7 Secrets of Business Success

They say the teacher teaches that which they need to learn. Yep, I have to agree!

I’m establishing a new branded products business in the USA at present, and blimey, am I having some challenges! Some days it’s two steps forwards and one back, and then on other days it’s one step forward and two back…. just a regular day in the office for an entrepreneur, I guess!

So in thinking about the new journey I’m on, I was reflecting on the challenges that all business owners and entrepreneurs experience, and the questions I asked myself, were: “What stands successful entrepreneurs/business owners apart from others? What are the secrets of business success?”

Based on my +20 years of experience as a business growth coach, my own journeys in entrepreneurship, and as a learner – forever reading and learning about business and success – here are my brief thoughts: the 7 Secrets of Business Success.

Secret 1: Self Belief
Successful business people believe in themselves, and they think BIG! They have great vision. In my experience, they have an unrelenting belief that they’ll achieve everything they set out to do! And they are passionate about their business too.

Vision and belief is one thing, but massive action is key. Successful business people are not afraid of failure – well, they probably are, but they risk failure in pursuit of their dreams anyway, and they’ll tolerate ambiguity and risk too. You see, for every mistake they make, they learn the lessons and move on.

Secret 2: Set a Goal and GO!
Successful business owners set goals and then act to achieve them. They go for it – there’s no mucking around! They’ll also quickly evaluate the outcomes, so if the goal and actions were wrong, they’ll change direction and move on.

Secret 3: Stand Out
Success in business means not looking at what others are doing and copying the idea. Business success means stepping outside of the box, and heading the other way. Successful business owners often break the rules! They forge new and exciting frontiers, or they find new and interesting ways of doing things.

Successful entrepreneurs also network widely as they know by networking they’ll be increasing their netWORTH – not just in monetary terms, but as an expert in the market. They build rock solid reputations in their industry/market or in business generally.

Secret 4: Seize Your Market
Having a laser focus on the market that you want to conquer is another secret to business success. Consider the differences between a machine gun that scatters bullets versus a sniper gun that aims and hits the target. Successful entrepreneurs are snipers! They hit their target, often with a bull’s eye.

Follow-up and feedback is important to success. Successful business owners are fuelled by customer feedback as it helps them improve their products and services.

Secret 5: Strong Leadership
Strong leadership is another secret to business success. As leaders, successful entrepreneurs impart their vision to staff, customers and other stakeholders. They also ‘walk the talk’ around their vision.

Strong leaders are positive and tolerate ambiguity while heading towards the achievement of their vision.

As leaders, successful entrepreneurs surround themselves with excellent people who manage their businesses. Delegation is another key to success in business.

Secret 6: Sacrosanct: Time!
Time is money, and successful entrepreneurs understand the value of time (and money). They know how to focus on what is important for them, while delegating the rest.

Secret 7: Self Improvement
Self improvement is one of my favourite topics. Successful entrepreneurs spend time (and often lots of money) improving themselves. They are attracted to ongoing learning and knowledge in order to constantly improve their skills.

They also allow time to re-energise; they take time out with family and friends for recreation, and for health and fitness.

And finally, will you allow me another secret or two?
I want to sneak another couple of secrets in as these ones feel very real for me this week.

Secret 8: Steadfast Focus and Persistence
Successful business owners hang in there. They ride out the twists and turns, ups and downs of business. They don’t give up on their quest to be successful, although they may close a business if they realise it’s not viable. Successful people focus on the end goal, and their ability to persist even in the most difficult of times is awe-inspiring.

Secret 9: Sensational Mindset
Business is not always easy and it seldom happens the way in which you expect it to or when you want it to. The little voice in the back of our minds can start undermining us with all that negative talk – remember that voice?

In my experience, the most successful business owners and entrepreneurs have ways of controlling their mindset. They are human too, and they will have the voice annoying them too. They find constructive ways to deal with the doubt, fear and beliefs that creep in from time to time.

Well, that’s it – the 7 Secrets of Business Success (well 9 actually)
I feel better for writing this. Along with my business growth coaching, book writing work and other businesses (that others manage for me), I’m forever the entrepreneur looking for new business opportunities. Personally I believe that the best business coaches have ‘been there and done it’ themselves, and therefore, can impart greater wisdom and firsthand experience about business success.

