Interactive Pocket Guide for Entrepreneurs By Michael McCafferty ppt

Act As IfAlways Be Recruiting The Tyranny of the Idea du jour The Management Metronome You Are Right Your Company Library The E Myth The Startup Owner's Manual The Entrepreneur’s Guide

Interactive Pocket Guide

for Entrepreneurs

By Michael McCafferty

of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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Quick Start Guide Using Computers and Tablets

Access the full web material on your computer or tablet at IPGFE.com where you can link into the community of other readers of this book, ask the author questions, and leave comments

Help

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51% of the profits are donated to the search for a cure to paralysis caused by spinal cord injury (Rutgers University’s Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience- Spinal

This book is your passport to a new form of communication, combining the best features

of a traditional book with the power of the web, using your smartphone as the link

Imagine: you are reading along this book, and want to know more… just point your smartphone at the page and your screen instantly pops with all you could want: video, photos, text, links…

And, unlike any ordinary book, you can instantly link into the community of readers of

this book, to ask the author questions, get answers, leave comments, and learn from others

Gutenberg would have approved

“There is one word to describe MM: Visionary He has the ability to see the future, and

to inspire people to achieve it.”

“Over a 4 year period of working with Michael McCafferty I found him to be an

exceptionally talented business owner He consistently demonstrated an uncanny insight in what customers find valuable He was a great motivator of his team members and sales agents and quite frankly one of the best salespeople I have ever met.”

It is with sincere appreciation that I acknowledge the following people for their

contributions to this book and the associated website

Erika Lal for her tireless and excellent help with the many revisions of this book and

website

Grant Freeman and Leanne Chau at Electronic Printing Solutions for their many early

revisions to the beta versions of this book

My many protégés over the years from whom I have learned so much.

The 100 beta testers who provided their valuable feedback for this book and the

website

Act As If

Always Be Recruiting

The Tyranny of the Idea du jour

The Management Metronome

You Are Right

Your Company Library

The E Myth

The Startup Owner's Manual

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer DevelopmentBusiness Model Generation

The Lean Startup

The Art of the Start

The Law of Success

First Things First

Wealth

Resources for Startups

Help, FAQ, Troubleshooting, etc

About the Author

When we first start out as entrepreneurs, it’s easy to make mistakes, waste time and money, and cause ourselves a lot of stress However, motivated entrepreneurs will read extensively, learn from others and experiment continuously

This little book, and the associated web pages, contain a few of the principles learned from half a century as a serial entrepreneur and mentor, helping selected entrepreneurs apply these principles to build their own successful companies

The highest levels of success came to my business adventures when I focused on The

Ten Basic Principles for Managing a Young, Growing Business.

These truths spoke to me as being essential to success I resolved to use them fully and without reservation, and I still keep them at my desk today I have shared them with you

starting on page 4 of the Interactive Pocket Guide for Entrepreneurs book Additional

principles begin on page 16

Each principle has a unique QR (Quick Response) code that your smartphone can scan

to link to this web page where the principle is discussed in depth, and where you can ask questions, leave comments, and learn from other readers

Repetition is key Keep the book handy, review the principles often, and continue to engage with other readers to learn more

This last point is most important: to engage with a community of like-minded and

experienced people, to learn and share ideas

See also:

Resources for Startups

Defining Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

is living a few years of your life like most people won’t,

so you can spend the rest of your life

like most people can’t.

Anonymous

See also:

Resources for Startups

Help

Let There Be Cash

Project, monitor and conserve cash and credit capability

Cash flow is the life’s blood of a growing business A company’s ability to continue is determined daily, not at year end, by the contents of the checking account rather than the financial statement

Keeping cash on hand or readily available for both planned and unplanned events is not only prudent but necessary in unsettled times Cultivation of financial sources is an enduring duty

Video: Show Me the Money

See also:

Resources for Startups

Help

Think Straight

Maintain a detached point of view

Managing a growing business requires unyielding dedication that can consume the body, impair the senses and warp the mind Such effects are harmful to the individual and the enterprise Clinical objectivity is the only preventative

Growth implies and entails risk Risk begets failure as well as success Wide

perspective gained through nonbusiness experience or study helps one endure the pressures and accept the results, good and bad, of business decisions

The video below is a true classic on clear thinking

Video: Napoleon Hill’s Success Principles Part 12

See also:

Your Business Must Serve You First

Resources for Startups

Help

on the other.

