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How to Be a Successful Solo Entrepreneur

Did you know that 73% of Australian business owners are going it alone? In this interview, Dale Beaumont, founder and CEO of Business Blueprint®, talks with Robert Gerrish about “How to Be A Successful Solo Entrepreneur”.

If you’re a solo entrepreneur, you’re going to have to work out how to stay motivated and when to get help if you find yourself wearing too many hats. Whether you work from home, in a shared office space or your own office there will be a point where you need to consider expansion.

By listening to this Podcast you’ll discover:

• How to overcome the key challenges of solo entrepreneurs
• Specific techniques to stay motivated
• How to increase your efficiency, productivity and ultimately growth
• What support networks are in place when you just can’t make a key decision alone
• And finally the best way to manage your expansion

Until next time, happy business building!

The post How to Be a Successful Solo Entrepreneur | Business Masters Podcast 023 appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Starting an online business is a massive undertaking that can lead to distress or success, which one will it be for you? Here is some great advice from a “Serial Entrepreneur” on what you should ask yourself before you embark on the adventure of business building in an interview between Dale Beaumont and Peter Davis.

Peter Davis is a self confessed “Serial Entrepreneur”, owner of The Eagle Group Of Companies and expert on the Enneagram. His business activities have allowed him to travel all over the world to learn from some of the greatest business minds.

What recommendations would you make to someone who wants to get started in a business of their own?

If someone wants to get started in business, the first thing I recommend is that you identify your reasons for doing so. Some of the questions you should ask yourself include:

• Why do I want to be in business and what am I prepared to give up in order to obtain my dreams?
• What are my specific goals and what is my ultimate exit strategy?
• Do I have all the necessary attributes to create a successful and viable business?
• Am I prepared to make major sacrifices?
• What is my level of commitment?
• Have I spoken to the most important people in my life, i.e. my family and friends?
• Will my family and friends support my venture and unite to help me?

Once you have done this, consult as many professional people, business coaches, accountants and so forth as you can – and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Seek out networking groups, speak to businesspeople that have succeeded and failed, find experts in your field or industry.

Someone once told me that there are two definite outcomes in business: you will do well and keep or sell it; or you will get sick and die in the business. So after you have established your reasons and sought advice, design a plan that covers as many contingencies as possible.

In short, ensure your plan and protect your income and family. Remember, the driving force behind your success is you and your self-belief, passion and desire to reach your goals.

For more of this interview and what to do before starting an online business, check out “Secrets of Small Business Owners Exposed!“

The post What to Do Before Starting an Online Business appeared first on Business Blueprint.

If you are looking at starting a business in Australia, this is your opportunity to learn from an incredibly successful business owner’s mistakes and be at a great starting point. Katherine Edgar bears all in this portion of an interview conducted by Dale Beaumont.

In 1999, Katherine founded The Synergy Group, an international professional services firm that operates in 23 Asia-Pacific cities. The Group recently extended its reach to two emerging economic powerhouses, India and China.

What are the biggest mistakes you’ve ever made in business and what did you learn from them?

• The Lure of Equity Investors

Three years after starting The Synergy Group, I sold 20 per cent to inject equity into the business and instigate growth. When the relationships between the parties involved ended in tears, I then had to buy back those shares at a substantially increased cost.

What prompted this mistake was that I thought I needed to buy big corporate experience in order to grow. The equity investors we brought in were talented and had large corporate experience.

Unfortunately, they were not the right fit for our small, entrepreneurial business. We were not ready for them and we should have done our due diligence on whether we needed to hand over equity to obtain such skills or whether – as we now realise – we could have obtained those skills by hiring consultants.

In fact, after we bought back control of the business, we hired two consultants to help us develop a corporate strategic plan, which cost us a few days of consulting fees.

We realised then that it was possible to buy that kind of expertise without surrendering control of the business. I should emphasise that I am not averse to offering equity in the firm to other investors – and I would like to eventually offer shares to my staff – but it was a serious mistake to think that I needed equity money, at the cost of relinquishing control at that early stage.

• Not Having Robust Financial Management in Place

For the first four years of my business, I had bookkeepers but I didn’t have proper financial management. I recall, with horror, when I realised that my personal and business tax returns had not been completed for three years because my junior bookkeeper, who assured me all was in order, was not on top of the job. Suppliers were not being paid on time, invoices were not done in a timely fashion and staff wages were being messed up.

