According to a Dun & Bradstreet* study, ‘businesses with fewer than 20 employees have only a 37% chance of surviving four years (of business) and only a 9% chance of surviving 10 years.’ Restaurants have only a 20% chance of surviving two years. Of these failed businesses, 90% closed because the business was not successful, did not provide the level of income desired, or were too much work for their efforts. The failure rate for new businesses was 70% to 80% in the first year and only about half who survived the first year would remain in business the next five years.

I spend much of my life working with and listening to small business owners, and I am now certain the true reason so many businesses fail (cease to exist) before year four is because people go into business for the wrong reason.

When I make presentations to business groups and ask why they chose to start a business, the answers are always the same. I wonder if you identify with one or some of these reasons people give:

• I thought I could run a business better than my boss.
• I was tired of working for someone else.
• I wanted to be in control of my destiny, choose my own hours, and go on holiday whenever I felt like it.
• I am good at something or trained in a particular field and have built my business around my skill set.
• I had a good idea and believed I could make a business out of it.
• I don’t know; it just sort of happened.
• I want to help people, I’m not in it for the money (this response is particularly true of health practitioners).

Do any of these answers resonate with you? Have you really given much thought to why you are in business or what you really want out of it? Or have you stumbled into business as a reaction to your own personal circumstances without a true sense of purpose driving you?

It’s important to ask yourself; because your reasons for being in business will determine the way you approach it, which, in turn, will influence the ultimate success you have.

There are only two reasons to go into business for yourself:  to make money and to make a difference.  My book Liber8 Your Business shows you how you can do both and build the business you really dreamed of.  I’m looking forward to sharing it with you soon.  In the meantime if you have any questions about your business  model feel free to email me laura@liber8me.com

Cheers

*Dun & Bradstreet is a public company headquartered in Short Hills, New Jersey, USA that licenses information on businesses and corporations for use in credit decisions, business-to-business marketing and supply chain management. D & B maintains information on more than 205 million companies worldwide.

If you want to put your business under the spotlight – Laura’s next Acceler8me Programme, inspiration and support for passionate business owners, kicks off in August.  Click here for details

I just watched this amazing speech from Steve Jobs when he knew he was going to die.  It moved me as I expect it will you.  Watch it by clicking link below then come back and tell me what you think.

http://youtu.be/a5SMyfbWYyE

Understanding freedom and how important it is to us as human beings is becoming an obsession of mine.  Freedom is the very essence of happiness.  Life is a gift, we don’t have long in the scheme of things.

So what is your answer to the late Mr Jobs’ question?

From the desk of Liber8me. Small business mentors and publisher of Liber8 Your Business:  The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every small business owner free.  Get your copy here http://liber8yourbusiness.com/

Over the past two years I have interviewed over forty successful entrepreneurs.  My criteria for an interview subject is that they must have built and sold at least one successful business.  Many of them have been serial entrepreneurs – having created more than one business and learned many lessons along the way.

As I’ve talked to these people it has become apparent that they all share certain traits that ultimately lead to their success.  If you want to succeed at your business (of course you do), you could do worse than focus on developing the traits exhibited by the rich and free.  Work out which ones you have in abundance and work on the ones you don’t.

Take a look at the traits listed below and grade yourself on a score of 1 to 5, where 1 means ‘not at all’ and 5 means ‘totally got it nailed’, against each of the traits. Don’t feel you have to be close to a 5 score to be successful. This is a reality check to identify the areas you will need to work on as you grow your business.

10 Traits of wealthy entrepreneurs:

1.  Vision. Rate the clarity of the vision you have for your business when it is complete and you’ve created financial freedom from it.

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

2. Self-belief. Rate your confidence in your ability to build a business that will generate great wealth and freedom for you.

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

3. Passion. Rate your passion for your business

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

4. Being goal-orientated. Rate the clarity of the goals you have set for your business

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

5. Planning. Rate your current plan for a business that will feed you wealth

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

6. Being action-focussed. Rate your ability to take action as needed.

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

7. Determination. How do you rate your determination to succeed?

1                      2                      3                      4                      5                     

8. Willingness to fail. How would you rate your willingness to learn from failures?

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

9. Being wealth positive. How would you rate your willingness to be very wealthy?

 1                      2                      3                      4                      5

10. Giving back. Rate your desire to make a difference through your business

1                      2                      3                      4                      5

Review your scores for each of the 10 traits. In which areas do you already feel strong? Which areas do you need to work on?   And what plan can you put in place to lift your game in your weaker areas?

