Rags to Wreckages... to Riches

What Physicist Feynman can teach Lean Startups

The Lean Startup movement gets that learning underpins all innovation – and startup success.

The lean startup concept also understands that the learning is about finding out what ‘doesn’t work’ as much as ‘what does’.

So, what can top physicist Richard Feynman teach us about lean startups and innovation? Find out…

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Is your business investment ready?

Many entrepreneurs wonder if their business is ready for investment – so how can you tell if you enterprise is investment ready?

Find out how…

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100 Rules for Entreprenuers – about the book

This video clip explains the real life, gritty experience that 100 Rules for Entrepreneurs is based on.

It explains the concept behind the book and how it can help new and old entrepreneurs learn from my mistakes.

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Entrepreneurs – don’t give up equity – until you have watched this…

Giving up equity to partners is dangerous. It will cause you major problems in the future – if your busines is successful – if you don’t get the splits right from the outset.

Find out how I split the equity on my first business – and why it became a problem.

Then, don’t do as I did!

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Innovation Challenge…

Research shows that freelancers can solve many of the challenges faced by businesses, agencies or departments that are looking to innovate and grow.

Instead of just being a way to save costs, freelancers are discovering that they bring original ideas and solutions to their clients.

But does it work? Can freelancers help avoid failure and stimulate innovation?

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How JK Rowling used failure as her bedrock for future success

JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, talks about how failure in career, marriage and financially, led her to focus on the one area in which she was truly equipped to succeed.

She says that had she not experienced the failure, she might never have gone on to write one the worlds’s most popular series of books.

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5 Ways to Avoid Small Business Failure and Innovate

Hurrah! There has been a shift in business thinking!

Stock investors have rediscovered Warren Buffett’s investment principle of ‘never lose money’ and entrepreneurs are now focused on how to avoid small business failure, rather than searching for growth at all costs.

We need to learn how to avoid small business failure and so that your business has time and space to innovate.

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3 Digital Start-up Business Mistakes to Avoid

Digital business (previously called internet businesses) are still all the rage and therefore the majority of new start-up business plans are digital businesses.

But we keep seeing the same mistakes. So here are 3 errors that we keep seeing – and you should avoid…

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Point 2: Rapid Product and Service Innovation

In this 2nd of the 7 point plan for growing your business in 2010, Lewis talks about the importance of rapid product and service innovation and the three key factors …

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How to Achieve More with Less Cash

Okay, we know the answer lies with outsourcing – but how much can you outsource and how do you do it safely?

Here are our 7 key tips…

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How Successful Enterpreneurs will Survive the Treacle Years – 5 Key Tips

What shall we call this period – between the first recession and whatever is to come in the form of substantial public sector cuts and reductions in government spending?

Shall we call them the treacle years? The years of trudging along with heavy boots – just about keeping the forward momentum of your business but demanding constant and focused effort?

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Point 1: Accept New Business Reality

In this first video of the 7 point plan, Lewis deals with three key points

1.) Tough credit terms will continue
2.) Most markets are shrinking fast

3.) There is good news – less competition

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How to Grow your Successful Enterprise – Get Agile

I recently got sent a link to the report that Ernst & Young launched at Davos earlier this year and it has some important lessons and advice for successful entrepreneurs – you’ve got to become agile.



So, how do you do that? Let’s find out…

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7 Point Plan – How to Grow Your Business in 2010

How do we grow our businesses in 2010?

We have less cash than before, and borrowing is either impossible or way too expensive.

We’ve made cuts already to our business and so have a smaller team and less staff than before.

We know government cuts to public spending are coming and will impact on at least some of our customers if not our businesses directly.

So what do we do?

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Wake up and Smell the Greek Coffee

The riots on Greek streets and the IMF inspired bailout tell us that a major fiscal storm is coming to the UK very soon – unless deep cuts are made to public spending.

And, for businesses to be prepared to handle that impact, we need to plan and implement right now.

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7 Point Plan on How to Grow your Business in 2010

The credit crunch is hardly over, but at least we can now focus on how to grow our way out of the problems we are in – rather than worrying if everything was going to collapse.

So, in this new credit chastened environment, how do you, the successful entrepreneur, grow your business in 2010?

To help, here at Rags to Wreckages, we’ve put together a 7 point plan on how to move ahead and start to grow again this year.

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Three special questions every successful entrepreneur asks

Successful entrepreneurs are constantly asking three key questions –

1. ‘what isn’t working’
2. ‘why isn’t it working’ and
3. ‘can I do anything about it’?

These three questions are the most important questions in the entrepreneurs vocabluary and a lifetime can be spent on developing the skills and abilities to answer those as successfully as possible.

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Business goal setting – another of my great mistakes

Goal Setting is powerful. And I’m a big fan of setting goals… but…

Like the back of bottle containing powerful chemicals – perhaps for clearing a blocked drain – they should contain the warning ‘use with caution’ and ‘discard when passed the use by date’.

A classic goal for first-time entrepreneurs – who are building their first business – is to sell the business for a set amount – say £5million – in 3 year time.

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Can you become a successful entrepreneur by making more mistakes?

Warren Buffett, still one of the world’s most successful investors, is good at owning up to mistakes.

He has declared on many occasions that holding onto his textile company in the 1970s was an error and that he accepts full responsibility for not listening to the advice telling him to exit the business.

Even in his latest letter to shareholders he warns that “we will make plenty of mistakes”.

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University of Chester Business School, Presentation 1st Oct

Neil Lewis presented the thoughts behind Rags to Wreckages to an audience of entrepreneurs and academics at the Univeristy of Chester Business School on 1st Oct 2009. Asked the question, “what advice would you give a young graduate entrepreneur looking to start out in business“, he shared three key and controversial principles from Rags to [...]

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Rags to Wreckages to Riches to Publication – due in 2010

Real Life Business Strategy and Parables for Entrepreneurs: Why Many Great Sounding Businesses Ideas Don’t Make Money – and – The Rock that Wouldn’t Budge Why Brittle Businesses Break – and – How Glass was Cursed with Brittleness Goldilocks and the three Shareholders They Know What Needs to Be Done But They Don’t Do it – [...]

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