Posts Tagged ‘entrepreneurship’
Myth: Selling is scary and I want my mummy!
Neil Lewis on Thursday, July 7th, 2011Many (but not all) entrepreneurs feel that selling is scary, horrible and not nice!
However, this view is typically based on a misunderstanding of what selling is really about.
Yes, there are hard sales people who will flog you anything they can (actually, anything that generates a large commission) but these people tend to burn out – as do their businesses.
Instead, non-pushy people can become great sales people simply by thinking about sales in a different way. Here’s how…
Entrepreneur Myth: build it – and they will come!
Neil Lewis on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011The worst mistake I’ve made – and now see others make – is to think that if I build it (a great product, web service etc…) that the customers will come.
They will not.
Sadly!
Okay, Google is an exception – but do you really want to play 1/1000 kind of odds?
Is your business investment ready?
Neil Lewis on Saturday, January 15th, 2011Many entrepreneurs wonder if their business is ready for investment – so how can you tell if you enterprise is investment ready?
Find out how…
Happy New Year Entrepreneurs – what have you pruned or cut?
Neil Lewis on Friday, January 7th, 2011The new year is with us – and so this is a great time to ask – what have you pruned or cut in 2011?
Hmm… yes, this might seem strange to ask about cutting at the beginning of a new year – but shouldn’t we be looking to expand and grow, you might ask?
Well yes, but, before you can grow, you have to cut out the deadwood or the slow growth businesses, products and services in order to focus on new opportunities or expanding those things that really are working.
End of Firms? What entreprenuers need to do…
Neil Lewis on Tuesday, October 19th, 2010What kind of business will be successful coming out of this recession?
And, how do we build it?
That is the big question for every entrepreneur who is either starting up now – or already on the journey.
So, what will happen… and what do we do about it?
With Much Regret and a Heavy Heart you are HIRED!*
Neil Lewis on Monday, October 4th, 2010Oops! Did I mean FIRED?
Actually, no!
As Lord Sugar’s new edition of the Apprentice gets under way this week, we have to ask ourselves why do all these thrusting young entrepreneurs want a job?
Innovation Challenge…
Neil Lewis on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Research 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?
How JK Rowling used failure as her bedrock for future success
Neil Lewis on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010JK 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.
How to Grow your Successful Enterprise – Get Agile
Neil Lewis on Thursday, May 20th, 2010I 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…
Successful Entrepreneurs Ditch the “Sell Your Business for Zillions Goal”
Neil Lewis on Monday, April 19th, 2010Guys – it is time to ditch the old ‘build a business and sell it for zillions’ goal!
Just as easy credit has passed into history so too have the dreams of becoming instant dot.com millionaires as a result of a few lucky breaks and some unknown buyer waving cheque books.
As most successful entrepreneurs know, it doesn’t really happen like that – unless you are incredibly lucky.
But, it is a common battle cry from entrepreneurs that they want to sell their business for £5m in 3 years time – or some similar sort of goal.
7 Point Plan on How to Grow your Business in 2010
Neil Lewis on Wednesday, April 14th, 2010The 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.
UK’s ‘Recovery budget’ offers modest boost to entrepreneurs
sarah on Friday, March 26th, 2010On the face of it, the UK Chancellor’s budget speech on Wednesday offered a reasonable boost to small businesses and entrepreneurs.
The budget, the last before the general election, has therefore been largely welcomed by the business community although some claim it still does not go far enough in its support for entrepreneurial and fast-growing businesses.
Fire Old Guard says successful entrepreneur
Neil Lewis on Monday, March 22nd, 2010Luke Johnson, a successful entrepreneur, wrote in the FT last week that it is important to fire your existing management team if you want your business to discover reinvention. He says that gradual revolution is not enough and that when systems are broken small steps won’t work.
Whole swathes of businesses no longer work the way they used to. Book publishing and local newspapers are at the top of the list, but other business such as estate agencies, state education, financial services are all looking for new ways to do things.
We are not looking at a gradual revolution here – we are looking at business models that no longer work.
Why Successful Entrepreneurs Do Give Up…
Neil Lewis on Friday, February 26th, 2010Do great entrepreneurs never give up?
Is a top entrepreneur like a dog with a bone, and just won’t let go?
True or false?
Well, true but only to a point. A smart entrepreneur will “try, try and try again – and then give up. No point in being a damn fool about it”. (WC Fields).
Are you a Business Man/ Woman or Entrepreneur?
Neil Lewis on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010What makes an entrepreneur different from a small business man or woman? Well, the best definition of what entrepreneurs do is provided by Peter Drucker. He said
Entrepreneurs innovate. Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. It is the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.
Okay, so what does that mean?
The Economist Gets Behind Freelance Working
Neil Lewis on Thursday, January 14th, 2010Even The Economist´s Schumpeter column is reporting and marginally supporting the idea of freelancing, especially for interim CEOs who are normally very expensive to get rid of (and most of whom don’t work out). The article points out that the hiring process for CEOs is ‘hopelessly inefficient’ yet ends with the old adage that The most [...]
Successful Entrepreneurs – Take no Debt – Follow the 3B Rule Instead
Neil Lewis on Monday, December 14th, 2009I’ve been asked to advise Liverpool John Moores University entrepreneur students on getting finance for their new businesses. Controversially, my view on finance for young entrepreneurs would be, don’t. Here’s what I would recommend: a) avoid finance if at all possible and always for as long as possible – learn to beg, borrow and barter b) focus [...]
Objection to Hiring Freelancers – “I Want to Hire the Best”
Neil Lewis on Friday, November 20th, 2009
Okay, we’ve started the ball rolling on this website with the controversial claim that entrepreneurs should only hire freelancers…
…that you have to hire the best. … and hiring the best means you have to offer the full time employment – the best package – a full time employment contract and for CEO’s golden handshakes to welcome them and golden parachutes should they fail, share options if they don’t etc.
Entrepreneurs – Never Employ Anyone Ever Again
Neil Lewis on Monday, November 16th, 2009Okay – here is a radical business strategy for entrepreneurs that some of you won’t like – and that is that you should not employ anyone. Please, if you disagree, please don’t switch off but take a moment to think about the argument… you can always respond below…
Work with people on a freelance and contractual basis – yes, absolutely, you simply must. You can even have an office or a factory if you must, but never sign a standard UK or European employment contract.
What makes a Serial Entrepreneur?
Neil Lewis on Monday, November 16th, 2009“Serial entrepreneurship is not a matter of success and failure but rather boredom” Great quote – but is it true or false?
85% of Businesses are Rubbish – Alan Sugar
Neil Lewis on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Alan Sugar, a UK entrepreneur with more than his fair share of grey hair, stoked controversy by stating that 85% of UK businesses that failed to receive bank finance had nothing to complain about. Amid the controversy of whether he actually said this or not, we can still ask ourselves whether he has a point. Essentially, [...]
How Can Parables Help us Understand Business?
Neil Lewis on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009If a picture is worth a thousand words – how much is a story worth? Especially a story that paints pictures in the mind? I am using parables – or stories – to express the ideas about business which will form the basis for this blog and the subsequent book Rags to Wreckages … to [...]
National Freelancers Day
Neil Lewis on Friday, October 16th, 2009Business models are changing – and what people want from work is changing too. The new way to work, for nearly all white collar work, is freelance. In recent years, freelancers have established their own trade body – the Professional Contractors Group. And now they are celebrating National Freelancers Day on 23rd November 2009. This [...]
Rags to Wreckages to Riches to Publication – due in 2010
Neil Lewis on Thursday, October 1st, 2009Real 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 – [...]
