Liam Brown

Whenever I am building a business my favourite part is that time after the foundation has been laid and we can start to build the “business house”, once the foundation is laid we can start really pumping up the Business Development and Sales. Laying the foundation of your ‘business house’ are things such as (and no these are not in prioritized sequence):

• Market Research (Is there a need for your product/service)
• Registering and Setting up your business (Registering the business name, setup bank accounts, etc)
• Setting Business Goals and creating a deployable (and realistic) plan
• Product and Service Offerings Defined (Pricing, Marketing Collateral, Promos)
• Sales Channels and Business Development Strategies Developed

Laying the foundation is a critical step in any business and can be done as quickly as you would like to move. In any business you will always look to continue sales, marketing, and business development from the day you start your business and never stop. One of my mentors equated the “Laying the Foundation” stage as a hockey stick. The blade of the stick represents the foundation of the business and then there is a sharp curve up, the shaft of the stick, which represents the business growing. The exciting part in any business (whether it be my own or someone I am partnering with) for me is once the foundation (the blade of the hockey stick) is laid and now we can start generating the sales and revenues in a sharp upward motion (the shaft of the stick).

In my own business, I have a few that have spent the last 4 months setting the foundation stage that are now ready for massive and quick growth:

A Software Firm. Myself and two partners have developed a software business that will be competing with major players in the Email Marketing Industry. We have major client partnerships developed, Re-Seller Partners signed on, Affiliates, and Clients on board. In the second quarter we are looking at going on a major growth spurt.

A new Bookkeeping Firm. I have partnered with a Bookkeeper and we have developed a company together, the second quarter will be focused on major growth

New Seminars and a 8-10 City Micro Tour. I have spent the last few months developing two new seminar topics, have identified interested target markets, solidified the dates, and have prospects ready to register for the upcoming sessions. The tour will take place at the end of May and beginning of June spanning two weeks of travel and from there will look to license the content to others who want to facilitate seminars.

With the first quarter coming toan end it’s time to start looking at your goals for the second quarter and take a look at your own business. Have you set a strong foundation? and are you ready for massive growth?

All the best,
Liam

When I am working with clients and there is a decision to be made one of my favourite questions that I ask clients is What does your gut tell you? A small percentage (less than 10%) will tell me what their gut is telling them. the other 90% usually have one of the following responses:

• I don’t trust my gut
• I don’t know, I never listen to it anyways
• I don’t have a gut instinct, it’s why I have advisors
• My gut is usually wrong

Everyone has a gut instinct or response to a decision they should be making and you need to start listening to it. It will save you more times than it will fail you (and yes, sometimes your gut instinct will be wrong) but the more you begin listening to it the stronger it will become

Cheers,
Liam

I sat down with a colleague and good friend of mine today over lunch and he expressed how business was going and in passing admitted that he agonizes over making the “wrong decisions” when it comes to marketing and building his business. I told him that I see this happening with business owners over and over where they go back and forth on a decision and essentially becomes ‘paralyzed’ because of the fear of taking a mis-step. When it comes to building business I always err on the side of “Action is better than inaction, even if it is the wrong action”. Don’t sit and wait for a “sign” of when to market your business or get out there and build it because it is never going to come, you need to take action. One of my favorite sayings is “No Happiness without Action” and “There is always another prospect standing over the last prospect’s shoulder”.Get out there and take action to build business. Don’t wait, do it now.

Cheers,
Liam