Lessons Learned from Starting & Running a Business
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Brian Tracy shares key insights on starting and running a successful business. He emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision, adaptability, building a strong team, financial management, and focusing on customer needs. Tracy discusses risk management, effective marketing, and the value of persistence and continuous learning. He shares examples from his own journey, highlighting the significance of asking for help, learning from failures, and constantly improving. Tracy encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on their goals and take action towards long-term success.
Takeaways
- 📈 Having a clear vision and mission for your business is essential to guide your decisions and stay focused on your goals.
- 🔄 Adaptability is crucial in the fast-changing business world; you must be willing to pivot, embrace new technologies, and find creative solutions.
- 💡 Focus on the results your customers want and need, providing value that meets their expectations quickly.
- 👥 Building a strong team that shares your vision and complements each other's strengths is key to overcoming obstacles and growing your business.
- 💰 Financial management and careful cash flow planning are vital for business sustainability, especially in challenging times.
- 🙋♂️ Customer focus is essential; ask for feedback and work on delivering what your customers want most to build loyalty.
- 🔒 Reduce customer risk with strategies like unconditional guarantees, ensuring trust and satisfaction in your products or services.
- 🎯 Effective marketing and sales strategies involve understanding your target audience, crafting compelling messages, and asking the right questions.
- 📚 Continuous learning and skill development are crucial to staying ahead in the evolving business landscape; always seek new knowledge.
- 🏋️♂️ Perseverance and resilience in the face of failure are key to long-term success, as failures often provide valuable lessons.
Q & A
What is the key to success when starting and running a business, according to Brian Tracy?
-The key to success is having a clear vision and mission for your business. Knowing what you want to achieve and why you're doing it helps guide your decisions and keeps you focused on your goals.
Why is adaptability crucial for long-term business success?
-Adaptability is essential because the business landscape is constantly changing. Businesses must pivot, embrace new technologies, and find creative solutions to unexpected challenges to meet evolving customer needs and market demands.
What is the importance of having a strong team in business, as explained in the script?
-A strong team helps overcome obstacles, innovate, and grow the business. It's important to surround yourself with talented and dedicated people who share your vision and values. Having a balanced team, with individuals excelling in both internal and external business functions, is critical for success.
What role does financial management play in business sustainability?
-Financial management is crucial to business sustainability. Businesses must manage their cash flow carefully, budget wisely, keep expenses under control, and make smart investments. Cash is the lifeblood of the business, sustaining it through challenging times.
How does Brian Tracy suggest dealing with customer objections, specifically regarding risk?
-Brian Tracy recommends removing all risk from the customer through 'risk reversal.' This involves offering unconditional guarantees, such as a long-term or lifetime guarantee, to make customers feel safe in their purchase decision and reduce the likelihood of returns.
What is the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) concept, and why is it important?
-The MVP concept refers to creating the simplest version of a product that satisfies customers' core needs. It is important because it allows businesses to test the market, gather feedback, and quickly adapt to customer demands without investing too many resources upfront.
How can businesses improve their marketing and sales strategies?
-Businesses should understand their target market, craft compelling messages, and use the right channels to reach their audience. It's also important to ask for feedback from customers and prospects to fine-tune marketing efforts and improve lead generation.
What does Brian Tracy mean by 'there are no customers in the office'?
-This means that business owners need to engage directly with their customers, get out of the office, and connect with their market. Sales and marketing efforts should be focused on understanding customer needs rather than spending time inside the business away from them.
Why does continuous learning play such an important role in business success?
-Continuous learning allows business owners to stay ahead of industry trends, refine their skills, and adapt to changes. It ensures that they are constantly improving their business strategies and staying competitive in a rapidly evolving market.
What is the 'magic wand' theory mentioned by Brian Tracy?
-The 'magic wand' theory encourages business owners to envision their ideal future for their business as if they had a magic wand and could make it perfect in every way. This clear vision then guides their decisions and actions toward achieving that ideal.
Outlines
🚀 Starting a Business: Vision and Adaptability
In this section, Brian Tracy emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision and mission when starting and running a business. He explains how knowing exactly what you want to achieve and why will guide decisions and keep you focused. He shares his personal experience, where his initial focus on helping people improve their sales was the key to success. Tracy also highlights the need for adaptability in a rapidly changing business landscape, sharing examples from the software industry and stressing the importance of continuously aligning your business to customer needs through the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach.
💡 Financial Management and Customer Focus
Brian Tracy discusses the critical role of financial management and maintaining a customer-focused approach. He stresses the need for strong cash flow management, advising businesses to avoid unnecessary spending and focus on profitability. Tracy explains how understanding customer needs and providing exceptional value can create loyal customers. He emphasizes the importance of risk reversal through offering guarantees, noting that businesses should take on the risk to encourage customer trust. His own experience with offering long-term and lifetime guarantees serves as an example of how businesses can build stronger relationships with their clients.
