Dynamic Life Creations - Taking Action to Develop and Transform

Live your life by developing and growing each day

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Okay so I was going to have the title as 'why life is the same as baking a cake'...or something along those lines. Then I thought 'too cliche'.

But the message I wanted to communicate is along the same lines. I could keep it real simple by saying 'you get out what you put in' but it's not as simple as that. Achieving what you 'want' in life is not simply about effort. It's about a focused and directed effort that has been refined from past experiences, failures and research. Living a life you 'want' can be tough because it isn't as if your wants remain static...once you achieve one thing then you move onto your next goal. This is usually automatic for achievers in that not having a goal, even though you've reached all in the past, is worst then the difficulties faced in achieving a current goal.

But the fact of the matter is that none of us is owned anything in life and you have to be prepared to take the good with the bad. It doesn't matter how much you think you deserve something or wish for something to happen....even if you think something is 100% guaranteed to happen for you the fact is if it doesn't it doesn't - no matter how much you thought it would.

Now in these current economic times we are all being tested; financially challenging, jobs and careers not as secure...this could be leading to relationship and health issues etc etc. However it is what you do now that will make the difference and not a time to give up. To lead the life you want you have to take a path you think is correct, judge the results and if not as you want, make adjustments and try again. This is repeated as long as it takes. It's not about following the same process or 'receipe' but harder but doing things a little different, adding something/taking something away. You can also look at the 'receipe' of another person who has what you want - this is again another theme of neurolinguistic programming or NLP; modelling your actions on another.

Bottom line is that you cannot get out of bed each morning expecting something to happen because you 'deserve it or think it will happen because it did in the past'. Each action has to be attached to a result and you have to be prepared to change your actions if necessary - most important thing is not to ever stop because it might only need one more adjustment for everything to fall into place

Do we need to change how we educate ourselves?

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:12:00 +0000

What do you think of when it comes to your professional education and indeed your professional growth and development? Do you know what you need to grow and develop both at the professional and personal level, or are you hoping for the best and that whatever choice you make will be the right one?

There is no doubt that our society, in respect to the way we live and do business, is continually changing and evolving. Work and life has never been so intertwined because (1) the corporate environment is becoming more and more competitive thus you have to sacrifice more to succeed within it and (2) with the increasing trend of working for yourself or within a small business there is the need to almost live by working in something that you want to become a large part of your life. There is no switching off when you come home at night; mobile communication sees to that and many people who run a business have to use that time to undertake other tasks that they didn't have time to get around to during the day. However what I've seen is that whilst we're working harder than ever, and perhaps enjoying the experience, there is still a challenge in ensuring that our professional and personal development is not only a priority but is also meaningful and of real benefit.

What I see in respect to the professional and personal development frameworks currently in place, at least in the Western countries I've lived in is; (1) schools are not preparing students for the reality of the changing world when it comes to teaching them the basic competencies they will need, (2) universities are struggling to do the same and for the most part change their courses only when they feel they are going to make enough money from it, (3) there are many what I would call inadequate and 'unauthentic' training and development companies that charge a lot of money for something that is either sub-standard or doesn't deliver any meaningful long-term benefit and (4) society as a whole is uneducated about the most efficient and effective way to ensure they develop both professionally and personally. Sure people develop but usually after a lot of wasted time, money and personal sacrifice that in hindsight (you have to love hinsight) could have been done a lot better.

We all need to consider how we educate ourselves and my belief is that as a society we can do this a lot better. Of course I have no real solutions but I would love for learning to be fully collaborative rather than directed by institutional bodies that by chance have put themselves in a position to dictate a lot of what we are taught. I also believe the future of our society is to ensure that our personal development is at least given the level of importance of information based learning so we are able to manage ourselves and make better choices when it comes to the key decisions in life. My advice is to think outside the box when it comes to educating yourself and really look at what you need - remembering that the information you learn today could very well be outdated within a short period of time but that the development of you as a person is an ongoing journey.

Life is about making the decisions that you truly believe will make a difference

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:25:00 +0000

When it comes to making life choices there are a number of unconscious and conscious forces at play. We can talk about genetics, behavourisms due to your upbringing and social circle and even your specific cognitive traits. These forces will produce needs, motivations, drives and goals. When it comes to making a choice in life about what you want to do it is common, at an early stage, to list a large number of options and wishes. However only later do you begin to realize that though you would love to do everything listed, inherent skills and time and even place in life will impact the success you will have in achieving those goals.

Humans all say a lot of things without really knowing what they are saying because they don't take the time to think about what they are saying. However language and thoughts most definitely influence behaviour so this isn't to be taken lightly. If you say you want to achieve 10 things in a year and you achieve one there will be a level of disappointment along with stress, anger, frustration and anxiety depending on your individual personality. Therefore it is better to think and realize that though you have the capabilities to achieve a lot it is better to focus on only a few at a time to ensure success.

In this goal driven world we live in goals are a normal part of everyday life. But what's the point in having goals if we have no time to undertake the actions necessary to achieve them. Why complete two of 20 goals in a year when you know that simply by living your life that year that you will have another 20 for the year after. Goals and dreams are the life-blood of humanity but unless they are achieved the human psyche will perceive weakness and failure rather than the realization they never had the resources to achieve all stated goals.

The secret is to do the work, make the effort to understand your true needs, motivations and goals and focus on achieving those few most important at any point in time - then move on to the next lot. Achieving five from five each year, rather than 10 from 20, will boost self esteem, increase confidence and reduce negative emotions. But the first step is to remember it's about quality not quantity when it comes to achievement.

The secret to achieving the important things in your life

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

Time is always something we desire more of however it is the one thing we cannot control - it is also a resource that is limited in nature. We all want more time in order to achieve more of our goals in life rather than seemingly spending more and more minutes on admin such as banking, grocery shopping etc. Therefore how can we ensure that we make better use of our time if solely for the purpose of not looking back at our life and regretting certain things we didn’t achieve simply due to a perceived lack of time.

