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Five Apps to Maximise Personal Productivity

It’s never too late to learn how to be more productive both in your personal and professional life. When you get more done, it gives you a sense of accomplishment, which leads to greater self esteem. And you’ll have more time in your hands to focus on personal or professional goals.
Here, I have rounded up some of the best apps I use. You might also find some of these useful.

Apples

1. Evernote
Evernote is the ideal application that allows you to remember virtually everything. It’s the perfect companion to enhance business or personal productivity, as it’s cloud based storage lets you access all the notes you keep wherever you go, even on your personal computer or desktop.
The unique notebook features let you categorize notes, which come in handy for various hobbies such as cooking, traveling, and even planning a wedding. When used for business, the app lets you share knowledge with colleagues, providing them with easy access to information you’ve stored on your own account that you’ve tagged for sharing.
Evernote

2. Wunderlist
Wunderlist is a cloud based application that lets you manage your tasks and to do list. It has a simple user interface which makes creating your daily task and lists fun and easy. It’s available on all operating systems, smartphones and tablets. You even have a web access to your list.
Wunderlist also synchronises automatically across all your devices. There is a free and a pro version which allows you to share your list and collaborate with work colleagues, friends and family.
If you want to achieve more, Wunderlist is the app for you.

Wunderlist
3. Scrivener
Scrivener is an app created by writers for writers. Created by a company called Literature and Latte, as in writing and coffee . It’s a powerful tool that allows you to focus on your writing.
Scrivener is great for keeping all your documents in one place. So whether you are writing a book or a blog, Scrivener helps you organise and get to the end of your project. It’s designed from the view point of the writer, allows you to work in a composite mode that eliminates distractions and will help you focus on getting to the end of your work.
Scrivener

4. Keeper Security
You’ve probably already had one of those days that due to the sheer number of accounts you manage and physical databases, you’ve simply forgotten your passwords. But today, with Keeper Security, it allows you to safely store passwords, eliminating the hassle of ever forgetting a password ever again. With this app, you can say goodbye to having to reset your password just because you’ve forgotten what it is. By using one master password, you can access your accounts without the need of resetting. You need a paid version to sync on all your devices.

Keeper

5. DropBox
With versions available for personal and business use, DropBox is the ultimate app for storage purposes. You no longer have to carry around physical hard drives, or consistently transfer data from one place to another. DropBox users can store multimedia files, including music, movies, photos, and documents, and take them wherever they go. If you choose to share them with another user, files can be shared with just a few clicks. Additional storage can also be bought at a minimal rate.

Dropbox

By choosing the proper apps you can increase your productivity. Using any of the above technologies can greatly reduce time or effort from your normal workload. You’ll be able to enjoy increased productivity and have more time to spend on yourself.

Why not leave a comment and tell me about your favourite productivity app.

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Five Scientifically Proven Ways to Increase Creativity and Work Efficiency

Companies rely on the creativity of their employees to fuel the competitive advantage of their products and services, as well as innovation. Whether you’re running a business or are a freelancer, creativity will always come in handy to solve problems or design new products.

Increase Creativity and Work Efficiency

Given the importance of creativity in every field, many of you still don’t realise how creativity works. It is completely possible to enhance your creativity through external factors which we’ll discuss below.

Creativity: Nature and Nurture

There is a common misunderstanding that creativity is purely innate; you’re either born with it, or you aren’t. But there is a delicate balance between the nature of creativity, and nurturing it.

Just because you haven’t tapped into your own creative genius doesn’t mean that you don’t have the natural ability to be creative. Research has shown that there are many environmental and mental methods that we can use to help provide better creative output.

These are just some of the ways you can learn how to improve creativity and work efficiency, but you can also learn how to do so by removing distraction . Read on below to learn more:

1. Find ways to restrict yourself

The typical image of creative people is that they’re a type that exhibits unrestrained characteristics. But the truth is, creativity stems from certain levels of constraint and discipline. In other words, while you are used to taking the path of least resistance, enhancing creativity and work efficiency means trying something new.