💪 Persistence and Continuous Learning
This section focuses on the importance of persistence, learning from failure, and continuous adaptation for business success. Tracy shares insights from studying successful people like Jeff Bezos, explaining that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. He introduces a three-question framework for learning from mistakes: what happened, what did I learn, and what will I do differently? Tracy also stresses the need for continuous learning, recommending business owners read industry-specific books, listen to podcasts, attend seminars, and participate in workshops to stay ahead in a fast-paced market.
🎯 The Power of Vision, Teamwork, and Marketing
Tracy reinforces the importance of having a clear vision for the business, using the 'magic wand' theory to imagine a perfect future business. He explains how adaptability, a strong team, and financial acumen are crucial for executing this vision. Tracy emphasizes customer focus as one of the most critical aspects of success, urging business owners to spend time with customers rather than staying in the office. He also discusses the importance of marketing and selling, encouraging entrepreneurs to actively promote their products and continuously learn from customer interactions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Vision
💡Adaptability
💡Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
💡Results
💡Team Building
💡Financial Management
💡Customer Focus
💡Risk Reversal
💡Marketing Strategy
💡Continuous Learning
Highlights
Having a clear vision and mission is crucial for business success; it guides decisions and maintains focus on goals.
Adaptability is essential for long-term success, especially in a constantly changing business landscape.
The MVP (minimum viable product) concept allows businesses to adapt to customer needs by delivering essential features and gathering feedback.
Speed of results is highly valued by customers, emphasizing the importance of providing quicker and more effective solutions.
Building a strong team with both external (sales, marketing) and internal (administration, finance) capabilities is critical for business growth.
Effective financial management, including cash flow management, budgeting, and smart investments, is key to business sustainability.
Customer focus is essential—understanding and fulfilling customer needs helps build loyalty and long-term success.
Risk reversal through guarantees can alleviate customer hesitation, making it easier for them to buy with confidence.
Effective marketing and sales strategy involves understanding the target audience, crafting compelling messages, and using the right channels.
Persistence and perseverance are key to overcoming challenges and achieving long-term success.
There is no such thing as failure—only feedback. Learning from mistakes helps accelerate growth and learning.
Continuous learning and skill improvement are crucial to stay ahead in the evolving business environment.
Effective leadership requires a clear vision of the ideal future state of the business and working towards achieving it.
Asking the right questions and seeking help is vital for gaining insights, understanding customer needs, and improving business strategies.
Successful business owners must work hard in the short term to achieve long-term rewards, focusing on goal setting and continuous improvement.
Transcripts
hello I'm Brian Tracy and today I want
to talk to you about starting and
running a business the surest way to
financial Independence in our society
today whether you're just starting out
or looking to grow your existing
business these insights can help you to
navigate the challenges and Achieve
success starting and running a business
is a journey filled with ups and downs
the first key lesson is the importance
of having a clear vision and mission for
your business knowing exactly what you
want to achieve and why you're doing it
will guide your decisions and keep you
focused on your
goals for example when I started my
business my focus was on helping people
to be better in their sales work helping
them to make more sales better easier
and faster and that's all I focused on
for 5 years
and it worked I ended up giving seminars
all over the world to eventually
millions of people to help them to be
better in sales in every language and
culture that you can imagine that's the
key to success is having a clear idea of
where you want to end up if you are
extremely
successful next adaptability is crucial
the business landscape is constantly
changing and being able to adapt to a
new circumstance is essential for long
long-term success this might mean
pivoting your business model embracing
new technologies or finding Creative
Solutions to unexpected challenges I
know in the software space you can
create a business to try to solve a
problem and the problem gets solved
before you can even get to Market
sometimes you have to adapt to your
customer needs in real time that means
going out and surveying exactly what
features or functions they want and
actually making sure that they were
willing to purchase those features and
functions and then once you do deliver
it to them you have to ask them what
what else do you want uh this is called
the MVP concept or the minimum viable
product and it's absolutely essential
things have never changed as fast as
they're changing now so adaptability is
one of the keys to entrepreneurial and
business success now in addition to what
Michael said what I have found in
speaking to thousands of people every
month last week I spoke to people in 105
countries in one one hour Tes seminar
what I find is that what they all want
is more and better faster results they
want to get results quicker and that
speed of results is worth a lot to
people especially if they're not getting
those results now so always think in
terms of results results what results do
people want and need and are willing to
pay for and make sure that everything
that you do keeps linking back and
emphasizing that if they follow your
advice and use your programs or ideas
they will achieve the most important
Financial results faster than they ever
would without your help building a
strong team is another critical aspect
of running a successful business
surround yourself with talented
dedicated people who share your vision
and values a great team can help you to
overcome obstacles innovate and grow
