Welcome to Episode #188 of the Small Business Mistakes You May Not Know Actually Affect Your Business In this episode, Roger Harrop and I discuss on how a Business Owner can Win the Game of Business and What are the Mistakes that Business Owners Are Currently Making that Stops Them from Winning in this New Business Scene. So if you want to understand how to be a true business leader; how to succeed continuously in running your business and avoid mistakes that you do not even know, and achieve the right mindset to be successful, tune in now! In this episode, you’ll discover:

What drives Roger to keep doing what he is passionately doing? What are the common mistakes that business owners make that oftentimes they make without knowing? How to avoid doing those mistakes? What is your mindset as a business owner and as a leader in running your own business?

 About Us

Spent over 25 years leading international business at the highest level An Oxford UK based award-winning international motivational business growth speaker Ranked amongst the top ten Business speakers worldwide A recipient of the prestigious Professional Speaking Award of Excellence Twice Speaker of the Year with The Academy for Chief Executives and one of only 20 globally to have been awarded the CSP Global designation. Also an author, business advisor, mentor, consultant and independent director. Have extensive experience across a broad spectrum of businesses - from small start-ups to large multinational corporations; from high tech manufactured products through basic commodities, to people based services businesses and not-for-profit organizations Spent seven years as Group CEO of an FTSE quoted, high tech industrial instrumentation group. Have run businesses for major multi-national corporations and have been a tutor with one of the leading leadership and teambuilding programs for over 25 years. A former President of The Professional Speakers Association, a former Vice-President of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and a Liveryman with The Worshipful Company of Marketers. I am an accredited SME business advisor, a trained Assessor, and Coach. Known as The Helicopter Speaker as well as The CEO Expert

 More Information:

Address: Roger Harrop Associates, Anchor House, Cuxham Road, Watlington, United Kingdom, OX49 5JW Telephone: +44 (0) 1491 613635 Mobile: +44 (0) 7900 697160 Email: [email protected] Skype: rogerharrop LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerharrop/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCEOExpert Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rogerharrop

Understanding Insurance Links & Mentions From This Episode:

Click Here!

Thank you so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below!

If you enjoyed this episode on understanding the whole concept of insurance and how it plays its role on your business., please share it with your friends by using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post.

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic episode updates for our "Small Business Mistakes You May Not Know Actually Affect Your Business "

And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on iTunes. They really help us out when it comes to the ranking of the show and I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get.

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Episode #187 of How Storytelling Can Help Bring So Much Positive Impact in Your Business

In this episode, Paul Smith and I are discussing the topic of "Why a lot of entrepreneurs are getting so much result because of their ability to tell a story"

So if you want to understand why is storytelling considered as a business skill that a business owner should have?; How to do it well; where and when to use it; and how to develop it, tune in now!

In this episode, you will discover:

- Why storytelling?

- Some examples of where storytelling is used successfully by business owners and entrepreneurs

- What is the first skill anyone needs to hone in for them to use the skill?

- Is Storytelling a legit business skill?

- What is the easiest structure in writing a story?

- How do you end the story in such a way that people remember it?

- What are other questions about storytelling in which audience wish to do when it comes to storytelling?

- What is the particular mindset that you need to have?

About Us: 

Paul is a popular keynote speaker and corporate trainer in leadership and storytelling techniques, a former executive and 20-year veteran of The Procter & Gamble Company, and bestselling author of three books: 1) Lead with a Story, 2) Parenting with a Story, 3) Sell with a Story.

His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Forbes, Fast Company, The Washington Post, PR News, CIO Magazine, Investors Business Daily, Marketing Research Magazine, the American Banking Journal, and London’s Edge Magazine, among others.

In his 20 years with Procter & Gamble, Paul held leadership positions in both research and finance functions and most recently served as director of consumer and communications research. Prior to P&G, Paul was a consultant for Arthur Andersen & Company.

