Let’s End The Year Off Right – With Daniel Priestley

Daniel Priestley

This man is a successful entrepreneur, international speaker and best-selling author. He started out as an entrepreneur in 2002 (at age 21) and built a multi-million dollar event marketing and management business before age 25. He has since built several successful businesses in the UK, Australia and Singapore.

Daniel is known for coining the phrase “Global Small Business” and has been sharing the concept of an “Entrepreneur Revolution” since 2007.

His belief is that an Entrepreneur Revolution is unfolding. Daniel predicts that a great trend towards self employment is emerging. In the same way that the Industrial Revolution caused a sea change from cottage industry to factory labour, the entrepreneur revolution will provide the chance for billions of people to turn their passion into their own small business.

According to him, “Several trends are converging that give a serious upper hand to small business over big business. In the future, the big businesses that will survive will be the ones that figured out how to partner with a lot of small businesses. Highly talented people will identify themselves as entrepreneurs rather than employees. Work on demand will replace careers and people will get involved in projects as opposed to long term employment.”

(Bio courtesy Daniel Priestley: Observations on the Entrepreneur Revolution)

Product Creation in These Radical Times

In this presentation, Daniel continued with his Entrepreneur Revolution predictions and benefited the audience with diverse ways in which we can ride the waves of this seemingly irrevocable business evolution. Here’s what I learned from him:

• Tech & Unemployment – these sectors are eradicating today’s jobs: entrepreneurship might be the only option in the future
• Personal branding brings new opportunity
• Ideas, on their own, are worthless – when implemented well, ideas can earn millions
• Get away from information & ideas – get into implementation. Actually work on bringing the idea to life.
• Time is worthless – people only want to pay for the results
• The results rule is to charge based on results, not on time.
• Develop a micro-niche – A tiny niche of an idea can make you millions of pounds

Why Get Into The Entrepreneurship Revolution?

1)      Do what you love

2)      Deliver value

3)      Get rewarded

4)      Make a difference – do something that’s good for the world

Products are the way forward

1)      They never sleep

2)      They help make sales

3)      They help deliver value

4)      They bring opportunity

5)      They go anywhere

The growth inhibitor is burn out. The solution is to ‘Productise’: work on your sales & marketing, value and legal & admin aspects of your business

Business Models That Don’t Work For Small Business

1)      Only one product or service – brand dependent

2)      Brokerage – Time dependent (selling other people’s business value)

3)      J Curve – Capital dependent e.g. a restaurant: needs high money investment to be successful

4)      One Stop Shop – System dependent: can sell all sorts of products e.g Tesco, Costco & Amazon

Business Model That Works For Small Business

1)      Ascending Transaction Model (ATM) – Strategy Dependent

ATM Products do 2 things: Deliver value & Build relationships

There are FOUR levels of Product

1)      Free – giveaways

2)      Product for Prospects – samples

3)      Core Offering – Fullest & most remarkable solution you could possibly deliver (your best products)

4)      Logical Next Steps – What else can I offer as an extension of the core product

Getting It Right

Each product:

• Has key outcomes
• Is ‘decomoditised’ (unique)
• Is desirable
• Contains your method

The only way to protect your idea is to actually get it out there! – reveal it and associate it to yourself

We’re already on a mountain of value – harness it!

Get your value out to the world.

Check out this video of Daniel talking about the benefits of social media in small businesses. Let’s see what new things you can learn today:

What did you think about these snippets of wisdom today? Does anything jump out at you? Any words to remember? What can you remember today that has the potential to change your tomorrow?

An Ode To The Day Of Giving Thanks

I know that I’m late. Thanksgiving was 3 days ago. Clearly I didn’t get the memo on punctuality! But to be honest with you I actually was not going to write a thanksgiving post. I figured what’s the point? They’re not big on that here in the UK so I thought I’d leave it up to my fellow American counterparts to acknowledge the feeling that is ‘gratitude’. But that was until my epiphany Friday night!