An example would be, if you are used to writing short stories of at least 1,500 words; restrain yourself by trying to write one from just 500 to 800 words. This will force you to think out of the box and express yourself better.

2. Encourage conflict

You’ve probably noticed that companies whose main product relies on creativity, such as advertising agencies, make use of a seemingly fun atmosphere. Their offices are fun, colourful, and even have outlets for their employees to let loose – it’s not uncommon to see pool tables or refrigerators stacked with alcohol.

While on the surface, it seems that the employees have no conflict; this is actually the kind of environment whose people are comfortable enough to fight over ideas and accept constructive criticism. On the other hand, an environment where there is a lack of conflict suggests that people’s ideas are being censored, and that they are not generating any new ideas at all.

3. Learn something new

It is normal in the world we live in to rely on experts from certain fields to provide us with solutions over problems. However, if you notice, they don’t always produce the most innovative solutions.

Some of the most creative innovations come from individuals who may have adequate background in a certain field combined with additional knowledge from other fields. A good example would be the mathematician Paul Erdos, who was always changing his specialisation. He would work on exchanging knowledge with colleagues to find something new. This is also because doing so gives you a fresh perspective on something that experts have been studying for decades.

4. Utilise counterfactual thinking

One of the most efficient exercises to increase creative output is known as counterfactual thinking. The technique involves taking events that may have already happened, and imagining various outcomes.

Counterfactual also involves using the subtractive mindset, which means removing elements out of the actual event. It also utilises the additive mindset, which involves adding elements into the outcome.

5. Spend time daydreaming

Daydreaming has been proven useful to increasing creativity, on the condition that it is done prior to a commitment to a project. The reason behind this is because daydreaming encourages the incubation of ideas, once you already have some information to think about.

Remember that creativity is not a skill or talent that is only related to artists, musicians, painters, or writers. Creativity is a useful skill for people who come from all walks of life, and provides you with a new way of approaching problems.

How do you nurture your creativity? Leave a comment below.

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5 Business Values to Teach Your Staff

To make a difference in your organisation, you must find ways to instil values in your staff. Such values will create a culture that produces motivated, happy and empowered people.

5 Business values to teach your employee

While you can hire people based on their knowledge and skills, values take time to develop. Your dedication and commitment at imparting these values over time will make the investment worthwhile.

Benefits of having business values

When you successfully impart values in your staff, you’ll find that a healthy culture develops. If your business is spread across physical boundaries or is made up of people from different cultures, then having values helps to improve communication across these boundaries.

Values are an important catalyst for change. Having values will also help you team move forward and upwards despite obstacles they may come across along the way.

You as the leader will need to decide on the core values on which you would like to shape your business and build your people. Here are a few core values for you to consider.

5 Core Business values

It’s not hard to make a decision when you know what your values are ~ Roy Disney

1. Accountability

To be accountable is to be willing to take responsibility for your actions or inaction. Your chances of success as a business is improved when all staff irrespective of their role within the organisation know what it means to be accountable and responsible. Staff members know that they are responsible for delivering tasks to expected standards. Everyone understands the impact their role plays within the overall organisation.

Successful leaders use tangible methods to install accountability. For example SMART goals, incentive programs and progress monitoring.

2. Integrity and Honesty

Integrity and honesty is crucial for all communications within the organisation and across boundaries in communication with customers and other external stakeholders. Integrity in the workplace creates an atmosphere of trust and confidence. Integrity will  help your team to complete its task on time, exceed expectations and honour promises.

3. Innovation

Good leaders and companies encourage employees to think outside the box. You must not be satisfied with just working with traditional solutions. There is always a new and more efficient way to solve a problem. Only an environment that fosters innovation and creativity will produce this newer and better ways.

A good way to foster innovation is by discussing best practices amongst teams and departments during meetings. Recognition should also be given to employees who come up with innovative solutions. This serves to inspire others. In todays world of increasing competition and change, you cannot afford to be complacent. You must seek to be better than what you were previously.

4. Fairness

To be fair is to always go for a win-win solution to all transactions. This means that there is some benefit to both parties to the transaction.

