by Angela Taffs | Sep 15, 2015 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
Overcome your fear
Running a small business on your own can be a scary place at times and often we find it necessary to step outside of our comfort zone.
This could be from having to cold call, contacting a difficult client, chasing a bad debt, public speaking or simply putting yourself out there to promote your product or service.
There are many ways to help overcome your fear but here is a top one I was given a long time ago and which works.
Think of someone that you admire and are successful in your industry. Get a picture of them and print it off to keep near your desk or workstation. When you get the jitters, simply look at their picture and ask yourself what they would do in your situation.
Take a deep breath and then take the action that you believe they would take.
Really try to get into the mindset of the person you have chosen if they were dealing with the situation. Think about the following:
- What would they be wearing?
- What language would they use, and what tone of voice – friendly and fun or assertive and commanding?
- Would they be standing or sitting?
- Where would they be – at their office or at the client’s premises?
- What method of communication would they use – email, telephone, letter or face to face?
- What would they have with them or near them– client records, a notepad, a glass of water?
By emulating a successful person that you admire, you can feel a connection with them and know that whatever step you take is going to be one step closer to becoming as good as they are.
Try it out for yourself and see if it helps you overcome your fear. Pop over to the Facebook page and let me know.
by Angela Taffs | Sep 7, 2015 | Business Success
I have met a number of businesses over the years and two stick in my mind that I saw within a week of each other. One was completely floundering and projections were to turnover just £4000 by the end of the first year. Sales were not coming in and morale was at an all-time low.
The second business was flying. It had been trading for nine months and was one of the most successful start-ups I have seen in a very long time. Turnover was incredibly high and profits were very healthy indeed.
So what was the difference between them? Why was one sinking whilst the other was flying?
During conversations, it became increasingly obvious that the first business owner had gone out and pinpointed something they thought would make money. They had no experience in the industry and had no enthusiasm for the business other than trying to make sales and extract money for themselves.
When talking to this business owner, there was no vibrancy in their voice and when talking about what they were doing and why, all they spoke about was facts and figures with no emotion.
The second business owner had started a business doing something she loved and was incredibly good at. She had test traded alongside her full-time job and orders came rolling in so she quickly made the decision to give up her full-time work and set up a company.
Her passion, enthusiasm and energy were infectious. When I asked her questions, she spoke from the heart and her eyes lit up. She knew her product inside out. Whatever she was selling, I wanted to buy it.
The two conversations were like chalk and cheese.
Too many people focus on the money and what they can get from it when starting a business. This, in my experience, rarely leads to success.
On the other hand, those that concentrate on something they love, have a passion for and are good at tend to be far more successful. Their passion helps them through the tough times. They enjoy what they do regardless. And they don’t have to sell their products or services. Their enthusiasm rubs off on others who become intrigued, and if the offering fits, want to buy.
I have always said that the key to success in business is to find something you love, something you are good at, and something that enough people will pay the right price for.
So stop chasing the money first and foremost. Do something you love and what people want. The money will soon come of its own accord.
by Angela Taffs | Sep 1, 2015 | Business Success
There is one almost guaranteed way to lose even the most loyal of customers. And that is to make promises that you cannot keep.
It is often in our nature to want to do the best for everyone and to never say no, but this can ultimately do our business more harm than good. If you are already stretched to breaking point, trying to squeeze in just one more client or fulfil just one more order could well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Or it may be that we promote a product or service where we simply do not have the capacity to supply to enough people
I have been searching for a business mentor for the past couple of weeks. Even though I mentor others, I still need someone to be accountable to and to use as a sounding board myself. I have decided to invest in myself and my business and so was prepared to pay to get the right person.
I watched a few webinars and did some research and came up with a shortlist of some apparently highly qualified and highly sought after individuals. The two it boiled down to have both just opened up spaces to take on clients and have been promoting this heavily.
I contacted my first choice. I was promised a comprehensive plan and if she was not available at any time, her support team would there for me. I decided to check out the support team and went on live chat to ask a simple question. The smoke screens and lack of ability to answer my questions was quite ridiculous and after giving them every opportunity to redeem themselves, they failed miserably to give me what I wanted. I then emailed the mentor direct and after no response tried to gain her attention through social media. But the only thing I got in return was silence.
I then went to my second choice. After many promises of how wonderful she was and what a perfect fit we were we decided to book a starter session together by phone. But the call never came. I waited and waited but was met with silence again. I emailed and was told by her assistant the appointment was not put in the diary.
I felt completely let down and if this was the way these people ran their businesses, they certainly didn’t meet the standards I have for mine.
So if you tell someone you are going to do something, simply do it. If you offer a free call to try and gain a new client, treat it with the importance it deserves. If you say you are going to deliver a product at a certain time, make sure it arrives precisely then, or even better, before.
