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Business and Life Lessons That Helped Me Become Successful
In this article, I would like to share with you a series of business and life lessons that I have learned over the years that I believe have helped me become successful in this business.
To begin, you will have set backs in this business. If you believe that you are going to be making $200,000 a year when you first open for business, you need a check-up from the neck up.
One of the first things you will find out in this business is that it usually takes a while to find out what advertising works in your area and you will lose a fair bit of money doing this.
Dont let it get you down and make you think you arent cut out for this job. Instead, analyze your advertising and get someone else to look at it.
Perhaps your target market wasnt correct? Lets say you put an ad in an industry specific paper like a builders magazine so you can get networking jobs wiring up new buildings. When a builder needs to find someone to do the networking, will they think to look in the builders magazine? or the Yellow Pages? They wont expect to see a networking ad in their builders magazine so will probably reach for the Yellow Pages.
It is possible that your targeting was correct but your ad was hard to see amonst all the other computer repair ads. You have to be analytical with your advertising as it wont work immediately. Tweak your advertising until you find out what works. Success is actually a series of failures.
You have to be passionate and believe in what you are doing in this business. If you go the self employed route you need to love having your abilities tested and keep on improving yourself. If you are in it just for the money then you will get burnt out because there are too many times where the amount of work is not worth the money, but it is worth learning the lesson and improving yourself.
In this business, you really need to know how to control your money. If you earned $1000 in a week, it doesnt mean you can go out and spend $1000 at the end of the week (this is often the mindset of many 9-5 workers). You should invest about 20% of that into advertising, save another 10% to cover the tax bill you are going to get nailed with at the end of the year and then put some aside to get you through the slow weeks. Once you start doing well, you should keep your overheads low because things can change.
How much you earn is often not proportional to how much you worked. There will be many times where you will work all day and earn very little, but there will also be times where you do very little and earn a lot.
In just about all businesses where you are working for yourself, you need to keep pushing forward and taking things to the next step because if you arent growing, you’re dying.
Once you enter any service industry, your time becomes extremely important. Many people say they dont have the time to run their own business (or have their own business already but keep running out of time in the day). These people need to look at how much time they spend watching TV and doing other unproductive things. I actually know someone who is quite wealthy from owning mutliple businesses, has a wife and kids but still has time to get things done.
I asked him how he manages it (especially with two young children) and he says that he doesnt really watch TV or do any other avoidable time wasting activities. He works flat out for 8 hours a day and spends the rest of the time with his family. When you think about it, how much TV do you watch in a day? What could you have achieved if you spent that time working on your business?
I am not saying you should completely avoid TV as it can be a great education or relaxation tool, but there are many shows that I could personally do without watching and I am sure you have some too.
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A HUGE waste of time, as well as being a security risk as well as a defiler of privacy is Social Networking on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. (….and let’s not forget SMS aka “Texting” as well too.)
The one area that has always helped me focus is constantly ask myself, “How is the task or function that I am currently performing/undertaking aligned to the objectives of my business
Succintly put Bryce…”In just about all businesses where you are working for yourself, you need to keep pushing forward and taking things to the next step because if you arent growing, you’re dying.”
What you said, IMHO, applies to life in general and business in particular.
Great website great community…..
I could not agree more with your posting; I know so many people who do nothing but watch TV all the time and complain that they have no time to get things done. I really enjoy this site keep up the fantastic work!!
Often times, it’s the simple things that can be described as “genius”.
“Success is actually a series of failures” … from which we have learned something valuable.
I take 40% and put it back into the business… I know thats a lot but its a safety net.
At the end of the year I have a lot saved up which can be applied to bonuses or bonds.
TV watching is a serious time waster, but I think aiomless internet surfing is starting to become a contender for the time waster crown though. Balanced time management is key to achieving your goals, and do beware of being a workaholic only because of poor time management skills.
I have been working for large companies for 20 years and have just started out on my own (part time). I think that being well prepared is the key to get started and being successful. A professional look (embroidered shirts, forms, business cards, website, etc), good skills, and a well stocked toolbox (parts and tools) are important.
I started by working on my website and business cards. I bought the Computer Business Kit and customized the forms with my company name and logo. Since I am on a small budget, I am working with some small ads and word of mouth advertising. Everyone I know gets a business card and I tell them about what I do.
Most importantly, treat every costomer with respect and be fair and considerate. Take the time to explain in plain english what causes problems and what you did to fix them. A satisfied customer could lead to more business. A dissatisfied customer could send business to your competitor.