In my book, Liber8 Your Business, I go into more detail about these traits and show you how to develop your strength in the areas you need to.  To be notified of the book launch just click here http://liber8yourbusiness.com/

From the desk of Liber8me. Small business mentors and publisher of Liber8 Your Business: The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every business owner free.

Pre-register for a copy of Liber8 Your Business here: http://liber8yourbusiness.com/

Find out about working with Laura here: http://www.liber8me.com/one-on-one-mentoring-programme/

I’m working with a number of small businesses at the moment.  All are committed to growth and as such are bringing on new staff members to ensure this growth can happen.  All have accepted that as owners they must let go of certain aspects of their business to allow them to focus on the really important stuff – business development, new business, structure, strategy, vision and… the word so many small business owners forget about… culture.

There’s one question I’m asking all my clients at the moment: what’s the culture you are inviting people to join?

What would be your answer if I asked you the same question?  Have you given it some serious thought?  You should do – because your culture is CRITICAL to the successful growth of your business.

What do I mean by culture?

Your culture is the world you bring people into; the world that will ultimately influence how they behave.  I assume that, as the business owner, you want a highly motivated, fully committed and productive team working alongside you.   As the leader of this team, your job is to ensure they know what is expected of them and to provide an environment in which they can thrive.

Your culture is made up of 4 key components:

• Vision
• Values
• Rituals
• Attitude/personality

Vision:  What is your business doing that means more than just making money?  What are you aiming for and how will this make a difference to your industry, community, country or the world?  People want to be part of something, they want to be inspired and feel they are contributing.  Your job as leader is to paint this picture for them.  Give them a vision they can believe in.

Values:  What do you really stand for, and how is this reflected in your business?  A company’s values usually stem from those of its founder.  Just think about Apple for a moment.  Steve Job’s personal vision was to ‘put a ding in the Universe’.  His pioneering spirit impacted directly on the values of his company. Now take a look at the Apple Values as outlined in the Apple employee handbook 1993: http://www.seanet.com/~jonpugh/applevalues.html

Who wouldn’t want to work for a company like this?  So what are your values and how can share them with your team?

Rituals:  These are the glue that binds your team together.  The things your company does regularly that people can always expect.  These include the regular meetings you have, the celebrations, the rewards and prizes your team might strive for.  At my advertising agency we met at 8.30am every Monday morning for Work In Progress.  The agency always supplied muffins.  On Fridays at 5pm we stopped to celebrate a team win for the week. The agency supplied drinks and nibbles.  On a team members birthday we organised a cake for morning break. Staff members were day off – to be taken in the month of their birthday.  When someone left there was always a gift and leaving drinks.  Every year we went off site for a planning day, with accommodation and a big dinner for all the team.  These things always happened, and the team knew they could rely on them.  Our rituals defined our team experience together.  What are your rituals?

Attitude/personality: What kind of company are you? And what attitude would you like to see from your team?  Think about these questions and how they apply to your business.  Are you a creative company, do you want your team to come to you with new ideas? Are you willing to hear those ideas?  Is your business a fun place to work?  Or is it very serious?  Does your company inspire people with the vision and life up to its values?

There is a Sicilian saying: “the fish rots from the head down”.  Which means, in the context of this article, that the leader sets the tone for the rest of the team.  If you are serious, hard working, focused and driven…you’ll probably create a culture around your own personality type.  If you are young, a bit crazy and full of mischief… this will probably reflect in the type of culture you create.  If you are stressed and worried all the time, this too will probably impact on the happiness of your team and find its way unwittingly into your culture.

With leadership comes great responsibility.  Creating a culture where people learn, grow, thrive and flourish.  This is as important as developing new products, or creating a clever marketing campaign.

Look after the culture.  The results will show you the value.

From the desk of Liber8me.  Business mentors and publisher of Liber8 Your Business.  Click here to be notified of launch date http://liber8yourbusiness.com/

Want to work with Laura? : http://www.liber8me.com/one-on-one-mentoring-programme/

Business owners listen up.  I’m going to make a point I believe PASSIONATELY in.  I’m going to share with you the one decision I made early on in business that ensured my success.

The business was my advertising agency, Red Rocks. The decision was to hire two external Directors.  One was a retired advertising guy who added both experience and credibility to my fledgling agency.  The other was a smart and logical businessman who I knew would challenge me.   I had my Yoda and my Dr Spock… both complimentary to my creative, slightly wild approach to business. We agreed I would pay them each $1,000 per month each – not much really compared to standard Director’s Fees.  But for me it was $24,000 off my bottom line in my second year of business.  It was a terrifying decision.  I was barely making that much in profit!  I knew I’d have to seriously up my game in order to afford them.  I was scared, but I was sure with the right action plan and these two men to challenge and support me I could get there.

