12 Mini-Lessons to Grow Your Business

These 12 lessons from John Reese resonated with me. I think you will find them to be valuable.

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In light of my upcoming 40th birthday, I want to share 12 valuable mini-lessons that I've learned so far as an entrepreneur...

These range from mistakes to avoid, to making strategic decisions, of how to get cash flow to come in the fastest, etc.

They are in no particular order...

1. ALWAYS DO MORE THAN IS EXPECTED OF YOU
I learned this at an early age from my Dad. He had a very successful career as a business executive and engineer, and this the core principle that created his success.

You can apply this to your business in many ways... over-delivering to your customers, giving unexpected bonuses to your employees or outsourced workers, and more. Most people do just the bare minimum. Do more than is expected of you and it will doamazing things for your business.

2. STOP DREAMING AND START DOING
Too many entrepreneurs get caught up in the big dreams of how they will one day be rich and how their life will be amazing......but they never end up doing anything. They buy courses, read all they can, jot down little notes and ideas in a notebook, but nothing ever actually gets created. A web site doesn't get made. Advertisingisn't run. Markets aren't tested. Nothing.

If you want to make a lot of money the only way that happens is getting stuff done. Period.

3. DON'T LET LEARNING DELAY ACTIVITY
Most people that have studied Internet Marketing much already have the basic skills that are needed to build a million-dollar business.

That's worth REPEATING... Most people that have studied IM much ALREADY HAVE the basic skills that are needed to build a million-dollar business. You can get stuck learning new stuff FOREVER. There will always be new methods and techniques that get discovered. The Internet changes on a DAILY BASIS. This is a given.

Don't get caught in the trap of "I'm going to start building my business right after I go through this next course..."You can start building your business TODAY while you are studying and learning new things that you can easily apply TOMORROW. Things will NEVER perfectly align for you and your business. There's no such thing.

So don't wait. Get started NOW and take action. Get some stuff going and go from there

.4. MULTIPLE IDEAS CAN BE THE KISS OF DEATH
It's okay to work on multiple projects and ideas. It's almost impossible to stop entrepreneurs from having tons of new ideas at the same time. BUT...

No new money comes in the door until you get ONE project launched and making money. Something has to be launched FIRST

.5. MAKE JUST ONE DOLLAR FIRST
No one has ever made a million dollars in sales without generating $1 first. ALL successful businesses start with that first sale and then grow from there. It doesn't matter what your income goals are. The faster you make your first dollar, the faster you will reach your goals.
PERIOD.

6. DO THE IMMEDIATE CASH PROJECT FIRST
What should you work on next? Whatever will bring in cash the fastest for your business -- and of course, I mean that in a moral/legal/ethical way. If you analyze all the great ideas you are probably sitting on, I bet you can realistically prioritize them in the order of which ones would actually make money come in the fastest (if it succeeds.)

THAT is the project you need to focus on. Cash is the lifeblood of your business (and your life.)Save some of those "big" ideas for the future. Focus on the ones that stand the best chance of getting new money to come in right away. Once you have some stable ongoing cash flow in your business, then you can take a chance on that project that may take longer to pay off.

7. EMAIL MARKETING KICKS THE CRAP OUT OFEVERYTHING ELSE
When it comes to growing a business online, nothing generates long-term cash flow like an email list of engaged subscribers & customers. Email marketing is the best way to generate traffic. It's the best way to 'recycle' the same visitors again and again to any of your projects. It's also the best way to convert prospects into buyers.

RSS, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, BLAH BLAH BLAH Yes, those methods can generate leads. Yes, those methods can generate some sales. But time and time again little old email marketing kicks their butts -- by a long shot.

So make building a list, and a solid relationship with it, a top priority in your business.

8. RUN A LEAN OVERHEAD MACHINE
I can't stress this one enough. When you start growing a successful business it's really easy for your overhead to get out of hand. It's easy to start hiring a bunch of people and committing to a bunch of expenses. Take it from me, when you have months whereyour fixed expenses (doesn't include advertising, etc.) are well over $100,000/MONTH (and growing) it can put you in a tough position to make healthy profits.

I used to have fixed overhead that high but never again. I realized there were smarter ways to do things. What you need to realize is that REVENUE doesn't mean jack squat. It's your profit (income) that matters. So while running a $10,000,000/year business (sales) is impressive, I know people running a $1,000,000/year business that nets MORE than the person that ownsthe $10MM/year business. It all comes down to your expenses.

Sometimes it certainly DOES take heavy expenses in order to make a lot of money. But that's not my point...

My point is, your overhead can really get away from you. If your sales experience some dips, and it's almost guaranteed they will at some point, then you can LOSE YOUR BUTT very quickly. So add to your overhead as a last resort.

9. MAKE ACCOUNTING A PRIORITY
This is a big mistake that most entrepreneurs make -- and I've been guilty of it as well. Keeping the books and doing accounting work is the LAST thing that most entrepreneurs want to mess with. We have more fun by coming up with new ideas and trying to make them grow --not spending hours of our time inputting receipts and figures into QuickBooks. If you don't like accounting, immediately pay someone a few bucks to handle it for you. Just make sure your accounting is always up to date. It's very important.