His keynote speaking and training clients include international giants like Google, Hewlett Packard, Bayer Medical, Walmart, Kaiser Permanente, Ford Motor Company, Luxottica, and Procter & Gamble among dozens of others.

Paul holds a bachelors degree in economics and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife and two sons in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio.

More Information:

Web: www.LeadWithAStory.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @LeadWithAStory

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/smithpa9

Facebook: www.facebook.com/leadwithastory

Instagram: www.instagram.com/leadwithastory

Understanding Insurance Links & Mentions From This Episode:

Click Here!

Thanks for Tuning In!

Thanks you much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below!

If you enjoyed this episode on understanding the whole concept of insurance and how it plays its role on your business., please share it with your friends by using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post.

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic episode updates for our "Understanding the True Meaning of Insurance!"

And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on iTunes. They really help us out when it comes to the ranking of the show and I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get.

Thanks for listening!

How can you increase your performance? What does it take to create a successful business? In this episode of Enlightened Entrepreneur podcast, Clay Green, a high-performance adult trainer from Oregon, shares three important habits you need to master in order to reach your greatest potential in your chosen field.

Key Questions Asked:

How did Clay get to where he is today? What habits should business owners need to acquire if they want to succeed? Why is it so important for business owners to have quiet time?

Highlights of Lessons Learned:

Everybody Plateaus

When you hit that plateau, you have to be sensitive enough to recognize it and do something to change it. Successful people go out and seek help to get to the next level and to keep progressing.

Adult Training

Clay helps people understand how their brains are physically wired by the environment and how that limits us. Even with all the high-performance habits and tactics available to you, if you can’t apply it because you’re limiting yourself and your subconscious is stopping you, you can never move forward. Clay’s passion lies in helping people understand how their brain works so that they can take those steps and make a difference in their own lives.

3 High-Performance Habits

Go meditate. There is an infinite number of ways to meditate. Do whatever it takes to start and continuously develop a meditation habit.

Actively keep a journal. Physically put, pen to paper or pencil to paper kind of journaling. Block out at least five minutes of your day every day. Express Gratitude. The number one easiest thing to journal about every evening is to write down 3-5 things that felt great that day.

Why is ‘Quiet Time’ Necessary?

The brain is more powerful than anything in the planet, you will never ever be able to tap into the full power of that brain unless you start now by developing meditation habit.

Bottomline

Your subconscious wants you to never ever move, it wants your stationery. So anytime you go to make a change in your life, such as build a business, start an old habit, or break an old habit – any kind of change is going to be faced with resistance if you don’t do it right. If you set your goals inappropriately, your subconscious is going to try and stop you, if you set it properly, your subconscious is actually going to enable and empower you to go get those goals.

When is a good time to start creating a brand for your business? In this episode of Enlightened Entrepreneur Podcast, Anglo-Swiss brand designer, Marianne Hartley, shares key points to developing your brand, how to know who to work with and where to find the right people to help you with one of the most exciting and in-depth processes in building your business.

Key Questions Asked:

How has Marianne’s previous experience propelled you into creating your branding company? Why is branding so important and why should business owners make that a priority when starting a business? What criteria should business owners look for in a brand assistant? How can they find good branding partners? If you are to start all over again with setting up a branding business today with all the modern tools, what would you do differently? Where should business owners focus on if they want to get started with developing their brand? What type of roadblocks did Marianne face when she first launched her business? How does she stay motivated? What makes her branding approach so unique?

Highlights of Lessons Learned:

Why Make Branding a Priority?

Your brand stands for your business when you’re not there. Your logo is a key element of your brand, and the more it represents you, the more it encapsulates your values, the more you’re going to attract the customers, clients and the employees that are right for you. Marianne sees ‘brand’ as the life force of your business because it carries the energy that you put into your business and the need to communicate this into the world.

Criteria for a Brand Designer

Creating a brand should be an in-depth process in order for it to last and to truly represent you. The key criteria are:

Find someone you feel aligned with. Find someone you actually get on very well with since you will be working with them for a long time. Choose someone that has the same values as you.

