The Magazine for Business Owners
FLUIDBUSINESS MAGAZINE
AUTUMN 17
WHAT'S THE SECRET TO BUSINESS OWNERSHIP? FIND OUT ON PAGE 6
CAN YOU LEARN TO BE WEALTHY? PETER BOOLKAH INTERVIEWS BRAD SUGARS FOUNDER OF ACTIONCOACH!
OUR TOP 5 MUST-READ BOOKS TURN TO PAGE 18
Learn how to work smarter, NOT HARDER
CREATE THE BUSINESS
YOU WANT
CONTENTS
04 FLUID INSIDER A run down of what has been going on over the last quarter at Fluid Business.
05 COACH FOCUS
Our expert coaches lend their advice for your business needs. In this edition, they're advising on how business owners can manage their priorities.
06 THE SECRET YOU MIGHT SHARE WITH MARK ZUCKERBURG
How much impact does your formal education have on your business ownership potential? We break down the figures to find out how much education really influences business ownership.
08 CAN YOU LEARN TO BE WEALTHY? Peter Boolkah sits down with the Founder of ActionCOACH, Brad Sugars, to find out why he believes you can learn to be wealthy.
10 WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO BECOME A LEARNING ORGANISATION
What is a learning organisation and what does it take to become one? In this article we take a look at what it takes to be a learning organisation and how you can shape the culture in your business.
14
WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER
Find out more about the habit that enables you to work smarter, not harder.
16 "I JUST DON'T HAVE THE TIME" Time is often a restriction for business owners, but perhaps it's time to look at what's controlling your time.
18 FIVE MUST-READ BOOKS FOR SME OWNERS
Here's a round-up of the best books for business owners to read. Did your favourite make the list?
NATALIE HARIRAM Managing Director of Fluid Business Coaching. Welcome to the Autumn edition of the Fluid Business Magazine. In this edition, we're on the topic of business ownership and education.
In this issue, you'll find about the skills most owners feel they lack formal education isn't for business ownership.
It can be easy to believe we know everything we need to know. But as you'll discover throughout this magazine, there is always so much more to learn!
Other articles cover topics including the benefits of continuous learning, why your business needs to embrace a learning culture and how you can start working smarter, not harder.
This is especially important for business owners today, where technology, globalisation and increasing competition can present either a threat or a huge opportunitiy.
an article business and why essential
Plus, you'll find a round up of our top five must-read business books! I hope you have a successful quarter.
Natalie Hariram FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 3
FLUID INSIDER!
Fluid Insider ByCHARLOTTE RICHARDSON-BECK MARKETING EXECUTIVE
A look into what Fluid Business Coaching has been doing over the last quarter and a sneak peak into what to expect in the next three months.
A
nother quarter has flown past here at Fluid Business Coaching and we have recently welcomed a new team member!
Paige Davison joined us at the end of August as our Admin Assistant. She will be on-hand all week to manage your appointments and enquiries, and to make sure that Fluid Business Coaching is running smoothly. Natalie rejoined the team in September, after being
away on maternity leave to welcome her new baby boy, Ashley, to the world! New for this quarter is a series of webinars hosted by Managing Coach, Ray Moore. He's starting with one of the most 'feared' subjects in business: Accounts! Registration is open now for the Accounts Debunked webinar series, find out more at: fluidbusiness.co.uk/104.
Have a great and successful quarter.
DON’T MISS
SOUNDCLOUD PLAYLISTS From time management to efficiency, we've got a playlist for you. 4 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
Charlotte
SAY HELLO TO PAIGE! paigedavison@fluidbusiness.co.uk Tel: 01245 423377 @Paige_Fluid
COACH QUESTION TIME: AS A BUSINESS OWNER, HOW CAN I MANAGE MY PRIORITIES?
How can we help you?
ANDY SLEET Preparing your business for stability and sale? Speak to Andy
HUGO HEIJ Lead and develop your team on an international scale with Hugo
ANDYSLEET@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
PETER BOOLKAH Experiencing rapid growth? Speak to Peter
HUGOHEIJ@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
PETERBOOLKAH@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
A:
A:
The more time you invest in training and developing your team, the more time you will 'save' in the long run.
A:
A great way to be more productive and manage priorities is to rank your tasks by importance and urgency, then make sure that each day begins with competing the most important tasks.
Surround yourself with a team that is confident in carrying out tasks and making appropriate decisions in the business. It comes back to the idea of building a saleable business - a business that is capable of running without the owner, giving the owner more freedom and flexibility.
