“We are moving to the South of France” I said.
I still remember the look on my friends’ face. They were shocked. We were sitting on their balcony sipping wine and enjoying a warm November evening in Dubai.
“Where will you live?” they asked.
“A tiny village surrounded by vineyards and hills” I answered smiling.
Then the big question came, “how will you run your business from there?”
For the past 6 years I had been running my outdoor coaching business the “old-school way”. I made phone calls to connect with business leads, drove to their offices, spent hours presenting in boardrooms and then started the process again.
Most of the day to day operations were taken care of by my employees, they delivered the services I sold. When Ameena and I moved to the South of France, all this changed and I suddenly took the leap to running my business online.
These are some of the lessons I picked up along the way Êand some questions to get you thinking.
1. The business plan syndrome
The notion that you need to commit to aÊlengthyÊdetailed business plan that you drafted when you started your business is dead. I quickly realized that I needed to be flexible and not waste my time analyzing instead of taking action.
Ideas and plans are worthless, how you implement them, and more importantly how you mold them to the existing market forces is really what matters.
A better approach is the One Page Business Plan, Êit shouldn’t take you more than an hour and will give you a perfect blueprint to start your journey. At different states in my online business I needed different resources and skills to get past the challenges.
The mindset I used to get past them remained the same. Growth for the sake of growth isn’t a real goal. Instead think about being different and approaching challenges differently.
Ameena shares her experience with big business and how sticking to a rigid business growth plan will lead you into trouble.
Do you have the right mindset when you look at your business?
2.Failure to launch
Do you ever feel you writ something, or prepare a product but never really get to sell it ?
What happens is that you let your inner critic be the judge of how ready you are. There is no right time for your next product or service. Start developing and sharing it now.
Many so called ‘experts’ will tell you it needs to be perfect, quality must prime over speed. Two things shock me with these statements, one perfection doesn’t exist and two, what exactly is “the right time?”
We need to stop thinking about becoming perfect technicians, someone will always be better then us at blogging, using social media.
This is where you can be first though.
You can really make a difference by defining what true value you bring to the world. The HOW you deliver that value will always change, a few years ago we had faxes, then we had emails, now we have Skype and social media.
Learn to use online tools like a pro, take advice from the best but never forget What you bring to the market.
What value do you bring your clients?
3. Living where the clients are
One of my clients once told me he had to leave his town and move to Silicon Valley to be closer to the ‘action’. Unless you are a brick and mortar shop, I don’t believe location really matters a lot in the success of your business.
Thanks to social media we can find clients, vendors and business partners. If you are still wondering how this can happen, read how the extraordinary Natalie Sisson grew a 6-figure business living out of a suitcase.
How does where you live affect your business?
4. Doing it alone
This last trap is probably the most destructing one I see among business owners. There seems to be a myth that greatness must be accomplished alone, without a solid network of mentors or peers.
The prevalent idea is that accomplishments loose some of their value when you seek the help of others in achieving them. Nothing is further from the truth.
Developing a strong network of peers, choosing the right mentor or life coach makes you stronger. Nobody ever succeeded alone.
Who is your go-to person when you are stuck?
I want you to take action in your business, action is progress. In life when you don’t grow you are regressing, there is no such thing as equilibrium or same-old in business these days.
Which other traps would you add to the list?
**John and Ameena encourage entrepreneurs to explore the world and experience fulfillment, they currently in the South of France.
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