Why Curiosity Is Good For Business

/in , /by

Being successful at business requires many things: courage, creativity, people skills, and so forth.  However, there is one character trait whose importance is sometimes neglected: curiosity.

Curiosity helps you in:

  • Building customer relationships.  People are drawn to those who show interest in them.  Having an abiding fascination in others give you the opportunity to learn new things about them, thereby making a deeper connection.
  • Increasing your business acumen. Being curious about your own industry and the industries of your prospects drives you to learn more.  As you satisfy your curiosity, you’re augmenting your ability to add value to your customers’ business.
  • Solving customer problems.  It’s a truism that customers are looking for solutions to their problems.  It’s only possible to create a meaningful solution if you’re motivated by true curiosity about what’s actually going on and why those problems recur.
  • Negotiating win/win contracts.  Your ability to understand the positions of the other party are directly dependent upon your ability to feel true curiosity about them.  If you’re not curious, you’ll end up arguing about issues that aren’t important.
  • Correcting sales errors.  When a customer buys from somebody else (or doesn’t buy from anyone at all), if you’re not curious about what that happened, you won’t bother to find out why, and therefore can’t learn from your failures.
  • Creating great products.  Would-be innovators who aren’t curious about what makes people tick and why technology works (or doesn’t) can’t possibly create workable products or services that people want buy.
  • Motivating your employees. Some bosses think of employees as cogs in a corporate machine. However, if you want to get the best out of people, you must be curious about their dreams and desires.

Curiosity is about adopting an attitude of inquisitiveness and being open-minded about learning new things, without any preconceptions clouding your understanding.  If you don’t have curiosity, you can’t expect to be successful in business.

What is Your why?

/in , /by

What is your why?

What motivates you to get out of bed every morning?

  • Everyone knows what they do (the products we sell; services we offer; the jobs we do)
  • We all know how we do it
  • But few people know why they do it

For instance, most people will say we go to work each day for the money, but money is the result of what we do and not what inspires us to get out bed every morning.  So think about what does money mean to you? Is it freedom? Travel? Lifestyle?

Most of us live our lives by accident. We live as it happens.  We wake up, go to work, deal with people, come home, manage our personal life, go to bed, wake up, repeat.  That’s plenty to deal with every day so why complicate things by trying to also understand why we do what we do?

The answer is simple. Fulfilment comes when we live our lives on purpose. When we discover our way, we are better able to find the clarity and confidence to choose the career, community and relationships that are most likely to inspire and motivate us to grow and succeed.

Once you understand your why, you’ll be able to clearly articulate what makes you fulfilled and to better understand what drives your behaviour when you are at your natural best.

It’s one of life’s greatest joys to wake up in the morning, every morning with a clear sense of why that day and every day matters.

Knowing your why gives you a filter to make choices, at work and at home, that will help you find greater fulfilment in all that you do. Your why is the purpose, cause or belief that inspires you.

The 10 Benefits of Knowing Your Purpose in Life

Ever thought about what your purpose is in life? Some of us live our entire lives trying to figure out the purpose of our existence. Some people fail, and some people succeed. And then there are those people who know their purpose, but still, they get diverted from them.

When you know the purpose of your life, you tend to live a more meaningful existence than those who don’t. You tend to live each day to the fullest because you know who you are, where you’re coming from, and where you’re going.

There’s no greater gift than to honour your life’s calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive.

– Oprah Winfrey

 

  • It helps you stay focused

 

When you know your life’s purpose, it becomes easier to focus on what matters the most in your life. By keeping the focus on one particular goal, you are able to find your direction and stay away from the distractions.

 

 

  • It makes you feel passionate about your goal

 

Knowing your purpose helps you find your true passion, and the passion becomes an important driver for you to achieve something extraordinary. Whether it is a childhood dream or a newly adopted lifestyle, the passion will push you to reach your goals.

 

  • It gives your life clarity

 

People who know their purpose in life are unstoppable. They are true to their purpose and shape their life accordingly. People who don’t know their purpose in life are not clear about what they want, and therefore waste their time on futile things.

 

  • It makes you feel gratified

 

When you have a purpose in life, you express it constantly and base your decisions, thoughts, feelings and actions around that overarching purpose. A person who knows their purpose tends to make a greater impact through their work, which encourages a feeling of gratification.

 

  • It enables you to live a value-based life

 

With purpose come values, which are an integral aspect of a person’s life. Values are the rules that guide our decisions in life and help define our goals. They are what tell us when we’re on the right path or wrong path, and help us find and connect with others who share our way of viewing the world.

 

  • It makes you live with integrity

 

Knowing your purpose in life helps you live life with integrity. People who know their purpose in life know who they are, what they are, and why they are. And when you know yourself, it becomes easier to live a life that’s true to your core values.

 

  • It encourages trust

 

People who know their purpose report a surprising increase in synchronicity and serendipity in their lives. With all this comes a deepening of trust and faith in other people, hence they consider themselves an integral part of the universe.

 

  • It infuses an element of grace in your life

 

People living their lives with a purpose often report being living their life with grace as well. This quote by German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe sums up the idea and intention at its best: “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.” When you commit to living your life with a purpose, amazing things can happen.

 

  • It helps you find a flow in life

 

People who find their purpose tend to live in the flow of the universal stream of consciousness. They allow things to happen and change in their life rather than fighting against it. They tend to challenge themselves and battle against their fears.

