The Foundation - The Basics Needed For YOUR Business!

Having your own business is similar to a house or a structure.

You will need to have a strong foundation (the basics) to build on!

I will keep this as brief and to the point as possible but know that this is one of the most important things that you MUST have in order to have any form of success.

Without a foundation you will either fail, not have enough money to pay your bills or enough profit at the end of the day to pay yourself. Remember this: Pay Yourself FIRST!

If you begin to think this way from the get go you will start having the right mindset. In order to pay yourself FIRST in reality however you do have to pay your bills or you will not have a business. It is that simple!

PAY YOUR TAXES & BILLS!
What do I mean by this. I have seen way too many people not able to pay their taxes from their business. They get caught in a vicious circle of chasing the money needed to keep the tax-man off their backs.

Know that this is very dangerous and they will come after your personal possessions if you mess with them! They will even take your home! Pay your taxes by having a separate account that you dump money into every time you make money!

Add to this; their are others you will need to pay in order to operate.
Make sure you set that amount of money aside every time you make money too.

Note that I have not said to put that money aside every week, two weeks or every month. That does not work!

Do it every time you are paid, every time you get a cheque!
It hurts less doing it this way. When you don't have that money in your hands in the first place and once you have your system set-up for this you will not have to worry about bankruptcy and other bad things that can happen to you.

Depending on your taxed income rates in your area develop a percentage of what you need from your income for your taxes. Don't forget to pay sales taxes (G.S.T. and/or provincial taxes in Canada, others in the USA). Take that percentage right off the top and do it right when you cash or deposit your cheque - every time!

Knowing your operating expenses inside out is the same. Figure out the percentage and before you even get to see the money from your next cheque dump that money into an operating account to pay your bills from. I know some people that have even up to 7 accounts to pay bills, taxes and save for retirement with. Do not put this off!

KNOW YOUR NUMBERS!
You will need to know your numbers in a number of different areas of your business and start this in the beginning and make it a habit.

For staying out of trouble you must know what your weekly, monthly and yearly costs of doing business are.
Like noted above, once you know this you can set aside a portion (or percentage) of each cheque into a separate account for this too.

There is nothing more that can hurt you worse than debt and collectors knocking at your door. It will kill your drive mentally and discourage others from doing business with you. Know this stuff inside and out!

VISION
Before you start your business have a Vision of what you want it to be.

What do you want it to look like? Who will it serve? How much money will it make? How much money will it cost you? Will you eventually have staff? How many hours and when will you work?

This list goes on and on and know that parts of it will change as you move forward and perhaps even change your ideas of what you want it to look like. Make sure you are honest with yourself and dealing in reality.

Having a business usually requires more hours of working than being employee. If you came into this thinking you could work part time and spend most of your days on the golf course ask yourself if that is reality?

MARKETING
Don't confuse marketing with advertising. It is much bigger than that and includes many things.

How will people and potential clients know you are in business? How will they know and be sure that you are someone that cares, can be trusted and will deliver on what they need? In short write down a list of how you will market your business. Where will you advertise and how, what will all this cost?

Knowing your numbers counts in advertising too. What works and what doesn't work? Where are you wasting money? Can you measure the results and what do they add up to? In most cases you can save yourself money and dump what is not working. More on that another day.

Do you have a "Brand?" How do you build a brand, how much do you spend on branding and where?

YOUR TABLE
Think of your business as a table top. It has four legs underneath holding the table top up.

What are those legs? Marketing, Advertising, Internet, Web Site(s), Flyers, Open Houses, Party's, Networking, People, Charity support, Cold calls (I hate these), Door to door (I hate this too) or what?

In other words what strategies and tasks do you need to do on a regular and timely basis to keep your business up and running?

Once you know your four basic legs then you will develop other supports (more legs) to assist in keeping this business up where it needs to be. Without at least four legs, your table will fall over and land on the ground and that my friends means you are either broke or going broke!

GOALS
Along with your Vision of the business you will need to have Goals.

I won't spend a detailed amount of time on it here today. Every business and sales person needs to have Goals. You are about to start hearing a lot of repetitive language and it is for a reason... Here we go!

If you have a Goal, you must have a way to measure it!
If you have a way to measure your Goal you must re-visit it on a regular basis (this means daily in some cases) in order to make sure you stay on track and in order to have success at attaining that Goal.

Know your NUMBERS! (Notice how this is repeated, that means it is very important and you will hear this until you are sick of it).

If you have a financial Goal for each year (it may not be a calendar year) how will you know if you are on track towards meeting your Goal?