As an extension of this, make paying your taxes a priority -- even if you pay them in advance. I have paid a small fortune in tax penalties because of being lazy and filing late. And it's too easy to let one delay turn into another and for the problem to get worse. So make it a priority.

Don't "rob Peter to pay Paul." This is a trap most entrepreneurs fall into -- again, I've been guilty of it in the past myself. It's easy to start making a bunch of money and think "I'll just use this money to make more money instead of paying my taxes on it now and I'll just pay the taxes later after I've made even more money."Or the same thinking is applied towards delaying payments to a vendor, or some other expense that needs to get paid. This is probably the #1 mistake entrepreneurs make that can create problems and a lot of wasted money in paying penalties and interest. So make sure your accounting is taken care of and your taxes get paid on-time for you.

10. DON'T LEASE OFFICE SPACE(If possible.)
As tempting as this might become if your business starts to grow, avoid it at all costs. If you're like me, what will happen is that you will eventually stop going to the office and just work from home where you always were more comfortable anyway. And/or you will end up realizing you really didn't need it.

Having an "office" is not required to have a successful business. We live in a Digital World now and it's just not important anymore. Even if your business grows and you need employees, you still don't necessarily need an office. There are people out there running $20MM+/year businesses with no office; the employees all just work virtually. This is becoming more and more common.* There certainly are exceptions to this. My team in the Philippines works out of an office I leased. But they are collaborating on software projects and NEED to work in the same location. And, of course, it's also very inexpensive. Most office leases are thousands of dollars per month and usually don't turn out to be a good use of cash.

11. ALMOST EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER
When creating new projects, or having some software made for you, or having an ebook ghostwritten, or anything else, know that things almost always take more time than originally expected. This is the #1 reason why you need to act TODAY to start putting things in motion to grow your business. The longer you wait, the more into the future you push your potential of getting money to come in the door.

12. THE MONEY IS IN THE MARKETING
Don't get caught up in trying to make Web pages and learn HTML, or studying how to create javascript, or learning to master Linux so you can administer your own server, or how to use Photoshop to create little logos, etc. You can certainly do that stuff if you want, but know that it will most likely just be a HOBBY.

It's no surprise that some of the most successful entrepreneurs I know are also some of the LEAST TECHNICAL people I know. The main thing they do right is to simply pay others to do all the "nuts & bolts" stuff that makes online business work. It allows them to spend all their time on the marketing -- which is where the money comes from.

*** BONUS LESSON ****
See how I'm over-delivering as mentioned in the first lesson? :)

SPENDING TIME ONLINE ISN'T NECESSARILY WORKINGON YOUR BUSINESS
Just because you spend hours a day online doesn't mean you're working on your business. You can do 'research' forever and never make a cent. You need to be spending most of your time on:
- Generating Traffic
- Communicating With Your Customers (i.e. blog, list, etc.)
- Creating Content Don't fall into the trap of reading blogs & forums, chatting on Facebook or Twitter, checking stats, reading news, etc. for hours upon hours. Just know that almost all of that stuff (with rare exception) is LOSING YOU MONEY more than making you money.

---I hope you enjoyed these mini-lessons. Hopefully, you can apply them to your business and be a lot more successful!

:-)Yours For Online Profits,
John Reese.

This message was sent by:
Income.com, 8815 Conroy-Windermere Rd #415, Orlando, FL 32835

Howard Shearer, Hitachi

Interview with Howard Shearer, President and CEO of Hitachi Canada. He is the first non-Japanese to be president of the company. He seems to thrive on cultural diversity. He is originally from Jamaica. He is also a people person. The two characteristics probably go hand-in-hand.

Howard has worked at Hitachi for over 25 years.

Hitachi globally employs over 300,000 people.

Hitachi is a strong technology company that operates in several markets including: consumer electronics, automotive electronics, computer storage, energy, medical, biotechnology, and high speed trains.

Insights from this interview with Howard Schearer:

“We’re in the business of serving customers.”

“There is no Hitachi car, but we are a major component in cars.”

“Business in all about relationships and that’s not done with products.”

“I don’t screen my calls. If it’s good news I want to hear it. If it’s bad news I want to hear it first.”

“I’m happy when it’s Monday.”


Listen to this interview with Howard Schearer

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For: Against

We are FOR individualism, accomplishment and excellence.

We are AGAINST the mediocrity, self pity, negativity and discouragement of the news media and of "normal" people sleepwalking through life.

We are FOR alchemy. We believe that there is everywhere lead waiting to be transformed into gold. Opportunity hides literally under every rock and shade tree.

We are AGAINST scarcity that says that everything you receive was forcibly taken from somebody else. Entrepreneurship is about making new pies, not dividing up old ones.

