Business Coaching Archives | Page 6 of 7

Jan 05

Embracing The Inner Imposter – The Psychology of Business (Pt.1)

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Coaching Mentoring No Comments

In a short series of psychology-related topics, I’ll be exploring how particular psychological factors play important roles in the characteristics of business owners and how they come to affect the decision-making processes in the running of their businesses.

The first part of this series will be based on the imposter syndrome, which I find a number of my clients having to face and deal with on a regular basis.

Ultimately, this cognitive bias affects the way that people perceive themselves, their skills and abilities in a negative light – which is why using it as a tool or weapon, rather than a deterrent, will go a long way in creating a strong, herculean leader.

What Am I Doing Here?! Surely I’m Not That Great.

Like with the majority of psychological, or sociological biases that are present in the world around us, there’s always a spectrum to consider. Some people sit on the deeper end of a spectrum with all of the features included in that diagnosis; some closer to the middle, with only a few; and some on the shallow side, with one or two of those patterns.

Not everybody has the most severe case of imposter syndrome, but many will certainly resonate with a number of the key attributes that come with having to deal with it.

In short, this bias refers to the belief of not being good enough to have the skills, talents and abilities necessary to be doing a great job in their respective field, regardless of the achievements, praise and positive feedback that they may receive; viewing themselves as fraudulent and carrying the belief that they shouldn’t be as successful as they are, even when they are completely amazing at doing what they do.

This can certainly be a scary experience or feeling to have, as it can cause damage to their own self-image and take away from the motivation that got them to that influential position in the first place.

But, if you’re someone that deals with something similar, you shouldn’t be alarmed, as it boils down to a defence mechanism that attempts to protect you from the unknown. It’s your own mind telling you that you’re better off in the comfort zone, free from risks or potential danger; simply, your fight or flight response being kicked into overdrive.

It’s common to find that people with this sense of imposterism often have stronger empathy and a great deal of humility, as they strongly care about the opinions and well-being of others first and will often distance themselves from their own ego and pride.

This doubt in their own ability to succeed in gathering new clients, asking for more money when it’s deserved, getting their dream job, or even launching that new and exciting business, is a bias that should be worked on to reap better outcomes in life.

Understanding The Barrier In Order To Break It Down

Through understanding that you might have imposter syndrome, you’re able to take the necessary steps towards slowly removing some of the obstacles that are impeding you from achieving all the great feats you’re capable of.

With lists of resources (especially online) that will help you chip away at that barrier to your success, you will most definitely find ways to ease your conscience and make a powerful impact, while still remaining true to yourself.

Some of the best recommendations are to: separate your feelings from the facts, by acting logically and rationally towards situations, rather than emotionally; condition yourself to respond in a more optimistic way to any failures or criticism that you might face, adapting and learning from mistakes instead of harbouring on them; and keeping away from seeking out too much external validation, as it often does more harm than good – find other measurement methods that prove that you are doing a great job and keep at it.

Having a little bit of imposter syndrome isn’t a bad thing; as I mentioned before, you’re more likely to carry a sense of humility and higher levels of empathy, which works wonders in developing stronger bonds and connections with people.

Adopt the positive attributes that it offers you, weaving it into your personal philosophy and try your best to not be overcome with damaging self-reflection, especially when you are as amazing as you are.

Understanding and using this bias or mental block as a tool to achieve greater things will be far more beneficial in the long run. Remind yourself that nobody out there is perfect, bulletproof and without their own faults and failures.

Not only the people around you, but also your business will be highly appreciative of the fact that you’re making the effort to find peace and fulfilment in yourself, rather than being at war with your own thoughts.

I sometimes feel like an imposter, like I’m a bit undeserving at times; But, I’m often reassured by looking back at all the amazing things that I have accomplished and the many people that I’ve helped over the course of my career as a business coach.

Tell me your story, why you might be feeling like a fraud or undeserving and I’ll help with a touch of guidance in giving your business some much-deserved vision, again.

You deserve it, your business deserves it – so reach out to a coach that cares:

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

Dec 17

Love0

Putting Too Many Eggs In One Of Two Baskets

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Coaching Strategy No Comments

With the ever-growing number of risks to businesses and business owners, especially during crappy times like Covid, it’s absolutely crucial to seek preventative measures in order to protect your company and safeguard its value.

Unfortunately, it’s quite a common theme to find that client-based businesses tend to suffer the most when seeking a sense of comfort in their sources of revenue – especially based on the number of clients they have and the industry that they are involved in.

