Skip to main content
+27 83 253 3999
Category

Business Coaching

Apr 06
Love0

The T-Shape Entrepreneur – Developing Skills On The Periphery

By Business Coaching Entrepreneur Motivation No Comments

One of the greatest benefits of finishing university or college is that you walk away proud and armed with a new skill set, newly qualified and capable of filling a particular role in that field, but what you’ll come to find is that you are limited in your ability to actually turn that skill into starting a business.

With that new qualification, whether it’s in law, design, coding or whatever you spent the time, effort and resources on, starting a business around that skill will bring about a whole new set of learning that needs to be undertaken in order to succeed in it.

When I talk about this to clients, I use the imagery of the letter ‘T’, where you’re given a horizontal and vertical line that represents your current capability (the vertical line) and the new skills required to become a great entrepreneur (the horizontal line).

 

Thicken Your Horizontal Line To Become The Best Entrepreneur, Possible 

By taking a look at that ‘T’ shape, you’ll come to find that the vertical line starts out longer and more prominent than the horizontal; this represents the expertise that you’ve acquired in your studies and it’s up to you to either thicken or lengthen it, or begin working on the knowledge required to actually start and successfully run a business.

If your plan is to strengthen the vertical line, then you will end up paying more attention and giving more time to developing the profession that you chose to study. As you strengthen this line, your experience and ability in providing that service or skill will be of better use to those that need that role filled.

This motivation to keep developing that skill is indicative of a great employee and when searching for people to fill a particular role in your business, that’s exactly a trait that you would want in an ideal candidate.

As that vertical line gets thicker and longer, your horizontal line remains small and diminishes in size. This is perfectly fine if you want to be a great addition to a company and become an expert and achieve mastery in that field, but doesn’t work very well if your goal or plan is to become an entrepreneur and start a business.

If your quest or objective is to start and run a successful business, then you need to pay far more attention to the horizontal line and start developing knowledge in other fields.

As I’ve mentioned, you walk away from your studies qualified to fill a role and without the knowledge required to turn that qualification into an actual business. Running a business requires far more knowledge in a variety of fields, such as accounting, HR, sales, marketing, business strategy and far more than what you gained in your studies.

By taking the time and effort to thicken the horizontal line, you begin to focus on the peripheral skills needed to operate a business – which is necessary to achieve success.

 

Spend Less Time On Your Vertical Line 

If your aim is to start a business around your skill, or any other skill for that matter, you need to learn to focus on the other aspects that a business requires to be successful.

To achieve more, you need to begin educating yourself on the other fundamental pieces that make up a business and become multi-faceted in your abilities and expertise to understand the symbiotic relationships and processes that are present in the operation of one.

Even though you’ll have to come to terms with neglecting your vertical line, you produce the effort required to develop new areas that will ultimately enhance your identity and character – leaving you far more aware and knowledgeable around company operations and culture.

It will be far more difficult to run a company on just the basic skill that you’ve acquired, so exercising your ability to thicken out and lengthen your horizontal line is of the utmost importance in building, managing and structuring the business that you aim to create.

I recommend focusing on these other necessary requirements to make your horizontal line stand out and that doesn’t exactly mean that you should neglect your current skill or profession; you just spend less energy on enhancing that which you know and more on that which you don’t.

Being an entrepreneur isn’t the easiest thing to do, but by focusing on the right things you’ll take yourself much further than attempting to do it with just that qualification in your field.

So thicken up that horizontal line, get to learning and improve your knowledge on the many factors that will come with understanding the business you want to run. Your journey only begins once you acquire the skill and although it’s challenging, you’ll thank me later.

Or! You can thank me now and begin thickening out that horizontal line with a business coach which has the experience, knowledge, shortcuts and expertise to get you on track faster than going at it alone.

If you’re planning on starting a business and don’t quite know where to begin or have a vague idea of what needs to be done; I can be of great assistance to you.

Let me in and let me advise you on the steps to take to speed up that process. You can call me, text me or email me – I’m always happy to help.

 

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

 

Mar 31
Love0

Become Like A Chef – Share Your Secret Recipe!

By Business Coaching Creative Motivation No Comments

What is it that makes so many great chefs, well, great? Some would say it’s in their ability to take some of the simplest ingredients and make something surprisingly delicious out of it, or to bring novelty to the kitchen, introducing insane dishes and combinations nobody would have thought to invent.

Some of the greatest chefs known to man like Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Nigella (to name a few) all have one thing in common: they refuse to keep their genius a secret.

You could say that it’s somewhat outdated (and deluded) to be holding onto a secret recipe that would be kept and carried to the grave, only to be experienced by the innovator and those they deem worthy of indulging in their beautiful offerings.

Not in this day and age.

 

The True Secret is To Share

What you’ll find is that these culinary architects refuse to keep their ideas all to themselves and instead opt to share their incredible creations with the rest of the world and through whichever medium they so choose.

With a simple Google search, you can find pretty much any recipe that a world-renowned chef has ever put out there to be gobbled up by the masses.

Too lazy to read it? Well, you could probably even find them on Youtube and watch the entire process with all the direction and guidance you’ll need.

The bottom-line is this: these chefs know that they are amazing at what they do. They thoroughly understand the science behind the food and that they can, and will, do the job better than anyone else that would attempt it.

So sharing their secret recipes and even going as far as to putting the directions on display is of little detriment to what they are capable of offering.

 

Your IP Is Like Expensive Jewellery 

What would be the point in having the most gorgeous watch, or the most stunning necklace that you know people would be completely enamoured by, but always keep it hidden away in a jewellery box, afraid of it being damaged or stolen?

It’s of no real use if it isn’t shared with the world.

