by Angela Taffs | Mar 4, 2015 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
What do you do when you have a decision to make? How do you make decisions? A big one at that. One that could have serious implications on the future. Are you just not too sure what to do and are scared of making the wrong choice. So what to do.
How do successful people make decisions?
Successful people make decisions and quite often make them fast. They may be in situations where a decision has to be made immediately and they are fully aware that the worst possible thing for them to do is procrastinate and not make a decision at all. After all, any decision is better than no decision.
Procrastination and indecision will cause more problems than making a ‘wrong’ decision and the problems we will then have to deal with afterwards. By doing nothing, the indecision will prey on our minds and blur our thinking. Consider a piece of paper. You don’t know where to put it so you put it on a pile on the kitchen counter. Another piece arrives and the same happens. Before you know it, the pile has grown and there is no room for anything else on the counter without it all spilling on to the floor. The same will happen with your mind. Cluttering your mind with indecision will remove the room for positive creative thought and it will become dimmed and your energy drained.
How to make decisions
Sleep on it
This is incredibly powerful. Before going to bed write down the problem or situation you need to make a decision about. Just before you go to sleep, ask yourself ‘What is the right decision for me’ or ‘what is the solution’ The power of the subconscious can be seriously underestimated and by doing this, it is amazing how you will awake in the morning with a clear solution.
Stop thinking about it
By consistently thinking and worrying about the problem, the mind becomes blurred and you become stressed. Try to clear the problem from your mind and think about something else. You may just be surprised when at the most unexpected moment the light bulb comes on and the solution is staring you in the face.
Test out the decision
So consider the implications of the different outcomes dependant on different decisions. Don’t concentrate on the immediate effects but look into the future, 6 or 12 months ahead. What will the situation look like then based on each possible decision. Looking at longer implications can help us with short term decision making.
Go connect with nature
Trying to make decisions in a high pressure environment can cause the wrong one to be taken. You will be surrounded by other things that will continue to demand your attention and pull you in different directions. Give yourself some time out and go connect with nature. It can have a very therapeutic effect and help you to think clearly once again. Go for a walk in the woods or sit by the river. Allow your mind to ‘breathe’ and have space. Often just a short period of time in the fresh air with no interruptions can help you to see clearly once again.
Start with the end in sight
What is the end result that you want to achieve? Too many times we start our decision making process by worrying about how we are going to do something, how we will afford it, how we will tell someone. Concentrate on the long term goal and work backwards. What do you want long term? Let that help you make the decision and you will then find ways to deal with all the other little things in the way once the big decision is out the way.
Write it down
Instead of keeping a jumble of ideas swirling around in your head, write them down. Get a sheet of paper, the larger the better, and some marker pens and just jot down whatever rambling thoughts spring to mind. They do need to be in any order. Just jot them all over the page. Pin the piece of paper up on the wall and leave it there for a few days (or whatever time restriction you have). As you walk past, add another thought however random. Let your mind run free. When ready sit down and reflect on all the different thoughts. You may surprise yourself with what ideas you come up with using this method.
Go with your gut feeling
Sometimes it can be as simple as tossing a coin if you have two options to choose from. Give a heads or tails to each option and see where the coin lands, then listen carefully to your gut reaction. How do you feel? Does it feel right? Many successful business people have made major decisions based on their gut reaction. Don’t’ be afraid to listen to yours.
So go put these tips into practice and make that decision once and for all. You will feel so much better once you have done it.
by Angela Taffs | Mar 3, 2015 | Business Success
Whether you want to be successful in life or successful in business, what are the secrets to gaining that success? Why are some people more successful than others? What do they do that unsuccessful people don’t? Follow these simple ways below to give yourself the best chance of success.
Simple ways to be successful
Plan
Fail to plan, plan to fail. This is so true. If you don’t have a plan of what you want to achieve, how are you going to know how to get what you want? Write it down. Plan with the end in sight. What do you ultimately want to achieve? Once you have that written down you can work backwards as to how you are going to get there. Take small steps to reach the bigger goal.
Stay focused
Keep looking at your plan and make sure that everything you do takes you towards to your goal, not away from it. It is too easy to get side tracked and led astray so by referring to your plan on a regular basis you can make sure you keep on track and focused on what you ultimately want to achieve.
Find a mentor
Who inspires you? Who has been there and done it already? Who do you trust? Go find yourself a mentor. Watch, listen and learn how they are successful. Don’t ever be afraid to ask someone to be your mentor. Truly successful people love helping others and are only too happy to pass on their experience.
Trust your gut instinct
It may all look good on paper, but if something is niggling inside you and it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. The results of a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that people made the right decision 90% of the time when relying on their gut instinct alone.
Keep learning
The day you think you know it all and decide to stop learning is the first day to your decline. No one can ever know everything there is to know. By keeping learning we open up new ideas and possibilities on a constant basis. We can learn from people, experiences and reading. Life gives us constant opportunities to learn that we should never pass by.
