The darker side of business ownership …

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Laura Humphreys

I don’t have time to write this blog. But I can’t sit at my desk in integrity and not write it. Because I’ve owned a number of businesses and I have been to the dark side. And when my mission is to set business owners free, I can’t ignore the black hole that seems to engulf certain entrepreneurial spirits amongst us.

This week I’ve read about two young entrepreneurs (one in his early twenties, the other thirty years old) in America who have ended their life, seemingly worn down by the immense stress that building a business can place on the founder. In this latest article, with the tragic headline ‘Start up founder jumped to her death from a roof top bar’, the writer references a study by Dr. Michael Freeman, a clinical professor at UCSF and an entrepreneur, was one of the first to link higher rates of mental health issues to entrepreneurship.

Of the 242 entrepreneurs he surveyed, 49% reported having a mental-health condition. Depression was the No. 1 reported condition among them and was present in 30% of all entrepreneurs.

This statistic doesn’t surprise me. I talk about this subject a lot with my clients and members… the harsh reality of business that no one tells you when you get started. I call it the roller coaster of business – a world of extreme highs and extreme lows. If you are determined to be successful, this is a ride very few dedicated business owners can avoid. I talk about because I want my clients to be prepared – to buckle up tight and ride out the highs and the lows.

In business, you will have moments of joy, when everything goes right – you win clients, you love your team, the income is looking healthier than it’s ever done. And you will have times when the bottom falls out of your world. You lose a big client, you have a rogue staff member, you are worried about money, you are working too hard and sleeping too little. You can only imagine the worst. You feel like everything is on the line and you’ve put all you have into the business – your heart, your reputation, your time, your money – the thought of losing it all is overwhelming. It’s a lonely and miserable place. Despair can live here if you let it.

But you mustn’t let it. You must know that this is normal. Every business owner experiences the highs and lows. I’ve been there, I know. I nearly had a nervous break down halfway through building my first business. I will never forget how depressed I became during that time.

I do think it is very sad that young people such as the woman in the article are losing their way in our entrepreneurial society – becoming so desperate that they feel they must take their own lives. These are young people with the courage to dream, to step out into the world and take on the challenge of building something amazing. They don’t know that they are also building their own monster, the beast that grows and can eat them alive if they are not ready for it.

Of course it isn’t just young people. Success in business takes its toll on all business owners from time to time. So in writing this I want you to know that this is normal. If you are reading this, you are a business owner. And I know you will have found the whole thing unspeakably tough sometimes. So I just want to say to you something I’ve learned that keeps me sane and grounded, whatever life throws at me:

It always turns out OK. Always.

No matter how bad it seems, no matter how desperate the situation feels – it always gets better. Don’t let things keep you awake at night with worry (although I know you will sometimes). The worry doesn’t fix it. Even if the whole thing crashes and burns, you will be OK. YOU WILL BE OK. Life will go on. Your family and friends will still love you. The sun will still shine. And as Jack Dawsey says in my favorite line in Titanic, “you will die an old lady (or man) warm in your bed”. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems. Just get up in the morning and do the best you can to fix whatever is going wrong. Whatever happens, you’ll be OK.

I work with business owners because I know I can help them. I’m there through good and bad, highs and lows. Mostly we work on the growth and I push people to strive for the dream of a beautiful exit, where they get to live happily ever after. But I know it’s not a straight line to the top. So I’m also the voice of comfort and reason when the going gets tough. I love my work!

If you ever find yourself struggling and feeling like it’s all too much, remember my mantra…”it always turns out OK”.

Thank you for being a dreamer and an action taker.

You rock.

The 2 critical factors to business growth that no one else talks about…

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Laura Humphreys

In recent months my business partner, Mike Brunel*, and I have been helping a number of small business owners overcome their blocks to business growth. And as we dig deeper into what it really takes to grow a business, we have had an epiphany that we’d like to share with you…

There are 2 critical factors to business success that NO ONE talks about.