I have clients that tell me that they have such superb, or ground-breaking ideas, but are too afraid to show the world; in fear of their idea being stolen and copied, or worse, made into something better.

Your IP, or Intellectual Property, could be worth millions, could change lives and could launch you into stardom, but without wielding it and displaying to the world how powerful it is, you’re not doing yourself any favours. Keeping it a secret means that you are not acting on it and that in itself is a travesty.

Imagine King Arthur drew Excalibur from the stone, wrapped it up and hid it under his bed, for it to never see the light of day, again. Fearing that someone might steal it, or make a clone.

That fear will be a massive hindrance to your growth potential.

The great Zig Ziglar once came up with a fantastic acronym for fear. You can approach fear in one of two ways; you can either “Forget Everything and Run”, or “Face Everything and Rise.”

By facing your fear, you take on the promise of having your idea spread and heard by people. Those people will give credit where credit is due, especially if you are open to sharing your ideas and strategies with the world. This selfless approach is a catalyst to selfish results, if that makes sense.

Use that precious, luxurious IP of yours and wear it for the world to see. Don’t keep it hidden in your box of precious belongings, or nobody knows that it even exists.

 

Spread Your IP Like a Virus 

I’ve made reference to Seth Godin’s Ideavirus, before and will reiterate it here once again.

You need to look at your ideas as if they should be a contagious virus, to ultimately become viral; an infection that spreads to as many people as possible.

Your product, brand, or idea should spark and ignite a pandemic that has as many people know about it. It should spread like a sneeze and keep spreading until everybody is a carrier.

The same can be said about what those great chefs do. They spread their recipes and tricks like a virus to hook as many people as possible. Fully aware that they are amazing at what they do, they aren’t afraid to share their ideas for free or for a bit of money.

In the end, they win.

 

So Be As Contagious As An Infected Chef 

Your IP is only as good as the amount of people that are infected with it, to share it and spread it.

Don’t be afraid of sharing your tricks, your ideas, your business and brand with the world. Share the secret recipes that you’re keeping locked up in a safe, wear your ideas like fine jewellery and sneeze that shit all over the place like it’s Covid.

I’m basically terminal – giving away all of the advice and secrets to my success, even though it’s my bread and butter.

I know how valuable I am to my clients, to business owners and entrepreneurs and I’m more than confident in my ability to coach like Tony Robbins. I have no problem sharing.

So when you’re ready to be infected, like a zombie with an insatiable hunger for the world – hit me up.

I’d be more than glad to share my years of experience and knowledge with you. Let’s get together and not wear our masks; come and get infected with me.

Cough up a call sometime, my number is +2783 253 3339

Or sneeze an email in my direction on brent@spillly.com

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Mar 23
Love0

Scarcity VS Abundance Mindset

By Business Coaching Motivation psychology No Comments

As a business owner, you don’t only carry the responsibility of running your own company; you often assume the role of a leader that has to bring direction, guidance and ambition to others in order to build a successful business.

You act as a role-model to staff. You influence those around you. You create impressions that last.

That’s why it’s so important to be aware of the mindset that you carry, as you come to affect not only those around you, but your own behaviour, as well.

Indeed, constraints and obstacles will have an effect on your vision and can become a nuisance to accomplishing your goals, however, your perception will ultimately shape your reality and determine whether you fail or succeed as an entrepreneur.

Why Mindset Matters

 I’ve coached many business owners over the years and while personalities certainly differ, a common theme that I’ve come across is that of the two mindsets that people have: The scarcity mindset and the abundance mindset.

There’s always a problem or obstacle to face when running a business – unfortunately, it comes with the package. Being an entrepreneur is hard-work and nobody said it would be easy, but the way that some business owners go about solving particular problems can be ineffective, to say the least, and that’s often due to the limiting beliefs that come with having a negative mindset.

Based on the way that they approach a problem, there’s a level of pessimism and cynicism that ends up blinding their thoughts and governing their decisions.

Although we’ve become somewhat desensitized to those terms, being the pessimist or the cynic is a very dangerous path to choose. It doesn’t only have a negative impact on yourself, but bleeds through to others and can be harmful to business and personal relations.So much research has been done to prove how powerful the human mind is and how our mindset, philosophy and thought-processes can affect the behaviours and the decisions that we make.

It’s important to understand that we’re not like magnets; positive doesn’t attract negative and negative doesn’t attract positive. It’s quite the opposite, actually. If you remain positive in your approach, you’re far more likely to attract positive outcomes – the same applies with being negative and attracting negative outcomes.

Call it the law of attraction, a self-fulfilling prophecy or whatever you choose; at the end of the day, we are affected by what we think and the mindset that we carry with us on a daily basis.

Mindset matters. It shapes our interactions and achievements. It shapes the world that we live in.

 The 4 Constraints In Business That Affect Our Mindset

 With certain clients that I coach, I often come to recognise a mindset of scarcity and take the time to figure out the best way to understand where they’re coming from, so that I can help provide a solution to their problem.

Whether it’s a matter of strategic thinking, or day-to-day problem solving, they start from a negative standpoint, saying, “we can’t do that, because…”.

Often, the “because” is due to certain constraints.

“We can’t do that, because we don’t have the people, or enough people, or the skills in our people; we don’t have enough money to afford solving the problem; we don’t have the time to tackle these issues.”

The four biggest constraints are always around resources (lack of technology, skills, etc), people, time, and money.

These constraints can be problematic, but there’s always a solution to be found. So when I coach clients that deal with these issues, I start by recommending that they forget about those four constraints.

The Magic Wand

I like to use the hypothetical scenario of a magic wand that could wipe away all of those constraints with immediate effect and ask them what they would choose to do in their business and how they would go about it.