I didn’t make the decision early enough to fix the situation as I did not realise how critical it was to have ‘big business’ financial management in what was a relatively small organisation at that time.

We finally advertised for a company accountant and now have a general manager who is an MBA graduate and focuses on business growth strategies. She is also a chartered accountant and has completely transformed how we run that aspect of the business. She is responsible for financial planning, modelling, projections, cash flow management, timely and accurate reporting and future funding of key initiatives. She costs four times as much as our old bookkeeper but is worth every cent.

Knowing the financial ‘health’ of the business at any time is critical, and as an entrepreneur it is your responsibility to ensure that the financial viability of your business is managed effectively.

• Growing Too Fast

When we grew too fast, we did not plan for the resources that would support that growth. There were actually a couple of very large projects where I realised we didn’t have the staff to manage them effectively. When I needed some people to manage a project over several countries, I ended up having to hire new people on the spot.

That meant I was being sucked into managing the ‘micro’ side of my business, distracting me from the big picture and plans for the future. We did well in the end, but I had to stretch my staff and myself to a point where we were all working 12-hour days.

Not only did that put pressure on other parts of the business, such as innovation and marketing, but I realised I was putting far too much pressure on my people. So again, we may well have gained the extra business but we still made a significant strategic mistake. It’s not one I’m going to repeat!

• Not Maintaining Balance Between my Personal and Business Life

This is probably one of the most important lessons I have ever learnt. There were times in the earlier years when my business was my life. As a result, my personal relationships suffered a great deal.

What I have since found is that it is possible to maintain balance and invest time in other important areas of my life. Sure, creating a successful enterprise requires many sacrifices, and there will be times when it’s very lonely and you won’t have time to spend with loved ones, but it is important to put a limit on your work hours.

For me, having a loving, understanding and caring supporter in my husband, Stefan, has really made it all possible. I would not be the person I am today without his patience, his creative ideas and advice, his encouragement, his tough love and his help in reminding me about the importance of a balanced life. I count my blessings every day for his guidance and love. That kind of support structure for me has made all the difference.

For more of this interview and what to learn in starting a business in Australia, check out “Secrets of Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed!“

The post Mistakes to Learn from When Starting a Business in Australia appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Motive is a powerful word and force in life. It is behind absolutely every action we take in life, even starting a business. Darren Lomman shares with us the why behind starting a business in his interview with Dale Beaumont.

While at university, Darren invested over 4,000 hours in designing and building a hand-controlled motorcycle that could be ridden by a person with paraplegia. Dreamfit was then born and Darren continues to make people”s dreams come true through his passion.

What recommendations would you make to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to get started in a business of their own?

Recommendation one: don’t go into business for the money! – I initially chose engineering as a profession for two reasons. First, because I had a natural understanding of maths and science, which I thought would enable me to do well, and doing something you are good at definitely makes life easier. The second reason I went into engineering was because I had heard that engineers make lots of money. In hindsight, they were completely the wrong reasons to go down that path.

Recommendation two: don’t go into business for the sake of going into business – this is the wrong reason and you will more than likely end up regretting it or disliking what you do. Find something that you are passionate about and love doing, and then look for opportunities or ways you can turn that into a business.

When I first started my engineering degree, I really didn’t enjoy it all that much. It was simply a career path until I realised I could use my skills to make a difference to the lives of people with disabilities.

For me that was an absolute awakening. I loved the idea of being able to help other people. That’s when I started to become passionate about what I was doing and began to excel. Passion gives you a natural source of energy, which allows you to dedicate yourself to achieving your goals.

For those thinking, ‘You are so lucky, I don’t know what my passion is’, keep your eyes and ears open. The world is full of exciting opportunities ready to be grabbed.

It was never a long-term plan of mine to go out and start a business that designed equipment for people with disabilities. It all happened from one little statement – ‘If I had one wish, it would be to ride again’. Had I not been on the lookout for a university project at the time, I probably would have ignored it. Who knows how my life may have turned out if that had been the case?

For more of this interview and what to think about starting a business, check out “Secrets of Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed!“

The post Why You Should Think about Starting a Business Motive appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Where better to find out the benefits to running a business than from an expert? In this segment of an interview between Dale Beaumont and Jamie McIntyre discover what Jamie regards as the five benefits to running his own business.

