10 Tips for an Entrepreneur Starting Out

1. Crystallize your customers’ pain points.

Figuring out what’s making your customers suffer every day is key to developing the perfect product or service. Usually, business consumers make purchases to solve a problem; whether it’s to increase revenue, reduce expenses or generate productivity. Only by identifying those problems – the real problems – is how the pain points become clear. Every strategy needs to target those pain points, especially sales.

2. Create an affordable solution differentiated from your competition.

Standing out in the market is not an easy thing to do. There are a number of strategies that you can pursue, but the most important is to create a value-added product. Focus on your strengths (and on your competitions’ weaknesses) and do what you do better than anybody else, constantly.

3. Validate your MVP and gather testimonials.

Testing your idea with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), serves two main purposes, so you can make sure that your solution is 1) technically viable and 2) has business capabilities. These tests might seem like a logical and good idea, but there are some business experts who oppose the idea of going public with a lesser product, so it all depends on the specifics of your business and who you ask. Here are several ways you can track the progress of an MVP’s performance.

4. Build a strong startup team and advisory board.

For startups, it’s crucial to have the right people at the right time, especially at C-level positions. There’s an important difference between the founder, founding team and the company’s CEO that has to be crystal clear from the beginning. Having a great team is vital for startups since team member synergies and attributes can complement each other in a productive way. Also, setting up an advisory team with individuals that have created comparable businesses or thrived in similar industries will surely help in the long run.

5. Bootstrap or seek angel investment/venture capital.

Deciding on a funding strategy is never easy, more so when a company is at its early stages. Every subtlety can determine the company’s future scale, growth, ownership and control. It’s also important that wherever the funds come from, that they are smart capital.

Market throughout the startup’s growth stage to generate awareness and sales:

Audience, loyalty, reach and engagement matter because they create value to customers which turns into a positive ROI. Set goals, run campaigns, track results and tie everything to the main objective. If you’re spending money on something you need to know why. All advertising is about dollar value returns. If no return on investment (ROI) can be measured, no resources should be spent.

6. Pursue excellent customer service.

It’s obvious that you want your customers to be happy, but this is also a powerful way to gain insights and feedback about your product. Delighting customers so that they feel special can actually turn into more sales, just by focusing on each individual customer. When resources are scarce, it’s vital to understand what your customers value the most.

7. If things aren’t going well so far: Don’t be afraid to pivot.

Pivoting can come naturally or as a determined strategic decision. Don’t be afraid. A large number of famous companies had to pivot to find their successful products or solutions. Track everything and if the current business model isn’t generating profits, make changes!

8. If a pivot doesn’t save your company, then try to fail fast.

No one likes to fail, but if you are going to do it, make it happens sooner rather than later. Getting out quickly is better than getting overly attached and having to spend more time and money on a project that is bound to flop. Recognizing failure is an important quality for entrepreneurs as well as learning from their mistakes.

9. Always stay innovative to delight customers.

Finally, it is necessary to nurture your startup culture of innovation. Products and solutions need to constantly evolve, especially as the company grows. If innovation is not encouraged, your competitor is bound to take over your space and/or worse your company could spiral towards mediocrity.

All these tips vary from company to company, so it’s important to keep in mind that each business is different and, although it’s possible to get insights from case studies, each startup is a world of its own.

This content first appeared on RIC Centre.

5 Initiatives that SME's can Benefit Significantly from the 2014 Budget

Relevant Budget Programmes can be shown in detail at
http://www.budget.gov.au/2014-15/content/bp2/html/bp2_expense-16.htm

• Continuation of EMDG

The Government will provide an extra $50m per annum to the EMDG Scheme.

• Continuation of R&D Tax Incentive

The Government will continue with the R&D Tax Incentive Scheme reducing the entitlement by 1.5% to 43.5% (still significant benefits for Innovative companies)

• Entrepreneurs' Infrastructure Programme — establishment

The Government will replace $845 million suboptimal programmes (such as Commercialisation Australia and IIF Funds  with  $484.2 million over five years to establish the Entrepreneurs' Infrastructure Programme to implement its new approach to industry policy.
The programme will focus on supporting the commercialisation of good ideas, job creation and lifting the capability of small business, the provision of market and industry information, and the facilitation of access to business management advice and skills from experienced private sector providers and researchers.
The programme will be delivered through a single agency model by the Department of Industry to achieve efficiencies and reduce red tape.