Never fear failure
Failure is a learning curve of how to get it right. I don’t know of any truly successful person who got it right the first time. There is a famous quote about Thomas Edison when inventing the lightbulb
“I will not say I failed 1000 times, I will say I discovered there are 1000 ways that can cause failure”
So when something doesn’t work out, you have not failed, you have just learnt how not to do it.
JFDI
This is the most important of all. The old saying Just f*****g do it. You cannot sit planning and thinking about it forever. You just have to get off your backside and do it.
By following the tips above, you will stand more of a chance of succeeding at whatever you are aiming at.
Good luck
by Angela Taffs | Feb 26, 2015 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
What can Madonna’s fall at the Brits teach us about business?
Last night, Madonna performed at the Brits. Doubtless she would have spent many hours rehearsing. Refining and practicing her routine only for a totally unseen incident to completely derail her. During her performance she had to untie a long cape she was wearing and at an exact moment, a chap holding the other end who could not see what was happening due to being Madonna’s back being turned on him, had to whip the cape from her back.
What happened was that the cape was tied too tight and was not undone when it was whipped off her. This resulted in her being violently pulled backwards down a flight of steps, landing heavily on her back in front of hundreds in the audience and millions of television viewers.
What happened next was the crucial point for me. After a couple of what appeared to be awfully long seconds, Madonna pulled herself awkwardly to her feet but then carried on as though nothing had happened.
So how does Madonna’s fall relate to business?
Madonna proved herself to be a true professional. She had planned everything perfectly, had a huge support team around her to help her and then an unforeseen incident took her crashing to rock bottom (literally). She had two choices at this point.
- She could have felt sorry for herself, hugely embarrassed and whimpered off into the shadows to lick her wounds and the show would have been over for her. People may have felt sorry for her but they were likely to have talked about her downfall when her name was mentioned in the future as that was their lasting impression.
- She assessed the situation with lightening quick speed, picked herself up, dusted herself off and just simply got on with it. She held her head up high and proved herself to be the ultimate professional. People now when they talk her about her downfall are also likely to talk about how professional she is and what an inspiration she is. She will have gone up in the estimation of many.
And this is what happens so often in business.
Something comes and kicks us in the teeth and all the hard work and effort we have put in to building our business suddenly seems pointless. All our careful planning and preparation has been for nothing. We feel sorry for ourselves and feel we just can’t go on any more. We go hide in the shadows until the embarrassment of failure has died down a little and then gradually try to bring ourselves back out in to the open world.
What successful business owners do when faced with adversity is exactly the same as Madonna. They quickly assess the situation, identify what has happened and what they can do to salvage the situation. They pick themselves up instantly and just get on with it once again. No moaning, no whining, no feeling sorry for themselves.
And then they learn from their mistakes to ensure they don’t happen again. They don’t look upon any hiccup in business as a failure. They look at it as a learning curve. I am sure that if Madonna ever wears a cape on stage again she will either have checked it is more loosely tied or she will have a false tie with a Velcro fastening.
So what would you have done in a situation like Madonna’s? Have you hit a situation where you feel you have been treated unfairly and your business has failed? What choice did you, or will you make? Don’t be so quick to feel sorry for yourself and blame the situation for the failure or demise of your business. Use the opportunity to learn a lesson, pick yourself up and get on with it for another day. Act like a true professional. Act like Madonna!
by Angela Taffs | Feb 18, 2015 | Business Success
One of the biggest differences between those achieving business success and those who fade into the shadows is long term commitment. All too often we set off with rose tinted glasses in a euphoria of excitement that our business is going to be the best and we are going to join those glamorous people in the Facebook ads sat on a beach working just a few hours a day from their laptop.
But reality tends to be rather different. When the money hasn’t started rolling in within the first 6 months, doubt starts to creep in. When the first tax return is prepared and you haven’t been able to draw the equivalent of the minimum wage as yet, you start to feel under pressure to return to the world of employment.
It is those who plan, those who are prepared for it to take time and those who refuse to give up that succeed. They are committed to their plans for the long term, not just on the hope of a get rich quick scheme.
As Steve Jobs said, “Half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance”. Too many people want instant gratification these days. That’s not going to cut it.
As a general rule of thumb, and from my experience working with small businesses over the years, I tell clients to expect to make a loss in year one, break even in year two and start to make a profit in year three. By year five you should be making a decent enough income.
If these timescales scare you, then think carefully before going out on your next venture. You may well be lucky and achieve financial success far quicker than this, but being prepared for your true business success to take five years will put you in a better position for reality.
To be successful you will have to be consistent and persistent in your efforts. Going guns a blazing with your marketing for 3 months and then losing your mojo as the results are not what you expect and so then doing nothing for the next month is not going to get you anywhere. When you start up your marketing efforts again, you may as well be starting from scratch. Doing one small thing every day will get you greater rewards long term than intermittent blasts of activity.
