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Two Types of Leadership Seeking To Emerge

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Two Types of Leadership

There are two types of leadership looking to emerge right now. One leads to total enslavement. The other has the potential to set you free. Just listen to this extracted clip up to the 4min mark, from a speech by Barack Obama several years ago, which captures the summary of the conflict. 

It lays out two forms of power, one whose central theme is the empowerment of the people, as underpinned in the Constitution of the USA. The other is a top down centralized form of world power, based on the concept that mankind needs to be controlled by man’s version of a sovereign power.

The Old Guard

Image Source: The Old Guard

If the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Vatican have their way in their control of giant corporations, we will be moving to a new world order, which means everything is centralized and controlled by the few. This includes the governments whom I exposed in a previous article as being corporations, not service entities. 

See if you can make the connection between their stated relationship with ‘other financial ‘ institutions, and how this connects to the current asset stripping that is going on with the land and the farmers, as one example. Their control will be accompanied by a disdain and dislike for ‘we the people’ and will result in more rules that stack the cards in their favor so to speak. It has already been happening.

For those who can read the signs of the times, and go beyond the conflicts of mainstream media reporting, it is becoming more evident that this is what is in play. If you still think we are reverting to getting our life back after the latest global events read this from the Vatican News.

Troubled Waters

The traditional leaders of our times have largely led us into troubled waters, and many are now awakening to the realization that this is far from accidental. Rather it was orchestrated to enable the few to benefit while the majority plunge deeper into modern day slavery in all aspects of their lives.

If that still feels like a dramatic statement to you, simply take your research beyond the mainstream media and all governmental authorities who have conflicts of interest with their puppet masters and the general public, and you might start to think differently.  If you conduct more independent research, a pattern will emerge that cannot continuously be put down to error or incompetence, and clarity will emerge. 

Self-Serving Leadership is Not Leadership

It seems that money continues to do the talking, with politicians and many big corporate CEOs selling their soul to line their pockets, serving money and profits, while behaving duplicitously toward the public, and claiming ignorance on the repeated errors that play out in governance.

This is their model as David Icke eloquently put it. To create money they find a way of robbing the people. They create a problem, they watch the reaction, and then come up with a solution for the problem they created, which, by the way, they blame on the population. Usually that solution requires you to part with money in some shape or form. The energy crisis is a great example of this in action.

Self Serving Leadership Characteristics Exposed

My submission is that what we are witnessing from a leadership perspective, is a style of leadership that is based on a scarcity mentality, and a disregard for mankind as being worthy of equal consideration. Current politics is based on a hierarchical structure with ‘divide and rule’ being its modus operandi.

Mental Characteristics

At a psychological level scarcity mentality is playing out. This is based on the belief that there is not enough to go around, which of necessity leads to a survival strategy, marked by competition. 

An example of this is Bill Gates' Ted Talk, where he talks about the world being overpopulated and how vaccines within a CO2 formula can help to reduce the world population. It’s no surprise that the Climate Agenda is now taking stage at this moment, and how everything that is happening is being connected in such a way as to help them impose the new world order.

If you think that the airport and train strikes are simply about wage protests, think again. We are in a different version of lockdown where freedom to travel is being curtailed, and not by virtue of ’vaccination’ status alone. In a previous article I shared a university piece recommending that by 2030 all UK airports should be shut, and that we should only be able to eat certain things.

The thinking behind this also points to a purely convergent thinking which focuses on narrowing down a problem toward a solution. In this case it is a biased form of convergent thinking, proposing a one-size fits all solution that gives huge benefits to the few who are pulling the strings. 

The population does not really get to have a say. Ask yourself why Bill Gates talked freely about vaccines being part of a depopulation strategy, and why he is buying up huge amounts of land in the USA. The key strategy used by big corporations and certain politicians is through competitive thinking showing up in the monopoly of industries. Competition, when done fairly, can be healthy. 

Monopoly on the other hand is a divide and rule strategy, where an attempt is made to effectively wipe out the opposition, so the few rule the roost. Ask yourself why Dr David Noakes and his business partner were extradited to France under the corrupt European Warrant, which allows someone to be thrown in jail without evidence. 

Their so-called crime was that they were helping so many people to put cancer into remission through a naturally occurring protein called GC-MAF. They got hounded under the guise of regulatory investigation, and were then extradited to a French prison. 

The last thing I gleaned was that they were not allowed daylight for more than about 20minutes, and their health was suffering greatly – unsurprisingly. They represented a significant threat and opposition to Big Pharma because they were getting huge and better results. They had to be removed.

The mental attitude is to manipulate and shape thinking through the advertising of fear and propaganda, based on their false narratives. The goal is to disempower the people so the few can asset strip with less and less resistance until the people are at zero. 

It is a top down thinking and approach to governance, which dictates to people what they can think, say or do. In this scenario they are the puppet masters and we are the puppets. That has become evident in the censorship and de-platforming of several thought leaders on youtube, who challenged the status quo. It is plain to see that this type of thinking and leadership does not serve the people and the planet on which they live. This is the old guard of current leadership. It’s time for a changing of the guard.

The Cross Roads

The world is at a major crossroads right now, and the decision that each of us makes from here will determine the destiny of the planet. There are more of us than those seeking to impose their control. We pay for the government through our taxes. Therefore we are not powerless.

However it involves more than words or just voting for another politician. For example in the UK we now have a new leader of the conservative party. We did not get to vote, it was all done internally.

Ask yourself though, given the choice, who would you vote for who is truly all for serving the people? If they are, does the current structure of governance allow them to operate freely to do so? It’s not as simple as just getting rid of Boris Johnson.

I have not voted for a politician since the days of Jeremy Thorpe, the former Liberal party leader, not because I do not care, but because I believe that a different governance structure which truly supports humanity needs to exist. Over in the USA Donald Trump and company are urging people to get out and vote.

Again the same question arises, as above in the example of the UK. If the current underpinning flawed structures remain, it doesn't matter who you vote for. It’s not so much that we need a new governance and leadership that has never been thought up before. We do, however, need a leadership that is going to mirror the opposite of the old guard, and lift humanity to new levels of life and freedom.

Building the Bridge of A New Leadership

It starts with you and me, and it takes presence and courage! We need to decide what principles and values will shape our lives and world moving forward. Then we can plan to embody it in practice. 

Source Image: Bridge Over Troubled Water 

This creates a new infrastructure which is first imprinted from within, ready to morph into being in the external world. So far, more people are making their voice heard, as seen in the many global demonstrations taking place, and the world has witnessed what could happen as the people of Sri Lanka chased their government out of official residence, causing them to flee the country.

