Author: Ethan Theo

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

Categories
Success Attitude

The Power of Possibility

What stops people from daring to set big goals and taking action is the fear of failure/rejection and the limiting belief that they do not have the resources to achieve the life they want. It is very easy to feel defeated and disheartened when things don’t go the way we want. It is easy to give up and think ‘impossible’ when obstacles/problems seem to make the task impossible. That is why 90% of people in life are so ordinary. They make the easy choice and quit. Remember that the Winners of the world (the top 10%) face just as many obstacles/problems as everyone else. In fact, in most cases, they face even greater obstacles. The difference is that they make the tougher choice of finding a way towards they goals REGARDLESS of how impossible it seems.

I recently watched a documentary about Aimee Mullins who is a true role model of the power of possibility. In times of our life, we always need to be reminded by people like Aimee that our problems are nothing compared to the problems of so many others out there. Yet despite their problems/obstacles they go for their goals because they refuse to accept anything less than an extraordinary life.

Aimee Mullins was born without fibula in both her legs and her parents made the painful decision of amputating both her legs when she was a baby. Despite being a double below-the-knee amputee, she set the goal of becoming an Olympic athlete, a catwalk model and a Hollywood actress. BY the age of 28, she had set world records in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump Para-Olympics. She became a catwalk model and was voted ‘The 50 Most Beautiful Women in the World’ by People Magazine. She has also become a Hollywood actress, staring in movies like ‘The World Trade Center’ in 2006. As someone who has the learnt the power of focusing on what is great in her life, she lives an extremely happy and fulfilling life dancing, roller blading, skiing and swimming. I hope the video inspires you as much as it has inspired me to keep going for my dreams despite the odds.

Categories
Finance & Capital

Finding Solutions to Business Debt

Lots of businesses fail to be successful and end up going under, usually because of a lack of foresight and planning.  Rarely is it the case that a business thrives on chance alone, it takes lots of hard work, organisation and careful planning.

It is nearly inevitable that a business will take on debt or run the risk of debt, at some point,if it wants to be at the top of its game and ahead of the competition. Debt is not something to fear either it is a normal factor of economic growth. Managing the debt however is the tricky part and this is often where businesses fall down.

The important rule when dealing with debt is not to panic and make rash decisions but look for a way to deal with the debt quickly and correctly. Dealing with the debt quickly and correctly however is hard without a debt rescue plan in place. Remember, having a debt rescue plan is not a sign of failure, after all unforeseen circumstances happen all the time. From the biggest multi-national companies down to the small independent traders everyone is in the same boat.

Some business debts are easily taken care of and it does not have to be the case that a detailed solution is needed. In other cases cash flow may not match the expenditure of the business and an agreement with creditors must be sought. There are many facets to debt solution and knowing which one is the right one can be confusing. Yet debt rescue does not have to be complicated and something to be scared of looking into. This debt rescue solution tool from Cooper Matthews helps analyse the debt situation and give a summary of the next best action to take.

Organising debt quickly and efficiently will help get the business back on track. Business debt does not mean the end of the road, success can still be found.

Business Debt Rescue Solution Analyser Tool


Categories
Planning & Management

Business Insurance to Give You Peace of Mind

If you own a start-up or small business, you’ll have a lot on your mind.  Your income depends on the quality and quantity of your work, your marketing strategies and even the state of the economy, because you rely on people being able to afford your services or products.

But one thing you don’t need to lose sleep over is what would happen if you were sued by a client for personal injury or financial loss, or have your business premises and equipment destroyed, damaged or stolen.  Those risks can be easily insured against, as would any related legal fees.

But if you’re a start-up or small business, you might feel that you can’t afford all of the different types of business insurance that you could possibly ever claim against.  After all, no-one has a crystal ball and it can be hard to know what policies you’ll actually need and what policies you’d just be paying for without ever having to claim under.

If you can only buy one or two types of policy (particularly in the early months) then choose those that you are most likely to need.  Generally speaking, those tend to be employers’ liability insurance (a legal requirement if you have anyone working for you) and public liability insurance.  If you offer professional services or advice, then you would also need professional indemnity insurance.

Employers’ liability insurance would protect you if an employee were injured at work.  It would pay for the compensation and any legal fees (yours and your employee’s).

Public liability insurance would pay for any compensation and legal fees if a member of the public (e.g. a customer, repairman, visitor, person on the street) was injured or suffered financial loss as a result of your negligence.  Those sorts of claims happen more often than you might think, but after all, there are plenty of claims handlers and solicitors who can be relied upon to inform the public that ‘where there’s blame, there’s a claim’ and that they can sue with ease since they can do so on a no win, no fee basis.