Process for Finding a Good Brand Designer

Choosing the right designer depends on how much you want to invest. If you’re happy to invest more and if you see it as a core part of your business, then the designer and the branding expert will be much more of a support and will be there with you along the way. One great way to find a branding designer is by recommendation or word of mouth.

Starting Over Again

One of the key thing is to surround ourselves with people who are great at what they do, to have a really strong team of collaborators or people you can call on that become a part of your support team in your business. If she were to start over again, Marianne would spend 70% of her time in the business working on projects and the other 30% making new connections and working on the business.

Where to Focus

Business owners who wants to get ahead with developing their brand should focus on foundation, their values, and what type of audience they want to attract. Before any design is created, focus on the foundation of your business, what you stand for and who you want to attract.

Overcoming Roadblocks

One of the biggest challenges for Marianne, which she had to overcome early on in her journey, was the difficulty of managing the cash flow. This is why, according to her, it’s important to allot 30% of your time on making new contacts and putting the word out there, to keep customers coming in and keep the cash flowing.

On Staying Motivated

Staying motivated is about creating a balance between work and things that inspire her. According to Marianne, she needs to be nourished in order to have a great output. Whenever she feels stuck, she stops whatever she’s doing and goes out to do other things that will renew her energy. Another good way, according to Marianne is hearing other people’s success stories. Marianne keeps herself motivated by staying connected with the vision.

When would the time spent by an employee become costly and non-worthy? Business consultant and time management expert, Jeff Lee-Dana, explains that there are non-value added and value-added activities in every company – and that reckons its true value, which means every business owner needs to manage their time wisely if they want to achieve long-term success.

Questions Asked:

How did Jeff go about changing his mindset, overcoming the introvert way of thinking? What steps did he take in establishing his business? What was the very first advice he would give a business owner who is struggling with time management? Once the value of the company has been identified, what is the next step? Is there anyone big step business owners need to take in order to manage their time?

Highlights of the Lessons Learned:

How To Get Started With Proper Time Management

Determine the value of your company.

How? By simply getting to know your business: the all ins and outs, what is the heart and soul or the driving force in your company, other than revenue.

Classify the Value-Added and Non-value Added activities.

The business owner needs to be aware and needs to identify how much time is truly wasted.

Note: Value-Added Activities are anything that you do that ENHANCES THE VALUE, or contributes to that value; while Non-Value Added Activities are the ones like managers, quality assurance, etc..

Trust the team around you.

To offload these non-value added activities (tasks), you need to trust other people. Other people can learn as well and satisfy the job.

Setting Goals.

This should be attainable and actionable.

Business Perspectives &Tips

Unknowingly, most people are spending a lot of time in non-value added activities. In order to prevent such, business owners must be able to identify these non-valued activities and should be delegated to the team accordingly, and/or to the right person.

Outsourcing services would be the best-fit solution.

One thing we don’t realize is ‘we can choose our attitude.’ Changing the mindset of business owners to a positive stance is only possible through “changing the attitude.” According to Jeff, the biggest roadblock he had was “himself.” He was once pre-occupied with negative thoughts about engaging with people, which kept him from moving forward. Seeking assistance from other mentors and coaches is the way to overcome whatever roadblock that may come in the way.

Who wouldn’t want their business to rank first in web searches? How effective is your marketing strategies to increase website traffic? In this Podcast episode, award-winning author and business owner, Jessica Tyner, reveals what it takes for business owners to increase brand awareness and establish their reputation in the online market with the help of content generation and copywriting.

Questions Asked:

What is the most important skill every business owner needs to have in terms of copywriting? What skills do business owners need to develop while they are still in the position to invest? What are the necessary steps every business owner need to take when engaged in copywriting? What are the most popular service requests? How does Jessica ensure flawless writing? Where does she see a lot of mistakes in content generation?

