Business Success: One, Two! One Two!
by Nicola Cairncross on February 29, 2008
in Money Gym | Diaries
I’m planning a major new report thise week – the working title is “Back To Front Marketing (Killer Wealth Creation Strategies For The 21st Century Business)” but it’s only a working title. I have a better – shorter – one in mind.
As all good ideas do, it came to me in the shower, and luckily my memory cells are sufficient that it lasted past the hairdryer and breakfast and all the way into my new work space, the dining table, which is conveniently close to the sofa, my new convalescent day bed. Handy for naps.
The article grew out of my thinking about several events coming together, as is the way, synchronistically (is that a word? if not it should be!) First of all, a rather intriguing new magazine arrived yesterday from The Entrepreneur Channel and it caught my eye because it’s got an article by Duncan Ballentyne from Dragon’s Den (cor) although the man on the front cover is Andrew Reynolds, whom I have only met briefly but know to be a VERY SERIOUS business person.
I first came across Andrew when he pretty much singlehandedly put 1200 bums on seats for the World Internet Summit UK (the year after I spoke for them sadly!).
He’s a quiet man, but knows how to enjoy his wealth – he recently had a lot of fun at his 50th birthday party, including having Elton John playing for the guests live!
Then I met him briefly at the secret filming for Alan Forrest Smith’s product for Entrepreneur TV, and we discussed the possibility of my working with them, but nothing has come of it (yet).
His dad and grand-dad were aspiring business men, but as Andrew recounts in this magazine, they were always working to a flawed business model so never made any money. He talks very eloquently about the look of “despair and rage” that he regularly saw on his father’s face, and this still drives him today. Andrew grew up in very poor circumstances indeed – one pair of trousers and shoes at a time, always cold in winter- and so he worked very hard in corporate life, albeit miserably, until he came across an business opportunity that resonated with him, offered by someone who he already knew of, liked and trusted, so he jumped in with both feet.
Two interesting points there. No matter how entrepreneurial you are, and how hard you work, if you have a flawed business model, you are never going to make money, let alone become rich, via the business lane of the Wealth Highway. It’s one of the two main Lanes most multi-millionaires use to become seriously wealthy but it’s a minefield if you don’t know what you are doing.
How can you know if a business model is flawed? Well, you won’t unless you have learned by bitter experience or you have a mentor. Some business people discover a successful model by trial and error but many, many more give up before they find one.
This is my own experience. I must have started about 40 business since I was eight years old, but it was only after meeting my wealth mentors that I realised that there is a blueprint for business success, especially business success that leaves you free to enjoy your life, but that hardly anyone – unless they have been successful themselves – can tell you what that blueprint is.
The real hidden danger in business, the sargasso sea of this lane, is actually ….