Jamie became a self-made millionaire in his twenties after founding the 21st Century Group of Companies, including 21st Century Academy, an education organisation that provides a valuable and relevant modern-day education to Australians and New Zealanders.

Can you describe the benefits of running your own business?

I regard lifestyle as being very important. No matter where I am or what I am doing in life, I always ensure that my lifestyle is given priority.

Running my own business has allowed me to do this and has provided me with the lifestyle that I choose to live today. I believe there are five benefits of owning a business, all of which allow me to live a thoroughly exciting and fulfilling life.

1. It is the only way to create serious wealth – if you think about the wealthiest people in the world, you will find that the majority of them built their fortunes in business. Some still retain total control of their businesses, while others have sold part or all of their businesses for big sums of money.
2. It offers you the opportunity to create leverage – I believe that in business you can create leverage in two ways: you can make money and then put that money to work (i.e. invest), or you can find quality people and put those people to work. Through business you can leverage time and money because it allows you to reinvest profits and create a team of specialists who can perform tasks on your behalf.
3. It can generate passive income – if you set up a business with correct procedures and accurate systems in place, it will operate without you having to be there all the time. Essentially, you can make money while you sleep, as opposed to only getting paid when you show up for work (which is what happens when you work as an employee or self-employed person).
4. It is a source of freedom – running a business allows you the freedom to be your own boss and to not be constrained or limited by someone else’s vision. It also means that you don’t have to fear being sacked.
5. It lets you have the life you want to live – for me, I want the choice to fly to Tahiti or any other exotic location in the world on the spur of the moment – and I want the choice to go whenever I want without having to wait for my annual four-week holiday. Businesses can also provide you with the large income needed to live a truly awesome life, and to build further wealth by investing profits through other avenues like shares or property.

For more of this interview and the benefits of running a business, check out “Secrets of Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed!“

The post The Benefits to Running a Business appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Do you truly want to be a successful entrepreneur and see success in your business? Darren Lomman shares with Dale Beaumont what he has found to be the essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur. Be inspired by his story to success.

While at university, Darren invested over 4,000 hours in designing and building a hand-controlled motorcycle that could be ridden by a person with paraplegia. Dreamfit was then born and Darren continues to make people”s dreams come true through his passion.

What do you think are the essential qualities or attributes of a successful entrepreneur?

Dreamers and Doers: Entrepreneurs are ultimately dreamers and doers. They are always breaking new ground and developing new ideas. If you have a dream or a vision it becomes so much easier to put in the effort required to get where you want to be. I can picture in my head right now how I want Dreamfit to be in ten years’ time. It may not end up that way, but at least I have something to aim for. It keeps me focused on looking out for opportunities and people who may be able to help me achieve my vision.

Dedication and Commitment: Entrepreneurs are dedicated and committed to bringing their dreams to life, to turning them into reality.

Time and Support: Being able to leverage your time is an important skill to have or learn. My time was becoming a limiting factor in Dreamfit’s growth. I quickly realised that I had to get other people on board to help me achieve my vision. You can accomplish your dreams much faster with a team of ten people behind you rather than trying to do it all on your own.

Inspiration and Belief: Being able to inspire people is a vital quality for achieving success. But to inspire people you need to have total belief in what you are doing – be passionate about it, live it, breathe it, and have lots of energy and enthusiasm. If you can get other people half as excited as you are about your dream, you are halfway there.

Opportunity and Responsibility: It is important to give people the opportunity to share in your vision and become a part of it. We give the engineering students who work on our projects almost total control over the direction of the project. They’ve got real responsibilities and I place my trust in them. Even though mistakes sometimes get made, you need to be open to that and accept that it is part of the learning curve.

Communication and Networking: I consider having good communication and interpersonal skills as essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur. An integral part of running a successful business involves networking with other people and being able to communicate effectively with your clients, financiers and team members.

For more of this interview and essential qualities to becoming a successful entrepreneur check out “Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed!“

The post Essential Qualities Needed for Being a Successful Entrepreneur appeared first on Business Blueprint.

