Time to Ditch the Fear of Failure

Time to Ditch the Fear of Failure

Time to ditch the fear of failure

Everyone views failures differently – what might be a triumph for one could be a major disappointment for another. You may have experienced this in school while your classmates shielded their results from one another, knowing that everyone’s standards are slightly different. Failure has a lot of negative connotations but perhaps surprisingly, it can be taken positively too.

There are many, many sufferers of atychiphobia – the fear of failure – but we can safely bet that, if you’ve embarked on your business journey, you are not one of these people. Those who are scared of failure often don’t even try at all, in case failure rears its head.

Realistically, failure is rife in the business world. Running from it may mean that you miss out on a lot of opportunities for your business to grow. It’s also not healthy to run head first into every opportunity recklessly, without considering the implications. As with everything, approaching failure is an art and requires a great deal of balance.

You will fail…..get used to it.

It’s undeniable! Growing a business comes with its own unique set of risks, meaning that failure is definitely on the cards.

In 1955, two men created a type of putty which was intended to be wallpaper cleaner. They seriously misjudged the demand and ended up with a product that seemed to be a huge failure. By chance and a few convenient connections, the product ended up on the table at a nursery school where it was an instant hit. The children loved it and found it a much better material to use when they were moulding their imaginations into something physical. The product became a huge success, so much so that there isn’t anyone alive who doesn’t know the name Play-Doh and associate the brand with happy memories.

Failure doesn’t always directly lead to a major success as it did in the case of Play-Doh and you can’t always physically use your failures. You can, however, always use the things you learn from your failure.

What doesn’t kill you……

We’re sure you’ve heard every failure cliché under the sun. We all know that failure is supposed to make those successes even sweeter. We know that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and we know that failure is just another word for experience. The most frustrating thing about these clichés? They’re all true, to some extent. So, how do we start taking them seriously?

The best thing you can do for your business is to take failure as it comes and not get knocked down and permanently defeated. There’s no need to glorify failure – we all know that failing is disappointing and demoralising – but there is a need to treat it like the lesson that it is. Dusting yourself off from failure means that you’re giving yourself another chance to get it right, maybe not next time, or the time after that but at some point down the track. It takes time to look at failure as a positive, but your business will thank you for it.

There is no denying that failure is scary, but using the failure to grow your business is a true art. If you’re ready to master the art, we would love to hear from you. Call Bx on 1300 068 229, or find out more about what we do here http://www.businessforlife.com.au/ProgramFindOutMore

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

Does Rejection Make Your Business Stronger?

Does Rejection Make Your Business Stronger?

Does rejection make your business stronger?

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ll know that having clients choose your competitors is part-and-parcel of the job – even the biggest and seemingly successful businesses in the world come up against clients who will choose someone else over them. So what happens when you come up against rejection and what do you do next? Let’s find out:

A few bad apples don’t need to spoil the bunch…..

Rejection needs to be expected. It happens! Maybe it’s a fault in your business or maybe it’s a hang up on your potential client’s side. Either way, expect there to be a few bad apples along the way and don’t get too hung up on it or take it personally. It’s important to have long-term goals too. Coming face-to-face with rejection can be debilitating if you’re not sure where to go from here. If you have a goal to acquire 20 new clients this year, it becomes easier to look beyond the one rejection and move on to achieve your goals.

Keep the conversation open…..

Just because your potential client has said no this time, it doesn’t mean they’ll say no next time. Any number of things could happen in between now and then causing them to return to you, so you want to make sure the relationship you have begun stays positive and isn’t terminated just because they choose someone else. Acting negatively towards the client and rejecting them in return significantly slims down the chance that they’ll return to you next time. Treating them mean to keep them keen might work in the dating world but it won’t go down well in the business world.

Ask for feedback and take it on board…..

Perhaps it was your pitch that didn’t quite hit the mark or maybe your competitors are simply offering something better. You’ll never know if you don’t ask. There’s no need to be overbearing; a simple, kind question to see what their decision was based on can be very telling, even without pressing for too many details. If there’s something you can change or improve upon based on their feedback, take note and take action. It could mean you come up against less rejection later on.