 

  • It makes life even more fun

 

When people know their purpose in life, they enjoy every minute of it. They are able to take pleasure in living a purpose-driven life and are better at tackling every situation in a creative way. Even the dullest thing becomes beautiful and creative when you’re motivated by purpose.

Wrapping up

The benefits of living a purpose-driven life are clear. When you live your life with a sense of purpose, you begin living positively and start seeking out new opportunities. You start experiencing everything that you feel will make a difference.

So if you are still looking for the purpose of your life, don’t put it off any longer. Make it a priority, and you might soon find the peace and serenity that comes from leading a purpose-driven life.

Why you should hire a business coach

/in , /by

Why you need to hire a business coach

There comes a point in business where stagnation sets in. You can take your business only so far without the help of others. Have you considered hiring a coach?

The reality is, the majority of successful business owners have coaches, mentors and role models along the way.  Nobody does it on their own.  Business owners that think “I can do it on my own” will rarely make it.
The fastest way to success is to find a coach, mentor or role model that can help you achieve your goal much faster!
A business coach is somebody who can help you move from where you are to where you want to be, and does so by solely focusing on your goals.

If a business coach is something you’ve thought about recently but aren’t quite sold on getting one yet, here are ten reasons why you should. A business coach can help you:

  • Get clear about your goals.
  • Identify blind spots.
  • Be accountable.
  • Focus your development efforts.
  • Gain a competitive advantage.
  • Acquire leadership skills.
  • Increase engagement.
  • Feel happier.
  • Gain control.
  • Manage your time better.

Simply put, a coach will help you accelerate your success. How much is that worth to you? Think of coaching as an investment, not an expense.

Every athlete, entrepreneur and top performer in any field uses a coach to bring out their best. Why don’t you?

Can your business use an extra pair of hands?

/in , /by

WOULD YOUR BUSINESS BENEFIT FROM AN EXTRA PAIR OF HANDS?

If you are running your own business, you wear a lot of hats. Being torn in so many directions may mean that working on your business takes a back seat. This is a mistake, as your business won’t grow unless you set some time aside to work on new business ideas and strategies. There are many ways you can increase your manpower in your business and it doesn’t have to be permanent or expensive. You can engage people to do specific projects, assist you with mundane tasks or simply help you catch up on overdue must-dos. Why not consider the following options:

  • Virtual Assistants
  • Business Consultants
  • Individuals seeking work experience
  • University Graduates
  • Apprentices
  • Senior Citizens
  • School Mums

The key is to match your job specific requirements to the skill of the individual needed and then having the right platform to attract the best candidate. So if your business can’t afford to employ permanent staff why not give these options a go, it might be all you need to help you move forward.

Cashflow

/in , /by

The Lifeblood of your business

Understanding cash flow is the key to business success. Cash is the lifeblood of a business and a business needs to generate enough cash from its activities so that it can meet its expenses and have enough left over to repay investors and grow the business. While a company can fudge its earnings, its cash flow provides an idea about its real health.
Without generating adequate cash to meet its needs, a business will find it difficult to conduct routine activities such as paying suppliers, buying materials, and paying its employees, let alone making investments.

Small businesses stand a better chance of surviving critical business junctures when they know what cash they should have coming in and going out. This requires having a reliable cash flow forecast for predicting future monthly expenditures while keeping track of cash on hand. With the right cash management tools in place, small businesses can have the advantage of speed and agility in reacting to changing circumstances.
As a business owner, your job is to keep the flow going without disruption, which means knowing your current cash position.
Do you know your business cash position? What do you need to do to take control of your cash flow?
For more information about how I can help your business visit www.andreamoody.com.au

Building a sellable business

/in , /by

Why Many Business Owners Can’t Sell When They Want To

Whether you’re a business owner close to retirement, busy growing your business or a young entrepreneur just starting, one day you will exit your business. But will you achieve a good return for your investment?

It’s a sobering statistic, but only 1 out of 6 businesses listed for sale ever sell. What happens to the rest of them? They go bankrupt, sell off various separate assets or quietly close, never fully realising the years of goodwill earned through the blood, sweat and tears of risky entrepreneurship.

In many cases Business Owners are relying on the sale of their business to set them up for the future yet in the majority of cases the reality is a whole lot different, resulting in working for many years more than anticipated or eventually just shutting up shop and walking away with nothing to show.

A top goal of selling or transferring your business is to get the full value for it so you can fund retirement. Many owners have little to no exit planning in place, even though many of them have 80 to 90 percent of their financial assets based in the business itself.
Many owners aren’t positioned well because they’re not maximising the transferable value of the business and/or they’re not positioning it to transfer successfully so that they can “harvest wealth locked in the business.”
Treating your business like an investment is the key to increasing value and building wealth. In order to treat your business like an investment you must:

  • Know the existing value of your business
  • Have specific plans to increase its value
  • Build to sell and always think like a buyer
  • Have a business exit or succession plan in place
  • Many of the issues that cause poor exits can often be easily dealt with well before business owners start their exit process.
  • There are eight key drivers that reflect if a business is sellable and at what price.
  • Financial Performance
  • Growth Potential
  • How reliant is your business on any one customer, employee or supplier
  • Cashflow
  • Recurring Revenue
  • Unique Selling Proposition
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • The extent to which your business relies on you personally

The eight key drivers of value not only help guide business strategy but also day-to-day decisions. Most importantly taking care of the eight key drivers will ensure that your business is positioned to sell well in the future.