Feel the Force - Become a Business Jedi

  I was chatting to Damien earlier this week who laughed to say he was in Birmingham last weekend and left his keys in his car.  First a call to the local Lockforce technician who couldn’t help. Car locks are a special type of work and some of the team can open car doors. Then a few calls to some other locksmiths who quoted £200-£300 to gain entry!!  Eventually he found someone who was offering a reasonable £75 but was on a job and couldn’t make it until 9pn {about a 2 hour wait).  Damien didn’t want to wait so ended up ringing his brother to arrange the spare keys to be driven to Birmingham.    However, just before 9pm the locksmith who was busy sent a follow up text to Damien to see if he had got the situation sorted.  And guess what, Damien told him that he was still waiting to get a solution and a short time later the locksmith has retrieved the keys and Damien was sorted. This local locksmith was a very wise man to send a follow up text to see if ...

Check out this image....    This is from a workbook from a recent conference I attended. As you know I try and attend a few external conferences to extend, or reinforce, my knowledge. This picture resonated with me so much as I know it to be true for so many business owners. So my question to you is...... Where is your AIM? I appreciate that is quite a big question so let's just start with the current year... 2024. Have you got a Sales Target (aim) for this current year? Or maybe you work to the tax year which ends in a few weeks? And if you have a bigger AIM for the future does your aim for 2024 get you closer to where you want to be..? I have attached a link in this blogger to a spreadsheet that may help you calculate your AIM for the current year.  Sales calculator (stress free sales) The sheet works to a monthly Sales figure which should help to assess what level of sales you require each month. Simply download the file and fill in the yellow cells and see what is sho...

 This is a visual that I captured at the Entrepreneurs Circle. "Know the difference between your task and your purpose." Just think about that for a moment........ Your task is doing the things you need to do to get the job done... that is your TASK, whereas your purpose is to create a successful business with "loyal" customers that use you time and time again, refer you to friends and talk to others about you. However, creating "Loyal" customers is not that easy and in the majority of cases requires way more than just getting the job done.  Customers expect you to do the job they have employed you to do, so that alone is unlikely to create Loyal customers. Let's be clear, doing the job alone with not hurt your business but is less likely to drive it forward. It normally requires you to create a memorable moment (or TNT is you ever listened to Adrian Webster at our previous conferences).... a "wow" moment. From experience it is the little ...

 Running your own business is about making the money you need to have the life you want...    But running your own business and making money IS NOT easy….   No one should tell you otherwise.    And then when you make money you have to learn what to do next….   I have included the picture as I thought it was quite thought provoking….. 🤷 ‍ ♂ ️ 🤔   Personally, I don’t like the reference to “Rich” and “Poor” but I like the concept they are trying to show. I have been involved in the Forces Group for 9 years. (I know, for me it feels like only yesterday when we first got involved.)   And over the years I have always aimed to pay myself a salary so I can pay the bills and live my life without too many frills and spills, but after that I am constantly looking at investing back into the business, which makes the business stronger which in turn protects the life I have.   So are you thinking the right way…. what could you be d...

 Have you ever heard the expression  “working ON your business or IN your business”.     In simple terms….   Working IN your business is about doing the physical day to day operation of your business. (money today)   Working ON your business is doing the thinking, analysis and actions that will move you (and / or your business) forward beyond what it is doing today (money future)   As a solopreneur this can be hard to find the time to work ON your business, particularly when it is the actual doing when you see the £’s coming into your bank account.   However, it is the working ON your business where the biggest change can happen!!! Amongst many, many other things it is about understanding the numbers in your business, reviewing the numbers in your business making changes (take action) to impact the numbers in your business etc…. having a marketing strategy, working on your marketing strategy etc… ...

I was with a franchise recently and he received an inbound call from a 0161 (Manchester) number. He immediately rejected the call and mumbled about it being “another bloody sales call”. The number was actually 0161 820 6080 …. and is our outsourced team that deal with some of our phone calls. They are called MIPA and are based in Manchester. They receive calls from the website, put the customers details on the Ops system and will look to patch the customer through to you directly. So I would recommend that you save the NUMBER to your phone and label it accordingly so you know what to expect if they call you. Yes, you will pay commission on the job if it is successful but better to get the job than not. As an aside I know that many franchisees ignore calls from dial codes outside of their area assuming that they are sales calls. Personally I would not ignore any call as it could be a genuine prospect. And if you are getting sales calls then look to block the number. You can...

  When it comes to understanding why certain businesses are thriving and their counterparts are not, there is a very common theme. There’s ONE thing that’s common to them all... This one thing makes selling their product or service easier, makes charging a higher price easier, makes getting their brand out there more accessible, makes finding better staff easier, and keeps customers buying easier. That one thing is... To differentiate what they do from their competition. Sounds obvious, right? But can you honestly answer this: “Why should someone buy my product or service from me, rather than from my competitor?" If you look at any business and compare them to their competitors, 95% of them are the same — just a different logo. They’re selling the same stuff at the same price to the same audience while claiming they care more and that their service is better, or that they are more trustworthy. This mindset means these businesses will struggle. So how do you d...