As I lay my head to rest, preparing to empty my mind of the day’s events and drift off into Never Never Land I realized that I had a lot of positive things happen to me this past week that I should really be grateful for. I don’t usually go to bed thinking about all of the good things that have happened to me on a daily or weekly basis; I don’t even keep a gratitude journal. But reading through tons of Thanksgiving blog posts on Huffington Post (including Oprah’s) and elsewhere in the blogosphere, had me thinking a lot about what I had to be grateful for at this point in my life. Furthermore, since this blog is indeed intended to be the hub of all things lush and luminous, I tapped myself on the head for almost missing a great opportunity to share with you guys the things that have made my life positively jolly this past week. So here we go…

1)      Sent An Email To My Ex (Fling)

‘What? Why would you do that?!’ you may ask. Well you see, he and I had a very very close bond for about a year. He was basically the male version of myself. We probably would have been better off as best friends but life didn’t have it that way. Our chemistry and curiosity got the better of us, and we got involved. Long story short, earlier this year, February as a matter of fact, I decided to drift away from him rather suddenly. I did so because I realized that he and I would have never worked out, regardless of how connected we seemed to be. Want to know how I drifted away from him? There was no ‘bye’, or ‘see ya later’…there was no explanation…no civilized chat over a cup of coffee. Ashamedly, the only strategy I knew…the safest but most hurtful strategy…was to turn our daily chats into weekly chats and then our weekly chats into monthly chats until we chatted no more. I simply just stopped talking to him. It was a deplorable way to deal with the situation, I know. But I really didn’t know any better. For months I regretted the silly way I ended things but was not brave enough to say something. That was until maybe 3 months ago when I finally understood what it meant to act in spite of fear. So last Saturday, 8 days ago,  I finally sent him that long-awaited apology explaining how and why I stopped speaking to him, and put it out there that I hoped he’d forgive me for it one day (holding grudges is a big (useless) part of his personality). My heart was palpitating in my chest whilst I typed away; I hadn’t spoken to him in so long. I said a quick prayer before I even pressed ‘Send’…that’s how anxious I was. Till today he hasn’t responded, but you know what, I’m very okay with that. So long as he’s happy and he’s living life to the fullest I’ve got nothing to complain about.

So what am I grateful for?  – The experiences that I shared with him. The strength to do something thing that scared me. Being the ‘bigger person’. Courage to press forward in spite of fear. The ability to move on with peace of mind.

2)      I Saw My Beau Twice This Week

Some of you might scoff at this…twice in one week what’s so great about that?!…Well let me tell ya! In a relationship like mine where you sometimes go 3 weeks without seeing your significant other, twice in one week is like a bonus! The first day was Tuesday when we had a nice little munch at Pizza Hut and then went to the cinema to see the climax of the Twilight trilogy (How bad ass was Bella?!…how ‘sexually appealing’ was Edward? :D). That date was very far from gourmet, but as they say, it’s the little things that count. I was just so happy to be in his presence. We live an hour apart and we’re both busy making a living in our own ways so it’s sometimes really difficult to cross paths often. But I live for challenges…triumphs always come after the trials, and this one is worth it. The second encounter I had with my significant other, however, was totally spontaneous. Friday, there I was seated in one of the bright red buses the UK is very famous for, on my way to work. At one of the bus’ stops, I stared blankly into space as new passengers stomped onto the bus, eager to get out of the cold, and to my utter shock and surprise he was one of those stomping souls. I was really caught off-guard. We didn’t talk about this…we didn’t plan…what was he doing here?! As he sat next to me he confessed that since he was in the area he wanted to surprise me, so he rushed to the bus stop hoping to get the same bus I was on. The effort that he put into seeing me made my night. He didn’t have to do that. This surprise had me grinning from ear to ear like a fool, and as you would imagine, work was exceptionally great too.

So what am I grateful for? – To love and be loved in return. The little things. The absences – they make every moment we see each other precious. Happiness. Security. Comfort.

3)      I’m Officially On Holiday For Christmas (Trinidad Here I Come!).