Here are some very simple tips (more on this later):

• Know your numbers!
• How much does your business cost you each year?
• Know exactly what your expenses are!
• How much money did you make last year? (Gross income).
• How many days do you work a year, quarter, month, week, day.
• How many days of holidays do you want each year & when?
• Make your Goals very specific and measurable.
• Do your Goals stretch you a bit further each year?
• Are your Goals realistic - Can you actually attain the Goal?
• Do you have a real plan to reach each Goal?
• Write out your Goals! 
• Write out an actual detailed plan for reaching Goals.
• Much like a road map, write it out so you can see where you are at.
• If you are off-course on your plan, can you get back & how?
• Are your Goals related to your business (or your life)?
• Are your Goals meaningful to you?
• Look from 10,000 feet above and design your life and set Goals.
• Where do you want to be in 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years?
  
  There is so much more to add here. We will delve deeper into Goals and Plans later on.

All Businesses that are successful have Goals for each and every month, quarter and year. 

Do not start or run your business without writing down your Goals and your Plans on how to get there. Put them in a red binder on your desk or where you will see them and deal with them every day!

A PLAN!

As much as Goals are a must for both your business and personal life so is a business plan. 

How will you get there? What tasks do you have to do yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily to make it happen?

Some things you won't have to do as often as others, some things will need to be done every single day. What are they?

Write all these ideas and tasks down. Keep your rough notes and begin writing out your plan. Like your Goals know that your plan may have to be adjusted (or changed) to get to your destination.

The "Winds of Change" will come your way!
Like a pilot in a jetliner know that you will face bad weather, winds and even some disasters along the way. 

What will you do when this happens? How will you know if you are off course if you do not have a map that you are constantly referring to? Make sure you do this and make sure you use and refer to it regularly. 

If you are like me you will need to form this into a habit or you will forget! That alone will blow you off course because unlike a modern jetliner you do not have "auto-pilot" to rely on!

REWARDS

Another strategy that I have seen work for many others including myself are "rewards." 

The money I made in itself did not reward or stimulate me enough to do what I needed to do.

Rewards that I could see, that were tangible and touchable and made me emotional were what I needed. This all to keep motivated in doing what I needed to do to keep at all the tasks required.

I would attach a reward to almost every Goal I set for myself. The bigger the Goal the bigger the reward!

I would remind myself various ways of these potential rewards and for me that was my daily motivation. Especially with tasks that I found boring or rarely seemed to have had time for.

I will let you figure out what rewards to set for your Goal attainment. 

Mine were things like dinners at nice restaurants, new cell phones or technology, clothes, holidays on nice beaches, cars and other things I wanted and liked.

TOP OF MIND AWARENESS & REWARDS

You might think that this is something you need for your business when the consumer thinks about your product or service and it is. 

But my point here is that you need it for the important tasks and rewards inside your business as well.

For my Rewards I had a "Vision Board."
This board was placed on or right beside my desk. It had photos of the car, the beach or the other things I wanted to reward myself with. 

It worked really well for me to remember why I was doing all this especially on the bad days or during the tough times.

A visual reminder on my key chain helped here too. 

I had a little picture (of the beach or car etc) that I had laminated. 

I punched a hole in it (to put on my key ring) for me to see every time I unlocked my car or went into my house.

VISIONING & MIND GAMES

This too is a big topic and we will just touch a bit of it in today's post.

Know two things!
1. Some days are going to be tough and depressing.
2. Having a positive attitude will get you through. 

Knowing how to go from depression, rejection and desparity towards positive action will be a valuable tool for you and you need to think about this right now. The faster you bounce back the better!

Visioning is a little different than your vision for your business which we touched on above. This is a proven method for success. Google it, think about it and then accept it as part of your life! Simply put, vision your life, vision your rewards, vision yourself doing things successfully and so on.

What do you know of that will change your mood to a good one?
For me one thing is some good old 70's music. Within five minutes my mood and my attitude get back to being a positive one! I use it when

something gets me down or I feel all worn out. What works for you?

Positive Self-Talk. 

This is something we all need too.

Most people will run into times where they catch their inner self telling them they can't do this or that? It may be innocent sounding or even things like "I just need to get through this." 

Whatever it is for you it is negative and negative is going to set you back big time!

Practice positive self talk. Use motivational talks on tape or whatever you feel you need to get this going. Replace "I can't" with I can!" Keep telling yourself this on a regular basis (driving your car, when going to bed etc) that you can and you will do this. Keep positive phrases handy and use them!

You must understand that whatever your brain focuses on is what you will attain. Your brain and your subconscious are very powerful either way. Use them towards positive things!

If you focus on the negative or scary... or maybe all reasons why you can't... or why you are scared to do something... then guess what... You will get exactly that... and you won't succeed and if you do it will be marginal at best.

This is big stuff for many of us out there. 

If you decide now to focus on positive self-talk techniques and make a habit of using them regularly it will help you to focus and it will help you to gain confidence and it will help you to be successful!

TIP

Google anything you do not understand or know about. Read more than one reputable article on it to learn what it means.
Also don't believe everything you hear on TV, read in the papers or on the Internet!

COACHES, MENTORS & FRIENDS!

All professional athletes of any worth have coaches! 

