Helping Entrepreneurs Go The Distance In Business… And Life!
It’s been 3-weeks since the last time I wrote a blog post, here on the site.
Warranted, there have been a couple of podcast episodes gone live – but, that process is completely automated – including the writing of the show notes and therefore needs zero input from me.
Just as well, too – as for the last few weeks I have been pretty much no good to anyone, when it comes to pretty much anything.
Reason? I hit burnout for the second time in my life – just like I did in late 2009.
…
As I approach the end of each year, I always start looking forward to my company’s Christmas get-together, where almost 300 teammates come together for a night of fun, laughter, music and a little mayhem!
This weekend, as my youngest celebrated his fifth birthday, I started thinking about how blessed I am to be at this point in time, in my life. None of what I have around me today would have happened if I’d have decided to stay in a ‘job’, and not be a creator of them (among other things), instead.
So, today I’d like to tell you a story. It’s my story. About the day I realized I was destined to be an entrepreneur. I’m sure you’re gonna relate to it in some way!
And at the end of the post, when you’re done reading, please comment and share YOUR STORY – I’d love to read them all.
…
Nowadays more than ever before, being a successful business owner is about making sure that your company name, identity, brand and even your personal brand (if you want to make it part of the attraction of doing business with you) can be found in every nook and cranny online.
Just over 4-years ago I launched this blog.
It wasn’t my first blog, but it was my first real step into personal branding. I knew and appreciated that a personal brand is something thats needed in today’s market, and did spend a bit of time on building my online brand throughout the few years prior, but never really focused on truly building my own unique brand online.
Since then I’ve landed opportunities for myself in the speaking industry, consulted and coached many amazing entrepreneurs, landed a book deal, started my third company and spent more than enough time replying to over 60,000 Twitter followers, 18,000 Facebook fans and an average of 120,000 readers to this blog every month, not to mention enjoying 300,000+ downloads to my podcast.
And, I have to say – I freakin’ love it all..!!!
…
Not so long ago, I featured one of my coaching clients here on the site, Fern Camacho. He attended my New York Mastermind in July this year and since then has been making some serious moves in his business.
There were so many positive comments on that post, that I decided to invite another of my mastermind tribe to come onto the site, and tell his story.
Enter Germany-based leadership coach and entrepreneur, Bernd Geropp.
I originally ‘met’ Bernd when he signed up for one of my coaching sessions last year. We then met in person at New Media Expo in January, and then he attended my London Mastermind, in May. Bernd is a guy that takes action, this is clear – but following the London session I had no idea just how much action he was going to take!
…
While a lot of people wait for the New Year to come around to plan out what they want to achieve in the next 12-months, I plan for the upcoming year in the last quarter of the current year. It’s something I’ve done for a long time, and it’s always served me well.
A lot of business owners leave the planning of a fresh, new year of opportunities until the beginning of it.
I believe, however, that planning a full quarter in advance (if not longer) has been the difference for me becoming more successful in my pursuits, as well as more rounded and experienced from a business ownership standpoint. I just love seeing any type of plan that I put in place come to life, and thrive.
As as example, here are the last few years for me:
…
As a small business owner myself, I know how important it is to stay up-to-date with the ever changing trends that the business world throws at us.
I watch very little TV and I don’t read the newspapers. I rely entirely on the internet, and my iPad to stay up to date with whats going on in the world. When I want to focus on business, and the developments that affect me as a small business owner myself, I turn to blogs. Bloggers have the ability to express themselves in somewhat ‘real time’. They can keep their content fresh, and their opinions can be heard quickly.
However, in the world of business blogs there is a lot of noise. A lot of people are trying to get your attention, and with only so many minutes a day to devote to learning and consuming content (personally, I put aside around 30-45 minutes daily), you’ve got to be very strict with who’s content you make time for.
This is the reason why I’ve put this list together. This is not about online business, or online marketing. That’s another list entirely. This collection of blogs are my personal favorite / go-to people in the world of small business blogging. Individually they strike a chord with me enough to keep me coming back for more – over and over again.
Note: These blogs are listed in no particular order of preference, or influence.
…
In July this year I had the pleasure of holding two of my ‘Ducker Mastermind’ sessions in the USA, while I was there for the month attending a few events, handling a couple of speaking engagements and generally hanging out a little.
Both LA and NYC were fantastic mastermind events. I mean, serious stuff. There were so many highly enthusiastic and super smart people in attendance that I genuinely felt humbled to be the guy leading the discussions on both days.
There is something about getting a bunch of likeminded people together, in one room, for the day – and talking about nothing but business! Things happen. And for one particular entrepreneur that was part of the NYC session, a lot of things have happened since that day. And I wanted to give you all an update on his progress, so that you can see what happens when you embrace the power of taking action.
…
I often get asked if I only use Filipino VA’s, being that I am based here in the Philippines, and that I do employ a lot of local staff. The answer is a simple ‘no’.
There are certain things that I pretty much always look to outsource overseas (in reverse to the ‘norm’!), and in this post I thought it might be a good idea to discuss the main reasons why I ‘go overseas’, and the reasons why sometimes it’s a good idea to stay closer to home.
Before I get into things let me state very clearly that there is no right, or wrong way to outsource, as a ‘standard’. You’re going to do whatever you think is best for you, your business and your bank balance, at the end of the day. So keep an open mind, understanding (and respecting) that everyone has their own way of doing things.
…
The internet is hammered with ‘make money online’ articles, podcasts and videos on a daily basis and only a very few of those that claim to be making ‘real’ money online, are actually doing it – the rest are all-out lying.
I’m a blogger.
But, I’m a business owner first.
And no matter how successful I (hopefully) become online, and no matter how much money I make online, I will always be a businessman first, a blogger second. Why? Because it’ll help me make more money – plain and simple.
If you’re trying to make a living online, don’t get me wrong – this post isn’t about beating you up, or to try and deter you from achieving your goals. No. In fact, this post is about giving you a wake-up call, of sorts, and hopefully helping you realize that having the ‘professional blogger’ mindset won’t enable you to make a lot of money.
…
One of the biggest misconceptions of working with virtual staff is that one employee can do everything for you. I call this the ‘Super VA Myth’, and I’ve busted it over and over again! It’s just not possible. Not in the real world, and not in the virtual world.
In order to effectively use virtual assistants to grow your business, you need to hire for the role, not the task. Something that I say all the time.
That means building a team. A team that will work together to achieve what you’re aiming for as a business owner.
It’s with this in mind that I decided to put together this list of tasks that you can outsource to virtual staff to grow your business more effectively. You’ll see that I’ve broken it down into the following roles:
…
Chris is a serial entrepreneur and highly regarded as THE authority on the subject of building a profitable personal brand business.