Self-Employment: Five Top Tips for Going It Alone

 

Are you thinking of handing in your notice as an employee and entering the world of self- employment as a freelancer or contractor? If you are on the verge of becoming self- employed or have recently joined the many that already do freelance or contract work then it is worth reading this handy guide. These are the top five leadership tips for going it alone, to help you through the whole process of setting up as self-employed.

 

Accountants

Firstly, you need to deal with the financial side of the business. It is always a good idea to employ the services of an accountant and in particular to look for the best accountants for contractors and freelancers. You will be legally obliged to keep accurate records of all your in-comings and outgoings. An accountant can offer advice on bookkeeping and help fill in your self-assessment form each year.

 

Finances

Make sure that you have thought about finances before you even start up your business. There will be a time between your leaving regular employment and your business generating an income during which cash flow will be tight. Make sure you set aside at least two months of living expenses to give you a chance at making self-employment a success without financial worries.

 

Register as Self-Employed

Remember that it is important to register your new self-employed status with HM Revenue and Customs. You will get fined if you forget to do this. It is an easy process that can be completed online or over the phone in about 10 minutes.

 

Insurance

You will more than likely need to consider insurance for your self-employed venture. There are many different policies, depending on the nature of the work you do. Some insurance policies may be a legal requirement in your line of work. Freelancers and contractors will often need cover such as professional-indemnity insurance.

 

Plan for the Future

Remember that as you are self-employed you do not have the benefits of being an employee. In particular, you will not have a company pension. This means that you will need to plan for your future and, ultimately, your retirement. A stakeholder pension is often the best option for the self-employed and will help supplement the state pension you will receive when you do eventually retire.

 

You may also need to consider the growth of your business and when you might change from working alone to employing other people. Most businesses should have a clear five-year plan set out for future growth, though this does depend to some extent on the nature of the business and line of work. You may decide that you want to remain a sole trader, for example and not employ any more staff.

 

Remember to be realistic about your business and what you hope to achieve in the first year. Make sure you do your research and know your market. With good preparation and hard work, entering the world of self-employment can result in a highly rewarding job and give you greater flexibility in your work-life balance.

 

Leadership Training

Welcome to Leadership Expert’s page on Leadership Training.

What is leadership training about? Is leadership training effective? If my company isn’t presently investing in any leadership training for me – what can I do about it? These will be the questions I will be investigating, evaluating and more importantly – solving for you.

Whether you are a top performing CEO or someone who is considering (or being considered) for their first junior management or supervisory role; providing you with the right tools to do the job effectively is essential. After all, you wouldn’t want someone who knows nothing, or very little about plumbing to come and install a new bathroom, complete with energy efficient boiler, power shower, expensive tiles etc into your home would you? Unfortunately, however, this is exactly what most organisations do. They take a good employee and then throw them into the deep end of management under the auspices of ‘career development’.

Pro-active, innovative and forward thinking organisations do have whole suites of tried and tested, highly effective management induction and learning programmes. Over the course of the next few months I will be researching and interviewing some of these organisations HR Directors and Staff Development managers to see exactly what they do and how they do it. If you currently work somewhere you feel is amazing at leadership training and support I would love to hear from you.

Many of you are telling me that, sadly, you were either thrown in at the deep end, or that you feel your training has been inadequate. The fact is that most of the greatest leaders I have ever come across embarked on a relentless drive for their own self-development, regardless of what their companies offered. It is in this respect that I also plan to investigate the most cost effective and life changing learning programmes that are available to you.

I am currently researching leadership training courses in the following subjects:

• Transformational leadership
• Situational leadership
• Global leadership
• Leadership verses management
• The accomplished executive
• Leadership training for new managers

I will be investigating up to 10 different leadership training companies to see what they provide and how effective their training has been. The list is not exhaustive so let me know what king of leadership training you currently need and I will guide you accordingly. Just so you know, most good leadership courses cost up to £3,000.