However as that article suggests this is only one layer of addressing the crisis. There is evidence of a new leadership emerging where small groups of people are building infrastructure in technology and land, to replace the old. They are effectively building a parallel society where peaceful means of living and support can exist.

Agorism comes from the ancient greek work  equivalent 'agora', meaning an open place for assembly and market. Whether through agorism, or fairness and consideration for the welfare of all living things, projects are being established based on principles of living in an interdependent manner of sharing and caring.

Gandhi’s quote on ‘be the change you wish to see in the world’ gives a powerful insight into the sort of leadership that can change the world in a positive manner, while recognising all as leaders, not simply by virtue of status and title, but based on inner transformation, life experiences and the demonstration of wisdom attained throughout.

If everyone embraced and embodied that quote, the world would change overnight, because the collective energy of the will to change from the inside out would affect the collective consciousness, out of which something new and constructive would morph.

So ask yourself what sort of values and principles you wish to embody as part of a different world. What are you willing to be and do to become that leader in your life? After that I would like to recommend a book I have been reading over the summer which can help you embed your answers within a framework that builds from root principles.

That is Steven Covey’s well known book from the 80’s, The 7 Principles of Highly Effective People. While reading it, I recall thinking that this was more than just about effectiveness. It was about leadership. He has written a book on this too. It is well worth revisiting this book as there is timeless wisdom in there which needs resurrecting, and would serve as a great practical guide to build on Gandhi’s exhortation.

Effectiveness and Empowering Leadership

Steven Covey proposed that effectiveness is built on certain habits which permeate all areas of our lives, and that when those habits have their roots in life principles, rather than personal growth tactics and techniques alone, it has a far reaching effect that is akin to empowering leadership. His 7th Principle of Sharpening The Saw integrates the first 6. Let’s look at what constitutes that saw and how to sharpen your saw. 

Image Source: Sharpening The Saw

Empowered Leadership

Empowered Leadership is the ability to raise individuals up to express their potential in ways that go beyond self-service to that of service to humanity. It is a transcendent path and an interdependent path, which goes beyond the ego and its desires, to mastering the art of connection of  ‘we’, not just “i’ and ‘you’. He divided his principles into two domains, private victory and public victory and posited that what you build in the internal private world affects what shows up in the external world.

Private Victory

His first three habits come under private victory:-

Be Proactive

The basic theme here is that you are the creator, and do not have to wait for circumstances to be right in order to create. Therefore you can develop proactiveness rather than being reactive to circumstance.

Ask yourself:  ‘How proactive am I when it comes to my life principles?’ Do I wait for circumstances to be favorable or do I create resourcefulness?’

Begin with the End in Mind

You may be aware of the study in Australia where a group of people with terminal illness were asked about their regrets. Not one of them said they wished they had worked harder, because for most their jobs were a means to an end, rather than fulfilling of itself. All of the answers spoke to the quality of life, such as spending more time with loved ones, having the courage to go for their dreams, and so on.

Steven uses this to suggest a more accurate compass to designing our lives moving forward. He suggests a powerful visualization. However I will adjust it here to its core essence. Imagine if you can, that you do not have long to live.

Ask yourself “If today were my last day, what would I regret not being and doing?’

Use this as a guide to adjusting your life from today moving forward. To get his version of the visual he proposed, do read his book, and get a version of the book that is between 1989 and 2012 when he died because those versions will have his personal edits, not someone else's.

Put First things First

This section is all about scheduling priorities according to what is most important in our lives, not what is urgent yet not so important. Most people build around the urgent in reactive fashion.

Ask yourself: ‘ How well do I prioritize and attend to those things that are important to me?’

The remaining 4 habits come under Public Victory based on interdependent living:

Think Win-Win

This is about thinking in terms of cooperation to attain the highest good for all those involved. Win-win is not always possible and there are different variations to this scenario. Win-win types of scenarios fall under the banner of mastering the art of ‘we’.

Ask yourself: ‘ How well do I operate from the level of win-win in my relationships and work?’

Seek First to Understand Then to Be Understood

This is about the desire to understand the depth of a person and their world through listening and empathy, rather than to be preoccupied with what you want to say.

Ask yourself: ‘ What is the quality of my listening and empathy like?’

Synergize

This is about integration and bringing all the moving parts together in the private internal world to merge with the activities in the external world. It is about the being and doing aspects coming into alignment with each other.

Ask yourself: ‘How aligned and harmonized do I feel in my being and doing?

Sharpen The Saw

This is all about cultivation. This means taking the time out to reflect on the whole, and the moving parts where the seven habits are concerned. It is about asking the right questions, answering with honesty, and adjusting accordingly.

One of the interesting things Steven posed in his book is how it is possible to be efficient while doing the wrong things. Leadership he says is doing the right things, and management is about doing things well. So it is possible to be using your skills in the wrong place, for example. This provides an appropriate reference to reflect on the topic of new leadership.

Ask yourself: ‘Where would be the best application of my skills and talents right now, which would make my heart sing, while providing a significant contribution to humanity?’

This ties in with habit 2, Start with the End in Mind. Create your own personal constitution, using the seven habits as a structure for your thoughts and plans moving forward, so that your life becomes based on root principles, which can give way to a new form of governance in your life and beyond.

The great thing about this is that you don’t have to be perfect. Leadership is for all who are willing to correct error, incompetence and corruption, starting within, with a view to serving mankind. I like to look at current reality as a mirror and ask, for example, ‘where have I contributed to the error, incompetence and corruption I am observing?’ 

I then look at what values and principles I wish to bring forth in myself and beyond, so that my inner infrastructure can pave the way for new structures to form on the outside for the benefit of all. Steven Covey provides two recommended resources of people who were willing to bridge those gaps, from within their prison surroundings.

They are Viktor Frankl’s autobiography ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, and Anwar Sadat’s autobiography, ‘In Search of Identity’. For a current inspirational example of someone standing in the gap between the old guard and new emerging leadership, take a look at the documentary The Seeds of Vandana Shiva, an activist in India who embodies fearlessness with the courage and integrity to serve humanity in a way which reflects their sacred identity.

With this type of leadership, everyone can become a light dispelling the darkness of the old destructive guard, through how they are being and what they are doing, while bringing about a new golden age, where all can shine and thrive.

Which of these two types of leadership emerges, is down to ‘we the people’, whether we choose by default and keep to the old guard, or get proactive as Steven Covey encourages, bringing in the new guard.

 

 

About: Anita Narayan. (United Kingdom) My life's work is about helping individuals to greater freedom through joy and purpose without self-sabotage, so that inspirational legacy can serve generations to come. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

General

THE ESSENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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THE ESSENCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 

 

The entrepreneurial spirit is a gift that inspires others to become the best they can be. Entrepreneurship is the act of starting a business, and it requires creativity, drive, and the ability to solve problems. 

