Biggest Failures, Best Advice and Defining Success from Entrepreneurs #1

Guy Kawasaki

Thai Nguyen recently connected with some of the most inspiring men and women in entrepreneurship. He asked them to share the best advice they’ve ever received, their biggest failure, lessons learned and their definition of success. Here is what they generously shared.

1. Barbara Corcoran

The Shark Tank investor went from achieving straight D's in high school to creating a multi-million dollar real estate firm in her early twenties.

Biggest failure: My fabulous new idea to put all our apartments for sale on videotape so customers wouldn’t have to go out to see them. I pissed away my first profit of $77,000 and it was dead on arrival.

Biggest lesson: In an effort to save face, I put them on this new government thing called the Internet. It was 1989. We had two sales out of London in the first week. I registered all of my competitors URLs under my name. One by one, they called. 

Best advice: “You will never succeed without me!” The prediction of my boyfriend and business partner when I ended our business partnership -- after announcing he'd marry my secretary.

Definition of success: Feeling proud of yourself got trying.

2. Guy Kawasaki 

Guy dropped out of law school to complete an MBA at UCLA. His years working alongside Steve Jobs shaped his work as chief evangelist at Canva and co-founder of Alltop.

Biggest failure: That Macintosh did not achieve 100 percent market share of the PC market.

Biggest lesson: I learned that the best gizmo doesn't necessarily win. It's taken 30 years, but I've gotten over this.

Best advice: Never ask people to do something you wouldn't do. This is a very good test for how you treat your employees and customers, assuming you're not a sociopath. 

Definition of success: First, that you made the world a better place. Second, you don't "have to" do anything. 

3. Gary Vaynerchuk 

From managing seven lemonade stands as an 8-year old, Gary hasn't skipped a beat with numerous startups, bestselling books and, most recently, creating VaynerMedia.

Biggest failure: In 2009 I had founded VaynerMedia, purchased Cork'd and was involved in about half a dozen other business ventures. I tried to do everything, and ended up not doing anything.

Biggest lesson: Since then, I've learned how to focus much better, and I've built up a team around me that allows me to do just that, so let's see if I've learned anything.

Best advice: Word is bond.

Definition of success: I'll define success by how many people show up to my funeral.

4. Christiane Lemieux

The Ottawa native started DwellStudio from her apartment in 1999 after grinding it out for years as a fashion intern in New York. 

Biggest failure: The biggest mistake I made was not seriously vetting an investor I had in the business.

Biggest lesson: Not all money is helpful or strategic, and all money has strings attached. Sometimes theses strings become a noose. Be very careful. Ask all the right questions, vet your investors very seriously. 

Best advice: "Stay focused.” As a serial entrepreneur with “shiny object syndrome,” my path to success has been a jagged line. A straight line meets milestones much more quickly.

Definition of success: Success for me is defined by how my business touches the people I work with.

5. Grant Cardone

After starting off in automotive sales, Grant has gone on to become a New York Times bestselling author, successful entrepreneur and founder of Whatever It Takes Digital Network.

Biggest failure: I should have gone 10X bigger from the get go.

Biggest lesson: It's the same amount of work to stay small as it is to go big. Building a $100 million dollar company is no more work than building a $1 million company.

Best advice: The best investment you will ever make is in yourself. (Grant's mom told him this).

Definition of success: The attainment of the gap between my current reality and my potential. 

6. Jack Canfield 

Graduating from Harvard, Jack turned the Chicken Soup for the Soul series into an international billion-dollar enterprise. 

Biggest failure: We spent a year attempting to create a new human potential oriented internet portal, and we never got it off the ground.

Biggest lesson: To stick to our core business -- writing and training. And having adequate funding for the marketing needed to pull off such a huge venture. We were ignorantly going up against AOL, which was spending millions. 

Best advice: Dream big, ask boldly and take action on an idea immediately.

Definition of success: Fulfilling your soul's purpose. I believe everything works better when it is done in the spirit of love and joy rather than fear and greed.

7. Mark Cuban 

After a billion-dollar deal with Yahoo, Cuban purchased the Mavericks. The Shark Tank investor's court side dancing as entertaining as his appearance on Dancing with the Stars.

