Hey, Mark here with a quick update about this evergreen interview series and my other podcast, The Podcast Accelerator (https://www.markasquith.com/listen).

How would you define the entrepreneurial spirit? Would it be the ability to zone in on problems and provide solutions? Would it be the knack of finding exactly the right product that flies off the shelves as soon as it’s stocked? Or would it be a flair for marketing and salesmanship? Well, all of those are part of it, but according to our guest on this episode of the number one small business podcast, Bob Burg, the entrepreneurial spirit is embodied by those who always strive to bring value to those around them.

You can bring value to those around you as a small business owner, but owning your own business isn’t required to have the entrepreneurial spirit. Even if you are working for someone else, you can always strive to bring value to your employer. Working this way could create opportunities for you to become an ‘intrepreneur’, or someone who works to create opportunities for themselves at the same time as for their employer. This can be a great way to get started in business as it means you can focus on your own projects outside working hours without having to worry about how you’re going to cover your expenses. Starting to think of your own enterprise without cutting ties and risking it all is a much more comfortable way of doing things

If you’re in business, then providing value for your clients can be the differentiator between you and your competitors. These days, technology has levelled the playing field for most products in terms of price and selection, so providing additional value that can help you stand out from the competition is a must. Bob’s five elements of value are excellence, consistency, attention, empathy and appreciation. If you can show these elements of value during all your client interactions, then you will soon have clients for life.

Money is an echo of value! People spend their money where they feel they are getting value. 

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

Can a subtle shift in focus have a profound effect on my business?

About Bob:

Bob Burg is a world-renowned speaker, sales trainer and author. His books have sold more than a million copies and his most successful, The Go-Giver, has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Bob has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and salespeople achieve their goals by adjusting their focus.

Bob’s Actionable Tips:

* Learn from others. Cut down your learning curve by learning from other people. Read books, watch videos, listen to talks – always be a learner!
* Focus on providing value to others. Don’t focus on the money. Of course, money’s important, but if you really want to make a lot of it, you should be focusing on providing value. By doing this and providing real value, clients will continue coming back to you again and again. Money is an echo of value!
* Remember that people will do things for their own reasons. We shouldn’t focus on telling people about us and our business, but on listening to their needs and desires.



Top Quotes:

* “I define a system as simply the process for predictably achieving a goal based on a logical and specific set of how-to principles. The key is predictability.”
* “Anyone can be entrepreneurial whether or not they’ve started their own business.”
* “Many hugely successful entrepreneurs started their businesses part-time. They did it in a very comfortable way.”
* “It’s about shifting one’s focus from getting to giving.”
* “Money is an echo of value. The value must come first."

Bob’s Links:

* Bob’s Site (http://www.burg.com/)
* The Go-Giver Site (http://www.thegogiver.com/)
* The Go-Giver – Bob Burg (http://goo.

When running a small business, it can be hard to say no to new opportunities that present themselves. Your friends and colleagues will always be introducing their latest ideas to you and deciding which ones are deserving of your time can be tough. Entrepreneurs are like magpies, dazzled by the latest shiny new object. We love to find innovative new ways of solving problems, useful products and the next big thing in services. And that’s all part of the fun of being an entrepreneur, but if we’re not careful, we can end up committing our time to too many projects and spreading ourselves too thinly.

Formulating ideas are often the most exciting part of new businesses, those one sentence pitches that capture the imagination and set the cogs turning in our minds. However, this excitement can blind us from the reality of developing an idea into a business. Ideas, as exciting as they are, are cheap. It’s the execution that takes an idea and makes it a realistic business proposition. And execution can be difficult, time-consuming and costly and there are no guarantees that they’ll be any return on our efforts.

We all want to find new opportunities and grow as entrepreneurs but taking on every new opportunity will dilute our attention, time and money. How, then, can we assess each new opportunity to see if it’s something that’s right for us at this moment in time? Well, I’ve found that if I’m really honest about my ultimate goal or goals in life and business, then by asking just one simple question, I can decide what’s right for me right now and what I need to pass on. Everyone’s ultimate goal is going to be different and remember this is an ultimate goal, not just a goal for the next year or even the next five years. This should be a goal for the next ten or twenty years. Maybe your ultimate goal is to run a business that lets you spend more time with your family. Maybe it’s to create a business that allows you to be location independent. Or maybe it’s to retire before you’re 50 years old. Whatever your ultimate goal is, you need to be certain of it and you need to keep it in mind when an opportunity arises.

The question that you need to ask yourself about any new opportunity is this: By saying yes to this, am I going to get closer to or further away from my ultimate goal?

By asking this question, we can validate new opportunities against ourselves and our long term goals. It helps us to say yes or no to things with some confidence and not just through arbitrary feelings. Whether we say yes or no, this question leaves us in a much better position that simply going with our gut. Perhaps we say yes because we think that the opportunity will take us closer to that ultimate goal. Great! And if we say no, we know that we are saying no because we’ve assessed the opportunity against what we want to achieve in the long term.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I better assess and deal with opportunities as they arise?

Actionable Tips:

* Have a very clear plan where you want to be in 10-20 years and set your ultimate goal. What is your ultimate goal? You need to create stepping stones to that ultimate goal and you can’t do this without having a clear idea of what it is. Is it financial freedom? Is it to have the flexibility to spend more time with your family? Is it to be a billionaire? Everyone’s ultimate goal is going to be unique to them.
* Never turn down the opportunity to listen to an idea. Don’t turn away opportunities because you feel too busy. Listen to pitches, get the facts and learn as much as you can. Let people tell you what they have in mind. Listening to an idea is in no way a commitment and you never know when you are going to come across the next opportunity that will take you closer to your ultimate goal.
* Validate opportunities against yourself.

Running a small business at the same time as looking after a family can place huge demands on your time. Add in a couple of hours a week (if you’re lucky!) for yourself and there really isn’t a great deal of time to deal with anything unexpected or urgent. If something like that occurs, something is going to get bumped and you’re going to be in trouble in one or more areas of your life. Productivity, therefore, is always on an entrepreneur’s mind.

But are you thinking about productivity in the right way? Is productivity just a to-do list of activities to get done before 9 o’clock? Or is it something much deeper? On this solo episode of Excellence Expected, I’m going to take you through what I believe productivity to be and how I strive to be more productive every day in my own life.

