by Julia Felton | May 25, 2016
Recently I have been thinking about the power of focus and simplicity and increasingly I am realising that these are fundamental keys to success. This stark realization was brought about because it became increasingly clear that my clients and prospects didn’t really understand what I could do for them. Some people saw me as a horse trainer, others as a people trainer through horses, others as a fluffy horse gal but curiously very few people saw me as a credible business consultant, mentor and coach who could seriously help them develop and grow their business to the next level. Ouch. That was a tough pill to swallow.
And yet I am all those things. Yes, as many of you know I am passionate about helping leaders and teams develop greater self awareness through partnering with the horses to grow their leadership, teamwork and communication skills. However, what fewer people know about me is that I have created, grown and then sold a multiple million pound business. I’ve seen a business through the entire product life cycle – from inception to disposal – and that a pretty awesome thing to do. I’ve negotiated strategic joint ventures with some global players and done commercial due diligence of potential partners. I’ve designed the software and operating requirements for at least three technology platforms and worked with the IT team to translate my ideas into practical solutions that met the needs of both my clients and my team members. Along the way it also seems like I have become somewhat of an expert on the practical implementation issues of big data. Wow, that’s a lot so its no surprise that people struggle to articulate what I do.
And the challenge of all this is that when your clients can’t articulate what you do, they simply can’t recommend you to others, even if they might want to. So today I have decided to simplify what I do, so that everyone is clear on the benefits of working with me. So quite simply I am a business improvement specialist. Not very sexy but it does what it says on the tin. I help you improve your business. Now that may mean that I help you improve your business systems or processes or it might mean that I help you develop your team members and your leaders. But in whatever way I am serving you – with the vast array of tools in my tool box – the net result is more productivity and profitability, and what business owner wouldn’t want that.
The need for simplicity and clarity in our communication is more important than ever especially due to the overload of information that everyone is literally drowning under. It is being reported that you now have less than 8 secs to make an impression. If people don’t get what you do in this time frame then forget it. So you need to make sure that your online profiles, websites and other social profiles are all aligned and congruent so that every time someone sees you they get the same message.
Making things very simple is actually very complex and this is summed up well by Steve Jobs when he said in May 1998. “That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
What I have come to realise is that I had a limiting belief that if something was simple it was not worth doing. So I’d been making my business about as complicated as I could make it. Having loads of different products, a mass of different lead magnets and different target markets. I’ve barely been able to keep up with what has been happening so I’m sure others haven’t.
Sometimes the hardest thing is to let go of something and yet that is what I will need to do if I am really to simplify things. I’m resisting like crazy and yet I know that unless I create the space through simplification and divestification no new opportunities will be able to emerge.
So what do you need to simplify and focus on in your life in order to help others have clarity and certainty about what you do?
by Julia Felton | Mar 27, 2016
This blog is inspired by the work of Jim Rohn and the fact that Spring, the season of sowing and planting has just begun. As a Creator type (Talent Dynamics) it is my favourite time of year. It is the time when I get to explore new ideas and strategise (and prioritise) for the upcoming year. Now I know most people say do this in January but I love to work with the seasons of the year so Spring is my time for plating and initiating all my new projects for the year.
As I’ve been reflecting on what projects (seeds) to plant for this I have been reminded of the first of the basic law of leadership: Whatever you sow, you reap.
In other words, in order to reap rewards (i.e. get success), you must first sow. You must take action and put your ideas into practice otherwise you will never be able to reap. Reaping is reserved for those who sow, who plant. To deserve the harvest, you must plant the seed. Take care of it in the summer. Carefully harvest it and then do wise things with the harvest.
Now, there is a second part to the law which states: If you sow good, you reap good. If you sow bad, you reap bad. This means you cannot sow badly and then hope for good. You can’t plant weeds and hope for flowers.
Here’s something else about the law of sowing and reaping. You don’t reap only what you sow. That’s important to understand. You reap much more than what you sow. If you just reaped what you sow, what’s the exercise for?
It is also important to understand that the law works in both positive and negative, so be careful what you sow. An old prophet once said, “If you sow the wind, you don’t reap wind, you reap a whirlwind.” Therefore you’ve got to be careful sowing the wind, because it might just come back as a whirlwind. That’s on the negative side. But now it also works on the positive side. If you plant a cup of corn, how much do you get back—a cup? No, a bushel for the cup. You get back much more than what you plant. That’s the reason for planting—for the increase.
