The “DO IT NOW” habit
Yesterday we had an opportunity to attend the John Maxwell Live2Lead conference, an insightful, life-changing event themed Intentional Living. The event was packed with valuable content delivered by some of the greatest leadership coaches like John C. Maxwell, Pat Lencioni and Valorie Burton. Broadcast to thousands of people across the globe, John Maxwell shared with us about significance of Intentional Living.
One of the things he told the audience was that we need to get into the habit of doing things now – which he termed the “DO IT NOW” habit. That challenged and left me inspired as I am one of those people who sometimes struggle with the thief of time that is synonymously called procrastination.
We all procrastinate at some point in life. How often do you feel your head spinning with great ideas about how to improve your life, start your own business, or make a difference in other people’s lives? And how often do you find yourself stuck in the same place, doing nothing but making the same promises to yourself and repeating the same excuses?
So what is it that stops us? Why are we waiting? Why can’t we do it now? You see, many times we miss opportunities that could have changed our lives because of procrastination.
John Maxwell said a significant thing that “before you get out of bed every morning, say ‘do it now’ 50 times. At the end of the day before you go to sleep, the last thing you should do is say ‘do it now’ 50 times.”
When you live each day with intention, there’s almost no limit to what you can do. So why wait? Do not enslave yourself by putting things on hold. Do it now!
It is time to have a sense of urgency. What we need to know and tell ourselves is that ‘now’ is always the right time.
Entrepreneur Incubator turns 5
Entrepreneur Incubator turns 5
It is the small milestones in business that we need to celebrate in order to gain the huge victories as a result.
I first stood in a queue in a post office back in 1998 to send of my first business registration documents to CIPRO. It was an exciting time for me as the opportunities were plentiful and risks seemed irrelevant. My first business was in Computing and we ran an outsourced service back to various retail companies in connection with JDA and customised solution design. This soon morphed into additional services. We added Graphic design and printing and then branched out with an NPO that addressed the refugee issues in the Muizenberg area and surrounds.
After some years, the business once again morphed into the personal coaching and training arena and together with a couple of friends we launched Well4Life that was sold to one of the partners a few years later. A few other business ventures and partners have come and gone, some good, some not so, but all have added to the development of what is now Entrepreneur Incubator and Academy.
In 2009, some computer issue in CIPRO disallowed us from filing our annual return and like so many other businesses we were deregistered and our bank closed the account. So I started again and this time had more focus on what we were doing and where we were going. It did take 5 turns to reserve the name I wanted and in October 2010 we received our CK1 documents, giving us the green light to begin the dream.
Over the last five years we have moved offices 3 times. Employed 5 staff members and assisted over 450 businesses to get started or get growing. Our relationship with Shanduka Black Umbrellas is key to investing in the emerging markets and our own clients have shown us many different ways to overcome challenges.
We currently have a huge online presence with our blog read the globe over, our e-learning courses on 5 different platforms and our very spiffy Cape Town offices boasts a full training room, office suites, a board/coaching room and a fully equipped video studio.
What does the future hold: Well that would be telling, but I can share that we are thinking hard about the online video space, together with some partners as well as a possible growth strategy that will put us on the national map as a business support partner with a big influence in the market.
So here is to us: hip hip horray….. now to the next 5 years.
EI Client wins best of the best
Josh Thirion, a local budding Entrepreneur and only just a teenager has been awarded the Best of the Best Gourmand award for Children’s Cookbooks at the event in Frankfurt, Germany last week.
Josh joined the Entrepreneur Incubator earlier this year to develop an online branding strategy and create new ways to diversify the income streams into his developing business.
Over the last few months we have designed and launched his website, created a YouTube channel that now has a number of his own cooking videos and created both above and below the line campaigns to enhance his brand.
Josh, supported by his parents has gone from strength to strength after his first book “Cook with Josh” won the annual Gourmand award in Paris a few years ago. This success spurred him on to compile a second book “Bake with Josh” that won a Special Jury award in China earlier this year.
All the previous award winners assembled in Frankfurt last week to celebrate 20 years of Gourmand awards and the best of the best were selected. No surprise to us Josh’s book was nominated and won in the category Children’s Cookbooks.
The plans for the brand Josh in the Kitchen now include an expanded online presence, with a soon the be launched shop and online membership club, a lot more cooking videos and a host of special appearances with all the fellow cooking celebs Josh has now met up with.
It is always a great privilege to share the successes of our clients, not matter how small, but something this big, we feel like shouting it from the roof tops. Congrats Josh and Mom and Dad. We look forward to a future where all your dreams come true.
Read more about Josh on his website www.joshinthekictchen.com and signup to get his newsletter and become a member of his exclusive online club.
The 16th Team Member
We have seen a weekend of huge rugby in the World Cup Quarter Final matches. Each team that has played has put their all into the efforts. The players have been out on their feet at the final whistle. Unfortunately it is a competition and one side has to win and the other has to lose.
What has fascinated me during these matches is the involvement of the spectators. The pure passion they display, giving their all as far as support, encouragement and advice to the ref. When the teams have been down and out, the energy they have received from the stands has taken them to new heights and spurred them on to continue in battle.
IT got me to think about what support we have as Entrepreneurs. Where do we go to to feed off new energy when our reserves are down? Who shouts for us when we are at our lowest? Who are our fans?
How important is it to have a fan base, a group of people who believe in us no matter what the result. We need a group of people willing to dance in the streets when we close a deal and make a profit, we also need the same people to be with us when we lose that important clients and bomb out on a deal.
This Support network is not built by accident or just through family ties. It has to be build through a strategic effort. Look for, identify and recruit people who will be your fan base. People who are willing to listen, without the need to fix. People who care more about you than the money you make. People who want to see you win, even when you have just lost, again.
I encourage you to go out today and find those loyal fans. Look for them at home, family and friends. Then look at your suppliers and customers. Who are the loyal ones who believe you will make it? Who are the ones who will stand behind you through thick and thin.
Then you can recruit a Mentor and a Coach to support you. Someone who has the experience to see beyond the short term and help draft a long term plan to success.
The power of the 16th man, your supporter, has to be one of the critical success factors for any team, both on and off the field.
How do you show up for work?
How do you show up for work? No this is not about your fashion or dress sense, but more about the emotional engagement you have when you walk in the door at work.
The Gallup surveys tell us that the majority of the work force in USA is not engaged in their day to day activities at work. More to this is that a vast amount of available time and energy goes towards covering their backs and hiding their mistakes from colleagues and superiors. All this reduces the input and impact on the businesses output. How sad it must be to not want to go to your place of work where you spend up to 40% of your time.
Running a small business requires the same if not more energy to keep afloat. There is a constant battle to keep the ship upright and headed in the right direction. There is no time to be disengaged of distracted from the task at hand. A business owner and their staff need to be focused on the vision, lead by the mission and guided by the values and keep the eyes on the prize at all times.
But this is not always possible; things do go wrong. People have off days, get sick and have personal issues with each other. During these times the balls get dropped and issues fall through the cracks. It is a business that has well defined business procedures and processes that will thrive even in bad times. Simple well rehearsed drills, similar to a good sports team, will keep the ship on course.
As a manager, take time to flow chart the processes within your department and reduce, where required to paper using lists, flow charts and forms. Introduce these to the staff through training sessions and then encourage and enforce their use until they become automatic and part of the everyday life in the office.
Then sit back and manage by exception rather than fighting fires. This just makes your life a little easier and allows your staff to be more engaged with the purpose of the business not their personal agendas.