One leadership course I would definitely recommend you should take a look at is called Best Year Yet®. What is so good about this programme is that it is goal orientated and behavioral. It is also value based and blended with on-line tracking, audio programmes, webinars, and for those who want it, one-to-one coaching.  It is also one of the cheapest and yet most effective (life changing) programmes I have ever come across. To take a closer look – see my full review.

One of the most effective ways to learn to become a leader is through coaching. Coaching can add so much more value compared to attending a course, because it is more personal, in-depth and can unlock peoples hidden potential in amazing ways.

There is currently an explosion in leadership coaching, because people want to be able to find their own path to success, independently to what their company offers them, or at least, with the ability to discuss real issues with someone from outside the company. This can have major benefits for both the individual and the organisation. External coaches are being accepted in greater numbers into organisations and as part of peoples continuing professional development planning.

For details of the three different types of coaching programme available directly through Leadership-expert™ – click here.

From visiting organisations, I’ve found that the happiest employees and managers regularly invest in themselves and their personal leadership training. People have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and success in leadership. These days, many e-courses tend to be rather disappointing, and although we can all learn from material which is available on-line, finding the right learning programme for you can be a real challenge.

So, if you are looking for access to straight-forward, useful leadership training materials, top tips and tools to help you to become a more effective leader in your organisation, join our community and I will let you know every week when I have been able to update the website with some incredibly useful, cutting-edge leadership thinking and techniques – all for free.

Bespoke Leadership Training:

If you have specific leadership and management training needs and don’t want to spend hours trawling the internet, employ Leadership-Expert™ to find the right solution for you.

If you are looking for very specific leadership training which doesn’t fall into any of the above categories, email me at simon@simonteague.com and I will compile an initial assessment of your development needs and learning style, undertake the appropriate research and recommend the most relevant leadership training solution to meet your and your organisations needs. The cost of this service is minimal compared to the overall training outlay and could save you £thousands if you attend a programme that is ultimately not right for you.

Leadership Traits

Leadership traits are the characteristics that leaders possess that enable them to lead effectively. I’m going to run down 20 of the traits I believe are most important, it’ll be interesting to see how many you feel you already have, and which ones you’re still working on. Leave a comment below to let me know.

The Top Leadership Traits

20. Patience – A good leader needs to show their employees that they’re willing to give them as much time as necessary to see them perform. A manager who roughly attaches arbitary deadlines onto tasks and aggressively chases employees up will only antognise and stress their workforce. Good leadership management is about waiting as well as acting.

19. Continuous Development – Smart people have always sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership. Most these days tend to be rather disappointing, but one brilliant idea that has recently captured my attention is The Ultimate Leadership Guide which contains all the core teachings of 30 top leadership books,  which is simply an essential ‘crash course’ in the principles you need to know to further your career and even find happiness in other areas of your life!

18. Graft – A brilliant leadership trait is the trait of grafting. There’s a simple rule that most good leaders follow – always do the nastiest job yourself. While being able to delegate dire tasks to others is one of the perks of management, t is important that employees never actually question your dedication to work hard. By simply doing the famously nasty job yourself each year, your staff will never have a doubt over whether it’s fair you have the ability to delegate menial work.

17. Fairness/Equity - Fairness is one of the key criteria by which employees measure their superiors.Quite simply, if you don’t behave in an equitable manner at all times, you will lead no more than a rabble of reluctant workers, and will never gain their respect. Fairness is one of Herzberg’s ‘hygeine’ factors from his popular leadership theory. This means that if you are fair, employees will not be inherently motivated, but merely content. If however you act unfairly and break the rules, employees will be demotivated. Very little upside if you possess this trait but large potential negative effects on motivation if you lack it. Its a tough world, but the message is clear.

16. Modesty - An important note to remember is that in every team you lead, some will be envious of your job or position. These people are also often the most active, amibitious and productive members of the group, so it’s extremely important that you keep them onside. By being modest and humble, you minimise the potential for jealousy within the team, and inspire warmth and affection instead.