Actually, I don’t really like using the word ‘productivity’ as I feel that it gives people the idea that productivity is an end point, a destination. If you want to be able to run 10 miles, you have a defined goal in mind and once it’s been achieved you can move on to your next target. Job done! Productivity isn’t like that though. As you, your business and your life change, what it means to be productive will change too. Even if you’re doing the same things every day, there will always be ways in which you can improve your impact. There will always be new ways you can experiment with your working processes and time management. In my mind, productivity is a continuous process of development and, for me, ‘productivity optimization’ is a better way to think of it. It’s a deeper mind-set that you adopt not a series of quick and easy hacks!

Seeing productivity as a process of optimization allows you to constantly break new ground in how you use your time effectively. It allows you to experiment, test out new ideas of how best to use your time, and win back some precious time for yourself.

Giving yourself the time and space to test out new ways of doing things can be difficult, especially if you are working with other people who are frequently looking to you for guidance or support. On the journey of productivity optimization, you need to be a little ruthless with your time. Perhaps people come to you for help because they know that you will drop everything to help them out. Of course, we all want to help people, but you need to ask if their request can wait half an hour, an hour, or until this afternoon? More often than not, it can wait and by putting people off temporarily you will have created a buffer around yourself that will allow you to focus on your most important and urgent tasks. There are going to be times when you need to drop everything, but the vast majority of requests can be handled a little later.

Productivity is a journey, not a destination and productivity optimization requires testing, tweaks and refinements every day to get the most from your time.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I manage to stay productive when there are so many demands on my time?

Actionable Tips:

* Treat productivity as a journey, not a destination. People often treat productivity as something akin to a fitness goal, something that has defined parameters. Productivity is not a promised land that we reach, it is a process that continues every day. We should all be striving for continually productivity optimization. Measure and test new tweaks to find out what works and what doesn’t. Each day can be a step towards further optimization.
* Don’t treat your different projects and work outlets as siloes. Put all of your work from your different projects into one pot and prioritize each of the tasks that you need to do based on their urgency and importance. By keeping everything together and not trying to split your time into different segments. This can not only make you more effective,

How many things are you focusing on right now? If you’re anything like most other entrepreneurs, it is probably far too many and it still might not feel like it’s enough. This magpie syndrome that most of us have is both a gift and a curse. We’re idea machines, but it can be so tough keeping our minds on the task in hand. And if we’re focusing on so many different things, are we really focusing at all?

We all want that laser-focus so we can get the most out of our businesses and achieve fulfilment in life. However, we often get caught up in what we feel that we should be doing and not what we actually want or need to do. What is it that you actually want from life? And how are you going to achieve it? You need to be a little bit ruthless with your time and cut out the things that you don’t feel are going to get you nearer to your goals. Remember, only you can define what those goals are.

It’s a great idea to get hold of a notebook or use an app to keep track of the things that you want to achieve during each day. Twenty minutes spent planning your tasks in the morning could save you two hours over the course of your working day. Keeping a visual record of your tasks near you during the day is a fantastic way to overcome procrastination and get the most out of your time.

Our guest on this episode of the number one small business podcast is the co-founder and CEO of Lemonly, John T Meyer. John has his own criteria for deciding if something deserves the required focus. Perhaps it will be different for you, but it’s something to consider as inspiration is a finite resource. We sometimes need to stop doing something to be able to focus on something else. John’s criteria for working out if a project will be fulfilling are:

* 1) Am I learning from this process?
* 2) Am I having fun?
* 3) Do I enjoy working with these people?

Which questions would apply to your goals?

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I find the one thing to focus on?

About John:

John Meyer is the co-founder and CEO of Lemonly, an innovative visual marketing company that specializes in infographics and data visualization. They aim to make data more digestible for a wider audience and they have worked with a wide variety of clients including the NFL, Smithsonian Museum and The Grammys.

John’s here with us on this episode of your favourite small business podcast to discuss focus and productivity, specifically how we can figure out what is most important to us and what we should be spending our time and energy on.

Actionable Tips:

* Find the 80/20 in your business. Pareto’s Law is a principle that illustrates the uneven balance between inputs and outputs. 80% of the results in your business could come from just 20% of the input. Applying this formula to your business and your life can be incredibly powerful. Grab a piece of paper and draw a T. On the left, write the activities that you do that you feel are a waste of time. On the right, write down the high value activities that you do. These are the activities that really make your business better or life more fulfilled, that really have an impact. You’re probably going to see a lot of rubbish on the left and a few nuggets of gold on the right. This visualization can help you identify what you should be focussing on to improve your life and your business.
* 8 for the Day - Spend 20 minutes to save yourself 2 hours. If you spend 20 minutes planning your day, you could probably save 2 hours. You need to maximize your time as best you can. Try this out – In the morning, write down 8 things (6 professional and 2 personal) that you want to achieve that day. If you do this every day, you will see that your focus and productivity improve.
* Determine your business’ unfair advantage.

Regardless of who you are or what you do, there are going to be times when you get stuck. It’s an inevitable part of life that everyone goes through from time to time. What’s not inevitable however, is getting unstuck. Some people just can’t get going again and others can’t even tell that they are stuck in the first place.

More often than not, the reasons that people get stuck in their personal or professional lives is down to the perceptions that they have of themselves and others. This is especially the case when it comes to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Am I good enough? How is their business doing? Are we on the right track? Many of these thought patterns come from a desire to succeed and are completely natural, but when they start to affect you negatively then you run the risk of getting stuck. Strategic thinking is extremely useful, ruminating on the same things again and again is not. What’s needed when you start to think like this is a shift in perception.

Perhaps you’re thinking that that is easier said than done, and you’d be right. But our minds and thoughts can be rewired to perceive things in new and healthier ways more easily than you may have thought.

Our guest on this episode of your favourite small business podcast is Emmanuel Wolfe who works a speaker, coach and podcaster. Emmanuel aims to help those who have been stuck change their perceptions of themselves and the situations they find themselves in. Manny’s going to discuss in more detail some powerful techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy and how these techniques can alter how you perceive things by changing the nature of your thoughts and your inner monologue. Changing your perceptions can even be as simple as taking action instead of ruminating, getting some vigorous exercise or connecting with your friends and family rather than hiding away.

Remember, pessimists and optimists experience the same events, but different thought patterns determine their perceptions and feeling about these events. Not only are optimists healthier and calmer, but they are also more resilient in the face of adversity. Isn’t it time to get unstuck?

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I get unstuck and shift my perception in order to become deeply effective?

About Emmanuel:

Emmanuel Wolfe is a podcaster, speaker, coach and author. He specializes in coaching people on how to become their optimal selves through a variety of techniques including the latest in motivational psychology, the latest neuroscience breakthroughs and good old fashioned hard work.

Emmanuel is here with us on this episode of the number one small business podcast to discuss how we can change our perceptions of ourselves, our abilities and our pasts to get out of a rut and achieve a new level of excellence.