So do highly paid executives and CEO's. None of them got any where, none of them ever won a contest, game, contract, sale by allowing their brain to tell them they can't do it! 

Call this whatever you want, Coaching, Mentoring, A Friend to chat with, Someone to bounce ideas with, someone to listen. It doesn't matter. 

What does matter is that they listen to you and offer practical, proven advice that works. Someone who has been there, has experience and knowledge to help guide you.

When you are under pressure to perform you need a little bit of what some call a positive ego. You need to somehow convince your inner self that you can do it. You need to tell yourself and be confident that you can do it. 

I promise you that you can do a lot of things that you thought you couldn't and some you will find you can do very well!

Years ago I was deathly afraid of speaking in public. 

I found myself in a position on a regular basis where I would have to do it in front of a crowd of people. The negative thoughts were coming from the fact that I had no real experience in doing this. I was scared I would fail and be laughed at and the list goes on about all the negative thoughts in my head.

I learned to talk positively to myself before going on stage. That helped to build my confidence. Confidence that others who did this (public speaking) were no better a person than me! 

They just had more experience doing it. 

I convinced my inner self that I needed this experience and when I started to get it (even after one presentation) I started to feel more confident. 

Later I was sent on a two week course which helped me a lot too. 

I still get the willy's but you know what?
I don't even worry about it any more. My willy's are just there to tell me to do as good a job as I can - End!

LEARNING

If you are dealing in reality you have come to figure out that when you start your own business you will wear several hats. 

You may work long hours doing your books and accounting and other tasks you didn't think about before starting this business. That's OK. 

Many of us got into our own business because we hated working for a large corporation, didn't like our boss, were tired of the routine, wanted flexible hours or....

One thing that matters is learning. 

You need to be a "Life - Long Learner."

This may be as easy as reading books. It should include going to informative conferences, networking events with good speakers, having a mentor and the list goes on.

The beautiful thing is that there is more free information out there now than ever. Way more than when I first started in business when there was not Internet. 

Be cautious of what you learn and from who. Some of it may be old, out of date or simply bad. Other's may be very valuable. 

Do not overwhelm yourself in learning. 

Sometimes this can happen and cause way too much stress even if you are not aware of it. You need something left over so you can have the energy for work too. Be smart on what you do learn and then apply.

ACTION

This is where most people fail!

This very line in the dirt is what kills most businesses!
Failure to take action is akin to poisoning your brain with the wrong information in the first place!

Some do not take action in learning anything new. They keep doing the same old things while expecting different results. 

They are left to wonder when the Fairy Godmother will come along and sprinkle them with knowledge and money to be a success.

You need to learn, you need to take ACTION when you do.

If something is going wrong and you do not know it (off course from your business plan perhaps?) how can you take ACTION? 

If you learn something valuable like how to stay out of trouble with the Tax Man you need to take ACTION to make it work. Things do not happen by themselves. You have to make things happen and that is called SMART ACTION.

DO NOT become one of the statistics!
Learn and then Apply = ACTION!

WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS - NOT JUST IN YOUR BUSINESS.

This one simple sentence when turned into a strategy (Action) changed my business and my life!

Set blocks of time into your schedule on a weekly basis to work "on" your business!

Most of us get so caught up working in our businesses (like employees) that we have nothing left over or don't even think to work on our business.

You are now the CEO of whatever it is that you do to make income. 

You need to ACT LIKE IT! (I said I would be blunt at times).

Working on your business on a regular basis will include a multitude of tasks and I can not cover them all here. Things such as:

Accounting, Book-Keeping, Marketing, Advertising, Relationship Building, Goals, Plans, Budgets, Cleaning, Knowing your NUMBERS and so on.

Once you get more successful and make more money... then you will need to strategically plan when to delegate certain tasks out to others. 

This may include hiring a Bookkeeper, Accountant, Janitor, Assistant and so on. Do not do this too early and be very careful about hiring someone for your marketing. That should be the last thing if you ever even delegate it at all.

So in short, make sure you block time and work on the tasks that have to be done in order or be the CEO and properly run your business. One day we will talk about how to pick which tasks first and how to prioritize when you get too busy to do everything you need to do.

When I started to write this post this morning I did not expect for it to be this long. 

My passion is in all of these things and it is hard to explain some of it even slightly and stay brief. I want to ensure that you get the right ideas and not misunderstand what I am trying to get across to you. 

So be prepared some posts may be long but I will ensure they are worth it!

I think by now you are getting my point about building a foundation. 

This is work and sometimes its hard. Once you sit down and start writing it all out you will feel accomplishment!

You will also gain confidence in yourself and in your business. The data will keep you focused on task and in line if you refer to it regularly.

Until next time... do your homework!
It won't be as hard or take as long as you may think! Do what needs doing and work "on" your business this week!


BOOK RECOMMENDATION: (This should be read by everyone!)
The E Myth by Michael Gerber.
Click Here

You can do it... Now go get it... and have fun!

Jim