Business Numbers

08/05/2021

"Make a habit of being thankful for all the things good in your business and in your life. When you do this, in an almost magical way, more and more good things will keep coming your way. Being grateful will also put you in a good state of mind, and you will be much more pleasant to be around."

Samuel Leeds

28/04/2021

April 28 is World Day for Safety and Health at Work. This is a day to reflect on the safety and health aspects of our workplace and what we can do to make it more conducive to our mental and physical health.
Stress, ill health and conflict are some of the factors that can cripple our plans.
What are you doing about them?

28/01/2021

Today I vow to be persistence and resourceful while achieving my goals. I avoid getting frustrated by trying to read the future. I am confident that my future is bright and well deserved.

02/09/2020

Going from a side hustle to a business can be a daunting prospect, but having a clear purpose, plan, and patience are key to making the shift. Here's how to do it right.

28/05/2020

A fundamental part of overcoming business failure is rooted in the mindset you have. It begins with a flexible and positive attitude and a willingness to change. Winston Churchill stressed this vital factor, saying, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” Failure is a part of life, and that includes business failures. How we deal with failure determines whether or not it ultimately leads to success.

We can learn a lot from successful business owners of the past, such as Colonel David Sanders, the founder of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). At 65, this financially unstable retiree, with only a $105 to his name, roamed America in search of an investor for his fried chicken business. He faced rejection. However, armed with a positive mindset for change, he pushed ahead with his plans. Finally, someone saw his worth, invested in him, and KFC was born. He sold the company for 2 million when he was 74.

Follow these 10 rules to keep your business on a firm foundation, ready to weather any storms aiming to damage your enterprise.
1. Adopt a forward-thinking attitude.
2.Conduct frequent SWOT analysis of your Business system.
3.Manage cash flow efficiently.
4.Believe In yourself and prepare for the (inevitable) bad times.
5.Perseverance, determination, and a positive mindset reign supreme.
6.Keep your customers at the heart of your Business.
7.Embrace failures as short-term setbacks.
8.Set SMART goals and develop achievable strategies to attain them.
9.Invest in an advisor or mentor and draw from their expertise.
10.Take sensible risks and step out of your comfort zone.
Having a failing business doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road. You will encounter obstacles along the way, but you will also find ways to overcome those obstacles. Someone somewhere has gone through the same trials you face. Learn from their stories and use your own story as a lesson for improvement and business success.

Thank you Ayodeji Onibalusi for this piece. Read more here https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-overcome-small-business-failure-4142683

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Small business failure can be painful, especially when it's largely inevitable in some form. Here's how to avoid major failures and recover.

28/05/2020

27/05/2020

When I became an entrepreneur, I was motivated by one thing: freedom. I wanted the flexibility to follow my dream. Entrepreneurship allowed me to do work that was engaging and empowering.

I’m not alone. According to a Cox Business study, 61 percent of women entrepreneurs started a business to be their own boss, and more than 50 percent became entrepreneurs to have greater control over their future.

So, what holds more women back from taking the plunge? Sometimes, a “good enough” life is itself a deterrent. College, the corporate ladder, a family: Often these things feel comfortable.

“I was successful at a job that wasn’t really that difficult,” Linda Shesto, CEO of Pearl Aqua LLC, tells me. “When it was time to step into a new reality and become an entrepreneur, I wanted everything set up perfectly. I wanted the same formula for success."

But there’s no magic formula for entrepreneurial success, of course. Stepping into the unknown is scary -- and many women doubt their abilities, feeling like impostors. “I believe that no matter how thoroughly prepared a woman might be, she will feel unprepared, whereas a man will feel even more prepared than he really is,” Shesto says. Unfortunately, research supports this notion.

Other women hesitate to pursue entrepreneurship from fear of not having enough time for themselves or their families. Melissa Sherwood, CEO and creative director at Klara Kelly, says that the biggest challenge is balancing running her business with running her household. And there are many like her. Sherwood’s husband can leave work at the office. But she says that her home is her office, making it that much tougher to get work done when her kids are home.

Here, then, are five strategies to help you crush these types of entrepreneurial fears and succeed even as you step into the unknown:

1. Quit seeking validation and embrace your crazy.
This is your business. It’s yours because no one else has had the vision you did to start it. Stop seeking validation before you launch a new product, program or idea. The most successful people are those who were once believed to be crazy.

2. Celebrate even the smallest of wins.
To maintain a go-getter attitude requires positive reinforcement. Have you worked up the courage to make that call you’ve been putting off? Finally gotten through that stack of paperwork? Kick up your heels and celebrate! That energy will carry you forward.

3. Get specific.
Now that you’re trusting your own instincts and celebrating along the way, challenge yourself to break down your vision into smaller chunks. With the freedom to do what you want during the day comes the increased need to stick to a plan. What do you want to achieve this month -- and what do you need to do this week to reach your goals? As we know, writing your goals down significantly increases your chances of success.

4. Know that making money is like making broccoli.
A mentor once told me that making money is like making broccoli: You’re not afraid of using up the broccoli in your fridge, are you? You know you can always get more.

Similarly, if you’re committed to growing your business, you can’t be afraid to invest in your growth or do the things that excite you. Rather than worry about the money you’re spending, focus on making each investment worthwhile.

