiting (which is an important decision to take), but it’s another thing entirely to do it well. Having a fantastic new team member can […]
Customer Referral Programs – Examples & How To’s for SME’s
Any idea what Uber, Paypal, Evernote, Dropbox, Amazon Prime and Airbnb all have in common? They’re all wildly successful AND they all used customer referral programs as a key part of their growth. Getting customers to refer their friends and family to you is probably the most powerful way to grow your business. Occassionally this […]
7 Essential Technology Tools for Small Business
This week my computer died. Just shut down and then refused to boot up again. As everyone knows, this is incredibly frustrating – but this time I wasn’t too stressed. Why? Because all of my important data is in the cloud. So even if my hard-drive had failed, I knew I wouldn’t lose any files. […]