I also believe that there is a reason for every experience we have in life, and I’ve decided to find some meaning in my current topsy turvy new business journey.

So while the path is rocky as I establish my new USA based branded products business (while living in London), I continue to learn each day, and that knowledge and my journey will no doubt shortly support another business person, perhaps a client on their journey towards business success. I’m good with that!! 🙂

I also believe that this new business will be VERY successful in the USA, so the trials and tribulations are worth it. That thought alone keeps me focused and motivated.

ACTION: I’d love to know what challenges you’ve faced in business that you’ve pushed through – however big or small. Let’s get a conversation going below to inspire others to keep on with their business success journey.

Could some guidance from me be helpful to you? If so, please arrange a free 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me. Here’s my calendar to book a meeting. I’d love to support you in some way to gain ‘seductive clarity’ in any aspect of your business or life.

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Seven Secrets of Super Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship vs The Meaning of Life
Entrepreneurial Success Without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
NZ Entrepreneurship Success
Millionaire Mindset
Sir Richard Branson Asks…
Ordinary vs Game Changing
Thriving within the Juggling Act
Business Success and Cookie Dough
What Ice Cream Flavour is Your Business?
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?

Business Success Tips : Meet Tresté Loving

Tresté Loving
Celebrating Diversity in Business and Life

What does diversity mean for you?

Most of us think it’s about having respect and understanding for other people, including their culture, religion, ethnicity, age and sexual orientation. And yes, diversity is all that… and it’s a lot more.

I’m delighted to introduce you to a new friend of mine, Tresté Loving (don’t you just LOVE her name – I do!). Tresté has worked in the area of diversity for over 25 years, initially while in the US Navy and now as a consultant working with a large variety of businesses, large corporations and communities in America.

In our interview, Tresté talks candidly about the missed opportunities that businesses (big and small) experience by not embracing diversity in its widest definition.

And why are businesses missing out on growth and profitability opportunities? Very sadly it’s due to FEAR!

This interview is honest and enlightening. I truly hope you will listen to Tresté’s gentle wisdom and wealth of experience.

She talks about being a ‘glocal’ business, losing the fear of diversity, using diversity to grow your business…. and much more.

By embracing diversity in its widest definition, everyone wins: people, communities, businesses and hopefully, our planet. Now that sounds hopeful and encouraging to me. Enjoy!

You can listen to the original Interview with Tresté Loving here:

To connect with Tresté Loving:
W: www.simpleinnovationsbusinesscoaching.com

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

…where she interviews successful entrepreneurs from around the world, asking them to share their entrepreneurial stories, and other business ‘subject matter experts’ who share business success tips. If you would like to be art of Adèle’s success community and receive the interviews and much more directly to your inbox, please click here.

Listen to more Subject Matter Experts and be inspired in the Business Success Tips: Adèle McLay Interviews….. YouTube and Podcast series:

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Seven Secrets of Super Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship vs The Meaning of Life
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Entrepreneurial Success without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
Millionaire Mindset
NZ Entrepreneurship Success

Business Success and Cookie Dough

You’ve hit a wall. Old and often bad habits have kicked in. Negative thinking is in overdrive. Confidence and motivation are low. Sleeping patterns are erratic. Nothing is going right in business or at home or in relationships (or each of those areas). And to top it all off, you’re not quite sure why any of this is happening, although you’re likely to be thinking that it’s the stress of work ‘getting to you’.

Ever had that experience?

Many of my clients come to be coached by me when they are in those circumstances.
I’ll ask pertinent questions… and out tumbles lots of ‘stuff’ loosely connected to the questions asked. The questions trigger something…

Just recently I had this very experience myself. Everything was going along brilliantly in most areas of life and business, and then unexpectedly, one of my old and dangerous (for me) habits kicked in – I lost control of my sugar addiction. I couldn’t get enough sweet food for about two weeks – not great when you are on 90 Day Achievement Challenge to remove 8kg of weight… eeekkk!

