photo credit: markwgallagher

Do you want to fail miserable as an entrepreneur? Well in this post I will share with you 22 things you can do if you want to fail miserable as an entrepreneur. Follow these steps I can almost guarantee you will be a big failure.

1.Neglect cash flow and cashflow management. Don’t even create an Excel spreadsheet to show your daily, weekly and monthy expected cash inflows and outflows. Who cares about cash and the timing of those flows anyway as long you have profits right?

2. Forget about marketing and personal selling. Don’t even bother to create a marketing plan. Who needs to do all of this work. If you build it they will just come right?

3.Don’t bother to setup and document systems for your business. Run it by the seat of your pants. Who needs all of these structures?

4. Listen to no one. Don’t seek advice from those who have gone before you. Just go it on your own. You are smarter than everyone else anyway. Or even better, pretend you are listening to them and then do your own thing.

5. Don’t build your financal intelligence. Don’t learn about financial ratios that affect your business. All that matters is that you are making some money.

6. Spend no time talking to your customers. Or if you do talk to them don’t ask them questions about the business. Just shoot the breeze all of the time.

7. For goodness sake don’t spend time analyzing the metrics of your business. Who needs to know how many new customers are coming in and where they are coming from anyway? You don’t need to know why they chose you instead of your competitor. Stuff like that is useless.

8. Don’t write the vision plan for your business. Just work it everyday like a job. A business is just a glorified job right?

9. Don’t focus on a particular niche. Try to do it all even if you don’t have the budget for it. Be all things to all people.

10. Make sure you think of the glass as half-empty all the time. Don’t be tricked by those who think optimistically and implement realistic plans. You want to be as negative as possible so if something positive does happen in your business then great. At least if you don’t expect great things you won’t be disappointed.

11. Neglect your customers and focus only on the mechanics of your business.  Your customers are a nuisance anyway. They are always asking for something different. Can’t be just be satisfied with what you give them?

12. Work in the business but don’t spend time working on the business. It is the day to day that matters anyway, forget building the business for the long-term.

13. Do not waste your money on educating yourself and learning more about your industry and your business in general. Who needs the extra expenses? You already know everything you need to know about your business. What worked in the past will continue to work. All this talk about change is just that, talk.

14. Don’t bother to work on your leadership skill and your sales skills. Who needs the headache? You are good just like you are. Anyway, who wants to a bunch of people following you.

15. Don’t change with the times and please don’t anticipate change and try to get ahead of it. This takes too much time.

16.Don’t spend time growing your employees. If they want to grow they have to do it on their own. That is not your problem.

17.Don’t delegate. Try to do everything yourself. You are a one-person show anyway. Who needs other people?

18.Don’t take the 80/20 rule seriously in terms of your work. Don’t even spend time determining what the 20% activitives are in your business that brings you 80% of the results. What’s the use of that anyway?

19. Don’t take the 80/20 rule seriously in terms of your customers. Treat them all exactly the same even though about 20% of them provide about 80% of your profits. Don’t even identify these people.

20. Isolate yourself. Who needs to network with others who are in the same line of business or others who can provide critical services.

21. Don’t read. Spend all of your time working on your business and don’t bother learning new material. If you do read, only read about your industry, don’t bother expanding yourself to see if something in other industry can help you.

22. Forget being creative. That is for the artsy types. Don’t even learn anything about creative problem solving.

Ok. I know you know that I am being sarcastic. I don’t want you to think about failing as an entrepreneur but I do want you to take these things seriously. Obviously you want to do the opposite of what is suggested here. Take a good look at this list. If you are an entrepreneur, you may be doing some of these things. If you are, you may want to make a change. If you have not started on your entrepreneurial journey yet, please look at these items and avoid them like the plague. On Wednesday I will give you another batch of these items. Happy entrepreneuring.

Suggested Additional Resources

    

photo credit: ckaroli

In our final installment of this series I mention 3 more modes of thoughts for successful entrepreneurs. I am sure you know that this list is not exhaustive. There are more modes of thought that are important for the entrepreneur that I may address in future posts. Ok, now for the “final” three modes…

Think “Extra Mile or Ten” – It’s about service. Extraordinary service. Find out what your customers really desire  (which you have learned from our previous post because you are thinking like your customer) and find ways to deliver this desire packed with unexpected value. Discard the thinking of the limited entrepreneur that delivers ordinary service. Train yourself to think about each interaction with your customer and how you can make their experience exceptional. Do this and you will create fans that will spread the word about your business and your service. Your business will prosper.

