B101.1 - Introduction |
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day
Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime
The purpose of this website is to assist you with your fishing skills.
In more transparent language, we are trying to build a mob of MoB's (Master's of Business) who can change the world one commercial transaction at a time, but more on that soon enough.
This website assumes you are a practicing Soul Proprietor, Sole Proprietor, Sole Practitioner, Soloprenuer, or Small Business person (literally or as an engaged individual in your own life).
Thus, the information contained here is not theoretical to you as much as it is validating or insightful.
In more transparent language, we are trying to build a mob of MoB's (Master's of Business) who can change the world one commercial transaction at a time, but more on that soon enough.
This website assumes you are a practicing Soul Proprietor, Sole Proprietor, Sole Practitioner, Soloprenuer, or Small Business person (literally or as an engaged individual in your own life).
Thus, the information contained here is not theoretical to you as much as it is validating or insightful.
Many lacking experience may view the topics as overly simplistic when viewed only from a theoretical perspective.
Watching someone experienced walk on a balance beam can make it look far easier than it really is, and those with experience will recognize the foundational support provided in this resource as imperative to future growth, where as those lacking experience may scoff at the level of detail on some seemingly trivial stuff.
Watching someone experienced walk on a balance beam can make it look far easier than it really is, and those with experience will recognize the foundational support provided in this resource as imperative to future growth, where as those lacking experience may scoff at the level of detail on some seemingly trivial stuff.
This Section, "Business 101 - A Master of Business in the making" is dedicated to giving some high level perspective on Business and this resource.
The information and questions below are generally meant to be an outline for personal thought or a conversation among peers. It is not meant to convey all relevant information in a stand alone manner.
How does it feel to own a Hot Dog Cart?
Do you already know the Truth few will ever dare to learn?
Business Mastery vs Trade Mastery
Are you just a "hobbyist" in disguise right now?
How do you define Success?
How familiar are you with the thoughts and feelings that are often associated with a Business Failure?
For those who have "enjoyed" a business failure and recovered (completely, or to some degree), it is actually somewhat liberating in some ways. While it sure would have been nice to have gotten the perspective without the experience, it is a perspective that cannot be had without the experience.
How can one get the true perspective of skydiving without skydiving -- or surfing without surfing -- or viewing the Grand Canyon without stepping up to the edge?
Experience is the teacher to which all else pales in comparison.
What is generally required to be "Successful" in Business from an outward perspective?
What is generally required to be "Successful" from an inward perspective?
How are you going to be successful?
What is ultimately going to be required to become a Master of your Business and your Time?
How will you know when you have become of a Master of your Business?
How long will it take to become a Master of Your Business?
- Some vocabulary is established and one section is dedicated to some Math Tips and Tricks which will become more useful as we move into business analysis dialogue.
The information and questions below are generally meant to be an outline for personal thought or a conversation among peers. It is not meant to convey all relevant information in a stand alone manner.
How does it feel to own a Hot Dog Cart?
- A Hot Dog Cart is an oversimplified analogy for your business.
- Do you know many people who are employed by others openly or secretly aspire to be in business for themselves or empowered in a similar manner? So in that sense, do you realize you are living out a dream that many others aspire to attempt?
- Is your self-employment or self-empowerment a choice or your only option?
Some folks have the temperament to either work for others or for themselves, while others can only work for themselves. Most who have worked for themselves for a long time find it tougher to digest the idea of returning to a world of working for others, no matter the stresses, but not all. - Does the idea of a w2 cause anxiety?
For some people, just the thought of a w2 is stressful. Some could easily digest it part time doing something they were fairly autonomous at, like driving a delivery vehicle, but the thought of getting paid on a w2 for full time employment causes some great stress. It feels very constricting to them.
Maybe if they had prior experience doing something they liked with summers off or with the nice holidays associated with Government Benefits, it might feel different, but if they haven't had that experience to date, it's doubtful they are going to give those a whirl, but never say never, right? We all vary in this area, but it's important to be totally honest with who you are as it relates to the idea of a w2. - Does the idea of getting paid on a 1099 not give you enough of a feeling of freedom?
Some are very content with contract work, but often times, it feels to w2 work than it is to being fully self-employed. But that's situation-ally dependent. For some, the primary differentiating factor between 1099 and fully self-employed work is related to the level of creativity one can explore being self-employed. Creativity here is very relative... some view doing some mundane things their own simple way as being creative, so it's all a matter of perspective and personal disposition.
Do you already know the Truth few will ever dare to learn?
- Being Self-Employed is hard as heck.
- There are generally no paid holidays unless you've built up a company with others who are really doing well driving your company (or unless you've built a business in which you make money while you sleep).
- External validation generally becomes a thing of the past.
- It can be hard to find good help that is both affordable and dependable.
- Doing it without blood relatives or those thought of comparable makes it even harder.
- Sincere passion is required for full benefits and full benefits are often times as much or more about internal growth as they are outer prosperity.
Business Mastery vs Trade Mastery
- 20% of your Business is your Trade and ability to sell it and yourself (or your product/service).
- 80% of your business is the “other stuff” -- which is "Just Business."