• Industry Skills Fund — establishment

$476.0 million over four years to establish the Industry Skills Fund (ISF) from 1 January 2015 to support the training needs of small to medium enterprises which cannot be readily met by the national training system. Industries targeted will include: health and biomedical products; mining, oil and gas equipment technology and services; and advanced manufacturing, including defence and aerospace.
The ISF is expected to deliver 121,500 training places (providing participants with qualifications, skill sets and recognition of both prior learning and current competencies) and 74,300 support services (including mentoring and foundation skills) over four years. Businesses will be required to make co contributions towards the cost of training on a sliding scale depending on the size of the enterprise.

• Community Business Partnership —

re establishmentThe $6.0 million over four years to re establish the Community Business Partnership to advise the Government on philanthropy in Australia. The Community Business Partnership, to be chaired by the Prime Minister, will bring together prominent business and community leaders to provide leadership and high level advice for encouraging growth in volunteering and philanthropy and promote partnerships between business and community organisations.
Further information can be found in the Coalition's Plan to Encourage Great Philanthropy and Strengthen Australia's Charities and Community Groups

(referron programme in conjunction with mission Australia)

Australia’s Campaign Monitor Raises $250 Million from Insight

Ben Richardson (left) and Dave Greiner grew up across the street from one another near Sydney, Australia. Now their email-marketing firm, Campaign Monitor, landed a $25m capital raise!

WSJ - ByShira Ovide 

• April 16, 2014, 2:28 PM ET

A 10-year-old “startup” in Australia is joining the rarefied strata of buzzy young companies like Uber, Keynected , Referron and   Dropbox.

Sydney-based Campaign Monitor, which makes software for email-marketing pitches, has raised  $250 million from venture-capital firm Insight Venture Partners (its first raise!)

The injection is among the biggest recent venture rounds. Since the start of 2013, only a few companies, including Dropbox, Airbnb and Uber, raised more money from venture-capital firms, according to data provider Dow Jones VentureSource and Wall Street Journal reporting. It’s also unusual for a single firm to make such a large investment.

Campaign Monitor says its email templates are easy enough for non-tech-savvy employees to use, and it says its prices are flexible enough for companies that blast thousands of emails, or for people who just send a couple of emails a year.

The company is among a growing roster catering to an increasingly digital-obsessed marketing industry...technology firms are crafting software to help marketing departments manage digital pitches, keep tabs on social-media messages and analyze the impact of their spending.

Marketing-technology companies have been a hit with investors, too. ExactTarget and Responsys were acquired in the last year in billion-dollar-plus takeovers. Marketo, which went public in May 2013, reached a market value of $1.8 billion before falling about 30% in the past two months.

“Marketers are going to get more aggressive in their tech spend,” said Deven Parekh, a managing director at Insight, who also said email remains a core pillar of marketing campaigns. “When we look at the trends in marketing, [Campaign Monitor] certainly plays on those trends,” he said.

Campaign Monitor germinated out of a late-1990s university business started by Ben Richardson and Dave Greiner, who grew up across the street from one another in the Sydney suburbs. The pair said they grew frustrated when they tried to use email marketing tools for their company creating custom websites.

Richardson and Greiner spent their spare hours writing software to improve on those clunky tools. About a year after they launched Campaign Monitor software in late 2004, it had three times the revenue of their web-design firm. The pair decided to focus on that business.

The founders declined to say how much revenue the company generates, but said Campaign Monitor has been profitable every month of its life. That has allowed them to self-fund the company.

Richardson and Greiner said about six months ago they began to weigh bringing in an investor for expertise and to help the company expand.

“We’re proud of the last 10 years. If we look at the next 10 years there are a whole lot of growth opportunities ahead for us,” Greiner said.

The pair said they plan to use the fresh investment funds to expand their own marketing, and to hire more sales people to court new customers. Campaign Monitor also plans to open its first U.S. office. About 80% of the company’s customers are in North America and Western Europe, but roughly 40 of the company’s 65 employees are in Australia.

The company also plans to give its employees ownership stakes in the company for the first time, and may expand senior management.

Parekh said the unusually large $250 million investment reflects Campaign Monitor’s maturity and greater revenue than most young companies starting to bring in outside investors.

10 Quotes All Entrepreneurs Should Memorize

Joel Peterson

Chairman, JetBlue Airways. Stanford Business School

Life can be tough. As my mother used to wryly remind me, “No one gets out alive.” We all have plenty of less-than-perfect moments. Not even the most gifted, telegenic and charming people live every day in the sunshine.