The first step is to become aware of how you are actually spending your precious minutes on a daily basis and over the course of the week. Are you spending time on the tasks that will allow you to achieve your goals? Do you even know what those tasks are? Have you aligned your time to reflect the importance of the goals in your life? Have you even spent time considering what your goals are and what you need to do in order to achieve them? Habits can either aid you to achieve in life or detract from your ability to achieve. People may see habits as good or bad but I would prefer not to label them this way. A bad habit may have a useful purpose but only up to a certain point, therefore it is not necessarily bad.

The second step is to focus only on those actions that are proactively going to allow you to achieve your goals and to reduce or rid yourself of your habits that are not. One example is that of watching television. Now watching a certain amount of television may provide some benefits – enjoyment and relaxation being a couple. However at which point does watching television impact your ability to achieve your other goals? If you watch only five hours of your favourite programs rather than allow yourself ‘television creep’ (where you end up watching a lot more then intended) then you provide yourself with more hours automatically. What this means is that you should weight and rank your goals and the underlying tasks in order to know what you should spend more time on.

The third step is to identify ways and means to become more efficient with your time. Time means money simply because there is a financial opportunity cost attached to every second of your day. One hour less sleep or one hour less television produces two additional hours of earning activity. It also affects the quality of your life in respect to the time to spend on non-enjoyable tasks. Look for ways to double up on actions during the one time period. For example whilst cooking dinner listen to study CDs, work on your hobby on your laptop on the bus ride to work, sending out laundry, ensure all bills are paid via direct debit and listen to your favourite music whilst writing emails (and reduce the latter to once a day). Changing your habits is only as difficult as you wish to make it but it is advised to work with a professional coach in order to change your mentality and motivations behind how you choose to live your life. There is no better time to change then today. Realizing you wanted to make changes five years in the future (what they call hindsight) is not going to help you but if you can visualize right now how this might feel it will allow you to make the necessary changes in your habits.

The need to identify your career success drivers

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:27:00 +0000

Ensuring a successful and rewarding career is not simply about gaining some specific piece of knowledge and then taking on a role that appears to be appropriate. Knowledge is only one component of any career role that you have to take care of and manage - no matter what it is. Depending on the role itself others components (to varying degrees) include;

1. Ongoing demand for that role in the economy/organization

You cannot assume you can continue to perform your current role, in its current form, forever and gain the same financial reward. You need to determine why your role is in demand and ensure you move along with what is and will be required.

2. Leadership and management ability and understanding

This is just not about being a leader or managing others - it's about understanding and having empathy with those who lead and manage you. There are many styles of leadership and management and both as a leader and someone being lead you need to comprehend what is best and how to adapt to the varying styles with which you will be faced.

3. Time and stress management

Put simply, if you do not manage or your time or stress levels then your career performance will suffer. Two key drivers of performance are focus and dedication - being stressed and not allocating time to important tasks will not allow you to be either.

4. Networking

More and more careers are requiring some kind of networking to be undertaken - even if it's inter-departmental. Don't shut yourself off in your cubicle, home office...These days it's very much who you know as much as what you know.

5. Personal presence and confidence

Personality plays a large role in career success, no matter how knowledgeable you are in your role. If you want to progress and develop in and beyond your current role you have to be confident (not cocky or bragging) that you can handle your role and more. This is just not about ensuring promotion in your career. If you wanted a flexible work arrangement for say family reasons, there is even more reason to appear that you are confident you can perform in this situation.

6. Health and well-being

More and more evidence points to the fact that if you are strong physically it will allow your mental capabilities to be fully utilized. Mental health and well-being is also a critical component of performance and you must ensure meditation and relaxation is scheduled into your week.

7. Identification of re-education required

Associated with Point 1, experience will only take you so far - as the world changes, the economy changes and thus demand for goods and services changes. Your knowledge of today will not suffice for what is required tomorrow and you have to ensure you keep yourself up to date - this can mean subject matter knowledge, marketing and sales techniques, IT etc. If you don't, then you run the risk of becoming redundant in terms of skills on offer and career options will be limited.

8. IT ability

You need to assess the basic level of IT skills required now and in the future. This basic level will continue to rise so don't think being young means you automatically know everything required.

9. Perseverence and drive

This is one of the most important components. You need to work hard and smart and don't regard failure at any point as the end of the journey but as part of the journey. Success is not achieved overnight and you cannot assume that once you have achieved one thing that it will not disappear if you don't continue to perform. You need to understand your motivations and values for performing.

If it was only knowledge that was important then those with the highest IQ would have the most successful careers - and this is not the case. Aspects of emotional and social intelligence play a major role in success apart from IQ.

The next three important steps are the following; (1) identifying the rank and percentage of the total current role related to the above components, (2) produce a plan on how to improve your performance of each and (3) do the last two things for your next planned career moves. It's no good finding out you don't know how to drive or drive well when given a car....you have to plan in advance.

Collaborative teaming – the future of freelancing

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:09:00 +0000

I believe that the future of freelancing is not about working as an individual. In order to meet the demands of clients freelancers will be forced to move toward collaborative teaming, permitting the individual to focus on their strengths whilst benefiting through leveraging the strengths of others and diverting the focus from their weak areas.

Believe it or not freelancing is still in the infancy stage when you might consider that the future of the workplace will see a predicted 40% of the workforce become self-employed by the year 2015. Freelancing has traditionally focused on a number of key occupational demographics including copyrighting, IT, PR and writing, but will sure to expand greatly as large organizations streamline operations and delayer levels of management and personnel. My contacts tell me that some well-known, multinational organizations are planning over the next five years to sustain only a small core of permanent headcount and employ contractors and freelancers when and where required.