And in our view, it’s time this changed… because if you understand these 2 factors and embrace them in your business …. You WILL SUCCEED and you can grow an EXTRAORDINARY business.

So what are they then, these 2 secret factors? Let us share them with you…

Mindset. The first factor involves your appetite for growth in the first place. How big are you really willing to grow? What limitations are you putting on your business before it even gets started? Have you even thought about the true potential for your business? What are your attitudes to wealth? What is your relationship with money? Are you sitting inside a comfort zone that is restricting the potential of your business? As the Liber8 team investigates these questions with our clients, we are witnessing huge mindset shifts that enabling growth that simply didn’t exist before.
Model. Once you adopt what we call the ‘growth mindset’, the next critical success factor is your business model. Do you have a model that is capable of growth? Where is your current model restricting growth? How can you re-engineer it to be less dependent on you and more scalable? Is your offering positioned to take advantage of the largest market open to you? Have you thought about the model underpinning your business? Have you explored the potential you are sitting on?

Until you address these two critical factors, it doesn’t matter how many courses you attend, or what tricks you learn… you remain in danger of standing in the way of your business’ true potential. You won’t see the shift from ordinary to EXTRAORDINARY until you step outside of your comfort zone and explore what’s truly possible.

The Liber8 team are building Mindset & Model into all our materials – programmes and products – from now on. We’ll keep you informed on how you can take on the challenge to allow your business to be EXTRAORDINARY.

Be prepared for significant break throughs!

* Meet Liber8 Mentor, Mike Brunel. Like me, Mike has successfully built and sold a business. Unlike me, Mike’s business was global – with offices all over the world. Like me (and every other successful entrepreneur I’ve ever interviewed), Mike had humble beginnings. He began as a sheep shearer and then door-to door salesman. I began as secretary. We both built successful business. But we are neither one of us trained business people. The Liber8 motto is “if we can do it, anyone can do it!”. We hope you’ll be joining us on Liber8 programmes soon.

3 reasons why your business is not ‘your baby’

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

Before you read this blog please take a moment to watch this quick video about Kathleen Turner of Tate’s Bake Shop – the story of a woman who lost it all then rebuilt it – with major success.

I love how towards the end of the video, Kathleen King talks about the reason for success behind her second business was because she took the emotion out. “I knew I had to execute efficiently and grow a viable business,” she says, “I didn’t have the same emotional attachment that I had with my first business.” Her first business was her baby. And after 23 years, when she was emotionally wrung out and exhausted from caring for this demanding baby for so long, she ended up $200,000 in debt instead of financially rewarded. Her baby bit her in the bum.

It’s not personal. It’s business

How many times have you heard someone refer to their business their ‘baby’? Have you ever called your own business your baby? It’s a very common analogy and one we can all relate to given the blood, sweat and emotional tears we put into our business when we decide to take that leap of faith and build our own dream.

But in my view it’s not a good analogy at all. Here are three reasons why I strongly believe your business is not your baby:

1. Babies are dependent on you for at least 18 years

With business one of your primary goals should be to decrease it’s dependency on you. A business is meant to be an asset, not a job. In the first few years, there are some similarities with parenting a newborn for sure – long hours, sleepless nights, relentless giving of your time and energy to name but a few – but this is not meant to last forever. And certainly not for 18 years! Prepare to start cutting the apron strings long before your business reaches adolesence. Don’t get so attached you are not willing to let go.

2. A baby is the single most emotional connection you will ever have

You will love your baby forever, regardless of who they become. I’ll never forget my mother after a few wines the night before my wedding hugging me tight and saying “I loved you the minute you were born. And then you started taking drugs!” Yes I was a troubled and troublesome teenager (although I like to think there were a few memories in between birth and my first foray into magic mushrooms). But she still had to love me, and thankfully still does.