Consistently working with a fair business mentality will ensure that your vendors, customers and suppliers will return to do business with you again and again.

5. Discipline

An environment of discipline requires that the individual adhere to certain behaviours that merit rewards. Contrary behaviour should also attract sanctions. Your job as the leader is to model by example the code of conduct you like. Here, everyone benefits because all staff are inclined to put their best feet forward, be at their best behaviour and adhere to the rules and regulations.

 

This list is not an exhaustive one. I am sure you can come up with many more business values worthy of emulation. Why not leave a comment and share some of your business values.

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Five Things You Are Doing Now That Stop You From Achieving Your Personal Goals

 

Five Things You’re Doing Now That Stop You From Achieving Your Personal Goals

While working on goals is a conscious decision, you may not realize the things you are doing unconsciously that are preventing you from achieving your goals.

We all try to recognize the importance of setting goals throughout our lives to get things done; but among those of us who actually set goals, only a minority are actually able to achieve them.

This is strange, considering the fact that many people actually set up small and achievable personal goals.

What’s keeping you from achieving your goals?

Before you sit down and think about your goals, one useful tip I can impart to you is to ensure that you are working on smart goals. And I’m not just talking about wise goals; I’m also referring to the SMART method: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and within a Timeframe.

But don’t worry, even if you’ve already started working on some goals, it’s not too late to reassess them. You can still examine what changes you can make for each of them to be SMART.

Establishing healthy personal goals will contribute to personal as well as professional development; as everyone can benefit from a well-rounded leader. But more importantly, you should also be aware of things that you may be doing now that is preventing you from achieving your goals. Here are some things to think about.

1. Comparing yourself to others

Maybe you aren’t fulfilling your goals because you keep putting on the brakes as you compare yourself to others. We all do things at our own pace, and shouldn’t be comparing how quick or efficient we are in achieving something.

Each person has their own unique challenges to overcome. Seek inspiration from other people, instead of feeding on greed and jealousy as these attitudes will do nothing but stifle you.

2. Working on too many projects at the same time

While it’s easy to start many personal projects that you believe will benefit you in the future, you might not be able to finish them.

It’s good to be a person of many ideas, and who wants to achieve many things. But if you put too much pressure on yourself to do too many, you’ve lost the battle before you’ve even begun.

You must realize that time is limited, and you should work on the goals you can achieve first. When you have finished, there will be enough time to continue working on other personal projects.

There is a time and space for everything; just don’t try to do everything all at once.

3. Having a negative attitude

Pessimism is the worst quality to have if you are trying to achieve personal goals.

If you think that you won’t be successful, it definitely is the biggest hindrance to achieving your goals.

For some people, working on an optimistic attitude takes time and work, but it will be the best investment you can make for your own personal growth.

4. Inactivity

Behind each personal goal is a certain set of actions that you need to do, or habits to be formed, in order to get them done.

For example, if you are looking to become healthy, you need to integrate nutritious food habits into your daily lifestyle. This means eating fruit in the morning instead of bacon, and replacing your coffee with green tea, and so on.

You must work on your actions so as not to fall behind on your personal goals.

5. Working without a higher purpose

Most people think that goals are simply writing objectives down on a piece of paper, and ticking them off as they go along. This could not be further from the truth.

In order to achieve your personal goals, you need to understand exactly why certain goals are relevant to you, and how they can help you become a better person. Without a higher purpose, it becomes easy to give up on your goals.

Knowing your purpose and why you want to achieve what you want to achieve will keep you motivated to stay on the journey when the going gets tough.

Goals are work in progress

Now all you need to do is to work on any of the five you recognise in your life. This will help you develop a new mindset and approach to achieving your goals.

But don’t be too hard on yourself; goals are a work in progress. By eliminating the negative things listed above, you are already halfway through achieving your goals.

What’s stopping you from achieving your goals?

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Thank You at Christmas!

Christmas is the day that holds all time together ~ Alexander Smith

Merry Christmas!