It is far better to tell someone that you cannot fulfil their wishes at this moment in time than let them down and gain a bad reputation. I have spoken to a number of people today who have all been let down by another particular business advisor and word is spreading like wild fire locally that this person is unreliable. This is undoubtedly going to damage their business.
Remember the adage to under promise and over deliver. At the least, make sure you invest efforts to keep your promises and then exceed them if you have the time and ability. Stand out from the crowd and gain a strong reputation for all the right reasons.
by Angela Taffs | Aug 20, 2015 | Business Success
Have you got your website up and running and all your marketing material finalised and out there working for you? Or are you still working on it and waiting until you get it perfect? Are you holding back until the time is perfect to release your new product or service?
All too often we wait before moving forward until we have the perfect website or until the timing for launch is perfect. But do you know what? That perfect website and perfect time is never going to happen. You are simply going through the motions of procrastination in the name of research and development.
Life is not perfect. It is full of imperfections. If you start to put unnecessary pressure on yourself to be perfect in whatever you do, you run the serious risk of being severely disappointed and never getting where you want to be. You will continually find flaws which will again delay your forward movement whilst you strive to fix things that are unlikely to be the deciding factor in your clients buying decision.
Whilst you continue to fix and tweak, your potential customers are out there buying a similar product or service and building relationships with your competitors that you are missing out on.
You may have your big dreams and big plans and feel that every single angle has to be covered before moving forward, but in the business world and in personal life also, a single tiny step that you take, even if a stumble, is far better than any grand dream sat waiting in the planning room. You simply will not get things off the ground and moving forward if you continually sit and wait for things to be perfect.
Don’t get caught up in perfectionism. Save it for when you really need it such as providing excellent customer service. Just decide to do as well as you can with what you have and then continually look to adapt, improve and tweak as you go along and fix things that you discover are broken. This way you have far greater chance of being on the path to great results.
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As Mark Victor Hansen is quoted as saying:
“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what… Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”
Just get out there and do it!!!
by Angela Taffs | Jul 13, 2015 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
I have just read an article in The Guardian by Michelle Mone, the co-founder of Ultimo.
In this article she writes:
I can’t stand people who say you must be a graduate to succeed. I think it’s fantastic if you are a graduate because it gives you the ability to learn, but it doesn’t give you common sense. In business it doesn’t matter whether or not you’re from a wealthy background or how good your education was. I just love it that if you’ve got drive, determination and a can-do attitude you can achieve anything you want as an entrepreneur.
These words were joy to my ears. All too often I come across both men and women who think they can’t compete in the world of business because they don’t have a degree or equivalent. And I always say to them that a degree is not what will make them successful.
In my opinion, and what I have seen proven time after time over the years, is that life experience and a can do attitude wins over higher education every time. Personally, I would far rather deal with someone who has been out there and learnt from the grass roots up than sat in a university and studied books but never actually put their learning into practice.
I have had people come to me and when I ask why they think they will be successful they tell me because they have a diploma in business studies. This always rings alarms bells with me because no amount of book reading and attending lectures will give you the same knowledge as being out there and doing it.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not putting anyone down who has taken time to further their education. And this is critical to do in certain industries such as medicine and law. But not having this level of education should not be a barrier to being a successful entrepreneur. Just look at the likes of Henry Ford, Richard Branson and Walt Disney amongst many others – there is a list of 100 degreeless entrepreneurs on Business Insider. They learnt from the bottom up and it did not take letters after their name for them to be successful.
So believe in yourself. Have a passion and a determined, can do attitude and you have all the pre-requisites of being able to start and run your own business.
by Angela Taffs | Jun 29, 2015 | Business Success, Starting a Business
Do you have a can do attitude or are you full of excuses?
There is one significant difference between the small business owners that I meet you are successful and those who just never make it.
Their attitude!
The successful ones have a can do attitude and will do whatever it takes to make their business a success. They are prepared to step out of their comfort zone and try new things in order to move forward. They are focused and wholly determined and don’t sit around dreaming all day about what they want, they consistently take action to move forward towards their goals.
On the other hand, I meet those who just stay stuck in the same spot. These are the people who want the world to deliver results on their doorstep. They sit and talk about what they want but are not prepared to leave the comfort of their home to really go out there and go after it. They have every excuse in the book and often live within the blame culture.
They put their lack of success down to a situation that happened in the past which had a detrimental effect on them or that they don’t have enough time to do what they need to do. But they have the same amount of hours in the day as everyone else on this planet and do they really believe that they are the only ones to have suffered a setback?
I fully understand that self-confidence may play a part here and a lack of self-confidence can be a hugely debilitating when running a business, but I am talking about those who want the easy option. It really is up to you to choose your attitude and get your business moving forward if you really want to.
Quit with making excuses and waiting for the right time. Just get off your backside and just do it or, JFDI as the saying goes, Just F****** Do It!
If not and you keep doing what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.
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Do you have the right attitude? Yes? Then great. If not, it is time to decide to stop dreaming, procrastinating and blaming and start some doing if you really want to be successful.