So there is little doubt in my mind that freelancing will continue to increase as a percentage of the total workforce. However the important distinction to make is that it just is not any kind of freelancer that will command success in the workplace of the future. Clients will become more demanding and already the trend of organizations is to focus on high performance teams. No longer does the individual reign supreme rather it is collaboration that organizations require. Why is this? It’s because teams provide a number of benefits that individuals cannot provide. These include; blending and leveraging of individual differences, diversity of skills and experience, preference to manage one team rather than a group of individuals and a team can be multi-focused much easier than an individual. Organisations, from an administrative perspective, are also not going to want to focus on hiring many individuals when they can contract out to a multi-talented high performance team.

When it comes to freelancing those of you already working as a freelancer would be aware of the limitations that come with working as an individual. Those range from the administrative tasks to the need to self-market and network, to the fact that it is difficult to develop your skills and experience when working the same kinds of contracts. Sure there is the freedom that comes with working as an individual but there is also the loneliness. Many freelancers find the transition from working within an organization to freelancing difficult simply because their personality is not suited to working in such an environment.

For me high performing collaborative teams are the future of freelancing, not because individual freelancers don’t have the skill sets or experience but because clients will demand the flexibility and efficiency that results from such an approach. The challenge will be to learn how to operate within a freelancing team and to welcome collaboration rather than fear it. Many of my coaching clients are currently moving through this transition and already at the early stages of working within a collaborative team the benefits of increased business opportunities, sharing of networking and marketing activities and ability to develop professionally is being experienced.

Why freelancers must be forward thinking and specific when setting goals

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:40:00 +0000

The perception of freelancing in the marketplace is changing and you must be aware of where it is heading before you commence your freelancing career. Starting your freelancing practice without being 100% clear on what your goals and values are, along with a concept of how you might evolve will simply guarantee disappointment and frustration in the future.

Don’t be limited by the old definitions of ‘freelancing’

Our career choices are wider than ever before and accompanying that are a number of work styles offering varying degrees of flexibility, financial compensation and work-life balance. Freelancing was traditionally chosen by those wanting greater work flexibility with an outlook to achieving a better work-life balance compared to that perhaps experienced by an employee in full-time employment. Freelancing was not intended to provide someone with greater wealth rather the benefit was to come from a better quality of life. However with trends in the workplace seeing organizations replacing full-time employees and requiring more project oriented labour freelancing has the potential to become quite lucrative for those willing to seek out the opportunities.

Creating goals for the present and the future

Today’s society is all about breaking down the barriers; there is nothing to say that you cannot work as a freelancer and have it all: greater work flexibility and the opportunity to increase your financial earnings. How you can achieve both is all about managing yourself effectively and ensuring your freelance practice is a well-run machine.

I now coach a number of freelancers who are simply not satisfied with working as freelancers because they want to increase their earnings capability and are unsure as to the best way to go about this. The challenge they face is (1) they haven’t created their business model to be capable of increasing earnings in any meaningful way and (2) their mindset and focus is still that of a small self-employed operator who never expected to be focusing on money and has never made it a priority for one reason or another. What I recommend to most freelancers is that they first must open their mind to the possibility that they can be someone whose career and professional aspirations are not limited to earning through the old time and materials approach. The second recommendation is to consider freelancing as a professional business venture with the same requirements as any small business.

Be specific when it comes to identifying your professional goals

Being specific in your professional goals means that your actions will be more specific – leading to the greater possibility that you will achieve what you set out to do. If you’re a freelancer that might like to run a business in the future don’t start off by thinking you can change the way you work at a later date to accommodate your business goals – it is better to establish a framework early on that you can leverage at a later date with minimal effort. Specific goal setting simply reduces unwelcome surprises and unnecessary effort at a later date.

What freelancers MUST focus on

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:05:00 +0000

I came across an article on freelancing the other day which I felt didn't tell the true story when it came to helping freelancers establish and grow their businesses. One of the major themes I'm working on at the moment is to help the freelancing movement become more business minded. That doesn't mean to turn freelancers into a business because many do not want that - rather I want freelancers to be able to establish a business framework around their practices so that the way they operate is more efficient and effective. The benefit of this hopefully is that they will be able to focus more time on their actual work with greater success!

I've listed below 3 key things that freelancers must consider when it comes to improving their practices;

1. Move past your motivations and onto your competencies

Everyone talks about motivations and that they must be positive rather than negative. That may be true to a point but the one thing many freelancers do not do, or have a lot of experience in doing, is considering their capability to become a successful freelancer. Many freelancers that I know are experts in their chosen professions and produce high quality work. However that quality makes them perfect to be an outstanding employee - not a successful freelancer.

You must think about positioning yourself, just as a business must, and that means you have to undertake a personal assessment of yourself, at both the personal and professional level, and how that stacks up against the requirements of a successful freelancing practice. If there are 10-12 key competencies required of a freelancer and you assess yourself as having 4 or 5 that gives you the knowledge to act to either improve yourself or delegate what is necessary before taking your business forward. Otherwise, just like poor business planning, lack of preparation will hurt your ability to succeed.

2. Risk management of your business

I read in an article that there is no scientific way to assess whether it is a good time to go freelance - you just need to feel it in your blood. Now, having come from a professional environment I disagree with this statement in a big way. Scientific, perhaps not, but there are ways to assess your ability to freelance and there are ways to mitigate the major risks to your freelancing success. There is a common business planning tool called a SWOT analysis that makes you (and if you want to consult others) on your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Risk management is also about research so you need to perform analysis on the state of your market eg. call recruiters, read blogs and forums, speak with local businesses - basically look at all the people who may hire you and take note of what they say.

Another thing you can do to minimize risk is in Point 1 above - know your areas of strength and weakness. Risk minimization is all about looking at the key things that might hurt your business from the perspective of, for example, your ability, market demand, competition, operational inefficiency, inadequate IT capability, location etc. This should be part of your initial planning.

3. Setting rates

This is definitely an area where freelancers need and I would predict really want to improve. Whilst you need to check what others are charging this is only one thing you need to be doing. You also need to be finding out what it is client's value when it comes to your area of expertise - you also need to make sure you are earning what you want to meet your needs. Agencies and clients are not going to pay you great rates unless you offer something special - they are not on your side and pretty much see you as a resource. Don't stop at find out what others charge - you need to go and find out why they charge a particular amount, you need to know the minimum of what you need to charge considering your life situation and you also need to look at ways to repackage and position yourself to produce additional income streams and value.

