Finish Unfinished Business to GET OUT!

Finish Unfinished Business to GET OUT!

So, you’ve gone down the road of being a Business Owner.
You had a terrific idea and came out all guns blazing!

Then over time, it has slowed, stagnated, as have You.
It’s now got to a point where, for whatever reason, it is no longer working for you.

The fizz has lost its pop!

You want time and headspace to explore other options.

Is it time to bring your business to the conclusion you both deserve… that is, to GET OUT.

By not thinking about how to “Change the Ending” may result in the blood, sweat and tears, time and money you’ve invested, being all for naught, nada, nil!

There is no quick fix with taking this road, other than to pack the Business away with the toys.

Do you really want to do that? Are you really OK with getting no payback for your once grandmaster plan?

If not, then there’s work to be done…

Entered the 2017 Motivating Mum Brilliant Biz Mum Awards yet?

Entered the 2017 Motivating Mum Brilliant Biz Mum Awards yet?

With a little over a week left to enter, I definitely want to see your nominations for this years Brilliant Biz Mum Awards!

There are 13 Awards categories covering everything from writing to social media to creative marketing to innovative products and more so it is time for you to step up and unveil the great work you have been doing over the past 12 months.

Which is why I am proud to be supporting as a guest judge in the Brilliant Biz Mum Awards and they are now open for you to nominate yourself or another amazing biz mum/s!

Prizes for the winners include coverage in Kid Magazine, a beautiful PAIRD necklace and a business package worth over $4,800.

Best of all, all the Awards are judged – no social media voting – so winners are Awarded on merit. Entries close March 20.

Check out the Awards by clicking the link below:

Link : http://www.motivatingmum.com/events/brilliant-biz-mum-awards

DO IT!

2017 Motivating Mum Brilliant Biz Mum Awards are on again…

2017 Motivating Mum Brilliant Biz Mum Awards are on again…

I am proud to be supporting as a guest judge in the Brilliant Biz Mum Awards and they are now open for you to nominate yourself or another amazing biz mum/s!

There are 13 Awards categories covering everything from writing to social media to creative marketing to innovative products and more so I definitely want to see your nominations for this one!

Prizes for the winners include coverage in Kid Magazine, a beautiful PAIRD necklace and a business package worth over $4,800.

Best of all, all the Awards are judged – no social media voting – so winners are Awarded on merit. Entries close March 20.

Check out the Awards by clicking the link below:

Link : http://www.motivatingmum.com/events/brilliant-biz-mum-awards

 

Growth is NOT an Exit Strategy, if the goal is to Sell your Business…

Growth is NOT an Exit Strategy, if the goal is to Sell your Business…

Growth

Yesterday, yet again, I have met with a Business Owner who hired a Business Coach to assist them with their Exit Strategy only to find the business is no better off i.e. no closer to being exit-ready 12 months later and they’ve spent a whole lot of money to boot…

Here’s the thing from someone who deals in this space all day, every day – I have yet to meet a potential buyer who asks whether there’s a marketing and sales plan in place before they would consider buying the business, for example, it does not happen. Sure it may be in the mix of questions at some point but it only matters because of the way it is ‘sold’ to matter. The same goes for spending a whole heap on rolling on the marketing, trying to actually increase sales (especially without the infrastructure to back it up), bringing in a General Manager (without a well-thought out equity and game plan first), etc. And I’m yet to find an advisor who even asks if selling the business is the right thing to do for the Business Owner at this particular point in time, especially if the business features highly as their retirement funder.

An Exit Strategy, in the true sense of the phrase, to sell a business at a point in the future is about structuring the business ready for someone to want to buy it, but equally as importantly, it is about restructuring the business so that the owner can maximise their input with an impressive (and with expectations met) output.

In most cases, growth plans not executed well or quickly enough that make an instant difference are not useful.
The type of activities which make up a BEST Exit Strategy (and execution) are:

  1. Clean and profitable financials for a least TWO YEARS, looking as shiny as legitimately plausible
  2. Proving that the business is making money is important, but even more is that it will continue to do so, demonstrated by how well it funds itself
  3. Establish recurring revenue models and lock them in
  4. HR agreements (and implications) are well documented and understood
  5. Signed contracts are in place and ideally have as much time on them to run as possible
  6. Evidence of 21st Century considerations in both how the business fits into the future, including processes and technology
  7. Where feasible, the business owner is NOT the centre of attention or attraction
  8. If not, what can distinguish the business as a hub as touting that “we’re good at customer service” is not nearly enough
  9. Actively demonstrate that customers will stay with the business based on gathered and documented feedback
  10. That the current owner is VERY CLEAR about what they are doing next, i.e. living their new dream, which does not involve only playing golf or going on a cruise!

Admittedly, you get these right and growth may very well follow suit, and the owner may not want to leave after all (which has happened) but growth is certainly not the starting point.

Happy to talk through this at any time. If you want to explore what is useful and productive in an Exit Strategy in your context, please contact me.

How to Orchestrate “Extended Leave” from Your Very Own Business…

Bolivian Salt Plains

BIG question for you Business Owner is: how to orchestrate “Extended Leave” from my very own business?
That is, to carve out the time for you to enjoy perceived FREEDOM of business ownership and to look forward to going back to well established, thriving business when the time is right.

“Why would I want to do that?”, I hear you cry!
“I’ve structured my Business so that I can do both.”
“I’ll be OK, I can work around this surely.”
“How hard can it be, I’ll just take the work with me.”