We are FOR you, regardless of mistakes you've made. Whatever stupidity spasms you've had in the past don't matter. If you owe $100,000 and you're scraping change out of your car seats for lunch today... if every time you pick up the kids at your ex's apartment you're accused of being a devil...

we are still FOR you.

We are AGAINST complainers, fault-finders and critics. It's easy to criticize. It's hard to take action. But in the end, only action-takers make history.

We are FOR marching into every battle prepared and engaged and equipped to fight.

We are AGAINST all who would send soldiers into battle armed with plastic swords and helmets.

We are FOR those who take responsibility to arm themselves and invest in quality weapons and tools needed for battle.

We are AGAINST those who think that it is someone else's responsibility to prepare them for business or life or give them a "free" education.

We are FOR the wise use of technology. We are for every tool that makes you more productive and more effective and more able to serve others.

We are AGAINST using technology to abuse people, spam them, or dehumanize them. We use technology to express individuality, not erase it.

We are FOR gratitude and celebration under every circumstance. No matter how many times you fail, the sunrise still comes tomorrow morning. Autumn leaves still radiate brilliance in the fall and lovely flowers grow in the spring. No matter what befalls you, the world is still a beautiful place.

We are AGAINST the crippling belief that the past dictates the future. We know that if you can look up, you can get up.

We are FOR gifts and giftedness. We are for expertise and specialization. We acknowledge that each of us wields precious talents. We sharpen our skills. We discover ways to delegate the rest to those who have different gifts than us.

We are AGAINST the belief that any one person has to do everything or be everything. We are FOR human ingenuity because it's the mother of all natural resources.

We are AGAINST the false belief that finite physical resources mean finite possibilities.

We are FOR the hand of Providence. We are humble enough to request help when we need it.

We are AGAINST the self-deception and pride that says we're smart enough to figure it all out by ourselves.

We are FOR innovations, developments and paradigm shifts. We transport the future into the present.

We are AGAINST "business as usual" passivity and lazy "wait and see" attitudes. We are proactive.

We are FOR timeless principles and age-old wisdom. We study the ancient masters and respect those who have come before us.

We are AGAINST those who destroy the old simply because it is old. We judge ideas by their value and permanence, not by their age.

We are FOR making every minute count.

We are AGAINST time-vampires, time wasters and time killers.

We are FOR entrepreneurs and all who move resources from areas of low value to areas of high value.

We are AGAINST those who de-value business and burden us with excessive responsibilities, taxes and restrictions.

We are FOR communities, networks and relationships. We recognize that for every problem that needs to be solved, there is someone we can turn to who has already solved it.

We are AGAINST loneliness, isolation and discouragement. We know that the #1 cause of failure is lack of accountability, community and wise counsel. We know there is no such thing as a self-made man. Everyone has a father and a mother and everyone comes from a tribe.

We are FOR the daily discovery and unfolding of our personal destiny.

We are AGAINST the limitations imposed by other peoples' judgments and prejudice. We are FOR your individual performance, accomplishments and achievement.

We are AGAINST everyone who says you should apologize for your success.

We are FOR the Golden Rule. The highest level of conducting business is loving your customers.

We are AGAINST those who sell things to strangers that they would never sell to their friends.

We are FOR recreation, creativity and refreshment. We believe that friendships, rest and fun fuel our life force and nourish our creative engines.

We are AGAINST slavish devotion to anything, including our work. We do not live to work. We work to live.

Perry Marshall

You're free to use this or pass it around. Printable PDF version and space for comments at http://www.perrymarshall.com/for-against

http://support.perrymarshall.com

Perry S. Marshall & Assoc
159 N. Marion Street #295Oak Park, IL
60301United States
(312) 458-9102

Beware of The Lowest Common Denominator

Common sense is not common enough. That’s why we have rules and laws. They are made for the lowest common denominator – those who don’t have enough common sense.

Don’t drink and drive. That’s just common sense. Yet we need a law that states that and corresponding punishments because some people don’t understand the common sense. They are the lowest common denominator. The law is for them.

Don’t drive more that 50 km above the speed limit because that is extremely unsafe. That’s common sense, right? Think about that. Don’t drive 100 in a 50k zone. Don’t drive 130 in an 80k zone. Don’t drive 150 in a 100k zone. Why is that so difficult to understand? Yet we need a special law for the lowest common denominator.

Don’t talk on your cell phone when driving your car. I was annoyed when this law was first proposed. How dare they tell me what to do in my car? I drive safely when I use my cell phone. Then I noticed all the other idiots using their cell phones while driving. I now agree that we need the law because of the lowest common denominator.

The next time that you run into a rule or law that annoys you, ask yourself two questions, “Is this for the lowest common denominator?” and “Am I guilty of being that lowest common denominator?”

If you aren’t the LCD then be thankful that someone is doing something constructive about the other idiots who are messing things up for the rest of us.

If you are the LCD – please wise up and save the rest of us some grief.


George Torok

Host of Business in Motion

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