Actionable Tips:

* We get caught up in analysis, it turns into analysis paralysis. In most cases, imperfect action is better than no action. If you’re stuck, it’s better to try some things that don’t work than to sit at home and ruminate. Try something, however small it is. Don’t confuse thinking about doing things with actually doing things as some entrepreneurs do.
* It clears your head, elevates your mood and releases endorphins.
* Connect with others. When you’re stuck, seek help from others. Talk to your friends and family. Reach out. Do something, exercise and reach out.



Top Quotes:

* “Your message doesn’t mean anything if nobody listens to it.”
* “The perceptions are all wrong but we have the ability to rewire them.”
* “Not even the paragons of a certain industry will work for everyone.”
* “Do something, exercise and reach out!”

Emmanuel’s Links:

Creating a business is one thing, but growing a business is quite another. Very few of us are content with ticking along. We all want to experience as much growth as we can and we want to achieve it as quickly as possible. We’ll often try lots of different things to make this happen, but is the key to rapid growth more fundamental than we many of us think?

Our guest on this episode of your favourite small business podcast is Jim Palmer, the Newsletter Guru. Jim’s experienced a lot of rapid growth across a number of different business ventures. The key to growth, according to Jim, is to focus on the fundamentals. And there is nothing more fundamental to running a business than the relationship you have with your customers.

People get caught up in doing what they think they should be doing and they lose focus of what they actually should be doing. We think we should be using social media to promote the business, getting the website into tiptop shape or designing the perfect marketing materials. These things are all important but they should come after you have focused on, build and nurtured your client relationships. Without solid, genuine relationships with your clientele, you won’t be able to grow as quickly as you would like. New businesses come along every day and it’s those that see serving their customers as an honour that survive and thrive Those who see their customers as just numbers on a balance sheet, do not.

If you can cultivate and look after a core customer base, then those customers will do a great deal of organic marketing on your behalf and bring in many new customers through word-of-mouth. People are much more likely to become your customer after listening to the recommendation of a trusted friend than after seeing an advert on social media.

Jim’s advice is to take it back to basics. Remember, your customers have the power to fire everyone in your business, so serve every customer well and you could make them customers for life. This is the foundation on which rapid growth is built.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I kickstart my business’s growth?

About Jim:

Jim is a marketing expert, business coach and the man known worldwide as the Newsletter Guru. Jim also produces a number of business related podcasts and web TV shows that aim to help entrepreneurs build their businesses using his unique brand of smart marketing and growth strategies.

Jim has written several books on marketing, growth and client retention and he also speaks at conferences and networking events around the world.

Actionable Tips:

* Serve first. It’s always about serving your clients. Your customer has the power to fire everyone in your company, simply by deciding to do business elsewhere. It’s an honour to have customers and there is a reciprocal nature to your relationship with them.
* Tell them what else. It’s your job to tell your customers what else you do, inform them and let them know how you can serve them.
* Raise your prices. Far too many people don’t charge an appropriate amount based on the value they are receiving from the customers’ perspective.



Top Quotes:

* “Long-term, sustainable, profitable businesses are always built on powerful relationships.”
* “You can’t force trust, you’ve got to keep serving and developing your relationships.”
* “Authenticity means being who you are in an authentic way as it relates to business.”

Jim’s Links:

* Jim’s Site (http://www.getjimpalmer.com/)
* Exclusive Excellence Expected Content (http://getjimpalmer.com/excellence)

Key Timestamps:

* Challenged Issue

The interconnected world of today has made living our lives and running our businesses a lot more straightforward. Keeping up with international clients, monitoring cash flow and sharing ideas with colleagues are just some of the business activities that can be handled at the touch of a button. However, as we become more connected, we are also becoming more vulnerable.

Protecting ourselves and our businesses needn’t take up too much of our time and can start with some basic steps. For example, how many times have you been to a café and connected to their open Wi-Fi without giving it a second thought? I know I’ve done that more times that I can remember. Connecting to an unencrypted, public Wi-Fi network is a potentially dangerous thing to do as an attacker within reception range of the router can insert themselves as a ‘man-in-the-middle’, receiving your data without you even noticing. E-mails, banking information, passwords and whatever else you have stored in your phone could be accessed using this method. If you’re using an unencrypted public Wi-Fi, don’t use your phone for anything sensitive. It’s much safer to use an encrypted network which is one requiring a password. If you can use a VPN (virtual private network) at the same time, then even better.

Keeping the software on your personal computer and any other machines used for business is another simple and effective way to combat malicious attacks. Every time you receive a notification to update something, there is a good reason to do so. Usually patches and updates are a response to a vulnerability or exploit that has been found and could be used to gain access to a system. Malicious attackers target those who haven’t updated their software because they can use these vulnerabilities to gain access to their systems. So, next time you see a notification alerting you that it’s time to update, update!

Another great way to keep things secure is to choose your passwords wisely. Hackers can use vast online dictionaries to brute force their way into systems and accounts. The entries in these dictionaries number into the hundreds of millions and sophisticated algorithms can go through them all in a matter of minutes. Therefore, however obscure your password, there is a good chance that part of it features in one of these dictionaries. The key then, is to use a password that couldn’t possibly feature in one. Gobbledegook, long strings of words joined together or memorable nonsense are all good ways to select a password. Use a service like Last Pass, and you’ll only need to regularly remember one password to access all your favourite sites.

Joining us on this episode of Excellence Expected is network security expert Dr Kevin Curran of the University of Ulster. Kevin’s going to take us through some of the risks that we may overlook and what to do to keep safe online.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I keep myself and my small business safe online?

About Kevin:

Dr Kevin Curran is a Reader in Computer Science at the University of Ulster and the group leader for the Ambient Intelligence Research Group. During his academic career, Kevin has authored over 600 published works and become one of the world’s leading authorities on pervasive computing and internet security. His pioneering work has led to speaking and lecturing invitations from international conferences, overseas universities and research institutes. Kevin is also a regular contributor to the BBC and other major media outlets.

He’s joining us on this episode of your favourite small business podcast to discuss some of the dangers facing those of us who conduct business online and what we can do to improve our internet security.

Actionable Tips:

* If you didn’t go looking for it, do not install it!

If you were asked to think of adjectives that best describe the experience of being a small business owner, what would come to mind? Easy? Peaceful? Relaxing? Not likely! Entrepreneurship is inextricably linked with stress, late nights and burnout. Of course, there’s a huge amount of positives that go with being your own boss and most of us just accept these negative aspects as par for the course. Does it need to be this way though? Are we doing enough for ourselves and our wellbeing? Or are we stuck in this mind-set without the time, space and resources to discover a better way?