Think Leverage – You can’t do it all yourself. Thinking you can is a limited and foolish way to proceed. Many entrepreneur limit their success, ruin their health and destroy their families simply because they attempt to do it all. Banish this mode of thought. Adopt the leverage mindset. There are many types of leverage but 2 good ones to start with are technology leverage and people leverage.  

Learn how to use technology to get things done more effectively and efficiently. Look at your business model and think about the processes that can be enabled by technology.  Here are two good questions to get you started. How can you use the Internet to reach your clients better or deliver better service to your clients? How can you use you mobile device to be more productive?

How about people leverage? What tasks are you handling that would be better performed by an employee or a freelancer? As I mentioned in a previous post, you should be focusing on the 20% of the business that gives you 80% of your results. The rest should be outsourced to others. One caveat is that you should only outsource to talented people. Talent may be expensive but the quality they produce is worth it.

Think Creatively- This is a very important mode of thought for the entrepreneur. You must learn how to think creatively about opportunities and about problems. Think laterally. Think options. When you are dealing with a problem think about 3 ways you can solve the problem. Simply doing this will help get your creative juices flowing. 

Here is another great way to get those creative juices flowing. Look at another industry and pick a process that is common in that industry. Now think about your business. How can you apply this concept to your business? This is a great way to generate new ideas for your business.

Please let me know how you use these modes of thought.

photo credit: Crystl

The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for lists.
H. Allen Smith

I love lists. I think lists have great power. We have heard a lot about to-do lists and places to-go lists. I would like to suggest another great list. This is a to-give list.  This list would outline all the great things you would like to give to others and to yourself.

Why a List

Most of us know the power of giving but so many times we get busy doing other things during the day that we forget to give.  Would you agree that most of us want to be consummate givers but many times our days go by so quickly it just seems like there are no opportunities to give? I believe a to-give list can help us alleviate that problem. If you have a master to-give list to work from you can use this to add  giving opportunities to your daily to-do list.

How to Create

Creating a to-give list is very simple.  You can start by sitting down and thinking of the people closest to you. What are some of the things you would like to give to them or do for them? What things would bring joy to their lives? Go ahead and write those things down. Please don’t limit the list to things that you are able to do right now either. Include big and small things. Things you can do right now and things that may have to wait until the future. Write both.

Next expand the list to the community in which you live. What are some of the things you would like to give to the community? It doesn’t have to be just money. It could be time helping someone learn something.

Next let’s make this bigger; what kinds of things would you like to give to your country?

How about the world? Is there something you can do to make the world better?

Don’t forget about yourself. What are some of the things you want to give to yourself?

Example of a Master To-Give list

1. Write an encouraging note to my friend.
2. Teach a group of young people about success.
3. Do a walk for the Breast Cancer Society.
4. Sponsor a needy child.
5. Teach someone to read.
6. Speak a kind word to someone in my family.
7. Forgive someone who has done me wrong.

These are just a few examples. Be creative. Simply creating this list will empower you. Make up your mind to do the things you have put on your list and you will not only feel great but you will begin to see great things come back to you. Your business will do better because you are not just focused on yourself, but you are concerned about others.

Additional Resource

Check out this blog for more information: www.everydaygivingblog.com.

I want to hear from you. Let me know what you think about this post. Thank you.

photo credit: contemplativechristian

I don’t know about you but I am tired of people being scammed and bilked out of their money. Doesn’t it just sicken you when you hear about crimes like those committed by Bernie Madoff? What do you think about all those Internet scams and work at home scams. Where has integrity gone? Do we still know the definition of integrity?

 

What is integrity?

 

There are many ways to describe integrity. Here’s a simple description:

 

• Consistently doing the right thing even when no one is looking
• Doing no harm
• Delivering more than is expected

 

 If we as entrepreneurs and small business owners (and human beings) would simple do these to things, we could change the face of business.

 

Doing the right thing

 

I believe we all have an inner voice that helps us discern right from wrong.  Do what you know is right.  Be honest with your clients, your spouse, your family, your coworkers and yourself.

 

Be consistent in doing the right thing. Do it when people are looking and when people are not looking. It is liberating.

 

Doing no harm

 

Whether you are thinking about creating new products, advising your client or launching a new marketing initiative decide to do no harm. Always think about the effects your words and actions will have on others.