Liken it to training for a marathon. If you train hard and get to running 16 miles but then take a break for a couple of months, you are not going to be able to get up and go out the door and pick up where you left off. You will have to take quite a few steps backward to get back on track again.
It is tough being a small business owner. You will need to remain focused and determined at times when others around you try to instil you with their doubts. You will need to retain your self-belief when the naysayers come calling. But if you are prepared and committed for the long term, the rewards will most certainly be worth it.
Remember the adage, all good things come to those who wait. Do you have the commitment necessary for business success?
by Angela Taffs | Feb 16, 2015 | Business Success
Do you spend too much time worrying about how well your competitor is doing, or how well those in complementary industries seem to be doing, whilst you are still struggling along? Are you focusing so much on competitor analysis that it is becoming detrimental to your own business?
If so, stop right now.
At the initial planning stage of a business is it so important to do some competitor analysis to find out who else is out there offering the same or similar to you, what they do well, what they could improve upon and what they charge etc.
But don’t then spend much of valuable time in the future constantly comparing yourself to them.
As Henry Ford is quoted as saying:
“The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.”
And that is what you need to be doing. Carry on finding ways to constantly improve your business and stop constantly worrying about what everyone else is doing.
If you haven’t got access to your competitors financial reports you will never really have the true picture of how successful, or not, their business is and you could be spending many sleepless night concerning yourself with something that is not a problem for you.
I have seen many a business that on the surface appears to be highly successful and is living in a land of commercial bliss. When I have then met them in person and seen their financial statements, the truth has been far different. They are putting on a very good show on the outside but underneath the business is in serious financial trouble and living each day hand to mouth.
Too often, as small business owner using social media, we get hooked up on how many likes and followers we have compared to others. But is it quantity or quality we are after. I was talking to a client recently and it was so refreshing to hear them say that whilst they didn’t have as many followers as their competitors, they weren’t concerned as they had a much higher rate of interaction.
By focusing too much on what your competitors are doing, you may find that valuable time is wasted and your focus is taken away that could be spent on making your own offering the best that it can be. Try avoiding looking at the competition for a while and just focus on what you can offer your ideal customer. Concern yourself with your own business and let your competitor worry about theirs.
Continue to do what you do well and look for ways to improve areas that are now working quite so well for you. Focus on the small improvements such as interactions with your target market and new sales. This will give you the confidence boost you need to keep moving forward with your own business rather than feeling deflated by seeing somewhat misleading figures that your competitors are achieving.
Find your own niche with your own ideal client and do things your way. There is room for everyone out there so be ready to take advantage of each opportunity that may come your way rather than miss out on them because you have eyes looking in the wrong direction.
Be aware of taking competitor analysis too far.
by Angela Taffs | Feb 13, 2015 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
I am finding that more and more as I go about my day, I am met with a complete lack of manners, etiquette and far from adequate customer service skills. In fact, it is quite remarkable to visit somewhere and be met with all these traits as standard anymore
So where does my passion for good manners and social etiquette come from? That is not too difficult a question to answer when I stop and think about it.
It is from my father.
When my sister and I were younger, he was a stickler for manners. Here is an extract from the eulogy I read at my father’s funeral just over 3 years ago.
Dad was also a stickler for etiquette. He instilled into my sister and me how to behave and woe betide us if we stepped out of line. These teachings have proven to be invaluable to me through the years but one memory still makes me chuckle. I had just started dating Nick when Mum and Dad invited him to our home for Sunday lunch. Nick duly turned up, lunch was had and all seemed well. However, I knew Dad too well, and knew that underneath the surface something was not right. After Nick went home I soon found out what. Dad was furious that someone had entered our house to have lunch on a Sunday whilst wearing jeans!! A cardinal sin in his book. He forbade me to go out with a man who did not know how to dress. Thankfully, Dad soon forgave Nick and when, as some of you often do, you see Nick out in his waistcoat and tie for what seems like a very informal gathering, you now know why.
My father really did install manners and etiquette into us from not putting our elbows on the table, never starting a meal until everyone had been served, dressing correctly for the occasion, how to stand with shoulders back and head held up when meeting people and of course the list could go on.
Today, it seems that anything goes. Mobile phone calls are taken during meals, gentlemen do not stand to greet a lady, people push through doors without holding it open for others and foul language is used as the norm.
Yes, some of these thoughts may now be considered old fashioned and outdated but the knock on effect as I see it is a rapid decline in customer service from staff who have never learnt the basics of manners and who show a complete lack of respect to individuals considering spending money at their business premises.
So I am on a mission. A while ago I read today that Russell Brand was starting a revolution with regard the political parties and their lack of interest in the ‘normal’ people of this world.
My mission is to start a revolution with businesses to up their customer service standards and treat individuals who are spending their hard earned cash with a little more respect and to use some basic manners. As I go about my day, I shall be revealing my discoveries of the good, the bad and the ugly. We have food hygiene ratings in food establishments. Why not have customer service ratings?
If you have any stories you would like to share, please feel free to let me know.