Question each task and ask yourself whether any of your employees can do it. If there are other people in your business that can, then delegate the task. However, if you're the only one, think about what that means for your business; is your business or your team too reliant on you?
It's quite easy to let important but less enjoyable tasks slip to the bottom of our to-do list. Rather than getting them done, we tend to procrastinate and find something else to do instead.
Identify time wasting tasks that you really don't need to do and can be delegated to other members of your team.
RAY MOORE MANAGING COACH Expert in family business, succession planning and author. RAYMOORE@FLUIDBUSINESS.CO.UK
A:
Have you ever noticed that the week before you go away on holiday, your productivity seems to sky rocket?
It's interesting how the small changes that happen during that week have such a big impact on how much we actually get done. Firstly, the presence of a timescale gives us a deadline to work towards. We know that we must get these jobs done before we go away, otherwise we're not going to enjoy our holiday as much, and things aren't going to run as smoothly.
The second thing we suddenly become very good at is delegation. We become more willing to share out our workload in order to clear our list and get the job done on time and before our holiday. We also become less prone to 'productive avoidance' - where we find other, less important, but still necessary, jobs to do. So, if we start to give ourselves deadlines and hold ourselves accountable to these, we can be more productive and ensure our time is spent in the right areas.
FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 5
FEATURE
THE SECRET YOU MIGHT SHARE WITH MARK ZUCKERBURG Many small-business owners share this secret with the likes of Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Do you?
Accountancy is the skill business owners wish they'd learnt the most.
6/10 6 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
Public Speaking Financial Management Marketing
0
10
20
Accountancy 30
In fact, a survey of 800 UK-based small businesses and start ups revealed that 60% of the founders don't have a university degree.
The skills that survey respondents wished they'd learnt in their education included:
40
Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have many things in common, perhaps most notably they have all co-founded hugely successful global companies. But, they also have something else quite interesting in common; all three of them never completed a university degree.
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Fortunately for today's entrepreneurs and business owners, information is readily available, with free content from podcasts and blogs to training courses freely available online. Having the mindset to learn and developing your knowledge base is essential to success. Skills can be taught, but willingness to learn can't!
But perhaps it's not just formal learning that contributes to the success of a business owner. A separate study of 350 small business owners indicates that the average age to set up a small business is 40 years old. If you take a look at the age of a few successful entrepreneurs when they launched their businesses, the ages vary vastly, for example:
There will always be more to learn, but with the 'right' attitude to learning, some resiliance and determination, you can build a successful business regardless of your educational background. If you're interested in learning more about our online training program, get in touch about our Foundations Online course from the Fluid Business Academy.
Experience is a key driver for many of these entrepreneurs but it's not required, as demonstrated with the success of Virgin and Apple. So, what life experiences taught business owners their biggest lessons:
Travelling
What is the Fluid Business Academy? The coaches at Fluid Business Coaching developed the Fluid Business Academy following the success of our training courses, including the Foundations Programme. The original programme was run for small groups of business owners at our offices in Chelmsford, Essex. But many of those wanting to join the course struggled to regularly travel to our offices; that’s why we’ve taken our courses online!
Who’s it for? Reaching rock bottom
The course is for owners of an established small business, who are committed and determined to succeed. It could be that the business owner wants to grow their business to the next level but isn’t sure how, or that they want to make sure they’ve got the ‘foundations’ in place before they begin to grow their business. By contrast, it’s also for business owners that have been in business for a while, but find that growth has stalled and they need some help to get the momentum back.
Previous work experience
Surviving a financial crisis
What’s it about? 0
10
20
30
Having children
“SKILLS CAN BE TAUGHT, BUT WILLINGNESS TO LEARN CAN'T”
Virgin (20) Apple (21) Tesla (34) Netflix (37) Dyson (39) McDonalds (53)
It's clear that there isn't a one-size-fits-all method when it comes to education and business ownership. Whether you have a formal qualifications or not, the willingless to learn from mistakes, proactively gain new skills and recognise your own weaknesses is a key attribute of all successful business owners.
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These responses indicate that experiencing difficult times and doing things like travelling taught business owners the biggest lessons. Small business owners have a willingness to learn from these experiences, and see opportunities in the challeneges and setbacks they've encountered.