 

Deliver more than expected

 

I believe this is a part of living in integrity because so customers are so often disappointed with the quality of products and the level of service they receive from businesses. In order to exercise integrity, manage expectations and then over deliver. Say what you are going to deliver and deliver more. Go the extra mile.

 

The Power of integrity

 

Integrity is a powerful currency. When you live a life of integrity here are some of the powerful things happen for you:

 

• You develop a good name which opens doors for you
• You become more confident
• You simplify your life
• You live life in a state of positive flow
• You attract like-minded people who will help you meet your goals
• You gain credibility and favor
• You move towards your goals faster and you achieve more of your goals.

 

Action steps

 

Make a commitment to day to live you life with more integrity.  Make up your mind to do the right thing, look out for the best interest of others, and deliver more than what is expected of you. You will be rewarded in ways that you can’t imagine.

 

I would love to hear from you. How do you define integrity?

 

 

photo credit: bethography – melting mama

THIS DAY SUCKS

Have you ever had a day when things just didn’t go the way you planned them? Have you ever had a week like that? If you have been on this earth for any length of time I know you know what I’m talking about. What do you do when you have a day that is seemingly going down the toilet? I mean you had great plans for the day then something happened that just threw you off of your game. It may have been a small thing or a big thing. Whatever it was, it “messed up” your day.

WOE IS ME

What do you do when you are having such a day, week or month where it seems like things are just not working the way you planned? Do you get frustrated and let the rest of the day, week or month tank? Do you give up and begin to feel weak, worthless and woeful? Or do you start lashing out and blaming others for making your day go south? Or maybe, you don’t blame others but you just put yourself in a bad mood and make others around you feel bad too? None of these responses are particularly helpful. Let me suggest a more enlightened approach that I have found helps me to turn a bad day, week or month around.

S.A.V.E. The DAY

I know, another acronym. Please indulge me. It may seem silly but it is effective for most situations (please realize however, that for major tragedies this may not apply).

S is for Stop

When you have a day that has been thrown off track by some mishap the first thing you want to do is Stop. As soon as you can, stop everything. Many times continued activity will keep you going down a path that is not helpful. Just stop for a moment so you can collect yourself. Don’t worry; you probably won’t have to stop for long. Most times 10 to 15 minutes is all you need. Why are you stopping? I’m glad you asked. That leads us to our next step.

A is for Assess

Now that you have taken a moment to stop it is time to Assess.  You will be Assessing 3 important aspects, your attitude, the situation, your priorities and options.

• Assess Your Attitude

You may not realize it, but your attitude about a situation can determine its outcome. If you are negative, your negative attitude can make a bad situation worse. Also, if your attitude is that of a victim you can empower the problem or mishap and weaken your ability to turn things around. This is why it is important at this point to evaluate your attitude to make sure you are not contributing to the situation.

• Assess the Situation

This is where you ask yourself some important questions about what has happened or is happening to throw your day off. Here are 7 good questions to ask and answer for yourself:

Is this situation really as bad as it seems or is it just my reaction to it that is bad? What is the real damage?

Is there an opportunity here (read my post on 4 ways to Miss Great Opportunities)?

Why did this situation come up? What is the cause and is it a recurring situation?

Is there something I can change to keep this from happening again?

Is this situation signaling a change in my environment that may be prompting me to change how I do things?

Is this something I can delegate to someone else or is it something I can just ignore altogether?

Is this something I should address quickly and move on or does this require an extended period of time to work out?

What are my options to salvage my day, week or month? Which leads us to our next point…

• Assess your priorities and options

Now that you have checked your attitude and assessed the situation it is time to assess your priorities and your options. What goals have you set for this period of time? Given this new situation, are your priorities still the same or do you need to rearrange your priorities? What are your options here? Maybe this is something you can work around.  After reviewing your goals and options it is time to move to the next step.

V is for Vanquish

This step may sound strange but it is an important step. Once you have decided your priorities for the day, week or month you need to evict all the other stuff from your mind. The key to turning this period around is to focus on your priorities. If this situation has indeed changed your priorities then you need to vanquish thoughts of what might have been and focus on the new reality. Also, vanquish that negative thoughts and emotions that could hold you back. . Vanquish all feelings of remorse, guilt, doubt, worry, etc. The key here is to focus on moving towards the priorities you have chosen.

E is for Execute

After you have gone through the other steps now and only now is it time to Execute. Now you will be able Execute with focus and purpose. This is an important because as you get your priorities done, you will begin to feel a sense of accomplishment and will have saved your day.