Granted, there seems to be this unwritten, unspoken rule that goes along the lines of, if you are a business owner then how dare you think about taking time off for any reason, let alone for an extended holiday. Some would argue that wasn’t it because of this FREEDOM that many a business starts in the first place?

Seriously, whatever plans you put in place at the time of extended leave will generally work out in the end, for the most part. Were they ideal is the question explored after the fact, but then it’s too late. Instead, why not consider consciously locking out time to spend holidaying, knowing you do not have to worry about the day to day mechanics of the business for a set period of time?

Here’s what I know for sure, leaving what you want to happen to chance is quite often the worst way to think about how you want the months away to play out.

Hasty decisions made tardily in a stressful period may not be in yours and your business best interest. If real difficulties arise, sometimes the issues can trigger a throw-in-the-towel moment, resulting in walking away and just “shutting up shop”.

Let this not be you!

Appreciating that if this is extended leave #1, then you don’t know what you don’t know…yet. And even if it is break #2 or #3, one cannot be relied upon to be the same as the last, so newly formed considerations should apply each and every time.

From one who has been there, done that e.g: travelling on BIG adventures every two years after having taken over a business, building it to 7-figures and selling it after a 15 year reign whilst as a single mother…facilitating a structured way to have a chunk of time off and being paid regularly is critical.

Spending time seriously thinking through what proper measures to put in place to be able to enjoy being an adventurer and Business Ownership is a crucial step in being able to handle both. I guarantee the plotting and scheming you invest now will serve You, Partner, Business, Clients, Suppliers and the greater community so much better than if you do not…

So, firstly (given we are in planning stage), let’s take a moment to get clear on the current state of your Business by running it through (what I affectionately call) the “So You Think You’re In Business” Scorecard.

The final score not only gives you a snapshot of how you rate your business today but going through the process also reveals the opportunities and the reworks needed to finish your unfinished business in readiness for this next BIG holiday in your Life… if you’re up for the challenge that is?

TEM_SoYouThinkYoureInBusiness_Scorecard

The point about doing this is to highlight, with a tactical focus:
• What needs to get done?
• By when?
• What necessary adjustments need to be made?
• Who can help?
• How to rollout?

So, why is this important?

When starting out in business, it is often touted that you should “start with the end in mind”. I for one talk about it all the time! However, whilst I completely understand that by bringing a BIG holiday into the mix it is not THE end of your business. Assuming you want to come back and step right in where you left off, you need to set it up that way.

Giving this a good hard think and deciding what to do may be influenced by the much-debated notion of why can’t I “have it all”? As we know, just because you can (potentially) doesn’t mean it’s the best thing to do, for you, at this particular time in your life.

What you choose to do with your business has to work for all concerned.

My intent for you is therefore, by going through this starting point exercise, as a line-in-the-sand eye opener, it enables you to acknowledge the gaps within your

Business and therefore investigate the ways and means to set up life whereby you can have as much of the “all” as makes sense for you.

Let’s face it, the most precious commodity a human has is that of TIME.

It cannot be banked, withdrawn and used at a later date. It is not refundable, no matter how hard you wish it to be. And you also know how long it has taken you to grow your business to where it is today. Taking all this into account, by being guided through with your pre-holiday that on enables you to comes to terms with how to combine Basking and Business.

If worse comes to worse and you just can’t see how it can all piece together, we can always talk about taking the Business to market and selling it… but let’s not be rush into anything just yet.

Wishing you all the best in whatever you decide to do.

Have You Entered The Brilliant Biz Mum Awards and Conference Yet?

2016_BrilliantBizMumAwards

Time to get onto it!

The Brilliant Biz Mum Conference & Awards is a celebration of amazing mums in business – by way of showing off their products and services, listening to their amazing stories and celebrating their achievements.

The Conference & Awards will be held on May 14th, 2016 featuring approx 40 stallholders, amazing speakers, workshops and networking galore in the day! The Awards night is a fun night of celebration and networking directly after the Conference – culminating in awarding 13 amazing mums in business as the best in their field.

The Awards

The Brilliant Biz Mum Awards are all judged – there is no social media voting – so all winners are determined based on merit.

The judging panel is made up of the Award sponsor (a Biz Mum who has experience within the field and is managing the category) and two guest judges.

The categories are:

  1. Best Life & Business Clarity sponsored by Fiona Redding of The Happiness Hunter
  2. Best Juggler sponsored by Pauline Delany of The Harmony Life Stylist
  3. Most Influential Brand sponsored by Annemarie Cross of annemariecross.com
  4. Best Service-Based Business sponsored by Rosie Shilo of Virtually Yours
  5. Best Innovative Product sponsored by Cath Connell of Spicycat Creative and Wholehearted Marketing
  6. Best Social Media Success Story sponsored by Loren Bartley of Impactiv8
  7. Most Creative Marketing on a Budget sponsored by Susie Campbell of Little Black Book Marketing
  8. Best Mum in Biz Boss sponsored by Natasha Gallardo of Working Mothers Connect
  9. Best Web Presence sponsored by Julie Allen of biz yourself
  10. Best Image for Business sponsored by Zahrina Robertson of Zahrina Photography & Video
  11. Writing Excellence Award sponsored by Sarah Garbuio of The Business Butler
  12. Best Community-Minded Mum sponsored by Melina Schamroth of m.a.d. woman
  13. MLM Superstar Award sponsored by Fran Pratt of Kiss to Sell & Arbonne

There is definitely at least one category you can be going for… just choose it and do it!

Details of the conference can be found here
http://www.motivatingmum.com/events/brilliant-biz-mum-conference

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