Celebrate your successes…..

Rejection comes around often, but so do successes. Remember your successes often and feel free to pat yourself on the back without shame! Note what works well and keep it all in mind when you do encounter rejections. The rejection shouldn’t defeat your drive in your business, so have a collection of success stories on hand to draw on and boost your morale.

Rejection might seem like a door is slamming in your face but it may actually push you in a different direction, toward more success.

If you’re ready to start bouncing back from rejection and turn it into a success, we’d love to hear your business story and help you to move forward from here. Call Bx on 1300 068 229, or find out more about what we do here http://www.businessforlife.com.au/ProgramFindOutMore

 

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

Are you going slow enough?

Are you going slow enough?

It goes against our natures as business owners and entrepreneurs; we want to be all go, all the time – after all, isn’t that how we get things done? There’s a whole different line of thinking taking hold in businesses today – mindfulness. It’s not a new idea but it’s one that might not be such a bad idea when it comes to being more productive and focused in your business.

The idea of slowing down in your business is similar to the idea of slowing down when you’re driving in the car – slowing down makes it easier to drive safely and efficiently. It’s easy to want to speed – it’ll get you there quicker – but if you’re speeding up by cutting corners, ignoring warning signs and not following proper procedures, you could end up driving yourself into some nasty terrain!

What can you achieve when you slow down?

  • Focus and Perspective; taking the time to stop and absorb your surroundings means that you can focus on what’s important and concentrate all your energy on that.
  • Insight; slowing down means you can see what’s coming up and you can prepare yourself better for it, instead of waiting until the last minute.
  • Well-thought out conversations; whether you’re conversing in person, online or through your marketing materials, taking the time to think about what you’re going to say before you say it can result in more effective conversations.
  • Reflection; slowing down can give you more time to revisit your goals, assess your progress and readjust.
  • Enjoyment; instead of rushing so fast that you can’t enjoy what you’re creating and achieving, there’s something in stopping to smell the roses and enjoy what you’re doing!
  • Rest and rejuvenation; everything listed above is fantastic, but it might not ever get done if you don’t take a break to make sure you’re well rested so you can get things done.

A study of 343 businesses has found that the companies who were focused on always pushing forward and moving at a fast pace to gain an edge over their competitors were actually more likely to have lower sales figures and operating profits. Those who took time at important moments in their business life were more likely to stay on track and meet targets, showing us that slowing down doesn’t mean that productivity suffers as a result.

It might be easy to talk about slowing down, but how can you actually start to practice ‘being slow’ in your day-to-day business life? Yet another study tells us that 46.9% of the time, we’re thinking about something other than the task we’re involved in, how do we get our mind to focus?

  • Concentrate on one task at a time. Things might get done a little slower, but you’ll be getting the tasks done at a high standard every time.
  • Eat slowly and away from your desk. It might sound a little pointless, but eating slowly means that you enjoy your food, you focus on your senses, you get a little me-time and you fill up from less food, meaning less food breaks later in the day, keeping you efficient.
  • Get moving. A  5-minute walk in-between tasks allows you to clear your head, spend time enjoying the fresh air and ready yourself for the rest of the day.

Even though it goes against everything we’re told to do, taking that time to slow things down and think things through could do wonders for your personal sanity, as well as your business’ growth.

Do you find slowing down difficult or struggle with getting organised and focused so you can be productive? We’d love to speak about how we could help your business to improve its performance. Call Bx on 1300 068 229, or find out more about what we do here http://www.businessforlife.com.au/ProgramFindOutMore

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

What Makes a Great Mentor? How to Find a Great Mentor.

What Makes a Great Mentor? How to Find a Great Mentor.

Mentoring can be an extremely valuable experience, not only when you’re new to the business world, but right through the life of your business. There is a lot of time and effort involved in creating a successful and effective mentoring relationship and it should never be one-sided. So, what should you expect from your mentor and what should you be doing in return?