15. Appreciates Quality - Simple put, a good leader recognises that quality is the most important gauge of the work done. Always. A culture that cares little for quality will demotivate employees and reduce job satisfaction. Staff must be able to feel good about their work and their skills.

14. Sense of Humour - A practical reality for most leaders is that you’ll spend an awful lot of time in meetings or speaking in public. A good sense of humour helps to put across the message you want to convey more effectively and help smooth over awkward or tense moments in board meetings etc.

13. Wide Outlook – A good leadership trait is to be able to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. This is really one the main purpose of a leader, but so many managers instead choose to get bogged down in small decisions that should really be taken care of by someone else. While everyone is cleaning the deck and preparing the sails, somebody has to be looking where the ship is going.

12. Adaptability and Flexibility - A clear fact in life is that many things you enjoy will change, and many things you despise will quickly improve. As a leader, you must be able to cope with negative change, and also be able to quickly grab opportunities as soon as they appear. Less hesitation, and more asking the question “Ok, so how can I make the best of this situation”.

11. Human Understanding – A leader that can understand their employees and really be able to emphasis with the workforce or team as a whole will ultimately be a far more effective leader. Only by being able to put yourself in the shoes of your employees will you be able to make decisions that will enthuse and motivate your staff.

10. Clarity - Job roles and positions within companies can sometimes be at best – a complete mess. Business leadership is about separately and clearly identifying those roles and responsibilities and ensure that everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing.

9. Charisma – The skill of oratory has been perfectly demonstrated recently by Barrack Obama’s surge in popularity en route to the white house, and his continued popularity now that he has gained office. The ability to speak confidently and with meaning is a rare one, and carries much merit for those few who posess it. Increased influence and persuasion is just one of the positive benefits of being a leader with charisma.

8. Ability to Delegate – As I mentioned earlier, delegation is one of the perks of being promoted to a leadership position. Why is it then that so many leaders fail to delegate enough? Why do they continue to ‘meddle’ in small, trivial matters, and refuse to give subordinates the real responsibility and confidence to be able to make their own decisions? The answer is because it’s alot harder than you’d think to be able to properly delegate control to someone else. Especially the control over a job you’ve been doing yourself for many years. By undermining your subordinate’s ability to make decisions independently, you’re being a poor leader. That’s why the ability to delegate is one of my top 20 traits.

7. Calmness – Calmness is a leadership trait that again we could do with learning from President Obama. One of the most common pieces of praise I hear from President Obama is how he has stayed so calm under pressure. With the recession, middle east conflict and recent fiascos such as Swine Flu, Piracy and torture memos – it has sincerely impressed many that this man has been able to keep his composure and present a solid front. Any leader that can achieve this will instantly earn respect.

6. Ability to Listen – The fantastic leaders thorough history were also good listeners. Drawing upon the expertise and ideas of all those around you will improve your decision making. It follows that leaders who listen well simply make better decisions.

5. Confidence – Confidence flows through a team just like cheerfulness or a hardworking attitude. If the leader shows hesistation, self-doubt, or a lack of amibition, it will infect the rest of the team. Enthusiastically following an unconfident will really test employees attitude, and this is something you don’t want to be doing. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to enthusiastically follow your lead.

4. Consistency – This is a similar point to fairness. If you fail to be consistent with your attitude, decisions or behaviour, you will be causing unrest in your team.

3. Approachability & Friendliness – While many managers dream of being a superior and ‘feared’ leader, the most effective type of leader is an approachable one. A leader who an any employee can feel like they could have a conversation with will be able to hear about what the quiet dissenters have to say, or what the ‘real’ results of their latest intiative was.

2. Passion and Motivation – It goes without saying that a leadership trait that will be admired is your passion for what you do. Whatever your role, people will respect the fact that you take pride in your work, you enjoy it, and that you will therefore try your hardest to succeed.Passion and motivation will always trump formal leadership training or leadership coaching.

