BrightBiz – Page 8 – Pauline Bright Business Coach

Are we still the Lucky Country?

A couple of days ago, after the American Thanksgiving Holiday, I was flying back to Perth from Sydney.

It was late and I was tired; I had been at an intense 2 day seminar and would have been grateful for some sleep. I sat next to a small wiry man in dirty work clothes and well-worn work boots. He had paint on his hands, his arms and his clothes.

Shortly after take-off he struck up a conversation “You from Perth?” I didn’t recognise his accent so I asked where he was from.

“Yugoslavia – I come to Australia 17 years ago. Never go back”.

I don’t know what his name was – we didn’t get to that bit. But over the next couple of hours he told me his story.

He cannot believe his luck in ending up in Australia. He is so grateful for the opportunities he has here. He came as an immigrant with his wife and two children, choosing Australia because he has a brother living here. He “lost’ his wife. She chose to go back to Yugoslavia to be with her parents. He stayed here with his children.

He had been an electrician in Yugoslavia but in his own words… “No work.”

“Very hungry, always hungry.”

“When I was kid, my family no food, no work always hungry.”

“Always fighting, always war; Milosovic no good. People killing”.

He settled in a small town in rural WA. He is so incredibly grateful for everything he has; grateful to be able to work hard. “Always work – never run out of work – I go knock doors get work, always”. “No work there, I go knock more doors”. “I do anything, paint, build, fix… I go night school, I learn English after work”.

He bought some land and built a house – so incredibly grateful that he could do here what he could never do in his birth country.

Then he proceeded to tell me about how he was going to subdivide his block, sell half and buy more blocks to grow his personal wealth. “But not too much, just enough. Too much make people greedy. I see it”.

He has a business idea for a food van – he has it all mapped out who his customers will be and how he will sell to them.

He was so incredibly grateful for being able to live in peace “No war here” and for being able to work and earn and enjoy his life. He had built such a good reputation that his employer had flown him to Sydney to do some work for him. He was in his work clothes because he wanted to get home to his family and his next job as soon as he could. “No time to wash before fly”.

Sometimes we forget how lucky we are “Very lucky” he said “Very luck here”.

Have we forgotten how lucky we are? Have we forgotten that we used to call ourselves “The Lucky Country ”?

Have we forgotten to be grateful for every amazing advantage we have here?

Not me – I’m giving thanks every day.

As I left the airport, I had to chuckle at the young teenage girl of Indian descent with younger sister in tow, whinging loudly about something… “First word problem” she said to her “First world problem!”

My gratitude…

Thank you to everyone who taught me something this year. A considerable list of people and lessons! Some I didn’t anticipate and some I jumped into boots and all – knowing I was going to be working hard and loving every minute of it.

Thank you to my clients; past present and future. I’m so lucky to be doing work I love with you!

Thank you to my family and friends and colleagues, to my trusted advisors, to my network of incredibly talented business associates. It would be so much harder doing it without you.

And a little gratitude gift from me to you. Thanks for reading – click here to download

More coming in the New Year

Wishing you a wonderfully relaxing Christmas with all the love that it brings…

Cheers,
Pauline

3 Easy Steps To Write A Blog Or Social Media Post Now!

Quick and simple guidelines to create content

Here are the rules…

Don’t be generic – don’t write for everyone , write just for one person
You need to get inside their head to get to the HOT Buttons – make it personal.
Keep great notes on conversations with clients or customers – these are your source materials

Here are the steps:

Step #1

Identify a specific person

Write a list of the clients you’ve dealt with over the few weeks or few months – Name them. Some will stand out more than others because of the conversations you’ve had – choose the ones you’d most like to write for and that you have the most to contribute to

Step #2

Find their HOT Buttons

Under each name write down all the problems they have – real and perceived. Dig deep – find their fears and frustrations; what irks them, what keeps them awake at night, what they would do if they had a magic wand; what they most want your help with; their horror stories and their dreams and desires. Be very specific; not “needs more money” but “Needs to generate $5000 by Monday”

Step #3

Write the article in a particular style

Once you have the list, write an article for that person – just that person, because if one person has that problem or desire you can bet your boots others do too. Make it interesting to read – choose a style to write it in. It could be a case study, a rant, a “how to”, common myths… it could even be a checklist, FAQs or 3 Steps to do something.

You now have page full of ideas for articles, blogs, and social media posts – no more staring at a blank page. You can even turn these into videos or podcasts.

Enjoy!

5 Steps to develop your good business ideas

If you’re a creative person you’ve probably generated more business ideas than you can ever implement.

In your mind your latest idea could be the best thing since sliced bread, but if you don’t put in enough strategic thinking BEFORE you get started, it could just lead you down a deep dark rabbit hole…

This 5 Step Strategy to Develop New Ideas will help you sort the “good ideas” from the “time wasters that look good on the surface” and show you how to get the outcome you really want.