An entrepreneur takes a risk and works hard to make money. There are many types of entrepreneurs. Some start businesses from scratch, and others buy already-established companies. Some entrepreneurs work alone, while others need employees to help them run their businesses. 

The word “entrepreneur” comes from the French word “entreprendre,” which means to start or undertake a business venture. Although it can be a lot of work, entrepreneurship is rewarding and very fulfilling. The essence of entrepreneurship is having a dream and a vision for changing the world, being willing to take risks, and sometimes being misunderstood. 

Also, be willing to put in the work, put in more than those around you, and be ready to be the one who is not afraid of the darkness but rather the one who steps into it first. Entrepreneurship is more than just having a great idea and starting a business; it’s about changing lives and improving our world.

 

 

From passion and positivity to leadership and ambition, here are the entrepreneurs that best define the entrepreneurial spirit.

Armour Of Entrepreneur – Main Features

Passion

No one embodies the word "passion" quite like Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin mega-brand. Part of Branson's passion lies in his insatiable appetite for starting companies. Founded in 1970, the Virgin Group has expanded to more than 200 companies, ranging from music, publishing, mobile phones, and even space travel. "Businesses are like buses," he once said. "There's always another one coming."

Positivity

Jeff Bezos knows the power of positive thinking. Living by the motto that "every challenge is an opportunity," Bezos set out to create the biggest bookstore in the world with a little internet startup called Amazon.

Adaptability

Having the ability to adapt is one of the greatest strengths an entrepreneur can have. Every successful business owner must be willing to improve, refine and customize their services to continually give customers what they want.

Leadership

A good leader is someone with charisma, a sense of ethics, and a desire to build integrity within an organization–someone who's enthusiastic, team-oriented, and a great teacher. All of these attributes were embodied by the late Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, a company that has helped more than half a million women fulfill their dreams of owning a business.

Ambition

At age 20, Debbi Fields didn't have much. She was a young housewife with no business experience, but what she did have was a great chocolate chip cookie recipe and a dream to share it with the world. 

Fields opened her first Mrs. Field's store1977, despite being told she was crazy to believe a business could survive solely on selling cookies. Fields' headstrong determination and ambition helped her grow her little cookie store into a $450 million company with more than 600 locations in the U.S. and 10 foreign nations.

 

Once More – The Main FIVE

– Passion, Positivity, Adaptability, Leadership, Ambition

Most of it you cannot learn from books. It is in your character, in your experience, and in your life journey. 

You hear it all the time from famous entrepreneurs: Long before they were running multimillion-dollar companies, they were flexing their entrepreneurial skills by selling lemonade on the corner, building gadgets in their garage, or hosting weekly college beer pong tournaments. It seems that behind every successful mogul is a kid who grew up knowing they were born for business.

 

If you notice where those who represent some of the most successful entrepreneurs come from, much of the world is missing out. In many countries, private business was interrupted by political developments – it was sometimes very limited, often totally prohibited. In some parts of the world, it was not possible for teenagers to sell products house-to-house or set up their first small business in a garage.

Those who spent their youth in countries with limited opportunities now have to catch up with many. Sometimes it's like jumping on a moving train and not knowing where the train is going. And that's why people from these countries, without business tradition or continuity, need something extra. A good dose of :

 

  • Courage 
  • Enthusiasm
  • Self-confidence
  • Persistence
  • Support of their loved ones

While they often lack the money for investment to have a good start, if they have true entrepreneurial courage in their hearts and can mobilize their energy, then with a little luck, they have a chance of success. 

 

 

 

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The Biggest Influencers of Bitcoin Price in 2016

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Can the surge continue? A review of bitcoin’s 2016 performance indicates the cryptocurrency’s fundamentals are such that the party is far from over.

With incoming U.S. President Donald Trump promising a fiscal spending binge that could push the $20 trillion U.S. debt even higher, the fundamentals that have served to more than double bitcoin’s price this year could deliver even greater gains in 2017.

A combination of events, beginning with bitcoin’s popularity as a hedge against increasingly volatile markets, set the stage for a repeat performance in 2017, if not better.

The cryptocurrency began 2016 trading at $428 and hit $928 by the end of December, a 114% gain. Growth was not uniform, but momentum accelerated in the fourth quarter. Bitcoin gained 25% in value since the beginning of December alone.

It was also the best-performing currency this year, outpacing the U.S. dollar and the Israeli shekel.

A Weak Beginning

The year did not begin on a positive note when Mike Hearn, a bitcoin developer, announced he was leaving bitcoin, claiming its fundamentals were broken and the long-term price outlook was negative. He claimed the system was controlled by a handful of people and the network was on the brink of collapse.

The market did not react favorably to Hearn’s pronouncements, which yielded the most damning media coverage the cryptocurrency had ever experienced. The price tumbled around 15% after his departure.

But recovery was evident by February. Some observers postulated that Hearn’s real motivation for exiting bitcoin was the lack of support for his solution to bitcoin’s scalability challenge, BitcoinXT.

Financial adviser Martin Tillier observed that the very issue that drove Hearn’s departure – the need for a more scalable bitcoin network – was the result of a very positive underlying fundamental – its growth as a currency.

Signs of bitcoin’s ability to hedge against other markets were already evident in late 2015. The price rose to just below $500 after the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank raised its fund rate by 25 basis points in late 2015. Bitcoin’s price tracked the U.S. dollar rally against other fiat currencies.

It didn’t take long for Tillier’s predictions to materialize.

Pricing Surge Began Early

The weak start of the 2016 stock market demonstrated bitcoin’s use as a hedge against more volatile investment options. Bitcoin was one of the few winning investments in the worst first week of the year for U.S. stocks in early January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 had their worst first weeks in history. Bitcoin, gold, the yen and natural gas were in growth modes.

The price in January surged over $20 in a 10-hour period to scale beyond $450.

The climb did not occur in a straight line, however.

After hitting a low of $360 in January, the price rebounded past $400 in February.

In another article, Tillier observed that bitcoin’s price hikes in previous years were mysterious, but the current one can be traced to the devaluation of China’s currency.

Because there is a logical reason for the price surge, the market is acting as a forward discounting mechanism and some degree of appreciation is now built into the price, Tillier noted. In addition, the interest from traders combined with the ability to short the currency allows the market to check upward spikes naturally, simply by attracting sellers.

The Scalability Factor

The network scalability issue remained a background theme.