I often advise my clients to measure many things on a daily and even monthly basis – especially in the smooth operation of a well-oiled machine – but, emphasis certainly needs to be placed on client (and industry) dependency.

So Many Eggs, Only One Basket

Most business owners measure a lot of the right things such as sales, overheads, how much is sitting in the bank and their finances from a tax-perspective; but often neglect to take into consideration the levels of client dependency in their business.

As a business coach, I always make sure to bring awareness to the measurement of revenue their clients produce as a percentage of the total business, ensuring that they divide their clients and determine how much each one brings in.

This is extremely important, as you should avoid (at all costs) a client that is too big in your business, in case things go south for whatever reason.

By depending on one major client, you run a massive risk that could put you out of work, leave you having to take (or make) salary cuts, or worse: retrench staff.

People will often build their office, infrastructure and technology based on what the biggest clients look like and the overheads of the business often go hand-in-hand with that.

In creating a solid defense against those risks, I advise producing something that looks like a pie chart every single month and plot out what percentage revenue each client gives your company on a monthly basis.

The golden rule of thumb in this situation is to ensure that no client provides more than 10% of your total revenue. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you have 10 clients and each of them provide 10% of the revenue for your business; you’ll be at a lower risk, because if one of those clients have to leave – it’s not the end of the world. Sure, it certainly isn’t great, but it’s not the worst thing that could happen.

But, as soon as you’re receiving more than 20% of your revenues from one client, the risk increases as you depend more on that source (they literally account for a fifth of your business, if not more); consider 20% as an alert and 50% as trouble.

Avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket and creating an unpredictable reliance on one client; what you want to be doing is growing your current client-base to produce more revenues by increasing what they spend on you, from say R10k to R20k, while keeping them below the 20% threshold.

Not Just The Revenue Basket, But The Industry Basket, Too

Another basket that you’ll find being weaved in a similar situation is the industry basket; the revenue basket is the dependency on revenues from clients, but attention needs to be paid to the industry basket, as well.

What industry is your business dependent on? If you’ve accumulated a strong list of clients within one industry or market, you run the risk of the same threats to the well-being of your company.

By relying on clients that might seem unwavering in an industry, such as the hotel industry, or airline industry; you’re setting yourself up for an uncomfortable surprise if the proverbial shit hits the fan. Covid KO’d a lot of industries and those businesses that were reliant on certain industries took a subsequent beating.

If the airline industry all of a sudden goes bankrupt, or the hotel industry begins hemorrhaging and the bulk of your clients are part of that industry – your business will suffer indefinitely.

Covid has taught us that it’s vital to pick about 5-10 different industries and spread your client-base among them, so that if anything were to happen to any of these industries you wouldn’t be affected as much, because you’ve diversified and spread yourself out.

So by taking careful consideration of the two baskets and the measurements that should be taken when spreading your eggs into each one, you’ll ensure proper protection of your business.

There is one basket that I will recommend putting all of your eggs into:

And that’s in choosing the right business coach for you.

Don’t spread those eggs out when dealing with advice, coaching, mentoring, development:

Throw them all into one and you can depend on me to get the right job done.

Who you gonna call? Coach Spillly! (*insert Ghostbusters melody, here)

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

Nov 18

Love0

It’s Been One Hell Of A Year, So Stop Punishing Yourself.

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Lifestyle Motivation No Comments

So the year is fast approaching its apex and although there is a massive pressure built-up to get as much done as humanly possible in this final stretch – it should be said that it’s okay to start taking it easy and right before tinnitus kicks in, to turn down the volume just a little bit.

We can all agree that this year has been extremely unpredictable, to say the least and (without any lube) it’s taken almost every business for a rough ride; leaving many limping away in shame.

I’m usually one for telling my clients to end the year off on a high note, with high-energy and a force not to be reckoned with, but this time is a little bit different.

It’s been tough. So don’t push yourself to the edge, we’ve made it through one crazy year.

Fight, Flight, or Just Chill

Other than the fact that the year has been emotionally taxing on everyone, dealing with a crisis that nobody could have foreseen, there are numerous reasons to be counting your blessings and taking joy in the fact that you’ve made it this far.

With a barrage of complications putting us on edge, Covid has certainly left behind a rotting and pungent smell.