1. Trustworthiness -Ethics and trust has to come right at the top of the most important leadership traits for one simple reason. Nobody will obey, follow, or be inspired by someone they distrust. A good reputation, likeability and respect will be absolutely impossible if you’re labelled as a liar. Regardless of their own mal-practises, people will never be able to associate with an untrustworthy character.

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

As Gino Wickes writes; entrepreneurs usually face at least one of five common frustrations with their business. These are; A Lack of Control, Unresponsive Staff, A Growth Plateau, Unprofitability and a Change-Avoidant Culture. Essentially these are the five factors that hold back ‘good’ businesses from being ‘great’ businesses, and we all suffer from these problems from time to time.

Now, in Traction, Gino presents his view of a successful company that has managed to mitigate, or completely avoid the five common frustrations. The rest of the text aims to provide a practical roadmap to guide an entrepreneur to improving various components of his business incrementally in order to improve the system. Gino uses a computer metaphor – in that if the business is a computer, then this book provides the operating system. Gino’s strategy is coined the Entreprenerial Operating System™.

Titles aside, does the substance of Traction fulfill its purpose? Not just as a start-up guide, but also as a ‘rescue’ strategy?

Home Truths & My Thoughts

Traction opens with a frank principle that you won’t hear in conversation often. It’s the crazy notion that entrepreneurs with successful companies are sometimes risk evasive, and that their risk aversion actually holds back the company. Let’s just think about that for a moment.

What’s crazier than that notion is that I completely see the logic here! Entrepreneurs often talk of starting their business ‘from nothing’. In fact, on TV shows these days you’ll be hard pressed to find a businesman or woman who remains modest about their humble beginnings. The important point to note is that with ‘nothing’ in the bag, these entrepreneurs had absolutely nothing to lose to begin with.

5 years later, sitting on a private shareholding in a company worth £50,000,000 – the entrepreneur has clearly succeeded, but this is where the problem kicks in. Now the entrepreneur’s comforts, prosperity, and even social status depend on the continuation of the business. In this position, I would not be surprised if the entrepreneur was very frightened about taking any further steps. I’m talking around this small point in detail for a book review, I realise, and this is one of the reasons why I like this book. Traction contains plenty of interlectually challenging ideas and methods. But at the same time, it isn’t a leadership theory book at all!

An Entrepreneurs Manual

You will find Traction to be quite different from the other leadership books I have reviewed on Leadership Expert. The main difference is that Traction is very specific and hands-on in approaching management skills. Rather than just focusing on the ‘soft’ skills such as communication, motivation and culture, Traction details a handful of ‘this is what you need to do, and this is how you do it’ projects, including:

• Which performance metrics and data you will want to look at on a weekly basis
• How to draw up an organisational hierachy
• How to deliver an effective meeting.

In short, this is good stuff that owner/managers want to know. While this content certainly has a heavy slant towards the entrepreneurial type, I don’t see why this ideas couldn’t be used by a mid to senior level manager in a corporate environment either. The title makes for an easy-to-dip-into read that I believe will find a happy home on your desk.

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman can be purchased from Amazon today.

 

 

Top Leaders in Business

Some of the biggest businesses across the globe have been run by people with strong leadership credentials. I thought it would be fun to look at some top businesses in the UK, so that we can identify how they got where they are now, and who has led them there. The three companies chosen are moneysupermarket.com, EasyJet and Betfair.

moneysupermarket.com

moneysupermarket.com is the UK’s leading price comparison website that specialises in offering financial services. As it stands moneysupermarket is listed on the London Stock Exchange and it’s a member of the FTSE 250, but how did they get there and who was the leader behind their incredibly rise to success?

The company was established in 1993 by Simon Nixon and Duncan Cameron under the name Mortgage 2000. Then in 1999 Simon Nixon launched moneysupermarket.com, and today they have nearly 500 employees in their headquarters in North Wales. The company drives their revenues from the money, travel, home services and insurance verticals that provide such products as credit cards, mortgages, ISA savings accounts, holidays and insurance. Its rise to success has been nothing short of phenomenal.