Highlights of the Lessons Learned: 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is considered as the most important skill that every business owner should have when doing business online. The secrets of SEO are the following:

Quality content Incorporation of keywords and phrases

Note: SEO is the ultimate organic way to make your business appear on the first page of web searches – which is the key to drive traffic to your website and eventually convert to sales.

The economic way to successfully initiate SEO in your business is to outsource a freelance writer because most businesses do not require a full-time writer. Some things to remember in selecting a freelance writer to onboard:

Must have sufficient knowledge in your industry for quality content Ample knowledge of SEO Freelancers who charge per word or flat-rate based on average words per account An experienced writer who works with editors for better pricing package. Know what your business writer could offer in terms of services. Figure out clearly what online image do you want to build for your business. Hire one person as much as possible to speed up the process of optimizing your online image.

The common mistakes of content generation are:

SEO is not incorporated. Poor quality content. Reuse of content that has been written long time. Reuse of content that has not been updated. Practice of some form of plagiarism. Poor quality content.

Note: Plagiarism is against SEO best practices. It will drag down your business to a lower rank.

In order to ensure a flawless writing, always get an editor who will take care of the grammatical area of the content. Most popular requested services incorporated in copywriting are the following:

Link curation Quality write-up content Graphic designs Infographics Copyright-free images

How does one really achieve confidence in business? What are the missing points that have caused it yet fulfilled? In this episode of Podcast, the success coach, Madeleine Morgan, shares how to help business owners transform their ventures into something they don’t recognize before – which is the success.

Key Questions Asked:

How did she get started with her coaching business? How did she get her first client? Were there any obstacles that she faced before, that also exists among business owners whom she has worked with? What sort of mindset did she adopt to deal with a steep learning curve? What are the main steps to build business confidence and success?

Highlights of the Lessons Learned:

Who is Madeleine

Helped business owners transform their business into something they don’t recognize before One of the all-time challenges faced by every business owner is the overcoming of the steep learning curve – when starting out a business. As has been quoted, ” there are so many moving patterns when you are running a business and you have to stay on top of it”. In order to keep on the right track, we need to develop a strong confidence to get the business succeed.

The 7 Steps to Building Business Confidence and Success:

Setting SMART goals.

This gives you direction and confidence and helps you plan. Define your goals clearly; write down; review. Criteria to meet are: it should be measurable, achievable, and specific in a time frame.

Identifying/writing a role, who do you need to be.

After sorting out all the basics, “think” of yourself in the right way to be successful in business. Example, you’re more likely to grow your business if you think of yourself as an ‘entrepreneur’ rather than ‘technical expert’. Another example, business owners often feel more confident about selling if they think of themselves as a ‘Problem Solver’ rather than ‘Salesperson’. Note: If you have mismatched between your goal and the person you want to be – you won’t succeed.

Setting your

What do I need to make important to succeed in my goals? It pertains to the right values to achieve your goals. Making sure you make the important things right. For instance, sometimes you can sabotage your business by being too cautious. There will be times when you need to make learning and calculated risk-taking more important than certainty. Note: If certainty is more important to you, you are most likely not to succeed in business.

Having positive and helpful beliefs.

Let go of limiting beliefs. Examples of limiting beliefs might be: ‘There’s too much competition’, ‘I’ve got to charge low prices’ or ‘It’s impossible’. While some useful beliefs are, ‘I can find a way to succeed’, and ‘There’s no failure, only feedback’.

Developing the right skills.

Getting the right skills and knowledge to run your business and achieve your goals. Sometimes business owners are drawn to learning more about their technical expertise and sabotage their success by neglecting their business development and people management skills. As a business owner, you should ask yourself: “what do I need to know to grow my business?”

Developing success habits.

Example, good time management habits or developing systems and processes so that the business runs smoothly.

Ensuring the right resources and environment.