Biggest failure: Lots of failures, but I haven't had my biggest one yet.

Best advice: Today is the youngest you will ever be, live like it.

Definition of success: Waking up every morning with a smile on my face knowing its going to be a great day.

8. Alexa von Tobel 

Launching her personal finance company, LearnVest in 2006, Alexa was inaugurated by President Obama as a member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship early this year.

Biggest failure: As an entrepreneur, you have to be OK with failure. If you’re not failing, you’re likely not pushing yourself hard enough. 

Biggest lesson: “Fail fast” is a concept we tend to encourage at LearnVest. Don’t be afraid to try something, but be ready to learn from it and move forward.

Best advice: Get up, dress up, show up.

Definition of success: Success is working towards a goal I can believe in. My life’s mission is to make financial education and advice accessible to people nationwide.

9. Noah Kagan 

Beginning his career at Intel, Kagan joined, and left, Facebook as employee #30. The marketing expert has numerous startup successes in the tech world, currently working behind AppSumo.

Biggest failure: Ha. This has been documented more than I care. Getting fired from Facebook. Losing out on $200 million at today's market value.

Biggest lesson: The best way to get known is to create things that help others.

Best advice: I ran away from home and then my mom went across the street and made me come home. My step-dad then said instead of running away, I need to face issues head on. I think about that moment and the message a lot. Face your fears and go towards them -- never as scary as they seem.

Definition of success: Doing work that I'm proud of and having fun. Be careful to avoid having others put their success pressures on yourself.

10. Erika Trautman 

Having owned an Emmy award-winning video production company, Erika's current venture, RaptMedia, is about enhancing interactivity for online video.

Biggest failure: Rapt Media went through some scary moments getting off the ground. I thought if my team knew how tough things were, they'd panic and quit their jobs. So I kept them out of the loop. When we finally closed our seed round, I turned to the team to celebrate only to discover I’d lost their trust.

Biggest lesson: Without openness and transparency, you can lose the trust of your team. Since then, I share the good news and the bad. We tackle the issues together because the vision is worth it.

Best advice: "Fearlessness is a muscle. The more I exercise it, the less my fears run me." This is a quote I once read by Ariana Huffington. 

Definition of success: Success is building and leading an amazing team capable of creating something indelible and transformational.

11 & 12. Steven Pressfield & Shawn Coyne 

A prolific writer, Pressfield is known for many works including The Legend of Baggar Vance, and The War of Art. He has partnered with fellow writer, Shawn Coyne, and created Black Irish Entertainment.

Biggest failure: Failing to start doing what matters sooner.

Biggest lesson: The lesson learned is to start before you're ready.

Best advice: Never pass up an opportunity to use a rest room.

Definition of success: Discovering what you're supposed to be doing and then doing that.

13. Jessica Butcher 

Based out of London, Jessica is the co-founder and CMO of Blippar, the augmented reality platform that turns printed images into digital experiences.

Biggest failure: Allowing a negative situation to spiral downward, and then choosing to quit rather than salvage the situation through small, positive steps

Biggest lesson: Sometimes it’s the right decision to end a particular course of action or working relationship, but I now make a more concerted effort to salvage or reverse a situation.

Best advice: Invest in memories. It’s ultimately what life is about—people, places, moments and experiences. 

Definition of success: Achieving a true work-life balance. Doing something you love work-wise, whilst also coming home to a happy, healthy home.

14. Paul Budnitz 

Studying photography, sculpture and film at Yale, Paul has gone on to create Kidrobot, Bunditz Bicycles, and most recently, the social media platform Ello.

Biggest failure: I don’t see anything that I do as a failure (or a success). I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s really how I operate.

Biggest lesson: It’s all just another step on a road that never ends. There’s always a disaster, followed by things working out fairly well, followed by another disaster. It’s a cycle. You learn to look out for disasters when things are going well, and take heart when you’re at the bottom that things will reverse eventually, too.