Your mentor should:

  • Be a sounding board. Sometimes, you need someone to bounce ideas off and mentors generally have more experience and business knowledge, making them the perfect sounding board for all your ideas, crazy, ambitious or even unrealistic.
  • Give you guidance.  After you’ve thrown ideas at them, you might be expecting your mentor to tell you exactly how you should make those ideas a reality, but unfortunately, that’s not what they’re there for. Rather than give you step-by-step instructions, their role is to offer guidance on what might work – the hard yards are all on you!
  • See the big picture for you. When your head is stuck in your business and deep in paperwork, it can be easy to lose sight of why you’re doing this in the first place. A mentor makes sure you don’t get bogged down or lost amongst all the busyness; your mentor keeps you moving forward, even when you’ve forgotten where you’re going.
  • Set clear boundaries. Are you unsure when the best time is to call your mentor? Do you have a set time to meet every week or month? How long is this mentor/mentee relationship intended to last? If you have a good mentor, you already know the answers to these. Clear boundaries mean that both of you know where you stand and what’s expected of you.

 

Your mentor should not:

  • Run your business for you. A mentor’s job is a little bit like someone helping you to run a marathon. They’re there to prepare you, to give you advice on what it’s like out on the course, but they’re not going to run alongside you every step of the way and make the decisions for you. You can expect them to cheer from the sidelines but expecting them to take up a role in your business is both unrealistic and unreasonable.
  • Tell you what you want to hear. Just like a great friend or a parent, a mentor doesn’t tell you what you want to hear, they tell you what you need to hear. This means that your mentoring journey won’t always be easy, but you can be assured that all of their advice – even if it’s confronting – is for your benefit as well as your business.
  • Be at your beck and call 24/7. The reason you have a mentor is because they know a thing or two about business – this usually means that they have their own, successful business to be running. As a consequence, calling or emailing them several times a day will wear thin very quickly. Respect your mentor’s time and be fully prepared for the designated time you spend together each week or month so you can get the most out of them while you can.

With clear boundaries, mutual respect and an enthusiasm for business, you’ll be on your way to creating a successful business mentoring relationship.

Do you need a mentor? Some coaching? Or just a conversation around getting a mentor?

Feel free to book a quick 15-20 minute chat with me and we can talk. Book in HERE.

 

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

How To Make 2017 Your Best Year In Business

2017-Icon-250x250

The New Year is well and truly underway now and those resolutions we made on the brink of 2017 are still fresh in our minds. Whether we’re feeling the sting after failing three days in or we’re still going strong, there’s no doubt that a new year is a time to be thinking about how we can be better versions of ourselves in the coming year. It doesn’t just apply to our personal lives – have you considered making resolutions to better your business this year? It’s not too late! Here are three easy steps to make your business the best that it can be.

Get a Vision

What does the best year in business look like to you? This is a time to let your imagination run wild. What do you dream for your business, where would you like to be at the end of the year, what do you wish you could do with unlimited resources? Dream big! No two visions are the same, but by thinking radically about your business, you’re pin-pointing all the possibilities and laying them on the table.

Daring to imagine all those possibilities might seem a little wishy-washy to you, but gather all those possibilities and shape them into a sentence or two that sum up your hopes for your business this year. Now, you have a clear statement of where you want to go, you can lead your business forward.

Set Goals

Those few sentences that hold your business vision might seem a little daunting but there’s no reason to feel overwhelmed!

Your vision is very closely linked to your goals but your goals are allowed to be a little more specific – in fact, it often helps when your goals are as small as they can be. Your vision is never going to be fulfilled overnight; it’s those small, specific goals that will keep your business moving towards the vision throughout the year.

Take apart your vision until you get it down to bit-sized pieces that can be ticked off during the year. Think about what you can be doing every day, week, month, quarter and year to be moving closer to your vision. The best way to make sure you’re doing this is by setting aside time to plan, create, manage and adjust these goals during the year.