EasyJet

EasyJet carries more passengers than any other UK based airline and they employ over 8000 people throughout Europe. In 2009, EasyJet provided a service to 45.2 million passengers, a truly incredibly feat. The company sits on the FTSE 250 index and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Since its launch in 1995 the company’s rise has been extraordinary, but who was the leader behind their success?

The EasyJet airline was established in 1995 by Greek-Cypriot Stelios Haji-ioannou. Stelios started the company with two wet leased Boeing 737 aircrafts operating on just two routes; today the company runs international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports.

Betfair

Since being launched in June 2000, Betfair has become the world’s largest internet betting company. The company claims that they can offer on average 20% better odds than those of traditional street bookmakers. Since their launch in 2000 the company has received many investments, and in October 2010 they announced to go public with valuations of up to 1.5 billion pounds. So who was behind the company’s incredible success?

Betfair was founded by Andrew Black and Edward Wray, and in recognition of their incredible success they have won many awards, including the Ernst & Young young entrepreneurs of the year 2002. Black and Wray have led their company to having over 3 million clients with a claimed turnover in excess of £50m per week.

The Seven Habits Of Incredibly Successful Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are some of the most powerful individuals in society. Not because they’re wealthy, but because the habits they possess ensure that they are successful in whatever they set out to accomplish. Take a look at the seven habits below and find out which habits you have in common with incredibly successful business leaders, managers, team leaders and entrepreneurs worldwide!

1 – A Hatred for Sleep

You’ll find most entrepreneurs never sleep in late (unless perhaps when on vacation!). Every second you spend lazily snoozing in bed, is a second spent watching your productivity plummet. For most people, this is pleasurable and a welcome break, but for an effective entrepreneur and leader, it’s a restless affair.

Taking a break is worthwhile. But that’s what your 8 hours of sleep is for. If you don’t feel happy unless you’ve had a good measure more than this, then there’s a good chance you won’t cut it as a business leader.

2 – The Willingness to delegate

From low-level positions, delegation is seen as a mouth-watering perk. Who wouldn’t love to be able to give important tasks to people below them, and take the weight off their own shoulders? The real answer is; less people than you’d think.

While most people think delegation is something they could get very used to; in practice it’s a very tough and draining process if done incorrectly.

Imagine yourself as the bride in a wedding. It’s an event you’ve been thinking about for a long time, and there is an awful lot of pressure on the event being a success. Would you happily delegate all the decisions in this case to a relatively inexperienced wedding planner? Of course you wouldn’t. You would likely think along the lines of:  ‘My wedding day is far too important to let someone else potentially mess it up. Surely they won’t give it as much attention and care as I would. It simply isn’t worth the risk. I’ll do it myself’.

This is the scenario that many new managers find themselves in. They have the ability to delegate tasks completely to those below, but are afraid to because so much stands on the success of the activity, and it causes them too much worry to have anyone other than themselves perform the task.

A successful leader simply places confidence in those beneath them, and let experts do what they do best, leaving the entrepreneur do what they do best – Leading!

3 – The Lightening Pursuit of Opportunities

The difference between a successful entrepreneur and a normal individual, is that when they both see a business opportunity, their reactions are different. A normal individual may actually consider a business opportunity that has presented itself, and have a look at their bank account… maybe plan the possibility of leaving their job. However by this point, the entrepreneur will have already organised a team to begin!

4 – Proactivity

Business Leaders do not wait for opportunities to slip onto their lap. They instinctively partake in continuous research (or pay someone else to) to always make sure they have some new directions to be exploring. They’re never happy staying in the same place, and are always looking for the next new idea. Even successful entrepreneurs that are seen to stay firmly within one business, may be actually exploring several products or business models within that single entity.

5 – Optimism

An ineffective entrepreneur may think – “There are pro’s and con’s here… lets weigh it up”
The successful business leader thinks – “Those pro’s are significant enough to pursue this, we will solve the cons later.”