Best advice: Genpo Roshi, an American Zen Master said, when we bury the parts of ourselves we don’t like, those negative aspects of our personalities eventually come back to haunt us. I’ve learned to ask for help from a beginner's perspective, even if I’m the one who’s running the company and I’m asking for help from an intern.

Definition of success: Being willing to lose it all, if that’s what it takes. If you aren’t open to that, you’ll never be able to take the risks necessary make something truly amazing.

Source: Entrepreneur.com

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Six Steps To A Better Business Budget

You've just purchased or opened a small business and you know your trade, but when it comes to bookkeeping and, more specifically, budgeting, your skill set is lacking. It's OK - the good news is that it is possible to come up with a budget, or at least a good estimation of what will be needed in terms of dollars and cents. Read on for six simple tips that will help you put together a top-notch small business budget.

Why Budgeting Is Important

Estimating and matching expenses to revenue (real or anticipated) is important because it helps small business owners to determine whether they have enough money to fund operations, expand the business and generate income for themselves. Without a budget or a plan, a business runs the risk of spending more money than it is taking in or, conversely, not spending enough money to grow the business and compete.

Budgeting TechniquesEvery business owner tends to have a slightly different process, situation, or way of budgeting. However, there are some parameters found in nearly every budget that you can easily employ. For example, many business owners must make rent or mortgage payments. They also have utility bills, payroll expenses, cost of goods sold expenses (raw materials), interest and tax payments. The point is that every business owner should consider these items and any other costs specifically associated with his or her business when setting up shop or when taking over an existing business.

What To Do with Revenue

With a business that is already up and running, you can make assumptions of future revenue based on recent trends in the business. If the business is a startup, you'll have to make assumptions based on your geographic area, hours of operation and by researching other local businesses. Small business owners can often get a sense of what to expect by visiting other local businesses that are for sale and asking questions about weekly revenue and traffic patterns.

After you've researched this information, you should then match the business's revenue with expenses. The goal is to figure out what an average weekly expense for overhead, utilities, labor, raw materials, etc. would look like. Based on this information, business owners may then be able to estimate or forecast whether they'll have enough extra money to expand their business, or to tuck away some money into savings. On the flip side, owners may realize that in order to have three employees instead of two, the business will have to generate more in revenue each week.

Let's look at six tips that will help you plan your small business budgets.

Tip No.1: Check Industry Standards 

Not all businesses are alike, but there are similarities. Therefore, do some homework and peruse the local library for information about the industry, speak with local business owners, and check the IRS website to get an idea of what percentage of the revenue coming in will likely be allocated toward cost groupings.

Small businesses can be extremely volatile as they can be more susceptible to industry downturns than larger, more diversified competitors, so you only need to look for an average here, not specifics.

Tip No.2: Make a SpreadsheetPrior to buying or opening a business, construct a spreadsheet to estimate what total dollar amount and percentage of your revenue will need to be allocated toward raw materials and other costs. It's a good idea to contact any suppliers you'd have to work with before you continue on. Do the same thing for rent, taxes, insurance(s), etc.

Tip No.3: Factor In Some Slack

Remember that although you may estimate that the business will generate a certain rate of revenue growth going forward or that certain expenses will be fixed or can be controlled, these are estimates and not set in stone. Because of this, it's wise to factor in some slack and make sure that you have more than enough money socked away or coming in before expanding the business or taking on new employees.

Tip No.4: Look To Cut Costs

If times are tight and money must be found somewhere in order to pay a crucial bill, advertise, or otherwise capitalize on an opportunity, consider cost cutting. Specifically, take a look at items that can be controlled to a large degree. Another tip is to wait to make purchases until the start of a new billing cycle, or to take full advantage of payment terms offered by suppliers and any creditors. Some thoughtful maneuvering here could provide the business owner with much needed breathing and expansion room. 

Tip No.5: Review the Business Periodically

While many firms draft a budget yearly, small business owners should do so more often. In fact, many small business owners find themselves planning just a month or two ahead because business can be quite volatile and unexpected expenses can throw off revenue assumptions.

Tip No.6: Shop Around for Services/Suppliers 

Don't be afraid to shop around for new suppliers or to save money on other services being performed for your business. This can and should be done at various stages, including when purchasing or starting up a business, when setting annual or monthly budgets, and during periodic business reviews.