Take apart your vision until you get it down into bite-sized pieces that can be ticked off throughout the year. What can you be doing every day, week, month, quarter and year to be moving closer to that goal? The best way to make sure you’re doing this is by setting aside time to plan, make, manage and adjust these goals throughout the year. Here’s a handy guide for you – make it your own and start smashing through your goals:

Seize Every Opportunity

You might have dreamed up the best year possible for your business, but what will you do when little unexpected things pop up throughout the year? We can plan all we like but unfortunately; we can never plan for the unexpected.

Whether it’s a setback or a wonderful opportunity, you need to be ready for anything. Be ready to see the best in a bad situation and use it to your advantage. When it comes to amazing opportunities, you might be in the right place at the right time, but if you haven’t prepared yourself, you could find yourself watching the opportunity sail right past you.

Success is when preparation and opportunity collide – don’t miss out on success for lack of preparation.
With these three easy steps, you’re on track for the best year in business you’ve ever had. Here’s to a new year of business!

In business, it’s important to start the year strong. Through our Business for Life program, we help business owners from across Australia build a toolbox of skills that they can use to grow their success. We’d love to chat about how we could help you. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program here.

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

How To Stop Missing Goals

setandreachgoals

Everyone has lofty goals; some of us want to increase sales or get that promotion, some even have grand plans to change the world. Those goals can be easy to set, but how often do we actually reach them? My bet is, not very often.

There are a few mistakes people make and the biggest of them is trying to tackle one big project in one go without much thought. Many people become overzealous in their attempt to get something done and jump straight in but, while doing so can often feel productive – we all want that instant gratification – taking too big of a leap can mean we find it difficult to keep our heads above the water and inevitably find ourselves overwhelmed.

Failing to specify the details of our big goals can doom us to fail right from the beginning; when our mind is unclear of what we really want, we struggle to visualise where we want to go and we give up. Losing sight of our goal can mean we lack the commitment to all the tiny details, so we start moving away from that goal instead.

“When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.” – Creighton Abrams.

If we think of a university degree – a big goal, chased after by many people, young and old – we can see how a goal can become overwhelming. Degrees are made of years, which are broken up into semesters and then subjects. Each subject has a list of assessments while the assessments themselves are comprised of paragraphs, sentences, words and letters. The smaller your goal is broken up, the easier it becomes to achieve.

A university degree seems insurmountable when you think of everything due at the end of the semester, but it simplifies itself and seems far easier to attain when you think of it as writing one word after another.

The next time you set yourself a goal, ask yourself these questions:

What do I want to achieve? Sometimes, this could be stating the obvious, but for bigger, more complex goals make sure you consider all the details; if you want your income to increase by the end of the year, write down the exact amount so you can visualise and work toward it.

What do I need to reach my goal? Think about every little step you can take on your way to the big goal, as well as people you might need to network with and set out a timeline.

How can I break it down? Break down every task, regardless of how small each step becomes. Remember, every tiny step is getting you to that giant goal.

How long will each task take? Setting realistic time boundaries, for each individual task can help you get to that big goal, on time. Setting mini-deadlines can keep you moving forward.

Do I need help? Thinking you’re alone in this journey can be detrimental to actually achieving your goals. Think about who can best help you to move forward and contact them to see if they’re willing to help you when you need it.

What can I do right away? After you’ve written out all your mini-deadlines and tasks, you’ll find there are some small things you can do straight away to start moving forward. The best part? You can put a little tick next to that box and get that instant gratification we mentioned earlier.

Remember, your goal will hopefully have a positive effect on your life, business or career – staying positive on your journey to achieving the goal means that your goal will be even sweeter when you get there!

Goal setting plays a massive role in all aspects of business. Through our Business for Life program, we help business owners from across Australia build a toolbox of skills that they can use to grow their success.  We’d love to chat about how we could help you. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

Leaping With Faith

leap-of-faith

You know the feeling; it’s that tiny voice in the back of your mind and the butterflies in your stomach when you have the opportunity to take a giant leap in your business. Unfortunately, for too many people, the risk seems too great, even when there could be a great result on the other side.

At 2015’s Bxponential, Emanuel Comino spoke about the impact just 20 seconds of courage can have when the fear starts to set in. It’s those 20 seconds when you decide to leap into a new opportunity, which set you up for everything that is still to come.