Unless there is compatibility between what each primary participant wants out of the business, debilitating conflict is likely to ensue The process of trying to consciously agree on the purpose of the enterprise is often difficult and revealing

Consider the following video carefully

Video: Startup Development Team

See also:

Motivate

Resources for Startups

The Customer Is King

Define the business in terms of what is to be bought, precisely by whom, and why.Businesses are organs of society that perform tasks associated with providing most goods and services the public decides it wants Under the capitalistic system, a

business can prosper to the extent it performs its particular tasks effectively and

efficiently

The nature of the tasks to be performed usually changes over time as those served change The successful company predicts and responds to the needs of its chosen customers

Customers, therefore define the business At all times, some customers are growing in their ability to buy, others are declining The astute manager ascertains which is which.Video: The Customer Is King

See also:

Resources for Startups

Write It Down

Prepare and work from a written plan that shows who does what, by when

Until committed to paper, intentions are seeds without soil, sails without wind, mere wishes that render communication inefficient, understanding uncertain, feedback

inaccurate, and execution sporadic Without execution, there is no payoff

The process of committing plans to paper is easy to postpone under the press of day events In the absence of a document, fully coordinated usage of the resources of the business is unlikely

day-to-Each participant travels along a different route toward a destination of his or her own choosing Decisions are made independently, without a map Time is lost, energy squandered

What is the most important written document in your business? Employee handbook? Business Plan? Goals? Mission Statement? Why?

Begin It Now

Whatever you can do

or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has Genius, Power and Magic in it Begin it now!

Goethe

See also:

Resources for Startups

Criteria for selecting key people are dictated by the plans, the blueprints for the

business The plans reflect the operational objectives and the intentions of the primary participants The interest and capabilities of a new person must harmonize with both

If experience is not required, hire Attitude

Video: The Best Way to Hire Employees

See also:

Always Be Recruiting

Resources for Startups

Reward individual performance that exceeds agreed upon standards

Performance above the minimum level is a discretionary matter for each team member Most people have alternative off-the-job ways of using excess energy or talent

Channeling such excess into activity beneficial to the business requires a tailored approach for each individual

A manager must first ensure that there is understanding of the minimum results to be achieved Then, for performance above the minimum, forms of compensation important

to the performer - or in some cases, teams of performers - must be used

This video offers some surprising research on what motivates us and how it changes according to certain circumstances:

Video: The Surprising Truth About Motivation

See also:

Resources for Startups

But any advantage withers if follow through is weak It will be weak if resources are dissipated Resource dilution is a sure formula for mediocrity, a state of being that aspiring growth businesses cannot afford.

Steve Jobs started in a garage and built the most valuable company in the country by saying “No!” The bottom line is that you can’t do everything, so choose wisely

Video: Steve Job “Focus is about saying no”

See also:

Resources for Startups

Be Not Greedy

Expand methodically from a profitable base toward a balanced business

Optimism is both the poison and the antidote of the growth company manager It may

be possible to accomplish all things, but not simultaneously With limited resources, sequential growth over time is the judicious prescription for prosperity

Seek logical, incremental extensions of existing activities, but avoid a growth’s-sake mentality Bigger is not automatically better; more is not necessarily merrier

growth-for-Make managing a competitive advantage Increase customer dependency on the enterprise

And, remember the fate of Gordon Gecko’s mantra “Greed is Good”:

Video: Greed is good

See also:

Resources for Startups

The Superior Man

The superior man

is slow in his words and earnest in his actions.

Confucius

See also:

Resources for Startups

Help

Measure it to manage it

You’re either in control, or out of control It is of the utmost importance to know the

difference, and the only way to know that is to measure what you need to control.

Take profits, for example; certainly you measure the amount of profit, and as a

percentage of sales, but is that percentage consistent with prior periods? Do you

measure profit by product, by team member, and by customer?

Many business owners are satisfied to simply know they have made a profit, and don’t bother to make further measurements

What do you measure? That question reminds me of some advice my dentist gave me:

“Only floss the teeth you want to keep.” Measure only the stuff you want to manage Be sure your team knows what they should be measuring and managing, and how they personally will be measured and managed

What are the most important metrics you manage in your business?

See also:

Write It Down Motivate

Resources for Startups

Easy Does It

As simplicity brings pleasure to the eye, it also brings cash to the business

If there is any single four-letter word that describes the essence of success in sales, it

is easy You must make it easy for the customer to buy.