- The greatest mistake seen over the years related to Practicing Sole Proprietors, Sole Practitioners and Solopreneurs is the mis-understanding that their Mastery of their Trade makes them a Business Person, when in fact, it just makes them a Master of their Trade.
Are you just a "hobbyist" in disguise right now?
- When people are practicing a trade or engaged in Commerce without many appropriate aspects of Business in play, sometime insulting them by informing them they are only "hobbyists" has real eye-opening benefits.
- As you can imagine, that doesn't typically sit well with people like experienced Acupuncturists and Chiropractors who have spent decades educating themselves and building their "hobbies."
- Shock talk like this is a way of expressing Business Reality to some folks that need a wake up call. Admittedly, it doesn't always sit well with the recipient, and that is exactly the point. It shouldn't.
- Without some shock talk from time to time, an Aspiring Business person may think they are only a few tweaks away from where they need to be when in fact they are octaves off and continents away.
- There is no way to break that softly to someone who has a lot of energy already invested in their "hobby."
- For what it's worth, some who are told that initially think the teller is ass for saying it, but after they know how to fish a little better, it's one of their favorite stories to share with others.
How do you define Success?
- Do you define your success via Revenues and Profits ?
- Do you define your success via the breadth of your Business Network or your Scientific or Social Reach?
- Do you define your success via the number of Personal Connections you've made in your industry or in the Political or Religious World?
- Do you define your success via the feeling of personal and inner Balance ?
- Do you view success as something to be attained as opposed to a state of continued yearning for the Journey?
How familiar are you with the thoughts and feelings that are often associated with a Business Failure?
- Have you failed in small business yet?
- Was it a partial or full failure as you'd define it?
- Do you have a sense of the energetic costs related to business venture failure?
- Have you experienced financial ruin or taken others down with you as you've fallen?
- Have you experienced depression or anxiety associated with the stresses of your business?
- Have you suffered from suicidal thoughts or depression? If so, were some of those related to financial or occupational stress?
For those who have "enjoyed" a business failure and recovered (completely, or to some degree), it is actually somewhat liberating in some ways. While it sure would have been nice to have gotten the perspective without the experience, it is a perspective that cannot be had without the experience.
How can one get the true perspective of skydiving without skydiving -- or surfing without surfing -- or viewing the Grand Canyon without stepping up to the edge?
Experience is the teacher to which all else pales in comparison.
- That said, using vicarious learning opportunities as much as possible should NEVER be over looked as the gist of bad stuff can often be had enough by vicariously enjoying the pain of others!!
What is generally required to be "Successful" in Business from an outward perspective?
- You must be selling a wanted/needed product or service (there must be a market).
- You must be delivering your product or service to the market in enough volume to be relevant.
- You must be receiving enough money for your product or service to be profitable.
- You must maintain your cash-flow through peaks and valleys.
- You should be accounting for your income and expenses in an appropriate manner.
- You should be managing yourself and others in a manner that you wouldn't be embarrassed to expose to others.
- You should be complying with legal standards to avoid legal issues.
- You should be complying with ethical standards to maintain a reputation you desire.
- You should be operating in accordance with Karmic Law to minimize boomerang effects (if that is of concern or interest).
What is generally required to be "Successful" from an inward perspective?
- You should be meeting or exceeding your personal definitions of “success”, whatever those are.
- Your success should not be coming with a continued negative energy draw from others (employees, vendors, customers, family members).
- Your net energy draw with the entire universe around you should be neutral or positive (as neutral is in fact positive).
How are you going to be successful?
- Define some goals -- Your Journey depends on it.
Goal setting can be tough. Some folks go too far, and other folks don't go far enough. Ultimately it is the practice and process of exploring Goal Setting that is relevant. The actual outcomes themselves aren't as relevant as recognizing the act of goal setting as being integral to the Act of Creation. You may come to realize that your creations don't always match the goals you set, and that's okay as long as you can turn that into a fun part of the process and embrace it. (Making Lemonade from Lemons is one phrase that addresses this phenomena.)
- Define your gifts and own them for what they are -- Your Proper Perspective depends on it.
One of the greatest mistakes an individual makes is under-estimating the gifts they have been given. What comes naturally for you and not for others is in fact a gift. Others are not handicapped -- it is you who is gifted. Underestimate your gifts as "common" and you will likely miss opportunities that were meant for you on your path. - Own your weaknesses and decide if you are going to strengthen them or avoid them -- Your Balance depends on it.
Embrace the idea of strengthening weaknesses. It makes for more balance. However, in seeking balance in this way, many might think that is like aspiring to be a generalist as opposed to a specialist, which is what often times makes us feel unique.
There are many subtleties that are related to this concept and much discernment is required to determine exactly which weaknesses are to be strengthened and which likely should be avoided. And let's be clear here, to even have a conversation about strengths and weaknesses, we naturally focus on a very, very small part of our true potential spectrum and that is in fact where that type of conversation needs to start before anything else is discussed.
Ultimately, a great part of your journey may end up being dedicated to becoming more familiar with this concept of discernment as it relates to this topic. - Document things so you don't have to remember squat -- Your Liberation depends on it.
