As some of you may know, I’m a huge fan of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. I try to live it every day. And I teach and coach it to others. A few years after ‘The 7 Habits’ was published (and became the best selling self-development book of all time), Dr Covey published a follow-up book called ‘The 8th Habit’. The eighth habit is “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.”  Voice is Covey’s code for “unique personal significance.” Those who inspire others to find theirs are the leaders needed now and for the future, according to Covey. And, while this is very noble, I s ..read more

It’s a scandal. Over 60% of small businesses fail within 3 years. And that rises to 80% in 10 years. I can’t begin to imagine the pain and loss to all these people, their employees and their families. Indeed, it’s happened to me. And the real tragedy is that most of this is avoidable. There are just 4 things every business owner needs to continually ask (and find questions to) that will almost certainly guarantee success. Yet so few people know them. And even less apply them. It’s even more tragic, in that these 4 questions are timeless, universal, common sense. I won’t waste your time with lo ..read more

In our blog last month, we talked about ‘Success’ measures (outcomes) vs ‘Activity’ measures (Causes of outcomes). And we agreed that, in order to be consistently successful, small business owners needed to make sure they had some good ‘Activity’ measures in place that they used rigorously. This month, all I am going to do is suggest that most business owners ask the wrong questions … and therefore put the wrong solutions into place … and suggest some better questions for them to consider. This is just a simple set of ideas, but, if you follow the thinking and then apply it to everything you d ..read more

Most business owners ask the wrong questions We all want success – in our business and in our other lives. And success is easy to measure: how many customers, how many sales, what level of profits etc But, interesting and helpful though these figures are, they don’t help us do the right things to create success! And small businesses need to focus on these things rigorously, as this is the only way they can outperform bigger and better funded competitors. For example: Focusing on the number of customers doesn’t help us focus on investing in customer loyalty. Focusing on sales usually hinders u ..read more

As we know, our beliefs dictate our actions, through our emotions. One of the key problems with ‘speedy selling’ is that ‘It’s tough out there’ and ‘You have to fight to win’. This kind of adversity belief will produce panic, and you’ll end up back into the old, ineffective ‘speedy selling’ actions of the past. So, in order to ease yourself out of the old scarcity belief, it’s a good idea to learn simple step by step actions to take, to make the journey slowly. Here are some pointers: Know your offer REALLY well: who’s it GENUINELY most suitable for, and who’s it not (the 2nd half of this bei ..read more

Both you and your customer want the same thing: but it’s super hard to make this happen. The key question is: How can we not only blow the customers’ socks off with our consistent and continually improving customer focus, but also make good profits and grow our business? After all, it’s relatively easy to wow the customer by charging peanuts for a VIP experience … but it’s not sustainable: you need to ensure as well as the customers raving about you and continually coming back for more, you’re also making good profits, growing and innovating. The answer, of course, lies in understanding your c ..read more

Specific, graceful words to keep you focused on what matters Do you often feel overwhelmed? Do interruptions steal your time and stop you getting what you want done? Do you wish you could perhaps say ‘no’ more often without causing a problem or falling out with someone. Well, this short blog will be some help to you! The key thing to remember is: To say yes to our top priorities, we must say no to other things. A tiny bit of effort in all directions goes nowhere. Only concentrated effort can create the larger change we seek. Yet we all struggle to say ‘no’, because either we get excited about ..read more

How to stay calm and allow solutions to find you in good time. Last week I was running a workshop on communication and negotiation. One of the key principles that I teach is: You can only control what you do: you cannot control what happens afterwards. (And then, remarkably, if you do this properly, then the results start to improve themselves almost by accident!) Yet people find this so hard to accept: We are all so wrapped up in our ‘to do’ lists and out ‘to accomplish’ goals, that we keep pushing and pushing. And the result all too often is stress and disappointment. Instead, may I sugge ..read more

As promised in my last blog, I wanted to share a few ‘extra inches’ that I try and employ in my quest to continually be more effective in my life … using the #1 personal develop material in the world as a guide. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I’ll briefly mention each of … The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Inch by Inch! Read More ..read more

It’s incredible how time flies… It seems to me that it was Christmas almost yesterday, yet, here we are, with the light evenings and the summer almost upon us. So many people have grand plans at Christmas and the New Year – “this year I’m going to make a real change and achieve all these … Almost halfway through the year… Read More ..read more