Bottom Line

Budgeting is an easy but essential process that business owners use to forecast (and then match) current and future revenue to expenses. The goal is to make sure that enough money is available to keep the business up and running, to grow the business, to compete, and to ensure a solid emergency fund.

 - Source : Glenn Curtis, Investopedia

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Is there such a thing as work-life balance anymore?

I'm not a big fan of integrating work into your life if it compromises your life. That's why relationships go south, why kids get the shaft and feel isolated, why there is so much stress and digital overload in every corner of our existence. Forget checking your email constantly or looking for texts; the new measure of "balance" seems to be how much time you spend not doing those things and living a normal life.

The worst mistake you can make when you're trying to integrate work into your life is thinking that work is the priority and life has to figure out how to get along without you. The failure is seeing the integration backwards, that life integrates into work.

Here's an example.

You show up at the gym and get one email about a conflict. You head for the hallway and start frantically tapping on your phone trying to put out the fire. Guess what? You just put work ahead of life and didn't integrate properly. The right way to do that is to make a plan. You'll run on a treadmill for 30 minutes no matter what. You'll check for urgent messages and respond to a few for five minutes, but no matter what, you'll get back on the treadmill for another 15 minutes.  

Do you see the difference? Integration is not bad--living in such a hyper-connected world means we can stop and check on work. It doesn't mean we need to do that every 15 minutes (or every 15 second). That's not integration. That's obsession. And, I know this from my own life--I've been a poor integrator myself.

The secret is being just as hyper-intentional about balancing life as you are about staying hyper-connected and keeping tabs on projects. The secret is being aware of how important it is to integrate. There's a need to be even more rigid in protecting family time. All that effort we put into working at a high level should only be matched by the effort we put into protecting our daily lives from being all about work.

I still don't know why my seven-minute morning routine became such a hit and is even gaining in popularity in recent weeks, but my guess is that people need a way to prepare for chaos. They are overwhelmed by too many demands on their time at all hours of the day. They are not integrating correctly, and it is making people feel miserable. The worst part is that this hyper-connectivity, this readily available access, is a good thing because it can boost our productivity. It becomes a bad thing when we feel the need to be productive every second.

Here's my advice. Make a plan to deal with work-life integration now and figure out how to make it work more effectively, before the stress takes you down. Let people know you are working on the problem. Communicate with your friends and family and tell them how you plan to change. Tackle this problem now.

And then: Do it! Follow through with your grand ambition to make work a second priority and integrated into the biggest priorities. If you go on vacation or take a few days off, it's OK to have a plan to make a few phone calls or meet with a few colleagues. The difference between those who integrate well with life and those who don't is this: Bad integrators jump on the phone during dinner. They excuse themselves at the pool. They're hectic. Good integrators accept the fact that integration is a current reality in business but they know how to manage it.

Source: John Brandon for Inc.com

Do you need some specific help on this issue? Has work taken over? Comment below

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7 Million-Dollar Habits of the Super Successful

Do you remember the first time self development became important to you?

I do. I was 7 years old and I was in love with basketball. My mother had bought me a book called Rare Air, the autobiography of Michael Jordan. 

Through this book, Michael Jordan brought me into his world. He shared stories of what inspired him, the emotions he felt, how he handled the failures and rejections and how he discovered his passion.

I was absolutely blown away and fired up after reading his book. It felt like my childhood hero was right there with me, teaching me about the importance of working on yourself and becoming the best you can possibly be. 

I read this book every morning before school to be highly motivated for the day ahead.

Once that book was finished, I continued to read other books like 20 Ways to Make Pocket Money and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. As I made this motivation session part of my morning ritual, I noticed my belief, confidence and passion skyrocket.

I wanted to be just like these high achievers so I started waking up early, setting my goals and learning as much as I could about new skills and life each day. Little did I know that I was hard-wiring a series of positive unconscious actions that eventually led me to a life of multiple successes: Hosting radio shows, signing record deals, promotions to higher paying salaries, training with world-class experts, meetings with my idols, creating one of the top self-development websites in the world, being offered millions of dollars for my business and being featuring on the cover of magazines.