This usually brings about different thinking and solutions that they were previously unable to imagine.

It shifts the perspective from “how do we solve that thing?” to “how do we raise the money or find the right people to do that thing?”; creating a segue that changes their stance from reactive to proactive.

This brings about new ideas and changes the approach from scarcity to one more focused on the abundance that comes with solving the initial problem.

What I tend to find during this process is that there is no real shortage of solutions to the problem they’re facing, but rather that solutions were needed around those constraints. In my experience, solving the constraints opened the door to solving the initial problem.

This approach is based around an abundance mindset – one that seeks solutions through positive thinking. It motivates and allows you to think about problems differently and find answers from a different perspective.

Adopting An Approach To Abundance

 By adopting a mindset based on abundance, you begin to change your idea of life and business, as a whole. You see the advantages within the disadvantages and constraints; you find a silver-lining in everything that you approach.

It works itself into the way that you handle, influence and work with people. You’re seen as more positive and uplifting, rather than an emotional wreck that harbours problems and struggles to find solutions.

It prevents you from playing the blame game and invites you to take responsibility and accountability.

Scarcity acts like a leech on your thought processes and behaviour, while abundance acts as a catalyst to being a better, more productive individual. Again, we’re not like magnets in the sense that opposites attract; like attracts like, love attracts love, good attracts good.

Try it for yourself. Do the research.

And if you struggle, then fake it until you make it.

Struggling to find that silver-lining? Struggling to pick off all of the leeches that drain the optimism out of you? Worry not. I’m here to assist.

If it’s becoming so bad that it has an impact on your business, then get in touch with me and let’s discuss how I can help you move forward. I’ll bring all of the abundance you so desperately need and who knows, my cheerful attitude might just rub off on you – shifting your gear from scarcity to abundance.

Call me, Whatsapp me, contact me, today:

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

Mar 23
Love0

Practice What You Preach And Become Your Own Best Client

By Business Coaching Entrepreneur Motivation No Comments

When dissecting this proverb, “the cobbler’s children have no shoes”, it can be understood as a phrase that describes a person who doesn’t benefit from the products or services of their own profession and as far back as this saying goes, it remains clear how relevant it is in business today.

In my experience with coaching, I’ve come to find that the lack of internal use of services or products that a business provides is a common occurrence within plenty of industries, whether it’s a law firm, advertising agency, or media company – implementing their own solutions seems to be out of the equation.

I don’t quite agree with that logic, as every company should be their own number one client and make practical use of the services (and products) that they provide.

Salaries Are Paid, So Provide The Service To Yourself

 Indeed, it does take time, resources and plenty of effort to provide a great solution to different clients. And as a business owner, you make sure to put your best effort in when giving people the greatest possible value that you have to offer.

But, the same logic should be applied when looking at your company; clients will come and go, leaving the most consistent and important client being your own organisation.

For some strange reason, too many entrepreneurs feel as if they should outsource or pay for external involvement to solve some of the problems that they are perfectly capable of handling within their own company.

I find it quite a common occurrence in ad agencies, where they often look past their own employees to advertise and market their business by looking elsewhere – wasting energy and resources on other people to do the job. The very same thing happens in particular law firms, where legal issues are handled externally, instead of looking at their own highly qualified and capable staff to get certain jobs done.In doing the research and going through a number of case studies, I’ve come to find that some of the most successful companies that exist make use of their own services internally and take this approach quite seriously; often spending up to 20% of their total budget around providing homegrown solutions to themselves.

This becomes even easier (and obvious) to do when staff are already being paid salaries to provide these solutions for other clients.

When you boil it down, it’s simply a case of practicing what you preach. You should put your own services into practice and utilise them to advance your business, while avoiding unnecessary spending.

It becomes a bit counterproductive to spend time and money hunting down external sources to do things that your company is already highly capable of doing on its own. Every business owner should be aware of this when seeking out solutions for their organisation.

You’re technically paying for the service already, so make your own company a client and treat that client with love, respect and attention.

 

More Benefits To Becoming Your Own Best Customer

 Making efficient use of the solutions that you provide within your own business is obviously very useful and will be of great benefit, so it goes without saying that running with the idea of being your own client or customer can bring about even more promising results.

Taking the time to act as a client for your own company will give you more insight into the way that it operates.

You go from actively seeking clients to becoming one – looking at your business from a different perspective. And by using your own products or services, it will help you pick up on issues, flaws and points that could be worked on to build a better brand identity.

This brings awareness around processes or interactions that could be made better for your customers, improving delivery in different departments and discovering areas where money, time and resources can be saved.

Becoming your own customer or client allows for more involvement and understanding, which will aid you in developing a much better solution.

Give it a try, be more involved, practice what you preach and make a far greater impact.

As a business coach, I’m constantly practicing what I preach and have to ensure that it’s my duty to deliver an impactful, remarkable and informative solution to my clients.

It isn’t easy running a business, it isn’t easy being alone at the top, it isn’t easy figuring out the right direction to take when the going gets tough, but it is easy to connect with a coach that has the ambition, drive and desire to make a difference in your life.

I am that coach and I am eager to take the journey with you in becoming the best version of yourself, so that your business will flourish.

Make life easier by contacting me whenever you’re ready:

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

Mar 16
Love0

The 7 Year-Cycle. Re-invent, Recreate, Re-incarnate

By Business Coaching Coaching Entrepreneur No Comments

Do you remember the old Etch-A-Sketch, or am I just a boomer? For those of you that don’t, it was a pretty amazing toy back in the good old days (look at that, I am a boomer), being made up of a book-sized board and filled with an aluminium powder that you could create sketches on.

