Blog Author Mellissah Smith - Page 93

It's old news now, but it has me thinking... how realistic is it for the average small business owner to aspire to such great heights?

You would have to have been sleeping under a rock to not know that Facebook has just finalised an acquisition of the 12-man band, Instagram, for a cool price of $1 billion, give or take a few dollars, in shares and cash.

"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere". Lee Iacocca

Many entrepreneurs are 'ideas people' or 'thinkers'. They sit down for breakfast and think about what they can do to change the world, improve their companies and inspire their people. Great ideas are good, but are nothing without being 'seen through'. There are many great entrepreneurs in history who had somewhat peculiar habits, but when it comes to strategy and the workings of how they made wealth and kept it, they each had something in common.

If you look at the life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., you would note that while he gave away his money as wisely as he accumulated it, he was incredibly focused. He retired at 35 after accumulating more wealth than anyone in history. He detested ostentation and raised his children as if he were not a wealthy man. He had an obsession with costs and is known for his saying "It's the figures that count". To that point, he recorded in a notebook every cent he ever made. This recording of his monetary status was something that many buddying entrepreneurs would note about Rockefeller, and it certainly gives backbone to what many entrepreneurs may think about doing when it comes to not only accounting for their financial growth but also, documenting their ideas and how they see it through.

Rockefeller once said to a friend while driving on a country road observing a happy boy whilstling and convorting on a beautiful day, "That young man will never be a success in life." When asked why, he replied, "Because he is not thinking of driving his horse, and that his is business."

Rockefeller was a practical man with an abundance of common sense, an activist and a doer, rather than a thinker.

Too many entrepreneurs are thinkers. Not doers. Are you one of them?

"Be careful that the feet you stand on today, don't belong to the legs and arse you have to kiss tomorrow" : Quote from one very wise West Australian.

When I started out working, my friends were all in the same boat. They were starting out their careers too in journalism, advertising, television and marketing. Today, most of them are Directors of News, Television Presenters, Editors and Senior Managers. We all still keep in touch from time to time and support each other whenever and wherever possible.

How often as an entrepreneur do you really get down and get your hands dirty?

There are some things, that no-one else but the entrepreneur in a small business can do. It almost makes them indispensible although we are all trained to think that no-one is this.

Easter is but a faded memory (too much chocolate, an abundance of hot cross buns and vino to wash it down) and most of us are already back in the grind of every day life (that means "work" for those of us who are not still in holiday la la land).

I have arrived safely at my desk at 11.30am after an early morning interstate flight and am a bit weary even though I have just spent 5 days away, in the most picturesque setting possible with loads of sunshine, great wines and good food. The company wasn't too bad either ;-)

Queensland is such a stunning place. Like most people who travel up there, I always dream of living there permanently because in a week, you don't get bored, the flies don't bother you too much, and you cannot get enough of the sun and surf. It is pure paradise. Beautiful one day, perfect the next as the slogan goes.

Never one to 100% tune out on business, I learned a few things during my Easter break that I would like to share with you:

I am so excited! Tomorrow morning I fly to Queensland and after a couple of quick meetings, I will be off to the Sunshine Coast to enjoy the Easter break with my beautiful family.

Opportunities don't come past your desk everyday. Sometimes you have to work so hard to find an opportunity that when one lands on your lap, you don't really know what to do with it or you forget what it actually looks like.

There are so many things we all can relate "Make hay while the sun shines" to. Here are some that I think you should consider;

Have we all got it so wrong?

A few weeks ago, I had to cancel a trip to the US that was for both business and pleasure. Mainly business, but a few days pleasure that I was seriously looking forward to. There were real reasons, which I cannot disclose here, but nevertheless, business was somewhat involved.

Then my beautiful girlfriend married the man of her dreams in South Africa, and I had to cancel going there too. More than $1000 down the drain, because South African Airlines don't reimburse you for cancelled flights nor do they give you a credit. Yet again, work got in the way.

Then this weekend, it's Easter and my two nephews are looking forward to spending the special occasion with their Aunt Mellissah. I have work to do and I was about to book a flight to fly to Queensland on Friday and back Sunday until...

"Everybody has their shit," said Doreen, a wonderful, successful woman I met for the first time tonight.

As a table of 5 women sharing their stories and updating everyone on their lives, one thing became apparent. Everybody has their shit.

Not the most enticing word in the English Dictionary, I agree, but nevertheless, its meaning in this context makes it appropriate.

I enjoyed the company of 5 fabulous women tonight. Smart, beautiful, successful, emotionally intelligent and value adding, women that can converse on every topic imaginable.

They depict the women that I had in mind when I wrote "what men can do to make their women more successful."