A summary of things you should know about New Business Next Steps according to Ann Hawkins: Introduction In this episode Ann Hawkins reveals all her insight on her book, NewRead More
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]]>In this episode Ann Hawkins reveals all her insight on her book, New Business Next Steps, where she helps make sure any newborn startup becomes a successful business.
In her book Hawkins, and co-author Ed Goodman, give you an all-in-one guide that contains very easy-to-follow strategies, exercises, action plans, and templates to improve your business. The goal of the book is to teach you effective strategies that will improve your marketing efforts, increase your sales, keep your finances in check, implement the right technology, and create quality service.
This book is perfect for aspiring entrepreneurs who have recently created a small startup company and are looking for new, effective ways to grow their business from A to Z.
The thing that makes it different is that most businesses tell success stories and a lot of small businesses find it hard to relate to those people. So what we have done is we’ve taken case studies of businesses that are beyond five years old and newer businesses find them very inspirational because they are all kind of going through the same things. The other thing is that at the end of each chapter we’ve got a section called Next Steps and this is a really practical way of creating an action plan that the reader can write for their own situation. So they make their own action plan and then we’ve got a website and a Facebook group where they can come and get real practical ongoing advice from other business owners.
It’s a jump in, jump out book. There are 10 chapters all on different aspects of growing a business and so the reader can jump to whichever chapter fits them best.
I think it’s that running a business is really about doing the right things at the right time and some of those things are boring. If you act on some of the stuff that we know works they are much more likely to make a success of their business.
The chapters are Managing the Business, then Managing Growth, Managing Your Finances, Managing Social Media, Managing Technology, Managing Marketing, Managing Sales, Managing Customers, Managing People, and finally Managing Your Exit. In each of those chapters there are some absolute gems and simple practical things that the reader can do to really grow their business. What we’ve discovered through working with many small businesses over the years is that with just a little bit of help here and there most business people can make a success of their business. But the thing that happens is that they go into a business to do something that they love and then they discover all this other stuff that nobody has ever talked to them about. All of this really practical stuff is in the book and it’s broken down into easy to digest chapters because everybody who owns their own business is short on time. The other thing that we are aware of is that people get emotionally attached to their businesses, when they start a business to do something they love they very often lose track of the fact that some of those things are not the best things to make money at. We help them to look at what’s the most profitable activity in their business and sometimes that means that you have to let stuff go that is not quite going to make it for you. And just by making a few changes can make such a difference.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 04:47
“As the business owner, if you do not delegate everything you can, you are not doing your own job which is building the company. As well as building the company you have to develop people and set the direction and these things should really take up all the time you’ve got as a business owner. If you are doing something that someone else can do you are wasting your company’s most expensive resource which is the time and energy of the business owner.” – Unknown
I am a business coach and a mentor, I work with the government backed growth accelerator service in the UK. And I have been working with small businesses for about 25 years and blogging for 10 years.
90% of businesses don’t make it to their 5th birthday which I think is a tragedy. When you think of all the hopes and dreams that end up in the dust it’s just so sad. And it’s really unnecessary because with just a little bit of help most businesses can make it. So this was kind of the inspiration behind the book. A lot of books are aimed at startups and they go down the route of nail it, scale it, and sale it but I know that most of the people that I work with start a business because they want to work at something that they love for the rest of their lives. So this book is aimed at people who want to create a business that’s going to give them and their families a great lifestyle and not just a great lifestyle but profit too. It’s about hopes and dreams and helping those people make those come true.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Buy New Business: Next Steps by Ann Hawkins on Amazon today
Visit NewBusinessNextSteps.com to learn more about Ann and her book
Follow Ann Hawkins on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
The Startup Survival System by Kurt Won
The Pop Up Paradigm by Melissa Gonzalez
Startupland by Mikkel Svane
Relevant advice and tips:
5 Important Things That Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Starting a New Business
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]]>A summary of things you should know about How To Get Unstuck according to Barry Moltz Introduction In this episode Berry Moltz shares his book, How To Get Unstuck, whereRead More
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]]>In this episode Berry Moltz shares his book, How To Get Unstuck, where he helps entrepreneurs identify the top pain points they are stuck on. His book takes you through the major areas where entrepreneurs tend to get stuck such as marketing, sales, management leadership, social media, and customer service.
This book is very much a direct, to the point, book. I point out the problems and give you the answers to fix it.
I suggest the reader look at the table of contents and find their answers that way.
The most important and difficult part to change is letting go of what you’re currently doing today and trying something new. And you need to focus on just one change at a time.
The book revolves around six major areas where people typically get stuck. The first one is sales and marketing. The second is management leadership. The third one is money. The four one is proactivity. The fifth one is social media and the sixth is customer service. Typically people are stuck more in one area than another. They treat their business like it’s a job, they are so desperate to earn money to support their family or pay for their employee’s and they end up saying yes to anything customers want. And as a result their business just drips along and the solution is that you have got to decide what business your company really is and try to stick to that niche.
The second problem is when people start a successful business once, they sometimes think they can do it again and again with no problem. The solution here is to hire people that are complementary to you and willing to collaborate with you and always not tell you just what you want to hear.
The third area where people get stuck is this idea that they let todays emergencies dictate their plan. They are addicted to multitasking and constantly let other people interrupt their day. The way to solve this problem is before you end work you need to think about two things that you want to get done the next day. That way the next day will be productive and not just busy. When you get in the office do those two things first that way the rest of your day will be productive.
The fourth area where people get stuck is that they never take a vacation from work. They have this fear of falling behind and technology pushing us and they measure their success by being busy and productive. You must take time during your day and week to recharge and leave technology behind.
The fifth area where people get stuck is that they think that being successful in business is all about taking dangerous risks instead of calculated actions. They end up wasting resources by jumping in without testing the waters. The key here is to take patient interim steps.
The sixth area where people get stuck is when their customers can’t find them when they are ready to buy. You must figure out where your customers are shopping for what they are buying. People also hate sells and are afraid of rejection and the word no. This is where a good content marketing strategy, staying with customers over a period of time, really works out. These are just a few of the 25 areas where people tend to get stuck.
“Don’t confuse the idea with being busy, with being productive.” – Berry J. Moltz
I work with small businesses to get people unstuck and had three businesses the last 20 years. The first business went out of business, the second business I was kicked out by my two partners and the third business I was lucky enough to sell in July of 1999 and paid back the bank the 1.3 million I owed them.
There are a lot of books out there that focus on one specific area where they help start entrepreneurs get their company off the ground. What happens is a lot of people start a business and after two or three years the business isn’t where they thought it would be and that’s typically because they are stuck in one of five areas. I identify the top 25 things that are going through their minds where they are stuck and show them how to get unstuck.
Growing a Business by Paul Hawken
Buy How To Get Unstuck by Barry Moltz on Amazon today
Visit BarryMoltz.com to learn more about Barry and his book
Follow Barry Moltz on Twitter
Download the full transcript here
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are at the end of your roll by Mike Michalowicz | Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together by Pamela Slim | People Tools for Business by Alan Fox
Relevant advice and tips: 5 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make With Marketing and Branding
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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