Being optimistic is a crucial habit for entrepreneurs, because it’s the only way to deal with the amount of risk these people take on! Would you risk your year’s salary in order to make more money next year? Many wouldn’t, and that’s why successful entrepreneurs aren’t common.

6 – Ruthlessness

Its probably their most famous trait – Entrepreneurs are often ruthless individuals. This isn’t to say they’re immoral folk, but don’t expect to receive politeness and ‘niceties’ if it will hinder their success. You have to be this focused too. Maybe you’re thinking ‘It isn’t worth it’. Well, being an incredibly successful entrepreneur isn’t for everyone!

7 – Obsession with attention to detail

Everything has to be perfect. Competition is so fierce in today’s business world that entrepreneurs cannot afford to do a half job. A successful businessperson won’t go home until the job is completed 110%. Delivering above what is expected is a classic signature of entreprenuers. This is how extraordinary profits are made and how a small venture can explode into a multimillion dollar success.

Which habits do you possess? Which habits do you think are the rarest and hardest to possess? Leave your comments below!

 

The Pursuit Of Something Better – Review

If you’re looking for a review of “The Pursuit Of Something Better” then you’ve come to the right place. I’m currently reading an advance copy, and will be publishing Leadership Expert’s official review within a week, so stay tuned!

Introduction

‘The Pursuit Of Something Better’ follows the story of  US Cellular – a regional telecoms company, through its journey to becoming home to one of the most vibrant and motivated cultures in the USA. As an underdog in the telecoms industry – US Cellular has to fight to survive in the modern world, but the employees fight for it, due to their extreme loyalty and pride.

On one day every year, the managers from across the organisation leave their positions to attend a conference that announces the results of something very dear to them – the annual employee satisfaction questionnaire. Grass-root staff rise to the challenge and the company ticks over just fine without them. The atmosphere at the conference is likened to that of a concert – not an annual review. What on earth has happened at this company to drive such enthusiasm?

Well, you’ll have to buy the book yourself to find out!

Review

Review is coming soon!

Purchase

This title was released on the 15th of August 2009.

You can pre-order this book on Amazon UK here

If you’d like to read a review of this book on other blogs, you can visit here and here.

Leadership Challenges

We all face leadership challenges at some point of our lives. If you’re searching for leadership challenges then you’ve come to the right place. You could be looking for one of two interpretations of this phrase.

1. Leadership challenge to mean, an attempt to overthrow your authority. “What can I do to protect myself against somebody overuling my leadership?“. For the answers to these kinds of questions, I suggest you reflect upon your own leadership skills rather than those of your ‘competition’. Are your leadership skills up to scratch? If you want to improve them, click here.

2. Leadership challenges to mean difficult and rewarding leadership experiences. “How can I deal with this situation and come out of it a stronger person?“. This is the topic this article deals with.

In most organisations – you will encounter challenges as a leader many times a year, possibly even many times a week, depending on how much pressure is placed on your role. The key to dealing with these is to quickly picture in your head a clear image of the benefits you would receiving from successfully accomplishing this task. Reduced stress? Increased respect? Improved promotion prospects?

Almost every scenario you will encounter – glorious benefits will await you on the other side. The thought of these will help motivate you, and that is why I ask that you picture them immediately.

Next, you need to look inwards and decide whether you have the appropriate leadership skills and experience to be able to overcome the current difficulty. Don’t worry if you look at your skill set and admit ‘I’m not experienced at this area’, because you can certainly compensate for lack of experience by good preparation.

To hone up your leadership skills I’d recommend buying a quick and effective leadership course such as ‘Apply Leadership‘, which is the product I talk about most to those who ask me which leadership e-course I would recommend. (You can follow the link to read my review).

Once you have the benefits clearly in mind, and a good preparation, it’s time to tackle the leadership challenge head on. This will probably involve implementing a strategy of leading that you are perhaps not 100% comfortable with. Perhaps you read a leadership book that suggested a certain leadership style, but you don’t feel that it’s working. Don’t worry! A subtle change of direction can go unnoticed by the workforce if you display confidence in your actions.