I can now say with complete certainty that it was the best business decision I ever made.  Business ownership can be a lonely business.  I couldn’t afford to hire senior people to bounce ideas off, to give me feedback on my strategies.  I was naïve when it came to business and needed guidance around the financial goals I set.  I was headstrong and had regular love affairs with my own sense of brilliance (always followed swiftly by equally strong feelings of inadequacy).  My lack of business experience and fleeting spells of over-confidence made me a dangerous force.  But with my two Directors meeting me every month, I had to get my act together.  I had to have a solid business plan, with convincing strategies.  I had to set targets and run a budget.  I had to grow up and learn not to be a solo operator.  With my two Directors guiding, challenging, supporting and motivating me I grew my business rapidly year on year.  My profits grew alongside my sales, thanks to aggressive new business targets and tight control on expenses.  I stopped looking at their fees as an expense and viewed them as an investment.

Now I strongly advise all small business owners to invest in an external advisor of some sort.   You can look for an independent Director like I did, or you can get an Advisory Board.  Or you can bring in a mentor or coach to work alongside you.  A piece of cautionary advise whichever way you go, is to be sure the people you invite into this critical role have earned the right to be there.  They MUST be experienced business people, who have successfully built their own businesses and understand what it’s like first hand to be in your position.  Please DO NOT hire a business coach who has never owned a business or engage a Director who has no experience with governance.

Having been on the receiving end of good external advisors, I know how important it is.  I have a couple of spaces coming up and am looking for a committed, ambitious and dedicated business owner to work with me.  You can be sure I’ll challenge not only you but your business model too. My aim is to see good businesses become exceptional businesses.  If you’d like to talk to me about my mentoring programme click here:

http://www.liber8me.com/one-on-one-mentoring-programme/

  From the desk of Liber8me.  Business mentors and publisher of Liber8 Your Business – The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every business owner free.

When I interviewed 2012 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Sam Hazledene, I asked him about his strategy for growth.  This is the guy who built the largest medical recruitment company in Australasia from scratch in a few short years.  He told me that he’d grown organically, starting out with just himself and his wife travelling the country trying to convince hospitals to use their recruitment service.  With a great point of difference and a lot of passion they rallied customers remarkably quickly.

The business expanded and Sam needed to grow his team.  He hired from the bottom up – firstly filling the more logistical roles until he could afford more specialised senior people.  This was exactly the same approach I had to growth with my first business.  When you are funding growth out of cash flow this can an effective way to do it.

At first, Sam told me, he was reluctant to let go of things, not believing anyone could do a job as well as he could (sound familiar?).  But he began to ask himself a question, which enabled him to get his ego out of the way.   It’s a question I now share with my mentoring clients and once asked, you just can’t forget it.

The question is this:

“What can I and only I do?”

Start asking yourself this question on a regular basis. Make a list of everything that you do.  Then go through the list and highlight the things that only you can possibly do.  Check the list and then sleep on it.  In the morning go through the list again and make sure you are being honest.  There will be things still on that list that others could do if you let go, trained them well and trusted them.  So ask yourself again:

“What can I and only I do?”

Be willing to let go of all the things you could hire others to do as well as, if not better than you.  These should include pretty much all administration, book keeping, project management, HR, legal and other operational roles.  And as quickly as you can afford it, replace yourself with people who have the skills and experience for all of the other roles within your organisation too.

Ultimately you want to get yourself to the point where the answer to the question is vision, strategy, business development and culture – in other words being the leader of a great team.

This is what Sam did to grow his business.  It’s what I have done with my businesses.  And it is the key to creating true value in your business.  A potential buyer will find your business far more attractive if you are leading a team rather than doing all the work.  So the next time you find yourself in overwhelm and wondering how on earth you can decrease your business’ dependence on you… remember the question and start letting go!

From the desk of Liber8me.  Business mentors and publisher of the book Liber8 Your Business – pre-order your copy by emailing laura@liber8me.com

Here is another extract from Liber8 Your Business, the soon to be released must have hand book for every small business owner.  In this chapter I talk about the importance of being a visionary, starting with a concept called ‘The soccer game of life”…

“Earlier in the book I talked about successful people having an ability to see their success ahead of them – and to know deep within that they are capable of creating it. For some, creating a vision for their lives comes easy. Some people can naturally think about the future and see how they want it to look. They then spend the rest of their life merrily heading there. Many don’t think about it all. And most struggle to see more than a few years ahead. For me, now, being a visionary comes naturally. I can see a clear picture of what outcomes I want, and then I can plot a clear course towards that vision. It wasn’t always like this. I spent most of my twenties feeling very lost, not having a clear picture of tomorrow, let alone any further than that. I’ve had to learn how to set goals and build plans to make them happen. These are skills that can be taught, thank goodness.