The same is true for entrepreneurs. Just as “bad things happen to good people,” every great entrepreneur regularly stares down the barrel of failure.

Graham Weaver, the founder of Alpine Investors and a frequent visitor to my business classes, reminds would-be entrepreneurs that the only failures they should fear are the ones of character and effort. It’s an uncertain world, and there are only so many things you can control. Even when you’re giving 100% and doing your best to be an honorable and ethical leader, things go wrong.

What you can control is how you deal with those setbacks. However stressful failure can be, if you pick yourself up and get back on the horse, you’ve passed the real test.

And when you do, you’ll start to see more silver linings than you expected. In pushing through failure, you’ll learn who your real friends are – the ones who know what you’re made of and believe in what you’ll do next. You’ll discover reserves of energy, persistence and confidence that you didn’t know you had. And you’ll feel a new sense of creativity, the ingenuity to solve hard problems, that might have remained fallow without the challenges.

One way I’ve prepared for my own unanticipated, but nonetheless certain, failures is by memorizing these 10 quotes:

1. "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." – Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900 (wat ne dood maak, maak vet!)
2. "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance." Samuel Johnson 1709-84.
3. "Sweet are the uses of adversity." – William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
4. "When it’s darkest, men see the stars." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
5. "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." – General George S. Patton, 1885-1945
6. "When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water." – Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790
7. "A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind." – John Neal, 1793-1876
8. "Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." – Anon
9. "He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity." – Ben Jonson, c. 1573-1637
10. "Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well." – Jack London, undated

One last quote I always keep nearby is this one from Theodore Roosevelt -- about the value of “daring greatly”. It's an excerpt of a speech he gave at Paris’s Sorbonne in April, 1910:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

It’s nice to remind yourself that anyone who fails at trying to do something great is in pretty good company. This group knew that the best dreams can often temporarily disguise themselves as nightmares – better to press forward and leave the fear behind.

Join Wayne Schwass and me at an evening on how you can Maximise Government Grants available to you

To my Victorian Subscribers.... join us at  an evening where you can find out how to maximise government grants that may be available to you including .

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

• the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG scheme administered by Austrade)
• The R&D Tax Rebate
• Commercialisation Australia
• Various State and Federal Training Programmes
• The new Victorian Innovation Vouchers Programme

What is the new Victorian Innovation Vouchers Programme?  – As a business owner you could be entitled to up to $10,000 toward Business Coaching, enhancing your own knowledge, leadership and skill base to increase productivity, improve your marketing, sales, innovation and profits and bring about positive change across your entire business.

In other words, if you are committed to significantly improving your business, innovating for growth and you qualify, the Government may assist you for it to the tune of $10,000 to do so!

Further, the Victorian Business Research and Development Voucher Program connects companies with Universities, CSIRO and research institutes and can fund your business up to $25,000.


Find out if you qualify for Government Funded Dollars for the Growth of your Business on the evening on Monday April 15.

Attend this Seminar, hear from the experts and find out more about these grants and if your business is eligible for assistance. Specifically, Michael, Ivan and Brendan will provide key insights, essential knowledge and strategic advice on:

• What grants are available
• How to access these funds;
• Your eligibility criteria;
• How you can qualify;
• Explore different options of maximising your return.

We are delighted to have the legendary Wayne Schwass host this event  - Wayne is one of the most highly rated performers in the AFL history, playing 282 AFL games over 14 years with the North Melbourne Football Club (1988-1997) and the Sydney Swans (1998-2002).

Wayne is an awesome  AFL Broadcaster on TV, radio and online with AFL.com, AFL Live, Triple M Footy and AFL Central- hosting such shows as Off The Bench TV, Footy Feast and calling AF on the AFL Live.

Wayne will share with us the challenges about trying to secure funding from his experiences raising $1M for the charity he founded (thee Sunrise Foundation, and the importance of fundraising, how to do it, why and whose responsible.  This insight will be both motivating and beneficial for all SME's on their journey to secure funding for their businesses.
There are only 20 seats left for this event, so you’ll need to book NOW by simply clicking here to register or calling 02 9262 3333 and asking for Rachael.

• Where: Melbourne Parkview Hotel, 2 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
• Date: Tuesday, 14 May
• Time: 6.30pm
• Expert Presenters: Michael Lynch, Ivan Kaye & Brendan Hook
• Your Hosts & Sponsors: 10X & BSI
• Single Ticket: $45, tax deductible

• Multiple Tickets: 2 for $60, Of course, tickets include comprehensive reference materials and refreshments.

