Our Cash Flow Cure coaches all started the same place you did: at the beginning. Along the way, they received some great advice and some terrible advice. Today, they share the best and why it worked as well as the worst business advice and why it’s so bad.
The Best & Worst Business Advice
The Best: Begin with the end in mind.
“A ounce of strategy will beat a pound of tactics every time! Yes, and the impact is huge, with the strategy right the tactics become much, much easier as you always have a guiding framework to return to when you have decisions to make. Begin with the end in mind. Just as I wouldn’t take off when piloting a 747 without a destination to aim for, and alternates to land at in case I can’t make it to my destination, so too you need to be as clear as you can be as to where you are headed in business – it also helps to have some backup alternate plans for when it doesn’t quite work as you planned as you go along the way!”
The Worst: Trust No One
“Trust no one! No. We are better together, and there is no way you can do it all on your own!”
Mick Aspinall, Founder and CEO, Factor Performance
The Best: Your Freedom Number Helps You Prioritize
“Know your [Freedom] Number. This had a profound impact—I have always worked in the business, busy doing stuff. Knowing my numbers allowed me to prioritize what was important in both our personal world and the business world so I can focus in on these events. This meant less time working and more time for me and my family and better profits! Boom win all round.”
The Worst: Don’t Pay Yourself Until The Business Can Afford It
“You have to work hard and not take any money until the business can afford it. This meant I worked for nothing for years – I just kept thinking if I kept going somehow the money would just come. I didn’t understand that working hard was a combination of on and in your business and it wasn’t really working hard that counted but working SMART.”
Vikki Morgan, Founder, Independent Woman By Design
The Best: Don’t Aim For Perfection
“Take massive imperfect action. Often we are hesitant to take action until we think we have everything covered and have it all perfected. But that is a trap. It’s better to take imperfect action and course correct as you go than to wait and take limited or no action. I didn’t follow this initially and continued to get stuck or side tracked but once I implemented this things started to take off.”
The Worst: You Have To Have It All Together Before You Start
“You need a website and company logo before you can get started. I did not take that advice, and I am glad I didn’t. It saved me a lot of money, and it allowed me to get a much more clarity on what I wanted from a website and the design so I didn’t have to redo several times as I have heard many other entrepreneurs did. You can build a simple landing page to get started and go from there after you start bringing in money.”
Laura Huntley
The Best: You Are Not A Victim Of Your Circumstances
“You and you alone are responsible for what the end result is of a particular circumstance or challenge in your life. Following this advice allowed me to take control and change of what I didn’t like. There are no victims of circumstance. You can change any outcome.”
The Worst: You Need A Traditional Education
Stay in school get a good job. I left school at 14—best thing I could have done, with the caveat that if you do this you then need to take responsibility for learning, educating yourself and making choices to grow and continuously develop.”
Julian Musgrave, Advisor Principal, Your Wealth Matters
Some answers have been edited for length and clarity. The views and opinions expressed are those of the guest author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of MindShift.money.
image credit: Bigstock/monkeybusinessimages
As a freelance business writer, Whitney tailors web content and articles for multiple clients. From print marketing copy to educational content as well as magazine articles, her content helps engage audiences and garner new leads.