Take the first step

Lao Tzu said "that a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step", or for the pedantic amongst us " a journey of a thousand leagues begins beneath ones feet"







Sometimes that first step seems gargantuan.

The majority of people never take that first step, you know the excuses

• I cannot because,
• what if,
• what will people think

A million excuses but if you are one of the few who take that first step, the journey never seems as hard or as long.

Best of all the pride you feel at the end of the journey or even half way through as you look back cannot be beaten.

Take that first step

ps. take a second one too and then one after that and so on. Even small steps in the right direction will get you there.

Lesson of the day! (for me)

Yet again I discoverd today that doing the tough stuff is in fact not so tough.

I, for one, am guilty of making mountains out of molehills, overanalysing possibilities and over preparing plans to deal with the endless possible consequences. The result - "paralysis by analysis" and procrastination.

Perhaps I am particularly hard to teach but I constantly have to relearn the lesson of

1. Pick the issue that needs to be dealt with.


2. Decide on a plan of action.


3. Schedule the issue into my day.


4. Address the issue and get it resolved.

Scheduling has generally made me much more effecient - vastly more so than preparing a general todo list. With my todo list, it was always overfull (impossible to get done in one day anyway) and of course you tend to focus on the tasks you like and enjoy leaving the others at the bottom of the list to carry over into the next day - the result (for me) nagging guilt and dis-satisfaction.

Scheduling and addressing the less pleasant tasks and doing them:

• Leaves you feeling fulfilled having completed the task.


• You frequently find that the task was not as hard or time consuming as you first thought.


• You often discover that the task was not that unpleasant anyway.


• Most importantly you learn how to deal with the particular issue and from learning comes growth and an ability to deal with the issue better the next time.

What now for investment?

Unfortunatley, many of us have now discovered the risks of investing in stocks, bonds, contracts for difference and all sorts of other financial products dreamed up by financiers and bankers.

Here in Ireland the banking horror stories seem to come one upon the other.

Anglo Irish Bank, the third largest in the state, has just been Nationalised, as it has been reported in the papers that its previously respected CEO and Chairman, Sean Fitzpatrick, had successfully hidden up to €130 million in personal loans from the banks auditors, the financial regulators and even some of his fellow board members by "bed and breakfasting" his loan with another financial institution whenever the inspectors came to have a look at the books!

Warren Buffett is quoted as saying "It's not until the tide goes out that you know who is swimming without trunks" and it is now apparent that many of the the banks and finace houses have been swimming nude!

Intrest rates have fallen to historical lows with the bank of England rate now at rates not seen since Winston Churchill was in power.

Those with money in the banks are receiving so little interest that they are actually losing money annually comapred to inflation and it seems impossible to make a good stock pick in the current climate.

Commodity prices have fallen in line with decreasing demand from the largest of the world's economies and now with decreasing demand from the emerging economies.

Land and house prices are falling.

But.....land is real, commodities are real, these are tangible assets. Although price and demand for commodities may fall in the short term, increasing world population and conicident increases in demand for commodities will make them a solid long term bet.

When it comes to land - guess what - they just ain't making any more of it....need I say more.

See the wood from the trees

What differentiates great military leaders from inferior ones.

Is it the ability to inspire?

Is it the ability to train others?

Is it education?

Is is bravery?

Well these may contribute but the primary difference between great military leaders and inferior ones is their ability to see the whole battlefield.

To have that overview - the so called helicopter view.

In business you need to "see the wood from the trees", to blow away the fog of confusion and see the entire view.

When planning a victory military leaders look at the big picture and within that big picture are smaller battles, within those smaller battles are smaller skirmishes, to get to the smaller skirmishes are deployments.

If you start with directionless deployment and don't see the big picture will you win the war? - well you might but more by luck than by design.

When you start with directionless deployment the possible future outcomes are endless and victory is just one of those possible outcomes. If however you start with the big picture, see the end point and then plan back from that to the point at which you are now, then all you have to do is reverse the plan and execute it to get to your desired end point and victory.

This is abslutely true in business. You need to have your eye on the big picture all the time.

Remember the military strategy of reverse planning. Once you see the big picture use it!

"We read to know we're not alone"

I very much liked the film Shadowlands, with Anthony Hopkins. The film details a period in C. S. Lewis's life (Lewis wrote the the Chronicles of Narnia amongst other things). Lewis is introduced to us in the film as a man who feels that all pain should be suffered with patience. But he discovers that the simple rules by which he lives no longer apply when his own wife, Joy Gresham is afflicted by cancer and ultimately dies.

During the course of the film, C S Lewis (Hopkins) says "we read to know we are not alone". It seems to be a matter of debate as to whether Lewis ever actually uttered these words but it is a great line and all budding entrepreneurs should take it on board.

As entrepreneur, you don't have to be alone. Guess what no matter how bad things may seem for you right now , someone else out there has probably made all the same mistakes as you - only ten times worse. So learn from others. Alterately, business may be going well, but guess what I bet it can go better - a lot better!

There are lots of great books out there and with the rise of blogging and the internet, the support rescource of reading is even more accessible. The weight of shared emotional experience cannot be underestimated, so put some time aside and read!

I am currently reading "The E myth revisited" by Michael E. Gerber. It's a great book for small business owners and it divides our characters into three portions "The Entrepreneur", "The Manager" and "The Technician". Unfortunately these are not equal divisions! From that unequal division many of our business diffculties emenate.

If you are a small business owner (successfull or not) have a look at this book, I guarantee you'll see a lot of yourself in there!

There are a number of blogs out there recommending various publications and blogs for entrepreneurs:Diane K. Danielsons Top Shelf Reading Picks - book abd blog reviews for savvy entrpreneurs. Bootstrappers the 100 daily must reads for entrepreneurs

Ps. When nobody's looking I still reach into the backs of wardrobes and give a little push - I haven't found the door to Narnia yet but I still believe!

Show me the numbers! I'll show you the money!

Show me the numbers, they contain the answers and I'll show you the money.

How do you carry out this supercritical analysis of your business?

Simple you put in place systems to monitor the numbers (so called key performance indicators - KPI's) and then guess what you do - you look at those numbers on a regular basis and make informed decisions. Otherwise there you are up to your eyeballs, trying to manage every aspect of your business, you come up with a brilliant plan. You put the brilliant plan into action and then your distracted by another brilliant plan, crisis, disaster, success whatever. 8 months later you look at the figures and all your successes have been wiped out by the poor performing "brilliant plan" that has been steadily losing you money in the background! Worse you discover that one of your less brilliant ideas was actually quite successful and was making money and with a little adjustment could have made lots of money! Ouch!

You wish you'ld looked at those numbers earlier.

Find out what works and do more of that.

Find out what doesnt and do less or preferably no more of that.

Churchill said "success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" - an entrepreneurs motto perhaps?

An admirable quality but Churchill also boasted decisiveness, self-discipline and attention to detail. Need it be said that these qualities, too, are to an entrepreneur's advantage? Perhaps the entrepreneurs motto should be "success is going fom failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm but when you find success act upon it, act decisively, pour your time, energy and money into it, capitalise on it, make it grow and make it great!"

Additional revenue opportunities

You must be absolutely self critical and super analytical at all times, about your product, sales processs, aftersales , repeat sales.

In the process of this continual self-analysis keep your eyes open for other revenue opportunities. You'ld be amazed where they lie. Ideally look for opportunities where you do the work once and it brings in an ongoing revenue stream without any additional work (other than collecting the money / auditing the return - what a nice problem to have).

In my business we provided a free additional service for our existing clients. The clients loved the extra service and it kept them coming back for more. With a careful look at what we were doing and a very simply set up crossmarketing agreement our clients now get exactly the same service and we earn an additional revenue stream of between €750 and €1,000 per month for doing it. Ok it's not a kings ransom but a return of €10,000 per annum beats the hell out of our previous return which was a big duck egg €0.

How did I find this opportunity?

1. I stopped


2. I took a breath


3. I looked for it.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the helter skelter hamster wheels of running our business that we miss the opportunities that stare us straight in the face.

My business also runs a blog. We run some adsense ads between the posts. It took about 1/2 an hour to set up the adsens account. Low and behold we currently bring in about $45 per month with visitors clicking on the links. Not a kings ransom but it pays for the coffee and biscuits in the office! Half an hours work and it brings in $500 per year.

Schedule some time every day to stop, look and think. It's not wasted time and it just might increase your revenue. Regular recurrent income without additional work is gold dust - look for it.