Life Change 90

Best Business Ideas For You

Perils of Small Business.

Kayangel Atoll and Belau Palau Islands – what a paradise! Image from wallpapersphotography.com

If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work. WIlliam Shakespeare.

Perils of Small Business.

Imagine you are going on a holiday to a small, remote tropical island, a beautiful island, dotted with coconut palms, rainforests and a mountain in the middle of course, to climb and look out over the endless ocean. There is a lagoon with fringing reefs protecting the island beaches from the powerful ocean waves, a lagoon with a catamaran for your use, fishing rods and diving gear. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it.

You hop on the seaplane and it drops you off in the lagoon and takes off again and there you are, in your idyllic, island paradise. Still looking forward to the holiday?

Arrival on your holiday island. Image from privatejettourguide.com

You look out beyond the reef and see the shark fins beyond the breakers, masses of them. The sun beats down on you because that’s what happens in the tropics, right? But it’s OK, because here you are safe on the beach, where you can sit in the shade when THUMP on the sand beside you, a huge coconut falls – luckily it missed you, it must weigh 3 kilos! So it’s not safe in the shade, not safe in the sun, not safe in the water, and who knows what’s in the rainforest!

Evening falls, and out comes all the mosquitos and other flying, crawling and mostly biting insects! Sure, this is some tropical paradise!

Perils of tropical islands! Image from watoday.com.au

“Life keeps throwing me curve balls and I don’t even own a bat. At least my dodging skills are improving.” ― Jayleigh Cape

Or it could have been! With a little planning. If only there was a phone, you could arrange a few things, but then, a Satellite Phone should have been first on the list of things you planned for this remote island holiday.

What else would have been on your list? How about sunscreen, something around 50+ SPF? What about a hat and protective clothes to prevent sunburn? Insect repellent? Checking the accommodation for what it was stocked with first? Lots of things you could have planned in to make this the most fabulous holiday ever. Except you need to plan ahead, not as an afterthought.

Ahhhh, the perils of deserted tropical islands. They are a bit like small business – and the perils of small business are equally as dangerous, but equally as easy to plan for!

The beach can be a challenge too! image from entrepreneur.co.za

“I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot” ― Nadia Comaneci

The perils of small business are many, but few of the perils are as dangerous as the failure to think ahead and plan where you are going and what you need. Arriving and hoping to make do is not a viable option. However, many people end up in business in exactly this situation, and then the perils of small business become too obvious, and very painful.

What are the perils of small business?

Perils of small business – it’s not just your competitors! Image from bigmouth-marketing.com

The first and most obvious peril is not having a focus, a goal, direction or strategy. Why are you in business? What do you want to achieve? Is it a money-making thing? Did you buy yourself a job? Is it your retirement funds invested? Or is it a passion you want to monetize and make a business, a career and a life from? It doesn’t matter, as long as you know, because it affects everything else.

Your business planning is based around where you want your business to go in the future. If you are buying a business to build up and sell, your plan will be very different to a business built on your passion and love for something you want to build a career and a life around. The perils of small business are waiting for those who get the fundamentals wrong.

Then there are the details, like the finances, the people you work with, the products and services, marketing and dealing with customers.

Not only are the fundamental issues like your business purpose and direction important, the details are critical too! You can have everything right except for one of many small but critical factors, and the whole lot can go awry before you realise. The perils of small business need to be examined and dealt with, long before you discover them the hard way.

How do you go about preventing these perils of small business taking you down, before they become an issue? The best way is for an intensive examination of your business concept, well before you take any other action on it. Even before your business plan is formulated, you need to be asking a lot of questions, designing and testing your concept and ideas, researching a variety of ideas, looking at your own motivation, your skills and capabilities before you even settle on your business model, around which you can start planning.

Once you settle on the concept, you can start designing the business model and whether you will be doing it alone, in partnership, with a company or in some other entity. All the different factors that will eventually become your business will have an influence on these foundation issues.