In February, Bitcoin Classic released code that could double the bitcoin block size, offering a solution to the scalability issue. Bitcoin Classic, however, drew controversy within the developer community, which investors naturally noticed.

Those seeking to increase the maximum block size from 1 MB to 2 MB claimed that it is necessary to keep transaction costs down and continue the growth of the system.

Those against the increase said questions surrounding a hard fork, which can occur when non-upgraded nodes cannot validate blocks created by updated nodes that follow updated consensus rules, had not properly been addressed.

The Classic camp, consisting of entrepreneurs, wanted a more immediate fix to expanding the network by increasing the block size. The Core camp, consisting of miners, didn’t want to increase the block size since some miners would be less likely to earn mining rewards.

Mining pools representing at least 70% of the total hashing power of the bitcoin network and some of the largest bitcoin exchanges said they would not support Bitcoin Classic or any “contentious hard-fork.”

The release of the code for Segregated Witness in April, an upgrade to the bitcoin protocol designed to enable more transactions within a single block of the blockchain, pushed bitcoin’s price past $460. Segregated Witness fundamentally removes signatures from the transaction, thereby compressing transactions within blocks to leave more space for transactional data. This would serve as a less drastic, soft fork.

Market Forces Converge

The scalability debate did not undermine investor confidence and had less bearing on bitcoin’s price than its growing reputation as a safe asset in a tumultuous global market. Pricing activity was stable during February, March and April.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s 2016 rate increase announcement in March had little impact on bitcoin. Half the market passively accumulated via limit orders placed just below price while the other half actively sold at market.

The U.S. dollar, by contrast, weakened while but gold jumped nearly $30.

The Fed cited a weak global economy as the reason for its decision and forecasted two more hikes, fueling a desire for safe assets.

Global political events, meanwhile, worked in bitcoin’s favor, beginning with the June U.K. Brexit referendum. The surprise referendum sent markets reeling. After the U.K. pound (GBP/USD) dropped to $1.32, the U.S. dollar and gold rallied while bitcoin achieved a $140 one-day gain.

Around this same time, rumors indicated Steam, the global online gaming store and distributor, was preparing a bitcoin implementation as a payment method to its base of some 125 million active users.

In June, the price soared beyond $570, reaching a near two-year high.

A Setback Strikes

The climb was not over, but it was not uniform.

The price crashed in August after the Bitfinex exchange suffered a security breach that led to the theft of an unconfirmed number of bitcoins. The exchange announced it was shutting down its website in ominous signs reminiscent of Mt. Gox. The attack led some to believe the industry had not come up with a way to ensure security.

But the naysayers would again be proven wrong.

Bitfinex got back online after advising users that they would lose 36 percent of their assets. The exchange levied a 36% price on all of its users, whether or not they were victimized individually by the hackers.

The Bitfinex theft quickly sent bitcoin price tumbling.

Bitfinex delivered a blow, but the market began a gradual recovery that gained momentum as fall approached. Some viewed the Bitfinex episode as proof that the bitcoin network is capable of withstanding negative events.

The price struck a new yearly high of $794.39 in mid-December as the currency’s fundamental strength became evident.

Bitcoin gained more value than all other currencies in 2016, driven by China’s crackdown on the yuan, isolationist rumblings in the U.S. and the U.K, and increasing acceptance by consumers and businesses.

By the time the price surged 79 percent since the start of 2016 to $778, it reached its highest level since early 2014, data compiled by Bloomberg. At that point, bitcoin quadrupled the gains posted by Russia’s ruble and Brazil’s real, the world’s top two hard currencies.

Mining Reward Halving: No Impact

When the halving of the bitcoin mining reward occurred in July, there were no price drops. Bitcoiners celebrated worldwide.

There was concern about miner profitability since miner rewards were cut in half from 25 to 12.5 bitcoins.

But the price resumed its upward trend. One factor noted at the time was the devaluation of the Chinese yuan, driving Chinese investors to bitcoin.

China’s role in bitcoin trading has emerged as a key factor in is price performance. The country accounts for more than 90% of the cryptocurrency’s trades, and has become a natural hedge against the devaluation of the yuan.

In January 2017, the foreign currency cap imposed by the Chinese government for the amount of foreign currency that a Chinese citizen can convert ($50,000) will be reset for the new year. Inevitably, the surge in capital outflows could weaken the yuan further, setting off a market reaction that could lead to further demand for safe value assets, which bitcoin is fulfilling a role as.

What’s Ahead?

Central banks may give up on qualitative easing and negative interest rates, but they are far from being finished with intervention and distorting the allocation of capital and the price of money, according to Steen Jakobsen, CIO at Denmark-based Saxo Bank. Hence, bitcoin’s role as a hedge against volatile currencies remains intact.

Meanwhile, the Trump-promised fiscal spending binge is expected to add to the approximate $20 trillion of U.S. national debt, tripling the current U.S. budget deficit from about $600 billion to $1.2 trillion to $1.8 trillion.

Could the Donald Trump presidency push bitcoin price higher?

The spending could cause U.S. growth and inflation to skyrocket, forcing the Fed to accelerate its hikes and the U.S. dollar to soar to new heights.

This could create a domino effect in emerging markets and China in particular, leading people globally to seek alternative currencies and payment systems that are not tied to central banks.

If the banking system, as well other nations such as Russia and China, moves to accept bitcoin as a partial alternative to the U.S. currency and the traditional banking and payment system, bitcoin’s price could hit $2,100 and beyond as the blockchain’s decentralized system, an inability to dilute the finite supply of bitcoins, and low to no transaction costs gains more traction and acceptance globally.

Images from Shutterstock.Chart from BitcoinChart.

Chris Corey 

CMO Markethive Inc

 

Lester Coleman on 29/12/2016​

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

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Seven Reasons Salespeople Have The Best Job On The Planet

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Chris Corey

Seven Reasons Salespeople Have The Best Job On The Planet

I took my first sales job at the ripe age of thirteen. I had been working at the same car wash company since I was eight years old. I started mowing their yard, and then at age 12 they let me vacuum cars. Mowing yards and vacuuming cars is no joke in the 100-degree Texas heat. While working the vacuums, I noticed the guy who sold the washes to the customers got to stay in the shade all day. This was very appealing to me.

After paying closer attention, I also realized the salesman didn’t vacuum or wash cars. He literally had the easiest job on the lot. It was in that moment I knew I was going to be a salesman. A year later, I made it a reality. Funny thing is, I had to really sell myself as a 13-year old capable of communicating to adults. When I closed the boss on it, I proved I was worthy.

Since that moment, I’ve been 100 percent convinced salespeople have the best job on the planet. Nowhere else can you make your own rules, your own money and do your own thing. In sales, it happens every day. I’ve made a list of the top seven reasons working in sales is where it’s at.