Having insurance in place means that you wouldn’t have to worry if you received a solicitors’ letter through your door advising you that their client intended to sue.   Of course, if you take all of the necessary precautions and undertake all the necessary training you should manage to avoid having to rely on your insurance, but accidents happen and people usually want to blame someone so that they can try to claim compensation.  But if you don’t have to claim then at least you will be able to build up some no-claims bonus that will reduce your future years’ premiums.  Then you might want to cover other risks with insurance such as business property cover as your business grows.

Categories
Success Attitude

Work Positive Like The Beatles

Did you see Paul McCartney performing for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee?

The world still loves the music of The Beatles fifty years later.

They’ve sold 600 million albums internationally with 20 songs going #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

So how did The Beatles achieve such amazing results?

More importantly, how can you learn from them and discover your business’ success in the silver lining of today’s economy?

Here is how The Beatles grew their brand and business through the lens of the five Work Positive core practices:

Perceive

The Fab Four grew up in Liverpool, England during the dark days of World War II bombing. Their hometown was basically destroyed.

Yet listen to their music. It’s uptempo, joyous, even happy. They were charming and positive.

The Beatles focused themselves mentally on the positive and filtered out the negative.

Waiting for the world to turn positive to grow your business is an elusive tomorrow. Redefine your reality today. Find something positive about your business and focus on it.

Conceive

On January 1, 1962, The Beatles auditioned for Dick Rowe, a Decca Records executive. His response was classic Eeyore Vampire: “Guitar music is on the way out.”

The Beatles avoided listening to this one response and invested their social energy into creating arguably one of the best song-writing duos ever—John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They partnered with producer George Martin, manager Brian Epstein, and publicist Derek Taylor, thus forming a Work Positive Dream Team.

Who is on your Work Positive Dream Team? Refrain from partnering with Eeyore Vampires. Instead put your heart and soul into relationships with your employer/employees, customers/clients, and vendors/suppliers that grow your business.

Believe

In addition to the infectious melodies Lennon-McCartney wrote, their lyrics were authentic. They spoke to our world then and still do 50 years later with a sincerity that captures us.

Once many musicians discover such a powerful combination of music and lyrics, their music becomes formulaic. The Beatles avoided such creative stifling. Their continuous innovation generated an imaginative musical journey from Love, Love Me Do to Let It Be” They constantly learned and improved their musical character.

How does your business innovate and respond to an ever-changing culture?

Build authenticity into your products and services. Keep them real to your business relationships. Then imagine improving them.

Achieve

The Beatles invested their attention in focusing their mental energy on positive thoughts and their social energy on positive people. They stated their intentions from their positive emotional engagement with their music.

Then they acted on their attention and intention physically. They performed in small clubs for years until their big opportunity appeared. They continued to act positively, playing The Ed Sullivan Show and the Hollywood Bowl. They persevered through all of the cultural changes.

For your business to succeed, you must keep going like The Beatles. Expect adversity. Anticipate a negative world. Persist in acting on your attention and intention.

Receive

Today a musician puts up a YouTube video in hopes of becoming a celebrity. When such celebrity status pursued them, The Beatles became rather reclusive, focusing instead on creating great music.

They gifted us with Hey Jude as we struggled to understand what the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and M.L. King, Jr. and the Vietnam War meant. They refocused us from crumbling trust in the U.S. Presidency with Yellow Submarine. The Beatles served as our positive thermostats in a negative world.

How does your business gift friends who keep your lights on? Create an exceptional business as you say “Thank You” and positively serve others in your region.

The Beatles’ Work Positive influence plays clearly in this its 50th year.

Help your business grow by following their example.

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

Categories
Human Resource

Getting the Best Out of Your Employees

When running a business you really need to make sure that your employees work to their full potential. To do so you need to build a good relationship with them, starting from the first time you meet. You must make them feel welcome, rather than making them feel like a distraction from your own work.

It is important for you to allow your new employees to work at their own pace. Even if people have experience in the relevant field they will still take time to adjust, as although they may have done a similar role in their previous job, every company does things a little different. Although it is important to set targets, you must give your new employees targets that are easy to reach, and possibly surpass. Once they have learned the ropes you can start setting them more difficult targets; targets that they will really have to push themselves to achieve. If they have high aspirations they will work hard to try to meet these goals.

You must also allow your staff the chance to progress. You should provide training for anyone who wants it, so that they can learn new skills in a bid to move up the ladder. Doing the same thing day in day out can get very stale, and so if people are not given the opportunity to move up, you might soon find them moving on. You wouldn’t want to lose your best employees.

If you fulfil your employee’s aspirations, they should be happy. But you can always make them happier. People often feel like they’re stuck with their colleagues, that they have no say in the matter, which I guess would be true. But if your employees become friends, then they’ll look forward to coming to work, and work will be more fun. You may want to think about organising a staff night out or a team bonding trip. Events like these will always bring people closer together, meaning that when it comes to work, they will work better with each other.

Finally, to get the best out of your employees, you need to treat them as equals. Always listen to what they have to say, and take their opinions into account, because you will probably need them more than they need you.