Once the foundation of your business model is established, you need to look at the whole raft of factors that are required to work in your favour, to ensure you don’t fall prey to the other perils of small business – failure of the business due to issues such as lack of capital, low sales, poor product or service quality, inadequate marketing, untrained staff or too many overhead costs.

How can you possibly hope to manage all of this, and still look forward to the adventure of being in small business for yourself, without the fear of succumbing to the perils of small business?

There is a way. It’s called the Business Profits Program. It looks at your idea and concept for a business, or helps you with one if all you have to begin with is the desire to be in your own business. Then it builds on your desire through your passion, finds a focal point for it, builds in your resources and capabilities and gives you the options for the businesses you could look forward to creating and building your new career around.

Next, you need to consider the details and the finer aspects of business planning. All that is taken care of too – with all the questions you need to ask to build a solid business plan and contingency plans for your concept, before you spend a cent on setting up the business. At this stage, the perils of small business are all on paper and you can work your way through them without fearing the disasters that could befall you, without this degree of preparation and forward planning in place.

The delights of small business ownership! Image from wellsfargoworks.com

A bit like that holiday. It can be a great idea, perfect location and the most wonderful opportunity, unless you forget something like the insect repellent, or the sunscreen…

The Business Profits Program ensures everything is in place for your business, before you have to face any of the perils of small business.

Yes, it’s possible, just plan for it! Image from mondaysorchids.wordpress.com

If you find yourself in business and feeling like you landed on that deserted tropical island, facing the perils of small business all at once on your own, then it’s not too late – the Business Profits Program can help you re-examine your business and create a whole new plan for it, reinvigorating, reinventing if necessary, to ensure you are in the business you really want to be in. Take a look, no matter where you are up to in business. If you have some friends in business who look like they are facing the perils of small business also, please invite them to take a look too.

Preparation and planning never go astray. Just think of the tropical island holiday. It can be wonderful, or it can be a nightmare. The difference is all in the planning and preparation.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray Jamieson

“I want to put a ding in the universe.” ― Steve Jobs

Other related blogs from Life Change 90:

Best Business Ideas For You

Whether you have an idea for a new business, or are actively seeking the best business ideas, it will be well worth your while to look at the Business Profits Program, to put into the worksheet what you have and what you want to create, and see what new and potentially very successful business ideas come up for you. The program looks at what you like to do, or be, what you are good at and what your resources and strengths are, before showing you how to work through them to combine them into one of the successful business ideas you always desired, but were not sure how to create. It’s a powerful start.

Just as a pet can be more of a challenge than a gift, so too can the holidays. John Clayton

Best Business Ideas for you

Best Business Ideas.

Day 1 of Life 2! Image from fffcpas.com

“Screw your career path, live your story.” Jason Seiden

You would like to start a new business, but are not sure where to begin? So many people claiming to have or offering the ‘best business ideas’ for you. There are so many business opportunities, but either creating a business that suits you, or picking up an idea that could become your business can be a real challenge.

Get the idea wrong and you are a square peg in a round hole – a very bad fit.

Get it right and you are in harmony, and very often, in profit, with the best business ideas!

Getting your business ideas right is critical!

How do you select the best business ideas?

A great question to begin with, before you start looking around for a business, is to ask whether you should actually be in business! Are you an entrepreneur type personality, who can or would enjoy the cut and thrust of running your own solo enterprise, with far-reaching visions, energy and enthusiasm to drive you and a determination to succeed no matter what?

Perhaps you are a person who would work well within a team, conquering the business and corporate world together, each playing to the other’s strengths? You might love the business environment and the opportunities it presents, but would prefer to be part of a team when you tackle the world of business.

This is the crux of it: the best business ideas that suit one person are not the best business ideas that would suit another! Choosing your business approach must be based around your business personality, and knowing whether you are a solo entrepreneurial type or a corporate team player or partnership type is fundamental to the best business ideas turning into successful businesses!

As a first step, take the QUIZ on the Life Change 90 website “Should you be the boss in your own business?”

That will give you indications of how to approach your business venture, whatever it is. Then it is time to look through those best business ideas and choose your opportunity.

