Coffee with Colm

Someone once said, if you won a million in the lottery, you'd better become a millionaire real quick, or you'll lose it and for a while that confused me. I used think if you won a million, you'd be a millionaire, and technically that may be true in the moment, but the reality is, if you don't have a millionaire mindset, and millionaire habits, you won't remain millionaire for long. Same goes for business (or career). Unless you grow personally, and develop the habits required (by the universe) for a larger business or loftier heights on the corporate ladder, it cannot happen, and if it does by some quirk of fate, it won't last!

So, if you want more, if you want a larger business, or simply your own business, or you want the CEO chair in your company, then you must do the work - the internal work - first and then your business or job will grow to meet you, never the other way around.

In this week's reprise of an earlier 'Coffee with Colm', I explain what I did, indeed what my dad did, to put us in the way of more opportunity.

As ever, I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes in your preferred way...

Enjoy.

Originally recorded back in 2017, this week's 'Coffee with Colm' from the archives refers to two particular clients that were clearly annoying me - truth be told I now can't even recall who they were! But I fired them.

Now, clients are hard enough to come by, without us firing them because they annoy us, I hear some say, and while that may be true at times, we have to ask the question, 'are they worth it?' and I don't just mean in monetary terms - time, after all, is the one truly irreplaceable resource for you and me.

If working with someone is stressing you out, and you are handing over one hour of your precious, precious time to them, you'd be better off perhaps sitting overlooking water with a nice coffee in hand (one of my favorite pastimes) than having your beautiful spirit vexed as you hurtle at the Speed of Life - which is 60MPH (Minutes Per Hour) by the way - towards the inevitable!

You can always replace a client, you can never get that hour back #fireaclienttoday :-)

As ever, I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes in your preferred way...

I met some people in 3D for the first time this week!

Some, I've known for years but only from the shoulders up, and up until this week, only through a video screen.

But this week, I had the privilege of attending All Ireland Business Foundation's Munster Entrepreneurs Meet-Up and Summer BBQ. It was wonderful and congratulations are due to Elaine, Kapil, Ciaran, Briga et al for creating something special through AIBF.

Nothing meaningful or sustainable happens without networking - it's about knowing, liking, and trusting someone you want to do business with - and how else are you going to do that effectively, other than networking?

Anyway, fresh from the joy of meeting friends, old and new, and making connections, I found this video in my archive, which (despite being recorded pre-covid) is as relevant today as when it was first recorded in 2016.

As ever, I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes in your preferred way...

I used to be an optimist. These days I'm optimistic. Subtle difference, but different nonetheless.

Years ago, I stumbled across a story about an American POW (Prisoner of War), Admiral James Stockdale, who managed to survive more than seven years in the most horrendous conditions in the prison camps in Hanoi, North Vietnam, where he was taken when his fighter plane was shot down.

How he survived - as well as why many didn't - intrigued me and I've been living by 'The Stockdale Paradox' ever since.

To hear about The Stockdale Paradox, I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes in your preferred way...

Ps. Admiral Stockdale was in prison for seven years; you can benefit from what he learned in just 4 minutes here - not bad.

You have heard it said that Time Is Money, but what if it's the opposite? I believe Money Is Time!

How much does a cappuccino cost? A €3 coffee costs seventeen minutes at minimum wage* by my reckoning! And the problem is you can never get those seventeen minutes back because time is one truly irreplaceable resource available to you and me.

What can you do about it? Have a listen to find out.

I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes in your preferred way...

Ps, This lesson will only cost you 5 minutes :-)

* Minimum wage is €10.50 in Ireland in 2022 - I'm ignoring tax)

I have to admit to enjoying rummaging about in my archive material and this week my attention was drawn to this one - Hedgehog For Breakfast.

Hedgehog For Breakfast is a mini-chapter in my book, "Feeding Johnny - How to Build a Business Despite the Roadblocks" and it refers to a concept I stumbled across in another book, by author Jim Collins. In it, Collins talks about the lessons we can take from being observant.

I enjoyed this one; I hope you do, too.

I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes in your preferred way...

Ps. No hedgehogs were harmed in this production!

I like dipping back into the archives. It's interesting to see the same lessons are relevant over and over again. This week's 'Coffee with Colm' is timely because it's as relevant in my life today as it was when I first published it back in 2016

Life is a testing ground. That vision you have for your future will be tested, by life itself, to see are you worthy of it. Life will throw punches your way and seeming obstacles, juts to see how hard you willing to work for the vision. By learning to roll with the punches, and developing an ability to turn obstacles into stepping stones, you become lithe, yet strong, and therefore, worthy.

You also need to hang with the right people.

As ever, I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes (5) in your preferred way...

One of the most influential books I've read so far has been The Cashflow Quadrant (or Rich Dad, Poor Dad 2) by Robert Kiyosaki. I had been struggling for years trying to figure out how some people got ahead, while I was caught in the trenches, batein' it out day after day for a paycheck. Around the turn of the century, Kiyosaki explained it to me.

I've never looked back.

It's not easy, but it is something you can learn to implement over time to position yourself to get paid whether or not you go to work. Intrigued?

If you are curious, I invite you to stick on the kettle, grab a coffee, and think with me for a few minutes (5) in your preferred way...

Between 2003 and 2005 our first business, a former Bewley’s Café Franchise, was failing – nothing could save it and we knew it. I wanted to crawl into a hole and say “Oh well, I tried,” but something told me to push forward. I’m glad I did.

Perhaps you are feeling like throwing in the towel on some aspect of your life just now - maybe you should consider a different approach? Maybe pushing forward instead of pulling back is what the Universe is inviting you to do.

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