Comments about the SBS community

There has been plenty of talk about the whole SBS community lately. Vlad has certainly stirred the pot with some recent posts ( and here ) and to a large amount we have to agree with what he says. Why? Well, it certainly appears to us that the great majority of people in SBS land are takers not givers. There are very small number of regular contributors to the “community” while the rest tend to sit on their duff and simply suck in the information. Given that we all only have a limited time in every day we acknowledge that there is also way too much information out there for any of us to get across but hey the least you could do is say “thank you”.

Case in point. We developed a survey on our Supportweb site that was designed to try to get a feel for some basics of the SBS installs out there. We posted a request for people to complete the survey to our local SBS User Group and we were luck to get 10 responses! We then contacted Susan Bradley who was kind enough to post the survey information on her blog and to date our total number os respondants is 45! C’mon people, only 45 people in the whole SBS world have the time to respnd to a survey? This apathy is mirrored in the offical SBS Community survey, which apparently hasn’t had very many respondants either. It just goes to show to us that the vast majority of the so-call SBS community in fact are takers not givers.

When we used to attend our local SBS user group meetings we found that we were just generally getting pumped for information. How do you do this? Should I install that? How do I go about this? Now, generally we don’t mind helping people at all but of late we found that is all we have been doing and worse still we never received any genuine thanks for our contributions. We are happy to help were we can but we feel it isn’t very smart to keep giving and giving when nothing is forthcoming in return. In that case we are just being stupid by letting ourselves being taken advantage of. Why should we get up and give presentations and provide advice, that in many cases has taken us plenty of hard struggle to learn, to people who simply take it, without thanks or making any contribution in return, and then implement in their business for their own commercial benefit?

So now we look at the so called “community” as a case of “well, how is this going to help our business?”. We continue to develop and post free material for the community (our videos being a case in point) but we are now asking for donations to provide us with some business benefit for our efforts. No doubt we will called all sorts of names for seeking commercial gain but you aren’t required to pay to see the videos, it is a simply way to show us your appreciation of the efforts we have made in providing the material. If support isn’t forthcoming then we’ll look at channelling these efforts into another project that provides us business benefit, because if we don’t we go out of business. Amazingly, when we started creating these videos we got all sorts of people want “free” support on some of the technologies we highlighted. Initially we provided support but after a while (and with very little thanks for for our efforts) we are reverting to the commercial model. If you want “free” support then make a donation to show us that you are not just a taker, because we aren’t willing to continue to be taken advantage of.

Now, there is little doubt that this rant won’t go much further than this blog since we doubt very few people even read it (hi mom), but at least we have made our opinions public and attempted to explain our motives. Of all the information we have is placed on the web, much of it free of charge, it would be nice to now and again get a sincere “thank you” rather than “this content is so basic even my grandmother would have known that”. Fair enough, we are happy to take any form of feedback on what we create but so far that “grandmother” crack has been about the total extent of it.

As we said, we appreciate that there are far more knowledgable people in the “SBS community” providing a far greater range of helpful material but it would be nice once in a while to actually know that someone out there does appreciate what you are providing to the community for “free”.

How to Master the Art of Selling

This book by Tom Hopkins proved to be very eye opening for someone who really isn’t a “sales” person. I think most people who are not “sales” people don’t hold “sales” people in high regard ( in some cases for very good reasons ). This book show you how anyone can master the art.

It isn’t filled with tricks, it is instead filled with some very thoughtful insight into creating successful sales processes. The first thing that struck me was the authors insistance that sales be a disciplined art where you thoroughly practice what you are offering and how you are going to offer it long before you are ever faced with a customer. As we all know most successful business people already have this approach in other areas of business, why shouldn’t it apply to sales ?

The book also shows how most sales people threaten the customer rather than making them feel comfortable. Ever walk into a shop and find yourself jumped by an eager sales person asking if they “Can help with anything ?”. As the book shows, a much better way to approach this is to say something like this to the customer ,“If you have any questions I’ll be right over here to help you”. Subtle, but it can make all the difference as I recently found out when I went shopping and was constantly jumped by eager ( who appear aggressive ) sales people asking “if they can help me”.

Another insite that the book provided me was the fact to actually ask for referrals. Too many times we expect our clients, even our best ones, to be constantly referring us new business. Problem is they are usually too busy to even think about it. If instead we ask them, then chances are they’ll know someone immediately, if not then at least it has been placed at the front of their minds. As the books says, you have to ask and ask on a regular basis.

