There is an old saying that goes something like this “the only time success comes before work is in the dictionary” which is true, but we also need to start with a plan.

Unfortunately most people just move “forward”, not knowing where they really are heading – do you.

After a couple of minutes, they hung up – must be their new level of customer service, show you how you will be treated if you dare ring them and complain.

It’s bad enough copping this sort of treatment from massive phone companies, but why does small business imitate the same stupidity.

Perhaps they don’t do exactly the same, but a lot of them come pretty close.

Maybe we all should run our businesses like that?  I think not!

You have either seen on television or read in a paper
or may have even been told of a real tear jerking
story of a very disabled or injured child and thought
“what am I whinging about in my life.”

I know I have, but why must we wait until we see something
like that to make us appreciate our life and what we do have.

For me, every day that I can get out of bed and see
myself in the mirror is a bonus . . . in fact I even say to
myself “it’s great to see you.”

So what drives me is knowing  I have a choice, that I
also have the knowledge to do whatever I choose and that
I can make a difference every day.

How about you?

I can’t count the number of times I have come across a business owner whinging and complaining about “that useless so and so I hired”.

After a quick bit of digging, I find the new employee was hastily hired or there was no recruitment structure in place to make hiring a deslection process where the applicants are made to jump through numerous hoops over a period of 3 weeks.

Personally, I have have times when no-one came through the process – “great”, I said, I didn’t hire the wrong person.

For detailed advice on how to hire slow & not have to fire fast, send me an email steve@stevebakers.com

Steve

Choice and knowledge.

We have a choice to take in knowledge and we have a choice what we do with that knowledge – that is, either take action or not.

It’s all just a choice – what’s your choice?

Steve

We discussed figures, and she assured me she knew her profit & loss & balance sheet, but unfortunatly, she didn’t know the figures that actually dictate whether she made a profit or not.

The figures I meant were the ones she reckoned were too hard to gather, you know, how people found out about you, how many bought, what % of inquiries bought etc etc. because all of her staff and her would have to write the results down manually instead of relying on the computerised till -”oo hard and time consuming” she said!

These figures can make such a big difference on any business.

Lets look at another client I had.  I asked him his conversion rate and he told me about 80%, however when we measured it, he was shocked to find it was only 37%.

Over the next 3 months we worked on improving their sale conversions and he ended up with nearly a 20% increase to 44%.

This virtually meant a 20% increase in profit without spending 1 extra single cent.  It was just like turning on a money tap.

Is it time you really get to know your business.

Steve

When I arrived at the venue, I only recognised 2 class mates and then spent the next hour or so playing “guess who I am”.

During the night we talked about how so many of our class mates weren’t there and how nobody knew how to contact them.

The next day I was thinking about the previous evening and how my sons (22 & 24) are still in touch with nearly all of their class mates and then it dawned on me (duh!).

It’s All About Communication – when I left school we didn’t have email, mobile phones, sms, Skype, MSN or any of the other tools available to my children and their mates (and all of us today).

Business is the same.  We now have all of these tools to keep in touch with prospects and clients – all you have to do is use them . . . all of them, because with the busy world we now live in, it’s so easy for you to be forgotten.

The problem is that they have the radio on all day – they say it keeps them company which is fine, however when I wanted to do some creative writing, the crap that was on the radio destroyed my creative thought process.

I kicked myself for not placing myself in a quiet, creative atmosphere that allows the juices to flow.

When I am home in Hervey Bay and want to create, I go down to the beach on an incoming tide and the ideas flow in very freely.

It’s just like trying to make love with a dozen people in the room with you, not the right atmosphere.

If you want to create, be creative with your environment.

Steve

When something does go wrong, isn’t it in fact a positive because you’ve now learnt how not to do it, which leaves you the oportuntiy to now do it the right way.

Thomas Edison

When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, “Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.

Are you ready to light up your bulb yet?

It amazes me the number of times I hear people say “he’s lucky” or “she must have inherited all that money”.

The amazing thing is that most of the “tall poppies” that are being torn down are multi millionaires that have made their own fortune.

The only “luck” they have is being someone driven to success, knowing that they must plan and work hard to achieve what it is in life they choose to have.

I have “once in a life time” oportunities fly past me all day (I can’t and won’t grab them all as I would never get anything done), yet I hear grumbles that there aren’t any oportunities out there – just get out and start looking, but before you do, have a look in the mirror because that’s where the problem starts with your own self talk (that’s another blog post in itself).

Steve