5. Decide to be grateful.
My dad used to say that no matter how good or bad you have it, there’s always someone who has it better than you and someone who has it worse than you. Comparison is the root of despair. Every day, we get to choose to be grateful for what we have, regardless of where we want to be.

“At the end of the day, I work for myself, and you can’t put a price tag on that,” Sherwood tells me. “I also can’t put a value on the lessons that I am teaching my children as they watch me build my company.”

Like anything worthwhile, being an entrepreneur isn't easy. All of us, however, can be grateful for the opportunity to pursue meaningful work and build a life we love. What more could we ask for?

By Sumi Krishnan

Embrace your crazy and realize that making money is like broccoli. Say, what? Keep reading.

09/05/2020

Entrepreneurs are not immune to the impact of anxiety on themselves and their staff. Sarah Lewis, principal psychologist at Appreciating Change, sets out how to handle the pressure in difficult times.

The virus threat and lockdown conditions are difficult for most of us to handle. As the situation continues, many are feeling much more anxious than usual.

In the business world, some may be feeling additional stress from the falling profits, growing payables and cash strapped situations that has arisen as businesses get to grips with government initiatives. But we can help ourselves to cope by boosting our resilience and find ways to keep our morale and spirits up.

Here are some tips to help you do just that as we deal with the ongoing situation.

1. Get out of ourselves

Just ‘not thinking about it’ is hard; we need to find things that take us out of ourselves. When we are completely absorbed in things, we are in a state of ‘flow’ and when we are in this state, we are not focused on our feelings. It’s like getting a holiday from your worried self.

For Sarah, complicated or creative cookery and gardening offer productive escape time once work is done. Sometimes it’s hard to get going, but once you’ve started to apply yourself, time falls away as you get into a ‘flow state’.

The book, Positive Psychology at Work, explains flow and other positive psychology concepts that might be useful right now. You could also get Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s classic book, ‘Flow’.

2. If necessary, put a ‘worry appointment’ in your diary

Some of us are born worriers; suggestions of optimism only increase anxiety. If you are someone who finds worrying reassuring, try to limit it so it doesn’t become overwhelming.

A time-honoured technique is allowing yourself a specific allotted time to worry as much as you like. Make a diary entry and spend from 10 to 30 minutes allowing yourself to name all business and personal worries. Record them in a journal if you like.

3. Count your blessings

The science of positive psychology has proved the benefits of counting your blessings. The ‘three good things’ exercise suggests that every evening you identify three good things that have happened during the day.

It’s good practice to write them down. Doing this regularly helps train your brain to look for the positives amongst the gloom.

You can find other proven exercises in Vanessa Keys’ book, 10 Keys to Happier Living.

4. Pro-actively managing your news feed

Following the news minute-by-minute is not likely to do you any good. You can’t influence things other than by taking the sensible precautions we’ve all been told about.

So, take positive control and limit your daily diet. You might choose to read rather than watch the news. One benefit is that there is less ‘emotional contagion’ from the written word than from a voice, so less transmission of anxiety.

What we want to do is replace anxiety with optimism. Two great science-based resources with ideas about how to do this are Happy Brain Sciences’ ‘Happiness at Work’ game and Positran’s ‘Positive Action Cards’ to help you improve your wellbeing.

5. Exercise and eat well

Make sure you eat healthily. Lots of fruit and vegetables are good for immune system.

Exercise is very important to both mental and physical health. You know the rules about keeping your distance. Put your face mask on and yomp for an hour somewhere green.

Alternatively, you could try the Joe Wicks ‘Seven Days of Sweat’ workout online. You could make this a social activity by getting friends to log in at the same time from their homes.

You can support and encourage each other. It will be hard work but a lot of fun.

6. Self-coaching

If you are feeling really stuck, you may need a more structured approach to pull yourself out of the mire. Usually we can rely on informal chats with colleagues to stimulate our thinking or for new ideas.

Sometimes we just need to be asked a question that gives us a different take on the subject or causes us to make a new connection. You may already have a personal or business coach to help, but if not, people often self-coach. Self-coaching helps move you into a more productive self-talk, that allows you find unexpected ways forward.

At My Best offers an excellent selection of 48 coaching questions in its ‘Good Question Card’ pack. Alternatively, there is a set of six Coaching Cubes with 36 questions, based on the PRISM coaching model, that you roll like dice, introducing an element of randomness and chance into the questions you’re asked.

7. Maintain your friendships

Social contact is very important to our wellbeing. Even if you are living with loved ones, it’s good to call at least one other person a day.

You might want to talk about the situation, that’s fine. However, I suggest you also ask them about their plans for the day or what they are hoping to achieve during this period of lockdown.

In other words, help them see a silver lining. It will be good for both of you.

8. Appreciate what makes life worth living

Appreciative Living, based on Appreciative Inquiry, is all about seeing and seeking out the best of life, in the personal and business spheres. Despite everything, we can still appreciate the things that make life worth living today.

Developing an appreciative eye takes practice and isn’t always easy, but the benefit to our health, well-being, state of mind and ability to remain pro-active in the face of threat, in fact to our resilience, is beyond question.

You’ll find the latest book from Jackie Kelm, the Appreciative Living guru, on Amazon and videos on YouTube.

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