But what can he teach those of us growing businesses and helping others to grow businesses?

Lisa Woods shares how Steve Jobs impacted her life in a thought provoking blog post

Here are her top lessons learnt from Steve Jobs

1) The World we live in was created by people who are no smarter than you or I, so don’t assume there is a best way of doing things. Make your own decisions and come up with your own ideas. You can lead people to a better way of doing things

2) Be creative in everything you do including managing others

3) Listen to your customer and work backwards. Create a product or service that satisfies the needs or desires of your target customer

4) Be hands on and involved in your work as well as your overall business

You can read Lisa’s full blog post here

The post What Steve Jobs taught me appeared first on GavinPreston.

I took them through my 4 stage process to accelerate growth in business: my PACE formula.

The 4 key steps are:
1) Purpose – Why
2) Accelerator – Who you need to be become to achieve the result)
3) Capacity and Capability – the How to Scale your Business
4) Enhance – this is about building a legacy that outlives you

Here are the slides from my presentation

The post Business Growth through a bigger purpose appeared first on GavinPreston.

Want to identify key areas in your business primed for profit growth?

Join Business Performance Acceleration Specialist Gavin Preston on 29th October at the Riverside Innovation Centre, Chesterfor a 2 hour workshop (6pm – 8pm) where he will take you the findings of his book “Flat Spot” the 7 mistakes Entrepreneurs makes that put the brakes on growth”. Working alongside other business owners and leaders you will time to take a look at your business and examine areas for performance improvement and profit growth.

Gavin has over a decade of experience working with organisations such as HSBC, Ford, Carphone Warehouse, Aon, BAE SYSTEMS and the United Nations and many small and medium sized organisations helping them to accelerate their performance.

You will be ensured a dynamic and engaging workshop where you will go away with clear actions for your business.

6pm Monday 29 October at Riverside Innovation Centre, Chester

Book your place by emailing or calling the Riverside Innovation Centre platforms@riversideinnovation.co.uk or telephone 01244 515 500

During this workshop you will work alongside other business owners to identify growth opportunities within your business. You will also get yourself a copy of the book “Flat Spot” as a thank you for joining us.

The post Gavin is speaking in Chester on 29th October & 3 December 2012 appeared first on GavinPreston.

Do you lay awake at night with questions buzzing through your mind about how to increase performance, motivate staff and experience double digit growth?

Well a good night’s sleep is close at hand!

I invite you to submit your “Burning Business Questions” to me directly so that I may answer them via video in lieu of this month’s live webinar.

As I mentioned during the last webinar (if you missed it, you can catch the replay here), I will be on holiday during the first week of September but I will be preparing my answer via video.

The deadline for submission is Tuesday 28th August

Visit http://gavinprestonevents.com to submit your question or leave your question in the comments field below.

The post Have A Burning Business Question? appeared first on GavinPreston.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”
Steve Jobs, Apple

Success leaves behind it a trail of clues. One thing that sets high growth organisations and the people that work in them apart is they are ‘up to something’ in their market place, even the world. Whether it is Apple wanting to create insanely brilliant products or Virgin wanting to transform the customer experience or Facebook helping users connect and share with the people in their life, these companies have a purpose that is beyond maximizing profit or shareholder return.

Their purpose attracts the best people to work for them and keeps them there. Their purpose attracts customers, often virally through word of mouth. The companies that get this really right create a following amongst their customers. Some could even call it a movement. Such customers are willing to pay a higher premium for products or services, buy more of that company’s products or services and are fiercely loyal to the brand. Apple is, of course, a great example of this. As a by-product of its greater purpose, Apple has achieved phenomenal profit growth and in 2011 achieved the status of the largest company in the world by market capitalization.

Profits follow purpose.

Profits are the customer feedback as to how effective you have been at delivering on your purpose and the value you create for your customer.

Have you ever stopped to think what the real purpose of your business is or could be? If your answer is to make money, I agree and there is always something else that you are contributing/ delivering. The most successful business people are not merely chasing profits. In fact those, that do often make far less progress than those that are on a mission to deliver / achieve something of real and lasting benefit to their customers, their community, their market place.

Get clear on the purpose of your business.

Develop Your Purpose
– What is the purpose of your business? What could it be?
– What is it that you are ‘up to’ in the world?
– What are you really serving?
– If there was a bigger impact you could have for your customers / in your market place, what would it be?