Your business can be a little like a choose your own adventure story; when you’re faced with that nerve-wracking situation, you can ask yourself two questions to decide to move onto the next page:

What if you don’t?

There is a risk in jumping into the unknown – absolutely no one will deny that. Even entrepreneurs who’ve been in the game for decades will tell you that the fear of failure is still there, tapping them on the shoulder. Instead of turning around, they stop caring about failing; they believe in what they’re giving their clients, so they can keep moving forward with confidence.

“Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”  – J.K Rowling

The fear of failure has crippled many throughout history – some are so scared of rejection and failure that they do nothing at all. This approach keeps you in your comfort zone for now, but it means that you aren’t trying new things or pushing yourself and your business to the limits. How can you know what’s possible if you’re not willing to try?

What if you do?

Guess what? A little unease is expected when you’re faced with a big decision, conversation or opportunity. Instead of letting that fear be a roadblock, let it be your guide. When you start to feel a little uneasy, let that be the sign that reminds you it might be time to use those 20 seconds of courage you’ve been saving up.

People who have fears – perhaps of spiders, the dark or even dogs – are often told to confront those fears; looking at a spider, putting yourself into a dark room or interacting with a dog can be incredibly scary, but if you do it often enough, it starts to become normal. The fear may not ever go away, but you can start to gain control over it and maybe one day, you might look back and say ‘why was I ever worried about that?’.

Remember, it’s courage over fear – don’t waste your time trying to eliminate your fear, instead, build up your courage so that it’s ready to go when fear does start to creep in.

In your business story, are you going to choose to stay safe on page one, putting things off forever to avoid failure? Or, will you choose to leap with full confidence to see what the rest of the pages in your story look like?

 

Through our Business for Life program, we help business owners from across Australia build a toolbox of skills that they can use to grow their success. We’d love to chat about how we could help you. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

Why Are So Many Small Businesses Failing?

Getting Ready to Change Starts with the Decision to do so

 

If you’ve ever ventured out on your own in the business world, it’s likely you’ve heard a myriad of statistics when it comes to the rate of small businesses failing within their first year of operation.  As it stands, the current figures in Australia are sitting lower than 2%. This is still cause for concern but many are adamant that it’s no longer the first year of business that small businesses need to survive, the danger point is now further down the track with more and more businesses bowing out in their third or fourth years.

So, what is it that small business owners seem to be missing when it comes to the business game?

Problem: Forgetting to work on the business.

Solution:  The first thing you need is a business plan, but many business owners often overlook this. How do you plan to reach your clients? What do you want to achieve through your business? Other questions like this should arise while you create your business plan so that you can have a clear vision of the future. Don’t forget to be flexible and willing to update your business plan throughout the life in your business life.

Problem: Overlooking personal and employee training.

Solution:  A lot of business owners take a business idea and run with it without thinking it through, but before they know it, they’re knee-deep in a business that they’re not properly trained for. As a result, they often have a ‘learn as you go’ approach to training which is not always a positive approach. Encouraging employees to learn more, defining their role clearly and making sure they’re on-board with the business vision will give them a natural desire to learn and receive formal training to be able to contribute at full capacity.

Problem: Ignoring the need for marketing.

Solution:  The digital age has brought a whole new world of marketing to the forefront of our minds. It’s now easier to get your business out there through the Internet and it’s easier to be overlooked in the oversaturation of advertisements.  Harnessing your social media and using it to advertise and connect could be the best starting point for your small business – it’s only on to bigger and better things from there.

Problem: Having no analysis strategies.

Solution: The first step to fixing this problem, is recognising it. Already you’re on your way to analysing your business! To make things easy for yourself, start with the most simple and widely loved analysis strategy – SWOT analysis.

–       Strengths

–       Weaknesses

–       Opportunities

–       Threats

By looking at your business through all four of these lenses you can start to work out where you need to improve and where you need to start taking action as well as the areas in which you can be encouraged by your performance. It’s a great way to think deeply about your business without getting overwhelmed by the bad points or distracted by the good.