your business
faster I'll give you an example when you
start a business there are two major
functions the external functions of
marketing selling producing and
delivering products and services and the
internal functions which are handling
telephone paperwork accounting Finance
business and so on and so forth and some
people specialize in one area and some
people specialize in another for example
for a business to be successful it has
to have at least one person who is very
good at selling the product product or
service as your business grows you have
to have more and more people who are
very good at selling and the key is to
choose them carefully based on their
experience and then train them on a
regular and consistent basis internally
you want people who and really enjoy
processes and getting things organized
and completing work and so on and those
two have two totally sets of strengths
and weaknesses if you are missing either
one internal and ex or external it can
cause all kinds of problems and
difficulties Michael financial
management is key to business
sustainability as well keep a close eye
on your cash finances manage your cash
flow carefully and plan for the long
term this means budgeting wisely keeping
expenses under control and making smart
investments in your business startups
I've been involved with the one I was
involved with and one I co-founded I
know that we never spent any money that
we didn't absolutely have to uh we built
Our Own Furniture we had a shotty
offices profitability was key finding
customers that were willing to pay for
our products and services at the profit
was absolutely mandatory before we could
spend anything on any extraneous expense
we would have to find a customer that
was profitable cash is what sustains the
business it's the lifeblood of your
business so making it and accumulating
it is what keeps your business and help
sustain it during the hard
times customer focus is also so
essential understanding your customers
needs and providing exceptional value is
what sets successful businesses apart
from their competitors listen to your
customers gather feedback and ask your
customers if we could only do one thing
for you what is the most important
contribution that we can make to your
business and you know something they'll
tell you and if you then do it and show
them that you are doing it they will
become loyal to you and they'll use more
and more of your services and both of
you will benefit more and more you want
to continually improve your products and
services to meet their expectations and
their especially their expressed
desires I'll give you an example I uh
went out to sell my product or service
at the very beginning and what I found
is the biggest single objection was risk
they were afraid that if they bought my
product or service that they would take
a risk now in every single transaction
there is a risk there's 100% of risk and
the question is how do you divide it up
well I learned very early that you need
to take all the risk we call this risk
reversal so that your customers have no
risk how do you do that with
unconditional
guarantees now I learned something very
interesting in going through the
research is if you give a short
guarantee a large number of people will
ask for their money back before the
guarantee is up if you give a longer
guarantee fewer if you give a one-year
guarantee almost nobody and then if you
have the courage give a lifetime
guarantee of satisfaction and when you
do that you'll never have a return
however you now have to deliver on your
guarantee and make sure that your
customers are so happy that they don't
ask for their money back but that's the
key how can you take the risk away from
your customers so they can buy from you
with no risk at
all another important aspect of running
a business is having an effective
marketing and sales strategy you need to
get your message out there and attract
the right customers this means
understanding your target market
crafting compelling messages and using
the right channels to reach your
audience remember when I was starting
out an Enterprise software sales uh I
would make 100 phone calls a day and I
was kept on falling on my face I kept on
not being able to get in front of the
right people I kept on saying you know
I'm not interested uh this I'm not the
right person this isn't the right
industry for you and I eventually
started asking for help I started asking
for guidance I said how does your
business go about buying products or
services like this what person in your
business is responsible for evaluating
these opportunities and eventually some
of them actually started to educate me
on how their businesses buy their
products what sort of person buys that
product in their business how to go
through that process the right words to
use to attract that customer and having
these conversations helped reorient our
entire marketing Department's Focus
allowing us to get more and better
highquality leads and Prospects which
are then able to close and grow that
business exponentially over two years so
don't be afraid to ask for guidance if
you're not making the progress that you
want yeah that's a a great point in the
years and years of research they found
that most important single word for for
success in business is the word ask ask
politely ask in an informed way ask
regularly ask charmingly ask
persistently but always ask for what you
want before you ask the answer is no if
after you ask the answer is still no you
haven't lost a thing but it's amazing
how many people as Michael just said
will say yes this is the answer to your
question one of the great questions in
business is
remember there are many people in a
business who can say no but there's only
one who can say yes so one of the
questions you ask is who is the one
person who makes the final decision in
this area and they'll say oh oh that
would be so and so and could you set up
a meeting with me and this person so
rather than talking to all the little
people who sometimes want to express how
important they are speak to the person
who can say yes running a business is
not always easy and there will always be
times when You Face significant
challenges so persistence and
perseverance are absolutely essential
for Success staying persistent
maintaining a positive mindset and
learning from failure are crucial to
overcoming obstacles and achieving
long-term