In summary this is a great book for anyone. Why ? Because we all sell in some shape or form. You may not think so but chances are when you sometimes even have to sell family and friends on your ideas, so don’t think selling is just limited to business. I was generally very impressed with the way the books makes a comprehensive coverage of the selling process and what you need to be a “champion” ( as the books defines ). The author strives to take you from an ordinary sales person to be one of the select few who are truely successful and happy selling.

Rating = 9 out of 10

See http://www.tomhopkins.com for more details about the author.

Thick Face Black Heart

This book by Chin-Ning Chu touts itself as being able to help you suceed in life and work using the ancient wisdom of the East. Chin-Ning says that Thick face is a shield that when developed gives you the ability to put aside the negativity of others and exceed beyond the limitations that others impose on you. Black Heart is a method to develop a ruthless side that allows you to succeed where others fail.

The book incorporates a many ideas from two of my favourite strategy books ( both from the East ) – Sun Tzu, The Art of War and Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings. It is amazing to look at size of both of these books ( a maybe not even 100 pages ) when compared to strategy writings from the West ( which are 100’s if not 1,000’s of pages ). The biggest difference is probably the fact the Eastern philosophy speaks about ‘The Way’ ( or do in Japanese ). This means that whatever you do must become part of your everyday life. So if you study strategy then you must learn and apply its teaching in every aspect of your life. If you don’t then you are no following “The Way”.

I found the point about negative traits most interesting. Most “traditional” self improvement courses, books, etc always seem to focus n your negative points. For example helping you manage your time better or organizing your time better. Chin-Ning speaks of embracing these negative and learning how to use them. Sure you need to work at improving them but don’t waste all your time and energy on just that. You must forget that you have positive advantages in your being and you need to use these to move forward and not be held back by trying to eliminate your negatives constantly. This concept is a very interesting twist on “traditional” self help topics.

A good example is something like the “Postitive aspects of procrastination”. Basically Chin-Ning is saying that we should take time to just think and not do anything else. If we sometimes rush into things then they turn out badly. The concept of the Black Heart is interesting. Basically it means that you need to have the ability to “be mean” to get what you want. Chin-Ning is not advocating being evil but sometimes you do need to look after number one. It also means being a bit coy ( deceptive ) in your dealing with others, which she says Eastern culture thrive.

After reading the book I had an interesting business conversation during the week where the other party basically spilled the beans on their life when there was no need to do that. I was somwhat shocked at the conversation because I didn’t expect this subject matter in a “business” conversation, however from the book I did see how people in business are far too willing to ceed others information that potentially can be used against them and they do it almost willingly.

All in all I found the book and excellent read and discovered that it stirred a generally deeper level of thought that I have had after reading other books. I would definately add this book to my top 10 list of “business must reads”.

Rating = 9.5 out of 10

You’ll find more info about Chin-Ning Chu at her web site http://www.strategic.org

What’s the reason for running your own business ?

Why do you want to run your own business? Many owners could probably give many different answers but I think the answer is simple. PROFIT.

The trick here is to define what PROFIT is. I like to think of PROFIT beyond simply the money left over after you have taken out all your expenses. PROFIT for some people may be having more time to be with their family, for others it may mean being in control and able to make their own decisions and for some it maybe to make money. I think the trick to realise is that the PROFIT owners derive from their businesses doesn’t have to just monetary.

On the other hand you need to make sure that a business is making a PROFIT ( be whatever you consider that to be ). If money is your definition of PROFIT then it doesn’t make sense to be running your business constantly at break even or with minute returns. If control is your definition of PROFIT then it doesn’t make sense then it doesn’t make sense to let yourself be at the mercy of customers or suppliers. As any business owner will tell you, you have to take a hard look at your business and ensure that it is making a PROFIT.

If the business isn’t profitable then you normally have two courses of action. You either need to determine why your business isn’t profitable and make it work or you need to get out. Owning and operating a small business is not a bed of roses, there are going to be tough times, again and again. They will test your resolve to remain in business. However if you know what sort of PROFIT you are after then at least you know the direction in which you should be travelling.

You can’t hope to get to your destination if you don’t know where it is! Firstly, define what PROFIT you want from your business ( money, control, world domination, whatever ), then make sure you are working towards that every day.

What I wish someone had told me starting out

Probably the one thing that I wish someone had said to me before I had started my own business was “… yeah, that’s all great but how are you going to get OUT of the business ?”. In simply terms, what is your exit strategy ? My exit strategy ? You must be joking, I would have said, I want to do this for the rest of my life. Hmmm…that is all well and good but working in your own business for the rest of your life is only one possible scenario. So many OTHER things things could happen along the way that may cause this to change.