Follow these tips and you will be able to weather any leadership challenge, and emerge from the other side as a success leader with an extra notch on your belt!

 

Leadership Vision

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.“ John F Kennedy, Former American President.

President Kennedy’s landmark vision “Landing on the Moon” When President, Kennedy quoted the above in the year 1961, he surely believed that his nation should commit itself to achieve the goal, by the end of the decade; America would be able to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth. That statement and plan would only come from a visionary and great leader. And it exemplifies the type of leadership we expect from such great leaders. We want the leaders to motivate by setting unthinkably high aspirations; even though there may be tremendous uncertainties we should face in the future to attain the goal. Now we know that Kennedy’s visionary statement became a reality and the man landed on the moon and came back to earth unharmed, without such a vision, such a landmark goal should not have been a reality. His vision was bold that it should be done at any cost.

What is a Vision Statement? Before deciding whether we need a vision statement, we first of all to know what this vision statement is?. A vision is a statement written or unwritten statement, which is just like our ambition to become, say what we will become after 5 years. A leadership vision should stretch an individual’s capabilities and image of himself. It gives shape and direction to our future. Our personal vision statement provides the direction necessary to guide the course of our days and the choices we make about our future. Our personal vision statement is a torch shining in the darkness to illuminate our way. Now we understood about the vision statement, now write our personal vision statement as a first step in focusing our life – for our joy, our accomplishments, our contribution, our glory, and for our legacy.

One of the qualities that a person must have is the ability to envision the future. Vision might seem an exalted ambition compared with the harsh realities of the future. But without vision, growth and achieving goals becomes difficult. Vision helps simplify the decision-making process, as organizations need to make hundreds of decisions per day to simple stay afloat in this environment. Without a view of the big picture for the future, making even a small decision can appear as a mountain to be climbed.

Visions range in length from a couple of words to several pages, but normally people prefer shorter vision statements because they can remember their shorter visions. Our unit has a vision too; To be the most preferred supplier of quality product in category to result in sales revenue of more than Rs.1000 crore by FY 2010 .

Here there are two examples of vision statements, one is for an individual and another is for the purposes of organizational leadership;

•“In 2010, I will be a head of a profit center in an organization of good repute in India” (Individual) •”We will become a recognized and respected hotel chain in Asia in 3 years.” (Organization)

How we can prepare vision statement:

1. First identify the goals.

2. Uncover the real, human value in those goals.

3. Identify what you value most about you, your goals how and how you will achieve your goals.

4. Combine your values & goals and polish the words until you have a vision statement inspiring yourselves enough to energize and motivate you.

To build a vision of the future requires a lot of time and effort and successful people are those who can strike a balance between both, combining vision and execution. Vision is painting a picture of tomorrow’s world before you. It is about imagining a future day in your life? With the values and goals, which you are making and keeping in mind for the changing competitive environment of future. It is about thinking through painstaking and crafting come out with productive solutions. To build a vision of the future, one needs to come at it from various angles, because technology and competition do not stand still.

Why is vision so important? If an individual is in the initial stages of his career, it cannot compete and win over others; however it can think of it in long term, as at present the others have a far better edge over you. The individual needs to envision the future advantages and disadvantages that will come and build a leadership vision based on that situation. It may take time for these opportunities to manifest. The person needs enough resources and patience for the coming years to face the uncertainties. It is not easy because today’s pressures and deadlines will tend to take precedence. Organizations have to make sure vision is not sacrificed considering the present circumstances.

To be effective, a vision must motivate people. President Kennedy’s vision to let land the first man on the moon by the end of the 1960′s and it is one of the most famous examples of effective leadership vision. To motivate people, a vision might be expressed in arousing tones. The leadership vision to first land the first human on the moon would have been motivational to the engineers and scientists who made it happen no matter how the vision was expressed. It was motivational for two reasons: it gave them a very concrete, time-bounded target and it was an exciting challenge for the people associated with the project, that is too with the support of the most powerful man on the land.

