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Key Termsbrainstorming session - a business meeting where ideas are presented and exchanged. Questions
Activity
Questions and Answers on Small BusinessThere is nothing wrong with thinking big, and good luck. But, if you set your goals unreasonably high, you may find yourself working so hard and for so long that you will be left with little time to enjoy the fruits of your success. Making a decent honest living and securing your financial future are reasonable goals to achieve for anyone following the three principles and adopting a positive lifestyle. With your own small business, you may be able to earn enough money in 15 or 20 years, so that you can retire as an industry investor, pursue your personal potential, and relax. The lives of the great financial achievers of the twentieth century are well-documented. You can read the biographies of people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump and Ted Turner. Often, in these and other such stories, you will find people willing to risk it all to move up to the next level. If you had $10 million, would you risk it all to make $50 million, and then risk the $50 million to make $75 million, and on and on? To be successful, you have to be somewhat of a risk-taker, but with the Master Small Business course, those risks are calculated. Only you can decide if enough is enough. I'm just completing an insurance salesperson's training course and I'm raring to go. What would you be thinking about doing during the first week? One of the greatest motivational speakers and writers of this century was an insurance salesman named W. Clement Stone. You should get your hands on all his writings, and start reading. Ask your company for a list of top producers and start making a plan on how you intend to network with these winners. Can you take one to breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Can you ask for ten minutes of their time for an interview? Will they allow you to watch them work the phones or join them on a sales call? You might be able to find profiles of super agents in your insurance industry publications, and you can write or phone them for advice. Devote time each day to learning more about your products and how those products serve your clients. The average person knows 250 people on a first-name basis. Begin your database of 250, and keep adding names. You're a new agent and you're enthused. Put that enthusiasm in writing, and make that the first of many direct mail pieces to the names on your database. And, make sure that you have business cards in your wallet and briefcase and car and pockets. You want to have those cards at the ready because everyone you meet from now on must know what you do for a living, and the quality product and service that you offer. Can you recommend one or two books on success and motivation? Sorry, but there are just too many to narrow down the choices. You should consider your reading on the topics of success and motivation to be a lifetime pursuit. And, these days, most of the great motivational speakers have audio and video tapes to keep you on track toward your own success. Will there be a lot of repetition in the material? Yes, there will. Will you read over and over again that you need persistence and determination and hard work and objectives and goals? Exactly. Will the people doing the writing and talking be people who have risen from failure to success? Yes. Will they be coaches and teachers and preachers and business legends and millionaires and billionaires? Yes. It will be all these people telling you all these things that you already know but need to be reminded of all the time. Booksby David E. Gumpert (1996) (278 pages) In a step-by-step approach, the book leads readers through all phases of starting a business: assessing, testing, and protecting the idea; attracting the best people and structuring the business; assessing cash flow; writing a business plan and finding start-up money; and, finally, launching the business. Readers can test their readiness to move from one chapter to the next by completing a series of entertaining exercises at the end of each chapter. Additional entertainment, and guidance, comes from the experiences of successful companies such as Crate & Barrel and Pizza Hut. Hurdle: the book on Business Planning by Timothy J. Berry (1998) (278 pages) A practical, step-by-step guide to developing a business plan, written by a leading expert, this book puts the emphasis on real business plans that focus on concrete and measurable results. Covers all the basics including what to include in a plan, where to find information, and an excellent simple guide to business numbers that stands out for its explanation of cash flow. If You're Clueless About Starting Your Own Business and Want to Know More by Seth Godin (1997) (208 pages) This book describes what it takes to get a small business up and running. In his helpful, humorous, and easy-to-read manner, the author provides you with everything you need to know to jump-start a new enterprise. The book is well structured and filled with ample information from developing a business plan to marketing your business to expanding your growing business. The sidebars provide helpful hints from other business owners and each chapter contains a section on other related books for further research. Inc. Yourself : How to Profit by Setting Up Your Own Corporation by Judith H. McQuown (1999) (288 pages) Outlines the core information necessary to turn any enterprise into a separate legal entity replete with all of the rights, privileges, and liabilities that such a move entails. But the book also updates those suggestions for today's small businesses whenever appropriate, and bolsters them with important details on newly available options for pension plans, organizing the venture, and sheltering its income from taxation. The Inner Game of Entrepreneuring : 10 Steps to Mastering the Small Business Challenge by Ronald E. Guzik (1998) (208 pages) Written for entrepreneurs, small business owners and managers who are ready to move their companies from the start up stage to the first level of expansion, this book provides practical tools and exercises to mentally and emotionally prepare them for increased business success and growth. The book addresses organizational and time management issues, and emphasizes the importance of identifying and changing potentially bad habits that block the company's growth and performance. 
Recruitment and Hiring
Go to Lesson Twenty Four
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