The post Profits follow Purpose appeared first on GavinPreston.

How often do you pause to look out of the window?  I don’t mean to day-dream (although I am an advocate of taking time out to think), I mean how often do you take a look at what is going on in the world around you?

In my experience a lot of businesses have their heads down working and they are very introspective.  They compare their performance against internally set budgets, they compare their performance against how they did last year, they do not look out at the external market place enough to see whether they are taking the right steps to stay ahead and grow the business not only now but in 2, 3, 5 years time.

There are changes happening in apparently unrelated industries that could be affecting your industry in the future.  I will give you an example.  I recently helped a family friend set up a new Kindle ebook reader before she went on holiday.  I asked “are you a big fan of ebooks and technology?”  No she replied “I love reading when I go on holiday and bury my head in a book for 2 weeks and often ready 5 or 6 books…..” the next part of her reply made me stop and think  ” ….aircraft luggage limits mean that I can’t take as many books as I used to, whereas with this this Kindle thing I can take as many books as I want”.

This is an example of a change in an unrelated industry (airline) that is affecting the book publishing industries.  Of course that is only one factor that is seeing the shift from paper to digital media for books.

Take some time to look at the trends affecting your industry and related industries.  What are the technological, economic, environmental, sociological and political trends affecting your industry?  What are the changes in customer buying pattern? For example the increase use of online shopping, a shift from physical product to digital downloads, increased use of smart phones.  In the B2B market place customers are ordering later  (shorter lead times expected) and in smaller quantities.  Increased price competition and little differentiation in product or service.

Imagine that you are standing 2 years and 5 years in the future what is different in your market place, what are your customers demanding, what are the market leaders delivering?  Are you on track to be the market leader?

What is the danger of not doing this?  I have a one word reply to that “Kodak”.  Their whole industry was changed overnight and they didn’t respond to it and ended up in Chapter 12 bankruptcy.

So take a look at what is going on in the world around you and ensure your strategies are fit for purpose.

The post Look Out!….the Window appeared first on GavinPreston.

The post 12 Steps to Raise Your Game – Part 3 appeared first on GavinPreston.

You want more. You want to get the results quicker.  You therefore are going to need energy, stamina and drive.  Whilst we can create an emotional  “pull” that draws you forward towards your goal.  You also need physical energy and stamina to achieve your goals, particularly as you have set yourself goals that require you to raise your game.

A burning desire for your goal will give you the tenacity and stamina to doggedly pursue your objective. You also need to look after your physical energy.

During an aircraft safety briefing the cabin crew explain that you should put on your own oxygen mask before helping someone else with his or hers.  How can you look after others if you do not look after yourself first?

Here are 9 things you can do to increase your physical energy levels fast and stoke your fire:

1) Surround yourself with people that energise you

Do the people that you spend the majority of your time with energise you?
I am sure that you have had the experience of spending time with some people where you have great conversations where the energy of the conversation builds and at the end of the meeting you are buzzing.  Then there are those other people that by the end of the meeting with them you feel drained.  Where possible, strive to spend time with positive, upbeat people who inspire and energise you.

2) Drink More Water

Between 50- 70% of the adult human body is made up of water.  Water is essential for survival and the body’s growth and maintenance.  Most adults do not drink enough water per day.  Most healthy adults need between 1.5 and 3 litres (6 – 8 glasses) of fluid per day.  Look to keep the balance of those in favour of water or juice as oppose to tea or coffee (see point below).

3) Less Caffeine & Sugar

Caffeine only offers a short term boost in energy, after which there is a fall in energy. The same is true with sugar. With regular use, coffee exhausts the adrenal glands, which are critical for sustained energy. Coffee also makes the bladder, kidneys, liver and other organs work harder, draining energy.

Reduce the number of cups of tea or coffee you drink in a day and replace them with glasses of water.

4) Breathe properly

Of course you are always breathing.  If you weren’t you wouldn’t be reading this!  However, for most people their breathing is shallow and only takes the breath into the top part of their lungs.  It is from the lower parts of the lungs that the most oxygen is absorbed into the blood stream.  Taking deep breaths, breathing from the abdomen draws the breath deeper into the lungs and transfers more oxygen into the blood for distribution around the body. Put your hands across your tummy and breath in deeply.  Your tummy should expand and then when you exhale it should contract.  Breathe from your abdomen.