Don’t get me wrong, I still want to work in my business for the rest of my life BUT what happens if I don’t ? What happens if my circumstances change and I need to get out ? What’s is my strategy ? If I try and sell my business would I get the value that I have invested in it ? Probably not. A great book that deals with this issue is the E-myth by Michael Gerber. He basically says, what do you have if you can’t take holidays when you like, when you can’t afford to have a day sick and you are always behind on your work ? You don’t have a business you have a job! Which is exactly the thing that most people who start a business are trying to get away from !

It wasn’t until I read Gerber’s book that I realized that I didn’t have an exit strategy. Again, not because I needed one but because it provided me with options. When I started to look closely at my business, through a buyers eyes, I realized that the business didn’t have nearly as much value assocaited with as I thought. A good example of this was my accounts. I had done all my accounts in a spreadsheet that I designed myself. I worked really well, was flexible and I knew the in’s and out’s but if someone from the outside looked at it they would say it wasn’t standard and they would want something like Quicken. D’Oh how stupid of me. I’d made that part of my business unattractive to a potential buyer and therefore destroyed value.

When I started looking at the business as a whole through a buyer’s eye I realised that my accounts weren’t the only place where I’d been destroying value. Every where I looked I had custom one off systems, lacking documentation and procedure. It wasn’t that the business didn’t function successfully, the problem was all the best bits where in my head. That is all well and good until you try and exit the business. You can’t simply dump your brain into the new owner’s and move on.

Now I had to start the long ( and still on going ) process of getting everything out of my head and down on paper. I am now constantly working to add value to my business for a potential buyer. I can tell you that it is a right pain in the butt and I wish that someone had made me think about my exit strategy before I got into my own business. So take heed from me. If you are planning to go into business for yourself, plan an exit strategy first, even if you never need it, it is always reassuring to have.

The one thing

Have you seen the movie City Slickers ? After having a mid life crisis, Mitch has joined his buddies on a cattle muster through the mid-west of America. While riding along they start talking about the ‘one thing’ that is important to them. Throughout the rest of the movie they talk about the ‘one-thing’ and in the end this ‘one-thing’ is different for different people.

It got me to thinking about what the ‘one-thing’ would be to a business. What ‘one-thing’ do you need to have in business ( or life ) to succeed. Could it be defined ? Could it be made simple ? Could it be made generic ? All interesting questions but I think I have come up with an answer. What is it ? Well, I reckon the ‘one-thing’ is BALANCE.

Business ( and life in general ) is all about maintaining balance. You need to balance the needs of the customer with those of your staff. You need to balance the cash needs of the business against investing enough for future growth and development. The whole thing is about balance the more I think about it. When the business is having problems if you stop and look at it, then you’ll probably find there is an imbalance. Maybe, there’s been too much time dedicated to something or too much money has been spend somewhere. Just take a look and you’ll probably find an imbalance.

You will also probably have to balance your work and private life so I think a simple thing like balance extends a long way into our lives. Think about it, when were you most happy in your life ? Probably when everything was in sync and balanced. Think again, when were you most ill at ease in your life ? Probably when something was weighing you down. When did that feeling disappear ? Probably when you got your life back in balance.

It seems today that so many people are trying to find something that is missing in their lives. Have you ever seen the Ying and Yang Symbol ?

This symbol represents a perfect balance between two opposing sides ( black and white ). Where black is most dominate at the top white is weakest, however the opposite is true at the bottom of the picture. Also, totally enclosed in, where each side is strongest, is an island of the opposite colour. A very profound symbol if you take the time to study it.

Over the years, grasping to understand balance, I have have come to understand that it is not possible to totally eliminate one side. Thus, in the above symbol to totally remove one colour would remove balalnce. Thus, the world in which we live will always be filled with opposites. It is also a world where we can never totally eliminate one side. The truly wise man understands that many forces come to bear in their lives and they don’t try and eliminate what they don’t like or ignore what they can’t handle, they learn to balance the forces to achieve harmony.

Deep eh ? But how does one achieve this balance ? Well, that will be the subject of my next post grasshopper. The path to balance comes from control.

It’s all about control

Last time I was talking about how balance is probably the thing that we are all looking for, in business and personally. The question is how do you find it ? Balance, as you know is a very hard thing to not only achieve but also maintain. If you stand on a see-saw and try to keep it balanced you will have to make adjustments from side to side. Also, if you stand on one foot you’ll spend all your time shifting you weight to maintain your balance. So what allows balance ? CONTROL.