Foundations Online is an eLearning course designed to be flexible and fit around the busy schedule of business owners. It consists of 13 weekly sessions covering the key aspects of business that you need to know in order to build strong foundations in your business. The course will show you how to prepare your business to grow and enable you to identify exactly what it is that you’re trying to build. Andy Sleet delivers the course week-by-week, in a laidback and informative way, using your own business as the case study – you’ll change the way you think about your business from week one!
Sources: AXA and NOW: Pensions
FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 7
COACHING FOCUS
CAN YOU YOU CAN LEARN TO BE LEARN TO BE WEALTHY? WEALTHY? PETER BOOLKAH INTERVIEWS PETERSUGARS, BOOLKAH INTERVIEWS BRAD FOUNDER OF ACTIONCOACH BRAD SUGARS, FOUNDER OF ACTIONCOACH
How do we become wealthy? Is it down to luck? Determination? Hard work? Peter Boolkah finds out why Brad Sugars believes you can learn to be wealthy. Success doesn’t happen by accident, and wealth isn’t a result of good luck! Individuals that have built wealth and success will, almost always, have habits that enable them to be more productive and effective. There is an adage that goes, ‘what got you here, won’t get you there;’ something that these individuals know well.
Peter Boolkah recently met with Brad Sugars, the Founder of ActionCOACH and bestselling author, at an event in Vancouver, Canada. Peter sat down with Brad to discuss the philosophy of wealth and find out why he thinks anyone can learn to be wealthy. It’s an interesting subject as a significant proportion of 8 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
business owners don’t excel in formal education, but find their talent elsewhere, which then leads them into business ownership. But just because they have mastered a skill or have been running a business for a long time, doesn’t mean they are an expert in business leadership and growth. Brad explains that in order for the business to grow and develop, the business owner needs to grow and develop; “You have to realise the moment you stop growing, the business stops growing. The moment you stop learning, to put it bluntly, the business will grow to your level of incompetence. The moment you run out of ideas is the moment the business stops growing. You can employ people who have ideas, but you'll still
hold them back because you're not growing.” It’s important to understand your own weaknesses. For example, if you’ve never managed people before, it’s important to learn best practice and different management techniques. “We don’t know what we haven’t done yet,” Brad goes on to say, “You've never built wealth before, where are you going to learn it? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer for a simple reason; the rich have learned the habits and strategies of wealth.” This concept applies to business. Successful business owners have learnt successful strategies and have discovered what works for them. Peter
says, “If you don't have the foundations in place in your business you can have exponential growth, but you can also have an exponential collapse because the foundations are just not there." But it’s not availability of information that’s the issue. It’s that people choose not to learn it – “As business people, we get so focused in the day to day, we forget what’s next,” says Brad. Brad explains that all the information needed to build success and wealth is out there, but you have to want to learn it. Surrounding yourself with the ‘right’ people and being in the ‘right’ environment can help to develop your desire to learn. “Learning is what got you the success that you’ve got. But what got you here won’t get you there. You’ve got to keep learning and keep growing.”
“Management is about competent, productive people. If there’s an incompetency, it’s because there’s bad management. A lack of productivity is because there’s bad management, or no management as in most companies these days. From a leadership perspective it’s about being passionate and focused… If you’ve got a company with leadership but no management, they’ve got passion and focus, but they can’t do their job... You have to balance both of them,” says Brad. While Peter adds that many business
Peter Boolkah Fluid Business Coach
owners want to skip being a supervisor and a manager and leap into leadership, which he likens to running the marathon, before you can run to catch the bus! So, it’s true that you can learn to be wealthy and it’s not down to luck, but it will take determination and the right mind-set. However, it’s not just the business owner that needs to invest in learning, the surrounding team also needs to have the desire to develop and grow which will then be reflected in the business’ performance and success.
“THE MORE YOU LEARN, THE MORE YOU EARN"
The subject of building wealth shouldn’t be a mystical concept, as Brad and Peter discuss that it’s obtainable for anyone that wants it enough. It requires a big change in mind-set and a dedication to building, developing and focussing on personal and team growth. Although your business success is limited to your own personal level of growth, building your team is also essential as is understanding the synergy between management and leadership.