If you can recognise any of these problems in your small business, it might be time to start implementing some solutions, one at a time, to get your business on the road to success.

 

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

How The Business Game Has Changed

How The Business Game Has Changed

How The Business Game Has Changed

You could be forgiven for thinking that bigger companies are the ones with all the power in the business game. After all, they’re typically the ones with the bigger budgets and management systems to manage the risks they take and offer the lowest prices to their customers.

Today, technology is tearing up the rulebook. Instead of giving big companies all the power, smaller businesses are able to get some runs on the board, even overtaking some big names in the process. Big businesses can offer some of the lowest prices, but they make sacrifices in other areas, where small businesses can swoop in to claim victory.

Customer Connections

Big businesses can churn out their services fairly reliably and reach thousands of customers at once, but when the complaints, enquiries and mix-ups come flooding in, to whom do their customers speak? Is there a team of highly trained employees or is it a computer responding to my questions? Providing a face to the name is a huge advantage for small businesses.

Small businesses can now provide great support for their customers, purely through their phone. Smart phones have opened up opportunities to respond to work, create invoices and provide support to customers, immediately – all with the tap of a finger. With many customers choosing businesses purely based on their standard response time, this immediacy is priceless for small businesses.

Business game

Zeroing In

Providing a myriad of services to please every potential customer sounds like a great idea, but it is unrealistic. Big businesses have more resources to attempt this approach, but small businesses are just that – small! Finding a niche and focusing on it means that small businesses can deliver a select service and deliver it well, without spreading themselves too thin. This approach prioritises quality, which customers are always looking for.

Early Adopters

In the past, it was the wealthy large companies who had a monopoly on the new technologies. Now, with the Internet so widely accessible, new technologies are quickly being found and adopted by smaller businesses. Bigger companies are often very loyal to their method of getting the job done. The idea of bringing in new technology triggers immediate headaches revolving around rewriting procedures and retraining employees. Small businesses don’t have to bother with large scale retraining, so they are free to integrate innovation into their business, at very little inconvenience.

Red Tape? No thank you.

With fewer employees, smaller businesses generally already have fewer hoops to jump through, but when it comes to taking risks or exploring a new direction for the business, they can make change happen quicker. Small businesses often don’t even follow traditional business structures and without having to work their way up through several layers of management, it’s a far quicker route to speak with the powers to be to push through changes or pitch new ideas.

In the end, no matter how big or small the business is, neither of them are immune to making mistakes. Big companies have an advantage in that they are better equipped to handle the fallout of a bad choice. Through their budget and their support frameworks, they often have a cushion to fall back on.

Small businesses are not without their own advantage, however. While they may not have a cushion to fall back on, they are at the perfect vantage point to observe the bigger businesses, watch their mistakes and then learn from them. Small businesses might not be immune to making mistakes, but they are much better positioned to avoid them.

Long gone are the days of big businesses being at the top of the food chain, small businesses are now able to stand tall in their own right and if they make their moves carefully, they can change the landscape of their industry entirely.

Want to be a big business owner with a small business nimble mindset? Then come along to Bxponential in October. At this free event – with great business speakers like Naomi Simson from RedBalloon, John McGrath from McGrath Real Estate, and Luke Kennedy from Punchy’s Gym – you’ll walk away with key resources and strategies you can implement in your business immediately. Book your free tickets here.

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google

Mark Bouris – lessons learnt from the road of business

Mark Bouris – lessons learnt from the road of business

Mark Bouris – lessons learnt from the road of business

When Mark Bouris took to the stage at B-xponential last month, he shared how he got Kerry Packer to invest $25 million into Wizard Home Loans in 1999.

Mark, now chairman of Yellow Brick Road, sold the company in 2004 for $500 million. After the technical terms of the deal were agreed, Mark was told by James Packer that he had to go and see Kerry.

As Mark tells it, the meeting started with Packer looking at him across his desk in silence. He then took out a cigarette and smoked it, still looking at Mark without saying a word.