I look forward to discovering what’s potentially available for your business at this special event.
I will keep an eye out for your registration to attend.

Great article on what makes the great entrepreneurs tick - thanks stevetobak!

by Steve Tobak  www.inc.com

What have the great entrepreneurs such as --Mayer, Page, Zuckerberg--have in common, that makes them better than all the rest.

jdlasica, Gobierno de Chile, Giorgio Montersino, Red Innova [4]/Flickr; Getty

From left: Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayer, Jack Dorsey, Phil Libin, Alberto Perlman

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Super Succesful Entrepreneurs seem to have  unique  qualities, some more eccentric than others. Marissa Mayer is a high-fashion workaholic. Mark Zuckerberg is obsessed with the product. Larry Page is a geeky introvert. Larry Ellison and Richard Branson are adrenaline freaks that race yachts, fly planes, and buy entire islands.

All that may be true, but it’s a big mistake to think that defines them.

Successful entrepreneurs seem to have  7 traits in common.

1.They all have a process. It’s the strangest thing but every single one of them seems to have their own process for thinking things through, making decisions, whatever. They’re very process-oriented. Sometimes they don’t even know it. 

2.They trust their gut. It seems they’ve spent their entire lives being self-absorbed or self-sufficient. As a result, they’re extremely self-confident when it comes to trusting their own instincts and following whatever it is that inspires them. They will listen to others -- a trusted few -- but they’ll still make the final call in the end.

3.They have a passion for what they do. That’s why they do it. Whether it’s writing software code or coming up with the next hot gadget, they love it. It inspires them. It makes them feel safe, comfortable. It draws them like a powerful magnet. They feel at home doing it. And there’s nothing else they’d rather do. Nothing.

4. They’re unusually quick on the uptake. They can assimilate data, come to grips with a situation, or grasp something that took you two hours to understand in what seems like a heartbeat. It goes without saying that they’re unusually smart.  

  

5. They’re born problem solvers. To them, problem solving is a fantastic game. They get off on it. They live for it. And they’re the best at it. Once they understand the problem, they revel in bringing their intellect, inspiration, and observations to bear in coming up with the right solution, plan, decision, whatever’s appropriate for the situation.

6. They’ve got something to prove. It’s not usually clear -- to you or to them -- who they need to prove it to, but I really don’t think it matters. They all just seem to have this relentless need to achieve, to make things happen, to do great things. It drives them and motivates them.

7. They work their tails off. Their work is, to a great extent, their life. That’s sort of an obvious result when you consider how passionate they are about what they do and how driven they are to accomplish great things. And you won’t always see them working, either. Day or night, at work or at home, they usually have a hard time turning it off.

One more thing. If you end up working with some of these folks, the worst thing you can do is be in awe of them. They don’t generally like yes-men and are quite impatient with folks who don’t add value. They have you around for a reason. Do what you do best and be straight with them. That’s generally the way to go.

What’s a fair deal for cash and expertise?

September 19, 2012 | Posted by Richard in Confessions of a serial entrepreneur |

“I’ve been doing this for four years. I’ve put a huge amount of money, my money, my wife’s money, which is our future, on the line. I can’t make a mistake now. I don’t want to be the founder that ended up with the tiny little minority share of the thing he started, while other people made all the cash.”

These were the clear sentiments Andrew Slorance made to the BBC for its documentary, The Perfect Wheelchair, which aired last week.

He was explaining why he rejected Richard's offer for expertise and investment in return for a 50% interest in his carbon fibre wheelchair invention.

Was he right?

"His wheelchair certainly looks much better than any I’d ever seen." said Richard.  Instead of being all chunky, metallic and industrial looking, it looks like something Batman would use – black, sleek, strong and lightweight. And there is no doubt the invention is his baby.

In a heart-rending story, Andrew fell out of a tree at the age of 14 and lost the use of his legs. For the 24 years that he’s been wheelchair bound he’s wanted to design a better one, and so he did, inspired by Formula 1 racing cars.

Then, four years ago, convinced the design could be commercialised, he left his job as a film editor to pursue it as a business. As a Scot, he was given money by Scottish Enterprise, and by Highland and Island Enterprise, and when that ran out, he remortgaged the family home for £50,000.

The problem was finding a way to reduce the production cost of the wheelchairs. Indications were that it would need to retail at a staggering twenty thousand pounds, more than eight times competitors’ prices.

