“Spilly” was a nickname given to me by friends and classmates back in highschool, way before I had any idea that I would be delivering speeches to industry giants like WPP, or becoming a successful business coach to remarkable clients from all across the globe.
Around 2008, I had created my first Twitter profile and unsurprisingly came to find that the name ‘Spilly’ (with two Ls) was already taken. I was left with two choices, either change the name completely, or simply add an extra letter to the nickname and keep it.
Thus, Spillly was born. An intriguing new moniker which would later have me remembered by some of my best clients as “Spillly with 3 Ls”. The bright side was that these three L’s would come to support my coaching beliefs and ultimately contribute to and shape my presentations forever.
So I formulated Learn, Leverage and Love. It made perfect sense as a general rule for squeezing the best out of any burgeoning business. And by definition, these three concepts carry a profound ideology that will shape and develop any business in a wonderful and convenient way.
Learn, Learn and Learn Some More
One of the key personal values that I hold is to learn as much as possible and to keep growing through learning. This will not only be a way to complement an already developing skill-set, but will also enhance the ability to use information as effectively as possible.
Learning and education go hand-in-hand with creativity and I’ve come to find that too many creative business owners have trouble growing without having a keen interest in delving into the unknown. This can contribute to a lack of awareness and foster a sense of insecurity in oneself, making it difficult to adapt and diversify their business.
Lifelong learning carries many advantages to any business owner and can enhance multiple aspects of their life, including stronger self-motivation and inspiration, the discovery of new interests, an improved professional life and a major boost in self-confidence.
By cultivating your abilities and knowledge, you gain new perspectives and see far more solutions than problems, allowing you to control and navigate all the many situations and curveballs that life throws at you.
Part of my process is not only to educate, consult and guide my clients, but to nurture and nourish decision-making throughout their business-growth path. This starts with a framework that gives them the ability to set clear objectives and achieve them through the various learning pieces that I provide.
Leverage Yourself Upwards Towards Success
As important as learning is, without leveraging what you have learned, you run the risk of diminishing the value of that precious knowledge you’ve come to accumulate.
The powerful quote by entrepreneur Derek Sivers, “if all it took was knowledge, we’d all be billionaires with six-pack abs,” encapsulates exactly what this concept is about. Action needs to follow knowledge, or what would be the point in all the information you have stored up in that incredible brain of yours?
It’s too easy to sit with the knowledge of doing something great, like becoming the next Jeff Bezos, but not many people take action to usher it into reality.
Being able to apply knowledge in a practical way is just as important as accumulating it. Without practice, perfection simply can’t exist. Applying what you know and learn will help leverage your skills and ultimately, contribute to exponential growth.
The word ‘leverage’ has a few definitions in the dictionary and for the purpose of this section, it means to “use (something) to maximum advantage.” By using your knowledge to its maximum advantage, you leverage and yield far better results for your growing enterprise.
A study done in Bethel, Maine proved that by making practical use of learning, the level of information retention for future use becomes much higher. Where simply learning the information gave retention rates of 5-20%; by engaging in discussion and teaching others, results of 50-90% were achieved. Which proves just how important applying that knowledge can be.
Many entrepreneurs have an amazing array of skills and abilities, but often struggle to apply them in the right way. That’s where I come in. My goal is to foster those skills in my client, helping them make use of it in a sharp and effective way, creating an awareness of their hidden potential.
Situations often arise in which my clients try to leverage too many things at once, making their load heavy and difficult to operate, which gives me the opportunity to help them focus on using the right tools, at the right time.
Sometimes leveraging your time, resources and ambitions can be necessary in developing a strong business and becoming a successful business owner.
Love Until It Hurts and Then Love The Pain
The title might sound somewhat masochistic, but love for your work, environment and for yourself, can be extremely rewarding to your business. Effectively, making you a better entrepreneur and leader.
As cliche as it may be, you need to love what you do and enjoy every outcome that your business brings with it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to love the product, the staff, the clients, or the long hours that you put in, as it can often be difficult to enjoy every single element of running a business. There will be great days and there will be days that drive you to the brink of insanity. The idea is to find joy in every moment and focus on the elements that bring you a sense of happiness and pleasure.
Hold onto the various things that bring you satisfaction, then delegate and outsource the rest to people that can grow your business. You need to enjoy the journey you’re on, making it bearable and not a burden.
As the late, great Steve Jobs once said, “the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
By showing a great deal of love in running your business, you become a better performer and make better decisions. If you bring love on your journey, there can be many other benefits and most of them can be attributed to the concept of “flow”.
Coined by Hungarian Psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the concept of flow refers to, “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it”. This love and pleasure in what you’re doing yields powerful results in many different areas.
Do your absolute best to enjoy the process of building something new and meaningful;
Love to learn new things;
Love strategizing and achieving your goals;
Love the competition and competing in the market;
Love your day;
Love yourself for being brave, dangerous and a brilliant business owner.
I Leave You with This:
The 3 Ls that I make strategic use of are backed by years of research and a strong understanding of how business owners think. By applying my concepts, you will be one step closer to becoming a powerful and successful business proprietor, making it easier to do what you do best.
It’s my passion to help shape and develop extraordinary people in their journey to grow phenomenal businesses and to provide business owners with what they desire and deserve – whether building a business that brings them millions in profit every month, or one that allows them to have more time for leisure and themselves.
If you’d like to have a chat, or get together for a strategic coffee, feel free to contact me any time on 083 253 3999, or feel free to shoot me an email at brent@spillly.com