Today on Christmas day, we thank you for being an avid reader and supporter of LeadingLikeAChampion.

Thank you for your ongoing support. We are encouraged by it.

Thank you for your comments on our blog. We truly appreciate you taking the time to share your insights with our readers.

Thank you for your feedback. Now we know how we can serve you better.

Thank you for spreading the word about us. We are grateful to you for sharing our articles with your friends.

Enjoy your break.

We at leading like a champion look forward to sharing more practical, purposeful and useful content with you in the new year.

We wish you a happy holiday season, a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

From the team at LeadingLikeAChampion.

 

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How to Set and Implement Your Personal Goals

Before we talk about the benefits of having goals, let me ask you this question? Have you got things you want to achieve with your life? These are goals. So why not take some time to write them down.

How to Set and implement Your Personal Goals

Setting goals, and figuring out how you are going to achieve those goals, is important in ensuring that you are successful in all areas of your life.

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals ~ Henry David Thoreau

Benefits of goal setting

So here are some of the benefits of goal setting: goal setting can provide a number of benefits. These include:

1. Clarity and Focus

By setting goals, you narrow your focus on action that is relevant to achieving your goals, ensuring that you waste as little time as possible on action that does nothing in helping you progress towards attaining your goals.

2. Increased effort

Goal setting encourages you to increase the amount of effort  you put in to achieving your goals. Since you have a clearer idea of what you want to achieve through goal setting, you are therefore more likely to put in the extra effort to strengthen your chances of reaching those goals.

3. Increased Persistence

You are more likely to persist at working towards a set goal, and less likely to drop out if you meet setbacks. Setbacks give you an opportunity to review your goals. If the goals are still relevant, your setback can become a stepping stone to achieving your goal.

4. Less stress and anxiety

Goal setting removes the stress associated with not knowing what you want to achieve in life. By charting your goals, you are much better able to control your future, meaning that you don’t suffer much of the stress and uncertainty about your future direction.

5. A happier outlook

People who set goals end up being happier than those who don’t due to the fact that they feel a higher sense of purpose and control in their lives.

6. Increased self-esteem

Setting goals allows you to boost your self-esteem. With set goals, you receive a boost from making concrete progress and achieving your short term and medium term goals, You get a sense of achievement by meeting your shorter term goals/

So how do you go about setting and implementing your goals?

Setting Goals

While by no means easy, the process of setting and implementing your goals can be best achieved by taking the following steps:

#1. Figure out what you truly want with your life

Knowing what you want to achieve is the first and most important step in setting your goals.  Have a vision for your life. Visualise where you want to be at various stages of your life and the relevant goals that you would have liked to achieve. Remember, it’s important to set goals that are important to you personally and not others.

#2. Break it down

It is important to break down your big goals into smaller steps. These steps are your shorter term objectives. Breaking down larger goals into smaller ones also make it easier to create action plans on how you will achieve your goals.

#3. Write down your a plan or vision

Writing down a concrete plan on what actions that you intend to take to achieve these goals is the next step in goal setting and implementation.  As you develop a plan, you determine which goals are most important and which ones deserve the most time and energy. You will also determine exactly what specific actions and strategy you will be taking to achieve these goals.

#4. Set Deadlines

Setting deadlines for your goals and related actions is critical in effective goal setting and implementation. By setting deadlines, you are far more motivated to working on your goals in the most efficient manner possible, ensuring that you procrastinate as little as possible. Setting deadlines also allows you to measure your progress as you take steps towards achieving your goals.

#5 Seek Support

Getting the support of friends and family who will assist you towards achieving your goals can greatly contribute to your success in reaching your goals. Find support from those close to you in achieving your goals and get them to “buy in” and support you in implementing your goals. Such support can also serve the purpose of accountability. Your coach can offer the support and encouragement you need.

 #6. Get a successful mentor

Mentors can offer direct or indirect assistance. You can get direct advice from successful people, or indirectly through the motivation provided by their success. As Anthony Robbins said, “Success leaves clues, follow it”. Read books, listen to audio and video programs, attend seminars and get the benefit on offer from those who have been successful at what you want to do.