Steve Jobs – the ultimate entrepreneur, founder of Apple. Image from ndtv.com

Short of a starting point when looking for the best business ideas?

Choosing the best business ideas is important, and tailoring these best business ideas to your own style, personality, resource level and ambitions is critical. There is an old saying “Bite off more than you can chew, and chew like crazy!” (Quote from Joe Joyce)… That’s OK as far as a recipe for stress goes, but it doesn’t always auger well for success. Perhaps a personal audit of what you love to do and what you can do, and monetizing that idea is a better way to create the business you want, from all the best business ideas available.

The Business Profits Program begins right at this point, tailoring your business idea around your likes, loves and abilities. If you looked at a dozen small businesses, all the same type of business, perhaps using a mechanical repair business as an example, you would find every business was different in subtle ways to the other eleven. They began as successful business ideas and let’s face it, auto repairs is a great business to be in – provided you get a few things right, by tailoring it to the person doing the business!

One person may be a lover of American Muscle Cars and specialise in that area – the rumble of huge V8 engines and heavy metal. Another person loves high performance European sports cars, especially Italian cars, and creates a specialist workshop for them. Yet another person could love the hot-rod scene and turn vintage and veteran cars into flaming street hot rods. And there will always be a need for someone to service the family car, for the other folks that just go to work each day and use their cars as personal transport rather than as symbols of a youth that they cannot leave behind. All are very successful business ideas, but each is tailored around the personal likes, loves and resources of the business operator. And that is how you must consider your best business ideas too. They are only ever successful business ideas when they are integrated with the personal interests and passions of the operator.

American Muscle Cars – a passion for some. Image from Autocity.com

Once you have the idea, the next thing is to start designing it around where you really want to go with it, and that will be the subject of a future blog. For now, check out the Business Profits Program and choose from amongst the best business ideas out there, to design your next career move around!

If you know other people either in business, or wishing they were, who might like to review their business ideas or are looking for the best business ideas, send this to them. They will thank you for it!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray Jamieson

Love everyone, trust a few, and paddle your own canoe. Barry Moltz

Other related blogs from Life Change 90:

Og Mandino – Lessons from the Master

Jim Rohn, Business Philosopher

Jim Rohn at home on stage. Image from healthsourcelaunchu.com

I remember Jim Rohn.

What a way to think of life! Image from mylifemantras.blogspot.com

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. Jim Rohn

One of the most quoted names of the business world in recent decades is E James Rohn (September 17, 1930 – December 5, 2009) or Jim Rohn, as most people knew him. Jim Rohn joined the speaking circuit during a period of #life change for him in the early 1960s with a talk at his local Rotary Club and in 1963, he delivered his first public seminar at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When he walked onto that stage, he walked into history to become one of the most influential speakers and motivators of the modern era, until his passing on December 5, 2009.

Some of the most famous and notable protégées of Jim Rohn include:
• Mark R Hughes (founder of Herbalife International)
• Tony Robbins
• Mark Victor Hansen
• Jack Canfield (author of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books)
• Brian Tracy
• Chris Widener
• T Harv Eker

I first discovered Jim Rohn through his recorded seminars when I became a member of the Australian Institute of Management in Spring Hill in Brisbane, in the late 1980s. They have an amazing library and I utilised it to the max! Through borrowed cassette recordings, I devoured his wit and wisdom and came to respect him greatly. In April 1990, he visited the Gold Coast in Queensland and I attended my first seminar with him, a weekend Leadership Program. This began a friendship that I was privileged to enjoy for some years, until Jim retired in the USA soon after the year 2005. After our first weekend together where we chatted as often as I could get time with him, we caught up each time I attended his programs and seminars here in Queensland over the last decade before his retirement.

Jim was a man of small stature, but a giant in the business and speaking world. “Business philosopher” is the title that was coined for him and it is so apt. He exuded wisdom wherever he spoke, the wisdom that only comes from someone’s experience, never from a curriculum or textbook!