Great thoughts. This is a great community, which leads me to one of the most important life/business lessons I’ve ever learned – over a dozen millionaires have told me this – You can’t fly with eagles if you flock with chickens. The power of association is bigger than you are. Hang around people that are going somewhere, lifting you up through conversation and example, and have dreams and goals and you will have half the battle won. The other big factor is what your input is – reading and listening. Getting on a self development habit and reading great books like The Slight Edge will change your world. This is definitely my new fav site. Thank you for a great resource and great association.
Hi,
thanks for sharing these Lessons .
I am really agree with your post.
sometimes failure is the wealth we received in the life.
Carle
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http://www.comm100.com/livechat/
ok here is what i have done so far
1- i had self experience over 5 years but just to be on safe side knowledge i took comptia a+ network + mcp, mcitp
2- i have 2 websites cost me £7 a month http://www.chesterfieldpcsupport.com , wwwchesterfieldcomputer.com i have all the best offer possible with no high or low prices
3- i went for professional seo company and both my websites appears first page top listing with so many keywords cost me £400
4- i manually submit my website almost all free classifieds ( I PAID 3 SITES ANNUALLY COST ME £250 )Almost 300 websites there isn’t any websites i know that i am not listed. i have many first page ads in several towns, cities, counties near by. some sites allowed me to submit each area and post code
5- i had 80000 leaflets cost me £700 already distributed half of them 40000
6- i have priority ads on city local cost £200
7- i have 1 priority 1 other listing yell.com cost £1600
8- for messing about my ad yell.com gave me 1 free add worth £2000
9 -yell.com also build me pro website worth £500 for free ( this is new promo by them)
10- printed 5000 business cards best quality cost £120
11- printed 250 magnet to stick side of customers computer pc towers almost run out of them cost £90
12- 4 car magnet on each side of my car and my girl friend car cost £60
13- booked yellow pages half column ads buy one get one classification free cost £800 starting 2010
14- second biggest business directory Thompson local half column £500 starting 2010
15- left my leaflets over 40 shops that i know
16- purchased accounting software cost £100 intuit
17- i have stock worth £1000 all necessary parts i need including laptop parts
18- i am aware all essential business tactics and most from this site forums and others. i do my best to keep my customer happy
19- i contacted trusted trader paid £50 for submission starting 2010
20- i contacted all member magazines 2 of them agree to submit my ads annually free
21- i contacted disable people centres and submitted my business ads to their sites
22- had 6 months test trading under the control of business link and job centre ( according to them they can not advice anything for me as i already doing more than they can advice .
23- told everybody i know in this planet so word of mouth can spread also i know all my customers doing for me since they pleased with my services
24- i emailed almost all business in yellow pages cover my area let them know about mu company.
HERE IS RESULT OF ALL MY WORK DONE after 9 months
i get round 8-12 email enquiries a month
approximately 2 – 3 phone call a day usually Monday to Thursday only so about 8 call a week not many weekends or after hours lucky days can turn all in customer
leaflet = ivgot my money back but made nothing extra . i thing it was a good advert for me
yell. com = some days 1-2 enquiries some time 1 week no call but made my money on that nothing on the top
yellow pages = don’t know yet
Thompson local= don’t know yet
Google, yahoo , msn = most from Google 3-4 enquiries a week
300 free classifications = 1 -2 jobs a month
area i cover 25 mile radius about 2 million people
after all in 9 month i made £5000 from this business i know not enough but least iv got my money back and next years marketing budget will be £3000 that almost ready too
i plan to make £2000 more before 12 months up and double the figure end of 24 months . at the end of third year i am planning to have good wages that i can live on
i have other job i relay on. without it i cant survive and i am not planning to leave the job before i reach end of 24 month target
so please guys be realistic and don’t accept to start making money without investing some other vice you will be waiting 4-5 years before you see real money
and remember you have to act like a business man save every penny invest for all necessary and don’t think you will only repair! you will be chasing all business side of it.
at last please look in to my websites and tell me if i am doing anything rong? or if i need to know something that i dont do?
thanx
My favorite site, thanks everyone. In my previous life, I fixed equipment and machinery. The change to IT involved about 10 years “tinkering”, four years worth of college, and the biggest single improvement came from this site. Honesty, and explaining why you are doing things, in an easily understood way, seems to get you along. You still need to make sure you don’t lose anyones data, or such. And have the determination to get through what will be some very hard times. I have put in a lot of energy in the wrong ways too, and Bryce has been like a mentor since I found him here. Cheers from Queensland, Australia.
Great thoughts. This is a great community, which leads me to one of the most important life/business lessons I’ve ever learned