#7. Regular Review

It is important to have regular reviews of your goals and your progress in attaining your goals. Even if you have already set up the previous steps, it may be easy to lose sight of your goals as time passes by. By regularly reviewing your goals, you can monitor whether you are on target with your goals. If not, you can then adjust your actions in order to meet your goals.

#8. Be flexible

Every now and then, life will throw unexpected circumstances into the mix. You should always be flexible with your goals and your actions. Often times, circumstances occur which you didn’t or couldn’t possibly anticipate or plan for. Being flexible will your life easier and help you to be at peace with the unavoidable change to your goals.

#9. Make contingency plans

While there are circumstances that may come into play that you did not expect, it is always important to take reasonable precautions against adverse circumstances. For an entrepreneur, having someone who can take over your business or your work for you in cases of emergency is one example of contingency planning. Contingency plans allow for the successful progression towards attaining your goals, even in the event of unexpected setbacks.

#10. Take Action

You have heard it said before that talk is cheap. After all said and done, the rubber must hit the road. You must take action on your goals. After setting your goals and making your plans, take the first step towards achieving what you have set down to achieve. Taking action is a lot easier than you think. Take the first step today and see the results unfold.

Why not leave a comment below and tell us how you got on.

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7 Tips For Achieving Workplace Success By Being More Assertive

Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to speak up, but the fear of what people at the workplace would think silenced your voice?

7 Tips to Achieving Workplace Success by Being More Assertive

Have you ever decided to let someone go down the wrong path because you were afraid of how people would look at you for disagreeing?

You are not alone

The issue of being assertive is one that many people struggle with in the workplace.

Assertiveness is the ability to honestly express your opinions, feelings, attitudes, and right, without undue anxiety, in a way that doesn’t infringe on the rights of others.

Assertiveness is an extremely beneficial leadership characteristic to have, and these benefits extend to the workplace. For example, being assertive can lead to improved job satisfaction, improve your decision making skills, and help you to gain confidence and self-esteem. However, many people find it very difficult to be assertive. Thankfully, there are ways in which you can conquer your fears and become more assertive, thereby boosting your chances of success within the workplace.

Here are seven helpful tips on being more assertive:

#1. Practice being assertive

By constantly looking for situations where you can practice being assertive, you will be able to bring out your assertive behaviour whenever the need arises. Because assertiveness is a skill that can be developed, by practicing you further strengthen your assertive attitude.  For example, practice with a friend or by yourself in front of a mirror, paying special attention to your body language and vocal tone. Through practice, you will be able to feel more comfortable and be able to be assertive in the workplace without experiencing stress or other related negative emotions that often come with the idea of being assertive.

#2. Make a plan/have a script

Don’t just try to be assertive spontaneously – instead, plan ahead for situations where you can be assertive. Figure out exactly what you intend to say and how you are going to deliver your assertive language and behaviour. By already knowing what you are going to say and how you will say it, you will be more likely to keep an assertive frame of mind and ensure that your assertive message is delivered as effectively as possible.

#3. Pick your battles

Don’t look to be assertive all the time. There may be instances where assertiveness simply does not fit into that particular situation. Instead, pick your battles wisely and choose to be assertive when the situation allows for it and in a situation where your assertiveness will likely to pay off. Concentrate on being assertive on issues that truly matter to you and avoid constantly making a fuss. By doing so, you will seem far more reasonable and level headed when you do display assertive behaviours.

#4. Use positive body language

It is very important to use positive body language when being assertive. By using positive body language, you will be able to increase the effectiveness of your assertive message and ensure that what you are saying is interpreted in the correct manner. Maintaining eye contact, monitoring your voice tone, and keeping an upright posture are all types of positive body language that will assist you in coming across as more assertive.

#5. Control your emotions

Controlling your emotions is important in striking the right balance of being assertive. Being too emotional will lead to your message not being effective. If you do find yourself getting too emotional, take a time out and respectfully ask to be excused, or take slow and relaxing breathes  in order to calm your emotions.