The emotional connection is what makes parenthood worthwhile. But in business, the emotion can make us weak and cloud our judgment. Remember Kathleen King in the video? She had her first business – her baby – for 23 years and all it did was leave her with $200k in debt. Her second business she did without emotion – just with a clear plan and a determination to execute the plan. She went from scratch to $6 million in revenue, selling cookies in 50 US states in just 8 years. A far cry from the 23 years of her previous business where she kept her apron strings on right up to the very bitter end.

3. A baby is unlikely to pay you back financially

The days of the younger generation taking care of their parents financially are mostly over. Do you expect your kids to pay for you when you grow old? I know I don’t. That’s why I create businesses with a view to ensuring a financial pay back down the track – so I know I’ll be able to care for myself.

It’s important to view your business as an asset – something that you build to pay you back financially. Sure you have to be passionate about what you do, and love your business for the difference it makes in the world. But don’t be so attached to it you can’t see it for what it really is – one of your primary wealth creation tools. Unlike a baby, it should be feeding you.

In summary

Your business is not a baby. It’s a business. The game is to keep the emotion out of it, decrease its dependency and regard it as an asset that will ultimately feed you financially, not drain all of your resources.

Now, how do you feel about this? Still think your business is your baby?

Love to hear your comments. Post below.

6 reasons why business is like golf

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

Talking to a client today about how tiring her month had been with a roller coaster of ups and downs and good and bad, I found myself talking to her about my golf recently and how I was enjoying the ups and downs of it all. It occurred to me that business and golf are similar in many ways. Here are just six reasons why owning your own business is like playing golf:

1. You have to be passionate about it and it takes up a lot of your time.

2. You can just get started anytime you like with no professional help, but you quickly discover that a bit of guidance is a really good idea

3. You won’t get any better at it if you don’t keep playing the game – practice, practice, practice!

4. One day everything will be brilliant and you’ll know exactly why you love it

5. The next day it will all turn to s**t and you’ll want to give it up forever

6. You can aim for the hole in one, but small consistent steps can win the game

And here’s one major difference:

With golf you need little balls. With business you need….

Enjoy the game!

From the desk of Liber8me. Business mentors and author of Liber8 your Business: The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every small business owner free

Some frightening statistics about small business…

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

I’m about to share some frightening statistics taken from 2013 census :

Out of 469,118 businesses, 439,920 had less than 10 employees
That’s 94%!
74% of these are deemed uninterested in or unsuitable for expansion
55% self employed people are age 40 – 59
Average wage small business owners pay themselves is $40,000
What does this picture say to you? To me is says we have an economy largely made up of small business owners, who are not paying themselves enough and have no plan for growth. Many of these will hit retirement in the next 10 years, having worked hard in their business their entire life, and will not be able to sell it (no one will buy a business which is unsuitable for expansion). This is a bleak picture for the business owner and for the economy. I think it’s time things changed.
The two statistics I’d like to see change first are the % of business owners deemed uninterested or unsuitable for expansion, and the average small business owner wage being $40k. Both can be changed with education and inspiration. Firstly, there needs to be a movement to change attitudes. From a small business being more like a low paying job, to a belief that your business is an asset – there to feed you long term wealth. With some careful planning, a lot of drive and some expert guidance – many businesses can be re-engineered to enable growth. But it does take a willing owner. There needs to be a mind shift.
Secondly, there needs to be inspirational education and a support network that gives business owners practical steps to follow once they decide they are willing to go for it.My book Liber8 your Business, together with it’s companion workbook, have been designed more as an at home small business course than a book. The goal is to change attitudes and provide tools to enable change. I’d now like to see facilitated study groups all over the country, to help take the lessons out of the pages in and into practice in small businesses everywhere.
If you’d like to be part of this movement in any way, as a participant, as a facilitator or supporter contact me laura@liber8me.com

From the desk of Liber8me. Small business mentors and author of Liber8 your Business: The revolutionary planning technique that will set every business owner free

Have you created a business or a job? 5 tips for turning your small business into a big asset

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

My mantra for small business owners is simple: Don’t create a job, build yourself an asset. When you own a business you have the opportunity right there in your hands to build something that can create financial security for you in the future. You are going to work hard anyway, why waste this valuable time just paying yourself to do a job when you could be setting yourself up forever?