The taste of ice cream, desserts, chocolate, sweets and cookie dough was so more-ish during that time! I made chocolate cookies one weekend – sadly my family didn’t get to eat many cookies, but I did introduce my daughter to the delights of eating raw and frozen cookie dough – she’s now a convert! 🙂 It’s divine!!

Anyway, I could feel the ‘niggle’ in the back of my mind. My conscious mind was saying everything was fine, but the ‘niggle’ was telling me that my subconscious mind had lessons and learnings coming up for me.

And so it did. I let myself move through the ‘sugar thing’ without being too grumpy at myself. I also spent time talking to people who unexpectedly came into my world. We had the most amazing and enlightening conversations, which then gave me the courage to talk to people close to me about what I was thinking, and why the ‘niggle’ and my subconscious mind was tearing at me.

During my ‘sugar thing’, I arranged meetings with my coaches and mentors, and together we worked through the learnings and experience.

While a challenge at the time, in hindsight, the experience was phenomenal! I now understand what my subconscious wanted me to learn and think about. I feel amazing, energetic and invincible as I continue coaching my wonderful clients, developing new businesses and writing books. And the great thing is, there was a real reason for the timing of the ‘sugar thing’.

By listening to the niggle and my subconscious, I’ve opened up a whole lot of new business ideas and avenues, and I’ve evolved my thinking about the focus of two of the books I’m working on that will be published in 2016. So, I‘m very happy!

What’s all this got to do with you and your business success?

A lot! Everything even!

You see, I bet you’ve got your own ‘sugar thing’ happening at times. It might not be sugar, but what about alcohol, excessive smoking, overeating etc…? You know how it goes.

I’m certain there are times when something is holding you back and you can’t explain it, but life is underwhelming and your business isn’t fully charging.

In all seriousness and with huge amounts of love, I encourage you to listen to your inner voice, your subconscious, and ask what it wants to tell you. In the stillness of those moments, listen to what it is saying. Listen intently and often. Let your subconscious mind open up and unfold its lessons and learnings for you. It’s highly likely that you’re about to go on a journey of self discovery. It may be painful for a time as you turn and face your niggle, come to understand it, heal it or respond to it.

But I promise you, once you’ve done that, you’ll feel renewed, full of life and focused on all that’s important to you in business and life. You too will feel invincible and everything you’re working towards in your business will seem within touching distance. And even more business success will unfold!

I know this for a fact as I see it time and again with my clients and the shifts they make in their lives and of course, their increased business success when they’ve passed through the storm that brought them to me in the first instance. I wish the same for you and your life and business.

ACTION: You may be thinking… ‘I sooo understand what you’re saying, Adèle’ or ‘What a lot of codswallop’. Either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please leave a message below, and how about passing my blog onto someone who is ‘out of sorts’ right now? You may be doing them a big favour.

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Seven Secrets of Super Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship vs The Meaning of Life
Entrepreneurial Success Without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
NZ Entrepreneurship Success
Millionaire Mindset
7 Secrets of Business Success
Sir Richard Branson Asks…
Ordinary vs Game Changing
Thriving within the Juggling Act
What Ice Cream Flavour is Your Business?
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?

Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Meet Sophie Burnett

Sophie Burnett
Co-Founder and Managing Director of PA Business Support

It’s quite usual these days for people leave stable employment to become their own boss, or as it is commonly known, self employed.

Sadly, very few self employed people then make the transition to being business owners in the true sense of the words, where they employ others to do the work, so they can be a leader, working ‘on’ the business rather than directly ‘in’ it.

Meet my friend, Sophie Burnett. A few years ago, Sophie left a very stable and secure job in the recruitment industry to become her own boss. To save money, she even returned home to live with her mum and dad, and started the business in her bedroom at her parents’ home.

However, Sophie had a big vision for her business, and very quickly developed a plan enabling her to employ people, so she could spend more time strategically planning the future of the business and bringing her plan into reality.

As testimony to her business success, Sophie was the winner of the 2014 FSB Hertfordshire Business Award. Brilliant work, Sophie!