SIGN UP FOR E-MAIL UPDATES AND GET A DIGITAL COPY OF MY LATEST BEST-SELLER 'ELEVATOR TO THE TOP' FREE!!!

 

 

SUBMIT

#1: We Make Our Own Rules

Name another job where you can come and go as you please. I’m pretty sure there’s no other position where the employee is above management’s rules either. If you’re a good salesman, you can tell the manager to kiss your ass and they just might have to do it. 

When I worked at Texas Lending, casual Friday was the only day you could wear jeans. I wore jeans every day and even the CEO never said anything. Why? Because I made them $50-100 grand every month. Therefore, they let me make my own rules. It’s a pleasure only top dogs can experience. 

#2: We Have No Income Ceiling

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anyone telling me what I’m worth. I don’t allow another single person to place value on my worth. Instead, I’ll go out and prove my value to multiple people. I’m the type of person, who, if you put a limit on my income, I’ll put a limit on the production I give you.

Earning what you are worth is way more fun than settling for a salary. Let the salaries go to the people who are afraid to take risks and live by a budget. We salespeople can blow all our money on Friday and make it all back on Monday. Take that HR!

#3: Our Clients Love Us

One thing I love about sales is there are other departments that deal with complaints. The only time we hear from our clients is when they thank us and tell us how much they love what we sold them. We don’t have to do anything but solve problems and close.

When you’re a Grade A problem solver, your clients love you. Who doesn’t love someone who helped them fix an issue? If there’s a problem, they still don’t complain to us. They take it out on the operations and support staff.

#4: Our Employers Love Us

When you make the person or company you work for a lot of money, they love you. It’s simple math. You + Sales = Happy Employer. Yeah, the boss may have taken Dorothy from accounting to lunch that one time she uncovered a huge error that saved the company, but he’ll take someone in sales out often.

I’ve never seen a manager or CEO walk into a company and high five the operations department. I have seen them take shots at 10am with the sales team, though!

#5: We Travel Often

When you’ve got the killer instinct and the company knows it, they want you to be the face of the enterprise any chance you get. This means when they have meetings, events, conventions and the like, you’re the go-to person. If they know you can sell, they will send you to tell.

They can’t send Dorothy and Harold off to some convention as the face. They need a salesperson to do that. Nobody buys from the accounting department. So, Harold and Dorothy can just stay behind at the office, while we salesmen handle the big boy business.

#6: We Meet New People Constantly

If you’re in sales and you’re not a people person, you’re not really in sales. You have to know and like people in order to sell to them. By liking people, I mean the idea of bonding and solving another human’s problem. Every day, we are looking for new people to meet. From cold calls to networking events to inbound leads, we are constantly meeting and helping new, cool people.

A good salesman knows that when you meet people, you ask those new people to introduce you to more people…AND repeat. New people are key to growing a sales pipeline. Getting to learn more people’s stories is exciting to most of us. It’s a blast to help someone with a problem and then convert them from stranger to client.

#7: We Have Connections Everywhere

No one calls Harold in HR when they need a hook-up somewhere. They call the guys down in the sales department for that. All those new people I mentioned previously come with connections—who are eager to help a salesman.

Plus, everyone wants to know a salesman they can trust. They know trustworthy salespeople also have other trustworthy salespeople in their network. When I was a LO, people asked me to connect them with car people, clubs and pretty much anything. They knew I knew people, that the people I knew were good.

CMO Markethive Inc

Chris Corey

RYAN STEWMAN | 1.10.2016

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Friendships Online And What They Can Mean

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Frienships online can lead down many great roads and adventures. Today I am going to concentrate on a few people that I have met online. I met Thomas Prendergast back in 2009 as a result of me being a customer of his former company Veretekk. I had called in to his customer support line with a concern that I wasn’t doing something right. It was a weekend and I thought I would be leaving a message and wait for someone to contact me. To my surprise, Tom answered my call and I later found out that he was the CEO.

After explaining my frustration to Tom, and a long very friendly conversation Tom and I had a connection.  Tom and I having similar back grounds and a lots in common. Tom offered to mentor me personally in SEO and internet marketing. Tom must have seen something in me that I myself had not yet seen.

He had offered to me a Platinum Control Panel free of charge to use as long as I was learning. ($500 per month) It was then that I knew Tom wasn’t offering to help me for the money, he really cares about other and their success.

So Tom and I have been friends ever since. It’s odd the relationships that you can create online. I have people that I have met through the internet and though we have never met face to face, I would consider them to be great friends of mine.

Case in point, Thomas Prendergast and I have never met in person however we are now business partners in Markethive. Kathy Keen and I met through a business venture 6 years ago, we again have never met in person and I feel that I know her very well. Kathy and I have worked on several projects since.

Michael Ralph whom I have just met the month of September, 2016 and I know already, that he and I are going to be great internet friends. Michael has many qualities that I admire about him and I see so much potential in his future regarding Internet marketing. I think he will build a very successful business. I see drive, passion, and a great attitude. Yeah I think it’s safe to say, I liked Michael right away.

I have many examples of some really great people that I have met online, so if I have not mentioned you in this post. I still love you.

Markethive allows me to connect on a much deeper level because our social network allows me to connect to all of their other social networks as well.

 

Chris Corey CMO Markethive Inc.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

The Importance of Mentors, And Where To Find Them

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The importance of a mentor and where to find them can be one of the most important tasks a business professional can search for in their journey towards success. 

I write about growth strategy, execution & financing  

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Why Mentors Matter?

Mentors or business coaches are one of the most valuable resources an entrepreneur should tap into. The idea of launching a business should no longer be a scary or daunting experience, riddled with unknowns. It should be a collaborative experience accumulating the learnings of the hundreds of local entrepreneurs who have already built successful businesses, and can help you move faster and avoid known pitfalls based on their years of experience, as entrepreneurs themselves.

And, what is great about mentors or business coaches is that they come in all shapes and sizes that can handle the myriad of topics that you may be having a problem. So, search for the mentors who are expert on your specific business size, your specific industry, or your specific business problem (e.g., marketing issue vs. technology issue), on a case-by-case basis. Unlike finding a long term person for your formal board of directors or advisory board, as I have previously written about, mentors are more like “hired guns” on one-off topics that present themselves over time.