Create a working environment that you, and your team, enjoy working in or even suppliers. Have a coach to help you make sure all the successive steps are in place That will speed up your learning curve. That will encourage you when you face setbacks.

Are you succeeding in business as much as you’d like to? If not, what are the roadblocks that are stopping you? Life Coach and Hypnotherapist, Karen Bashford, reveals how to uncover your “inner child”, and release you from the “beliefs” inside your subconscious mind – that truly hinders ones to have a joyful and abundant life.

Questions Asked:

Before Karen moved to working with people, had she made any preparations? What is it about the “inner child transformation”, her unique way of unblocking the blocks? Was there any testimony on how she was able to help people in the business area using her strategy? How can business owners regain or keep their joy when they run their business? What is the importance of being in the “Now”? What are the tips or strategies that can help business owners to get in the “Now”? What would be the second step business owner needs to take when it comes to getting their lives back on track, and reclaim that joy? How does she decide which networking or event to go to?

Highlights of the Lessons Learned:

Through the “Inner Child”:

The “inner child” technique is a form of meditation, wherein you would imagine the little child, you were – bringing back the life you dreamt about, and the things that you love to do, along with the painful experiences you had. By connecting to the “inner child”, you will be able to cite or ascertain what really are the things that would bring joy to your life – and with that, you can take action and therefore, you will get the life you wanted. Also, it enables you to find out what blocks you for not succeeding, and not living the life you wanted. Hence, listening to your inner child, gives you the opportunity to explore your future, and to get a direction to the life you wanted.

How to Create Joy in Your Life:

Through the “Law of Attraction” – Karen helps people set their goals in place or what they want to succeed with. Then, she teaches them how to put those dreams and goals in the future. One has to imagine and see that future is changing – to enable what they want to happen. She will then coach and make them understand that any challenges come out are only “beliefs”, and that can be changed. “Do the things you enjoy”- In order to be able to get your life back on track, especially for business owners. The importance of being in the “Now” is about getting focused. How to get in the “Now” – Allow the natural things to happen, because it is only then that you will be more focused on “what you need to do” and “who you need to become”, rather than keeping on looking for solutions or how are you going to do it. Business owners are taking away their passion for their business if they are doing the things they don’t love, and which they feel uncomfortable with.

Are you feeling stuck and doesn’t have the drive to move your business forward? Are you wrestling with what seems to be impossible-to-overcome challenges? In this podcast, medical inventor and business owner, Jacqueline Darna, reveals the biggest mistakes every startup business owner needs to avoid in order to ensure continuous growth in the market.

Key Questions Asked:

How did she start coming up with an idea of starting out a business? Had she ever been involved in running a business before? What was the role of mentors to her – when she launched her business? What is the mindset that helped her to do these things? What are the common mistakes that business owner makes primarily on starting out? What are the other critical areas where they make mistakes, which stops their growth? What could she have done differently when starting out a business? What would she advise to somebody who is going into the business but got stuck?

Highlights of the Lessons Learned:

The Three (3) Common Mistakes of Business Startups:

Ineffective and inappropriate marketing.

Paying high marketing and press firms for ads may not be a profitable approach for startups – as this medium is not reaching a direct and right market. According to Jacqueline, “Don’t spend frivolously in marketing if you are not sure to get returns.”

The anticipation of growing too fast.

Hiring a huge team too soon will make the business owner end up paying big salary cost. The conservative approach of hiring key people as the first step would be best. Identify what you can keep in-house.

Not figuring out the right market

Figure out your market and stick with that. Jumping to just any crowd could possibly waste your time, effort and money.

Jacqueline’s Proven-Effective Marketing Strategies to Rapidly Grow in Business:

Getting distributors – she employs strategic marketing – in which these people will display their products without cost, and she gets her team pitch and sells the products to them. Being the person in authority – playing a role as a leader and an expert in their market gives Jacqueline an opportunity to get a ‘no-cost big publicity’. Media, press, and conferences invite her as a keynote speaker; by then, she gets a chance to market herself and her product – adding content and value. Being a technology savvy – use the readily available tools that can help you run the business. Using social media – it is a big aspect. You can reach a wider market wherein you can automate – without employing a large number of people. Learning from mentors – they are the ‘catalyst’ who will make things happen easily and rapidly, with less work while getting better results.

