The Sensible Business Man

Conducting business can be strenuous at times; due to lack of wisdom.

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it; and Virtue is doing it. ~ David Starr Jordan

Today, I am introducing a new concept:
Proportional Entrepreneurial Sensibility

Definition: Fallibility

1. Capable of making an error: Humans are only fallible.

2. Tending or likely to be erroneous: fallible hypotheses.

 

Ever considered that doing is associated with your hands, feeling mostly with your fingers,  seeing with your eyes, hearing with your ears, smelling with your nose and tasting with your tongue?

Consider now the proportions:

• 8 fingers (10 digits, according to: Wikipedia: Thumb)
• 2 hands
• 2 eyes
• 2 ears
• 1 nose (2 nostrils)
• 1 tongue

 So, where am I going with this?

Concept: Feelers
In terms of business, using your feelers is depicted as searching for opportunities and for testing practicality and ideas; something that should be done on a regular basis and should be the first step in testing feasibility. 

 Example: You are starting your new venture and decided you are going to focus on selling gardening tools.

You come across a very fancy leaf blower - instead of spending your entire budget (gambling) on this leaf blower, you should decide if it is doable with your budget - and only buy 1 or two - after considering all the alternatives available. (Remember to always buy bulk to save money!) 

If it ends up being a big seller, you have hooked your customers - if not, at least you didn't spend your entire budget on it, and it will still sell even if you have to sell it at cost price. Alternatively, you could start your own gardening business, catering for the Do It Yourself Crowd and Convenience Crowd.

In order for you to correctly use your feelers, you need to apply your senses in order:

1. Look (x2)
2. Listen (x2)
3. Feel (x8)
4. Do (x2)
5. Speak (x1)
6. Smell (x2)

Using your business senses proportionally can reduce the chances of making mistakes and wasting your time and money. Be smart, use your Feelers.
 
 I would love to hear your feedback if this series has benefitted you in any way! Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

Now isn't that convenient?

Necessity: the condition of being essential or indispensable

Plato said:
Necessity is the mother of invention.

When we apply this *rule*, the first thing we do is to perform introspection. We tend to think of things we need in terms of what we can see or have experienced.

If you've ever tried doing this to identify something you can do to make money, you will have realised it is quite futile, but why?

Modern society has come a long way. Unless you are really into pondering the things of the universe, I'd rather suggest a more direct route to making money.

Convenience
One of the more under appreciated terms in business today. The truth is, making things convenient for others, make it inconvenient for you.

Definition: Convenient
Fitting in well with a person's needs, activities, and plans
Involving little trouble or effort

Here are a few examples of how businesses use convenience to make money:

• The birth of the supermarket.
• The super-garage: a garage with a convenience store and also a car wash.
• The baby washing basin.
• Access to the Internet from home.

Apart from directly making money charging a service fee; creating convenience as a means to attract customers, gain an edge over competitors and means of extending their business is common.
Examples:
Directly making money by providing a service:

• Maids
• Gardeners
• Management

Indirectly making money by attracting more customers by means of convenience:

• Supermarkets vs Single store
• Customer Services

 In a previous post I mentioned business lines. In short, it means targetting different areas/needs in the same market.

For example take a pet shop and a veternarian

Extending a veterinarians' bussiness by also selling pet food or a pet shop also selling pet toys is common. This is due to marketting practise - a pet shop is associated with excitement, where by also selling pet toys can generate additional income, where to a veternarian selling pet food also is good practice due to the credibility of a veternarian selling his 'vet approved' pet food.

Although the examples are few, it shows 'inventions' aren't purely born of need, but also the necessity of convenience.

In layman's terms; when thinking of ideas to make money, you should not just think about needs, but also the things you got used to that you can't live without - or rather, don't want to live without.

It is important to remember convenience also has to be practical.
For example: 

I'd like to leave you with one word: Patience
Although the need to make money is alive in kicking; making money is much like weight-loss in the sense that once you stop doing what you were instructed to do (eat this diet, take these pills, use this machine), you start to gain weight again.

The purpose of It's All About The Money is not just a way to teach you how to make money; but rather how to keep it and make more. It requires understanding and transformation of the mind! Be diligent!