#6. Learn to say no

Learning to say no to unreasonable requests is an important part of being assertive. By saying no to unreasonable requests, you are then teaching others limits and boundaries for the types of behaviour to expect from you. As a result, people will be more likely to respect you for being upfront and assertive. Learn to say no without feeling guilty and do not apologise for standing up for yourself.

#7. Be direct and clear 

When being assertive, it is important to be direct and clear on the issue being discussed.  By being clear about what is being discussed, you can avoid confusion and make sure that you don’t appear to be overly passive, ensuring that your message is delivered with maximum efficiency.

If you’d like to know more about being assertive, have a look at this course which will help you to overcome negative behaviours and give you a renewed sense of confidence.

Have you any additional tips for being assertive at work? Why not leave a comment.

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How Better Anger Management Can Help You Reduce Stress At Work

Work related stress has been defined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as a harmful reaction people have due to undue pressures and demands placed on them at work. Simply put, stress is your reaction to the pressures of life and work.

How Better Anger Management Can Help You Reduce Stress At Work

Being under too much stress can have negative impacts on your physical and mental well being. But you can learn to respond to the pressures of work in ways that will not cause you harm. And one of such ways is to learn to control your anger.

Stress and anger have been found to be related. Anger is one of the emotions that puts the body under stress. For example, when angry, I can feel my heart beat faster. This could be a sign of raised blood pressure. If I remain angry or stressed for long periods, the possibilities of a heart attack cannot be ruled out.

Anger in itself can be a good thing. However uncontrolled anger will negatively harm you and others around you. If you control your anger, you will create a conducive environment for yourself, your family and your work colleagues.

Here are six ways to manage your anger and reduce stress.

#1. Recognise the signals, signs and triggers

This means you have to increase your self awareness and understand the events or activities that have the potential of triggering your anger. This increased awareness can prevent anger outbursts from happening. Should you be unable to avoid the situation, you can plan your response before hand and react rationally rather than with anger.

#2. Avoid anger triggers

Avoiding unnecessary and unhelpful situations that trigger your anger is another way of practicing good anger management. For example, you may be frequently upset because of your long daily commute or because you are overloaded with work. By doing such things as leaving home a little earlier to avoid the rush hour or by asking a colleague at work for assistance with the workload, you can avoid situations that trigger anger.

#3. Learn anger relieving behaviour

By using anger relieving techniques, you can stop your anger from getting out of hand. Simple techniques such as slowing down your breathing or counting to ten are effective in relieving anger.

#4. Take good care of your health

If your body is under a lot of stress and strain, you could be prone to angry outbursts. Just getting a good nights rest will prevent you from feeling cranky and irritable in the morning.

A proper work life balance can also help to prevent your being frustrated. Taking good care of your physical and mental health will ensure that you have a much higher capacity to deal with situations without getting angry.

#5. Exercise

Exercise is closely related to a healthy lifestyle. Exercise helps you to physically express your emotions in a safe and useful way. Exercise is also known to stimulate chemicals in the brain that helps you feel much happier, relaxed and in a good mood. Running, swimming, meditation and yoga are all exercises that help you deal with anger.

#6. Get support

Having a support network of family and friends you trust is a good thing. If you are under pressure at work, you need to be able to talk to someone you can trust. Simply finding ways to talk about challenges is in itself therapeutic. You can also receive motivation to stop your angry outbursts and other forms of help.

Just do it

Practicing anger management with some of the techniques listed above can help you regain self-control in difficult situations. This will in turn give a positive boost to your personal and work life.

Do you know any anger management techniques not listed? Why not share your tips with some of our readers by leaving a comment.

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The Thrills of Business Ownership

Your employers job is to give you a job. It’s your job to make yourself rich, successful and fulfilled ~ Robert Kiyosaki

The Thrills of Business Ownership

One of the things I enjoy most as a business coach is working with young entrepreneurs and small business owners. They have fascinating and somewhat romantic ideas about their business. You literarily feel their passion and excitement when they talk about their dreams and what they want to achieve through their business.