When Ramaphosa pops up on TV, we’re left with surges of stress and adrenaline – what now? Another lockdown, more regulations? Constantly in a state of uncertainty, we find ourselves causing more harm than good.

In typical situations that call for a fight or flight response, our bodies produce the hormones cortisol and adrenaline. We’re forced to make quick decisions that cause a momentary stress for us and have to deal with the outcome as quickly as possible.

However, this pandemic has forced us on a slow-drip of these stress hormones; giving us short doses every time a new rule, regulation or barrier is presented to us. This cannot be healthy and certainly creates high-levels of discomfort in our psyche.

This slow release of hormones makes us anxious, edgy and hypersensitive (almost like a bunch of crack addicts) which in itself is physically and psychologically draining, taking a hefty toll on our minds and bodies.

We’re certainly not getting enough of the feel-good hormones, serotonin and dopamine, and need to seek out some of that good shit to find some balance amongst the chaos rummaging through our bodies.

That’s why it’s so important to ease off on yourself, a little bit more than usual. Take a bit of a chill pill and relax. I’m not saying drop everything, say “fuck it, I’m done” and walk away. Just don’t be so hard on yourself to reach unrealistic expectations for yourself, or your business.

A Three-Phase Plan to Find A Bit Of Solace

In the struggles that businesses are facing, there needs to be some sort of comfort found.

By constantly attempting to seize the day, ‘carpe diem’ acts as an anchor and defence mechanism, instead of a motivator. If I stay as busy as possible, I don’t need to face the guilt and think about all the stress that wants to give me an ass-kicking.

Don’t be trapped by the guilt of being highly productive; being a little bit useless or lazy is OKAY. It doesn’t have to be binary – either keep producing (1), or I’m useless (0).

You’re only human.

Take a little break and think about these three phases to deal with the end-of-year demand:

Phase 1: Is to understand. Become aware of the circumstances and understand the threat to your well-being. We all know that Covid is a huge reason for our current state of stress and this can extend to financial insecurity, guilt and anxiety around what could come next.

Phase 2: Show compassion (to yourself). There’s no better time to take a step back and show a degree of love towards yourself, be compassionate towards the hell that you’ve gone through, at least you can rest assured knowing that you’re not the only one. Give yourself time to rest and recover a little bit. Find the dopamine and serotonin in life to bring back some of that swagger.

Phase 3: Be a little bit fatalistic. I don’t generally believe in fate and prefer knowing that I have control over my circumstances, but it’s important to sometimes go with the flow, instead of trying your hardest to swim upstream. What are you constantly fixating on in your head? Let it go. Not being aware of the future reality that awaits is perfectly okay. It doesn’t serve you to wonder “what if?” rather deal with what is.

A quote by Eckhart Tolle, that certainly resonates with me, “life will always give you the experience that is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience that you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment,” goes to show that certain things happen for a reason and are meant to shape and mould you into a better person and business-owner at the end of the day.

Being present, living in the moment and finding acceptance of the current circumstances we’re being faced with will bring you far more peace-of-mind, than by needlessly stressing and wondering about what could be.

It’s okay not to over-work yourself over the next few weeks. Don’t push yourself too hard and have the burden of unnecessary pressure on yourself. You’ve done your best.

Focus on the easy high-impact work in the final stretch of the year and don’t bother working too hard on difficult low-impact work that will keep you in a state of crazy.

I leave you with this final quote:

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality,” Lucius Annaes Seneca.

I’ve been working hard to find inner peace and to be guilt-free in this time of intense change. It can be difficult to ease the mind.

If you’re facing that crunch and have an outpour of stress that your business is suffering, don’t hesitate to contact me. Sometimes it helps to have someone that has your back and understands what you’re going through and that you can talk openly to:

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

Oct 06

Love0

What is a Business Coach?

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Coaching Interviews No Comments

Spillly business coach

A business coach is someone that helps business owners and their management teams proactively approach defining their business growth objectives and then assisting them in the strategic thinking and planning to achieve their desired outcomes. Business coaches should be objective to their clients’ targets only and persuade them to learn the academic means to better themselves and make their organizations smarter. A good coach should become your theoretical silent partner who is always a call and mail away. They are the propellant to your business growth and should assist you in making the right decisions that will impact your business positively while inspiring and motivating you and your team.

What is the difference between a coach and a mentor?