Since I’ve gotten my new job, it’s been a struggle to get my holiday leave for Christmas. For a month I’d been going from manager to manager in order to get my vacation sorted but nothing seemed to be happening. Last Monday, to my dismay, I realized that I would have to cut my holiday short by a week in order to have it approved according to company policy. This revelation opened a hugely unwanted Pandora’s box where I then had to change my flight (that was booked since the BEGINNING of this year) to even begin to think about leaving the country. The agency I booked with kept coughing up all of these high prices, the worst of them being £800 (British Airways needs to sort themselves out)! It got to the point where I wasn’t even sure if I should go anymore. I was not prepared to practically give away £800 for 3 weeks in the sun. I was ready to give up and call it a day. But on Wednesday, my glorious day off, I was encouraged (forced) to go into work and speak to a ‘Big Boss’. I reluctantly did this, but once I got there and found the person with rank, I was able to fully explain my situation to a lovely, very understanding woman I hadn’t yet met. The following day, I sent her a follow-up email explaining my situation once again and practically pleaded with her to approve my vacation.  And by Friday morning I received a confirmatory email stating that my suggested travel dates were confirmed. Yay!! Relief flooded through me as I got on the phone with my travel agency immediately and proceeded to change my flight before British Airways dreamed up any other ridiculous price hike. And the best thing was that I didn’t have to pay anywhere near £800 for my new dates.

So what am i grateful for? – Not giving up – the victory was right around the corner. Understanding, friendly bosses. Money. Family Holidays. Trinidad & Tobago – The place I call home. 

4)      I’m Halfway To My UK Drivers License

On Thursday, the day after my unexpected trip into work to demand  beg on my knees that my holidays be given to me, I took my driving theory test. I had been planning and preparing for it months before. I had initially booked to take it in October, only to realize on the said same day I was booked to take the test that I couldn’t find the documentation that I needed. That day, I had to miss my test (and lose money). So annoying! A week later, however, I was ready to book again. At that point I had 2.5 weeks left to re- prepare. But being the excellent procrastinator that I am, I didn’t start revising for my test properly until Monday morning. The last-minuteness of it all caused me to go to bed exhausted, in the wee hours of the morning for 3 consecutive days. I thought to myself, ‘I cannot go through this again’. So when Thursday came I was armed and ready to spurt out as much information as was needed to pass the test. I got to the centre 5 mins late (I’m terrible with understanding maps and directions), but they allowed me to take the test anyway (kind souls). It was quite tricky, the test. There were some questions I had to return to more than twice just to make sure I had chosen the right answer. You could never be 100% sure with these things. So once I left the test room I braced myself for the official letter that stated whether I was successful or a total failure.  Once that letter was placed in my hands, I quickly skimmed through the first line. The first line is all you really need to read to know where the rest of the letter would be going isn’t it? In case I failed I wanted to know quickly. But to my supreme joy, the first word on the first line was ‘Congratulations’! Talk about relief! I didn’t read the rest of the letter. I didn’t care about the rest of the letter. The point was that I had passed my test and the hard part was over. I packed that letter neatly into my handbag and walked home on air, anxious to waste the rest of my night on Tumblr. Now all I need to do is get my driving practical in the bag! But that’s another task for another day.

So what am i grateful for? – A fully functioning brain. The feeling of success. Progression. Accomplished goals. Google Maps.

So what do you have to be thankful for this week…this month…this year?

Share in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you…

I am a Happy Chappy Little Puppy! Want to Know Why?

THE BREAKING NEWS

Great news! Great news! Most of you won’t know this but I was frantically searching for a new job for approximately 2 months of hard-core depression! I mean, I hated the ups and downs that those 2 months brought into my life. Job searching is never easy. But thank God, last month the 2 months finally culminated in me receiving a job offer…and a good one at that! I will never forget the toil and stress that I endured, soon after the London Olympics ended, trying to find a job here in the UK. And to be honest, 2 months isn’t really that long when I think about other people who I know who took approximately half of a year before they managed to enter the working world. I should really count my blessings. But the experience was not fun. These days, it seems to me that employment is largely based on who you know, not what you know.