But that wasn’t enough. Six months ago, Sophie merged her business with another similar sized business in the same industry…. and as a result, the new business is going from strength to strength, supported by a very strong vision and business plan that Sophie and her new business partner, Sabina, have created. The future for this business is very, very bright.

I hope you are inspired by this week’s Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories Interview. Sophie’s business journey and successes are a living example of what we can all achieve if we have clarity of vision for our businesses and lives. Enjoy.

You can listen to the original Interview with Sophie Burnett here:

To connect with Sophie:
W: www.pabusinesssupport.co.uk

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

…where she interviews successful entrepreneurs from around the world, asking them to share their entrepreneurial stories, and other business ‘subject matter experts’ who share business success tips. If you would like to be part of Adèle’s success community and receive the interviews and much more directly to your inbox, please click here.

Listen to more Successful Entrepreneurs and be inspired in the Successful Entrepreneurs Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews….. YouTube and Podcast series:

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Thriving Within the Juggling Act

As entrepreneurs and business owners we juggle a lot of balls all at once. We have our work commitments – growing our businesses, ensuring our customers are happy, providing meaningful and fulfilling work for our team, working with suppliers…. and so the list of work goes on.

Then there’s life… family time, partner time, ‘me time’ (if we’re lucky), friends, jobs around the house, health and fitness… you get the drift, the list is long.

Would you agree that it’s really easy to get bogged down or overwhelmed in the busy-ness of life and business? The juggling act can be a challenge regardless of how good a delegator we are.

I’m particularly busy at present with several new businesses in the throes of being established, two books being written and edited, coaching clients… and then there are the other things I want to spend time doing. Family time is especially important to me, as is exercise and learning time – I love learning, and I also need to create time for what I call ‘Soulful Vitality’ – don’t worry, it’s not ‘woo-woo’ stuff!

So what’s Soulful Vitality?

Soulful Vitality is a range of things but it’s mostly it’s about savouring ourselves and being anything and everything we want to be in this life. I bring my own Soulful Vitality to life each day in a number of ways, so here’s a few of them.

For starters, I am up and out power walking by 6am each morning for one hour. In that hour of ‘me time’ I will only think about the wonderful things in my life.

I begin by thinking about all that I am grateful for in life – the big and the small things – great health, very happy marriage, wonderful daughter and stepson, wonderful friends (new and old), the beautiful park I walk in, the trees, the blue sky and sun (when they appear), and so my daily list goes on.

I also think about the vision I’ve created for my life and the short and long term goals I am working on towards the achievement of my vision. There’s nothing like visualising that big vision/dream each day to keep it alive and real in my mind, regardless of how near or far I am from achieving its various elements. Thinking about my vision certainly speeds up my power walking each day, which is great for getting my heart rate up, so there’s a double benefit – a bit of exercise.

I choose happiness as a state to live in each day. Yes, like everyone I have my moments, but the essence of my being is that I am happy. I’m happy within the ups and downs of life as I treat each of the things that happen as opportunities for learning, lessons and experiences. You see, I also believe that whatever happens to us, it was meant to happen as there is something that we should be taking from that experience – no matter how hard, damaging or sad that experience is. So as you might expect, during my walk, I just revel in the state of happiness and reflect on the lessons I learn each day on my life journey.

You might be thinking that happiness is the same as gratitude. Well for some it is, but for me, they are separate but tightly connected to each other.

Finally on my walk I think about the ways I can be more generous each day as generosity is one of my core values. Generosity is not just about giving money away, it’s about giving of oneself – giving our heart and soul to others, giving our knowledge, our skills, our ideas, our love, our friendship. While some days I feel really generous, other days I can improve and so I am constantly developing that part of me.

By the time I get home one hour later, I’ve had exercise and fresh air, and I’m well and truly ready to start work. I’m also feeling totally energised after having some ‘me time’ so the juggling act seems more manageable! In fact most days it’s really easy as everything I am juggling is connected to my vision so it all feels worthwhile (so long as I delegate the parts that are best done by others).

ACTION: How about including some ‘me time’ into your day for reflection, visioning, gratitude, and generosity? And don’t forget to think about happiness as a state to live within each day. It’s life changing, I promise.