When we’re not busy working for our clients, we’re working for our families and we always feel that there are not enough hours in the day. When we get a few minutes downtime, we can feel guilty if we do something for ourselves. We think we should be using that time to do some follow up with potential clients, help our partners at home or make sure that our employees are doing well. This, however, can be a recipe for disaster and the spectre of burnout always looms large in the entrepreneurial life.

If you burnout, you will have caused yourself real damage and you’ll be no good to your family, clients or employees. Therefore, a long-term strategy is needed. Our guest on this episode of the number one small business podcast is Kathryn Lovewell and she is an expert when it comes to creating emotional resilience. Emotional resilience is needed when working in high pressure environments and being an entrepreneur is definitely up there with some of the toughest.

Without emotional resilience, each knockback, late night and crisis can chip away at the body and mind. Over time this can lead to serious problems such as the aforementioned burnout. By using strategies to make yourself more resilient, you will be able to handle challenges, rise above problems and put events into perspective. This is not only great for yourself and your wellbeing but it will also have a huge impact on your effectiveness, productivity and leadership.

Kathryn’s going to talk us through how we can create more emotional resilience and how this can have a positive impact on our lives and businesses.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I develop the emotional resilience needed for long-term success?

About Kathryn:

Kathryn Lovewell is an expert in the field of emotional resilience and using mindfulness to create wellbeing. She worked for many years in mainstream education and during that time found that she and her colleagues were all suffering from the stresses and strains of the job. Kathryn studied techniques to help her cope and now works with schools and teachers around the world to help educators build up emotional resilience which can have a fantastic benefit on physical and mental health, wellbeing and performance.

Kathryn’s programmes, seminars, book and audio resources have helped thousands of people develop skills that have improved their lives in so many different ways. She’s joining us on this episode of Excellence Expected to talk through some of her experiences and how her techniques can be applied to those in the business world.

Actionable Tips:

* Take the oxygen first. Often, everything else comes before ourselves. The needs of family and clients are always at the forefront of our minds and it can be easy to forget about yourself. You need to take the time to focus on yourself and make sure that you are looking after yourself. How you do this will be unique to you and your circumstances. Looking after your mental, physical and spiritual health by dedicated some time each day to yourself will have a profound effect on how well you can perform at work and look after your family.


* Create the weather. It’s all about having the attitude that will allow you to meet...

When most of us think of happiness, there are two words that often creep into our minds. ‘If’ and ‘when’. If I can achieve x% growth this year, I will be happy. When I reach x amount of clients, I will be happy. Amongst small business owners, happiness is always seen as a destination, somewhere that we will reach when certain goals have been reached, or certain conditions have been satisfied. But how many times have you thought like that and nothing has changed after you’ve reached your goal? There’s always something new to be achieved, so where does it end?

Well, it doesn’t. And that’s because we mix up happiness and achievement. Achievements are great because by setting ourselves goals, we strive to be better than we are now, but they are not the be all and end all of happiness. They certainly factor in how happy we are, but there is something more, something deeper to being truly happy.

Happiness is, of course, experienced and measured differently by each person but as entrepreneurs in the same boat, we probably all have quite similar metrics. Revenue, growth, profit and so on. Our guest on this episode of the number one small business podcast is going to talk us through why most of us have this whole happiness thing back to front. Rather than achieving success in order to gain happiness, we should be making sure that we are happy in order to achieve success.

Rather than burning ourselves out chasing success at work, we should be focusing on making ourselves happy and then there is a greater chance of achieving success. Think of it this way. If you are stressed out, tired, irritable and grouchy, are you going to be working at your very peak? How about if you’re relaxed, calm, content and focused? Now, that doesn’t mean that running a business will always be the most relaxing experience, but there are steps that any of us can take to enjoy a little more happiness. They don’t take up a great deal of time and the benefits to our lives and businesses can be huge.

Frederika Roberts is joining us to discuss her work and how focusing on happiness before success can do wonders for us, our families and our businesses.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I make sure that I am focused on my happiness while running a small business?

About Frederika:

Frederika Roberts is an expert in happiness, a renowned public speaker and workshop leader, social media marketing specialist and author. As the Happiness Speaker, Frederika has shared her expertise with businesses, government organizations, schools and charities. Her seminars and workshops aim to help those in attendance become happier, more resilient and more successful at achieving their goals.

Frederika is with us on this episode of Excellence Expected to share some of her experiences and wisdom on the topic of how small business owners can be happier, healthier and more productive.

Actionable Tips:

* Volunteer your time. Research shows that altruism is being selfishly selfless because helping others can have a great impact on your own life. Giving your time, when you don’t have so much of it, will give you an enormous sense of wellbeing and help those in need. Be nice, help people out and say yes to conversations and it will come back to you in many different ways.
* Exercise and laugh. It’s really important to find ways to laugh even when you’re not in the mood. Check out laughter yoga on YouTube and you will get an abdominal and facial workout and you’ll release endorphins and reduce the amount of cortisol in your body. It will clear your mind and make you so much more productive. Exercise has the same effect and it doesn’t need to be a heavy workout at the gym. Even something like dancing around your living room can have an energizing effect on your body and mind.

As much as we like to think that we’re in control of every aspect of our lives, most of us are prisoners to certain patterns of behaviour. Think about how often the same thoughts run through your mind and how hard we have to fight to overcome them. We fall into those patterns of behaviour and thinking because of both personal and societal reasons. They become almost addictive and very difficult to kick. These behavioural patterns can be particularly hard to overcome for small business owners as we often put more pressure on ourselves than most others.

Joining us on this episode of Excellence Expected is Susie Heath who focuses on helping women avoid what she has termed the ‘Feminine Addiction Trap’. While Susie specializing in helping women, there is a great deal of insight and help that be applied to anyone who feels that they are being held back by their thoughts and behavioural patterns.

