Category Archives: Business

Posted on

Think Like a Successful Millionaire

Invest in learning how to think and not just what to think. Consider new ideas and change your future prospects. That’s what millionaires do, they share an approach to the future that highlights possibilities and outcomes that others ignore.

man-thinking-560x373

How many young people do you know that are at the stage of making a career choice? One very important factor in vocation is compensation.

“After studying millionaires for more than 20 years, I have concluded that if you make one major decision correctly, you can become economically productive. If you are creative enough to select the ideal vocation you can win, win big time. The really brilliant millionaires are those who selected a vocation that they love – one that has few competitors and generates high profits.”

 

90% of deca millionaires graduated from college, but view themselves as average academically; however, vocational choice made the biggest difference for most of them!

Posted on

9 Public Speaking Secrets Of The Worlds Top Minds

Have you hung up on one of THOSE phone calls lately? You know the kind I mean, the ones that ring at exactly the moment you are sitting down for dinner. Regardless of the organization, these calls are all in the same category; SALES. But did you know you are not that far off being one of THOSE callers.

 

Author and trend identifier, Daniel Pink notes in his book To Sell Is Human,

 

“Like it or not we are all in sales now.”

TED_image-560x429

Your platform may be the boardroom, a pulpit or even sitting around the kitchen table. Communicating with clarity and making a difference are your goals. We all know lives can be transformed by our ability to communicate. But where do you learn this skill? If you don’t learn at home or in school, where do you learn to overcome the fear of public speaking? How do you gain confidence to communicate ideas and faith?

 

The Bible contains an important principle on this topic:

 

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

1 Peter 3:15

Posted on

Learn Something New

Plenty of research shows that curiosity and learning have health and social benefits throughout your lifetime. Learning is not isolated to age groups,educational institutions, classrooms and libraries.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

Eleanor Roosevelt

TagCloudFisheyeBUSINESS

Our economy has shifted from an agricultural economy, to an industrial economy to an ideas-driven economy. Great business guru, Peter Drucker, calls our generation the “knowledge economy”. Since most of us are visual learners and will spark our curiosity by learning something new through a visual medium; TED Talks are an outstanding resource for business and personal growth.

Curiosity sparks ideas! Ideas worth spreading – that’s the slogan for the TED Conference – one of the world’s most admired conferences. TED (Technology, Education, and Design) ideas are the currency of the modern knowledge worker. TED’s free 18-minute online TED Talks have over one billion views.

Posted on

From Success To Significance

“What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know.…The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do…. to find the idea for which I can live and die.”

Soren Kierkegaard

Working for success often does not bring us the fulfillment and sense of an idea worth living for, rather it leaves us wanting more. Discovering our strengths and using them to help make a difference that changes the world; that is the idea that Kierkegaard struggled to define. Where do you start to make such a big difference and capture an inner heartbeat that sets the timing for your life?

Retired man working on his laptop in the park

In most of the western world people have “two lives”. Our first life is the typical work life from 20 to 60 years old. Our second is the 20 to 30 extra years of life. In the developing world like Kenya, where I’ve just returned from, the average life expectancy is 45 years old. Like generations before us, they don’t have the benefit of this second stage of life.

“The 20th century is the first in which substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have real choices about how they will invest their time and talent. . . . Most people are totally unprepared for it.”

Peter Drucker,  Renowned Business Expert

If we have no historical framework to base this extra time on what are we to do? How are we to find that one idea we can live and die for? With 5,000 advertising messages high jacking our attention, how are we to know if we are being effective and doing the right things?

 

God provides illumination, meaning, purpose and hope in his word the Bible.

 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

Posted on

Pass On A Rich Inheritance

Imagine running a relay race. Each person has to be individually competent but the thing that can trump the whole race is the hand off. Drop the baton and the team is disqualified. If you have a family business you are in a unique position to hand off to the next generation a great opportunity. Sadly, many experience heartache when passing the business on to their children: businesses fail but more importantly families are ruined, broken apart by unrealized expectations and misunderstanding.

una famiglia a tavola

 

Family business succession is an important topic because it affects many of us, indirectly. In the United States, family businesses employ 60% of workforce. In Canada the number is closer to 50%. Worldwide, in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries – including France, Mexico and Sweden – more than 90% of businesses now have fewer than ten employees and are family businesses.