A wise person once said “those who are not in control of themselves are destined to be controlled by other” and not a truer word was spoken. Take a look around today and see how out of control most people are. Everyone is trying to be something they are not. They want to be like this Hollywood star, they want a house as big as their neighbours, they want a salary as big as the bosses and so. The problem is that this lack of control is making millions for businesses selling these dreams. If you are in control of your life, it doesn’t matter what any one else does you are not influenced. It is stressful enough to try and live one life, why try living someone else’s as well as yoru own ? If you are in control you can look objectively at what is on offer and decide whether it is right for you. If it is great, if not then at least you know that it is not.

One of the biggest industries today no doubt is weight loss and dieting. The problem is nearly everyone now knows that to lose weight is simple, eat less, exercise more and get enough sleep. Problem is that everyone wants the short cut. Everyone is looking for that “miracle” diet that will shed pounds in minutes. Guess what ? It doesn’t exist ! Never has never will. Why are people looking for a “miracle” ? Because they don’t have any control. They couldn’t be bothered putting in the time to take control of their lives and thus are destined to be controlled by others and fad “miracle diets“. Sure, most people lose weight on these diets but do they keep it off ? No. Sooner or later they regress to their old out of control self and put the weight back on ( plus a few extra kilos normally ). Then the whole pattern is repeated. Again, they do not have control of themselves.

When you drive a car you are in control of a very dangerous piece of machinery. I read somewhere that cars kill more people every year that people that have been killed in all wars in history combined. Now, I don’t know if that is true but when we go out on the road we trust that the other drivers out there are in control. Why is it not the same with life ? Too many people today are not willing to take control of their lives to make a difference. Why ? Because it requires work, perserverance and commitment. But guess what ? Every day requires more work, perserverance and commitment to achieve your goals. As some other wise person once said, “to achieve anything worthwhile requires sacrifice” and this can’t be achieved without control.

The same applies in business. As Michael Gerber says in the E-Myth, if you are working in a business where you can’t take holidays when you like, can’t afford a sick day and are working long hours, you don’t have a business you have a job. In short, you are controlled by your business. Most people start a business to get away from this but in fact they end up getting trapped in it. Again, it is a hard step to take but to achieve the business you desire you need to have control. You need to have a good look at your business and ask the hard questions like ” would I be better off just working for someone else”. Someone who is in control can not only ask that question but answer it truthfully.

I am no expert but I believe that the key to life is balance and the way to achieve balance is through control. The question now is how does one achieve control ? You’ll never guess what, I have a theory on that as well, but I’ll save that for next time.

Know thyself

Last time I spoke about discipline but I also mentioned that everyone’s level of discipline is different. Why ? Simply because everyone is a unique individual ( thank goodness ). So if you want to improve your discipline the first step that you probably need to accomplish to learn about yourself. A more apt term is probably to listen to yourself or face the reality of being you. Why do I say that ? Well most people today seem to be trying to lead not only their own lives but someone else’s as well. They are so busy trying to be like this person, or be like that person, that they forget to be themselves.

The first step on any path of self improvement is knowing where you are and more importantly who you are. The first big reality check you need to make most likely is to come to terms with the fact that you are good at some stuff and bad at other stuff. Champions in any field don’t practice the stuff they are good at they work on the stuff they are bad at. Here in lies the challenge. As human beings we naturally don’t like doing stuff we stink at, but hey as I said before if it this was easy then everyone would be doing it. The key to attaining disclipine is to determine what needs work and then keep working at it. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised that sooner than you think it’ll turn out to be easier that you expected. I can also promise you that the more you work at it the easier it will become.

However, keep in mind that you need to be yoruself. For example, if you want to lose weight and you are not a morning person then it doesn’t make much sense to get up at the crack of dawn and attempt to run a marathon. If you know yourself, you will realise that this course of action is going to make it much more difficult than say going for a brisk walk after dinner each night. The secret to attaining what you want is to keep at it and you have a much better chance at achieving this if you give yourself every chance and don’t swim against the current.

Here’s another test I want you to take. Try brushing your teeth with your unnatural hand. A real challenge eh ? Why ? Aren’t your hands basically the same ? Aren’t they connected to the same brain ? When your brain tells your limbs to do something why doesn’t it do it ? See how poor your unnatural hand has become because you fail to use it regularly ? How many other natural assets do you have that you aren’t using to their fullest potential ? Why go looking for something else when by improving the quality of yourself you can gain much greater returns. Why start looking for solutions beyond yourself when you still don’t “know” yourself ?

Wanna know the best bit about “knowing” yourself ? It doesn’t cost you a cent. So spend sometime getting the know the person that you have been ignoring all this time. Starting working with yourself instead of against yourself. If you are both moving in the same direction then there is nothing that you can’t achieve.