5. It's okay to be emotional

In many situations in life, it's okay to be emotional: when you watch a good movie, when you hang around with friends, when you meet new people, etc.

But when it comes to your career or your business venture, it's time to become Mr. Spock!

In other words, you should be ruthlessly rational when making business decisions.

(Here, many people might argue that career decisions can be emotional, based on one's passion. I would argue that a career CHOICE can be emotional, since that's when you decide which field to get into, and this obviously has to do with your interests and passions. But a career DECISION must be rational. A choice is about doing the right things, a decision is about doing things right.)

Here's a tip to "enforce" rationality in your business thinking and behavior: make your business information, data, plans, decisions, etc. as public as possible. In other words, share the info with people you trust. Get their blunt feedback (tell them you don't want polite feedback, which is useless; you want the truth, so you can improve).

4. Business system vs business plan

A business plan, especially one written for investors, is a wonderful work of fiction.

Seriously!

A business system, on the other hand, is a bit more trustworthy. It shows precisely what happens, when, where, how and why. It is an accurate reflection of reality unfolding in the marketplace. If you have such a system under your nose, in the form of a business system blueprint, I can guarantee that you have a high likelihood of success in business.

If you don't have such a system, the odds that you will fail will be great. In fact, the overwhelming majority of people who start a new business fail within 3 years.

Compare this to people who buy a franchise (which is a clearly documented system) -- the success rate is 98%.

Conclusion: without a formal, explicit, self-adjusting system to guide you in business, you will fail. It makes sense, therefore, to do everything you can to "visibilize" your system and improve it relentlessly in order to ensure its superior performance over time.

The most successful entrepreneurs work relentless at improving their business system.

For example, Jeff Bezos said that even on week-ends, he looks at the pages of Amazon.com in order to find ways to improve the system.

3. Make it visible

The BMW workshop teaches people to make VISIBLE the system that generates income for them.

If your value-creation (i.e. money-making) system is not visible, then you cannot improve it. Worse yet, you cannot repair it if/once it's broken.

A system is an invisible machine, and a machine is a visible system.

Once you make your career/business system visible, so many people can help you. But as long as that system is in your head, not many people can help you. You might not even be able to help yourself!

E.M. Forster put it this way: "How can I know what I think unless I see what I say?"

2. The concept of a "job" is most unprofitable

In today's global economy, there are no "jobs" anymore.

Everyone is responsible for offering a business service, and for charging fairly for that service.

I say a "business service" because most people work for a business organization.

Yet, many people still think in terms of a "job." Although the concept of a job, especially a permanent job, may sound comforting, it is in fact misleading.

In the old days, if you had a job at a big company, you were assured of a certain economic stability. Not so anymore. Today, there's always someone in management who's looking at your job description, your performance, your output, the criticality of your work, etc. and who is a flick of the pen away from slashing your job.

Management doesn't keep you on the payroll out of the goodness of their heart. They keep you on the payroll because they are convinced you provide a valuable business service that helps the company grow profitably.

Therefore, the more you understand business, the more secure your job and career will be.

If you don't understand business and how your work specifically contributes to the company's profitable growth, your job will never be secure. Your economic survival will always be at the mercy of someone else.

1. S.Y.S.T.E.M.

The ultimate purpose of the BMW workshop is to help you create a money-making system.

A S.Y.S.T.E.M. means "Save Your Self Time, Energy & Money."

Most people who go into business, often start by offering professional services (graphic design, communications services, consulting, etc.) and this is good. They do what they do best.

But it's not enough to survive in business. You have to be able to create an impersonal system that supports your work. Michael Gerber wrote about such a system in his book The E-Myth.

For example, a website where prospects can fill out a form and type in their needs, goals, questions, etc. is one small system that works for you (even while you're sleeping!).

The idea is to create as many of those little systems as possible, so that you save time, energy and money.

Welcome!

I created the BMW (Business Modeling Workout) workshop to help first-time entrepreneurs succeed in their new business ventures.

In this blog, I will share with you valuable information from the BMW workshop.

If you have questions, please feel free to email me at omnidigitalbrain@yahoo.com

Best regards,

Peter Nguyen, BCom
Co-founder, trainer, coach
Talentelle
www.talentelle.com