Freelancers have to stop thinking of themselves as earning only via time and materials and that cheaper is better or they need to charge just what the market is charging. It's time for freelancers to step up and really start to control their earnings capabilities.

Proper preparation is key to business success

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:26:00 +0000

I'm not sure if it's due to the recent economic crisis...actually let me say economic events as I don't want to be another conveyor of doom and gloom, but I have been reassessing my own skills and personal resources recently. Purpose? To discover what I actually know and what value I provide to society. What I have found in fact is a bit of a wake up call in that whilst I do know certain things I perhaps thought I know more than I actually do.

I'll be the first to admit I have some great career goals in respect to the businesses I want to develop. Lots of goals and objectives supported by motivations but the one thing I needed to do was assess whether I had the ability, knowledge and experience to achieve the goals I wanted when I wanted. Let me tell you it's an interesting exercise to undertaken, particularly when you are brutally honest with yourself.

Let's take for example you want to run a consulting business and you think you know enough to succeed. Can you answer the following 7 questions in a positive way:

1. Why would you hire you and what value would you add?
2. Do you know more than 80% of competitors?
3. Have you validated the knowledge you need to know to succced?
4. Have you confirmed the above with your potential customers?
5. You might have 'consulting' knowledge but do you have 'financial performance' management knowledge? (that is, the knowledge to run your company finances).
6. Do you have the personal competencies required to run a business in this environment? Who else might you need?
7. Have you undertaken a risk assessment on the impact to your business of negative events e.g. loss of clients, lower rates, staff morale. Has this been validated?

See the thing is, it doesn't matter if you are smart as a 'subject matter expert' and have a great dream to go out on your own - if you don't build a solid business foundation behind you then you will not succeed. Likewise, you definitely need a great vision to succeed but it is only the start. Failure is achieved by being under-prepared and it is not hard in this fast-paced world to indeed be caught short.

Why knowing your business's CSFs must be a priority

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Some of you might be asking, "what is a 'CSF'"? Second question might be "what are the CSFs for my business"?

CSF stands for 'critical success factor'. Put simply these are factors that are necessary to be in place, to be implemented, in order for your business to have any chance of achieving its goals. It can be difficult for a business to ensure that their CSFs are always in place but it does draw a line in the sand in respect to what they need to aim for, where their priorities should lie. Most of the time we only consider them as being attached to the business operations but what is often overlooked are the CSFs of the business owners themselves. These critical success factors that relate to the person are not characteristics or traits - rather I see them as behavioral tendencies that are relevant during a particular stage of the business.

I give you an example of a recent client of mine. His business had a dominant online presence however in order to continue being in a position to undertake the profitable jobs with corporates he needed to establish a high street presence. This also meant that he would have to give up running the day to day online operation and hire a number of employees which was going to be a challenge as he had grown his business from scratch.

The critical success factors, at the business and personal level, were:

1. Establishing a high street presence in a central location
2. Being able to delegate work and manage a number of employees who could multitask.

Put simply, without the two CSFs listed above my client's business would have no chance of operating in the way he envisioned.

There are long term and short term critical success factors - those that must always be in place and those that only need to be in place to achieve short term goals. A long-term CSF for the client above is that his company must be within the top 5 google searches, a short term CSF was that he had the initial funding for the shop (before it could begin to generate its own cashflow).

What wasn't critical was the size of the store, establishing an office for the employees or putting in place complicated operational processes. Expenses were kept to a minimum and all employees worked remotely. However without the store and the employees then the business would not have been able to develop - no matter how strong his company was online.

So have a think about the critical success factors for your company and whether you are undertaking those tasks that will let you achieve those factors.

Staying focused and motivated for your goals

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:04:00 +0000

How often would you experience the following:

'you have a great goal in mind, something you start off being extremely passionate about. You start with the research and make some good headway. You're still working to keep money coming in but this new idea should be ready to make money within 6 months and you could see it replacing your current full-time job within 12-18 months - that is also an important goal of yours. Some time goes by and you don't see to be making headway and your full-time job starts taking up more of your time. All of a sudden you wake up 6 months later and your great idea is no more. "Oh well", you say, "just wasn't the right time or right idea". Of course you might become disheartened and that's it - no more ideas'.

What I am framing is something that potentially affects many people who have ideas to start off a new project or business. Having an idea is the easy piece, implementing the actions that will progress you past the concept stage requires dedication. It also requires that you focus on the RIGHT PRIORITIES and make the RIGHT DECISIONS (or at least learn from the mistakes you made). It is easy for the brain to ignore pain and disappointment by focusing on something else. This is why if your idea/project is not progressing as expected it is far easier to focus on something else. However we often blame our environment for this 'failure' rather than ourselves. For many of us it is difficult to recognize your own personal biases when it comes to making decisions - whether that be the information you use for input, the experiences and assumptions you make when processing information and the fact that we rarely question our output.

Poor decision making combined with not knowing the tasks that should be prioritized because they offer most value to your project are two key reasons why many people lose focus and motivation. Not everyone is built to continually push past failure after failure and monetary wise many of us could not continue to do so. So what I am suggesting is that you become more efficient when it comes to making decisions and setting tasks. Doing this will result in more small wins and this progress will help you maintain your focus and motivation. So the simple steps to take are;

1. Ensure your idea is accompanied by a vision - supported by internal motivations/values

2. Don't keep your idea in your head. Write down what you need to do and if necessary speak to a business coach who can help you determine which tasks should be prioritized as they will lead to greater progress.

3. Be aware of your decision making biases - always look for independent feedback as well as analyzing why decisions made did not work out the way you expected.

4. Be conscious that you will fail only if you stop. Embrace the fact that setbacks are important but only if you learn from them.

