Over the past decade I have refined my business to a streamlined and sleek operation. I am headed in the direction I want and am making more money than 20-year-old me would have thought possible. Through my enterprise – Mind, Money and Business – a mentoring platform for entrepreneurs, I work with solopreneurs and CEOs to manifest their own success, and in that mentoring I frequently identify similar patterns which have held people back.
By focusing on success and employing the correct business practices any entrepreneur with a sound business plan and keen eye for progress can become a success. But to reach the top you have to start with the basics. Here are my six essential actions that every business owner should be taking every day if they want to achieve their goals.
1. Stop Scrolling!
If you were employed, would you scroll through Instagram while your boss was delivering a speech? Would you stop to message your mum halfway through serving a customer? NO! So if you don’t allow distractions when you’re working for someone else, why allow them when you’re working for yourself? Turn off notifications for anything that isn’t work related, separate your personal and professional communication channels, and work when you are supposed to be working. You’re the boss – respect yourself and your time.
2. Identify Your Goal
You want to be successful, yes, but so does every entrepreneur. You need to identify what success means to you. Is it a certain number of sales per month, is it X turnover each year? Is it a certain number of customers, clients or franchise holders? Identify your goal and write it down. Put it in front of your desk and look at that goal every day. It’s your goal, you are the only one who can enable it to be achieved.
3. Invest In Your Team
It’s going to make you a lot of money if you invest in the right talent so, when it comes to hiring, don’t cut corners. Have the confidence to pay more, and to support self-development in employees. Not only will you improve performance and increase productivity, but you will retain staff who feel valued, thus saving time and money many business owners with high staff turnover waste on hiring replacement staff.
4. Make A Plan – And Stick To It
Be it a daily to-do list or a long-term business plan, evidence proves that writing things down means we’re more likely to stick to things. Every morning I write down what I need to do today, and what I want to achieve. I don’t stop working until every item is ticked off. Equally as important is a visual representation of long-term goals. Again, identify what success means to you? A big house, private school for your children, a villa in Spain? Create a visual representation of that goal and pin it to your office wall. Look at it every day and remind yourself where you are headed.
5. Manifest Your Future
If you’re going to achieve what you want, you must change the beliefs that are in your subconscious mind. Without this, nothing will change and your business will not go anywhere. Meditation, visualisation, reading books and watching YouTube videos won’t change anything. Action is everything. Your actions are in alignment with your beliefs about yourself. If you don’t believe that you can earn £20,000 a month, you will never commit to taking actions that would lead to that goal. For example, going after bigger contracts. If you’re charging somebody £2,500 a month for a service, you’re unlikely to go after a bigger organisation and pitch the same service for £25,000 a month. By changing your mindset and manifesting your true worth, you can develop the confidence to demand your worth.
6. Forget Marketing Until You Have A Structure
Like most entrepreneurs, I spent a fortune on marketing. In fact, I have spent six figures of my own money over the years on strategy after strategy: marketeers, advertising campaigns, copywriters. Where did it get me? Seven years ago my businesses were failing and I fell into tens of thousands of pounds of debt. But I managed to climb out of the ashes.
Every day you need to assess where you are and what you need to progress your business. Start by looking at your bank statements and your accounts. Look at what you’ve been bringing in and how consistent that is. Research how your brand can best reach the people you are targeting – marketing is not a broad-stroke plan, it must be nuanced to suit you. Once you have an idea of your needs, recruit the right team to get you there. I know that my Facebook channel is viewed by the sort of people who need my services, I know that they do not read The Times. By knowing your audience you can examine how to reach them.