Mentoring is unstructured, unaccountable and subjective. Mentoring is often just someone you know and respect that has “done it before” who is offering you advice and guidance without being paid for his/her time. There are no timelines and goals set when being mentored while coaching is a structured approach, over a set period of time with clearly defined goals being adhered to. The coach is paid for his time and must remain 100% objective to your needs and goals and is non-advisory. [This means he/she will not give you any leading advice but will help motivate you to find your own solutions and keep you on the path to achieving your dream].

And the difference between a life coach and a business coach?

The coaching mechanisms remain the same; objectivity, paid for and non-advisory but with business coaching the conversation revolves mostly around building the business, its strategies, processes and policies etc. while with life coaching, the tools used help the individual become a better person and find what they would describe as “happiness.” Life coaching uses far more psychology than business coaching although they both do require a healthy understanding of the human psyche.

How do you define yourself and how did you get into the field?

I’m a business coach that sit neatly between coaching and consulting, meaning I do offer advice where the client is needing solutions to improve the pace to achieving their own growth targets in their business. I focus primarily on the media, advertising, communications and technology sectors giving me a great oversight of larger industry trends, opportunities and threats in the space that business owners may not see while working in their business.

What are the tools of the trade?

If you are not constantly reading about the space in which you play and not improving your own skills you are “dead in the water.” In my opinion it’s essential that you remain relevant to your client base by knowing more than they do, at every stage of their business. This relates to the operations of the business and not necessarily their product or service. Having experience in multiple industries and having seen many ways in which businesses have succeeded, failed and been mediocre gives a coach perspective that is invaluable to his/her clients. Its valuable to have a formal business education as well as exposure to psychology as business coaches will deal with the academics of running a business as well as the softer aspects like motivation, depression and anxiety.

What are some of the myths around life coaches and coaches in general?

Not everyone can be a coach, although everyone feels that they can be. It takes a certain kind of mind-set and patience to be able to operate at the multiple speeds of individual clients. I often get told that it must be easy being a business coach when the opposite is in fact true – on a daily basis you are problem solving in other peoples businesses and dealing with extreme emotional states where often the stakes are high and peoples lives and livelihoods are in the balance. Coaching is a calling, not a career.

Why should someone see a business coach?

My first business coach always said “it’s lonely at the top!’ and being a business owner and entrepreneur is almost always hard. Having someone that can guide you, help with decision-making and call you out on your bullsh*t is invaluable to quickly navigating an uncertain growth trajectory. A great business coach can help you make more money, save money, define and grow your business to where you want and ultimately help the business serve your needs.

I am someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.

To find out if I am the right coach for you please email me and we can set up a virtual coffee at your convenience.

Sep 30

Love0

What will your network say about you?

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Coaching Motivation No Comments

Brand is not what you tell your customers, Brand is what your customers tell their friends.

In order to make money and be successful as an employee / business owner in South Africa – you need network. SA is a referral economy and your network is everything. The power and size of your network is directly proportionate to your future success. So what is network?

You know those people who are mid-level in your client base today? The people you studied with? Well, one day they will be leaders of large organisations and hopefully, you have proven your credibility, consistently for years so that when they are in power, you can be their provider. Your network is the people on the call today. I am your network. The longer you work, the harder you build your credibility, the more successful you will most likely be one day.

Here is the equation:

A strong network + credibility + skills to solve a problem = SUCCESS. simple.

BUT a network without credibility is worthless as credibility is your success currency. Being negative, being sloppy, being mediocre, being overly political in the workspace etc. etc. ruins credibility. You are a brand. You are building your own brand. Brand ME. What are people saying about your brand? Are you credible? Are you leaving a trail of ambassadors for your brand behind you or a trail of non-believers? Or even worse – people who deliberately bad-mouth you because of poor historic performance?

Ask yourself daily: What will the people on this call say about me in the years to come? remarkable? forgettable? strong worth ethic or a little lazy?

Your network will never remember the work you did or the project you delivered in 5 to 10 years from today, but they will remember the way you delivered the work, the manner in which you spoke to them and the value you added to their lives. That is credibility. That is what determines your future success.

Apr 20

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THE R50 AVOCADO. | Lockdown Lessons day 23

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Coaching Mentoring Motivation No Comments

spillly brent spilkin

20 April 2020

Dear You,

How are you doing coping, coping and surviving?

I’m not an economist and if you are reading this, my guess is neither are you. Good. Let’s continue. There is a deluge of information being pushed into our conscious at the moment that speaks to the global depression, global recession, socialism vs. capitalism, universal basic income, the green movement and even minimalism. All of these ‘isms’ are stratospheric in thinking and don’t relate to yours and my everyday existence. The question that I’m now looking for an answer is “How does this affect me, my family and my bank account?”