If you are serious (as I believe you should be) about building a saleable business, here are 5 success factors you can be thinking about right now:

1. Set your end goal. Decide how much you want to sell it for and by when, and work backwards. In my book Liber8 your Business, I show a simple formula for working out your potential end value, with a link to the online calculator.

2. Name your buyer. It’s important to have a good idea who might want to buy your business in your early planning. Imagine spending ten years building a business you intend to sell only to realize you have created something nobody wants to buy. If you build a business with a buyer in mind, you have a much better chance of building something they really want.

A potential buyer could be a larger player in your industry looking to grow through acquisition. This growth might be regional – they want a presence in your city or town and it’s easier to buy you than start from scratch. It might be strategic – you have a smart product or service they could add to their existing infrastructure to create additional revenue streams. An example of this might be a large accounting firm buying a small book-keeping firm to add value to their client base. Your service or product could become a ‘nuisance’ to a competitor (read more on a strategy called ‘kicking sand in the gorilla’s face’ in my book, Liber8 your Business) and they buy your company to prevent it competing or to regain lost revenues. It could be a management buy-out, when senior employees raise the funds to buy you out. It could be a competitor of a similar size wanting to grow and willing to invest to gain rapid growth through acquisition. I’ve sold businesses to two types of buyer. A multinational bought my advertising agency and a local competitor bought my pet care company. My father’s photocopier business sold to his senior management team. A good friend has built three recruitment agencies. The first sold to one of the original partners, who bought out the other partners. The second sold to a multinational looking for regional representation in her city. The third is in its early days of growth and I’ll watch with interest who buys it (I have no doubt it will sell because I know the founders expect this and will build with this in mind). Another type of buyer could be a private equity group or even an individual who sees great potential in what you’ve built.

So who might want to buy your business? What are you building that could add huge value to someone’s offering? Now is the time to start thinking about these things.

3. Remove the dependence on you. To make your business attractive to your future buyer, it cannot be dependent on you. That’s a key message I want you to learn from this article:

No one will outright buy a business that’s dependent on its owner.

If the buyer takes you out of the picture and no business remains, they will either insist you stay in the business or they will walk away. So whatever your strategy is, whatever your end goal, whatever your vision for the future … it needs to not have you in it. I did that at my agency by making sure the clients loved the business but weren’t dependent on me. In the last few years, I hired two senior guys and put them in charge of our biggest clients, so my buyer could see the clients were not reliant on me.

4. Start building a team as soon as you can. I couldn’t afford to bring in those big guns until later in my business growth. I started by hiring people I could afford, with a couple of youngsters straight from college. I trained them to do things exactly the way I wanted. I call it ‘training your clones’ – teaching people to follow your example and do things your way. I kept building my team that way until we could afford to hire more senior people. And then we had to make sure we had a really strong culture to manage senior people.

5. Secure future earnings. Getting all our key clients on fixed-term contracts was another critical strategy that worked. They all had two or three year contracts so when the buyer looked at my business they saw a high level of spend committed for the next three years. This was an important lesson I learned from my businessman father. Remember I told you about his photocopier business and how he sold it and retired soon after his fiftieth birthday? One of the best secrets to success he shared with me was, ‘you’ve got to have a back end.’ To explain, he gave the example of his own business. While the sale or lease of each copier was worth a lot of money (especially in the 1970s when these huge machines were a relatively new addition to business productivity) the real value came from the additional contract that went with each machine. This locked the customer into buying all their ink, toner and paper for the life of the machine, as well as regular paid servicing – which meant that, for every machine sold, my father had income guaranteed for the next 10 years, enabling him to predict with complete accuracy his future income. You can see why this made by father’s business attractive for a buyer. They could see a guaranteed return on their investment. It made sense to me when I started my own business, and I hope it does to you too. It will get you a higher price when you come to sell!