For more tips on breathing take a look at this Telegraph article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wellbeing/5901075/Why-do-so-few-of-us-know-how-to-breathe-properly.html

5) Exercise

Aerobic exercise which increases your heart rate and forcing you to breath deeper not only improves your fitness, it also helps you oxygenate your body through causing you to breathe deeper.  I am sure you have had the experience that after activities such as a run, a swim, a game of football / tennis you have felt energised and more awake.  Yes, you may be physically tired from the exertion but mentally you are more awake and have more energy. Exercise forces oxygen, a primary source of energy, into all the cells.

There is some consistency in the advice on recommended exercise levels: you should be looking at exercising at a moderate intensity level for 30 minutes three to five times per week.

If you are feeling jaded in the afternoon, get up and move your body.  Take a little walk around your office / place of work and breathe deeply. This will get the blood moving distributing oxygenated blood around your body.

6) High Quality Supplements

This is another area of conflicting advice. A debate that rages: “We get enough nutrition from a balanced diet” versus “It is almost impossible to avoid nutritional deficiency in these modern times. With our busy lifestyle, the ever-tempting convenience of fast food, it is now very difficult to achieve good daily nutrition”.

I can speak of my own experience when I changed the vitamin and mineral supplements to a high quality manufacturer that was recommended to me, after a few weeks I noticed that I had more energy and was feeling healthier and more able to sustain periods of intensive work.  This particular manufacturer, Nature’s Sunshine offers an online diagnostic as to which supplements you most need.

Feel the benefit of good quality supplements for yourself

7) Catch up on sleep

Uninterrupted sleep is necessary for the body to heal, restore, and re-energize. It is recommended that we get between 6.5 – 7.5 hours sleep per night.  Several studies have shown higher mortality rates for those who consistently sleep less than 6.5 hours and surprisingly for those who sleep more than 8.5 hours.

The demands of modern life including commuting often means getting 7 hours of sleep is a luxury.  If that is the case, look to see if you can catch up on sleep at the weekend and also develop your ability to have a short cat nap /power nap.  A 20 minute cat nap can do wonders to recharge your batteries.

8) Download your worries / concerns

Whilst we “have things on our mind”, whilst the things that are concerning us are going round and round in our heads that not only uses up some of our brain’s processing capability it drains our energy.

Get your thoughts, concerns, worries out onto paper.  The act of writing (writing by hand works better than typing) helps you sort out your thoughts.  Also seeing the issues written on paper in front of you helps you to look at them from different perspective and takes out some of the emotional component when you experience the thoughts going round and round in your head.

If you are having trouble sleeping because your brain is mulling problems over through the night then write out your concerns, worries, stresses into a journal before going to sleep.  Also keep it by your bed for you to write in if you wake up in the night either worrying about something or with a great idea you can capture the thoughts, let them go and go back to sleep.  Try it, you will appreciate the result.

9) Listen to music that energises you

I am sure you have had the experience of how music can alter your mood.  Some tracks of music make you feel happy and energised, even excited, others can build tension, others can make you feel reflective, relaxed or even sad.   Music has a powerful impact upon our state.

Studies have shown that music can affect the body.  In fact our heart rate gets entrained to the beat of the music.  For example, Classical music from the baroque period causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, baroque music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn. Music also affects breathing rate. It has been observed to cause the pupils to dilate, increase blood pressure, and increase the heart rate.

Make yourself a series of playlists.  One of music that gets you energised and confident, feeling that you can take on the world.  One that calms and relaxes you, one that helps you concentrate.  Select the playlists appropriate to the state you want to create.

Clearly you cannot have music playing all of the time.  However, you can find times during the day when you can listen such as whilst travelling to an important meeting or on the way to / from work or during a quick walk at lunch time.

The post 9 Ways to Boost Your Energy- Fast appeared first on GavinPreston.

I have a simple question for you? When you read headlines like that, when you heard radio and TV news sound bites to the same effect, how did it make you feel?  Did it make you feel that you wanted to go ahead and buy that new sofa, new TV, redecorate, book a holiday or change your car?  Did it make you feel confident in your financial future?

Now I am not advocating that we should all spend, spend, spend.  The point I am making is a well know point that a key driver of economic performance is market sentiment i.e. consumer confidence, business leader confidence, investor confidence.