success now I've studied success in
business for now almost 50 years
and the most important thing that I have
found looking at the success most
successful and richest people in the
world like Jeff Bezos of Amazon is that
there's no such thing as failure there's
only feedback is that what you do is
whenever you make a mistake of any kind
you stop the clock like a timeout in a
game and you say all right what exactly
happened here be clear about what happen
so that you're not trying to solve a
non-existent problem the second question
is um what did I learn from this
experience what did I learn from this
experience and the third question is
what will I do differently next time
what happened what did I learn what will
I do next time and by asking those three
questions you put your foot on the
accelerator of your learning curve you
get smarter and smarter faster and
faster but always remember there's no
such thing as mistakes every successful
business is built on a foundation of
countless little mistakes that they use
as learning
experiences the business world is always
evolving and staying ahead means
continually learning and adapting invest
in your own education stay informed
about industry Trends and always look
for ways to improve your
business now I can tell you that in
business if you're not learning a new
skill a new technique a new marketing
method u a new way to engage and find
customers you're basically going to lose
to somebody who is uh one of the best
interview questions that I've ever heard
and I've asked it frequently is what
books are you reading if you're about to
hire somebody and they're not reading
any books don't hire them you have to
constantly be refining your skills and
forging them in the fireplace of the
market right the market is dictating
things faster now than at any time in
human history so read industry specific
books uh listen to podcasts there's a
bunch of wonderful podcasts very smart
people talking about exactly what
they're doing in their business
yesterday so you can actually take that
information and apply it to your
business today um and then go to
Industry events go to seminars take
online and virtual workshops uh
constantly be refining your skills and
what's wonderful about doing this is
when you go to these workshops when you
go to seminars when you go to events
with other people who are also
continuously learning and focusing on
personal and professional development
you meet some of the best people in the
whole entire world world only great
people focus on helping build their
skill sets um helping themselves get
better uh learning more about their
Craft um and helping to improve their
business starting and running a
successful business requires a Clear
Vision it you've heard the word Vision
over and over again what does it mean no
nobody knows I'll tell you what it is
imagine what I call the magic wand
Theory where you have a magic wand and
you could wave this magic wand and make
your future business perfect in every
way what would it look like that's your
vision then adaptability what do you
need to change to in your behaviors and
in your business to be more like your
vision of what a great business would
look like for you and remember your
vision will be different than any other
business vision and you need a strong
team people who are also committed to
the vision and you need financial Acumen
and the ability to analyze your numbers
remember the numbers are everything you
need customer focus and this is perhaps
the most important of all is successful
people think about their customers all
the time because customers are every by
the way one of my favorite observations
from Peter Ducker is there are no
customers in the
office there are no customers in the
office so if you're in the office during
the business day you're not working
because there's no customers there
you've got to get out and start get as
we say get out and get among them all
right effective marketing is where
you you project your message and you get
people to say I want that I'm interested
in that I want more information on that
that's what marketing does selling
follows up and closes the sale and
finally you need perseverance and a
commitment to continuous learning
nothing is more important than that I've
been in business for 60 years now and I
still read 3 hours a day 3 hours a day I
have thousands of books all over my
house and my basements and in the garage
and everything and I still buy probably
two books a week I don't read them all
but I read a lot of them so you must
Implement these key strategies to
achieve your greatest success as a
business owner now here's what's most
important is it's going to take a while
for for you to be successful working
hard upgrading your skills committing
yourself to good time management and so
on but the time is going to pass anyway
the time is going to pass 5 years from
now 5 years will have passed the
question is are you going to be
successful and highly paid and living in
a beautiful house and providing a
wonderful life for yourself and your
family or are you going to still be
struggling and the answer is you are
going to achieve these goals but you
have to work very very hard in the short
term to enjoy great rewards in the long
term if you need help getting clear on
your goals as you start or continue to
run your business then download my
14-step goal setting guide it's packed
with steps to help you succeed in your
entrepreneurial journey and it's free
now I love to hear from you so my
question today is simply this what's one
lesson you've learned learned from your
business Journey one bit of feedback
that you twisted around and turned into
a lesson and how has it impacted your
success when you talk to successful
people they will always remember a
critical failure that they had small or
large that was the reason for their
success later on leave a comment below
and I'll be sure to follow up with
you thanks for watching and remember if
you want to change your future take
action and take action
now if you enjoyed this video and feel
it was valuable in teaching you about
starting and running a business
subscribe to the Brian Tracy
International Channel like this video
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don't forget to click the button on the
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watching
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