The soccer game of life

Someone once told me that life is like a game of soccer. It’s a game of two halves. You have the first half, up to age 40, where you are becoming an adult and you’re full of energy. You’re also a bit stupid and you have all your learning experiences and make all your mistakes. And then you have the second half of your life where you accept you are going to die one day and the quality of life becomes important. Your priorities change and the focus of where you put your energy changes.

Where are you right now in the soccer game of life?

Are you less than age 40? Are you still living in the first half? If you are, this is a critical time. The decisions you make in the first half influence how you get to live the second half. If you look at it like a game of soccer and you play your guts out in the first half, score all the goals you can and go into the half time break on top with the other team in defence, then the second half can be much easier. But if you don’t score any goals and you laze around the pitch for the first half, you have to play really, really hard in the second half. If you are less than 40 and still playing the first half of your soccer game, you can make choices now to play a game that sets you up well for the second half. This is a critical and blessed time for you.

If you’re in your forties, there’s still time to ask key questions: ‘What do I want to do now? How can I make sure what I do in the next 10 years sets me up for the rest of my life – so I can really enjoy life and make a difference with that second half of my life?’

If you are already well into the second half, you will be looking for ways to get on top while there’s still time. Smart thinking, clear forecasting and strategic planning should be at the forefront of your game plan. If you haven’t already created your financial freedom, if you are still working hard in your business, NOW is the time to engineer your exit. Smart and fast will be your tactics.

With my Liber8me programmes, I see the role of mentoring as similar to that of the soccer coach. We can’t play the game for you but we can help you plan a winning strategy”.

So where are you at in the game?  Does this concept unsettle you or motivate you?  How do you feel about the game you are playing? My book Liber8 Your Business is full of strategies to help you play a winning game, no matter which half you are in. To pre-order a copy email me at laura@liber8me.com

From the desk of Liber8me, business mentors and publisher of the book Liber8 Your Business.

So the book is written… yes, it’s finished and off to proof reading next week.  Yipee!  One year and two months in the making.  That’s approximately three hundred 5 am starts, 70,000 words and a heck of a lot of late nights.  It ain’t no breeze this book writing thing.   But it’s done, my editor is happy (so far) and it moves onto the next stage.

Now we are into publishing and soon my baby will be off to be designed.  It will have a sexy cover and fabulous interior… can’t wait to see it.  But the question of what to call it came up again last week.  I’ve been calling it The Liber8 Factor – The revolutionary planning technique that will set every small business owner free.  Made total sense to me – it consists of eight stages, each with an exercise to take the reader step by step through my proven blueprint for building a business you can sell one day for millions.

But my brand designer says it should be called Liber8 Your Business.  Keep it simple, he says. This is what it does.  If it sounds like a duck and walks like a duck, call it a duck.  Call a spade a spade. Or something like that.

I’ve been sitting on it for a few weeks now and I’ve come around to it.  Liber8 Your Business… the first of the Liber8 Series.  Soon (well another several thousand 5am starts) there will be a series of Liber8 business books:  Liber8 Your Sales, Liber8 Your Marketing; Liber8 Your Team; Liber8 Your Social Media; Liber8 Your Presenting Skills… and many more besides (I’ll be taking a vote later in the year for the most popular title to come of the rank first).

I hope you like the title… I’ll be posting another excerpt soon.

Keep the feedback rolling in.

From the desk of Liber8me. Business mentors and publisher of Liber8 Your Business.

Recently I interviewed Shane Bradley – former owner of GrabOne and founder of new online retailer pet.co.nz.  Shane’s top tip for small business owners was this: “if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough”.  He told me about his first business, which went under due to bad debts.  It was humiliating and humbling he said.  To go from being a big shot to a big nobody virtually overnight… not a nice feeling!  But he vowed to get back in business again… and boy did he keep his promise to himself.  His business career is full of bold decisions, where he jumped in the deep end and learned to swim very quickly.

I’m sure every successful business owner has horror stories to tell of the things they did badly.  Many of my mistakes happened when I tried to hire people.  I pretty much did everything wrong.  In my first business I wrote my own employment contract.  It was a personal grievance where even my own lawyer laughed at me that taught me this was not a good idea.  Later on, not following due process in a genuine re-structure cost me $40,000.  I learned the hard way to bring an expert HR person in to sort out my recruitment and management processes.

I also started off doing all my own data entry into MYOB… a copy writer doing accounts… mmm… big mistake right there.  Imagine the nightmare my accountant faced when it came to year end accounts!

