You, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself

The Definitive Guide to Career & Personal Success, By Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford Beckwith

I first become aware of Harry Beckwith about 10 years ago when I came across his audio book on tape entitled “The Invisible Touch”. It was great, a comprehensive book on branding and reaching people. I immediately began looking for other books by Beckwith and found “What Clients Love”, a insightful book on building life-long client relationships. Equally as impressive!

My latest Beckwith “read” is entitled “You Inc., The Art of Selling Yourself” which I recently purchased on CD. Beckwith speaks a language that I can relate to – very hands-on and practical. I deliver Sales Training constantly and I’m inspired!

You Inc. goes beyond theory. You feel that Beckwith has personally worked through every concept that he presents. It is an easy read (or in my case an “easy listen” as an audio book) providing insight to shape or re-shape your communication style whether you’ve “been there” or not.

I see this latest effort as a personal guide to developing ‘Best Practices’ that work and have the potential to set you apart from everyone else out there. The key is implementation. Its one thing to “know it” and another to “do it” and Beckwith dispenses loads of ideas and lessons in a way that makes it all seem easy and do-able.

Relevant, realistic and recommendable!

Make your selling success an issue that you address daily. For more material on the subject, check out my articles entitled: “Selling Yourself - Continuously” and “Sell the Benefits & Improve your Sales” both found here on my website… Larry

Published by HighBridge Audio, ISBN 1-59887-085-8

Continuous learning plays a huge role in my success. It is my window to the world and supplies me with new perspectives. I’d love to read more but who has the time, so somewhere along the line I began my relationship with audio books.

Personally, I only “read” my audio books in the car. There are too many competing activities at home and in the office but the car, it’s perfect. It’s an isolated environment with few distractions and I find that I instantly become engrossed in the content. I generally spend 20 - 30 minutes in the car at a time and that provides the perfect time span for me to take in a chapter. What a productive use of my time!

I strongly suggest giving audio books a try. Whether you find them at the library for free or purchase them at your favourite bookstore and begin a collection. Authors like Stephen Covey, Michael Gerber, Ken Blanchard and a personal favourite; Rudy Giuliani, can make any 30 minute drive a valuable learning experience.

My most recent “audio read” is Harry Beckwith’s “You, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself” and I’ll tell you more about this incredible book and its highlights here in Monday’s blog…

Make your personal and professional growth a priority. Check out my articles entitled: “It’s Time for a Performance Assessment” and “The Inquisitive Marketer” both found here on my website to get things moving… Larry

Time can be a nasty enemy of the small business owner. It’s too easy to get so caught up in the competitive struggle of attracting and retaining customers that your monthly financial analysis gets continuously postponed and ignored.

Sure its admirable (and exciting and impressive) to battle it out with the competition and focus on winning new customers and increasing your market share but if you’re not profitable you’re not really winning anything.

Sit down with your bookkeeper, accountant or financial advisor on a regular monthly basis and review the financial state of your business. Carefully examine your expenses and establish key financial indicators that at a glance can tell you where you stand.

Don’t wait until it’s too late or impossible to recover. A financially healthy business can rebound from adversity, invest in the future and be there when your customers need you. Always! - know where you stand financially.

Check out my related articles entitled: “The Delicate Balance Between Success and Failure” and “Think Like an Entrepreneur” both found here on my website… Larry

For the busy business owner, delegation is a viable option to get the job done, increase efficiency and improve productivity. I call it “working smart” but delegation doesn’t come easy for a lot of us.

Too many times, I’ve heard myself say “it’s quicker and easier to just do it myself”. But this type of one dimensional thinking gives me limited options, delegation is multi-dimensional and suddenly I can move in a variety of directions, tap into different expertise and free myself up to explore new ideas.

Here’s the problem. Delegation is an important component to growing a business but you can’t delegate responsibility – only tasks.

Own your business! That means making those that you delegate to accountable, monitoring their progress & quality and never assuming anything. When you delegate, it’s their job to complete the task but it’s always your job to ensure that it works properly - whether it’s bookkeeping, marketing, production or service…

Hold on tight to your “Quality Control Officer” title. Check out two related articles entitled: “Developing a Winning Formula” and “Team Building” here on my website… Larry

There are so many distractions that seem to slow me down and take me off my game. It can be frustrating since I recognize that much of my success relies heavily on how effectively I manage my time, increase my efficiency and stay focused on priorities; those “Quadrant Three” activities – you know, identifying & addressing the tasks that are Important, before they become Urgent.

With what seems like a million things going on, it’s important to find that place where I can go to sort things out and stay on track. It must be easily accessible, provide instant solitude and yet fit into my constantly-on-the-move lifestyle. Hmmm…

Well, I’m off to my next appointment and while I drive, I’ll think through the details of Monday’s blog…

Make it a priority to continuously improve your ability to “think like an entrepreneur”. Check out my articles entitled: “The Four M’s of Successful of Planning” and “Think Like an Entrepreneur” both found here on my website… Larry

A respected colleague, Sandi Thar from Scotiabank has had a big influence on my approach to assisting clients with the financial side of structuring their businesses. Sandi has participated in a number of seminars and workshops that I have conducted and spoken to my participants on Business Finance and the advice that she provides is always “bang-on”.