Let me unpack some of the bad news, the way I see it, which hopefully will lead us to a silver lining. WARNING: This is not a motivational piece; it’s a DE-motivational post that should give you awareness so you can act accordingly.

All this talk about a V-Graph, a U graph and flattening curves is mute. What is significant to me is how long this economic downturn, curve and flat line will last. Looking back at the 2008 economic crisis that was spurned by poor banking regulations and some fairly dishonest business leaders, is no-where near the size of this global setback brought on by the pandemic at hand. After the 2008 crisis South Africa lost approximately 850,000 jobs, which took 11 years to claw back to the 2009 numbers. The current unemployment figures are sitting pre-Covid at 38%. Some smart people are estimating this will slip to roughly 50% in the coming months. During the 2008 crisis and aftermath we also had the joy of experiencing the Zuma administration and its cronyism that has also pushed us to the brink exacerbating the entire situation. Covid pulled the proverbial trigger on an unstable situation.

The American government has allocated what looks like close to 10% of the annual US GDP to the financial relief and support efforts. That means that if every single person stopped producing work and every single business closed down the package could sustain everyone for 36,5 days [10% of the year.] This is not accurate as not everyone will stop working, the unemployment rate is nowhere near SA’s and some businesses will actually increase in size and add jobs to their payroll. Some of the European countries are allocating about 15% of GDP to the effort. Unfortunately South Africa does not have the resources of these developed countries and by early counts is only able to allocate 1% of our GDP to rescue efforts – 3,5 days in total. [Again, not an accurate number, but you get the grim point.]

Take these numbers and add a Dollar exchange rate of 18,9 [correct at writing] and the economy is going to strain massively under the leash of reduced consumer demand [less people with money to spend], retrenchments and expensive imports. So, what does this mean for us? If you are fortunate enough to walk away from the lockdown with a job that pays what you were earning before this trauma, then consider yourself lucky but be aware that your disposable income wont go a far as it did back in first quarter of 2020. It may be a few months before the current imports hit the shelves of your local store so don’t be fooled that things cost the same in the coming weeks as retailers and importers have hedged the last imports at pre-corona rates.

The best way I can explain the pain the top few percent of South African earners will feel is as follows; those beautiful Spanish Avocados that you buy from Woolworths will cost upward of R50 each. That’s going to make for an expensive Avo on toast.

So what you can you actually do now to prepare for this decrease in your buying power?

With the forced #stayinside you have undoubtedly seen a saving in fuel, gym memberships, double almond cappuccinos and those social dinners that cost 3 bags of groceries. According to change management theory a habit takes 21 days of repetition to gain traction. If you have seen a similar trend in your own household and can keep this habit going you can save a substantial amount of money of the coming years. Now this is not a lesson on wastage and rampant consumerism but perhaps buying local seasonal food and cooking a few times more a week could put a few thousand Rands back in your cash flow. Reduce your medical aid packages, downgrade your Internet connection and don’t upgrade that iPhone

Be ruthless with household cost cutting. Set a budget and treat it like the 10 commandments. Turn your sieve into a bucket and save money for the second wave of this pandemic. This will not only allow you to make it through the coming months but perhaps will even see you save for an early retirement filled with R50 Avos!

Thank you,

@Spillly

for further info please feel free to contact me

Apr 08

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THE THREE C’S OF COVID | Lockdown Lessons.

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Coaching Entrepreneur Motivation Strategy No Comments

[ For the audio version of this blog post, click here]

Last week, I growled a few times and then spoke about my learnings from Day 1 of lockdown. It was rather uplifting in nature and inspirational in tone. Don’t get used to that. Today I’m writing to you with a far more aggressive stance. No lube. No pulled punches. No sanitiser on the trolley. Hold tight.

6 April 2020

Dear You,

Your initial shock of remote working, the lockdown and an immanent economic depression should have settled down by now, leaving you with the raw reality of your cash reserves, the hard conversations with your team and clients, and the harder conversation you haven’t had with yourself, yet.

