Over the past 15 years, I have consulted and coached new entrepreneurs, who were considering leaving the paycheck comfort of a salary job to becoming part of the You Economy.
Many are aware of Wim Hof’s widely popular training course and the book What Doesn’t Kill Us by Scott Carney. After reading the resources and watching video’s of Wim Hof and a nudging from a great friend, (Georgeta – accountability partner -who had just purchased the program), it was time to test out the entire course to see if there was some value to it.
The P.I.S.C Concepts for Change Thoughts
Do you have a home office? It does not matter if you are an entrepreneur, work in your pajamas technology employee or 1099 subcontractor, setting up your home office correctly is important, but making sure that the home office does not run your life in many cases, is the bigger challenge.
Build momentum into 2017 by asking your top 3 customers what it would take to get an incremental increase in business within your specialty. Ask about what your competitors are doing and how you can assist for a small percentage of increased business.
One of the ongoing challenges many founders will face at some point is the dreaded capital raise beyond friends and family. I have not met many entrepreneurs’ who actually enjoy the idea of going out to the market and asking for money. This year has been a typical year for us evaluating over 100 capital raise deals and most will never get funded for one specific reason – the PASSION is not directed to what matters most – EXECUTION.
In the past two weeks, three close colleagues in the “big” corporate world sent the dreaded email to me – “Wayne, I wanted to reach out to see how you might be able to help with my next job search and contacts as my job was just eliminated?” Their roles were Chief Financial Officer, Chief Marketing Officer and VP Sales (Pharma, Manufacturing and Banking industries). Downsizing, slow business growth and wage costs were the reasons for their new job searches.
Recently, I was speaking with a good friend who was considering leaving his long-term employer (financial services industry) and starting a business around his life passion of wine. He has become quite the expert in the space and has a unique idea centered on education and an online inventory platform. From a 10,000-foot viewpoint his concept appears to offer value to the market and he has a following of fans that love his content within this wide space of the wine industry.
Most of us that are involved in sales spend too much time chasing opportunities that aren’t’ significant enough to make a difference in sales results. The key is to move sales efforts to selecting higher-value targets. Targets could be defined as key ambassador’s, center’s of influence, conferences and the big one – current clients. Each should be evaluated to eliminate the “black hole” of wasted time. To win the dream clients/relationships it comes down to nurturing relationships. It’s imperative to pursue them over time, playing the long game.