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Seven Secrets of Super Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship vs The Meaning of Life
Entrepreneurial Success Without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
NZ Entrepreneurship Success
Millionaire Mindset
7 Secrets of Business Success
Sir Richard Branson Asks…
Ordinary vs Game Changing
Business Success and Cookie Dough
What Ice Cream Flavour is Your Business?
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?

Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Meet Dallas Hardcastle

Dallas Hardcastle
Angel’s Advocate

You’ve heard of someone being a Devil’s Advocate, right? That’s the person who points out all the reasons why you can’t do what you want… they point out all the issues and challenges you will face. Yawn!! That type of conversation is so limiting.

How about having someone who is your Angel’s Advocate in your life? That’s someone who will support and encourage you to be and achieve everything you want in life. They will challenge you to dream big in all dimensions of life: career, relationships, health, growth etc… and they will hold you to account to achieve. Doesn’t that sound more appealing and exciting?

Meet my very dear friend, Dallas Hardcastle. He’s an Angel’s Advocate – he’s actually more commonly known as a Master Growth Coach. And man o’ man, does he get results with his clients. Dallas’s energy, vitality and attitude towards life is awe inspiring.

He also calls himself the Unlearning Architect™ – doesn’t that sound intriguing? Plus he also takes his clients on ‘Momentum Surges!’

I sooo hope I have captured your attention with this. Please listen to this week’s interview and hear Dallas’ take on our ability to be, do and have everything we want in our lives. Enjoy!

You can listen to the original Interview with Dallas Hardcastle here:

To connect with Dallas:
W: dallashardcastle.com

W: dallashardcastle.com/strategysession/

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

…where she interviews successful entrepreneurs from around the world, asking them to share their entrepreneurial stories, and other business ‘subject matter experts’ who share business success tips. If you would like to be part of Adèle’s success community and receive the interviews and much more directly to your inbox, please click here.

Listen to more Successful Entrepreneurs and be inspired in the Successful Entrepreneurs Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews….. YouTube and Podcast series:

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Ordinary vs Game Changing

“It doesn’t take any more effort to dream a big dream than it takes to dream a small dream.” ~ General Wesley Clark, Former Head of NATO Allied Troops

Have you ever set a goal and then not achieved it? If you said yes, you’re not alone; most of us are in that camp with you. In fact, that’s generally the norm in life. People set goals all the time and often make little progress towards achieving them.

We set goals because we think we should, or because others are setting them, or it’s a New Year’s resolution and that’s what happens at that time of year, or it’s part of being in business and the accountant says that’s what we should do. Whew! Sound familiar?

Have you ever wondered why we don’t achieve our goals?

In my experience, the answer is really simple. Most often people don’t achieve their goals because the goal(s) they set aren’t that important to them.

I just love this quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as it’s so true: “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”

Unless we have what I call ‘seductive clarity’ around why a dream or goal is important to us, it won’t be achieved.

What’s seductive clarity? Well, I’m about to get a bit soppy on you!

Remember that moment when you fell in love, or saw your child – your baby – for the very first time? What did you feel in that moment?

I’m guessing it was a passion, a desire, a raw need, a drive, a responsibility, a happiness! In short, you were seduced by love.

In love, we want and need that person forever and a day. Our hearts stop, we get distracted and can’t focus on anything other than the person we have fallen in love with. Ahhh, I still rejoice with the memories of those early moments in love! 🙂

To this day, some 13 years later, I still remember that heart stopping moment when I saw our baby for the first time and love kicked in, along with the need to cuddle, nurture and caress that tiny being that was given to us to love, hold, cherish and guide through life.

Seductive clarity with our dreams and goals is the same. We must feel the utmost emotional connection with them – a love – a heart stopping importance, a must have or must achieve drive, and the feeling – the excitement – that comes with the possibility of achieving something important.

If we don’t have all that then we won’t care enough to achieve the dream or goal. And sadly, when the going gets tough, as it does in life and business, we’ll be off and onto the next shiny thing… the goal will be forgotten or buried as silly or not important.

Yet, the achievement of a dream or goal can be life changing. The achievement of a goal can make an ordinary life extraordinary. The achievement of a big goal can be a game changer in business.

So, let’s get serious about this for a minute. We’re nearly half way through 2015. How’s the year progressing for you? Same old, same old? Or are you on track to achieve some major and hopefully game changing goals this year?

It’s not too late in the year to set goals. There’s plenty of time to nail something that is important to you.

Personally, I have set three very major goals that will be achieved over 90 days… and the energy, excitement and commitment I feel towards the achievement of those goals creates the daily momentum I need to nail them. I’m three weeks into my three projects and the achievement of the goals is on track, which is fantastic. These goals are game changers for me…. To say I am excited about the upcoming achievement of them is a BIG understatement! I’ll tell you what they are after they’re ‘in the bag’.

ACTION: What about you? How about creating a game changing or breakthrough goal that you will achieve this year? That goal must quantum leap your personal or professional life somehow.

You’ll know it’s important when you want to live and breathe it every day until it’s achieved. Your emotional attachment will be enormous, and you will be prepared to do the work to achieve it.

So come on. Set the goal and then get on, do the work, and achieve it. Imagine how life will be once you’ve achieved it.

How about letting me know in the comments below if you are up for the challenge? Let’s get some big goals happening and achieved this year.

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Seven Secrets of Super Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship vs The Meaning of Life
Entrepreneurial Success Without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
NZ Entrepreneurship Success
Millionaire Mindset
7 Secrets of Business Success
Sir Richard Branson Asks…
Thriving within the Juggling Act
Business Success and Cookie Dough
What Ice Cream Flavour is Your Business?
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?

Business Success Tips : Meet Bob Littell

Bob Littell
Mr Netweaver

Are you ‘on the networking circuit’ to grow your business? And if you are, what do you loathe most about networking? Being sold to? Being spammed afterwards? Being put on email lists? Not knowing what to do with all the business cards you collect? Not knowing what to do after you meet an interesting person?

Some people love networking while others find it a struggle, yet they feel they have to do it to grow their businesses.

Meet my friend, Bob Littell – he’s Mr NetWeaver or Chief NetWeaver! He founded the concept of NetWeaving many years ago and it’s a much better and more successful alternative to networking. In fact, NetWeaving’s been referred to as the business side of ‘Pay It Forward’ – remember that wonderful and heart warming movie a few years ago?

NetWeaving takes the concept of networking to a whole new level and in the process everyone wins. The rewards of being a great NetWeaver are phenomenal. People have gotten to the top of the corporate ladder by being NetWeavers while others have grown their businesses massively.

This week’s interview will explain what NetWeaving is all about, and I promise you, it’s a very simple concept.

If you’d like to know where you are on the NetWeaving ladder, then you can also take a simple NetWeaving quiz here. I took it and I’m delighted that I’m a ‘Natural NetWeaver’ – I’ve been doing it all my life without putting a name to it. What about you?

Enjoy my interview with Bob…. I hope you learn loads, and then get on helping others in business and life by paying it forward as a Netweaver.

You can listen to the original Interview with Bob Littell here:

To connect with Bob Littell:
W: www.netweaving.com

W: www.netweaving-pif-week.com

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

Listen to more Subject Matter Experts and be inspired in the Business Success Tips: Adèle McLay Interviews….. YouTube and Podcast series:

Other articles on What Makes Successful Entrepreneurs:

Sir Richard Branson asks….

“What business do I really think I could improve?” ~ Sir Richard Branson

I’ve just listened to an interview that Sir Richard Branson gave late last year and, as you’d expect, the topic was his take on entrepreneurship success.

Sir Richard expressed great concern for entrepreneurs who are establishing businesses purely on the premise of ‘where I can make money’, rather than looking at business from the point of view of improving an industry.

Sir Richard always asks the question, “What businesses frustrate me?”, then he goes off and starts businesses in industries he wants to clean up and improve.

The stories of Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, Virgin Rail, and more recently, Virgin Money are legendary, and certainly these Virgin businesses have disrupted the industries they compete in so that we, the customers, are winners. Why? Because in improving an industry, all players must follow and up their game or else they fail. Therefore, the industry improves.

Virgin Airlines is a brilliant example of this. Virgin Atlantic was the first to introduce individual TV screens on the backs of airline chairs so that we could watch the movies we chose, rather than what the airline wanted us to watch on the communal screens. Now all airlines flying long haul have this feature. If they didn’t, no-one would fly with them as this is the ‘new normal’ that we as customers have come to expect.

Sir Richard Branson’s comments got me thinking.

If we’re already in business, are we as business owners disrupting and improving the industry that we’re a part of or are we just like all other players out there, delivering the same old homogeneous products and services to our customers?

Now you’re probably thinking, “But I am just a small player in my market, and I don’t need to disrupt anything, I just need to get on and do the work”.

Yes and no! Yes, you may be a small fish in a big sea, but you will have lots of competition, even if you only compete in your local market.

And no! You can’t just get on and do the work. You and your business must stand out and do things differently and better otherwise someone else in your industry will create the new normal and you will be left behind. You and your business will irrelevant; a dinosaur!

Size is of no importance in disrupting an industry. Doing lots of things a little bit better than everyone else is what stands the best players out from the rest. Any business can do that.

How about thinking of businesses that you as a consumer or business owner support because to you they are better than and different from the rest? What stands them apart from the rest for you? Often it’s lots of little things and not just one BIG thing that make the difference.

Now for some big questions:

How are you and your business standing out from the crowd? What distinguishes your business from others in your industry?
What does your business’s brand represent?
What part of your industry are you improving?
What about you, the business owner/entrepreneur? How do you stand out?
What impression do you leave? Are you personally branded so you are different to all the other business owners out there in your industry?

Food for thought? I hope so.

You as the person behind your business must stand out. Your business must stand out. Be different. Disrupt and improve your industry. Be better than the rest. Do all this well and the money, the profit, the success will follow. I promise.

How about starting a conversation and letting me know how your business is disrupting and improving your industry at a macro or micro level? I’d love to know.

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Entrepreneurial Success Without Fulfilment: Who Wants That?
All Work + Little Play = Boring!
Mega Entrepreneur Defined!
Supercharge Your Profitable Business!
Leadership Qualities
NZ Entrepreneurship Success
Millionaire Mindset
7 Secrets of Business Success
Ordinary vs Game Changing
Thriving within the Juggling Act
Business Success and Cookie Dough
What Ice Cream Flavour is Your Business?
What Makes Great Entrepreneurial Leaders?

Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Meet Bice Awan

Bice Awan
Social Entrepreneur, CEO – Skylight Trust (up to Dec-14)

Social enterprises around the world are on the increase, which is a really good thing.

As defined by Social Enterprise UK, “businesses are defined as social enterprises when they trade to tackle social problems, improve communities, people’s life chances, or the environment. They make their money from selling goods and services in the open market, but they reinvest their profits back into the business or the local community.”

Meet my good friend, Bice Awan. Over 15 years ago she lead the establishment of Skylight, a New Zealand based social enterprise that supports people who are experiencing grief, trauma and stress.

Testimony to Skylight’s success, a leading Government official once told Bice that “If Skylight didn’t exist, New Zealand would be a sad place”.

Listen to my interview with Bice. Her commitment and energy for the cause is heart warming.

While having a strong community centred vision, Skylight also recognised the importance of financial independence so over the years has developed a number of revenue streams which as they continue to grow, will further support the increased financial sustainability of this wonderful organisation.

As well, the services offered are of such a high quality that Skylight is now an international enterprise, providing services to a number of countries around the world.

I’d be delighted if you shared this interview with anyone you know who is thinking about establishing a social enterprise. Bice demonstrates all that is possible when one has true belief in the cause. Enjoy.

You can listen to the original Interview with Bice Awan here:

To connect with Skylight:
W: www.skylight.org.nz

Adèle hosts an interview series entitled:

• Successful Entrepreneurs’ Stories : Adèle McLay Interviews…..
• Business Success Tips : Adèle McLay Interviews …..

…where she interviews successful entrepreneurs from around the world, asking them to share their entrepreneurial stories, and other business ‘subject matter experts’ who share business success tips. If you would like to be part of Adèle’s success community and receive the interviews and much more directly into your inbox, please click here.

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