By using two knobs, each controlling horizontal and vertical movements to lay out your masterpiece, you were open to a realm of possibilities (if you could actually figure out how to use the thing properly) and by shaking it, the image would clear away – leaving you with a blank screen, ready to start the next new idea.This piece is not about that killer toy, but rather about going through the process of design and creation; only to clear it up and start again with something fresh, new and exciting.

Reincarnate Yourself While You’re Still Alive 

Around 2012, I wrote one of my first blog posts about a pretty dark and confusing time in my life. After seventeen years as a business owner, I threw in the towel and walked away from the years of torment, tears and trepidation that I was facing and made the difficult decision of starting over.

By trying numerous activities and finding solace in distractions, I was taught the valuable lesson of reinvention and coming to terms with who I am and what it is that I want from this world.

I was able to find purpose, a new-found passion for people, life and business; I was able to find myself.

This clarity and direction dawned on me in a profound way, proving that taking a break is often necessary in rewiring and refreshing the repetitive and monotonous nature that life can sometimes dish out at you. In taking the time to trade in years of hard work and sacrifice for a few justifiable moments of simplicity and stupidity – you’ll come to find how rewarding a trade-off like that can actually be.

And this isn’t a new or foreign concept, as there’s a term for people who do this on an ongoing basis – generally university lecturers and a few other fields of work will recommend taking time-off for yourself after every seven years of hard grind; the sabbatical.

After seven years of driving down hard on your work, taking a sabbatical is one of the best things you can do for yourself. I can’t tell you that it won’t be filled with a bout of initial boredom, anxiety and hints of insanity, as a vacation for a full 12 months can certainly be a major shift in gear, especially after forming routines, rituals and a certain rhythm; but it is extremely rewarding to your mind, soul and body.

In taking this time off, you’re going through a sort of pseudo-metempsychosis (or reincarnation) of yourself – allowing a new creature to form within you that is filled with creativity, passion and the reignition of the dimming flame that had you driving yourself to those great heights for so long.

Tabula Rasa – The Clearing Of One’s Slate 

In a wonderful Ted Talk by world-renowned graphic designer, Stefan Sagmeister, there’s a huge amount of emphasis put on taking up to one entire year off after every 7-year run in order to give yourself that much-needed rejuvenation of the mind.

He talks about all of the beautiful insight, vision and invigoration that comes with taking such a necessary break from the constant and relentless effort that goes into working for many years on projects, deadlines and business growth.

The theory of tabula rasa says that we’re born with a clean slate and clear mind, without any innate abilities and that our environment etches our ideas, concepts, notions and abilities onto that slate. There are plenty of arguments against it, as language or talents can be argued to be innate, but if we take the concept and apply it to ourselves after every seven years; we are capable of doing some incredible things.

Similar to the Etch-A-Sketch, once you’ve spent a period of time constructing, creating and working hard to make a beautiful picture; shake it up, clear away all of that effort and see a new, bold and profound ambition come into play.

Adopt and embrace a clean slate, refresh yourself, clean up your act and either take a whole new direction in life, or go back to what you’ve been doing for so many years with a radical, new perspective and love for what you do.

Business owners and entrepreneurs who have been in the game for a long period of time can benefit greatly from doing this, as they can come back with a whole new vision and direction to take their business; perhaps creating a brand-new enterprise with the pent-up child-like wonder that they’ve been struck with.

I’ve taken a huge leap to get where I am today and if it wasn’t for me walking away and taking a much-needed break from the same cycle for so long, I might have ended up bitter and resentful – taking my frustrations out on the people around me.

Learning to embrace and engage in sudden change like that has rewarded me on a whole new level. I’ve become my own brand, adored by my clients and able to make the difference in people’s lives that I have always wanted to make. I’m happier than I have ever been.

Try it for yourself. Shed your skin and come out a better, bigger and stronger creature with a healthy, new appetite for the world and conquer it with a forked tongue. Especially if you’re like me and have put so many years of dedication, time and effort into working your ass off only to find yourself coming to a point of suffering.As a business coach, who’s been through hell and come back stronger than ever, I invite you to take my service into consideration and let me help you decide whether or not this is the perfect time to take a much-needed vacation.

I just need to check-in with the wife, but I’ll be glad to join you on your sabbatical:

Riding out into the sunset on over 1000cc of pure adrenaline, while the wind runs through my not-so-long and luscious locks of hair (a bald head equals more speed, BTW. Less resistance, or whatever).

Contact me, I’m cool with calls, emails, a face-to-face, or even a slow motorcycle race (boomer alert):

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

 

 

Mar 09
Love0

The 8-Layered Approach To Business Strategy

By Business Coaching Entrepreneur Strategy No Comments

In unpacking the most suitable strategy methods for my clients, I make sure to have them thoroughly understand this approach and how to apply it to their thinking in order to achieve some kind of business objective in the next 12 months.

This strategic approach is split into 8 layers that provide insight and analysis into the goals and measurements required to get some solid work done within a particular window period.

Let’s take a strong, hard look at how exactly it works and in what ways it will help your business shine.

 

The Situation, The Victory Conditions And The Goals

 

When looking at this multi-layered approach, there are first a list of questions that need to be asked and key information that needs some sort of identification.

Taking a look at the very top of the approach, you’re welcomed by the need to identify the current situation you’re facing in your business:

This is done by taking a look at some important factors like understanding your risk analysis using all of the right tools; where you sit financially from a cash-flow and liability perspective; understanding what the market looks like in terms of risks and trends; ensuring that you have the right product set for the market at this particular time and where you are in terms of producing your product; and finally, what the current state of your suppliers and staff look like.