Through those many hours of recordings played on my car stereo, reading his books, emails and attending his programs, his philosophy and wisdom became a powerful influence in my life also. I was fortunate that I was also able to speak with him when he came to Australia, because the old saying:
“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month’s study of books”
is ever so true. Speaking with and sharing a table with Jim Rohn was a real privilege.

Jim Rohn Philosophy: Image from millionairemarketingmachines.com

A sound bite from a Jim Rohn Seminar
The first evening seminar I attended with Jim was in Brisbane and only went for a couple of hours. This is part of the session:
“Last year when I was here, I recommended a book to you – “The Richest Man In Babylon”. How many of the people from that evening are here again tonight?”

About three-quarters of the room, over 500 people, put their hands up.

“Thank you, that’s great – nice to see you coming back again. Now, keep your hands up if you went out and bought that book.”

All but about 50 hands went down.

“That’s about right” he said. “Only around 10% of the people you talk to will take action on your advice, no matter how valuable you believe it is for them!”

He went on to talk about the book, and about how easy it was.

“It’s easy to buy, it’s easy to read, it’s easy to understand. However, it’s also easy not to buy! To buy this book, you need to make a conscious decision to become a better person, and that’s harder than not buying the book”.

That’s Jim Rohn philosophy, simple and profound. I love it! And yes, I bought the book.

Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins. Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn authored a number of books, simple and easy books too. Full of his profound style of wisdom, and so relevant to everyday living and working in business. Jim’s life story is fascinating and well worth studying for a moment. He was a sales clerk in his early years before he was offered a job in direct sales by a very switched-on mentor. He soaked up the teachings of this mentor and propelled himself to success in that company and then the next company when he changed. He wrote and spoke about his success and the teachings of his mentor throughout his speaking career, inspiring the millions of people he reached around the world. It’s the lessons that can only come from experience, from face to face dealing with people, observing and learning from experience. His experience is what makes it so valuable. His style of delivery is what makes it so powerful and profound.

I was privileged to attend Jim’s Leadership weekend, and many other events at which he spoke, and even worked with him onstage at Brisbane once, when he and the great Zig Ziglar were in Brisbane. That was a wonderful event and I had the chance to speak with both these great men during and after their events. Since then, I have added all of Jim’s writing to my library and more than a few of his audio programs – more than a national treasure, this man had something worth listening to!

I’m proud to say that through my career in coaching, consulting, and public speaking, I have applied many of the lessons I learnt from Jim Rohn. Those familiar with his work may detect his influence in the Life Change 90 Program, although the original inspiration for that program came from Og Mandino, who I wrote about last week. Jim’s influence comes through most strongly in the Business Profits Program, because above all, Jim Rohn was an excellent business operator, very successful, very smart. Having Jim Rohn on your team would be valuable for everyone, and especially if you were starting a new business, or revamping one that was a little tired – Jim Rohn energy would inspire any business and any team!

Whether you are interested in the personal life change that Jim Rohn inspired world-wide, or whether you would like some of his philosophy in your business program, there’s something here for you. I’m also proud to say that I think Jim Rohn would be honoured to think he had a small role in the development of either of these programs. His legacy lives on also.

To find out more about the Life Change 90 Program, click here.

If you have a business or would like to begin one, it most likely could benefit from the Business profits Program, so click here!

Either way, the wisdom of the ages will be with you, allied with the technology of the 21st century, to propel you forward to success and achievement of your desires, now and far into the future. I wish you well with your desires.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray Jamieson

Recent relevant blogs:

The Business Profits Program: it takes what you already know and have, and turns it into an exciting and profitable business!

Starting a small business

Amazing Garden – courtesy of gardeninfluence.com

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Starting a small business

Starting a small business has much in common with starting a garden.

Window Box Garden – courtesy of deborahsilver.com

A garden can be as small as a window box of herbs or colourful flowers, or acres of magnificence such as featured in some of the famous gardens of the world. Louis IV for example. Many acres of magnificent gardens, breathtaking in scope and features, a delight to experience and home to so much life and enterprise.