Susie’s going to be speaking during this episode about ways in which you can change your behavioural patterns so that you are not hampering your own potential and efforts. Susie has identified the seven areas that many people struggle with. If you see anything that resonates with you and your patterns of behaviour, then you may be holding yourself back. The areas are:

* Overs – The overs are behaviours when we are doing or feeling too much. For example, overworking, overindulging, overanalysing, overeating, overspending or over exercising. Engaging in any activity or behavioural pattern can lead you to being overwhelmed. You won’t get the best from yourself if that is the case. It can lead to burnout and take a toll on yourself and those around you.
* Unders: Unders are behaviours characterized by negative feelings such low self-esteem, ‘why me?’ syndrome, self-sabotage, self-judgement, depression and so on. Not feeling good enough all the time can take a terrible toll on the psyche and isn’t conducive to personal or professional excellence.
* Body Hatred: The anxiety of never looking good enough can make use hide and prevent us from putting ourselves out there where opportunities could be waiting. Love yourself and experience as much of the world as you can. The effect in your mental, physical and professional spheres will be profound. Remember, learning to love yourself is not a feeling, it’s a verb. It’s a doing thing.
* Addicted to the Impossible: The impossible standards that we set ourselves can lead to fear of failure and even fear of success. We all want to be perfect and to prove how good we are but usually we are just trying to live up to other’s expectations or perceived expectations. Forget perfection and strive for excellence instead.
* The Love Bug: Our personal relationships also be affected by this addiction trap. Some are happy flying solo, some are hit by the Disney effect and others prefer to be in their very own ‘Sex and the City’. These are archetypal behaviours though, so try and work out if they are indeed for you and if not, find out what is.
* Virtual Living: Spending too much time online is something we’re all guilty of but getting too addicted to virtual living can cause us to miss out on life. We need to relearn how to have each other.
* Mind the Gap: Often we feel like there is a gap within and many people try and fill it will different things such as alcohol, drugs, eating, caffeine, sugar or even thrill-seeking. Try and address what that gap is and take steps to try and fill it with something positive that will be a benefit to both yourself and your business.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I avoid the feminine addiction trap?

About Susie:

Susie Heath is a writer, speaker and executive coach. She is the author behind Dance Your Way to the Top and The Essence of Womanhood. She’s here with us on this episode of the number one...

The life of an entrepreneur or small business owner can be stressful for so many reasons. We’re often tired, pushed for time and thinking of the next task to be taken care of so it’s easy to overlook the negative effects that stress can have on our bodies, minds and relationships. What’s more, if you are suffering from stress, then you are not going to be performing at your best at work and business can suffer as a result.

In business, and in life, we’re often living in the future or the past. We plan how we want things to go and we agonize about things that we could have done differently. We’re often reactive when it would be more beneficial to be proactive. If we a have a mission, or purpose, we can start living purposefully and getting more out of life with less stress. Finding out what our mission is can be tricky, but the more that you make real relationships, the more that your purpose will be revealed. So, we need to open ourselves up to the world and let the world in. This can be hard for small business owners as it feels like we’re all alone fighting for success. As hard as it might be, the results can be astounding in both our personal and business lives.

Another factor that is common in all entrepreneurs is perfectionism. On the surface, it seems like a noble goal in that we all want to be the best that we can be. But is perfection something that we can all attain? No and constantly pursuing this unattainable level can lead to more stress and more negative feelings. Perhaps a better way to frame the concept of constant improvement is ‘striving for excellence’. Excellence is always attainable and can always be improved upon. Perfection, on the other hand, can’t. This shift can remove a great deal of stress from your life.

There are lots of ways in which a shift in thinking, or a small change in your routine or environment, can alleviate the stress that is so common amongst small business owners. There are lots of ways in which we can look deeper within ourselves to find the real root of a problem. With us on this episode of your number one small business podcast is Dr. David Kamnitzer who has a wealth of knowledge in this area and helps thousands of people with this and many other problems through his podcast.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I stay at the top of my game in today’s stressful world?

About David:

Dr David Kamnitzer is a podcaster, teacher, ontological coach and holistic doctor. Through his podcast, Dr David aims to empower listeners through in-depth conversations with guests who are involved with cutting-edge work in spirituality, healing and social transformation.

Starting out as a chiropractor, Dr David soon realized that there were some persistent problems amongst his patients that wouldn’t respond to conventional treatment. It was then that he decided to blend the medical with the ontological and get to the root of his patients problems.

Actionable Tips:

* Discover and commit to living your unique purpose. Stop hiding away and forge real relationships in the world. Your purpose will then start to reveal itself to you. Living purposefully will help you get the most out of life.
* Embrace excellence and release perfectionism. Always striving for perfection can be damaging to both your mental and physical health. Strive for excellence in everything you o instead.
* Keep your energy field clear and balanced and buoyant. For example, go GMO free. Lots of factors affect the body’s energy and small changes to your environment or nutrition could have a big effect on how you feel and work.



Top Quotes:

* “Many people have heard a lot about purposeful living, but I find very few people are consistently doing it.”
* “You have to get into the arena of life and...

As small business owners, we like doing things our own way. That is, after all, why we chose to strike out for ourselves. Taking care of all aspects of the business is exciting and, in the early days, we very seldom have a choice. But as our businesses grow, we need to learn to let go of certain parts and bring in talented people who can help take our companies forward.

We’ve spoken recently about ‘lone wolf syndrome’ and on this episode of Excellence Expected we’re going to discuss a related problem, that of ‘superhero syndrome’. Doing everything ourselves is great up to a point, but once a business grows large enough, or successful enough, there will come a time when we are no longer the best person to handle particular jobs within the business. How and when do we start to let go of the reins? That’s the issue we are going to define, challenge and conquer on this episode of the number one small business podcast.

Very few of us are going to be complete experts on every facet of our businesses. Keeping everything under our own control can hamper growth so it’s important to identify when the time is right to hire an expert to make sure that the business keeps moving forward. When exactly is the right time? Well, joining us on this episode is Neil Crespin, who has personal experience of this exact topic. Neil is the founder and creative director of mcm Creative Group and during the early days of the business, he was looking after the vast majority of functions within his business.

As he explains in the episode, however, there came a time when he no longer felt his skill-set was enough to help the business continue to grow. It was by hiring a managing director that Neil ensured that his business went from strength to strength. He’s with us to discuss what we need to do to get the ego out of the way, find the right people and make sure that our businesses continue on an upward trajectory.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I learn to let go?

About Neil:

Neil Crespin is the founder, owner and creative director of mcm Creative Group, an award-winning marketing communications agency. Since 2001, the agency has been providing innovative marketing and communications solutions for a wide variety of clients including John Lewis, Coca-Cola and HSBC. They bridge the gap between a creative concept agency and a technical production company.

Neil’s joining us on this episode of Excellence Expected to share his thoughts and personal experience of the topic of when to let go of the reins and bring in talented people to help a business continue to grow.

Neil’s Actionable Tips:

* Don’t just recruit people underneath you. If you can get beyond the emotional barrier of trying to be the best at everything, which is unrealistic and can hinder growth, hiring those who are better than you at certain things can work wonders for your business.
* Understand what you aren’t good at and understand it quickly. Analyse what you are good at and which things are going well and identify which areas could be improved. You then will know what type of help you need to take your business to the next level.
* Learn to demonstrate your ability to trust others. You need to show those that you have hired to help grow your business that they are trusted and valued. You are the glue that keeps everyone together and you must ensure that everybody is working toward achieving what you have set out to achieve.