Begin with confronting and truly understanding the current situation you’re in and answer all of those particular factors that apply.

The next piece to look at is your shareholder’s victory conditions:

Identify and think clearly about what the shareholder wants to achieve long-term (around 3-5, or 5-7 years); then mid-term (the next 12 months); and begin to unpack what winning and success looks like from a shareholder’s perspective in the next year of engaging in this strategy. When identifying what’s needed at this stage, you look at what winning looks like and by a set deadline, ensuring that you have all the necessary goals that need to be achieved at a particular time.

The third fundamental piece of information that you need to provide before moving on would be the actual business goals:

In finding the best way to go about this, make sure to break it down into a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal); what would be the single measurement to confirm that you’ve won or succeeded in the next 12 months? Would it be winning a certain account, getting x amount of people or clients, achieving x amount of turnover – it needs to be something that’s measurable.

Take it further and find your SMART goals (Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic and Time-based) and then set those objectives based on each business vertical, such as sales, marketing, operations, HR, finance, the product and the rest of the departments in your business.

After identifying your situation, victory conditions and goals – you can now decide what the initiatives are that you need in order to achieve these objectives.

 

Initiatives, Thrusts And Impact vs Effort

Based on the situation that you’ve analysed, the victory conditions that you’ve identified and the goals that have been set; it’s time to decide on the key strategic initiatives that will be run over the course of a year.

This takes your 12-month goal or objective and has them broken down into four key strategic initiatives that become a quarterly break-down of the year (3 months per initiative). Each of those quarterly initiatives can be divided further into thrusts for each quarter, which refer to the particular things that need to happen in each quarter to get closer to achieving the final year-end goal.

If you manage to complete all four initiatives, you’ll complete your goals.

It’s important to list what you’ll be doing in each thrust (usually 2-3 thrusts per initiative) and achieve them to move on to your next 3-month initiative. However, this can become a little bit difficult to manage all of these things, while running the business on a day-to-day basis.

So, I suggest putting those thrusts into an impact vs effort quadrant, where you can determine whether each thrust is either: low effort and high-impact; low effort and low-impact; low-impact and high effort; or high-impact and high effort.

You’re looking to find the low effort, but high-impact work and pay attention to that, leaving the high effort, but low-impact work to do last.

We want results that we get the most amount of impact from, while doing minimal effort. This has you focus on that first, then on high-impact, but high-effort work; thirdly low-impact, but low effort; and lastly, work that is high effort, but low-impact.

It becomes easier when you can decide which of those thrusts are more important to work on now and which ones can be focused on or left for later in the year.

 

Tactics, Resources, Sprints, Then Control and Measure

Once you’ve established and categorised the thrusts into appropriate positions and which of them will take priority, you can shift your focus toward deciding which tactics, resources and weekly measurements are needed to get those thrusts done.

There may be a need for particulars to get the jobs done, like: people, money, tools and applications, time allocation, smarter marketing – paying attention to the tactics necessary for completing the thrusts in the most effective way.

After identifying those required tactics and particulars, I suggest breaking it down into weekly sprints; figuring out what you’re going to be doing every week (sometimes bi-weekly) to try and push the business forward to achieve the thrust. Then at the end of each quarter, to re-evaluate those initiatives and take another look at those thrusts.

And last, but not least, as you’ll find in every strategy is the control measurement phase:

Identifying when you start doing these weekly sprints, how well the implementation of these actions are working and what other actions need to be taken to achieve the desired results. Paying attention to the what, how, who and when; how do you know it’s actually working?

You don’t want to get ahead three months, look back and say, “that was a waste”. So, it is important to step away from it on a monthly basis and look carefully at what’s been done over the past four weeks and ask yourself if you’re closer to achieving the thrusts and whether or not you need to speed things up, slow things down, realign, or just cancel.

Like with every strategy, you can (and should) always adapt, accordingly.

There you have it!

An 8-layered approach to a solid strategy that will have you achieving your goals like Christiano Ronaldo.

Speaking of goals: you should include me in one of them. Get yourself a powerful and kick-ass business coach that will take your business all the way to the top.

We can hang-out sometime, have a chat, a meeting, a sit-down and discuss where you see your business going in the next couple of years.

It’s so easy to reach me (almost too easy):

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

 

Mar 09
Love0

A Great Recipe for a Gripping Consultant Coach

By Business Coaching Consulting Entrepreneur No Comments

Just in case you were curious, wondering what it takes to be an ideal business coach or  consultant, what the difference is between those and a mentor and where exactly I fit into the equation, worry not.

For I am here to unpack it for you.

While they all have a very similar ring to them, there are differing definitions for these occupations. Each one is different in a few ways and it’s important to be able to distinguish them from one another, just so that you make the right choice when picking one to bring out the best in your business.

 

So, how do all of these differ from one another?

Let’s start with a mentor: even though it’s someone you know and respect, who offers you both guidance and advice, they tend to come unstructured – with no goals or timelines that are set, remaining unaccountable to their processes and guidance. They also tend to be subjective in their approach, giving you opinions on how, or why certain things should be done.

This is not what I do.

So then, am I a coach? Coaching tends to have a more structured approach – with set periods of time, there are goals made that should be adhered to and accomplished. A coach is also paid for their time, so there’s more pressure and accountability that comes with the package. While remaining objective, they are non-advisory in their nature, tending to stay away from giving advice, but rather have a clear mission to understand where you are so that they can help motivate you and find solutions – keeping you on a path to achieving your dreams and finding success.

Although I touch on some of these points – this is not what I do.

Ah! So I must be a consultant?

Not exactly.