Check out the full interview on Peter Boolkah's YouTube channel: The Transition Guy, Episode 033. FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 9
FEATURE
WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO BECOME A LEARNING ORGANISATION
10 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 11
Why your business needs to become a
What is a learning organisation? Originally defined by author and senior lecturer, Peter Senge; a learning organisation is a company that has characteristics based around a culture of continual learning, sharing a vision and team learning. This type of organisation uses and harnesses learning to remain competitive in a business environment. Today, employees have more knowledge than ever before. However, they are often led by managers that are accustomed to an old style of management; telling employees what to do, rather than asking and letting them think for themselves. 12 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
Today's knowledge workers don’t want to be told what to do, they want to be asked. By putting trust into the ability of everyone in the organisation, learning organisations challenge the old style of management. The learning organisation is about asking and learning to learn from everyone in the organisation.
"
Today's knowledge workers don't want to be told what to do, they want to be asked.
Here are the four main benefits of being a learning organisation:
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Greater levels of innovation and remaining competitive
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Having front-line knowledge to address customer needs
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Employees feel valued and have the opportunity to be flexible and creative
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Quickly adapt to internal and external changes – continuous transformation
How can your business become a learning organisation? You’ll need to encourage a culture of openness, learning to learn and an environment that supports people to make decisions, try out their ideas and experiment. Consider a change agent, such as an external coach or mentor, to help you lead your team to a new way of operating. Less formal learning such as coaching can be more effective than traditional methods like training programs and, when aligned to the organisation's strategy it can accelerate growth.
"
Encourage a culture of openness, learning to learn and an environment that supports people to make decisions.
Leading organisational change is a huge task and must start from the top. If you’re truly committed to becoming a learning organisation, share your vision with your business leaders so that they understand the benefits and the vision. The leaders in your business are essential to contribute and implement change. Here are some of the ways you can start to develop a learning organisation.
Everyone has a part to play. It’s important to remember that the whole organisation has ownership of the vision. Everyone must be willing to get involved and be motivated to focus on personal and team development.
Practice what you preach! If you expect your employees to help achieve your vision, you must demonstrate that you’re also involved in making the vision a reality. This could be Communicate the vision. anything, from taking time to Clear and consistent share end-of-month results, to communication of the benefits going along to team meetings. of continuous learning and knowledge sharing will ensure that all employees understand If you want to make the change in your and achieve the vision. business, give us a call on 01245 423377. FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 13
WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER Continuous learning is about the expansion of skills and knowledge. Technology is changing the business environment at an ever-increasing rate so continuous learning is essential to remain relevant and avoid the situation where a particular role becomes redundant. To remain relevant, we need to respond to these changes. In business today, there is a growing culture of ‘investing in people,’ rather than hiring new people, not only as a cost saving, but also to develop and retain talent. Continuous learning should be a personal responsibility, but as a business owner and employer, it’s important to provide employees with training and learning opportunities. This enables your team to respond to your business’s evolving needs, and also keeps employees feeling engaged and valued. In Stephen Covey’s book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,' he discusses “sharpening the saw.” Often, business owners try to work harder or for longer hours, but the real solution is to “sharpen the saw” – focus on continuous personal development. Learning from thought leaders When Andy Sleet returned from the Gazelles Annual Summit in Texas, he shared some of the key highlights and takeaways from the speakers from the three-day event. Robert Cialdini – Pre-Suasion. In his new book, Cialdini shares the art of opening the door ready for persuasion. He delves into how to influence appeal and how to effectively deliver a concept's appeal. Michael Bungay Stanier – Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever Michael shares how to lead your team and achieve employee buy in, in order to get your team actively strive to achieve your goals. Chris Zook – The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth. 14 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
In his book, Zook shares seven proven tools and ideas to help sustainably grow your business. Although thought leaders are a great source of knowledge and can provide an insight into new theories and ideas, it’s important to remember that just because it’s written in a book, doesn’t mean that it’s a fact. The best way to use this type of learning it to take the key learnings and apply them to your existing knowledge – this will help develop and grow your own opinions and thoughts.
Peer-to-peer learning Another form of learning is through your peers - people that are trying to achieve, or have achieved, similar things as you. The power of this type of learning can be underestimated, but there is so much that can be learnt from others that have similar ambitions and goals. Joining a diverse group of business owners can provide the opportunity to learn, be challenged and share experiences and perspectives.
“Often, business owners try to work harder or for longer hours, but the real solution is to 'sharpen the saw' – focus on continuous personal development.
”
For most businesses, growth, profitability and sustainability are an everyday challenge. Peerto-peer sharing, support, advice and perspective can be the most effective way to overcome these challenges. As business owners, we need to find ways to share with and learn from our peers and build strong support networks.
Andy Sleet and Hugo Heij discuss this topic in more detail on the Fluid Business Podcast.
Contact us if you'd like to find out about joining our business community. Send a message to marketing@fluidbusiness.co.uk.
FBP 095: Continuous Learning: Work Smarter Not Harder
LIKE TO LISTEN? TUNE IN TO THE
FLUID BUSINESS PODCAST
fluidbusiness.co.uk/095
FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 15
I JUST DON'T HAVE THE TIME! By Ray Moore, originally posted on thelevelsblog.com
Let's go back in time to the days when it was normal for the business owner to eagerly await the happy whistle of the cheery postman as he delivered a bag of mail full of orders, cheques, bills and invoices. The owner immediately stopped what they were doing to open the post and then distribute the work for the day. Some of you may remember those days or may be vaguely aware of a halcyon yet inefficient time long gone. Now before you think I’ve totally lost the plot and started to reminisce about the good old days let me explain the point of my little story. Well, when the post was the main source of business communication it was undoubtably very important. However, in reality the postie turned up when it was convenient to him. The time varied from first thing to mid or even late morning. Interestingly no matter what time the post turned up it took priority over every other activity. If you think about it, was the postman (an external factor) who dictated the priority by the time he decided to arrive or could fit you into his busy round. You worked to his priority not yours.Now of course that doesn’t happen anymore or does it? 16 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
Perhaps it may now be worse. Let me give an obvious example by way of explanation. Consider the modern day replacement, the email, and how do you and your business react to it. An email arrives in your inbox and often announces itself with a similar happy whistle!. It’s important, deal with me straight away, just like the old postie. But now it's much more random all through the day. Just like those old days you stop what you are doing, give it high priority and respond to it immediately. So, who and what is now setting your priorities? Think about an email from a customer or prospect for a moment.When did they decide to send you that email? Well, if truth be told, when it was convenient to them.When they had a moment! Suddenly, an external event is setting your priority and you decide to react immediately but realise its your choice!
Work out what external factors are controlling your priorities and your time? It may not be what you think. TUNE IN TO THE
FLUID BUSINESS PODCAST
Consider, in your business who sets your priorities and those of your team. Surely the answer should be you.
Time & Systems Playlist fluidbusiness.co.uk/podcast
“What's controlling your priorities and time? It may not be what you think."
- Ray Moore
FBM AUTUMN 2017 | 17
MUSTREAD BOOKS
1
Can Your Business Step Up To The Growth Challenge? Ray Moore
This book gives a completely new perspective on business ownership. Ray explains his framework for business growth and how to overcome the common challenges faced by business owners. Commonly described as the “manual for business growth,” this is a must-read for SME owners.
2
Black Box Thinking Matthew Syed
Syed covers the recipe for success and what gives some people the competitive edge. Black Box Thinking uses real-life examples to highlight how these learnings are transferable into the world of business, and why making mistakes is a crucial part of personal and business growth.
3
Scaling Up Verne Harnish
Verne Harnish and the Gazelles team share the tools needed to build a successful and scalable business. The book focusses on the four major decisions that business must get right: People, Strategy, Execution and Cash. If you to put these techniques into practice, get in touch with our Certified Gazelles Coaches Peter Boolkah and Andy Sleet.
18 | FBM AUTUMN 2017
At Fluid Business Coaching we love a good book, and in celebration of International Book Lovers Day 2017, we compiled a list of our top five books for owners of small to medium-sized businesses.
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One Minute Manager Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
This book tells the story of a man is searching for an effective manager. Along the way he learns the actionable 'secrets' about leading others. The book explains how to put these into action and why they work so well. Selling more than 13 million copies worldwide, it's well worth a read.
5
Who moved my cheese? Dr. Spencer Johnson
Dr Spencer Johnson highlights the need to approach change an issue that often makes business owners feel uncomfortable. As an SME owner it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day running of the business, but this book demonstrates that by challenging the status quo, huge improvements can be made.
Did your favourites make the list? Let us know your favourite business books on Twitter @FluidBC.
revised editions
" " "A must-read for any business owner! What Ray Moore does is fundamentally describe what every business owner must go through to succeed. He provides light at the end of the tunnel and the 'levels' that we undertake to get there. Business education at it's finest. Read it."
ACCOUNTS DEBUNKED Register for Ray Moore's Accounts Debunked webinar series. The webinar series will help you to: Understand the areas of accounts that really matter for business owners Interpret the language of business without using jargon Get a good financial understanding of your business
fluidbusiness.co.uk/104