Top Quotes:

* “The business made the decision for me. I knew that I didn’t have the skillset to take the business through to the next stage.”
* “Don’t just recruit people underneath you.”
* “Identify the gaps in your skillsets and fill them quickly.”
* “Look for people who are better at everything than you...

Building and growing a small business can be tough. Every aspect of day-to-day operations comes down to you. You need to be accountable for every decision you make, whether big or small and there often seems like there’s no one else you can turn to for advice. It can be a lonely road to walk but many of us take the risk because of the many positives that come with being a small business owner. The freedom to do things your way and the excitement of taking control can be exhilarating, but going out on your own can also lead to one of the most common problems experienced by entrepreneurs.

This ‘lone wolf syndrome’ can start off quite naturally. In the early days, there’s often nobody working alongside you and so, of course, you handle everything yourself and rely on your own judgement. But as you walk further down that path, and the syndrome becomes more engrained, negative aspects can emerge. Perhaps when you take on staff you still like to keep your cards close to your chest. You may feel that people outside of your business are unable, or unwilling, to talk about issues that come up. You may become distant from your friends and family, you may become stressed and irritable or you may find that your sleep and health suffer as a result of your isolation.

The buck stops here. If you want something doing right, you need to do it yourself. It’s easy to fall back on old maxims such as these, but is doing so really the best way to go about things? How can we avoid this ‘lone wolf syndrome’ and, if we’re already suffering from it, how can we change things?

On this episode of your favourite small business podcast, we’re joined by Anthony Witt who has worked with many entrepreneurs to overcome this and many other problems. Anthony’s going to talk us through his perspective on this particular issue and what steps you can take to avoid it having too large an effect on your life and business.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How do I overcome lone wolf syndrome?

About Anthony:

Anthony Witt is an entrepreneur, business and life coach and the host of the excellent podcast, The Champion Entrepreneur. Anthony aims to give people the tools to live their lives with a pursuit of purpose in everything that they do.

On this episode of the number one small business podcast, Anthony is going to talk us through his tips for avoiding one of the most common entrepreneurial ailments, lone wolf syndrome.

Actionable Tips:

* Get offline. To get out of lone wolf syndrome, meet with people in person. Join a mastermind group, attend a chamber of commerce meeting or introduce yourself to small business owners in your town.
* Make a list of the people you want to involve in your life. Keep the list around so you can see it regularly. Get involved with people and let people get involved with you. Add value to their lives and let them add value to yours.
* Set deadlines and make them public. It needs to be out there for the people you have developed relationships with. If they know your deadlines, these people will keep you accountable to your goals.



Top Quotes:

* “You can’t get out of lone wolf syndrome without involving other people in your business and your life. We’re created to be social beings and we thrive in communities. When we’re put together we do so many amazing things.”
* “It’s about getting other people involved in your life to help you move to the next level, to see where your blind spots are and to see where you are stuck.”
* “In a mastermind group, you want people who are similar but that also different. The difference is so important. You need people who are different otherwise you won’t find each other’s blind spots. You want people who want to be challenged and who are going to look from different...

We all want to be better, don’t we? We want to see improvements in ourselves and our businesses each and every day. It’s in the DNA of all entrepreneurs regardless of your industry or the scale of your business.  Nobody gets into business to stagnate or move backwards. Progress and growth are what it’s all about. Are we experiencing growth in the right areas though? And what are our metrics for measuring progress?

We often let other areas of our lives slide when the pressure’s on in terms of our businesses. More often than not it comes down to the bottom line and, of course, that’s important but if the sacrifices you make for your business start negatively affecting different areas of your life, are they really worth making? To put it another way, are you living your life reactively or proactively? If you’re dropping things at the last minute to attend to some business crisis, you’re living reactively and you’re living your life by accident. If you choose to live proactively, you can design the lifestyle you want and take action to achieve it. If you don’t want to miss your children’s school play, you won’t. If you don’t want to miss a night out with your partner, you won’t. But, in order to do this, you need to admit that certain areas need a tweak and take the time to really lay out your design and how you will achieve it. It’s all about achieving mastery of your life.

With us on this episode of the number one small business podcast is Cameron Benson from Rise to Mastery. He has coached thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners across America to a higher level of mastery of their own lives. Now, as Cameron mentions, this is not about becoming masterful overnight, it’s about making small, consistent improvements that will build into noticeable changes in your life.

As well as identifying areas that need some work and taking steps towards improving them, we have to make sure that different areas of our lives are in balance. So, if business is booming but your friendships are suffering, the negative situation will soon start affecting your positive one. Keeping things in balance can help you get to where you want to be in terms of both business and your relationships with others.  This holistic approach can only be implemented successfully if you’re willing to take a breath, identify your current problems and make a clear plan to address them.  It’s easier said than done as we always seem to fall back onto the path of least resistance, but it doesn’t need to be an arduous task. It can be as little as ten minutes a day. The key in consistency.

Cameron is going to lay out his philosophy and provide some great tips that can help you rise to mastery.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I rise to mastery?

About Cameron:

Cameron Benson is a serial entrepreneur, marketing consultant, business coach and podcaster. He started his first company at the age of 23 and has coach more than 10,000 entrepreneurs and small business owners across the United States.

Cameron now hosts the Rise to Mastery podcast with his co-host, Kenny Cannon. During each episode, the guys interview an entrepreneur and find out how they took an aspect of their lives or businesses to the next level. The show offers practical advice for all of us out there who want to get the most out of life.

Actionable Tips:

* Make the decision that you’re going to rise to mastery. Regardless of how you feel, or the area of the life you want to change, you need to make a decision and follow through. Go for it!
* Achieve consistency. Consistency is key. Don’t aim to do too much at once. Big changes are more easily derailed by everyday life. Take small steps every day and in a year’s time the area of your life or business that you have focused on will have been changed...

Building and maintaining valuable relationships is vitally important in life and business. We all want to make the best relationships with people that we can but it doesn’t always come naturally to us all. Some people are more talkative, some are more reserved. Some people are never off the phone and other prefer to communicate by e-mail. The skill with which we develop relationships needn’t be the fixed attribute that we often think it is. As with almost everything else, we can work at improving it through practice and study.