A business with committed future revenue that is not dependent on its owner to deliver that revenue is a business worth investing in.

You’ll find these 5 factors, and a whole lot of other ideas, tips, stories and exercises about creating freedom from business in my book – Liber8 your Business: The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every small business owner free.

Are you brave enough to have a powerful brand? Find out here…

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

As anyone who has worked with me will tell you, I’m an avid fan of branding. I look at a client’s brand and ask myself, does it tell me something exciting, original and impactful about their business? Does it set the foundation for everything the business stands for? Does it place them instantly a head and shoulders above the competition?

Often times the answer is no and I recommend that they engage a brand specialist to help them. One of these specialists, Steve Bailey features in my latest book The Liber8 Disciplines. Here’s an excerpt from the book about a conversation Steve and I had about branding and bravery:

“Over lunch recently, Steve asked me if I thought the readers of this book would have the courage to create a powerful brand. I stopped and peered at him over the bowl of hot soup I was enjoying. “Why do they need to be brave?” I asked. To which he replied, “Because if we succeed with creating the right brand for someone, they will get noticed… a great brand doesn’t let you hide away and be safe”.

Steve gave me an example of a small business client he had worked with recently. They came to him wanting a new brand, something that would build on their existing business but take it to a whole new level of excitement and attraction. He and his team came up with a new name and brand approach that was so perfect for them, when he told me I laughed out loud. “That’s great!” I cried. From the name alone I knew exactly what this business did and I could see their growth plan ahead of them in an instant. I could see a chain of stores nationally or globally; or a franchise model. The name was so catchy I already knew what the brand would look for and what they stood for. “But they weren’t willing to change their name,” Steve told me, “which I understand – it can be too big a step for some, especially when they’ve been around for a while. So we did a new brand strategy working with their existing name. We came up with a positioning platform and graphic device that shifted them into the next league almost as well”. Steve described this new idea to me and once again I laughed out loud. “But that’s great too!” I cried. “That really works. I can already see all the marketing ideas that go with that idea”. Steve shook his head, “They were too scared to do this too” he said. “They’ve gone back to their original logo”. I knew the company he was talking about and I knew that they really needed to change their image in order to become more relevant in the marketplace. I felt sad for them. They had missed an opportunity to evolve and they didn’t even know it. Now I understood what Steve meant about being brave. Being willing to have a powerful brand might mean you have to let go of what you already have to a certain degree. Or you might even have to change it completely.

I realised from listening to Steve that it is almost as important to understand what a brand isn’t as it is to know what a brand is. Why would someone go to a brand strategy agency if they were not willing to change their brand? I wondered if perhaps they just hadn’t really understood what there were really asking for”.

Do you know what it really means to have a great brand? Do you have any idea how powerful it can really be for you? Would you like to know more about branding? I’ve dedicated an entire section of The Liber8 Disciplines to this topic – it’s that important. If you’d like a sneak preview of this chapter, before the book is published – just email me (laura@liber8me.com).

From the desk of Liber8me. Business mentors and publisher of Liber8 your Business: The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every small business owner free.

Want to create a business success story? Learn to see the future

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

I’ve interviewed many wealthy entrepreneurs as part of my mentoring programmes, always seeking to find out what makes them so successful. How do they build businesses that achieve such growth and generate such great financial returns? The number one trait that comes through without exception is their ability to look into the future and see what their business looks like five, ten or fifteen years out. Successful business people have a really clear picture of their business when it’s ‘complete’, they can see where it is all heading. Rarely do they start a business without a clear idea of where they will take it. They do not randomly wander into business, nor randomly wander out or give up when it gets too hard or they run out of money. Successful entrepreneurs know where they are going.