I became infatuated with the idea of growing and evolving as an individual so much so that over the past four years I’ve committed to interviewing hundreds of entrepreneurs, authors, celebrities, coaches and multimillionaires to find out what separates the super achievers from your every day “Average Joe."

What I’ve come to discover is that a good 90 percent of the interviewe's credit their success to the persisting energy bolts of action that we call "habits."

So being the curious cat that I am, I decided to go a little deeper and squeeze the juice out of this new discovery.

I started asking each high achiever what their daily habits are that keep them on top. I then averaged their answers out to break it down into these 7 million-dollar habits:

Habit 1: Write Your “To-Do List,” The Night Before

The high achievers would write their to-do’s every evening before dinner or bed so they were prepared for the following day.

Prioritizing your “To-Do” list is the key to productivity success.

Action step: The super-successful make it a habit of numbering their to-do lists and you can do this, too, by simply ordering the “Most Important” first, placing a BIG Number 1 or a Star next to the activity, marking the importance of getting the task done first thing in the morning. 

They then follow with the rest of the numbers, based on importance as they work their way down the list.

Habit 2: The Mind, Body & Soul

Ninety percent of the super-successful practice some form of physical concentration time or health focused activity at some point in their day.

Meditation seems to be a popular habit on the rise between the highly successful. 

I was speaking to Deepak Chopra a few days ago and he was explaining to me why meditation is so important. He said that meditation increases the amount of rest you would normally achieve through sleep and is almost twice as effective as taking a nap.

Action step: Here are some of the most common practices listed below:

05 - 10 Minutes* - Breathing Exercises

15 - 20 Minutes* - Meditation

20 - 30 Minutes* - Eating Healthy

20 - 60 Minutes* - Exercise (The Gym, Skipping, Running, Swimming, Cycling, Yoga)

*Time on average

Related: 5 Lessons on Being Wrong

Habit 3: Goal-Setting and Visualization

Ninety-five percent of the successful achievers I have interviewed practice writing down their goals, plans, or vision for success on a regular basis.

They usually practice this first thing in the morning to set their intentions and to prime their mental state to prepare them for a day of challenges on the road to success.

Multi-millionaire entrepreneur Grant Cardone even mentioned to me that he writes his 10X goals out multiple times during the day to stay focused on the massive outcomes he desires.

Action step: Deepak Chopra told me to keep in mind when you are setting your goals to: 

- Stretch for more than you can reach. 

- Make everything measurable.

- Get agreements from your team and supporters.

- Record your progress.

- And set time limits.

Habit 4: Gratitude and Positive Self Talk

Being grateful and focusing on the positive seems to be a common priority in the lives of the highly successful. 

Something truly amazing that the best-selling author and neuroscientist Joe Dispenza shared with me is:

"If you’re saying affirmations like, 'I am abundant, I am wonderful, I am unstoppable,' but your emotional state is in fear, then your body is in opposition.

Thoughts are the language of the brain and feelings are the language of the body. Those thoughts will bounce off because they aren’t equal to the emotions of fear.

If a person feels gratitude, and has practiced it over and over authentically and they say affirmations like, 'I am wonderful, I am incredible, I am unstoppable' and so on… and it aligns with their autonomic nervous system then this is where the real power comes into play."

Gratitudes are powerful, and a lot of people nowadays are catching on to this.

Actions step: Practice three gratitudes a day between you and a friend or partner, or just by yourself. Whatever helps you to stick to this positive habit. 

But....here's the key with sharing your gratitudes: You must justify why you are grateful, this strengthens the affect. So when you say your gratitude, do it this way: "I am grateful for having my partner in my life because, he/she always supports me and encourages me to follow my dreams no matter what." This reminds you why and has a deeper affect in you than just a surface level statement.

Habit 5: Self Development

The super-successful focus heavily on learning new skills, reading practical books and listening or watching podcasts, interviews and informational courses.