Relationships are indeed an art and fostering the right kind of relationships can do wonders not only for ourselves but also for our businesses. How can we make sure that we are creating the right kind of relationships in the most beneficial way? With us on this episode of the number one small business podcast is Jason Treu who is an expert in the art of relationships and knows how radically different peoples’ lives can become after they reconsider how they approach relationships.

The traits that we currently have do not need to define us as people or small business owners for the rest of our lives. Working towards changing your relationships with those around you can have benefits far beyond the entrepreneurial. Taking time to introspect and focus on new ways of building relationships can even bring passion back into your life and work if you’ve noticed it fade.

Jason is going to take us through some of his experiences as one of the world’s leading business and executive coaches. The methods and tools that he has developed have helped thousands of people around the world improve their lives and their businesses. 

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I master the art of relationships?

About Jason:

Jason Treu is a business and executive coach who has helped some of the world’s leading CEOs help develop their skills in building and maintaining valuable relationships. He is a regular contributor at The Good Men Project, Inspirationfeed, Under30 CEO, YourTango and KillerStartups. He is also the author of several bestsellers including Jump Start Your Social Life and Social Wealth.

The tools and systems that Jason has created to unlock the potential within has helped thousands around the world to exceed their limits and achieve their goals while putting the passion back into their work and lives. The key to all of this is changing how people approach relationships.

Actionable Tips:

* Engage with people. Social and communication skills are learned behaviours and can be practiced and improved. Don’t worry about the outcomes, but get practicing. Part of it is doing some internal work and trying to identify your blind spots and what behavioural patterns you have that are no longer serving you.
* Go to events where people want to talk. Go to charity events, art museums or community events where people are open to speaking and are there for the same reason. Going to talk to random strangers is less helpful as you don’t know why they are there or what’s going on in their lives. Events are great as everyone is on a level playing field and there for the same reasons.
* Lead with giving and generosity. Rapport, likability and trust are the key things that you need to get follow up from new people or to build deeper relationships with people that you already know. The best question for building rapport is ‘What are you passionate about life?’ It gets to the emotional core of the person. Everyone in life is led by their emotions.



Top Quotes:

* “People believe that we’re born with certain social, communication and emotional skillsets and they’re as good as they’re ever going to get. That couldn’t be further from the truth, they are all learned behaviours.”

When you’re a small business owner or solopreneur, it’s easy to become gradually isolated from those around you. You need to rely on yourself and make sure that everything gets completed on time. This can see you eating at your desk. Your friends don’t have the same worries as you and you don’t want to bore them, so there goes your drinks after work. Slowly but surely, these missed occasions add up and soon you may find yourself isolated.

Isolation can take a serious toll on our health and relationships as we as cause us to lose perspective on our businesses.

Does it really need to be this way, though? And what should we do if we’re feeling isolated from our friends and family because of our business commitments? Nicky Roche joins us on this episode of the number one small business podcast to share her experiences of this very common problem and how to change the situation.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I overcome small business isolation?

About Nicky:

Nicky Roche is an entrepreneur, consultant and podcaster. Her show, Small Business Drivers, aims to help small business owners around the world optimize their working processes and focus on the main drivers of their businesses and interactions with others. She is also aiming to create a worldwide community of likeminded individuals who can share their experiences and grow their businesses. Nicky believes that networking with people who are in the same boat can not only help stave off the feelings of isolation but can also bring positive gains to your business.

Nicky is on this episode of the number one small business podcast to discuss the issue of small business isolation and how we can overcome it.

Actionable Tips:

* Dream big but define that dream. Take the time to define a vision of what you want and where you want to be. Having a clear, defined idea of what you want makes other decisions much easier.
* Don’t be scared to share and learn from others. Intelligent people, confident in their own abilities, shouldn’t be afraid to share with others. Mutually beneficial relationships will help your business grow.
* Bridge the knowledge gap one brick at a time. Don’t be overwhelmed at the start and learn as much as you can. How do you know what you can do if you put a ceiling on your abilities?

 

Top Quotes:

* “If we’d all just share our motivations, challenges and solutions, everybody could benefit from it.”
* “People need to understand that adjusting the sails is expected. People need to learn to not be so hard on themselves and to remind themselves of the things that they have achieved.”
* “Sometimes it’s about ensuring the people who are influencing your mind set and business decisions are the right people who are in your life at the time.”
* “One of the drivers of business success is networking because life and business are team sports.”
* “There’s an instant reward for networking. The people you associate with ask different questions and they see your business from a different perspective. They might spark something in your mind that you hadn’t thought about before.”
* “I don’t think people realize how much expertise they have. Many entrepreneurs, through isolation, minimize their own expertise. In actual fact, they are experts in something already thanks to their business and they’re an expert in something that someone else isn’t.”
* “Isolation creates a lack of perspective. If you let other people into your life, you regain that perspective. If those people don’t help you regain that perspective, then change the people you’re associating with.”

Nicky’s Links:

* Small Business Drivers (http://smallbusinessdrivers.

Everybody knows that the first twelve months of a new venture are always the hardest. Make it through that year and the chances of making it through the next year begin to look a little better. There’s so much on the line, from financial wellbeing to physical health. Nobody will look more tired than a small business owner in their first year of business.

But, the rewards of making it through that first year are potentially massive and that’s why we all take the plunge and become small business owners. Being your own boss, making all of the strategic decisions and providing a better life for your family are just a few of the reasons that we get started.

As well as long hours of hard work, what else do we need to make it through some of the more challenging days during the first year? And what are some of the pitfalls that we should try and avoid?

With us on this episode of your favourite small business podcast is the founder of Renters Warehouse, Brenton Hayden. Brenton is going to help us answer some of these questions and more. Brenton set up his business after seeing an opportunity that wasn’t being exploited by anyone in his area. He dropped the plans he had for his first business and focussed all his energy on his new idea. His business made it through that tricky first year and has gone from strength to strength picking up many industry awards along the way.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I get through my first year in business?

About Brenton:

Brenton Hayden is the founder, chairman of the board and former CEO of Renters Warehouse. The company provides property management services to those wishing to rent their property. Since beginning in Minnesota in 2007, the company has become one of the fastest-growing companies in America, with offices and franchises all over the USA. He set himself a target for retirement, and he has achieved it – at the ripe old age of 30!

Brenton was, at one point, sleeping in his car and worrying about the next step to take for his future. How did he started with his business and make it through the first year? He’s here with us on this episode of Excellence Expected to share his experiences as well as three actionable tips that will help any small business owner who is currently dealing with this particularly challenging period.