You now face the 3 C’s of Covid, all resulting in change. Yes, the 3 C’s – I’m making this shit up as we go.*

The first C is CHOICE

You have the power to make choices now. Being proactive, even if the path is unknown, gives you huge agency and allows you to thrive as a leader. As with all choices in life, it’s advisable to have your facts checked and not just rely on gut. Unfortunately, in the time of pandemics, your choice is often as good as my guess. Choice is a state of mind. Let me butcher a Casey Neistat quote here: You can be a hater and doubter sipping champagne on the top deck of the Titanic or you can be the fucking iceberg! Choose choice.

I-C-E-B-E-R-G ahead!

The 2nd C is CIRCUMSTANCE

The current circumstances have left you with fewer choices than you may want right now. You are in the dangerous middle ground where you can either make a move, choose a direction and be that I-C-E-B-E-R-G or wait out the circumstances and let fate or whatever deity you believe in, make that choice for you. This is not advisable. However, you may find yourself in too deep where Circumstance has already come and gone left you in the firm grasp of our third C, Crisis.

CRISIS

Nothing makes you change faster than crisis. Crisis is not the 4-lettered C word you know, but it certainly feels like that. If you have passed the phase of “why am I here and how did this happen?” and have no real choice to make, you my friend, are in Crisis mode. You have to make a choice, but don’t have any real options on the choice. Sound familiar?

Now, you may swear that you become the best version of yourself under pressure and live in crisis-mode. Were you the kid that always wrote his assignment the day before it was due? Are you always fighting people crisis, client chaos, and cash flow stress? Great but this is different. This is South African Revenue Services coming after you personally; this is a CCMA case, this is not paying suppliers, avoiding calls and getting summoned. This is not Mrs White, your high school English teacher telling you to sit in detention because you never handed in your homework.

The good news is that crises always happen and they always end. It’s how you look at the end that matters now and picking ‘Choice’ may not leave you with cash in the bank, but it will leave you with credibility. It will leave you with loyal staff who see you as a strong leader. It will leave you being a trustworthy partner in whatever you land up doing next.

IQ was the shit in 1980.

EQ was the shit in 2010.

CQ is the shit in 2020.

CQ is your change quotient – Your ability to adapt to your new ever-changing environment.

The Titanic had no CQ.

Be the I-C-E-B-E-R-G!

@Spillly

*Special thanks to Mari Lee of Devcom who shared the initial change theory with me

Mar 28

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I hope you are quietly freaking out. Lockdown Lessons. Day 1.

By Brent Spilkin Business Coaching Coaching Motivation Strategy No Comments

[ For the audio version of this blog post, click here]

27 March 2020

Dear You,

I hope you are doing well.

Actually, no, that’s a fucking lie! I hope you are quietly freaking out with uncertainty and a lack of control. Deep down you know that your attitude is wrong. Your goals are wrong and that you should stop with the “just survive” mentality and start thinking about ways to thrive and grow rapidly in this opportune time.

Think big.

Today, there is opportunity everywhere. The money is moving. It’s moving sideways in industries. It’s leapfrogging between industries. There are bargains to be had. You could be buying businesses at 20c on the Rand. You could be partnering with larger businesses that aren’t as cash flush as you. You could be saving your opposition and taking equity. One man’s pain could be your pleasure. Start thinking about it. If someone is in pain, someone will benefit. Go after those people and never stop selling. In times of famine, the gravediggers make money. Become a gravedigger or at the very least, start selling shovels.

Sales.

Today’s sales are easier than ever. I may agree with you that “No one is buying now,” and this may even be true for the next few days BUT access to the C-suite has never been easier. Think about it. Their excuses to see you are less. No one is “going to Cape Town” for a few days. No one is on leave. No one is having full day culture workshops. The CEO is sitting at home with his/her screaming 3 year old and is in the same situation as you. He/she has no 9-5. He/she has no Monday to Friday. He/she is online and available to sales after hours. Before hours. Weekends.

Not only is he/she available for 20 minutes, you can now sell to 20 CEOs at the same time, for 20 minutes. Create thought leadership material and run a webinar. Invite the 20 non-opposing wishlist clients and add value to the network. Sales en-masse. No restrictions. Be smart NOW. Timing is everything.

The office.

Remote working has holes. It’s your call on whether you want an office in future or not. Each has pros and cons. Each has costs and savings. Each requires a different kind of employee. Each requires your existing team to have a different mind-set. Each requires a different type of client. Each requires a different kind of boss. There is no right or wrong – just a future you choose, so choose wisely. No knee jerk reactions required here. While you are in a forced experiment, work out if this is your future and if the rental loss is worth the trade offs.