While a consultant also has more accountability and helps in defining their client’s objectives, they often work together with the client to achieve their goals and to bring better results by being part of the process and producing actual work. With a project-based approach, there will be clear timelines and deadlines that need to be adhered to, while they are also very advisory in nature and have a lot more to say when giving direction.

 

“Spillly. WTF?!  What do you do then?”

 

I’d consider myself a hybrid. I sit somewhere in-between coaching and consulting – helping you define your growth objectives and assisting you in achieving them with strategic thinking, planning, advice and an outcome in mind of how to get there. I am objective towards your targets and goals, respecting the objectives that you’ve set to accomplish and will push you toward learning and attaining more to get to your desired outcome.

The role I play in my clients’ lives is that of a silent-theoretical partner – one who is always a call or text away. I act as a catalyst to the success of your business, helping make the right decisions, while inspiring, motivating and educating along the way.

 

Intelligence + Emotional Aptitude 

A person’s IQ (Intelligence Quotient) has been used for many years as a predictor of success and a way to determine how intellectually capable a person is in any given environment. Affecting everything from school and job performance, to income and health, IQ was seen as the ultimate test of character.

Until, EQ came along.

Emotional Intelligence has gained massive popularity in recent years by giving spotlight to empathy and its effects on leadership. It is the ability to connect with people on a higher level, sharing personal experiences and understanding which results in better leadership skills, mental health and job performance.

What if you were to combine these two powerful social commodities?

With my coaching-style built on a rigid foundation of both intelligence and emotion, I’m able to bring the right ingredients to a wide variety of scenarios. With IQ, the ability to logically piece together all the observations over the years gives me the foresight to pick up on risks, behaviours and immediate benefits within your business.

While EQ lends itself to my years of understanding and working with hundreds of staff (as well as clients’ staff) and identifying what makes my clients and the people around them heard and understood. I take a clear-cut route to finding and fostering connections with people.

 

Strategic AND Practical

Not only will there be a need for a healthy combination of EQ and IQ, but there are elements of strategy and practicality needed to make for a well-rounded approach.

In being strategic, there should always be a plan of action that encapsulates the needs, desires and end-goal of my client. Through careful, thorough analysis, I will provide the tools and steps to implement and execute a plan that will bring about the best results.

Being practical means that it’s always better to have a certain level of involvement in the process. Being able to add value and effort where needed, so that results are proven and not just from a theoretical standpoint. Putting in actual creative effort – not only providing ideas.

If there was a coordinate plane to help you visualise where exactly I sit on the axis of both EQ and IQ; Strategy and Practicality; I’m slap-bang in the middle. Blending all of those aspects best I can to complement you and your business.

Fresh Ingredients Go A Long Way

The longer I spend as a family man, a coach and a business owner, the more I learn and grow those commodities. By finding the right fertilizers and giving just the right amount of nourishment, my lessons and advice become ripe for the plucking. Giving my clients only the freshest ingredients to savour all that I have to offer.

A successful business consultant/coach not only has the intuition and ability to use all of the right information at the right time, but also knows all the right measurements needed for their secret recipe.

The desire for your success is of great importance to me. It is my duty to understand your goals and challenge you to achieve more, all within your boundaries and levels of discomfort.

As a business consultant and coach I act as a propellant in helping you achieve success, clarity in your dreams and goals, healthy business growth, financial stability and a sense of joy in what you do.

 

I am a coach that cares;

That listens;

That understands and seeks to find understanding.

So, go ahead. Squeeze the best out of what I have to offer.

Let’s get together for a fruitful discussion and an enticing cup of something strong.

You know where to find me: 083 253 3999 or brent@spillly.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mar 04
Love0

Credibility – Your Success Currency

By Business Coaching Lifestyle Strategy No Comments

Perception is everything. All that we see and interact with is affected by our judgements and personal evaluations of people, places, brands and our surroundings.

Whether conceived or pre-conceived, our notions about people are a staple to our survival as human beings. We need to judge and discern whether something is right or wrong for us in any given situation and as humans, we tend to be both horrible and remarkable at doing just that.

That is why credibility is just so important. People will always have lasting, if not life-long impressions of you and your character, deciding whether or not you are deserving of their love or their hatred. Trust is fundamental in building a strong network of followers (and no, I’m not talking about Instagram).

 

Build and Become the Brand 

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, an employee and regardless of whether you’re 20, or even 50 years of age, building a brand is one of the most important things you could possibly do to serve you well.

A brand is not to be mistaken with simply having a logo or a website, but how your customers perceive you and ultimately how you have affected them. It is so important to be aware of the impression that you leave on your customers and people in general, because it will ultimately lead to what they spread through word of mouth.

Recently, in a state of frustration, I put out a tweet that said:

Ask yourself the question, “what brand am I building and putting out there?”

Do you leave a positive and lasting impression on every person that you meet? Yes, every person that you interact with becomes important, as you never know where that person might end up tomorrow.

The people that you went to school with, the family that you grew up around and the people that you work with from the very beginning, all have the possibility of impacting your life in some way later on in life. Always be aware that a person’s status or influence in the present could be changed in the future – the junior staff that you started out with could someday end up being CEOs, high-ranking officials, or even your boss. Imagine that nightmare.

The impression you leave can last a lifetime.

 

Start Filling Your Bank With Credibility 

One of the most powerful ways to leave a strong and lasting impression, one that is impactful and unforgettable, is to develop your level of credibility.

Credibility is your ability to leave a positive and memorable point-of-view on your identity, one that says you’re an honest and remarkable person that people can respect, trust and admire.

Through this, you will have the ability to create a strong network of support and a following that you can be proud of. If you’re seen as honest, impressionable, hard-working and capable, you sign-up for unwavering respect and the power to have people follow and look up to you.