If you own a car rental company, creating a motivational vision would be harder. It is very difficult to know how much you have to do to improve the customer service at lower costs. You have no idea what the customers expect from you, meaning you have to put in lots of effort such as conducting a surveys and evaluations, what the competitors are doing for their customers. If you are already in the top 3 in this industry, you have also to know how much higher can you go? In that case, the most motivational vision for such a business might be to make it to number one over the next 3 years. If your vision is not time-related, it is very difficult to get excited about it, mainly because there is no sense of urgency to do anything new, but your vision must be having the mettle that your company will be No.1 in 5 years, but this needs a lot of bravery, since just preparing a vision statement is not enough, you have to the daringness to go ahead with your vision statement and to achieve your goals within the time period, you decided for yourself.

It is said that visionary leadership motivates staff to overcome tough challenges and to achieve goals, however for this we need to decide whether we really need a vision. We are often told that vision is an essential feature of great leader, then in that context, we also need a vision to execute our plans well for achieving our personal goals and to become successful.

Our personal success depends on how well we define and live by the vision we prepared for ourselves.

The Effective Habits Of Very Successful Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are some of the most successful individuals in society – but not simply because they’re lucky

Entrepreneurs are some of the most powerful individuals in society. Not simply because they”re wealthy. But because the habits they have ensure they”re successful in whatever they do. Have a look at the list of habits below and see which ones you share with incredibly successful business leaders, managers, team leaders and entrepreneurs world-wide!

Entrepreneurs…

1 – Have a Hatred for Sleep

You”ll find most entrepreneurs NEVER lie in (unless they”re on holiday of course). While you lie-in, you”re not doing your body any good, and you”re literally sat there watching your productivity plummet. Taking a break is nice. But that?s what your 8 hours of sleep is for. Anymore and you just won”t cut it as a business leader.

2 – Possess  a True Willingness to Delegate

While I”m sure you think delegation is something you could get very used to; in practice its a tough decision. Imagine yourself as the bride in your first wedding. Would you happily delegate all the decisions to a wedding planner? Of course you would’nt. ”My wedding day is far too important to let someone else potentially mess it up. Surely they won”t give it as much attention and care as you would. It simply isn’t worth the risk.”

This might be appropriate for a wedding, but most people experience the same feeling when delegating any important work. A successful leader simply places confidence in those beneath them, and let experts do what they do best, leaving the entrepreneur do what they do best – Leading!

3 – Pursue Opportunities Fiercely

The difference between a successful entrepreneur and a normal individual. Is that when they both see a business opportunity. They react differently. A normal individual may actually consider it, and have a look at their bank account… maybe plan the possibility of leaving their job. However by this point, the entrepreneur will have already organised a team to begin!

4 – Demonstrate Proactivity

Business Leaders do not wait for opportunities to slip onto their lap. They partake in extensive research (or pay someone else to) to always make sure they have some new directions to be exploring. They”re never happy staying in the same place, and are always looking for the next big thing.

5 – Are Optimistic

You may think – “There are pro”s and con”s here… lets weigh it up”
The successful business leader thinks – “Those pro”s are worth enough to pursue this, we”ll cope with the cons later.”

Being optimistic is a crucial habit for entrepreneurs, because it”s the only way to deal with the amount of risk these people take on! Would you risk your year?s salary in order to make more money next year? Many wouldn”t, and that”s why successful entrepreneurs aren”t common.

6 – Are Never Afraid To Invest In Themselves

In a different approach, smart entrepreneurs have often sought out useful leadership books and learning material that will help them along the path to happiness and leadership.

7 – Are Obsessed with Attention to Detail

Everything has to be perfect. Competition is so fierce in today”s business world that you can”t afford to do a half job. A successful businessperson won”t go home until the job is done 110%. This is how profits are made and how a small venture can explode into a multi-million dollar success.