THE JOURNEY

I spent 2 months waking up early every morning in order to send approximately 10 job applications a day via online recruiters and to direct companies before moving on with the rest of my day.  I would be so hopeful for each one. I would read, re-read and re-read again, ensuring that my application was flawless. I was desperate to be exactly what each employer was looking for. So you can just about imagine how frustrating it was to receive loads of rejections from various recruiters and companies. I knew that rejections were to be expected, I was prepared for them, but the fact of the matter is that it never took me more than 3 weeks before I got a new job. So to wait 2 LONG months before getting that much-needed call of success was very challenging! I felt so unstable. My life was at a standstill while everyone else’s around me seemed to be moving a top speed. I was so frustrated that I actually began thinking about making plans to move back to Trinidad to find a job there because the waiting process in the UK is simply ridiculous! I knew that it wasn’t necessarily my fault that the process was taking so long but I felt like such a failure. It really took me by surprise that this journey of moving into employment was the most arduous one I’ve experienced to date.

THE THOUGHT PROCESS

The funny thing is that the exact same day that I got my job offer, I was actually in the process of creating a career plan. I got a sheet of paper, took out my pen and began creating a spider diagram that depicted how I thought my life would be if I stayed in the UK, moved back to Trinidad or decided to give the working world a break and go travelling somewhere. It was disheartening creating that diagram because I didn’t expect things to boil down to that, but I knew that I didn’t want to remain stagnant. I wanted to keep moving. And if I had to move onto a Plan B or Plan C, that’s what I had to do. If it meant that I’d remain unemployed and quite frankly, very unhappy in the UK then I had to take personal action and change the things that I could in order to bring more joy and happiness into my life.

THE CALL

Ironically, this new job that I received with a large media organisation in the UK…arguably the largest…was the last application that I had submitted. After sending hundreds of job apps I vowed that it would be my last for a while. I needed a break. So whilst dejectedly creating the spider diagram of my master plan, my phone started to ring beside me. ‘Unknown number? Who can this be?’ I thought. When I answered, to my surprise it was the recruiter calling from the job. I kid you not, when he said his name and where he was calling from, I knew that this was it…he was going to tell me whether I was successful or rejected once again! I literally began to shake. So much was riding on his answer – moving back to the Caribbean…doing more job applications…feeling like a failure for not being able to achieve a goal I had set for myself in the targeted time I had hoped to achieve it…having more money…being able to avoid the sensitive questions like ‘so do you have a job yet?’ or ‘what are you doing now?’…my stability – financial and otherwise – I really really needed him to give me that confidence boosting ‘YES!’. And when he did, I swear I shook even more! I couldn’t contain my excitement. The joy and immense relief that flooded over me was indescribable. It came at the perfect time, a knight in shining armour rescuing me from my tall tower of self-despair. Just when I was about to concede to life and move onto Plan B, my Plan A came through for me. I couldn’t believe it! When he told me that I was successful in my application I literally felt the stress, tension and frustration shake off of my body. That night I excitedly called all my family and friends to tell them the good news, and happily dressed up for a celebratory Chinese buffet dinner in town.

THE LESSONS

What this experience made me realise is that, in retrospect, I never gave up! Although it was a definite struggle to get a job and I had to sacrifice so much in order to apply for just about any job I thought I was qualified to do, there was always a little voice in the back of my head that nudged me forward and said ‘just do one more’. That little voice is what kept me moving. I shudder to think what would have happened if I didn’t listen to that voice when it came to submitting that last application. I probably would have been well on my way into Plan B by now.

So my message to you is this: Never give up on yourself! You may be looking for a job as well, or you may be desperate to shift careers or start a business or lose weight…whatever your situation or circumstance, I am begging you – DO NOT GIVE UP! I’ve learned that it’s not going to be easy. There will be struggles. There will be sacrifice. You will have happy days. You will have sad days. You will have failures. You will have success. It’s all part-and-parcel of stepping out and aiming to do something different in order to get to where you want to be. It’s all part of making change in your life. It’s all part of going down a new path in life. Never stop listening to that voice in the back of your head that spurs you on to do more…to be more…to execute more. Stop looking at wherever you are in your journey. Envision where you can be if you continue to just ‘show up’. You can do whatever you put your mind to. Just keep moving. Once you learn from your mistakes, develop new strategies, push a little more and give a little more effort, when you least expect it, that’s when your challenges turn into success-stories.

I hope this story gives you guys that extra inspiration and self-confidence to achieve all that you’ve set out to do in your busy lives.

Can you relate to this post?

What did you accomplish when you chose not to give up?

How Do You Handle Rivalry?