Characteristics of a successful entrepreneur....easy to know, difficult to master

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:13:00 +0000

I came across a new magazine the other day called Ambition, which after reading I presume is focused on entrepreneurs but is relevant for all small business owners, entrepreneurs and freelancers. Let me first start by saying that it was a great magazine to read with a good mix of relevant, interesting and informative articles in a market already crowded with entrepreneur focused material.

Anyhow, back to the reason for this blog. One of the articles was titled "What makes a true entrepreneur"? Now there's been a few of these articles recently with the main focus of the conversation focusing on whether entrepreneurs are born or whether the required competencies can be learnt. I don't agree fully with the author when she says that entrepreneurship cannot be learnt because to be honest the word entrepreneur has morphed from what it once was and thus the competencies required have also changed. An entrepreneur no longer has to be an inventor or innovator in the pure sense of the word so what was required to be labeled an entrepreneur 20 years ago is different in today's business environment. I could go into more detail on this now but will leave for another time. Rather let me focus on some of the characteristics of the entrepreneur that came out of a MIT study, albeit 25 years ago (you would think that there is something a little more recent and thus relevant?). However some of these were;

- drive and energy
- internal locus of control
- low fear of failure
- clear goal setting
- self confidence
- moderate risk taker

These are some of the examples but the point I want to make is this. If you are an entrepreneur how do you go about identifying, developing, measuring and learning these characteristics. Whilst easy to read and talk about it is not so easy to assess and increase your own abilities in these areas. Even if you do, the article fails to mention 'how much' drive and energy, self confidence and internal locus of control you need. What is meant by 'moderate' in respect to risk taking? With so many ambiguities this list of characteristics tells you a lot and nothing at all. However it is important to note that the list did not mention that most successful entrepreneurs were the ones with the best business plans. Whilst implementing an effective business strategy is important the message that entrepreneurial success is people characteristic centric appears time and time again.

So what does this tell you? If you're an entrepreneur who wants to be successful focus on your personal and professional development; seek advice from those who can assist you in these areas such as business psychologists because in reality no other professional has the experience, training or education to effectively provide you with the tools, frameworks and support needed.

And for all those freelancers out there, take note. The characteristics listed are some of those you'll need to transition to a 21st century freelancer.

The principles behind increasing your income

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:41:00 +0000

If there is one thing entrepreneurs and freelancers should be focusing on this is it - how to increase your income or of more use how to increase your productivity. It amazes me how many startups and self-employed focus on aspects of their business, that whilst important to some degree, fail to concentrate on the drivers of income creation (note I say 'income' not 'revenue').

When consulting to clients there used to be the question of how to charge for work performed. That is, charge per job or charge per hour. Of course you may still charge per hour is required but your preference should be always per job. Why? Because you could (1) complete the job in fewer hours than the budget and therefore increase your per/hour rate of income or (2) give the job to a qualified associate for 80% of what you are receiving. Five such jobs will see you earning 20% more than what you could have as an individual.

But what I really want to communicate is that the wealthy do not sell hours - they sell knowledge. A motivational speaker does not speak to a single person if they can speak to hundreds. A website will not provide information to just one person - rather the same 'valued' information is presented to hundreds, thousands and millions of customers. This is the leverage of knowledge.

This is not an option for everyone but many careers and businesses can utilize the concept. Not only consulting, motivational speaking and certain web-based advice business e.g career and investment advice. However those in a trade can certainly also leverage their knowledge so they are not handicapped to work for only a particular rate per hour.

However just as important is that you have to recognize that you cannot just know something and expect huge success if no one else values that knowledge as much as you. This is the fallacy that many professionals believe to be true - that once you have a professional qualification then you're set. Unfortunately this is not the case. Firstly you have knowledge but probably cannot utilize it effectively within a working environment. Secondly many other people also have the same knowledge. So it appears the secret to business and career success is just not having knowledge and leveraging that knowledge. It's about applying the knowledge in such a way that (1) not many others can copy (2) how the knowledge is applied is valuable and (3) you can leverage across many people.

What demand is your product or service fulfilling?

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:56:00 +0000

If the answer makes you think for too long, you have no answer or you come up with some reasoning including the words 'consulting, strategy, development...etc' then keep reading. What we need to understand is that the level of education and savy is such in the market today amongst the masses that the fancy titles and concepts that were difficult to understand and taught at only the top business schools in the past are no longer impressive. Every fourth rate school teaches the same concepts and with such a high percentage of the western world going to college the coverage of these concepts is extremely wide.

Am I recommending not going to school and to become an inventor, internet entrepreneur, celebrity cook, athlete etc instead? Absolutely not, but actually it doesn't matter what path you take as long as you do two things. One is to work hard and the second is to be very clear (this means have proof) on what you are offering and why. The work hard is the easy bit, even the bit on being clear on what you are offering...the hard bit is to confirm the 'why'. 'Why' are you producing a product, delivering a service, studying something at school etc.

Liking what you do it extremely important (and I will get to the fact that there are different levels of 'liking or loving' your job) but more important you have to recognize a demand for your skill or knowledge. If no one is in the market for what you have to offer then what you have will go to waste. I'm not talking about the challenge of being able to 'brand' or 'market' your offering so people are interested...I am talking about no interest no matter what you do because it doesn't hit the right demographic, is out of sync with social trends etc. Likewise if you're in a flooded market you still need to ensure supply is sufficient.

So what you need to do, to ensure a meaningful career either as an employee or business person is to clarify what you have to offer, how you're going to offer it and why it will be bought. If you cannot do this now take the actions you need to in order to do so. Last word regarding liking your job...it's not always about pure enjoyment, but can be satisfaction gained from making a difference, achieving what only few can...don't confuse liking or loving the job along the same lines as loving your family or liking a gift. Make the meaning of the word whatever you need it to be to suit you.

Why small businesses and entrepreneurs fail

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:08:00 +0000

What is failure and why do so many business startups fail? Failure could be classified as not achieving goals such as working more hours than planned, lack of enjoyment and satisfaction, too much travel - however in vast majority of cases failure of a business is due to financial reasons. That is not making enough money to cover costs.