It is surprising how difficult it is to make something easy! You start by getting rid of everything that you think is not completely essential, and then try to improve it by removing even more…

To make it easy for a customer to buy, offer a money-back guarantee, and all sort of incentives designed to make the buying decision utterly simple, risk-free and effortless

It is a continuing battle to maintain ease of use while dealing with a blizzard of features and improvements as the product matures

See also:

Resources for Startups

Price and Terms

How to price your product or service is one of the most difficult decisions you will ever make in your business You will probably never achieve the optimum price There are

so many variables; the business, product, customers, and competitors are always

changing The way to determine the right price is with continuous testing

For example, you can probably get a higher price than your competitors if you offer a money-back guarantee and they don’t But how much higher? At what point do

customers decide that the higher price is not worth the guarantee? Is a free trial period

a smart move? What about lower prices for longer signups? ($10/month, $95/year) How about if you offer a rebate? And what about paying for referrals who buy? What about having “sale” pricing periods? Tie-in sales? Frequent buyer cash back? The list of options seems endless And how these options are deployed is dependent on your overall strategy For example, are you optimizing for profit/cash now, or lifetime value,

or total number of users?

How is the price presented? Just a word or short phrase can make all the difference in response rates, for example: “pennies per day” or “only” These things are easily tested, but few people take the time to focus on these important details

When you consider the multitude of variables involved in the pricing decision, you will appreciate that you could probably increase profits significantly by paying close

attention to pricing strategies

What is the most important thing you have learned about pricing?

See also:

The Customer Is King

Test

Let There Be Cash

Resources for Startups

The positioning of your business is a fundamental strategic decision You may have to adjust your positioning frequently in the early days of your business as you learn more about your customers and competition, and even your own capabilities

What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? How do you differentiate your company and products from all others?

The ideal is to position yourself in the marketplace in such a way that you have no

competition, by definition This can be challenging, but it is certainly possible.

What is your positioning statement? Has it changed? Why?

See also:

Test

The Customer Is King

Resources for Startups

You imagine the many nagging little decisions that have to be made before you can actually hire your Badge #2 Running a help wanted ad, a job description, how much to pay, what about taxes, non-disclosure agreements, can you even afford it, is there enough work to keep them busy, where will they sit, is it possible to find someone as good as you need, will they put up with your ways, what if And the monkey brain thoughts go round and round in your head You’re stuck And you’ll stay that way until you

Just do it

Take that first step It doesn’t matter what form it takes It can be a help wanted ad, or emails to friends announcing your decision to start down the road, and to ask for their help in finding your Badge #2 Take the first step And then take the next one Each step

a move closer to the goal, each step insignificant in itself Trivial stones become a

cathedral

As each step evaporates into the distance, it builds strength for the next steps, and builds confidence for the long journey ahead Soon you will be moving along with

surprising speed and endurance

That first hire may be a partner, or a programmer, or an administrative assistant But they will always be Badge #2, and you will always remember them as the embodiment

of your great enlightenment, your commitment, and your Action

There’s no looking back after Badge #2 Once you have crossed this threshold, it

becomes your mission to always be recruiting, to see how many high-quality people you can attract to your plan You are on a mission You are on a path to a future of your own

You are an Entrepreneur.See also:

Always Be RecruitingResources for StartupsHelp

The Habit of Excellence

We are what we repeatedly do Excellence, then, is not an act,

Leverage is the friend of the weak Young businesses are usually weak Therefore, leverage is your friend

Combine multiple resources and activities to multiply Leverage

What has been your best experience with using Leverage in your business? What questions do you have about combining multiple activities for enhanced leverage?See also:

Conserve Energy

Resources for Startups

People who set goals, put them in writing and follow through with accountability, do in

fact achieve more than people who don’t You would expect that, right? So, why is it that the vast majority of people have no written goals?

If you don’t know where you are going,

any road will get you there.

Lewis Carroll

A business is simply a tool the founders use to achieve their personal goals If the

founders have no goals, or unclear goals, then the business will suffer accordingly

Do you have written goals for yourself and your business? Do the goals have target dates?

A goal without a date is merely a dream.

Martin K Erickson

How frequently do you review your progress?

See also:

Write It Down

Think, Plan, Do, Repeat

Resources for Startups

Think, Plan, Do, Repeat

The simplest possible System for Success is the repetition of only 3 basic steps To learn more, visit ThinkPlanDoRepeat.com

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless,

but planning is indispensable.

Dwight D Eisenhower

It can also be said of the planning process in business The value of a business plan is not so much in the plan that results from the process, but in the planning process itself.See also:

Goals

Write it down

Resources for Startups

Passion is the word used by the Venture Capital community to describe a founder’s

essential emotional ingredient for a successful startup Other words can be used, such

as obsession, commitment, enthusiasm, etc They all energize success

Every memorable act in the history of the world is a triumph of enthusiasm Nothing great was ever achieved without it because it gives any challenge

or any occupation, no matter how frightening or difficult, a new meaning Without enthusiasm you are doomed to a life of mediocrity but with it you

can accomplish miracles.

Og Mandino

See also:

Resources for Startups