If you were to delve deeper into some of the papers you would have got a more balanced view.  “The Times” profiled several business leaders view. Many of those interviewed had a balanced view, stating that one key reason that the economic data for the last quarter of 2010 was lower than expected was because of all the snow we had in December.  There was even commentary about trends and that in context of other nations in Europe we, in the UK, are actually doing comparatively well.  Delving deeper into the London Evening Standard on 26^th January there was commentary from Anthony Hilton “The recovery is well under way, but only if we keep out nerve”.

Here’s the thing: In a fast paced society where we are overloaded with data, with bits of information competing for our attention, we have to scan things.  We unconsciously search for data that support a view that we have or may be (un) consciously forming.  We search for data to support that hypothesis. Many will have only heard the sound bites of doom and gloom. Few will have looked deeper, for a more balanced view, for the hope, for the underlying reality.

By the way, my almost daily conversation with Entrepreneurs, with  business leaders, with business men and women that deal daily with many more businesses, presents a very different picture.  These conversations present a picture of optimism, of confidence about business growth. More than a few businesses are reporting that 2010 was a good year for them and they are confident that 2011 will continue that trend.  In fact in a recent survey conducted by a leading high street bank of its business customers found that 60% of the customer base that participated in the survey stated that they were either confident or very confident about their business/ economic outlook for 2011…….but how many people in the greater UK population hear that message?

By consuming the media diet of predictions of double dips, does that make you feel confident in your own financial future? In many cases, not.  What is the result?  A self fulfilling prophecy.

Boards of Directors sit down to decide whether to expand their business, to invest in building new premises and employment. They look at the market data in front of them and yet they can’t get out of their minds the sound bites they consumed on the way to work that morning and decide not to go ahead with those plans. Thereby effecting real jobs in the construction sector, not employing the people they would have in their own business.  The family at home decides that they will make do with their dilapidated kitchen, their old car or without a family holiday. Thereby effecting real revenues and jobs in the those respective businesses that would have been the beneficiary of their spend.  Lets keep in mind that these people had the ability to spend on any of these ‘investment’ decisions but chose not to given the “state of the economy”. I know you see the pattern. One of self fulfilling prophecy.

I am not disputing that there are many suffering from unemployment or under threat of loosing their drop and the economic situation for them personally is not good. It is very real for them.

What I am talking about is the power of mindset, is the pervasive mindset of a nation.  In the words of Henry Ford “Whether you believe you can or you cannot, you are right’.

Any of us that have an audience for our words, through whatever media, have a responsibility.  A responsibility to be aware of the impact they have on others and like dropping a pebble in a pond, we have to be aware of the “ripple effect” of those words, of the “ripple effect” on real life earnings and ability to spend.

If a loved one, god forbid, was really ill. What would you do? Tell them the worst case scenario….. or give them hope, give them a reason to fight, take them by the hand and with your words, with your actions ‘will’ them back to health?

Of course you give them hope. It is human nature.  It is also human nature to survive in spite of the odds, it is human nature to find ways around a problem. Mother natures way is to grow.

So I would like to offer you an “alternative reality”. One that you might not sign up to straight away but one that gives hope and one that, if you go with me, can and does deliver double digit growth.

Pause for a moment and think back to times in your life when you were doubting of your abilities, when you were fearful of the worst case scenario so much so that you kept yourself awake at night, of times when you were worried what if?  What was the impact of your mind being full of such thoughts? Did you feel confident? Did you perform at your best? Did you feel energized? I doubt it.

Let’s choose a different path now.  Think about times when you felt upbeat, when you were confident in your preparation and your abilities, when you actually believed in yourself.  How different did things pan out in those situations? Better? Much better? I think so.

In every economic downturn there is always a business that outperforms the market / the other companies in any particular sector.  The question is which path are you going to choose? Are you going to allow yourself to be fed a fast food diet of doom and gloom or are you going to choose the path of hope?

I am not a peddler of “airy fairy” empty statements.  I do not believe life is all about ‘rose coloured spectacles’.  No. Instead I evoke the basic human fighting spirit, the basic survival instinct.  I harness that and bolster it with skills and capability that delivers.  Down to earth business strategies that deliver results. Results that have transformed the ‘reality’ of some of my clients so that they are now experiencing double digit growth.

Which path are you going to choose?

Top find out about the “Entrepreneur Accelerator Workshop I am running on 3rd March near Knutsford (UK) then check out:

http://gavinprestonevents.com/entrepreneur-accelerator

The post Double Dip or Double Digit Growth: Your Choice appeared first on GavinPreston.