I turn up at 9:30am for a meeting only to find the person I am meeting is busy. “I thought our meeting was at 4:30pm” he noted. On checking my diary he was correct. It was the first time I have done this is a long time. Needless to say, we have the meeting.
We turn up at our new offices with a tape measure in hand. We plan out what goes where and the look and feel of the property. So many companies I visit just do not care about their offices whilst others invest significantly in their working environment. For me, it is important we get complete buy in from our team so they have a say in where they sit and how the offices will look.
I thought it too good to be true. I have spoken to various people, undertaken research and started to mentally put a plan together. So far so good. However, without giving too much away, I speak to a couple of competitors who inform me that the benefits of my idea may not be as great as I think they will be. I was thinking – hoping that the market size would be significantly larger that it is.
On the positive side, at least I am entering this idea with my eyes open.
When you sell a company and the buyer writes out a big check, they ensure that legally you cannot just go straight back out there and start a similar company and poach the staff. Morally it is wrong, but legally through a “Sale and Purchase Agreement” it will land you in big trouble if you do go against a binding contract.
There are a few things that I like about this idea I have been working on.
The key here is point No1, it is completely legal from a restrictive covenant perspective and point No2, it is in my core business area.
I have run past my idea with a number of friends. Wow, what a response, they all think it is a great idea, even Judy my wife thinks it is fantastic.
I have to be very careful here, I remember when we were thinking about a Who’s Who publication noting all the main people in the leasing sector. All the people I asked though it was a great idea and the book would sell well. The book was a flop, all that I had done is ask a load of very positive people I know who think along the same lines as me. They all wanted the book to be a success and also wanted to be included in it.
What I should have done is ask real competitors and if they had said it was a terrible idea, I then should have gone with it.
I write down my findings from yesterday. There is no need to use any fancy computer software packages, just write down all the items on a sheet of paper. What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with this idea.
If you do this when looking at projects, remember one thing, be honest with yourself. It is all too easy to forget weakness’s and threats of your plans.
I spend the day researching the internet to do with an idea I have. Normally I would be the first to say what it is, but with this idea, I feel it best to keep quiet for now. All too often it is easy to get carried away with an idea and not carry out the correct due diligence and research. I think one of the key reasons why so many businesses fail is that the business owner embarks on setting up a company for the wrong reasons. They might have lost their job or have just had enough of their current employer. They may look at successful people, mentally put them down and think they can do a better job. Too many people get carried away with the excitement of setting up a company. All of a sudden the budding entrepreneur dreams about all the money they are going to make and how people will be talking about their business acumen.
So today, I picked up the phone and called companies selling a particular product. I do not like lying, but I had to have a story that I was a buyer. First thing I found interesting is how many companies do not bother even taking your details or getting back to you. Conflicting ideas and advise is rife. Some people I spoke to were very knowledgeable, but clearly not sales people.
At the end of the day, I decide to write down a SWOT analysis on my idea
George Osbourne delivers his second budget within a year today. He and the Coalition Government are placing their bet on UK business leaders and budding entrepreneurs to get us out of this mess. Reducing Corporation Tax by 2% and reducing the red tape burden will only make free enterprise easier.
With regards to my comment that George Osbourne reads this blog, I would imagine that he has better things to do. However, he has just changed the 10% tax rate from the £5m limit to £10m for entrepreneurs that own their own business. A massive incentive for any budding business person. For business owners, the UK now has some of the best tax rates in Europe.
I have detailed my long list of administrative tasks to do, a daily event for me. Today though, they are to be completed before 9:00am or will be transferred to tomorrow. Today is about speaking to customers and generating sales.
Every day I have customer interaction, the question is the degree of interaction. Administrative tasks do have habit of contaminating your time and before you know it, the day has gone. So my clear focus today is to sell.
I start today with writing down only the positives in my mental balance sheet – having a negative day is acceptable, two in the row destructive!
All you out there in the clouds that are reading this blog, like me, you will have those days when negative thoughts will take control. If that is the case, take your pen out and write down ten positive things that are happening in your life at the moment. You will be surprised how easy this is and how many good things are going on without you even realizing it.