It's the Digital Age. We are so overloaded with information it's silly. For some time people have erroneously looked at their brain as this fabulous storage device when in fact it has always been a far better processor than hard drive.
The act of writing things down is an act of liberation, but it's only liberating if you can then find the stuff you wrote down when you need it!!
Thus your digital organization related to written information becomes much more relevant to your liberation.
Prior to the Digital Age, and prior to the Age in which he who controlled the Printing Press controlled history, Oral Traditions ruled the land. Figuring out how to regain the power of Oral Traditions in an Age with so much Digital Documentation will be an interesting task for those who understand the power that came from oral traditions.
- Establish defined Business Processes, Systems and Routines for everything -- Your Creativity depends on it.
Unless you are independently wealthy, the time and space to create can only be found in gaps between the repetitious, routine, and mundane tasks. Thus learning to handle those tasks with minimal thought and energy is the way to conserve your energy for bursts of creativity when the opportunities to create arise.
One way to prepare yourself for these creative sprints is with established Business Processes, Systems and Routines for everything. The ability to create these routines or at very least, follow routines that others help you establish for yourself becomes tantamount to exploring your true creative potential.
- Designate a home for everything -- Your Sanity and that of others depends on it (as does your Time)!
Having seen businesses with literally 1000's of tools, the inability to find a $5 tool or a $2 part can shut down an entire crew or an entire job for a day. Learning to designate a home for everything is a financial requirement for those in that line of work and it needs to be part of your world too.
- Learn to manage by exception -- Your Efficiency depends on it.
Learn to set up "business rules" or "logic loops" that enable you to qualify something as normal or an exception. Learn to limit the scope of the exceptions such that there are only a few decisions to make for each exception. If everything is an exception, you need to re-evaluate your rules or set up a pre-screening/triage process with more paths for the decision tree. Learning to manage by exception is an amazingly powerful process that will enable your efficiency to skyrocket.
- Use your support network wisely -- Your Rate of Personal Growth depends on it.
Generally, people learn from people before they become gifted enough to learn from nature and inner guidance.
With the internet, some of this has changed since you can get voluminous amounts of info from good Physical teachers whom you've never met (youtube is your friend!!). A healthy dose of discernment is needed to separate the good from the great and the lack of two-way dialogue can lead to some issues, but generally speaking, what an amazing learning system.
If a very rapid rate of growth is desired, you may want to seek access to a Physical teacher in a way that enables you to get varying amounts of help as needed when needed. That said, it's been shown no words are necessarily required even when folks are meeting in person for people to progress. An odd thought indeed. - Use technology wisely -- Your feeling of Connection to our Progressing World depends on it.
Watching some embrace technology while being unable to embrace it yourself can make one feel a little alienated from our global procession.
First of all, gain a little comfort knowing many who are embracing technology are embracing illusions, just as many of us might have embraced some physical illusions in the past. The volume of cool technology right now knows no ends, but the usefulness of much of it is actually very confusing.
Learning to use technology in a way that fits into your world can bring you a strange and comfy connection that might surprise you, but learning which technology to use and which to avoid for baseline usefulness and experience is key to growing into technology with warm and fuzzy feelings. - Value your time -- Your Life Experience depends on it.
Ultimately, all of the items above are related to your valuation of your time, and time is a resource that can never be recovered. Sometimes you have to put more work in up front to get the systems and processes in place that allow you to free up the time you desire to create a life worth living, and that is what investing in one's self and one's future is all about.
What is ultimately going to be required to become a Master of your Business and your Time?
- Knowledge
- Self-Discipline
- Discernment
- Balance
- Organization
- Efficiency
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Promotion
- Self-Confidence
- And the ability to say NO…
How will you know when you have become of a Master of your Business?
- You will feel it, briefly, as you float around exploring all types of emotions that range from sheer bliss to utter panic. It's been said that we have the ability to experience 120 emotions from time to time. If and when you can find a space between those and your thoughts, that is the space in which you might sense the feeling of Mastery. Hopefully once felt, you will seek to feel it more and more as the span between bliss, panic and everything in between widens and as the mind settles in to the passenger seat.
How long will it take to become a Master of Your Business?
- Months, Years, Decades, a Lifetime, or maybe a few...
For someone who is highly focused on their business already, applying some of the items found here may be all they need to find their next business plateau, and that might only take a few weeks or a few months for some.
For others who are swimming in their "hobby" without balance and grace, it could take 3 months to 2 years if they apply themselves and if they seek the appropriate outside support that will be necessary to gracefully gain control.
For others who sought a smoldering experience it could take longer... 2 to 5 years maybe... maybe more...
And then there are those "special ones." The "special ones" are the ones who have all the potential in the universe (just like everyone else) but they are secretly enjoying the feeling of chaos they are exploring (and inflicting on others!?). For those select few (two to a few billion?), who the hell knows!?!?! With this info published, hopefully they will find comfort knowing that written help is available if and when they ever want to create a Business from their chaotic hobbies that have carried them so far away in fanciful ways.