During a conversation with the best selling author and leadership coach Simon Sinek, he said:

“My work is never complete, we wake up with a hunger to learn, and no one is ever truly an expert. Anyone who says, 'I’m an expert at anything' has closed their mind to the idea that they might not know everything.

There’s always more to learn. I’ve never considered myself an expert. I’m always a student of leadership. All the work is imperfect and all the learning is continuous.”

Action Step: If you can read 20 full pages a day, or even listen to an hour-long audio/podcast, that roughly equals more than 36+ books a year of new knowledge. Wow! (I learned that one from entrepreneur and habits coach James Clear.)

Habit 6: Networking

The high achievers know and live by the saying, “Your network determines your net worth.” 

So they make it a habit to work on building new bridges, collaborating, helping others, attending social events, getting back to people and being a man (or woman) of their word.

Action Step: Make it a habit to meet at least one new person a day or making one follow up/catch up a day.

Habit 7: Meetings and Accountability Sessions

Last, but not least, the seventh habit that was highly practiced by the uber successful was holding accountability calls each week and/or a coffee catch up with a mentor or business partner to hold each other accountable.

Action Step: Find someone who is on a similar level to you in life and make a commitment between you and your accountability partner to hold a catch-up call or meeting once a week to share your achievements, struggles, new goals and what you have learned from the previous week.

This is a great way to stay motivated, knowing that you will have to come clean to your accountability buddy if you haven’t been sticking to your goals and habits.

As you can see there isn’t just one key habit that plays it’s part in the life of a successful high achiever. Many daily actions are in play.

If you are new to these habits then I would recommend starting with two to three habits and making them easy, short sessions so you don't shock yourself out of the commitment. Just know: Naturally this will feel uncomfortable to you until you can solidify it as a hard wired habit in your unconscious.

The key is to commit to at least two to three months of continuous implementation as your body adjusts to the new life you are creating and the habits you are conditioning.

Enjoy the process and make sure you throw in some fun habits, that focus on your mind body and soul also as balance is key to staying sane during this process.

Source: Joel Brown for Entrepreneur.com

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INTERVIEW: Time Management : As Time Waits For No Man

We all know the importance of Time Management. Without it, not only will things fall out of place but it will be a burden on one's self let alone others. Although at times we find it difficult to juggle our own work with our own private time, it does not mean that it is completely impossible.

We took time out with Mr. Naseer Bhatti, former Managing Director of Nasim Carpets to now the Founder and CEO of Abee Rugs. From being employed to being self-employed, here is what he has to say when it comes to managing one's time.

Challenges of a New Business vs The Solution

Naseer mentioned that in his 13 years of working experience, experimentation has always gotten him through. He calls them Market Research, through experimenting different forms of medium like direct mailing, advertising, marketing etc. His vision was to one day have his very own brand to be well-known. Selling himself and establishing the brand was what he needed to do. As Abee Rugs started and is still a family business, thus it takes a longer time with the scope of keeping his circle smaller than most start ups. A lot of effort and time was definitely needed to start a new business from scratch but it all paid off when the brand was finally established back in 2012.

Location and brand reputation was also another obstacle. Thus doing a number of research to get the right time in landed the business being started in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, Kuala Lumpur. Building the brand was no easy task thus through every available advertising platform, he ensured he tapped them somehow ie. SMS Blasting, Website, Social Media etc. Having a strong tagline was also needed to build a strong brand thus came the tagline House of Persian Carpets. This would lead to having a premium setting to the brand for customers' enticement. 

Budget was also an issue but Naseer kept hold to a string principle where to grow one's business, spending is inevitable. Thus parking a good investment is key and when it comes to stock and variety, it counts. No point in advertising if the stocks don't make up for it. Spend wisely to reap the outcome!

How Do You Run A Successful Business Including Getting The Right People?

It is always essential to have a plan. Naseer has posed the question to himself, 'How Does One Make One's Business Famous?' Through time management, you will also need to categorised your work. Depending on the business itself, one can not run a business simply by one's self but also through one's team. This would mean hiring the right staff.