Sandi will tell you that the biggest reason for business failure is not poor marketing, poor quality or a lack of customer service - its insufficient financing! That is, access to the financing or working capital necessary to weather unexpected storms & seasonal slumps or to take advantage of unique opportunities to move your business forward.

Further, Sandi identifies a common practice where too many new business owners use their own money first as working capital before seeking outside financing. The problem with this practice is that unfortunately if you go to any lender having used up all of your own resources, they are far less likely to have confidence in your venture and provide the support you are requesting.

Minimize the challenge that so many business owners face today. Use other people’s money before you drain your own resources. And hold on to your own money as a last resort. I’m talking about loans, lines and leases.

Take time to consider this important option and contact myself or Sandi for a more detailed dialogue on your particular situation…

Begin the process of improved positioning & decision making today. Check out my articles entitled: “Develop a Winning Formula” and “The Delicate Balance Between Success… and Failure”, here on my website… Larry

If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. In a successful organization, no one should be beyond reproach. You might say okay, good point in the corporate world but how relevant is that to a small business owner/operator?

Extremely, and maybe more relevant than in larger organizations where responsibilities rest on the shoulders of many, rather than just one person.

Think about it, one person not pulling their weight in an organization of ten means that 1/10 of the workforce is inefficient whereas if you, owner, operator and head bottle washer aren’t getting the job done, 100% of your “management team” needs work.

Begin to set up the structure today for continuous improvement. Self assessments, performance reviews, channels for feedback, and no one is exempt, especially you!

As an owner/operator, maybe I can’t fire the boss but I can always kick “his” butt.

Make continuous improvement a priority. Check out my articles entitled: “Improve your Decision Making Success with SWOT” and “It’s Time for a Performance Assessment” both found here on my website… Larry

My client Jason is a new business owner and he has hit the ground running! He has generated significant sales in his first year of operation and is very excited about his future. Being a service provider, Jason has limited overhead so his monthly Net Income (after expenses) is substantial. It is a seemingly ideal position to be in half way through his first 12 months of business operation.

Up to this point, Jason is simply banking his income and as a relatively new business owner with little experience behind him, he still cringes at the thought of incurring expenses. His first reaction is to “hold onto it for that rainy day” - that we hear so much about. He hasn’t generated a Tax Return yet for a full 12 months of operation. In fact, he hadn’t really given much thought to the way that his taxable income is calculated at the end of the year.

In the simplest of terms, as a sole proprietor, his business tax due will be based on subtracting his Gross Income from his Business-related Expenses and with little expenses, the tax man will be the one laughing next April.

Needless to say, Jason is suddenly looking at expenses differently and considering ways to “invest” revenue back into his business as he now closely monitors his monthly Income Statements.

There are many additional ways to minimize taxable income but this is a start and I have connected Jason with a qualified Tax Accountant with an impressive track record as well who will more than justify the investment. And the Tax Accountant’s bill is itself a legitimate business expense!

Jason is a wonderful client with exciting potential but his hunger to learn to “think like an entrepreneur” is what excites me the most…

Make it a priority to continuously improve your ability to “think like an entrepreneur”. Check out my articles entitled: “The Four M’s of Successful of Planning” and “Think Like an Entrepreneur” both found here on my website… Larry

It could easily be the most important word that you implement as a business owner. It is a word of multiple applications and if you look it up in your Thesaurus it will be described with words like “variety” and “range “. In my vocabulary, I use words like “opportunity” and “options“ to more accurately define it and the impact that it can have.

This word can be used in regards to skill sets, products & services offered and market identification.

The word is: “Diversity” and never under estimate its power, its potential and the role that it can play in your success.

Carefully examine the endless benefits of offering a “complement” of related products & services. Weigh the impact of developing a team with diverse talent and skill sets. And consider how different market segments might benefit from your offerings.

A business with options is a business that can evolve, adapt and is destined to succeed. And that’s what makes diversity so valuable…

Related articles on diversity and the importance of minimizing vulnerability include: “Taking the first Big Step in Developing a Business Idea” and “Use Diversity to Overcome Seasonality and Increase Sales” and can be found here on my website… Larry

Here’s my dilemma. I’m going through one of those periods where my workload is extremely heavy. I delivered 16 hours of training on the weekend alone in addition to an intense schedule throughout the week and the next few weeks look much the same.

At first glance you might say “Hey, that’s great!” Sure, it really helps my cash flow and I find that being busy seems to generate new business and that’s always exciting. But at the same time I have a legitimate concern.

My business model is designed to ensure time for me to work “on my business” and when I’m too busy like this, something has to give so for the next little while it’s all about clients and coaching and training with no time left for me.

Working “on my business” is a priority. It means blogging. It means self improvement, it means assessing my performance, it means developing or improving operating procedures or practices. It means working on projects to generate new revenue channels or passive income, all vital to my big picture success.

All I can do at this point is work through it. Well, that’s my break, now it’s back to another 4 hours of developing curriculum. Thanks for listening…

Get yourself in the mood to re-assess your priorities and best practices with my articles entitled “Performance Under Pressure” and “The Four M’s of Successful Planning”… Larry