When engaging in a small business startup it is important to have an understanding of what it takes to succeed in business. In this snapshot from an interview between Dale Beaumont and Lisa Messenger discover some great tips on succeeding in business. With a background in sponsorship, marketing and PR, Lisa is currently the managing director of Messenger Marketing and Messenger Publishing. She is also the author of two books, with a six-part series of books soon to be released.

What are the most important things you have learnt about succeeding in business?

1. Maintain your Focus

For too many years I didn’t do this and constantly diluted my efforts because I was running in different directions. While I still offered great service to clients, I constantly had to reinvent the wheel.

2. Build a Great Team

You can’t do it on your own. Let go of the reigns and get some helpers because if you can’t, you might as well give up right now.

3. Build Quality Client Relationships

This is paramount in my business as it is largely based on word of mouth. What is handy, however, is that we only have to work with people we like.

4. Create Leverage

My business is now extremely focused to the point that we can present the same concepts, ideas and intellectual property through multiple products with multiple price points to reach a wider audience.

5. Love What You Do

No, really love what you do! Be so passionate about your cause that you radically believe that you can achieve it. Keep reminding yourself why you’re pursuing your cause and keep raising the bar so you are constantly challenging yourself.

6. Have Self-Belief

When someone tells me I can’t do something, I persist even harder! So should you. Knockers usually crush your ideas and goals because they’re afraid to go there themselves. Before I have even written a word, I have already designed the book cover. I do this so that both my team and myself know that it is not just a pipe dream – it’s about owning my destiny.

7. Surround Yourself with Incredible Mentors

Realise that you don’t know it all and that you need to open up to learning new things from those who have achieved success in parallel industries. You become a product of what you surround yourself with.

8. Have Financial Acumen

If you don’t have financial skills, find someone on your team who does. Our core business went from a flat fee and retainer style of invoicing to a really complex system of third party suppliers with multiple clients and multiple products. When you go from a $50,000 a year turnover to a $100,000 a month turnover, you need incredible systems in place to make it work.

9. Develop Intuition

In the beginning I laboured over decisions, but now I don’t have the luxury of time. I’ve got people around me who do the research, but intuitively you’ve got to know yourself and you’ve got to trust your instinct.

For more of this interview and small business startup success tips, check out “Secrets of Entrepreneurs Under 40 Exposed!“

The post Small Business Startup Success Tips appeared first on Business Blueprint.

For many, the mere thought of opening a business of their own would stop them in their tracks. What they do not realise is that there are many benefits to starting a business. Take a look at Brad Sugars’ perspective of these benefits from his chat with Dale Beaumont. Brad Sugars is the Chairman of Action International, currently the 16th fastest growing franchise in the World and World #1 Business Coaching Company.

What do you think are some of the major benefits of having your own business?

I am so passionate about business that I could easily write a whole book on this question alone. These are some of what I consider to be the most important benefits of business ownership.

It’s the Only Vehicle to Create Serious Cash Flow

How much money would you need invested in the share market (at say 10 per cent growth) to cover all of your family’s lifestyle expenses? At least one or two million, right! How long would it take you to save that amount of money? Even with real estate, you would need to own a dozen or so properties outright, which will probably take ten to twenty years to build up. However, with business, provided that you have a strong desire and some street smarts, it is possible to create an asset which produces ten to fifteen thousand per month in cash flow, in a year or two. Then you can leverage yourself out of that operation and repeat it again with another business. To me that’s accelerated wealth.

With Your Own Business You are in the Driver’s Seat

You are the one that is in control of decision making and the leadership of your team, which gives you the satisfaction and peace of mind of knowing that whatever you put into the business, is whatever you are going to get out of it. Plus, you are working every day to make yourself rich, rather than to make the boss rich.

Business Gives You the Ability to Buy Back Your Most Valuable Asset: Time

A wise friend once said, ‘Once you’ve spent your money you can just keep making more, but once you’ve spent your time it’s gone forever’. Business allows you to put together systems and then employ and train a team to do the work for you. That way you don’t have to physically show up in order to keep the business running, instead you can spend time travelling or with your family. Of course if you love showing up you can, but it’s good to have the choice.

A little bit of knowledge in business goes a long way. I’ve found that it doesn’t take much to out-perform your competition in business. Like it or not, most business owners do a poor job of running their businesses, so you only need to do some basic common sense things to totally win in the minds of your customers.