Note: Mentors are the ones who believe not only in your product but on you as well. They could help you all the way in your business by identifying important strategies, and helpful tools.

By relating to the audience or consumers – it is very important to understand what your audience needs, and to be able to help them. It is how could your product or your services touch their lives and make them better. By establishing this kind of relationship, these consumers will pay you back and make your business well. Branding out – sending a clear message across as to how your products can make people’s lives significantly better is equally important amongst the basics of business like from marketing to its back office; and how it is being patented with its advancements or inventions over its competitors. Maintaining sustainable sales through outlets – engaging in e-commerce, partnering with retailers and distributors are the key to getting your business up and running. Giving avenues

Some Pieces of Advice from the Expert for Startups:

Always figure out the best way of marketing – that best applies to your products or services. For business owners who have products,

Is it possible to really eliminate stress in your life? In this episode of Enlightened Entrepreneur Podcast, life-transforming coach Heather Vickery, talks about the roadblocks that stop most business owners dead in their tracks. Heather also talks about leaving her event planning business, which she did for nearly twenty years, to do what she actually loves doing – helping business owners get clear on their vision, build better systems and boundaries to get the utmost results in their start-up efforts.

Key Questions Asked:

Looking back at the early years, how did Heather come up with the idea of running a business? What were the practical steps she took on when she got the idea to structure her marketable skill into a business? What were the potential roadblocks that stopped Heather from moving forward? How important is it for a business owner who is within their first three years of operation to invest in a coach?

Highlights of Lessons Learned:

Coming up with the Idea

As she becomes more in touch with herself and her needs and who she was authentically, Heather started to pay attention to how people were interacting with her, and what was happening in the world around her. That’s when people recognized and pointed out her marketable skill.

Action to Vision

Step one to running a successful business is creating a business plan and breaking it all down. Heather created a tool called Action to Vision Worksheet that she uses in her coaching program.

Potential Roadblocks

Heather sees a problem with people’s ‘limiting voice’

There are three things you must ask yourself when battling with the voice inside your head:

How do you feel when you think this stuff? What’s the payoff? What does it actually cost you? Was it true? How could you prove it wasn’t true?

Investing in a Coach

Investing in a coach is invaluable because:

They present things in a way that you may not have thought of them before They help you build systems and structures Come up with the right boundaries for you Instill confidence in you Enables you to regain and retain control over your schedule, your interactions with others or your personal life They make for smoother relationships with others and with yourself. Excellent accountability partners

Tips and Criteria for Finding a Coach

Your personalities must match and you need to connect well Do some research if you can Set up a complimentary coaching session to get to know the coach Decide if you want to move on to the next step

Must Have/Must do

Figure out your plan and your end goal, get your why really solidly figured out

Schedule time appropriately Know when to delegate and who to delegate things to Release things that are not going to serve you in the long run

The second critical skill that business owner needs to develop in order to run a successful business is the ability to follow through with your commitment to yourself and the ability to go in and put your systems in place.

Importance of Having Confidence

If you don’t know what your intentions are, you’re going to be all over the place and everyone’s going to be able to tell. If you don’t have confidence in yourself, no one is going to value you. If you don’t have the confidence and the knowledge that you’re valued what you think you should be paid hourly, no one is going to pay you that amount, which is critical especially when you are getting started because you’ll want to portray an image that people will follow. As your business grow and develop, you are constantly teaching people how to respond, how to react and how to work with you.

Starting All Over

Given the chance to start over, Heather would want to have more flexibility in trying new things and being adventurous Another thing Heather believes is important when starting ou...