Andrew went through about six prototype manufacturers, always trying to get the cost lower. Getting his target weight of about 6 kilos was also a big challenge and he struggled to do even better than the normal, non-carbon fibre chairs. He argued with many of the suppliers before moving onto the next, blaming their inability to meet his specifications on them only being interested in doing their day job, no more. They responded that he kept changing the specifications and the design. Interestingly too, he never sought the opinion of any other wheelchair users, and at one point said “it doesn’t matter if I go to a user group and they don’t like it, I’ll go on regardless”.

So when Andrew tried to eventually demo it at a trade fair, it was perhaps no real surprise that a potential customer hesitated about the design, worried she’d fall out. She also shrieked when told the price. The Beeb interviewed Andrew’s family, who talked about the strain, emotionally and financially, on all of them.

So I would say to Andy, the value of expertise, experience and contacts is worth far more than inventors often think. And investor’s cash, like their own cash, represents a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

Sometimes the smaller piece of a successful pie is the best business strategy on the menu.

Steve Blank: How to launch a succesful startup!

The professor who popularized the "lean" movement describes his Lean Launchpad course.

Steve Blank is a Silicon Valley-based retired serial entrepreneur, founding and/or part of 8 startup companies in California’s Silicon Valley. A prolific educator, thought leader and writer on Customer Development for Startups, Blank teaches, refines, writes and blogs on “Customer Development,” a rigorous methodology he developed to bring the “scientific method” to the typically chaotic, seemingly disorganized startup process.

"The Startup Owner’s Manual" was Blank's second book and is a step-by-step guide to building a successful startup, offering practical advice for any startup founder, entrepreneur, investor or educator.

His Customer Development methodology launched the lean startup movement. It is rooted on startups "getting out of the building," talking to customers and using that feedback to develop and refine their product.

I think I saw my guru Gerry Engel in the video! 

Money and the Value of Coaching

Inspiration from Hanna Clements-Hart, JD, CPCC

Many  people say that they cannot afford coaching?

The question of what one can afford is highly subjective … look at how you spend your money compared to others   – and you will find a wide variety of choices and priorities based on implicit or explicit values. 

My experience is that as ones income goes up… so does their expenses !!

Some people spend 50% more on organic products, but can’t afford a $100/month gym membership. Some people buy fancy coffees ($3.50 per cup)  and $10 a day for lunch, while others travel at every opportunity. Some buy expensive gifts for others but never treat themselves. Many of us place such a high value on home-ownership, invest in property because we see them as an investment in the future, and we actually borrow most of the money required to pay for them.

Most of us  pay 9% of our salary into superannuation, and many of us  spend copious amounts of money on their children’s education.  

When someone tells me they “can’t afford” coaching, it is because they cannot see the value of what coaching will bring to them.

Can you “afford” coaching? Before you answer, consider what purpose the coaching serves, and what personal or family values it supports.

Is the coaching directed at career or leadership skills, personal development, sustainability, balance, happiness, family harmony, financial security? Are these areas worth investing in?

·         Can you measure the benefit you will get from an improvement in the above -  what is your return on investment (ROI). 

• ·         What if investing in leadership coaching meant that you got a job that paid $5000-20,000 more than you would otherwise have gotten? or helped you get a job (and a paycheck) a month or more sooner than you would have on your own?  Leadership coaching offers a clear potential return on investment, and it is tied to your financial security.
• ·         What if investing in a business coach for your SME could add 20% more sales and a 10% improvement on your gross profit? Could this ROI be measured?
• ·         It is harder to quantify the ROI on personal development coaching, but it is there — reduced stress, happier children, better relationships, healthier habits, better sustainability, more joy. Do you regard these as luxury items or necessities? What are they worth to you?
• ·         A fitness coach – you would live longer, feel better, look better and have more energy. Would this generate an ROI? What is this worth to you?

·         What is the cost of not making a change   — financially?  Personally?   Or in terms of your health or relationships?  Do you have life balance?  You will not find a successful athlete, sportsman, actor, investor or businessman without a coach.

Coaching is an investment in yourself, and in order to make that investment, you have to believe that you are worth it. 

I refuse to believe it is a function of affordability! 

What is the 10X GrowthPac?

Famous Failures

Either you succeed or you learn something .

Failures are simply stepping stones to success.

No matter how it turns out, it always ends up just the way it should be.

The biggest mistake you can make is doing nothing because you’re too scared to make a mistake.

If you can’t handle failure,then you can’t handle success .

5 bad habits that prevent you to listen effectively and the 6 things you can do to improve your listening skills!