The lesson is, to quote a famous brand, just do it.  Leap in, do the best you can and learn on the job. Like Shane I’m a believer in going for it, giving it your all and being willing to make the odd mistake.  I can tell you from experience, you only ever make the same mistake once.

Love to hear your mistake stories… when did you stuff up and what did you learn from it?

Laura

PS.  For more of the interview with Shane Bradley, buy this month’s copy of NZ Business Magazine and look for my column, The Exit Factor

From the desk Liber8me.  Business mentor and author of soon to be released book, Liber8 Your Business.

Here’s another extract from my book… to be launched late July…

 A business or a life-long job?

‘Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.’

-          John Maxwell

One of the first questions I ask when I present to business groups is: ‘Why are you here? Why are you in business? Why on earth have you left the security of a job with regular pay to start your own business, with all the uncertainty this holds?’

I always get similar answers. Mostly, people say they don’t want to work for someone else. They don’t want someone else’s culture. They don’t want to be told how the way it should be done. They want to be in control. They want flexible hours and to spend time with their children. They want to be able to go on holiday when they want. They don’t want someone telling them how many weeks’ holiday they can have a year. They want to do something they really love.

These are all honourable reasons for starting a business. But, ironically, many business owner-operators end up with the complete opposite. They find themselves with little control. They discover their clients have the control and will often demand they work longer hours than they ever did when working for someone else. Most small business owners pay themselves less than they would be paid working for another company. Crazy, I know, but it’s true. You go into business for freedom and control and end up working longer hours and earning less. Sound familiar?

Many business owner-operators don’t take holidays. They start their business believing they will be in charge of their own holidays, but they find they don’t go on holiday at all. I met a woman who owned a chain of motels with her husband. They hadn’t been on holiday for five years. When I asked her why she got into the motel business in the first place, she told me it was for the lifestyle. Go figure!

If you pay yourself too little, work long hours, and don’t take decent holidays, you can feel resentful. Worse, you can fall sick and be unable to carry on. A high percentage of businesses fail (and by fail I mean they stop; the owner gives up) within five years of start-up. Disillusionment gets the better of them. They go into business to set themselves free and find themselves with a virtual chain around their ankle. Not surprisingly, they decide they don’t want to do it anymore.

But that’s not going to be you, is it? Most people who fail to achieve financial freedom through their business do not have the right mindset. By the time you have finished this section of The Liber8 Factor, you will know how to develop this mindset and increase your chances of success.

The story of Julie and Fliss

I was having coffee with an old friend one day. Julie is an amazing lady who had started her first business and built it over 20 years until it was bought by a huge multinational group. She became wealthy and continues to build her wealth through angel investing and mentoring start-up businesses. She has a wonderful life. We discussed how special it was to be able to spend quality time with our kids after school each day and how we enjoyed helping other people learn to build a quality life through business.

We got to talking about a woman we both knew. I’ll call her Fliss, for the purposes of this story. Fliss opened a business at the same time as Julie. She is a dress designer and opened up a little retail store in the town where she lived. Twenty years later she still had that small shop and she was still making the dresses. Fliss was no better off financially and she still had to keep designing and making the dresses to sell in her shop. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that as a life choice and as far as I know, Fliss is content in her life. I don’t want to appear scornful of someone doing something they love. If you’ve got a talent for design and you’re happy with a small retail shop in a small town, there’s nothing wrong with that – as long as you are aware that this is where you are at. But what worries me with the owner-operator mindset is that Fliss, like so many other owner-operators, will wake up one day and won’t want to do it anymore. As much as she loves designing dresses, something will happen that changes her ability to live off its income, for health reasons or, more likely, because she’s lost the passion for it. The danger of not having a plan to sell is that she can end up with a business worth nothing to anyone else, meaning she’s stuck with it. What will she do for income when her desire or ability to make dresses is no longer there?

Let’s look at the situations of these two friends. Why did Julie go one route and Fliss go another? The key difference was the mindset. One knew she wanted a business she could sell and create a lifestyle where she never had to worry about money again. The other wanted to make pretty clothes. They both made their choice; probably without even realising they had done so. Fliss chose to employ herself in a job she enjoyed. She did not choose to build a business.

We make choices every day. The most important choice is one you may not have given much thought to – until now. Are you choosing to build a business that will pay you back or are you choosing to work for a living? By reading this book and completing the exercises, you are making a choice to do something different. And that’s a great start!

For about The Freedom Mindset and an exercise on assessing and addressing your attitude to wealth and money, you’ll have to buy my book when it launches late July.  To pre-order a copy just email me at laura@liber8me.com

From the desk of Liber8me.  Creating tools to set you free