Try this:

Capture the ideas – it doesn’t matter how crazy they might seem – just get them down in a journal of some sort. Use words, pictures, links… anything that sparks off the original idea and intention.
What is the problem that THIS is the Solution to? You’ll need a framework to assess the idea. What is your greatest need – your “Burning Desire” right now? Is it to make more money, to get better customers, to have better structure in your business? Whatever that burning desire is write it down at the top of a page. “I need to make more money” (remember to state exactly how much money that is – e.g. $500 more in turnover each week”) You’re going to brainstorm the strategies.
Take each idea you came up with and run it by the Burning Desire. If the idea can help you achieve that exact outcome, without spending too much money or wasting too much time, then it’s time to develop the idea. All other ideas have been captured in the journal so you can come back to them later. Work on ONE idea at a time – go deep.
If you have more than one idea or strategy, assess the idea for ease of implementation. Ask yourself qualifying questions: “Can it be done, by me (or can I pay someone else to do it)? What tools, people, skills will I need to make it successful? How long would it take to implement? How much will it cost? What return do I want for my time and effort?” Write it down. Can you do a “test run” before you throw lots of money at it?
Start the test run – run it by people who would use it or buy it – get some feedback. Don’t try to develop the idea and build a new product / service / system until you know there is a genuine need or market for it or that people actually want what you’ve created.

How do I know this works?

Because I’m a super-high Creator. Without structure to assess and implement ideas Creator types can create chaos. I know it seems like “hard work” from the outside but if you take a little time to plan it out first you’ll save yourself vast amounts of time and energy and money – and you’ll end up with a much better creation from your brilliant ideas.

Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

What’s your actual number?

How much money do you Fully Intend to earn from your business this year?

Note: “I didn’t say how much money would you like?” That’s a dream.

When I said “Fully Intend to earn” I don’t mean just some vague goal of “I want more money” blah blah blah.

I mean the actual NUMBER – the amount you will put in your pocket and why that’s important to YOU.

Would it make the world of difference to you…

to earn more than you did at your last job or last year in your business?
to live a better life with no holds barred?
to pay down some overwhelming debt?
To boost your self-esteem – to be paid what your worth ?

People get all hung up on money. They think it’s virtuous to say “It’s not about the money” but if you’re in business a big chunk of it IS about the money

Your financial success this year will depend on just TWO things

How you think
What action you take

It’s not just a matter of setting a goal – that’s the easy part… (pick a number – any number…)

BUT – to get from the income you make now to exactly the income you REALLY want… well, HOW do you do that…?

THAT’S the question… isn’t it?

You see the mystery is in the HOW to do things and most people won’t tell you that.

I’ve been implementing this “money and numbers stuff” for quite some time now in my own businesses, and I teach this to my clients in all kinds of businesses, with remarkable results.

And I want to show YOU how to do it too because life’s too short to do this slowly… and painfully.

You lose too much money and momentum trying to figure this out on your own

Now this is not a “One Tip, One Trick” strategy. It’s a series of actions taken at the right time with the right knowledge that will get you where you want to go.

I’m talking about real commitment here.

I’m talking about rolling your sleeves up and getting into it. Even if you think you don’t like numbers. ESPECIALLY if you avoid this side of your business!

It WILL NOT take care of itself.

And YES it will take some hard work – but it won’t kill you, in fact it will definitely make you stronger!

Here’s a neat little tool to calculate how you’ll make that income – click here

Email me pauline@paulinebright.com

Or send me a private message on Facebook or LinkedIn

Or pick up the phone and call me 0413 739 196

Talk soon.

Why is a budget so important to your business, but so hard to do?

I have yet to meet anyone who likes the word “budget”!

It seems to have acquired a negative spin – Business Coach Mandurah like “belt-tightening” or “big brother” standing over you… it may start feeling like there’s no fun in life if you have to budget!

Maybe the politicians have given it a bad rap! Treasurers rarely deliver a popular budget.

So let’s change the name shall we, to CASH FLOW; 2 really nice words that fit together.

Let’s put together a Cash Flow Forecast.

Serious FUN

When you are realistic about what it takes to run your business – how much money you need to spend and how much money you need to make you can start to get out of stress and into some Serious Fun!

And in that Cash Flow Forecast let’s include some FUN MONEY – money you can play with on a regular basis so it makes you feel good.

And let’s measure what happens with the Cash Flow Forecast, – your actual spending, because when you’ve taken the time to set it up and include all of the things you need and want to spend money on, then you know you’ll be able to sustain it. And you’ll enjoy life more.

So what is a Cash Flow Forecast?

Well, when you get the hang of this, you can have:

Cash flows for personal stuff (in fact I like to start with the personal stuff – because being a business owner should give you a better life – right?)
Cash flows for running your business – projected income and projected expenses in the months they actually occur
Cash flows for expanding and growing your business in the future so there are no nasty surprises when you get there.

TRUE CONFESSION:

I’ve had 11 businesses – not all of them reached their true potential because I told myself “I don’t do numbers”.

And every time I had an attack of “Ok Pauline, let’s do this – you know you have to”, I tried to learn it but it was being taught in such a mind-crushingly dry dusty boring way that I felt like giving up.

But I persevered and I learnt the language of numbers because I had to! It was sink or swim. I chose to swim!

And now I REALLY like numbers – seriously I think I’ve turned a bit nerdy. And I teach it in a Seriously Fun and easy to understand way.

I’d never realised the richness of what’s in a business until I learned about Money and Numbers. (I even coach accountants now! I could never have foreseen that.)

Being Good at What You Do is Overrated

Being good at what you do – the work of your business is not enough. You need to be able to accurately predict what will happen and when it will happen. And you seriously need to know the numbers to do that.

If you are running your business based on what’s in your bank account, you’re heading into shark-infested waters. Please DON’T DO THAT!!!

And if you need help – then come to a Low cost/ High value workshop.

The first one is “Women and Money”
Simple Practical Abundant Money Strategies for Women in Business

The next one is “Men and Money”

And there may even be a “Couples and Money”

Watch this space…

Evolutionary Business Design

Author: BrightBiz