In order to grow a successful business, especially in South Africa, you need to have a strong network. This network starts at school and keeps growing all the way through to your employers, colleagues and even your opposition; everyone can be your network.

The power and size of your network is directly proportional to your success.

People don’t necessarily remember the work you do, but rather how you did the work. Were you trustworthy, honest, diligent in every move you made? You become a merchant that trades in trust, giving others the opinion that you are credible; and dare I say it, incredible.

 

Become Viral Like The Coronavirus

Seth Godin, writer of the Ideavirus has an excellent take on marketing and how important the customer is when spreading your brand to more and more people. He talks about becoming like a virus – contagious to your customers, so that they spread your product or service to as many as possible.

Your credibility should do the same thing. You should become contagious in the way that you disseminate yourself, as a brand and as a business owner. Let the love and respect of your character spread like wildfire, so that as many people want to be involved with you.

Apply it to your daily diet and ask yourself, “who am I meeting today and what will those people be saying about me in the years to come?”

Build yourself a trail of ambassadors that will follow you on your journey and share your virus with the rest of the world.

Sharing is caring, after all.

 

Be The Leader That Keeps On Leading

By becoming the leader of your own personal brand, you begin a trend that will open up more networks and a stable, unbreakable following. By taking on the responsibility of reliability and trust, you open the doors to becoming more respected, admired and remarkable.

It starts with one follower that will invite and inspire many more to join in on your mission. I quote Derek Sivers, “the first follower is what transforms a loon into a leader.”

You become like the Pied Piper, leading and gathering people with your harmony of trust and honesty – strengthening relationships and forging an undying perspective on the amazing person that you are.

Are you unique and remarkable?

Or are you forgettable and easily replaceable?

I sometimes find that being trustworthy and honest starts with a firm kick to the groin.

We could also just start out with a strong-ass cup of coffee, so join me for one, we can discuss how to shove you in the right direction. Or if you’re a little bit shy, too afraid to catch the Covid:

 

Call me on 083 253 3999 or email me: brent@spillly.com, Let’s plan a risk-free Zoom meeting, sometime soon.

Feb 19
Love0

Vision Boards For Entrepreneurs: The Wall Of Blue Logos

By Business Coaching Motivation Strategy No Comments

Setting up an environment that carries within it a vision of success is a huge requirement for any successful business owner and in doing so, you motivate not only yourself on an individual level, but the employees and anyone that comes into contact with such a culture.

I’ve come across and use a wide variety of tactics and ways to keep entrepreneurs, staff and my clients motivated to attract better results in as many aspects of their business as possible and have found that the methods I’ll be sharing with you today are extremely powerful in creating such a great environment.

The Wall Of Logos

About six years ago, I was called in for a meeting with a very large advertising agency that was a potential client of mine and being a bit anal about time, I showed up about half-an-hour early for the interview.

Being there that early meant that I was stuck with the friendly receptionist and the various staff slowly dragging their feet into the workplace. I was offered a delicious cup of coffee and patiently waited to be summoned in.

During that time, I noticed a distinct wall of plaques behind the lovely lady and each one had a logo of some famous brand that anybody could recognise; big players in different industries all spread across this company’s wall. What I noticed upon closer inspection is that some were in colour and some were still silver in the shade of the original plaque.

Thoroughly impressed, I thought to myself, “Wow, these must be the clients that this agency works with,” which created even more anticipation to land them.

The time came and I was called into the meeting, everything went as smooth as Jazz and I bagged the opportunity to work with this amazing company. During the meeting, I brought up the glimmering wall of logos and it was explained to me that the brands that are in colour are those that they work with and already have as clients, while the plaques that are completely silver were the clients that they were aiming at getting.

An amazing idea that not only has their goals displayed for the world to see, but also one that motivates and pushes their staff towards a horizon of success.

This way of thinking left a solid impression on me and I firmly believe it to be a fantastic way that the company reminds itself and its employees that they are striving to be the best and will seize any opportunity to be huge in their industry.

The Blue Logo Approach

A few years after my encounter with the great wall of logos, I was working with another client of mine, also a large advertising firm in marketing and media, where I noticed that they had a slightly different approach to the plaque idea.

This company used what could be called the ‘blue logo strategy’, where they specifically targeted brands with blue logos as potential clients and without being confined to a single industry, these brands were all involved in multiple sectors and markets.

If you pay some pretty close attention to some of the biggest industry giants, you’ll come to find that a huge portion of them use a significant amount of blue in their logo: BMW, Unilever, HP, Intel, Facebook and Paypal (Oh! Spillly is also in blue – just putting that out there).

Making sure to tell their staff on a daily basis that those were the particular clients that they were going for, they created an environment with a concept similar to that of the wall of logos at the previous company I mentioned.  They were inducing a sense of motivation and ambition in themselves and their employees to strive towards capturing the best clients they could.

One really cool thing about that was the fact that they didn’t restrict themselves to one industry (like automotives), but to different sub-categories, like blue logos in the tech industry and the banking industry, as well.

This also didn’t necessarily mean that they were only accepting clients with a blue logo, but some of the best brands tend to have blue as a preferred colour choice. (*cough* like my one)

Vision Boards And Attraction

These methods that are used by the companies bear a stark resemblance to the law of attraction and a trick used to attract and manifest certain possibilities in one’s life and environment: something known as vision boards.

A vision board is usually a collection of images, formed into a collage to remind yourself, and others, of certain goals or ambitions that you’ve set out to achieve.

By creating such a device, you condition your subconscious to adapt and attract possibilities and opportunities that will bring about those goals, ambitions or dreams into existence.

