Tag: entrepreneur

Who’s afraid of getting richer?

Of course, you are not.

You are not the kind of person who trips themselves up routinely. Or loves to blame the economy. Or tracks Powerball numbers the way Warren Buffett tracks the stock market.

Sometimes, your fears, ignorance or stuck behavior might stand in the way between you and wealth. You don’t see yourself as afraid of riches — but in reality, you might well be.

It’s unfamiliar You may need to increase your intellectual means to handle anything that’s unfamiliar — and that’s a documented phenomenon known as neophobia, “the tendency of an animal to avoid or retreat from an unfamiliar object or situation”
You don’t want to give up your non-necessities Identify your needs versus a want? Sounds like an easy question to answer, but many people don’t want to ask themselves that question — and diminish their investment potential as a result.

Manicures, landscapers and maids are not essential needs-Michael Chadwick, financial advisor at Chadwick Financial Advisors in Unionville, Conn.
Your thinking stinks Do not get hurt, but it is intimidating to drop that snarky anti-abundance stance. You must understand that your mind is a garden. … Uproot seeds of fear, frustration and defeat so you can change the harvest that you reap.
You’re reluctant to find allies to launch your big idea – Mastermind alliance: where one or more people help an entrepreneur reach their goals. If you’re reluctant to build a team, consider this…

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Every Startup Pitch Deck Should Answer these questions

Pitching is both art and science, but having a pitch deck that demonstrates traction over time is mission critical.

One of the unfortunate things that comes with being an early-stage entrepreneur is constantly keeping your pitch materials up to date, whether you are potentially seeking venture capital funding now or in the future.

Whether investors reach out to you or vice versa, there are certain questions that are almost always asked. Investors usually end up focusing on the three very specific items.
To maximize your company’s chances of pitching your startup successfully and securing venture capital, here are the 3 questions that every pitch deck should answer:

Does it look like your customer base is growing?

If it does not look like your customer base is growing, you are dead in the water. That may be an obvious point, but it is hard to communicate customer traction to prospective investors. Investors have limited time, and you need to graphically depict that you are growing in as few word as possible, using a solid visual representation.

Do your customers like your product?

Both B2C and B2B businesses — you need to be able to demonstrate that your product is getting “stickier” somehow, and the usage patterns of your customers are getting more favorable. Depict traction in terms of your customers purchase from us each month…

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Encourage Creative Thinking

As the chief executive, you may always on the look-out for the brightest and most innovative talent.
You role has made you become even more aware of the need to be constantly watching for the best creative talent in the market.
Creativity can be a difficult notion to grasp but it is a key talent that is always found at the heart of any successful company.

True creativity, along with drive and self-belief, are the defining characteristics of any successful entrepreneur.
Sir Ken Robinson, an internationally recognized expert in education, leadership and innovation, has described creativity in an easy to understand and succinct way. He wrote that creativity is “the process of having original ideas that add value”.
That is a straightforward definition, but the real difficulty comes in actually being able to think differently or “out of the box”…

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Few Coaching Skills for EVERY Entrepreneur

You would be surprised at how many times you or many others like you, have hired and fully paid for a handbook copy you have loved but never used.

Why?

Well, many reasons, but in majority cases it has to do with some sort of block.

That’s why I’m a big believer in every entrepreneur knowing a few coaching skills.

As an entrepreneur who loves a done-for-you (exclusive) service you would think I would be the last person who would need to coach someone around mindset shifts through their blocks. It doesn’t get any more done-for-you then handing them (your senior team) a piece of handbook/manual copy plus the strategy for how to use it to get the best outcomes in business.

How many books/handbooks you have in your library bookcase in your chamber!

However, that does not help in most cases.

So how do I as a coach respond?
As much as I can, I try and step in and work them (your senior team) through whatever has got them stuck – a mental block or default mindset in my coaching terminology.
Sometimes, I call it a success trap – I succeeded doing it in past – this is my way of solving it, and that’s the right way! I do come across many arguments – we’re different, we have tried it before, etc., etc…

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