In remote offices the tech is easy. The culture is hard. The people management is hard. Giving autonomy and not checking bums in seats, is hard. Motivation and inspiration is hard. Always on, is hard. Measuring output and ignoring input is even harder. Not paying rent – easy.

Your team will save time and petrol money in the weeks to come. It’s your job to get them to make other savings in their household right now, too. Your business needs variable overheads, so does your staff.

Clients.

Give your clients space to breathe now. Be empathetic to their circumstances. They are feeling as much pain or more than you are. They may leave you. They may ‘pause’ your services. How you deal with them today will determine if they ever come back to you and if they will ever refer you. Are you building a trust-based relationship with them now? Isn’t that what you want? If they leave you now, just be there in the coming weeks. Pick up the phone and check in. This will serve you well in future.

While they are sitting in their lounges with pictures of their kids hanging on the wall behind them, they have dropped the boardroom attire and pretence. They are human just like you and this is the chance you never had to get close to them- the human.

Products.

You are building a product right now aren’t you? Something “smart” that can be sold online to the masses. You are moving from a niche physical business to a mass online business. Don’t do that. Don’t be silly. You have no idea how that business operates, markets and lives on such small profits. Make what you do today an essential service for tomorrow, like sanitizer- but not so overpriced.

Mind-set.

Stop thinking about today’s loss.

Stop thinking about the week’s loss.

Stop thinking about the month’s losses.

Start thinking about 18-24 months from now.

Who will you be? What will your business do? Will you be relevant? This is all a small blips in your business lifecycle. A deep painful pimple. Don’t squeeze it. Don’t scratch it. Don’t pop it – it will scar. It’s ugly. It’s sore but it will heal in time and you will forget about it.

Best practice:

You would never walk up to a lioness and try prying her new cubs away with your bare hands. Protect your cash like a lioness protects her cubs -GRRROWL!
Chase your debtors like Al Capone. Get paid now and stop being soft.
Get close enough to clients to contract Covid. (Not literally Obvs). You need to know what’s going on in their business before they do. They may be at risk. This puts you at risk. Timeous Information is everything.
Be ruthless with cutting overheads. Overheads may be a euphemism for your people. If they need to go for the greater good – CHOP!
Think about thriving, not surviving. Prosper don’t insulate. Hunt down what you want – GRRROWL!
You are not alone – ask for help. Join a community. Hell! – Build a community.

Kids.

If you have kids that can still be influenced by you – scare the fuck out of them. That’s right! Make this pandemic their World War 2. Hopefully by the time they run for government office or have the vote, they will move the defence budgets to the influenza budget and the war chests to the disease control departments. More people have died of flu since World War 2 than people died in both world wars combined and yet we build guns, not vaccines. By the time I’m an old man, I’m selfishly hoping the next generation use this war and its scars, to build systems and departments that will protect the old people [me] from the Covids of 2050.

It’s a new scary world with no playbook. No rules. This is your chance to write the rules. Write the playbook. Write the future chapters of your career. Innovation and iteration of your product is dead. This is ground zero. It’s time to rejuvenate. It’s time to reincarnate. It’s time to reinvent yourself, your business and your legacy.

GRRROWL.

@Spillly

Feb 19

Love0

Start a Movement, Make It Public and Embrace Failure.

By Brent Spilkin Business, Business Coaching, Coaching, Culture, Motivation, Motor Bikes No Comments

During the past few public speaking gigs I have been fortunate enough to have presented, it’s become so clear to me, than every person, regardless of being a business owner or employee, needs to own page 1 of Google, if searched for by name.

I started Business, Bikes and Breakfast as a pet project, an experiment, a fun day out in February 2019 with nothing more than an idea, an Instagram page and some cool images stolen of the interwebs. Its now reached hundreds of people and is gaining momentum both in the paid for coaching events as well as the free social rides. This is my movement. This is my culture. This is my expertise and this is me owning my narrative and Google page 1!

Here is what I believe in:

START A MOVEMENT
MAKE IT PUBLIC
EMBRACE YOUR FIRST FOLLOWERS AS LEADERS AND PARTNERS
EMBRACE FAILURE [and keep improving!]

Very simple in nature and way more difficult in practise. I’ve started a community, which is hard, but hugely satisfying.

In the years to come, it will be these communities and events that will give me pleasure, not give me regrets and will the things I’ve done in life I’m most proud of on the business front.

There are a few other lessons learned here too: