Posts Tagged ‘Growing A Business’

What’s so good about a MasterMind Group?

A MasterMind Group is sometimes known as a peer group mentoring forum or a Boardroom forum.

These groups simulate the many different roles that it takes to run a successful business and giving a business owner independent advice from people with no hidden agenda.

I often get asked, “Why would anyone want to join a mentoring group with people who know nothing about each other’s businesses?”

There are three excellent answers to this:

1) The product or service a business delivers may be different but the process of running and growing a business has many generic activities. Almost everyone who starts a business has had experience of other businesses and brings many skills and lots of expertise to a group.

2) The process used in the most successful MasterMind Groups produces a situation where solutions are created from the combined efforts of the group members and do not rely on one person’s pre-existing knowledge.

and

3) One of the major benefits of a well run MasterMind Group is accountability. The members commit to certain actions and keep each other on track.

Napoleon Hill holding book 1937 Whats so good about a MasterMind Group? If people have heard of MasterMind Groups its usually in relation to Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich”.

Hill established that many of the successful people he interviewed in the 1930s attributed part of their success to meeting with a peer group on a regular basis to discuss ideas and create new solutions to problems.  He describes the process as  ” When two people come together to discuss ideas it is a s though a third person appears with ideas that the others would not have thought of on their own.”

What do a potter, a metalworker, a doctor an engineer and a preacher have in common?

There are many wonderful examples of MasterMind Groups working to create success for their members but for me, one of the most powerful examples occurred long before Napoleon Hill wrote his famous book.

When the potter is Josiah Wedgewood, the metalworker is Matthew Boulton, the doctor is Erasmus Darwin, the engineer is James Watt and the preacher is Joseph Priestly the ideas produced quite literally changed the world.

Steam trains, electricity, canals, mass manufacturing, the discovery of new gases, processes and materials accompanied dramatic social and educational reforms in the middle of the 18th Century that brought about the Industrial Revolution and great wealth but for the original group of friends the support they gave each other was crucial.

Lunar Society 150x150 Whats so good about a MasterMind Group? Known as the Lunar Society because they met when the moon was full to aid their journeys, these men worked together to break down physical, social and educational barriers.

The internet has brought down even more of these barriers and made it easy to collaborate, to produce great ideas and to take the idea of MasterMinds to new levels.

When Napoleon Hill wrote “Think and Grow Rich” he meant think as in develop the ability to think, to process ideas and solve problems. By rich he meant not just monetary wealth but knowledge, discipline and fulfilment of potential.

All of this is achieved by mastery of the mind.

A Master Mind Group is exactly that: an opportunity for you to develop mastery of your mind, to think and grow rich with the support of a peer group.

If you would like to join us or have questions about how to get involved, just give me a call on 07711 705038.

How to grow a business

Why so many businesses don’t grow

leadenhall st b How to grow a business Lots of people have great ideas for businesses.

Lots of people start new businesses.

Not many grow them into thriving enterprises that provide employment and contribute significantly to the economy of the country.

Too many people spend all their time working IN their business and hardly any time at all working ON it.

There’s nothing wrong with “lifestyle” businesses if that’s what you set out to achieve but so many people set out with different aims: to build a business that can exist without them; that can be sold; that won’t die when they retire; that will provide them with a pension; that provides other people with a good living; that is more than simply swapping their time for money.

A good idea is not enough to grow a great company.

Being great at what you do does not mean that you have a great company.

Companies consist of three main things:

Product      +      Process     +     People

Many businesses have a good product and great people but it’s the processes that allow them to grow.

This means that any job does not rely on just one person being able to do it.

Invest as much in the processes as you do in the product and the people.

Poor pricing is what keeps most businesses small.

Too many new businesses think they have to compete on price in order to get into the market. This is only true if everything else you have to offer is unremarkable and will only work if your whole business model is based on very small margins.

Keeping control of cash flow and understanding management accounts is probably THE most important factor in growing a business.

Money allows you to take the right business decisions at the right time but often the biggest decision that needs to be made isn’t a financial one but “Are you the right person to run your business?” Just because you started it doesn’t mean you have the right skills or temperament to do the day to day work of managing it.

If your aim is to grow a business rather than create a job for yourself, assuming that you already have a great idea,  these are the top tips to make it work:

  1. Get enough capital before you start. Working just to cover your own wages is not a business.
  2. Estimate what you need and how long it will take to turn a profit and then double it.
  3. Don’t do any job that you can hire someone else to do better or quicker.
  4. Understand the finances of how a business works. It’s the most important job.
  5. Invest in processes so that no one person is irreplaceable – especially you.

If you are frustrated because your business isn’t growing as you’d like it to, give me a call. Sometimes a fresh perspective finds simple solutions that you are too close to see. I’ve seen lots of ‘slap head’ moments when talking to business owners about what can be done to make real progress! Call me on 07711 705038.

 

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