One of the first things a successful entrepreneur will do is create a vision for their business that is set firmly in the future. They are very clear that the business is separate from them and as such it must have a reason for being that is bigger and more inspirational than the owner/s of the business. When I started my advertising agency I knew it needed a higher purpose, something clearly articulated that would attract clients and talented staff and give us something to strive for. We set out to ‘change the face of our industry by setting a new benchmark for agency service and quality of results’. This vision for our future kept us focused and ultimately created the success that attracted a multi-national company to want to buy us.

What is your vision for the future of your business?

What’s the number one thing to consider if you ever want to sell your business?

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

If you are serious about selling your business one day, it’s important to have a good idea who might want to buy it. Imagine spending 10 years building a business you intend to sell only to realise you have created something nobody wants to buy. If you build a business with a buyer in mind, you have a much better chance of building something they really want.

I’ve sold businesses to two types of buyer. A multinational bought my advertising agency and a local competitor bought my pet care company. My father’s photocopier business sold to his senior management team.

So who might want to buy your business? What are you building that could add huge value to someone’s offering? Now is the time to start thinking about these things.

From the desk of Liber8me. Business mentors and publisher of Liber8 your Business: The revolutionary planning technique that will set every business owner free

The 9 big DON’TS if you want to successfully grow your business

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Laura Humphreys

Everyone is always telling you what you should do to be successful in business. I thought for a change, I’d tell you (based on my own bitter/sweet experiences) some of the things you really shouldn’t do. Here are my top nine DON’TS when it comes to being successful in business:

1. DON’T start or continue a business with no idea of why what you offer is needed and wanted. Find your niche, be sure people want what you have and have a plan for how you will grow this business into the future.

2. DON’T believe you are the only one who can do what you do as well as you do. No matter what you do, no matter how specialized it is… there will be others out there who can be trained to do it just as well as you… if not better. Get your ego out of the way. Or you will become your business’s biggest liability when it comes to growth.

3. DON’T be afraid to hire people. You cannot do it alone. No one will ever buy a business that is dependent on its owner. You must build a team around you. This is, however, one of the most challenging aspects of business and most small business owner often make a complete mess of it to start with. Which leads us to DON’T number 4…

4. DON’T do your own HR. Most business owners are better leaders than they are managers. You can probably inspire people to want to work for you with your vision, your passion and great ideas. But an employee will never share the same level of passion as you, no matter how good they are at their job. Get an expert (HR consultant) to get the right tools and processes in place to motivate your team and manage their performance effectively.

5. DON’T try to grow too fast. You need people – but you need to know you can afford them first. Make sure there is enough forward cash flow in the business first – don’t hire them hoping the business will miraculously appear out of nowhere to pay for them.

6. DON’T ever believe that doing the work is more important than selling the work. Learn to do the IN/OUT dance – make the out there selling part of your job as important as the in there doing. You must have a sales pipeline in place at all times, always thinking about where your income is coming from next.

7. DON’T try to run a business without a budget. Business is a financial game, and you must lead with the numbers. Project your sales, set your expenses – have a plan to achieve these and then make the plan happen. Lead with the numbers. Create strategies to achieve financial targets and take action.

8. DON’T try to do it on your own. Business can be a very lonely game. Especially in the early days when you are doing everything. Even if you have a business partner or management team, it’s too easy to be introspective and talk yourselves into believing what you are doing is right. Get an external perspective on your business right from the start – a mentor, advisor, Board, Advisory Board… someone who will challenge your strategies and hold you accountable to your goals.

9. DON’T let the bastards grind you down! There is an extremely high probability that at some stage during the life cycle of your business you will want to quit. You will hate your clients, hate your staff, hate your suppliers and maybe even hate yourself for putting up with all their crap. You will have days like these. I call them duvet days. Go home, pull the blankets over your head and hide. But come out fighting again the next day, because as I saw on a billboard once: “I’m not saying it will be easy, I’m saying it will be worth it”.

Hope you liked this blog post. Now DON’T be shy… share your comments below, let’s get talking about the DO’s and DON’Ts of business success!

Brought to you by Liber8me. Business Mentors and publisher of Liber8 your Business: The revolutionary business planning technique that will set every business owner free.