Why does this occur and so freqently? I have met a lot of entrepreneurs, both who have succeeded and failed in business (some many times over), and the one thing they have in common is intelligence and drive. So if this is what you think you need to have to succeed then think again. The difference between success and failure is decision making. The basis of decision making is information and insight and I believe the two go hand-in-hand in ensuring the most appropriate decision is made.

Thus failure in business is due to poor decision making because there was incorrect, lack of or inappropriate information used and that the insight of the entrepreneur was wrong. Insight itself is a cognitive process and basically a interpretation of external stimuli - so in fact decision making, both directly and indirectly, is correlated to the quality of information received.

Failure is due to making a wrong decision many times over because no effort is made to assess the decision making process. Working with a performance coach or psychologist is useful in understanding the basis for decisions made and making changes in your decision making process. If you fail once and don't assess the process for making decisions then the chances of making the goals or targets you have set are very low. You cannot assume you know how to make a right decision and the warning signs should not be ignored. Thinking you know how to make a right decision is one of those as you will not be open for change.

Small business also fails because the entrepreneur in charge of the business is not made out to work in such as environment. Making a decision to start a business is the first important decision you have to make and one of the most critical. If you get this wrong then your business may already be on the path to failure.

Starting a new business

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:49:00 +0000

Our world is a lot different then it was 20 years ago. Well I say different but perhaps it was the same on a larger scale...in particular I want to focus on what it takes to startup a new business these days.

Of course business startups happen all the time but even 20 years ago it was more commonplace to look to an established organisation for work rather than consider starting up your own business. However over the past twenty years it has definitely evened out, with it becoming a cultural norm to start your own business - either from the start of a career or in the middle of an established one.

That being said, when you go to start a new business these days it's like trying to find a domain name that hasn't been taken. It is EXTREMELY difficult to come up with a business idea that hasn't already been thought of or already put in place. New ideas will mostly come from extreme creatives or from people who have been impacted by an extreme event that leads them to an idea - the originality of the event is the driver of this. So where does this lead us?

I would say there are two good paths to contemplate when considering whether to startup your new business. One, can you do something more effectively then what is already being offered out in the market and two, can you operate a business that supports existing businesses? My thought is that if there are more and more businesses being started up, all of varying sizes, industries and substance (online or bricks and mortar) there is greater opportunity to start a business that supports these. One example is Crunch Accounting (www.crunchaccounting.co.uk) which was setup to service freelancers and contractors in the UK. Why was that? Because the market for independent freelancers is continuing to increase because organisations want to reduce their fixed overhead costs. These freelancers need accounting performed and Crunch provides an effective online platform. Now would this business have worked 20 years ago? No way...and probably not even 10 years ago. I'm a little surprised it has taken so long to kick-start but it is one great idea.

So when it comes to starting your new business, don't try to beat them or even join them. Perhaps it makes more sense to support the new businesses being created everyday.

Not so dedicated to your career? Well now's the time to reassess and choose

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:20:00 +0000

This is for everyone but I will focus this for the majority of my friends with whom I have consulted with (as consultants for organisations) over the past eight years. This is for this bunch of people who are extremely talented but for one reason or another fell into a job that though it paid well, gave you some street cred and provided international travel came no where near to fulfilling them personally or professionally. Day after day it was simply a matter of going through the motions and pretending this was the life they wanted.

When I say going through the motions I will state that there were times when we had to work extremely hard. That's a given. However, and this is the consultancy and financial sector world over, there are many people who get paid well to actually do very little. Not only very little but nothing of any importance; not personally fulfilling, not helping society and not changing society. The money was great for the effort but looking back the money wasn't that great...particularly when it meant driving yourself into a career that you didn't really want, all the while making it more difficult to turn back and make that critical change. I speak to many of these people today and not many have moved out of that old way of life and they are hating it or worst still, resigned to their fate.

So in the face of current economic challenges I'm writing this for my friends above encouraging them to change careers - this is the time to make that switch, the easy times in financial services is over and it is time to take control of your life. You may have been made redundant, hoping to be or one of those unfortunates still in that thing you call a job. However regardless of your position you must move....OR commit 100% to your job.

I say that the option of not really trying in a career you don't like is no longer an option. There is no more easy street or automatic promotions and if you don't work hard and achieve you will move backwards. More importantly you will find yourself thinking yourself more and more worthless as time passes you by. If you're not prepared to go for that dream career then at least achieve in your current career - or something. Choose something, but at least put some effort into it. Achieve some good things and perhaps your career won't look so wasted.

But please, either change careers or commit and achieve - these are the only choices.

Be careful when listening to 'personal branding' experts

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:16:00 +0000

Personal branding has become a new buzz word of late. There are many 'gurus' out there who proclaim they can re-work your personal brand, to allow you to find your niche in society. However two important things to note; personal branding is not new,it's simply been re-branded to move from the physical to online mediums and secondly your 'brand' will never just be one thing - it will flux continuously as you develop through life.

I'm very interested in personal branding because I think it can add a lot to our lives; allowing us to understand ourselves better and being perceived the way we want to be perceived. However there are no true experts....just those people who have spent more time reading on the subject and spending time online. No one can tell you who you should be, there is no scientific and proven approach to achieving a particular brand. Instead it happens through a series of many actions and is influenced in a major way by one's personality. If, for example, P Diddy or Ashton Kutcher were not extroverts then the brand they are today would be different. But do you really think these guys could teach you to be a 'brand' like them? Not a chance. If anyone of us attempts to be a 'brand' that is incongruent with their values, genetic traits, motivations etc then the brand will fail.