A great article By

Mary Goodman and Rich Russakoff - I can really benefit from this!!

Listening is a skill that will make you more successful.... It seems as if some people are just naturally good listeners... the truth is, it is not a gift, its an acquired skill!! (Thank the lord - as I need to do a lot more of it!!!!)

Its interesting that "Listen" and "silent" has the same letters!!

The better you listen, the more others appreciate you and, in turn, the more they listen to you. By listening better, you learn more and misinterpret others less. 

5 Bad habits that get in the way of effective listening. 

1. Multi-tasking - Do you ever look at your phone or check emails during a conversation? If you think you can multi-task while listening, then you don't know what you're missing. It's also painfully obvious to the other person when we are distracted.
2. Me, Me, Me - If your major concern is how others perceive you, or what you'll say next, then you can't focus on what is being said.  Listen with a view to understand - not with a view to respond!! 
3. Brain Speed - If your thoughts outpace the speaking style of the person you are talking with, do you let your mind wander? Do you  interrupt the other person because we believe we know what the person is trying to say but taking too long to say it.
4. What did you Say? - Hearing loss can adversely affect every conversation, from missing out on a pleasant exchange to serious safety issues. If you suspect you have a hearing problem, get tested. If you know you have a hearing problem, get hearing aids. If you own hearing aids, wear them.
5. Line Butting - You're bored with the subject so you interrupt and introduce a new topic. Or worse, you start talking about yourself.

Which ones are you guilty of? 

6 things that you can do that will dramatically improve your listening skills.

1. Paying attention - give the other person your undivided attention. In the words of Gandhi, "Wherever you are - Be there."
2. Listen with your voice -  Practice "Active Listening". Say "no kidding", "um hmm", "go on", or by paraphrasing, which, by definition, is the act of restating or rewording what others say.  Say, "So what your saying is..." Or simply repeat the last thought the other person said. There is no better skill for effective listening then paraphrasing. If you've heard correctly, the other person will generally respond with an enthusiastic yes or nod. If you've heard it wrong, they'll know they need to clarify. Paraphrasing gives them the opportunity to restate what they said so accurate and meaningful communications take place.
3. Listen with your body - Lean forward, put your hands on your chin, or listen with open arms. When your body conveys a listening posture, others become more comfortable and open. If appropriate, take notes. In a business meeting, it shows your interest and helps you stay focused. Nodding is also a key component of your listening posture. And smiling. Smiles are contagious and make others feel comfortable, and the more comfortable we are, the better we communicate. Establish and maintain eye contact. Not only is this reassuring to the other person, but it enables you to read their body language which can convey more than their words. As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot by just watching."
4. Button up!! - Don't interrupt. You hate it. So do others. It's rude. Unless you're seeing a fire erupt behind the person speaking, let them finish. Encourage them to fill out their thoughts by saying, "tell me more." When we interrupt, the other person loses their focus and we lose the opportunity to fully understand what they're trying to convey. Make a conscious effort to see how often you interrupt others over the course of a day. Hopefully, it won't be a rude awakening.
5. Ask questions - In the words of Stephen Covey, "Seek first to understand, then be understood. This involves a very deep paradigm shift. We typically seek first to be understood. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They are either speaking or preparing to speak."
6. Talk less - A good philosophy is that conversations should not just be about you, but about we. As the Greek sage, Epictetus, observed: "Most of us were born with two ears and one mouth." That's a pretty good ratio between listening and talking.

really - listen up and listen better!!

The 10X The Inner Circle Club and Mastermind Group

“None of us is as smart as all of us” - A Japanese Proverb 

Join a safe, confidential and trusting “10X Inner Circle” of up to 10 Peer CEO’s, Executives or Business.

Owners from non-competing companies and organizations – free of any conflicts of interests and hidden agendas, with the objective of helping each other grow!

Your “10X Inner Circle” , is a powerful forum of up to 10 members, meeting once a  month,  where you discuss opportunities, challenges and issues relating to you business. It provides feedback and guidance on an intellectual and emotional level (food for the business soul) , tapping into the core source of true leadership .

As a member of the “10X Inner Circle Club” you are also invited to a 10X Network Breakfast, where you meet  the various Inner Circles Clubs members, to network and connect.

The Inner Circle is facilitated by an accredited “10X  Coach/Chairman”  who facilitate the group, and discusses a “leadership Insight”, enablinig you to “lift your leadership lid” and “grow as  a leader”.

The Goal – to have 10,000 members in 10 Countries within 5 years!