My Experience as a Mentor

Over my career, I have had the distinct pleasure of mentoring many startup entrepreneurs. Some of that has been via formal mentorship programs at startup accelerators like Techstars, Founder Institute or Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses.  And, some of it has been informal conversations along the way, while guest lecturing  university students or at entrepreneurial networking events.  To me, there is nothing more invigorating than being surrounded by a bunch of excited and motivated entrepreneurs, and trying to help them achieve their goals of building successful businesses. And, I am happy to contribute learnings from my career to help them get up the learning curve faster and for me to give back to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, of which I am a part.

A Mentorship Case Study

As an example, one of the startups I met needed help in structuring a strategic partnership with the leading media company in their industry to assist them with promotion and building up an audience. And, modestly, who better to help them than me, who structured a very similar media-related strategic partnership with National Geographic, while I was building explore in the travel space. Having the benefit of hindsight of cutting a strategic deal with a big media company, I have first-hand experience of what the pluses and minuses of that relationship were after the ink was signed, and it was too late to change anything in the agreement. So, hopefully, this startup can benefit from my experience, and can write a better agreement in their deal, than I did in mine.

CMO Chris Corey

Markethive Inc.

 

George Deeb ,  

 CONTRIBUTOR

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

This Is How You Quit Your 9 To 5 And Become An Internet Sensation

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I’m not going to sugar coat it, sell you rainbows and unicorns or tell you that becoming an entrepreneur will make you instantly rich. And I’m definitely not going to tell you that it’s easy. Starting your own business is HARD. The biggest component to success is a high-risk tolerance.

I have repeatedly struggled to find my footing, pay bills and get everything set up before finally finding a workable formula.

The business itself is easy to create. I’ve written about how to quickly set up an online money-maker for yourself. I’ve even put together some ideas and specific examples for you to help you come up with an idea.

It’s the cultivation of the business that takes time and energy. No matter how great your idea is, it will not flower by itself. You have to nurture it.

And that’s the problem. Nurturing takes TIME. Lot’s and lot’s of time, attention, care and energy.

My goal is to help you harness the digital power to make yourself money with as little effort as possible. We all know the major themes: create products, share value with people, make income. But it’s not exactly a linear process, is it?

So how do you make a relatively smooth transition from corporate employee to automated/digitized entrepreneur without going destitute?

You have to start with the middle road: freelancing.

The bottom line is this – you need time to set up your business. Most corporate jobs have schedules that don’t really allow for the type of time you need to build content, products, relationships and skills.

What I did: In the transition period between quitting my job at Longhorn Steakhouse in Atlanta, making $2 an hour, to creating my digital empire out of my office in gorgeous Santa Monica, I worked as a contracted online freelancer. I got to create my own schedule, meet a bunch of interesting people, and do something that I loved (or at least liked a lot).

And the biggest perk of all? I could charge a LOT more money.

Most corporate jobs are salaried – so they’re going to max you out and overwork you for the same pay.

Hourly jobs can be low-paying by their very nature. The more money you make per hour, the less the company wants you to work. It’s a catch-22. But as a freelancer, none of this applies to you. You set your own schedule and you set your own rates.

Inevitably, this is where the objections start to crop up:

“I have no idea what I would do. I’m not good at coming up with ideas.”

“I don’t have any valuable skills. I just have my job-specific skills.”

“My market is already saturated. There are better people doing what I do.”

“Nobody will pay for what I know when they can just teach themselves.”

(These are exact copy and pastes from fans and readers who follow my work.)

What are your skills?

There are literally HUNDREDS of things you can do that are enjoyable and that other people will PAY you for. Start thinking about where you could mine your talent for freelance skill:

  • What do people consistently ask you for help or advice in?
  • Do you have any unique skills, talents, hobbies or abilities?
  • What areas of life have you excelled to an “advanced” or even “intermediate” level?
  • What skills ideas interest you enough to learn, and then teach to others?
  • Could you work independently doing what you do now at your current job?
  • Do you have any friends with talents that compliment yours? Maybe you could team up.

My Story

Best to learn by example, I think. Here’s how I did it.

When I first started freelancing, I was working at Longhorn Steakhouse (I’m basically a steak aficionado now). I was also working for Kaplan Test Prep.

My steak skills weren’t worth much. But my Kaplan skills were. I realized that people were paying $100+ per hour for me to tutor their student one-on-one. You won’t believe how much I was making…$18/hour!

And the worst part was…I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD WAGE!!

Our perceptions are skewed because minimum wage is $7.25. So we think that anything significantly higher than that is good money. The reality is, $7.25 isn’t even livable. You probably need a minimum of $20/hour to make it out here.

But when I really sat down to think about it…I just got INFURIATED.

Here I was, doing all the teaching, grading, talking, communicating with parents, driving from school to school while Kaplan just sat back remotely and took 82% of my money.
BS!!

Since I as the one with the skill, I needed to be the one making the money. I knew I could make this work on my own and cut out the middle man.

So I bided my time. I looked around, I made some calls.

I found a partner who was also interested in getting a freelance education business going. He was the consulting side, I was the teaching side. Together we knocked down doors, created classes and started making money. A lot more of it.

First, I quit Kaplan. Didn’t want any conflict of interest. Then, as soon as the restaurant started to get in the way of my new endeavor, I quit that as well.

When I quit both jobs, I wasn’t making quite as much with the new business…but the projections were giving me a solid indication that things would pick up quickly. So I just took the leap.

Chris Corey

CMO Markethive Inc

 

By:Daniel DiPiazza

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Want to Be More Influential? Improve Your Social Skills

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Want to Be More Influential? Improve Your Social Skills.

 Improving your Social skills is no longer a choice! It is a must if you want to be in marketing. Dale Carnegie got it right when he said that to win more friends and influence more people you need to improve your interpersonal skills.  Twenty years of research on power and influence shows that people with superior social skills are substantially more influential than people with average social skills.  These findings make sense when you realize that influence is not something you have; it’s something other people give you.  In other words, you can’t be influential with people unless they allow you to be influential with them.  So influence is in large part a function of your relationship with other people, and the rule of thumb on influence is that you are likely to be more successful if the people you want to influence know you, like you, respect you, and trust you. 

Being Known

It is significantly easier to influence people you know than people you don’t.  So go out of your way to make yourself known.  If you’re in an organization, this means increasing your visibility throughout the organization.  Introduce yourself to people.  As you get to know them, let them know who you are.  My research shows that people are who highly skilled at being friendly and sociable with strangers and building close relationships are more than twice as influential as people who are less skilled at sociability and relationship building.  People around the world instinctively understand this, which is why socializing is one of the most frequently used influence techniques globally.  If you aren’t naturally good at socializing, then this is a key skill to build.  Extraverts are often naturally good at socializing, but being an introvert is not necessarily a liability.  You may just have to try harder to do something that does not come naturally to you.