Regardless if his staff are not experienced, as long as they have the heart, it is what that matters. He also mentions that keeping them well equipped is equally as vital. Through his morning briefs, he always ensures that at the end of the day there needs to be a 'personal touch' from him thus not only shows his employees that he cares but also his customers. It can be a simple proposal or report but he ensures he is aware of it and that he has a say in it.

Misguidance on Time Keeping

Having a plan and prioritising one's work is important. Many people are not aware that through the piling of their work they tend to forget which of it takes urgency and which are not. Self discipline is needed in this sense and in order to keep one's time, learning to prioritise one's work is important.

Ideal Measures of Work Prioritization

• Asking for deadline extension - Better to ask rather than not meeting the deadline which would cause a domino effect.
• Review duration of work - Learn to know how long does one's project take before starting in order to not waste precious time if things do not work out
• Importance vs Urgency - A fine line of understanding which takes more priority over the other.
• Reputation in the Marketplace - Unconventional but it works because if one does not know how to prioritize one's work, his or her reputation will be affected and thus this becomes a self-motivator.

Countering Work, Pressure and Time

Running a business is definitely not always a bed of roses. There is always a meeting with clients or deadlines to be met. However, coping with one's work will ensure that work gets done right and on time and there will be time for one's family and friends. Abee Rugs operates from 11am to 8pm, seven days a week. "A good practise is work fully in the required time and when work ends, you will always have time for yourself", he mentioned. Doing things outside of work will definitely help ease one's stress level.

Processes and Procedures / Cost and Savings

There are a number of scenarios where change is needed in order to optimise savings with less cost. Most of the time unfortunately it may be due to the lack of productivity from the staff. It is to always bare in mind that being a leader is the right way and not just being the boss. Leniency is fine but stern discipline is also needed. "Teamwork is needed and if one staff lazes around, it may affect everyone else's morale. Sometimes the harsh truth is getting rid of one rotten apple is better than throwing the entire basket", he mentioned.

A Weak Economy Against Staff Motivation

Running a business boils down to dollars and cents. Having a sales force but not achieving the revenue does not mean that the team is incompetent or the business is a failure. Naseer mentioned that in actual fact, if one's business is doing slow it could mean that proper "homework" was not done. It does not necessarily mean it is the fault of one single person in particular. As long as everyone puts in the effort, the business will somehow strive. Keeping employees happy is key; thus it never hurts to have team lunches once in awhile or rewards as incentive. This builds the bond between employer, employee and the business.

Time Management + Productivity Skills

Starting a business from scratch basically leads to just that; managing one's time well with the right productivity skills. Naseer's advice for those up and coming entrepreneurs would be to keep in mind that people's time are just as important as well. There are all kinds of tools now that could work for one's business growth. Take social media for instance; these are tools to assist and manage one's time and productivity. Though must never be the sole purpose and reason to a business's success nor failure.

At the end of the day, to sustain a business and increase productivity, one should always stay humble and hungry. "Being hungry to earn is vital in ensuring whether you are on the right track or just wasting your time. If you want to succeed, then drive yourself to improve for the better", said Naseer.

Join Naseer Bhatti at the Nurture Growth Conference on November 19th in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia as he discusses why you need to manage your time well and how to do it. Make sure you get your tickets HERE.

- Author : David Suppramaniam, Best Events Asia Writer, Aug 21st, 2015

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Why Startups Should Consider 'The Bakery Model' When Starting Out

Before any startup can hit the ground running, it must answer a series of critical questions: Where and how should it generate funding? What its initial business model should be? How will it become profitable?

The first question seems the simplest to answer, especially with the current entrepreneurial ecosystem full of venture capital funds, crowd funding and angel investors. The obvious way to secure a cash infusion is from one of these capital pots. But even outside of the tech world, the decision to use outside capital to fund a business can have major implications on your ability to succeed. Whether it be money from friends and family, an investor or a loan from the bank, external funds generally come with equivalent increase in external pressures.

The rush to find investors can push entrepreneurs onto a path of no return that will eventually lead to yet another startup sob story. This is especially true when "The Bakery Model" exists as such a potent alternative. Let me explain.

Related: When Should You 'Turn On' Revenue With Your Startup?

