In building our businesses, we get completely wrapped up in the daily demands and pressures that govern our lives. Suddenly, we look up and January is December and your 35 years of age is 55 years of age. Being clear on what we are doing and why is likely to be the most important decision any business owner can make. That requires ‘starting with the end in mind’ to turn daily action into behaviour that will deliver that end.

There are two types of business outcome you can decide to pursue. An equity or income model with both offering advantages and disadvantages. Understand them, contemplate them and then decide which you want at the end of your work effort. This way, your time will yield a return rather than a nasty surprise when its too late to do anything else.

It might not seem like it with trade wars, Brexit and burgeoning nationalistic intentions across many countries today…but the world is getting smaller. Technology has ensured this. Today, you might be the king in your industry and tomorrow, a minnow from a far away place usurps your market knocking you from your throne.

In a world that’s changing so fast, uncertainty erodes the confidence of even the smartest, most experienced businesspeople in almost every sector.

Perspective becomes critical to take a step back, understand the trends driving the change, and develop an approach to your business that is likely to position it as relevant to the future.

The noise can be reduced to three main levers of change that are reshaping the business environment of tomorrow.  Understanding these trends and creating a strategy to build your business into the future is the benefit of perspective that translates into valuable action.

You build your business within the context of your business environment. When your business environment changes more rapidly than your growing business, the only way to build your business is to break to rebuild. On The Money Show with Bruce Whitfield, Pavlo Phitidis outlines why:

People power or hinder a business’s growth. And the people suited to your business today, might not be the right people tomorrow. What should lead and shape your people strategy and how you get it right is a complex problem. It’s one that is made a lot simpler if you have a clear strategy, know your business well, operate good systems and have time to source and select the right talent.

Every business owner should be building one thing only – an Asset of Value.

What is an Asset of Value?

This is a business that is built into a tradable asset. An asset is anything of value or a resource that represents economic value – for example a bar of gold. Trading is an ability to buy and sell something – for example, a share on the stock exchange.

As a body grows and develops it also slows down. The years of life and living bear down on it and lying in bed for an extra 5 minutes rather than springing into action the moment the alarm sounds becomes tempting. An extra slice of cheese or a spoonful of ice-cream after dinner and a hard day also feels like a well-deserved reward. Cholesterol builds and if not checked, it’s the death knell that you often regret most when it’s too late.

It’s a terrible analogy to contemplate when building and growing a business, especially if you plan to exit it one day for a capital profit as your just reward for all the risk and sacrifice it took to build.

Scaling is less about technology and more about strategy. Led by strategy, scaling is about business design and discipline. Its measure is found in the yawn between rising turnover and stabilising costs. It is a journey more than a destination. Getting it right reaps great rewards. Getting it wrong yields a life of grind and sweat.

Many pundits are preaching about the 4th industrial revolution. What does it mean, is it relevant to you and how do you embrace it in your business?

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

Do you rate yourself?

Being in business, doing business and building a business tests your sense of self. Business is conflictual. Starting one requires you to take away business from someone else. Looked at differently, it means you have to fight for your piece of the pie and the established incumbents won’t want to share any of it with you. Think school shoes. If there are 6 million kids that buy school shoes every year and you enter into that market with another school shoe, the success of yours is the loss of your competitors.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST FROM THE MONEY SHOW ON 702 & CAPETALK HERE