Being Liked

Sometimes, you know the person you want to influence but aren’t as influential as you’d like with him or her because of bad chemistry. Many years ago when I was younger and single a friend introduced me to a young woman, and she and I dated for a while.  She was a nice, attractive person, and we tried to be a couple but it just didn’t work.  Somehow, we got on each other’s nerves and whatever either of us said or did was somehow wrong.  There was no chemistry between us, and it wasn’t her fault or mine.  We just weren’t a good match for each other.  So it goes.  In my three decades in business I’ve had similar situations with some colleagues and clients.  Despite everyone’s good intentions, the plain fact is that there’s something about the other person each of you just doesn’t like.

I wrote in The Elements of Power(Amacom Books, 2011) that attraction can be a significant source of power, and it’s based partly on the psychological principle of liking.  We are more inclined to say yes to people we like than to people we don’t, which is why friends are more likely to do favors for each other than they are for people they don’t know.  So to be more influential, do what you can to be more likeable to the people you want to influence.  Of course, we each have whatever physical gifts (or challenges) we were born with, but you should do the best you can with what you have.  Good grooming, posture, dress, and manners go a long way toward making you more attractive to others.  In business, as well as many other walks of life, these things matter.  The same is true with interpersonal behaviors that people like:friendliness, generosity, warmth, caring, and acceptance.  When we act with these qualities, people are more inclined to like us.  Conversely, if we are pushy, arrogant, boastful, self-centered, rude, disrespectful, or otherwise annoying, people will be inclined to dislike us.  Personality is a key component of likeability.

Being Respected and Trusted

Trust and respect are largely about character, credibility, and confidence.  You build character through courage, integrity, reliability, and similar character traits; you build credibility through your knowledge, access to information, role, and reputation (of which work ethic, results, and contributions are a significant factor); and you build confidence by behaving self-confidently, achieving consistently superior results, making good decisions, and exercising sound judgment.  If you are a member of a business or professional organization, people will also trust and respect you more if you are actively involved, engaged, and comitted to the enterprise.  To become highly influential, it helps to be well-liked, well-regarded, and indispensable.

Fortunately, none of us is born with a fixed amount of power and influence.  No matter who you are, you can become more powerful and more influential, and one of the keys is improving your interpersonal and social skills.  For more tips on how to do this, see Elements of Influence:  The Art of Getting Others to Follow Your Lead(Amacom Books, 2011) or my earlier book, What People Want (Davies-Black, 2006).  Also see Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, which he first published in 1936 but is still relevant today.

Chris Corey CMO Markethive

 

Parts of this article are excerpted from Terry R. Bacon, Elements of Influence:  The Art of Getting Others to Follow Your Lead (NY:  AMACOM Books, 2011).

Photo credits:  Friends in a bar: Sean Locke/istockphoto.com. Young businesswoman:  Maridav/istockphoto.com.  Business people looking at a chart:  Jacob Wackerhausen/istockphoto.com. 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

The Worst 10 Mistakes When Starting a Business

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 What are fatal mistakes that first time business owners make and can easily avoid? If you want to start a business, read through the following list of business mistakes and take them to heart. Any one of them could sabotage your new business venture and turn it into a failure rather than a success.

These are the big mistakes to avoid when you're starting out:

1) Not doing a business plan.

If I had even just fifty cents for every time someone asked me “Is this a good business idea?” over the years, I’d be a wealthy woman.

 

The problem is, unless I write a business plan, I have no idea – and you won’t, either. That’s the main purpose of a business plan. There are other good reasons, too; see 5 Reasons for Writing a Business Plan to learn more.

Yes, it’s time-consuming and demands a lot of research, but investing time now will save you so much time and money later.

2) Doing what you love.

In my opinion, the person who first said “Do what you love” should be shot. Or at least forced to eat seven bad restaurant meals in a row.

It sounds fine in theory, but the reality is there are a whole lot of people out there who love things they’re not good at. My official advice? Don’t do what you love; do what you’re good at and what people will pay you (well) for. It’s not as catchy, but it’s a whole lot more profitable – and isn't making a profit the reason you're opening a business?

3) Not doing any market research.

I see increasing numbers of people starting businesses without bothering to do any of this – and then being heartbroken when their new business, which they’ve invested so much time and money in, collapses.

Test your products and service first before you start a business. If you don’t, you have no idea if people are even going to want to buy them. You may think you make the tastiest pierogi in all the world. But will anyone else? Learn who to Do Your Own Market Research.

4) Ignoring the competition.

Ignoring the competition is another potentially fatal business mistake.

 

Simple question #1: If you’re selling your thingamabobs for $10 apiece and Vera down the street is selling her thingamabobs for $6 apiece, how many thingamabobs are you going to sell?

And what if Vera’s thingamabobs look/smell/feel/taste better than yours? 6 Ways to Find Out What the Competition is Up To will show you how to keep tabs on the competition that matters.

Another aspect of competition you need to understand is market saturation. The pie is only so big, so to speak, for every product or service. So, for instance, if you want to open a dog grooming business, there may not be any “room” left in your local area to do so because of the number of dog grooming businesses that already exist.

5) Not taking into account your own strengths and weaknesses.

We all have them. Unfortunately, sometimes our strengths or weaknesses don’t fit well with the business model we want to use, leading to disastrous results. For example, if you’re not a friendly, outgoing type of person with good people skills, retail is not for you.

 

It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve dreamed of opening that ice cream parlour or book store, it’s not for you.

That doesn’t mean you can’t buy such a business or start one yourself, but for it to succeed, you need to be aware that working behind the counter is not something you should be doing; you’ll need to hire staff right away. (Here’s what you need to know about Hiring Employees in Canada.)

6) Not understanding what you’re actually selling.

Helena Rubinstein, the first self-made female millionaire, didn’t become rich selling face cream; she became rich selling beauty. ("There are no ugly women,” she used to say, “only lazy ones”.) If your new business is going to be successful, you need to know what you’re actually selling and craft your Unique Selling Propositionaccordingly.

7) Not making sure you have enough money.

Ninety-five percent of businesses will not make money when they first open and a large proportion of new businesses will not make significant money for years. (The exception, the five percent that make money when they first open, is for businesses that are actually just “carry-overs”, employees who become contractors, a fairly common practice in industries such as IT.)

Which means you (and your family) have to have enough money to live on while your new business is getting established, as well as enough money for the business to survive and grow. Not getting the money to do this lined up before you start your small business is a serious mistake.

Small business financing of some kind is the most obvious way to do this, eitherthrough a traditional lender or through a non-traditional alternative. (See 5 Creative Ways to Fund Your New Business.) Perhaps you can qualify for a start up grant.