Through having the blue logo approach or the wall of plaques, the entrepreneur and the staff all envision and fixate on particular results that they are all striving to achieve and in keeping a visual reminder, they constantly remind their subconscious minds of an outcome that needs to be delivered. This affects their behaviours, body language, communication and interactions with people in order to bring about their desires and breathe life into them.

It’s a fun way to think about who you are as an organisation, the type of clients that you want and how big you want that client base to become.

Finding a similar way to motivate yourself and your staff to excel in and achieve higher goals like this will most certainly be beneficial to your own business, including the environment and culture that it creates.

From the inside, your business will carry and develop an energy that strives for success; while from the outside, people are drawn to the high levels of ambition that you’ve put out on display – making it known that you’re on a quest to becoming a big-player in your industry.

This is a nice and easy trick to make use of and implement in your work environment and so am I.

I’ll be the best business coach you’ve ever invited into your life and business and just like those big corporate kings: my logo is blue, too.

Okay, I won’t keep bombarding you with how awesome my logo is, so if you need to know more about how I can turn your business frown upside down:

Let’s do a Zoom call, a face-to-face, a get together, a coffee:

+2783 253 3999

brent@spillly.com

I’m easy enough to find – there aren’t many bald, bearded business coaches with a blue logo out there. (Again, just putting that out there).

 

 

Feb 14
Love0

Howling at the Money Storm – “What Is Wealth?”

By Business Coaching Lifestyle Motivation No Comments

Wealth is a funny concept. There are many different ways to view it, so to get one universal definition can be just a little bit difficult.

Although it can be defined as how much you have sitting in the bank, or how well you’re doing financially; it can also extend to your levels of happiness in life, with family, comfort or your lifestyle.

In discovering the meaning of wealth, the last thing you should do is compare yourself to anybody, at all. It’s never fair to compare, as it can be so easy to find people that are far richer than you, living a better life – whether for real, or faking it on Instagram – and who are ultimately happier than you are able to be in the present.

So, How Does Spillly Define Wealth?

Great question!

I know people that many would consider ‘rich’, earning close to R500,000 a month, with the best car and access to almost anything you could ever desire; but find themselves so unhappy and miserable in their personal lives: living life divorced with two kids, with maintenance-bonded houses (some on their 2nd and 3rd properties), cars and assets that they can’t afford, private school bills, parents and siblings that are financially dependent on them.

These are people who are capable of going on over two overseas holidays a year and have lives surrounded by complete luxury, but still live on edge and in constant fear of financial insecurity.

A friend of mine is an example of this, earning a massive salary, owns the latest BMW 3 Series, and loves the extravagant lifestyle; however, as soon as Covid shattered life as we knew it, his business was struggling and he barely had 6 weeks’ worth of cash in the bank to pay for that lifestyle and all of those expenses.

From the outside, these people seem rich, but are certainly not wealthy and lack a certain level of financial freedom in their minds.

In contrast, my mother is almost 70, earns roughly R40k per month and spends around R30k every month on her lifestyle costs (car, rent, medical aid, etc), but her investments and assets give her more than her annuity every month. Her interest and rentals that she gets from her properties cover more than her monthly expenses. She is an example of what I would call wealthy – her monthly burn (expenses) is covered, while making more money than what she spends.

The fallacy is that just being rich results in being wealthy.

I define wealth as passive income greater than your burn. The key is to avoid measuring revenue, but rather the burn – what you spend your money on is just as important as what you earn.

Are you bringing in more than what you spend?

Now, how wealthy do you want to be?

If your answer to that question is to be R100 Million richer in the next 10 years and you’re just an employee, then do yourself a favour and just resign today.

It’s simply not going to happen.

The chances of you succeeding as a business owner are also very low. For the most part, the odds are stacked against you. The stats prove just how few businesses last past 3 years in this day and age, especially in a BEE-regulated, post-covid environment and research has proven that most entrepreneurs have a 1 in 5 chance of succeeding.

You need to be aware of where you are in the world and have realistic expectations. It’s impossible to become an overnight success. It may seem like some may achieve such a feat, but the anecdotes tell you how they’ve been around for many years before that success came knocking.

In order to get to a stage of being wealthy, there are certain measures that need to be taken. This starts with setting a financial goal that relates to savings, or annuity structures that will eventually produce more passive income than what you spend.

Pick a lifestyle that you believe is reasonable and in harmony with what you earn.

Identify how much wealth you need and by when, then work backwards and reverse-engineer those numbers.

I’ve come up with an easy and practical equation to help find the answer to your desired wealth:

If, A = Work;

And, B = Life;

Then, X(t) = Projected Wealth by when.

We have the equation A+B = X(t)

By starting with and setting a number for your wealth and when you want to have it by, you can work backwards to plan A (cash, revenue, savings, investments) and how much B (life balance) you will get out of it.

Plan Ahead to Achieve Your Goals

 Unless your plan is to become an earth-foraging hippy, or live in an Israeli kibbutz ( which I’m sure as hell you aren’t, as you’re here right now), then understanding exactly what you need to do today in order for you to lift yourself up for tomorrow and achieve your financial goals – should be a priority.

While salary is comfort; equity is wealth. 

Always try to find what brings the most equity in your life (investments, assets, etc), try not to focus and rely on the comfort of salary.

As with my theory of work-life balance: put in the hard work now to reap the balance later on in life. Pay close attention to what will bring you a passive income, long after salary has reached its due date.

Plan ahead.

Think it through.

And if you’re feeling a little bit anxious, anxious about where you’re heading and how big your X(t) is, you know how to reach me:

083 253 3999

brent@spillly.com

I promise you: My X(t) isn’t as big as yours.