 

As Thomas William Deans says in Every Family’s Business, handing off a business is largely about setting realistic expectations, avoiding surprises and just plain communicating, and this can happen many, many years prior to the turnover of the business. Through this fictional story based on the real life events in 3 generations of the author’s family, you can discover some essential steps.

Posted on

How To Succeed In Business

Success in business is not vague or abstract. It is measurable and absolute. What’s the process then?  I’ve experienced and seen three things hold people back from starting and succeeding in business; fear, money, and lack of knowledge. We have discovered how to overcome fear and lack of money. Let’s move forward and understand the knowledge component of how to succeed in business.

iStock_000009295432Small

Of the three obstacles, lack of knowledge is the hardest. In my own experience and in the process of coaching others, I am certain that stumbling into creative non-traditional or innovative skills is impossible. In my specialty of homebuilding, it was essential for me to gain mastery of dealing in real estate, evaluating business opportunities, managing employees and investing. So, how do you gain knowledge?

Posted on

How To Start A Business For $100

Match you entrepreneurial spirit with reality! If you think that starting a small business is hard, think again. In our home building company we overcame three common obstacles; fear of failure, a perceived lack of money and lack of knowledge. How can I inspire you to start a business?

Reality today is society is being fundamentally changed by the impact of the Internet and the connection economy. 63% of 20 something’s want to start a business, but where do you begin?

iStock_000017538103Small2

The smartest man who ever lived, with a modern day estimated net worth of over one trillion, was King Solomon. His wisdom is recorded in the Bible, he said…

The naive believe everything… but a wise man looks well into a matter.

Proverbs 14: 15

If you are looking into how to start a business, begin by reading multiple books on entrepreneurship. Use this approach to eliminate the risk of starting down an unsustainable path. Risk is part of any business venture but avoid making common mistakes by learning from others.

Posted on

Three Questions To Help Find Work You Love

Are you looking for career advice? Through high school and university I had a variety of jobs: commercial fisherman, fish factory worker, infantryman, laborer and bricklayer. Then something amazing happened – success! But how? How do you find work you love that leads to success?

Passion-Talent-Market

Research shows that up to 70% of people hate their jobs. Many of my friends do not love their work. Now their children are in school wrestling with the tension of what to study and what careers to pursue. Many people I know are still wondering how to find work you love.

Posted on

How To Show Someone You Care by Giving Away Resources

Here’s my scenario…..I meet people often and the majority of the time they are experiencing problems. No surprise there! We all have problems. But meetings are short and some problems are long….so conveying meaningful caring concern and attempting to help is often difficult. Trying to explain how, changed thinking  changes your life over a meal or coffee….is impossible! Unless a tool to leverage the time is used.

That’s where all the resources in this blog come into the picture. But in the end of this post, I am not the hero. You are.

iStock_000003780634Small

Have you had problems, found solutions and then shared the experience with other people? On so many levels our culture is exploding with this method of teaching and learning.  Just think….Do it Yourself Network, Pintrest and so many, many others!

But when you have knowledge and are an expert at something you’re vulnerable. You can easily forget how the wisdom and knowledge was gained – you catch the “curse of knowledge”. So, here’s a suggestion.

Posted on

One Book You Must Read Before Starting A Business

One of my greatest joys is giving to others and seeing their success.

When I started out, working as a homebuilder superintendent, I had one boss. When self-employed I had many bosses: clients, banks, tradespeople, suppliers. To take back control and grow my business I needed systems and procedures for everyone to follow.

iStock_000016088416Small

We all dream of being our own boss … but it’s not that easy. Learning from others’ successes, and failures can save you a lot of headache!  Become and avid reader of resources that can help.  When we learn from others, and we can grow faster and move farther.

Having grown my business to great success, I want to inspire and motivate others to do the same. One key principle used in life and business is to treat others the way you want to be treated.