When they finally started talking, Packer put three questions to him which every business owner – large or small – ought to be able to answer.Mark Bouris - Bxponential

  1. Do you fully understand the purpose of your business?
  2. Have you got enough fight to maintain your passion when things go wrong?
  3. Are you prepared to go the distance?

 

Do you fully understand the purpose of your business?

Mark shared how taken aback he was. Hadn’t Kerry Packer read what Wizard Home Loans did, wasn’t he across the deal paperwork? Yet on the first point, Packer explained to Mark that he wasn’t just in the business of selling mortgages. He was in “the business of people’s hopes and dreams”.

“Fear is the thief of your imagination,” he told the Bx audience. “To know your purpose, to know your why, that takes away fear. It helps you learn how to market.”

Telling an audience of people from small businesses that passion is not enough is a blunt message. Your purpose, after all, is supposed to feed your passion. Many business owners and leaders in smaller businesses will rave about their passion for what they do, but Mark also highlighted the need for a bit of mongrel when it comes to business survival:

“Passion’s important. We’ve got to be excited about something. You’ve got to be at a minimum excited about it. But Kerry Packer said to me, “Son, passion’s not enough. I want to know – I know that all this stuff you’re preseMark Bouris - Bxponentialnting to me so passionately, which is going swimmingly at the moment, which is forecast for growth at this level, blah blah-blah – I know you’re presenting it passionately. But I want to know, because something’s going to go wrong, invariably something’s going to go wrong: do you have enough fight to maintain your passion?””

Mark Bouris reminded us all at Bx about having the fight inside of ourselves, to pick ourselves up when we get knocked down.

Being prepared to go the distance

You have passion, you know your purpose, and you have the fight inside to get back up. But Mark asked us, are you prepared to be tested? That’s different to putting up a fight. We all need somebody to test our hypothesis in business. “People in your office might be testing you – above you or below you or next to you. It doesn’t matter. Your personal partner might be testing you. You need to be tested. We don’t need to have someone give us the answers, we need to have someone give us the questions,” said Mark.

For Mark, his test came when Kerry Packer said: “Ok son, so what you’ve got to do, within 12 months, you must buy an influential interest – or all of – the wholesale business that funds Wizard Home Loans.”

Mark and Kerry Packer shook on it. And he had 12 months to do it. Talk about a test!Mark Bouris - Bxponential

In the end it took a flight to Amsterdam, and a long wait in the reception area of this particular Dutch bank to meet the Managing Director. Mark had no appointment, just a commitment to meet the test set of him by Kerry Packer. Here’s how he went:

“I sat there for hours and hours, and about 4pm in the afternoon he came down the stairs, and he said: “Is your name Bouris?” I said yes. He said: “What do you want?”

“I’ve got 30 seconds to tell him what I want, and I was smart enough to drop Kerry Packer’s name in there. And he said: “Listen, I’m going to be in Australia in three months time doing my rounds. I’ll see my managing director. I want to go and meet Kerry Packer.”

I thought: My God, that’s the last thing I wanted.

But they met up, and the managing director of the business in Australia, of the wholesale business said, “You’ve got a deal. You can buy 49 per cent.”

There is more – far more – to the financial deal of the story that Mark shared from the stage at Bx. But the point Mark wanted to make sure we understood was this:

“What I had was the supreme tester. And it did one thing, apart from scaring the daylights out of me, it did one thing: it got the best out of me. And in order to be successful today, in business, it’s very good to have somebody, whether you call them a mentor or a business partner – somebody to get the best out of you. Because you won’t get the best out of yourself. You never will.”

Another gem that Mark Bouris shared, that resonated with me, is a great one when the thief fear is creeping in, or you feel like you are low on the energy to fight back, get up again, be tested again?

“It’s an honour to work. It is God given and a blessing so don’t do it begrudgingly. It all comes down to your attitude.”

 

Want to learn more about how to succeed in business, from experts like Mark Bouris? Bx can help you with strategies, resources and invaluable connections for your business and pave the way for your success. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

 

Share on : Twitter/ Facebook/ Pinterest/ Google