‘There are people who, on meeting a successful rival, no matter in what, are at once disposed to turn their backs on everything good in him, and to see only what is bad. There are people, on the other hand, who desire above all to find in that lucky rival the qualities by which he has outstripped them, and seek with a throbbing ache at heart only what is good’ – Tolstoy

Ok, so in the novel there is another character named Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin. He’s a rugged country boy who loves working with his hands and doesn’t really care to associate himself with town life. Only problem is he’s fallen in love with an uptown girl…a princess in fact, named Kitty Shtcherbatsky who is the youngest sister of Darya, Stiva’s wife. Although he resides in the country he returns to Moscow in order to make an offer of marriage to Princess Shtcherbatsky.  His passion for her is unfailing, and although he doubts himself being worthy of her love he is determined to fulfil his mission of asking her hand in marriage. Unbeknownst to him, however, Kitty has another suitor by the name of Alexei Kirillovitch Vronsky – a rich, handsome, cultured, charismatic young man from the army. The two men are total contrasts. Kitty had fond childhood memories of Levin because he was once a good friend to her deceased brother, but her heart truly lied with Vronsky because of his dashing personality and impeccable social status. He made her heart flutter like butterfly wings with all of his charm and charisma.

Levin, poor fellow, subjected himself to this brutal reality when he attended one of Kitty’s mother’s evening parties quite early, in order to propose without disturbance. He was pitifully rejected and to his dismay, as he was about to silently slip away, Vronsky arrived at the social event with other guests. Intrigued by this person so loved by Kitty, he decided to stay to see what made this Vronsky guy so special. And this now brings me to the quote introduced at the beginning. Despite how hard it was to see, Levin decided to focus on all of the positive, outgoing qualities that Vronsky had, which totally overshadowed his.

I really like that quote because, in using the example of Levin’s jealousy towards Vronsky, it gave me a different perspective on how we ought to view those who make us feel bitter, resentful, jealous, envious or insecure. In the face of rivalry, its human condition to completely overlook  everything good in our ‘enemies’. We easily breed jealousy or contempt against those who are naturally better than us in some way, and although they may be the nicest most humble people in the world we just create this distasteful view of them because they essentially have the things that we want. They may be prettier/more handsome than us, make more money than us, be more successful than us, wear the clothes that we can only dream of affording, or in this case, have the love and affection of the guy/girl that we so badly wish we had for ourselves. It’s so easy to dislike or become resentful towards those who are better than us in some way.

But Levin was a real trooper in the way he handled the situation with Vronsky. Acknowledging Vronsky as the ‘winner’ of Kitty’s heart he ventured to find out why…what was so good about him? Having the opportunity to scrutinise his ‘enemy’ he realized that Vronsky was actually quite intelligent, sincere and agreeable.  He chose to view him in a positive light first. And to be honest, I realized that sometimes it’s the best way to confront a situation of competition or rivalry. Find the good in your adversary. For (random) example,

• Samsung has been scrutinising all of Apple’s goods for years…and in case you haven’t noticed, nowadays Samsung’s technological devices are so advanced that their competing neck and neck with the global technological hegemon. 
• Sports people such as footballers and tennis players focus on the strengths and tactics of their adversaries when competing against them; and by acknowledging these they’re able to defeat their opponents by creating excellent defence strategies.

So what I’m trying to say is: use rivalry to your benefit. Don’t use insecurity, jealousy or resentment to shun your rival(s). Seek your best interests. Investigate why they get what you don’t or why they have what you only dream of. If you continue to think of yourself as mistreated or betrayed you essentially give those people power over you each ruined day that you see them. Instead, turn them into what they are not – your unwanted mentor…your point of direction. If someone keeps getting As when you get Bs then learn more, study more…if someone at work is outshining you with bigger and better promotions then maybe it’s time you start taking lessons from them – be bolder, more creative, more innovative, more curious…if someone effortlessly gets the guy/girl that he/she wants and you’ve been single for forever then be more outgoing, more confident, more approachable. Don’t belittle the talents or successes of those around you; find the source of your negative feelings and seek a solution. I guarantee that once you start using rivalry to your benefit things will definitely start looking up for you.

Agree? Disagree? Don’t care? What do you think? How do you handle rivalry?

Inspiration For Today