Gardens of the Palace of Versailles, in France. This was NO ACCIDENT! Courtesy of rothseye.org

However, these gardens both have much in common with starting a small business.

Each began with an idea, an inspiration. Someone, at some time, had to have the idea and inspiration to create either the small business, or the garden. Without that initial inspiration, neither is possible.

What an idea! – image from shopigniter.com

“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” ― Gloria Steinem

In some cases, some people just bought seeds and scattered them. Some people just opened the doors on a business and hoped for the best. Both these strategies grow weeds, and soon fail.

WEEDS! Image from hillconsulting.com

Starting a small business successfully requires the same strategy as starting a garden; you need a plan to work to. The best gardens, like the most successful small businesses, saw life through a very clear plan.

Not every garden was planned initially to look like the final completed picture, just as small businesses grow and evolve into their ultimate operation. Over time, the conditions and circumstances of the garden change, just as the small business environment you work in changes. Both must evolve, adapt and change with the times, so they can not only survive, but thrive!

Gardens are living, breathing organisms, teeming with life and activity. So are the most successful small business. Let’s look at what they have in common.

The initial plan is crucial.

Gardens have a creator. Someone had to start them off, create the idea and concept, mark out the seedbeds and plant the first seed. Someone also had to start the business, have the idea and stock the shelves.

Gardens need the right environment and location, soils and climate. With businesses, you must be where you can make sales and service your clients. Location is everything, whether a home based internet business, a corner store or a major retail outlet or service centre. Your location is just as critical because in the wrong location, all you get for either is a surfeit of weeds.

The climate? The business climate is just as important as the temperature and rainfall expectations for your plants. Some like it hot, others will die there – get it right. The business climate must be right for the business you are operating in that environment. Snowboards don’t sell well on the beachfront!

Choice of soils – just like the foundations of the business – crucial. Are your soils shallow and stony, or rich and deep? What is the foundation of your business? The marketability of your concept and the strategy for implementing it. Fundamentals for each enterprise.

Gardens need supplies of nutrients and water as their life flow. Fertiliser, water at the right time and volume, pruning, harvesting and weeding. Just as businesses do. Marketing, promotions, advertising, management strategy and ongoing training for everyone. Staff numbers and training need to be managed for efficient operation also.

Starting a small business is so much like gardening. You even need bees! Gardens need bees to pollinate flowers, to ensure the survival of the plants in the garden season after season. In starting a small business, you need to ensure you have access to bees also – both worker bees for your internal team and customer bees to ensure that the fruits of your labours multiply as profits, to ensure you are back next season also.

Busy little bees! – Image from care2.com

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” ― Abraham Lincoln

There is so much in common with both starting a small business and starting a garden, and knowing this we can plan for success in both, with the crossover of common sense and knowledge required for either enterprise.

Back to the beginning. Neither your garden, nor your business idea have a snowball’s chance in hell of success without their creator knowing and understanding what they are starting, and have a plan for its success. Whether you create your own plan, or get a landscape gardener or an accountant to do it for you, there must be a plan. The great benefit of creating it yourself when starting a small business is that you will get much closer to what you want, what you dreamed of and what you are passionate about.

The challenge is filling in the technical bits, to make sure your plan is complete.

Small business creation and planning is now very easy.

The Business Profits Program provides all the tools you need for starting a small business plan, and much more. It takes your original idea, or prompts you to create one if necessary, locates your resources, skills and capital, then shows you how to combine them into a business model. It asks you how you will define your business, identify your target market, finance your enterprise, produce goods or services, market them to the intended clients and launch your business with a degree of success that even your accountant would be happy to achieve.

However, it doesn’t help with planning a garden. Unless you want to make a business out of your garden. Then it could become the most valuable tool in your garden!

It provides the foundations for starting and operating a business, successfully. Take a look – you’ll be glad you did!

If you know some other folks who are either in business or thinking of starting one, please send this article to them. They will thank you, I’m sure.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray Jamieson

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” ― Warren Buffett

Other related blogs from Life Change 90: