Business Made Easy Podcast

As humans, we make all kinds of assumptions, based on our surroundings and our past experiences. These assumptions, however, can often be wrong and ill-informed, and when it comes to business assumptions, very costly and damaging to our business.

In this episode of the podcast, we have an in-depth look and discuss why as humans we make assumptions, the dangers of making business assumptions and how to avoid them.
The areas of your business that assumptions are easily made and how and why you should avoid them at all costs.

• What are business assumptions
• Why as humans we make assumptions.
• Areas of your business that assumptions are easy to make.
• The problem with making assumptions and how to avoid.
• How making the wrong assumptions can be costly and damaging to your business.

If you haven’t got your health you haven’t got anything.

Without our health, we really can’t do much, yet we fail to get regular health check-ups to make sure things are working properly.

As a business owner, we wear lots of different hats that bring a lot of different stresses, so it is very easy for our health to deteriorate easily and without us even knowing.

We have a responsibility as business owners to make sure we are the best version of ourselves so that we can maintain a long and happy life, while enjoying the fruits of our labour.

In this episode I discuss

• How important our health is to maintaining and running a successful business.
• How quickly your health can  if left unchecked
• The importance of regular health checks and prioritising your health
• How to set up a regular health checkup plan as a part of your business & life routine.

Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, in habit 7, introduced the concept of sharpening the saw.

What he meant by this metaphor, was that it is vital that we take quality time out and invest in our well being if we are to achieve what it is we set out to achieve with sustainable success.

In today's fast, busy passed world it is easy to get on the treadmill of tasks thinking that our business is going to stop if we do, or that our business will break if we take a break.

It’s simply not the case.

To be successful in business we need to slow down to go faster.

In this episode, I share with you the importance of slowing down and taking regular breaks in your business.

When you do this you come back more energised and equipped to tackle things in your business with greater effort, more efficiently and with clearer thinking.

We discuss

• How easy it is to get bogged down thinking you can’t take a break from your business.
• The challenges of scaling your business and being able to take breaks
• The importance of taking time out to sharpen the saw, by investing in yourself for better more efficient growth
• What happens if you don’t invest in time for yourself.
• How to go about getting started taking time out for yourself even when you feel there’s no way you can.

We interview Todd Austin from Fletch Digital this week and we have an in-depth discussion about Social Media Strategy For Your Business and how you can maximise your results..

For many business owners, Social Media can be a daunting minefield when it comes to doing it effectively and well.

Knowing just where to focus your time, energy and money with an endless list of changing trends and advice can make it seem impossibly difficult and not worthwhile.

In this interview, Todd breaks down the last trends and important areas that you should be focusing on with social media and how to get the best results for your efforts.
Having just come back from Social Media Marketing World Todd is brimming with the latest social media tips and strategies to help you find your feet in this space.

• Why Social Media strategy is important for every business to have.
• How social media is evolving and what you need to know to benefit from this.
• What trends are emerging in social media.
• How to develop an effective social media strategy for your business
• The takeaways and tips from Social Media Marketing World.
• The importance of building community in your social media strategy

Buying or starting a business is one of the biggest investments any entrepreneur will make.  It is also one of the riskiest things that any of us will do in our lives.

There are so many moving parts to any business and there are also, so many roles and responsibilities that we as business owners are responsible and liable for.

The irony of this risk and exposure is that so many business owners fail or neglect to seek professional advice before starting or buying a business.

In this episode of the Podcast, we explore the importance of seeking professional advice, the types of professional advice that should be obtained and how to take action to avoid future costs and potential liabilities.

We spend a lot of time as business owners investing in the mechanicals of our business. They’re what I call the hard skills such as better marketing, better product delivery, more customers etc.
But what about the soft skills in our business?
Consistent investment in the soft skills of our business can deliver results over and over and what's more, the better we get at the soft skills the easier the hard skills that we struggle with are to achieve.
Your soft skills are the centre pin to providing better relationships in every aspect of your business.

In this episode of the podcast, we explore:

• Exactly what we mean by soft skills.
• What are soft skills
• Why are soft skills critical to your success in business?
• Types of skills you can invest in and develop
• The difference between EQ and IQ

Clarity in your business is the centre piece to achieving the success you are seeking. Without clarity you could be focusing on the totally wrong things, that aren’t going to give you the life you are seeking.
It’s so incredibly easy to be busy and distracted with the wrong things and without clarity there is nothing to bring you back to focus on what truly is are the most important priorities to be focused on.
We often speak of time management, prioritising our time and even trying to find more time. Without clarity and absolute direction it doesn’t matter how much team we each have as we will end up missing what we are aiming for.

• What exactly is clarity in business and in life, what does it mean.
• Why clarity is important in your business and in life
• How to pinpoint clarity
• How Clarity will help you stay away from distractions and help you better manage your time.
• How clarity will help you fast track the success you are seeking by helping you to focus on what’s truly important

In this episode, we are interviewing one of our members of The Business Made Easy Podcast Community, Phil Lichtenberger.

We are answering Phil's questions with regards to having a healthy cashflow in business, what are the things to implement and how to get clear with your expectations when it comes to payment terms.

We’ve all heard the saying it’s a six figure business.
But what is six figures really?
When people throw around the term 6 figures or even 7 figures you really need to look at what is being said in context.
I meet far too many business owners and entrepreneurs jaded because their business is falling short of the 6 figure benchmark.
My question is to you though - who is setting the benchmark your or somebody else?
In this episode I give you some practical thinking to help you get your goals and expectations into relevant context for you and your own set of circumstances, so that you can focus on what is actually the most important goals for you to be achieving and not for somebody else's circumstances.

We cover in this episode:

• What is six figures really?
• What questions to ask to get context on these benchmark numbers.
• How to identify what’s important for you and your circumstances.
• How by gaining clarity on your importance numbers you will be more free to achieve what you need to achieve not what somebody else is achieving.
• The importance of running your own race
• Learn from a case study and how James was virtually burnout working for what he didn’t know what he was working for.
• How bigger is not always better and how more is not always what you need.

Buying an existing operational business can be an exciting time. It can also be one of the most dangerous & risky times.
When you buy an existing business you are also buying a lot of potential for expensive mistakes to occur.
There are many components and moving parts to an existing business such as:
Customers, Suppliers, Finances, Taxes, Landlords, Financiers, Licensing Bodies, Marketing Collateral and Plant & Equipment to name a few.

A properly conducted due diligence of the business you are buying acts as a double check and verification of what it is you are buying and that what you are buying is what you are expecting to buy for your money.

There are many cases where purchasers of businesses have skipped having a proper due diligence conducted and it has led to very expensive mistakes and problems once the business is purchased.

In this episode we cover

• Why it can be a good idea to buy an existing business.
• The different ways you can buy an existing business.
• The risks and potential exposure you face when buying an existing business.
• What is a Due Diligence
• Why you need a professional Due Diligence when buying a business.
• The risks of not having a proper due diligence when buying a business.