Taking it Forward

Creating YOUR OWN BUSINESS

A business is something separate from you. It’s a separate entity in the eyes of the authorities and this gives you several advantages in respect of your personal freedom.

Businesses essentially have four ‘departments’:

• Operations is creating whet the business provides, in this case what you do, what you deliver, a product or service
• Finance is about managing the money
• Compliance is about abiding by any regulations which apply to the business but if it’s just you’ there aren’t too many to worry about
• Marketing is about presenting your business to your potential clients and here’s the thing, without effective marketing you don’t have a business. Don’t expect people to turn up looking for whatever you have to offer without your letting them know about it in the right way.

There are lots of myths about business explained in my ‘What They Don’t Tell You . . .’ book and for some reason, probably a ‘hangover’ from mid-20th century politics schools seem to actively discourage the idea of starting you own business as an option, though happily people are beginning to ignore this.

All you need to know about ‘how’ is in my book ‘How to Create Your Own Personal Business’ and in the ‘Personal Business Creation System’ (PBCS) within the Academy we take you step by step through the procedures of getting our business set up, validating your ‘business model’ and creating your business plan.

If you are in the ‘helping industry’ (a coach, therapist, healer or mentor) we have a special section for you adapting the PBCS to your special circumstances and markets.

The key thing, as explained further in the book and in the PBCS is your ‘why’. It’s not just about creating the means to provide the resources you need, it’s about your passion, what you really want to do with your life. If you are passionate about scuba diving set up a scuba diving business, if you are passionate about horses set up a business catering to the equestrian market, if you have special therapy, healing or coaching skills and love to do that then set up a business doing it. Do not, on the other hand, set up any business ‘just for the money’. If you do that you will fail.

A business may be one stream of your income but it’s just like you. It needs multiple streams of income as well, multiple clients, multiple customers. A business with only one client however big and lucrative that client might be, has no future. If you have 20 clients, it doesn’t matter if you lose a few. If you only have one, lose them for any reason and you’re out of business.

In the Publications area you’ll find the ‘Business Vision Workbook’. You should complete this and the coaching session at the end if you have even an inkling of an idea of a business you might like to operate.