As a coach, I have no alternative but to allow the dreamer to dream on. I stir up the entrepreneurial spirit and encourage the can do it belief system. But then I am also mindful of what happens when we “build castles in the sky” or have the “pie in the sky mentality for too long.

Business Ownership Motivators

So why do people start, own or manage small businesses?

There are a number of reasons why people get into business and want to enjoy some of the thrills that come with owning and running your own business. If the business succeeds, then you will get some satisfaction that you took the correct path and made the right call. If it does not succeed, you have put in the effort, learnt the lesson that will give you a better chance at success when you have another go at it.

Here are my list of five motivations for business ownership.

#1. Financial Rewards

There is no doubt that the need to have more money is a real motivation for a lot of people in business. This is quite justifiable and there are hundred of books that teach people how to make money by owning your business.

Many people tied up in low paying jobs believe that they can do better financially by starting their own business. This may not necessarily be true. There are many jobs that that will pay you lot more as salary that you could earn running your own business.

If you are planning to leave your job to seek greater financial returns a s business owner, look before you leap. The world of business is an adventure into the unknown. Properly check out your plans. If you have the knowledge, skills and courage to start your own business, then I say go for it. You just might succeed in getting the financial rewards that enticed you in the first place.

#2. Financial Security

Related to the issue of making more money is the need for financial security. Once upon a time, many people stayed in the same job throughout their lifetime. ‘Job for life’ as it is called is now a thing of the past.

After hopping from one job to another in search of the elusive security, many young people come to the conclusion that they can be better off as a business owners. This is not necessarily so. However you do have a lot more control and flexibility over your fortunes as a business owner. This means that you are now responsible for providing financial security for yourself and for your employees. This can be scary but exciting.

Whether you are in employment or you are running your own business, it is your responsibility to work out a strategy that will give you financial security. Take charge, take control and take action.

#3. Personal Investment.

The greatest investment that anyone can make is in self development. One important area of self development is to learn how to develop yourself as a business person so that you can invest your time and money into your own business to bring you great financial gain.

The most effective way to become rich is to research extensively and invest in a business that you can own and manage to properly generate good profits and bring you the wealth and influence that you probably have dreamed about for so long.

By investing in the skills and knowledge to run your own business, you build yourself as your greatest asset. Should your business suffer some financial loss for any reason, you have the capability to make a quick comeback as a result of the knowledge that is in you.

#4. Special Skills

Several people over the years have realised that they have the talent that can bring them recognition, fame, wealth and happiness. Such people, usually under the guidance of mentors and the encouragement of family and friends choose the path of entrepreneurship.

The entrepreneurial path helps you develop your talent into great skills that is of service and value to others.

Many people set themselves up as self employed skilled workers offering services from plumbing and computer repairs to entertainment and leisure services.

The owners and operators of these small and micro businesses find a more enjoyable outlet to display their skills, make money and make an impact than if they were doing something else.

#5. Independence

We live in a fast-paced and rapidly changing world that places a lot of demand on our time, physical presence, as well as mental, emotional and physical health. These pressures are not going to stop or reduce and many have found the flexibility around working for themselves as a way out of a very demanding job schedule.

More people are moving out of daily commuting to a fixed work location and opting for working from home.

Sometimes, the quest for independence has more to do with the entrepreneur not wanting to lose his or her freedom and vision by working for one boss for a prolonged period of time. Such people will start their own business because that do not want to be subordinate to someone that may not allow their creativity to flourish. They want the space and freedom to spread their wings and express themselves.

Whats your reason for starting your own business or for going the self employed route?

Leave a comment below and look out for part two of ‘The Thrills of Business Ownership’.

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The Entreprenuerial Way – Understanding Business Risk

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other ~ Walter Elliot

Understanding Business Risk

Whenever we talk about business, we are also talking about risk. All successful entrepreneurs are risk takers. They believed in their dreams and take deliberate and calculated steps towards achieving their business goals.