Where else can you get all of the tax benefits that business ownership brings? Of course tax systems vary around the world, but in general they’re selfishly structured in such a way as to favour the people that have their own businesses. From the government’s perspective, why would you want to deter the goose that lays the golden eggs?

Most Importantly to Me, It’s Fun.

I love playing the game. I love the challenge of marketing, team building, sales, accounting and cash flow management. I love the fact that I get to deal with so many different things. If you haven’t already, you’ll fall in love with it too when you see the results it can get for you.

For more of this interview and benefits to business startups check out “Secrets of Male Entrepreneurs Exposed!“

The post Benefits to Business Startups appeared first on Business Blueprint.

So, you’ve got a business idea. The question that you are now faced with is, “Now what do I do?” Actually, creating something from that idea can seem daunting and overwhelming. David Nevell, in an interview with Dale Beaumont, shares six steps of business advice that will help you see your idea turn into a reality. David Nevell is the founder of Inventors HQ Australia, a business established to provide solutions for inventors and investors to commercialise inventions, one of those being the the Skoona Moova.

What advice would you give to someone who has an idea for creating a product but simply doesn’t know what they should do next?

‘I have an idea but I don’t know what to do next‘ is a phrase I often hear. The process of commercialisation that I have developed has six stages and provides a clear path to follow for anyone wishing to develop an idea into a product. These six stages are:

• Qualifying Assessment and Start Plan – determines whether the invention has sufficient potential to warrant further investment and identifies a starting position.
• Search and Prove – involves developing the idea to a prototype stage in order to prove that it works.
• Build and Protect – requires the act of developing the invention to a protected, pre-manufacture ‘product-ready’ stage.
• Attract Funding – by this stage the invention should be ready to attract initial investment.
• Prepare for Market – a company should be established and the product should be prepared for market.Go to Market – enter the market with a finished product.

This process and the activities within each stage have been developed over the last five years of commercialising inventions, and while it is well structured it does allow flexibility as every invention is different and requires a slightly different approach. I recommend this process be followed by anyone wishing to turn their idea into a new business. Our company is well positioned to assist in the creation and implementation of commercialising products through direct project management or mentoring.

For more of this interview and new business ideas advice check out “Secrets of Small Business Owners Exposed!“

The post Advice for Your New Business Idea appeared first on Business Blueprint.

Since starting a small business can seem overwhelming or even staggering at times, getting tips to go from nothing to an actual business start up is worth it’s weight in gold. Discover great advice if you are moving towards starting your own business in this snippet of an interview between Dale Beaumont and Michael Twelftree. Michael Twelftree is the co-founder of Two Hands Wines, an Adelaide based company which today exports over 15,000 cases of wine per year.

What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to get started in a business of their own?

• Begin working on funding right from the start. Richard has taught me that if you have your funding right you can achieve almost anything. Then, remember that you are judged by the company you keep, so put yourself around people that have similar goals to you and from whom you can learn.
• Know that there is a big difference between confidence and arrogance. Displaying a focused, driven confidence is great, but going around kicking everybody’s tyres and talking yourself up can be very damaging. I see it with so many other winemakers in Australia and what they forget is that internationally we are all kicking toward the same end.

Having said that, if there were three secrets for an aspiring entrepreneur, I would say:

• Build a business that makes money while you are not there. You can pretty well buy anything you like in the Western world, but you can never buy extra time. The reality of our business is that 70 per cent of our wines are sold in the USA, so most of our sales take place while I am asleep.
• Work on building strong personal relationships with your clients and peers. No one can sell your products or skills better than you can, so control them at every level. I travel around the world four or five times a year and meet with the leading wine writers in each country, one-on-one. They love hearing the truth from the ‘horse’s mouth’ and it gives me a chance to make my wines much more three-dimensional than just a glass bottle with grape juice in it.
• Don’t fall into the trap of trying to build something extravagant from the beginning. This is a common mistake of first-time business owners. They are too flashy, trying to promote a strong image without the substance to back it up. Start out lean, keep your overheads low and set some short-term goals that you must achieve before moving on to the next stage.

For more of this interview and on small business start up check out “Secrets of Male Entrepreneurs Exposed!“

The post Insights For a Smooth Small Business Start Up appeared first on Business Blueprint.