So whilst I advise on personal branding I attempt to recognise that it is still a challenge to assist someone be a particular brand. You can advise someone to reach and achieve goals, leading to a particular perception and 'brand' in the market, but you cannot make someone into a brand without a lot of marketing hype in a short period of time. Branding needs a solid platform to assist people in improving and changing their brand but I do not believe anyone has the ability to transform someone into a certain 'brand' - instruct but not transform. Even the instruction would depend on that expert actually knowing what it took to create a certain 'brand'. I would really want to measure how 'personal branding' experts' improve and create a brand in only a few easy steps. Helping someone tweet or blog are tools but these are only tools....I could show you how to swim but if you don't swim correctly you will drown.

Your actions over a long period of time, similar to how Coca Cola has become such a powerful brand, is the only way to create a real authentic brand.

Change your focus from 'job searching' to 'job creating'

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:52:00 +0000

The hard, cold truth is here...some jobs will disappear and never to return. In some industries this reduction will be greater than in others but nevertheless where we are now is the start of a resource reallocation shift.

I've just read an article on CNBC that mentioned that many financial jobs will not be able to be supported simply because of the reduction in leverage in the market. The same is happening in London and every major financial centre around the world. In property the same is happening where the drying up of bank credit will not only reduce the volume of property transactions but the revenues available to real estate agents. Same for retail, if the focus is consumer discretionary due to credit drying up and the consumer cutting back.

But for all those thinking doom and gloom this is an event that had to occur. This is not only going to re-create a balance in our society but give many of us the opportunity to do things we want to do but never had the courage to start - for one reason/excuse or another.

If your job is gone create one instead

I speak with many recruiters and job seekers these days and am amazed at the fact that many hundreds of CVs are submitted for each job...Presidents going for VP roles and MDs going for Director roles. It's almost desperation to find something or anything. Is this the approach to take? Humans are creative and amazingly resilient in times of adversity and now is the time to see this come through. Rather than send your CV for the one role that is similar to what you used to do, but is competing against 500 others, look at your skills and consider about how to apply them to another area of the economy. This may be in role that already exists or better still, be entrepreneurial and apply your skills to something you think is missing in the market. You may never get this chance again.

The way to look at it is this. If we are going through a huge resource reallocation then jobs will not reappear. Hoping for your job to reappear is not going to help - get in control of your destiny and create demand for your skill instead.

Why you shouldn't call your job a 'job'

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:01:00 +0000

I have to say I am pretty much over hearing the word 'job' these days. New job, job search, redundant job, job, job, job.....if it's not the fact that you have just lost 30% of your wealth in 3 weeks then it's about the fact that life is over because of your job. Maybe you've lost it, maybe you're about to or just maybe you're next to the guy who is about to lose his job....either way morale is down.

But before I go too much deeper into a self-defeating spiral about our pessimism let me focus on something much easier. Stop calling your job a job...call it a career, a life interest, anything but a job. I thought our culture was beginning to move past seeing a job as a job - the word itself instills no motivation and certainly doesn't inspire me in anyway. And inspiration is what we need at the moment, along with hope and belief that we, both as an individual and society and move out of the current economic slump we are in and progress as a species.

Many psychologists have said we are how what and how we speak, that is language forms the basis of many of our core beliefs. The word job is related to something you 'have to do' not 'want to do'. Even the addition of the word 'good' in front of job only insinuates that your job is bearable or perhaps better compared to the vast majority. It still doesn't inspire or encourage you to want to do well.

So even if you only want a 'job' don't use that word, choose something else. That goes for those who both have a job and need a job. Our society needs to take a turn for the positive and that small language shift will, if only very small, make a meaningful contribution.

Be aware of the attraction of short-term goals

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:58:00 +0000

"Now, wait just a minute" you may say, "we all need short-term goals so who is this guy Daryl Close thinking he is when he says to be aware of them?". I will then respond by asking you all to let me explain just what I mean.

I first started thinking about this topic when reading yet another article on the saga of the US financial system. AIG, if you haven't read it, are paying out another couple of hundred million dollars in bonus to the people that supposedly lost billions. Now, whilst interesting on its own, what is more interesting is the approach bank chiefs and regulators are now recommending - that is reward for long-term performance only, not short-term.

That got me thinking about my own decision making and how I differentiate between short-term and long-term goal setting. Obviously, it would seem, I make short-term goals that benefit me now and long-term for the future. But are is goal-setting process aligned? Do I make short-term goals that benefit me in the long-term and long-term goals that benefit me in the short-term? 'I don't know', is the answer to the first and 'I don't know' is the answer to the second. But for the second 'I don't know' may be a acceptable answer...it sure as ain't for the first.

As with the financial markets, if I take a high risk position to make myself a lot of money in the short-term, I carry with that a high risk of losing a lot of money. I've gone through that experience and it isn't pretty. Did that result benefit me long term? No way it did, though the intention was good. Now apply that logic to every other short-term decision you have made; at work, about a career choice, about a business choice, about a relationship choice, about a fitness choice....short-term goals and results do sometimes blind us from making decisions that are best for us in the long-term. Taking a job, for example, for 20% more is something that benefits us in the short-term but not if it takes us on a direction we don't really want to head in. Even settling for a job 85% of what we truly want will come back to bite us in the ass in the long-term...and let's face it, that's not great because at some point the long-term is the present. Everyone hates the word 'hindsight' and that's what that word represents - making a decision that is regretted later on.

So when you're making your next decision or setting your next short-term goal, question yourself as to the real benefit of that decision. Is the benefit in the short-term going to become a long-term benefit, and if not, is the short-term benefit going to out-weigh any negative consequences in the future? Not starting a business and keeping your 'safe' job may benefit you in the short-term, by protecting you from risk but in the long-term?....have a think about that one which is only just one example.

So my message is keeping setting short and long-term goals....but don't think they are independent of each other. If you don't then I think the quality of your short-term decision making will improve dramatically.

What is the best investment you can make? In yourself of course.

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:38:00 +0000

So unless of course you are lucky enough to work for an investment firm that can make money when the financial markets are falling, you've joined the majority of us that have lost money in the past 12 or so months. Maybe a little, maybe a lot, but your faith in the financial markets, your financial advisers, your stockbrokers and investment geniuses must have been shaken. Whilst this could be seen as a 'once in a lifetime' event there have been countless instances of ineptitude, carelessness, greed and simply lack of knowledge and ability to protect your wealth.