Actionable Tips:

* Start with passion, a plan and power before you start a business. If you have passion and a plan and you feel like you can’t stopped then you have the ingredients to achieve your goal. If you don’t have them, then you need to keep looking for the right thing for you.
* Ask questions, listen until it hurts and then be decisive. A true leader is a collaborative leader. They listen to those who agree, disagree and those who remain neutral. Information is power.
* If you find the opportunity to do something awesome, you should do it yourself first and then hire someone to do it later. You need to become a passionate expert about your business. You need to learn every aspect of your business.

 

Top Quotes:

* “Inspiration is a here thing, it’s a now thing, it goes away really fast, so when you’re inspire or depressed, you gotta use it because there’s usually a lot of passion hiding in both of those emotions.”
* “You can have a really good plan, but you can’t think of everything.”
* “I wrote down a plan, like a roadmap. A map can take you many different places, but at least you have a map. It’s going to make getting to your dreams or goals that much easier. The plan isn’t the endgame. The plan just makes it easier to get to the end of the road.”
* “The number one obstacle in most peoples’ lives is that they don’t have a perfect plan. It’s the critical flaw and the reason most people don’t...

Every small business owner out there wants to be successful. Nobody starts their own business and puts in hours of blood, sweat and tears to just do ‘OK’. We all want to do the very best we can for ourselves and our families. Success means different things to different people, of course, but entrepreneurs often measure their success in pounds or dollars. Is this the best way to measure our successes? Or is there more to life than growing your business and making money?

Joining me once again on Excellence Expected is Aaron Walker from View to the Top. Aaron has created a string of successful businesses throughout his 35 year entrepreneurial career but in recent years, he has also focussed on living a life of significance and sharing his wisdom with others. Significance, like success, is defined differently by each of us. What would a significant life look like to you? Perhaps you’ve never even considered it as chasing success often gets in the way of everything else. Well, don’t worry, because Aaron is going to talk us through some topics that can help us take the blinkers off for a moment and take in the bigger picture.

It’s easy to get caught up in your work, especially if you have a small business. You feel that the best way to look after your family is to make as much money as possible. Is this really the best way to go about it though? As the old adage states, ‘nobody dies wishing they’d spent more time at the office’. Making time for family, friends and your community can lead to a more significant life.

Aaron’s going to help us pause, honestly assess our current situations and make an action plan for achieving both success and significance in the future.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I live a successful and significant life?

About Aaron:

Aaron Walker is a serial entrepreneur with over 35 years’ experience of building and growing successful companies. He now works as a life coach and business mentor as well as being the driving force behind View from the Top. His site aims to share Aaron’s experience and wisdom and help businessmen live both a successful and significant life.

Actionable Tips:

* Take Aaron’s personal assessment. Be as honest as possible.
* Find out what you really want. Work with your partner and identify what it is that you really want to do and work backwards from there. What do you want in 3 months, 5 years or 10 years from now?
* Read Steps to a Productive Day. This document will help you work through your day in a regimented way.



Top Quotes:

* “It’s not all about success, it’s also about significance.”
* “What is success? You have to ask yourself these difficult questions.”
* “In business, we strategize, but we also need to be helping people who can’t repay us.”
* “Peoples’ attention spans are dropping and to actually listen to someone is becoming more of a lost art.”
* “We do it backwards. We go out and make as much money as we can and then we go out a buy a house on which we can afford the payments. And we tie our total identity up with what we do and what we have. Then something catastrophic happens and you can’t afford the payments, so they take the house away and your personal identity’s gone. I teach guys not to tie their identity up with their tangible possessions or their positions. I help people discover who they really are.”
* “People don’t want to expose themselves to this kind of scrutiny. They want a façade. Let’s just admit it, we’re all just a bunch of knuckleheads! We’re just trying to figure it out and go through life. We need help, we need people to help us with areas in our lives that are difficult.”
* “People think they can work hard and then they can get a bigger house and a faster car and then they will be...

It seems that, these days, everyone has an idea for a book. As small business owners, we’ve all accumulated a heck of a lot experience, both good and bad, and we want to share that with others. But next time someone talks to you about their book idea, dig a little deeper and find out where they’re at. The chances are they’ll be where you are with your idea: square one!

Even though our minds are bursting with ideas that could give other people real value, it can be difficult to know where to start with a book. As well as this lack of clarity over where to start, there’s all the other distractions and time commitments that are part and parcel of life as an entrepreneur. If we’re really serious about writing a book, what can we do to overcome these initial hurdles?

With us on this episode of Excellence Expected is award-winning entrepreneur, author and writing coach, Mindy Gibbins-Klein. Mindy knows from the personal experience of writing eight books the challenges involved in completing such a project. Not only that, but as the Book Midwife, she has helped hundreds of others realize their dreams. She’s guided many clients from initial idea to publication and she’s achieved fantastic results with her coaching programs.

So, if you have a great idea for a book, this is an episode that you won’t want to miss. Mindy’s actionable tips can be put into practice today and you can take the first steps toward publishing your own book and sharing your ideas and experiences with the world.

Issue Challenged in this Small Business Podcast:

How can I write, publish and market my own book?

About Mindy:

Mindy Gibbins-Klein is an award-winning entrepreneur, international speaker, thought leadership strategist and writing coach. Through her site, The Book Midwife, she’s helped hundreds of people get over the initial hurdles of writing their books and guided them all the way to publication.

Mindy’s here with us on this episode of your favourite small business podcast to share her wisdom and experience. She’ll also leave us with three actionable tips that you will help give you the clarity needed to plan and write your first book.

Actionable Tips:

* Learn to push your thinking. Most people don’t put a lot of thought into things. People throw together blogs, social media posts and content with not much thought. Pushing your thinking means using rigorous thought processes to achieve something that is original, exciting or maybe even ground-breaking.
* There is wisdom at the intersection of your knowledge, your passion and your clients’ needs. It’s about expressing your passion with your knowledge while considering the needs of your clients. If their needs are not considered, they won’t view your content as wisdom.
* Get a plan together and get writing. E.A.L thought leaders are out there writing and publishing right now. Reach, Engagement, Authority and Longevity. Thought leaders are people who are doing all four things.



Top Quotes:

* “There’s has to be enough passion around the subject to write a good book.”
* “I needed to stop listening to so-called experts because what they say is just an opinion.”
* “I think we coach and mentor people in the area of clarity. As that clarity improves and they get a better picture of what it is that they’re sharing, that builds confidence. The book starts to come together and that gives them a feeling of confidence. Clarity develops confidence.”
* “A 90 day programme is the best thing for the book.”
* “If you do things too quickly, they become just a snapshot of your thoughts.”
* “Before you create any content, you should have a thought leadership strategy. Creators of good content are willing to include their passion.”

Mindy’s Links: