Author: Tito Philips, Jnr.

You’ve probably heard about the golden rule of life; “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Well, here’s the thing, the golden rule of business is no different; “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

There are certain “must have” pillars that are crucial to the success of every business. This is a matter of fact. When these fundamental pillars are lacking in any business, success is often unattainable. Identifying and applying them to your business, is what this unusual article is all about. For your guaranteed success in business, you must have a purpose that is completely focused on satisfying the customers by creating unique and useful products or services that meet their needs and solves their problems.

Disruptive market changes are ground breaking inventions or innovations that utterly redefine the nature [characteristics] and structure [organization] of a particular industry, niche, business or market. They are disruptive because of their enormous impact on the market; they create new trends in the marketplace. Examples are; social media, the internet, telecommunication, smart phones, iPod, etc.

In business, just like farming, you don’t build to reap fast [quick], you build to reap large [big]. You want to reap what will sustain you over a long period of time while you are waiting for the next harvest to come. Because you know how long you must wait to reap, you make sure what you sow is of the best quality so that it doesn’t wither and die before the next harvest season. This is why every farmer only sows their best seeds.

In marketing, because the objective is building a relationship, the pressure to sell is removed and certain things are exchanged for free. These things are what make relationship building with prospects possible. Unlike selling where money is collected before any relationship is initiated, in marketing, giving something for free is what facilitates relationship building.

Market share is intentional, people choose you instead of others because there’s something SIGINIFICANT [unique, unusual, extra-ordinary, different, special] about you. Market share is people identifying with your business, company, product, or services. It doesn’t come by chance; it can only be intentionally created.

For the majority of you who have gone into business nurturing only the juicy thoughts of being an entrepreneur, things are about to get very sour. I’m sorry, but there’s some really bad news I need to break to you; entrepreneurship as much as it’s celebrated also has a dark side. At least, I’ve been able to identify 8 of them Coming to terms with this dark side of entrepreneurship is what this unusual article is about.

Being self-employed [doing business] is the deadliest trap of business ever. That you are small is no excuse for wanting to be a one-man army. Someday soon, you will no longer be able to do all the things you so easily do now as a result of age, so what will become of your business then? Someday soon, your small business will outgrow your capacity to meet all your customer’s increasing demand, so what will become of your business then? Then, you’ll suddenly realize that all your ‘can-do-it-all-by-myself’ attitude as a self-employed entrepreneur is counterproductive. Then you will come to terms with the universal truth that one tree does not make up a forest and that one is too small a number to achieve greatness!

BUSINESS GROWTH 101: How Entrepreneurs Are Unknowingly Killing Their Business Growth. I want to talk about the most important factor that determines either a low or high sales period of any business. That factor is YOU! You are the Driver of your business

Your business is like a car and you the owner is the driver. No matter how fast a car is manufactured to run, it can never go faster than the driver’s capacity to drive it.

The first step out what could be responsible for the low sales. There are two categories of people you should towards diagnosing the problem of low sales is to ask questions. You have to speak to the appropriate people to find direct your questions to; your employees [internal survey] and your customers [external survey].

Somehow, entrepreneurs don’t seem to have any problem dealing with high sales periods; after all, we don’t ever get tired of having more. But when it comes to the low sales periods, all hell seem to break lose. This unusual article is about knowing what to do when business is dull or slow. It will help you make the most of the low sales periods every business usually encounters every once in a while. It is very important to know that some low sales periods are self inflicted and others are not. I have decided to write this because one of the businesses I run is currently in this phase and I am becoming a better entrepreneur as a result.

You are dead if you’re just like the rest!
It’s just simple logic, why would anyone remember your business if there’s nothing remarkable about your business? There are a thousand and one competitions out there and people want to know what’s so unusual about your business that makes you different from all others. Especially at a time like this when the whole world is going through a financially constraining phase, people are more prudent with the way they spend. Meaning, getting money out of people’s pocket ain’t going to be as easy as it used to be.

All businesses are not created equal. Hence, there two kinds of businesses;

1. Good Companies: Business as Usual
These are companies whose customers simply TOLERATE them because they haven’t seen an alternative provider yet.

2. Great Companies: Business NOT as Usual

These are companies who don’t have customers but have fans that CELEBRATE rather than tolerate what the company does.

Don’t allow yourself to be deceived, always remember that making profit is dependent on four key things; defining, creating, communicating and delivering value. You must understand that value is the origin of profits. It is my goal through this unusual article to help you understand and better put to use this universal principle of life.

Entrepreneurship is a way of life that offers unlimited possibilities to those who truly believe in it and live by it. But at the same time, entrepreneurship is a way of life that can totally alter the course of your life if misunderstood. Entrepreneurship is not something you can fake your way through; you are either doing it right or not doing it right simple. There are no ways around it. To help you better make that choice, here are 7 Indicators of entrepreneurs who are headed for doom.

Branding is the difference between a business and a company. The irony is that a lot of so called entrepreneurs don’t know such a difference exists. For many, a business and a company may as well be the same thing. But are they really the same? This article is about pointing out the winning difference.

Many people venture into the world of business without taking the time to critically answer some very fundamental business questions that goes a long way in determining how successful the new business
venture becomes or not. In this article, I will be sharing the 11 fundamental business questions I usually use in my coaching and consulting process for start-ups.

Love is at the core of entrepreneurship.
Love is what drives true entrepreneurial endeavours.
Love is the reason why you think that idea of yours is going to change the world.
Love is the reason why you gave up everything else to chase your entrepreneurial dreams.
Love is why you are risking everything you’ve ever known and owned in pursuit of an idea.
Love is why you jump out of bed in a scurry to pen down an idea that you conceived in your sleep.
Love is the source of your passion.
Love is the fuel for your creativity.
Love is the energy we use up for creation.
Love is the source of inspiration for ground breaking innovations and inventions.

The focus of this third part will be on the actual tool and steps to use when evaluating your progress. In this article, you will learn that for progress to be attained, goals, objectives or dreams must be achieved first. As you will find out in the article, there are certain factors that can aid or hinder the attainment of goals, objectives or dreams. Understanding these factors and how to know which to focus on is the essence of this third part of the series.

Enjoy!

Becoming your own boss has sort of gained a global appeal. These days many people start up their own businesses for virtually any reason. Somehow it doesn’t seem to count anymore what led people to go into business, going into business has suddenly become the new mantra of the 21st century. In this article I will be x-raying some of the ways how NOT to start a business so that in the end, you can have the right mindset needed to start a business. I welcome you to join me in this exciting journey and as you go through this unusual article I want you to constantly bear this in mind, failure in business is usually as a result of how you start.