For many of us investing in the financial markets is not a full-time job and not even a part-time job. You for most part want to place faith in these investment professionals to get the job done right and to ensure your money works for you and will be available for you in the future. However, and I'm sorry to say, this can no longer be assumed and your money could be at risk.

However there is a bright spot in all of this, an opportunity you may say. That opportunity is to stop focusing on gaining financial stability and wealth through investing in something that is actually not built on anything more than some people guessing company values. Instead focus on yourself, building yourself as an investment that can increase in value as you improve your skills, knowledge, cognitive abilities, emotional and social intelligence. If you become a stronger and better performer because of this improvement then you are more likely to create more wealth simply because you will earn more money - either as an employee or business owner.

I have a good friend who does not invest in the stock market - rather he invests in his business? Why? Because he knows his business and can trust himself to make it work. He also works extremely hard at his business and improving his knowledge in order to make himself more valuable. He is someone I respect in a big way and you know what, he himself can only lose his money. Not the person 1000 miles away who can cause you to lose your savings in an instant.

What business can you startup in a world where startups are commonplace?

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:43:00 +0000

Our world is a lot different then it was 20 years ago. Well I say different but perhaps it was the same on a larger scale...in particular I want to focus on what it takes to startup a new business these days.

Of course business startups happen all the time but even 20 years ago it was more commonplace to look to an established organisation for work rather than consider starting up your own business. However over the past twenty years it has definitely evened out, with it becoming a cultural norm to start your own business - either from the start of a career or in the middle of an established one.

That being said, when you go to start a new business these days it's like trying to find a domain name that hasn't been taken. It is EXTREMELY difficult to come up with a business idea that hasn't already been thought of or already put in place. New ideas will mostly come from extreme creatives or from people who have been impacted by an extreme event that leads them to an idea - the originality of the event is the driver of this. So where does this lead us?

I would say there are two good paths to contemplate when considering whether to startup your new business. One, can you do something more effectively then what is already being offered out in the market and two, can you operate a business that supports existing businesses? My thought is that if there are more and more businesses being started up, all of varying sizes, industries and substance (online or bricks and mortar) there is greater opportunity to start a business that supports these. One example is Crunch Accounting (www.crouchaccounting.co.uk) which was setup to service freelancers and contractors in the UK. Why was that? Because the market for independent freelancers is continuing to increase because organisations want to reduce their fixed overhead costs. These freelancers need accounting performed and Crunch provides an effective online platform. Now would this business have worked 20 years ago? No way...and probably not even 10 years ago. I'm a little surprised it has taken so long to kick-start but it is one great idea.

So when it comes to starting your new business, don't try to beat them or even join them. Perhaps it makes more sense to support the new businesses being created everyday.

How can I optimize my employees’ strengths to increase sales?

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:48:00 +0000

If you're thinking this when it comes to improving an organisation's performance then I'm happy to say you are on the right track. Performance improvement, whether that be at the organisation or individual level, is better served through utilizing strengths rather than reinforcing weaknesses. That is not to say that areas for improvement shouldn't be given attention, just that the focus should be on the strengths.

Now, when it comes to optimizing strengths you first have to be able to assess your employee's strengths. If you haven't already done this it is better to assess the components underlying a certain role and then assess the employee against these. For example, if you're looking at a sales role, you might consider; communication, determination, product/technical knowledge, relationship building and networking as key categories.

After you have done this then you will have a fair idea of where your employees are strong. Some employees may have stronger technical knowledge whilst others are stronger communicators, whilst others are better at establishing new relationships. To increase sales you will then need to align your sales channels with your employees' competencies. For example, telephone sales might be undertaken by the employees with stronger technical knowledge and communication skills, whilst new business through meeting clients could be undertaken by employees stronger in relationship building and networking.

What is crucial is that you understand the sales performance drivers in respect to the required skill competencies and then aligning the competencies to the strengths of your sales team.

When do you make your best or most 'life changing' decisions?

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Close) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:30:00 +0000

The focus of this question, is in part, due to the fact that many of us are facing some difficult decisions over the next few months because of the challenges presented by the current economic state. I got to thinking the other day what drove a lot of my decision making and came up with the fact that making decisions are meant to benefit yourself - the challenge being whether that benefit is in the short, medium or long term. Short term gain for long term gain is something I do believe in if a decision is made with only the short term being the main focus.

Decision making is a cognitive process that the brain manages and the final decision is based on a variety of underlying factors. Personal values, motivations, your sense of expected rewards (and your valuation of them), emotions, past experiences, consideration of what your friends and family would expect....the underlying components are many. Many of these decisions are not 'life changing' simply because the human being is a creature of habit. It can be difficult to make decisions when you don't 'have to', even if you know making a change would be the best medium to long term decision.

Take for example the situation that many professionals are facing today. You may have been made redundant or there is a good chance of redundancy - what do you do? If you've always wanted to change jobs or get out and start a business then perhaps there is no better time. Sure things are dire now but when is there a 'best time' to make this change. The decision to make this change is more easy for the person who is out of a job then for the person who still has a job. They might have the same goals to start a business but for the person with a job, they might most probably think they are one of the 'lucky ones' to still have employment. They will think it is better to keep their job and plan to leave in a few years when they are more financially secure. On the other hand those who have been made redundant either have the choice to follow their dreams or look for new work.

What I want to emphasize is that when 'forced' to make a decision, there is perhaps a better chance of making it a life changing one. In the example above being forced to choose between job and new business does not mean you have a choice to remain with the status quo - you need a new job or need to start a business. There is no going back. Either path is new. So consider your own situation now and consider what decisions you can make today that might most impact your life...in a positive way and whether your current situation is holding you back. Might be worthwhile to consider what decision you would take if you were forced to change what you were currently were doing - would you try and revert to what you were doing or start out new.