How to Get Your New Small Business to Make Money includes some other ways you can bring in bucks while starting up.

8) Not investing in marketing.

Following the common advice “Build it and they will come” is another serious business mistake. Come where? Why? Or even when? No one will know without some effective marketing. (How to Create an Effective Sales and Marketing Strategyexplains the basics.

Far too many small businesses are reluctant to spend any money on marketing, let alone a significant amount. Free marketing can be excellent – but most free marketing strategies take a significant amount of time before they become effective. (Referrals and social media marketing are examples.)

Create a marketing plan, set up some marketing campaigns, and keep doing it if you want your business to be successful.

My best tip? Market your business before you open it. There’s no rule that says you have to wait until your physical or virtual doors are actually open.

9) Not bothering with any online marketing.

One way or another, your small business has to be online. You may or may notneed a website (many individuals who provide services use other “homes” on the web, such as Facebook or LinkedIn pages) but your business needs to be able to be found by and promoted to the ever increasing number of people who use the web to find the products and services they want.

If you’re not going to do anything else, establish some sort of home base for your business online and be sure that your small business is listed in various online directories. Actively marketing your small business online is even better and will give it a far better chance of reaching your customers.

One possibility is to engage customers through social media. Learn How to Create a Social Media Plan.

10) Trying to do everything yourself.

You can’t. It’s that simple and that aggravating. Running a small business, even if it’s a one person business, involves so many different tasks that no one person can do them all well. Even if each of us was perfect and had all the skills to do an outstanding job at whatever we set our hands to, each of us is still constrained by time. Most days, I predict, you’ll be lucky if you even get done what you planned to get done when your day started.

So sidestep the mistake of trying to do it all and increase the chance of your new business succeeding by getting the help you need from the get-go. Learn How to Delegate, hire and outsource to make the most of your skills and benefit from outside expertise. For example, do you really need to do your own accounting?Accountants have a lot more financial and tax knowledge than you have, more than likely, and can save you a bundle of time (and even money!) at tax-time.

(Speaking of outside expertise, have you thought about Creating an Advisory Board for your small business? It can give you a real management advantage.)

Who Doesn’t Want to Succeed?

I’ve yet to meet a person who wants to start a business that’s quickly going to go under.

If starting a business is in your future, understand that starting a business is a process, not an event. If you take the time to do the thinking and the research and avoid the business mistakes discussed above, you’ll hugely increase the likelihood of your new business succeeding.

Chris Corey

CMO Markethive Inc

By Susan Ward

Updated August 16, 2016

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Your First Business

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5 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Your First Business

Mistakes you can avoid with your first business. When I opened my first business, a fitness center, unfounded confidence flowed through my veins. Visions of fast success and weekends off with the family seemed as close as the next sell.

Related: The 5 Mistakes Standing Between You and Your First Million

A few months later, the bravado gave way to fear and insecurity. That dream about weekends away vanished, and my 5 a.m.-to-9 p.m. schedule began taking its toll. I have been fortunate ever since to avoid similar mistakes in my more recent businesses. But I continue to review those mistakes, lest I repeat them:

 

1. Allowing belief to override the business plan

Owning a business is not for the weak in spirit. You need a strong mind and heart to face the day-in and day-out work. In the early days of the dream, it’s easy to be so excited and enamored with the idea of "your" business that you fail to grind out a proper business model.

When I approached my bank with my business plan in a thick three-ringed binder, I thought the president might just hand me a briefcase of cash. No kidding. Then came reality: Within two minutes the bank president asked me several questions my plan couldn’t answer. Still, that didn’t faze me. I lifted my chin and stated with conviction, “This will work.” I left without the briefcase of cash. Belief overrode the business plan, and I exited penniless.

2. Listening to customers instead of spreadsheets

“Famous Health Club just went out of business,” my soon-to-be business partner Mike said. “They left all the equipment," he told me excitedly. "We can go in and start quickly and not have to buy everything. However, they scammed their people, and no one wants to sign a contract.”

No problem. We won’t do contracts, I thought. And we didn’t. But we should have. Because, six months later, a giant fitness chain came to town and told members they could sign up for two years and pay via automatic draft. And people signed up in droves. Our “we won’t sign a contract” people left for newer pastures.

The lesson is, you’ll be tempted to set up your business in the way your customers say they want. And, sometimes that will be fine if it fits your model. Otherwise, trust your spreadsheets. Make sure the math works before giving in on every demand in hopes of making the sale.

Related: 6 Common Mistakes First-Time Business Owners Should Avoid

3. Risking a family member’s retirement fund

Remember my empty briefcase? I gave up on the bank and instead went to my grandfather and asked for the money. I needed only $20,000. That’s it. It never crossed my mind that Daddy B might consider what I requested to be a big sum, considering that during his career, he'd been a lowly paid high school principal. And, as if that weren't enough, he told me he believed only in safe investments and had put most of his own money into interest-bearing certificates of deposit earning a massive 2 percent interest.

Being young and arrogant, I took my grandfather back to the same bank. Together, we got a secured loan and I was on my way. So, I was able to move forward. But unless your family members have the money to lose, don’t borrow against their retirement or savings. They may love you and want you to succeed, but losing their money will haunt you.

4. Miscalculating the time needed to launch

Since those former fitness club tenants had left their equipment, Mike and I figured that we could open quickly. It was already December and we believed we could open by January 1. Just in time for the New Year’s "resolution" crowd. Timing-wise, we thought we'd won the lottery.

But, three days prior to opening, we knew we were in trouble. I still can’t remember if we slept those last three days. We pushed hard to open the doors. And they opened, but not without our first suffering stress, tears, fears, panic, anxiety and delusions of the greatest business failure ever known to man.

So, set your own grand opening inside a buffer zone. Plan to be ready 10 days ahead of “the” day and you just might open on time, without dread and anxiety.

5. Equating personal experience with business expertise

I began working out at age 12. I was competing in powerlifting and body-building competitions by age 18. In addition to that, I was a personal trainer at a local gym. Certainly all that experience would translate into running a fitness center of my own, right? 

Not even close. I knew how to train people, but not retain people for the purpose of growing a membership-based business. You might be a great cook, mechanic, web designer or artist, but that doesn’t automatically translate into business acumen. So grab some study courses from Entrepreneur.com and arm yourself for this battle called business.

A couple of years later, Mike and I sold that fitness center. Our buyer was a guy who wanted the space for his karate school. We barely paid off our business loans with the sales proceeds. It could have been so much more had we avoided the mistakes we made starting our first business.

So, remember them, and learn

Chris Corey 

CMO Markethive Inc

 

CONTRIBUTOR

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member