Attitude To Risk

What is your attitude to risk? Are you –

  • Risk-averse or risk-avoiding. You prefer certainty and have a low propensity to take risk
  • Risk-neutral and are more concerned about the return on your investment than the risk involved
  • Risk-loving or risk-seeking person who will still go ahead despite the high probability of a financial loss

It doesn’t matter how brilliant your business idea or plan is, it certainly is is not immune to some measure of risk. Remember that starting or running a business is an adventure into the future and there is always uncertainty about future outcomes.

Before You Start

Before you start your business, you need to identify

  • The likely risk factors
  • The magnitude of the threat
  • The possible ways of mitigating against these risks.

Depending on your attitude to risk, you will be pleased to hear that high risk ventures will often come with the chances of high rewards. Don’t just gamble, understand the risk involved in what you are heading into.

Common Business Risk

When you decide to start a business, you can be carried away by excitement and optimism about a positive outcome and you forget to carefully assess the downside. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are as an entrepreneur, a careful assessment of the risk involved will save you a lot of heartache and headache in the future.

So here are some business risks you need to be aware of.

#1. Financial Risks

The risk of a financial loss is one in which every business owner is exposed to. The initial capital invested in a business start-up, may be from the savings of the owners, money borrowed from other people as soft loans, money borrowed from the bank which is secured and the unsecured loans borrowed by using your credit card to fund your initial business activities.

Some or all of this capital investment may be lost. No one plans for failure, but business failure is a common, even amongst bigger and better resourced organisations.

As a business person myself, I have started businesses that have made financial losses. Even my successful businesses have had periods when it seems to be heading to a financial loss. This is by no means an attempt to scare you, but a cautionary contribution to your success.

#2. Debt Risks

Debt risk in business is closely associated with financial risks. Debt can be a burden for businesses as you get saddled with interest and capital payments that could spiral out of hand. In the world of easy money, debt financing is a tempting way of throwing money at business problems or financing growth strategies.

There is no doubt that you may need to borrow money to finance your business, however, make sure you are disciplined about sticking to your proposed repayment plan. Remember that it is other peoples money and they will want it back at some point in time.

Your bank and other financial institutions will continue chasing you to borrow money even when you do not need it.

#3. Product Risks

This can be due to the product or service you offer bringing in less money than you spend to produce and sell it. Continuous low volume of sales is a clear indication of an impending product failure.

Here are a few reasons why your product or service may not sell enough units:

  • Overestimation of the market size
  • Underestimation of the competition
  • Lack of product differentiation leading to a price war
  • Unanticipated changes in customer behaviour
  • Changes in regulations

#4. Environmental Risks

Environmental risks can come from three sources.

  1. Risk imposed by the global environment – An example of this is the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. This included the bursting of the US housing bubble, the collapse of the world financial markets and the European sovereign-debt crisis. What followed was the 2008-20012 global recession.
  2. Risk imposed by country of National conditions – This has a more direct effect on businesses. It includes things such as taxes, trade regulations or deregulation, government policies, infrastructural provision, market access and politics. There are times when government provides grants and other subsidies to stimulate local economic growth. At other times a slowdown in economic activity is encouraged by increases in interest rates and value added tax.
  3. Risk imposed by the internal workplace environment – Workplace culture, politics and your business processes may have a positive or negative effect on your business. The dominance of one single individual, often the founder or owner can cause bottlenecks and stifle the growth of the business

#5. Human Risks

I have often said and will continue to say that people are your greatest assets and your greatest liabilities. It is through the enthusiastic support of people who are your investors, employees and customers that businesses are built.

There have also been stories of great and small companies that have been mismanaged, sabotaged or ruined by people that were entrusted with the management of the business.

Human problems in a business can also start with the business owner. These include issues of insufficient planning, wrong strategies, complacency and financial indiscipline.

What Next?

I started off with risk and I will end with risk. Having made you aware of some of the risks of starting your own business, you will need to decide based on your attitude to risk if owning your own business is for you.

Risk is twinned with reward. Do your homework, take a decision and then take the steps towards the fulfilment of your dream of owning your own business.