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

Less than Adequate - Part 2

Why is money called dough? Because we all knead it.

 If only we knew what we needed instead of what we wanted, life would have been a lot simpler. In this case I'm not specifically pointing at money, rather the definition of poor - less than adequate.


Our attitudes filter through our daily lives in everything we do and say - transfomation of the mind is the only way to correct bad attitudes.

Each of us wages a private battle each day between the grand fantasies we have for ourselves and what actually happens.

He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. - Proverbs 28:19

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.  - Proverbs 14:23

 We could say we all live in a fantasy because we each have a different perspective on the world. Although this is not to be considered as bad, always talking and never doing something is.

Some people are talkers, while others are doers - it's important to remember to keep a balance. Just talking or just doing can have equally devastating results. It takes courage to be a planner and a doer - and to make money. Set realistic goals - more short term than long term!

How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems. ~ Daniel Webster

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. - Proverbs 21:5

He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored. - Proverbs 13:18

Laziness and hasty usually goes hand in hand - getting things done quicker to become lazy again. The cure for this compulsion is to be diligent in everything you do.

Definition: Diligence
Diligence is a zealous and careful nature in one's actions and work, exemplified by a decisive work ethic, budgeting of one's time, monitoring one's own activities to guard against laziness, and putting forth full concentration in one's work. 

You simply can't expect to get more out unless you put more in! Diligence in itself is effective, but seeking guidance and advice - heeding correction -
while being dilgent produces far better results.

Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling, enduring, and accomplishing.

He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich. - Proverbs 21:17

Simply said, chase happiness rather than pleasure. Chasing pleasure as a primary motive is destructive, yet so is anything that unbalances your life.

Some would considering chasing pleasure - whether it is watching tv, movies, listening to music, going clubbing or going on vacation - a means of investment in oneself, which it is.

But unless you invest in that what makes you monies, over investing in yourself can only make one succumb to poverty.

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

It ain't what it used to be

A couple of years ago I overhead a joke in a parking lot. One woman was busy loading her groceries into her car when her friend ran into her.

Jokingly she said to her friend:
"I believe I've grown quite strong over the years!"
Her friend replied: "How so?" And she said:
"Ten years ago I needed a shopping cart to manuever my groceries. Nowadays, I just carry them under my arm."

Money ain't what it used to be.

  To understand what role money plays in our lives today, we need to go back. Way back!

Before there was money, people used to barter. Comparing Apples and Pears wasn't what it was about. Before money, there wasn't really a measurement of worth to compare items and services. Instead, they went by trading according to what they figured was 'good'.
This was primarily determined by supply and demand.

Definition: Supply and Demand
Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers, and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity.

Although this is all good and true, it is important to recognize the fact that global trade didn't play such a big role. Supply and Demand was local - and in some cases still is today.

Today, this economic model plays an integral part determining the feasability of ventures.

Definition: Feasibility
feasible - capable of being done with means at hand and circumstances as they are

Let's face the fact; if it ain't feasible - it's not going to work. Being an entrepreneur and identifying an opportunity is needed to be succesful - more than often this opportunity presents itself when locally there is a low supply and a high demand.

Be it selling make-up or mowing lawns, opportunity is where the money lies!

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

What is your perception on money?

Everybody needs it, no one wants to earn it.  It's all about the Money is a dedication to the truth regarding money. Whether you just want make a few extra bucks for gaming online - or a living - we need to face the facts - and more importantly, need to understand them.

Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune ~ Jim Rohn

 Indeed. The truth about making money is; you need to do something. I do believe many of us have faced the dilemma of needing more money when there isn't any around, but the truth is:

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Tip: Learn from the experience of others.

Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time ~ Jim Rohn  

 To make money, you first need a grasp of what it is. Time is Money!

 Effective learning takes time, but the knowledge gained is invaluable in the process of making money. When we work, we want to succeed. It drives us and motivates us.

Before we can define what money is, we first need to transform our minds by the way we perceive money!

Conclusion
Time is money. In order to make money, you need to spend time. Success is determined by many factors, but without a plan failure is prominent. Benefiting from the experience of others is a great way to invest time to learn what you need to know in order to be succesful.

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!