When I, along with my other co-founders, launched our portrait-editing app Facetune, we debated how to generate the necessary capital to develop our app and grow our business, and eventually opted for what is surprisingly considered today to be an unconventional approach: generate profits from the very beginning. We dubbed it “The Bakery Model”: You make a bagel, sell the bagel, buy ingredients to make more bagels, sell those bagels and on and on you go. While this might be the standard model for small businesses, using it in our field was perceived to be something that required a great deal of confidence and commitment since a big chunk of our own ecosystem is based on raising capital (despite the ever lowering entrance barriers in this market), acquiring users and figuring out how to make money later on. However, sometimes even when trying to operate in a market filled with free and freemium products, the best way forward is to build a product worthy of being paid for and putting a price tag on it.

Here are a few reasons the bakery model may be right for you.

Product centric

It might sound overly simplistic, but if you're going to sell something successfully, it better be worth the price tag. When you charge for an app, the only thing that matters is sales, and the only way to sell is to create a product that effectively addresses a real need. Too often, startups release their minimum viable product (MVP) before its strong enough, under pressure to get it out there and drive users towards the app. Because we constantly needed to ask ourselves whether it was worth paying for, our initial MVP was especially strong. A paid app puts your eggs into the most effective, detailed and impressive basket you have to offer and the benefits can be huge.

Related: Escalate Revenue and Growth With These 5 Strategies

But the same is true for any entrepreneur with a product-centric business, whether it be a lemonade stand or a new piece of sporting equipment. When a product sells you know that you're on the right path and that you have something worth promoting and investing in heavily. When you focus on taking in investment before you have a product of sufficient quality or in utilizing a funding mechanism that isn't based on the product, the results can be disastrous. You end up diverting attention to external issues that aren't critical in the early stages wasting time and money, and you cloud the picture of what is or isn't working with your product – making smart adjustments more difficult.

Easy measurement

Data driven marketing is all the rage in mobile but one of the biggest challenges in marketing free apps is knowing which data matters most. The beauty of a paid app is that it simplifies the measurement process with a very clearly defined and easily measured goal – sales.

The same goes for other products as well. Assume for a moment that you have a restaurant that just opened its doors and you're trying to understand how smart your pricing is. If you food the market with cheap deals through Daily Deal sites, you're going to miss out on the critical feedback necessary to set the proper standards for your business. Those tactics may be beneficial down the road, but utilizing 'creative' approaches too early can reduce your ability to gain important insights.

Related: Ka-Ching: Making Money Online

Faster reinvestment

While this is more relevant for the software and online industry, there is a growing focus on producing free products that rely on alternatives funding mechanisms. From publishers to digital products, freemium and advertising models are great for some businesses, but they frequently necessitate a higher marketing budget and a longer sales cycle. With the paid model, you experience a shorter sales funnel and have cash-in-hand upfront, ultimately enabling faster growth. The ability to reinvest money directly into the product allows you to channel initial feedback directly into product development to ensure you stay ahead of the innovation curve.

Promote good habits

Being cash-tight often means that as a company, you are lean. Growing manpower on a need-to-have basis pushes you to maximize your own efforts and make every hiring decision very carefully. The same is true for any time you decide to spend capital. Learning to spend within a budget dictated by your sales will help you build a mentality that will allow you to combine growth with the healthy habits necessary for long term success. 

Independence

Most importantly, bootstrapping your way to success means that you can remain strategically independent, creative and wholly focused on developing the best product out there. Independence can be especially critical in the early stages of a tech company when the pressure to get a product launched can often compromise the quality of the product and the first impression you make on the market. Income gives you the capital necessary to control your own destiny, remain true to your own vision and to make smarter decisions on when to approach investors and who to partner with.

This approach is not for everyone and clearly has the greatest relevance in fields where the barrier of entrance are relatively low, like services and other similar sectors, but the lessons are applicable across the board. In our industry where the emphasis placed on raising capital has pushed us to forget the far more important goal of driving revenue. For many entrepreneurs, success may be far more likely if they adopt a path driven by the bakery model.

Source: Zeev Farbman for Entrepreneur.com

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