The final key to the law of sowing and reaping is:. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all. Everybody has to understand. The farmer plants the crop in the spring and takes care of it all summer. He’s an honorable man. Loves his family and is a decent citizen. But the day before he sends the combine harvesters into the field, a hailstorm comes along and beats his crop into the ground. And it’s gone. It’s lost.
So this time it didn’t work. Now what must the farmer do? He’s got to decide whether to do it again or not. “Shall we take another chance the next spring?” I would advise him to do so even though he lost everything in the last harvest because more often than not, you’ll have a harvest if you plant in the spring. There’s no guarantee, but it’s pretty good odds.
And it’s the same in business. We need to carefully select what we want to sow and then we have to nurture the seed (project, programme etc) until it is the right time to harvest. If we pull up the seeds too early and give up on projects before they have had time to get established then we will never reap the benefits of the harvest. And this is what I see a lot of clients doing. They give up on their dreams just before the harvest period. And of course like the analogy goes, even despite all our good work the crop (business or project) might still fail. And what do you do then. I suggest be like the farmer, dust yourself off and have another go. After all the law of probability will probably come into play meaning that the likelihood of failure will be diminished, assuming of course that you learn from your mistakes and don’t replicate them.
by Julia Felton | Mar 16, 2016
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is inspired by the lions I saw in the African bush. Did you know that on average a pride of lions have only a 30% success rate every time they go for a kill? Do you think they complain and blame each other when they aren’t successful. No. They just try again.
What I have observed in business is that sometimes we don’t try. The fear of failure leaves us stuck and in paralysis. And yet often the thing that we crave is just round the corner, and if we dared maybe we might just be successful. Throughout my childhood I was typically reprimanded if I got things wrong so it is no wonder that as a business owner I have been afraid of failure and getting things wrong. Maybe you can relate to that. And yet the truth is we can never learn and develop if we don’t try new things. Sure we might fail at some of these new ventures, but so long as we have tried and take on board the learning there is no such thing as failure.
My mentor Roger Hamilton once shared this with me “Learning is earning with the L-plates on it” and it is so true. We can only learn by trying new things and as a business owner there is also the opportunity to be paid to do this. So if you are experimenting with something new in your business you can get paid whilst also learning at the same time.
For me only real source of failure in business (and in life) is if you fail to learn from your actions. Being a life long learner is imperative if you are to grow and stay successful because there is one certainty in business and that is change. The world is moving at lightening pace and unless we are open to learn new things then we will never stay competitive in business.
For the lions, and especially the young lion cubs, they learn to hunt and each time they are unsuccessful they keep trying again. After all their survival depends on mastering this skill. At the outset they are beginners but with continued practice they learn to hone their skills until they become very accomplished.
So my question today is what can you do that will develop your skills and provide you with learning opportunities, regardless of whether you succeed or fail. I’d love to hear from you.
by Julia Felton | Mar 1, 2016
This weeks Wednesday Wisdom is all about the power of inter-dependence and how what one persons discards can be another persons treasure.
Out in the African bush I have seen all the Big Five – Cape Buffalo, Lion, Elephant, Rhino and Leopard – which has been amazing. What I love about the African bush – and in fact all nature – is that fact that every works in harmony. Nature is a true ecosystem where everything is inter-dependent on everything else. Consequently there is no wasted time, energy or money as everything is connected. This is the key theme of my new book The Alchemy of Change: The Key To The Future Lies In The Past
One of the interesting facts we learnt was that an elephant eats up to 300 kg per day, which means each elephant generates about 100kg of manure each and every day!!! That’s a lot of shit. And yet the elephant’s waste products are a source of sustenance for the Dung Beetle. Dung beetles collect up the elephant dung into a ball and then roll it to a destination where they bury it. They then climb into the ball of dung with their mate, reproduce and then the dung beetle lavae are born inside.
Just imagine what would happen if the dung beetles went on strike. The bush would become covered in elephant dung and the dung beetles would eventually die out but also all the grasslands that the dung is deposited on would wither away. This is such a classic example of how all the species within the bush are inter-dependent on each other for their survival.
And it’s the same in business too. Business is an ecosystem where everyone’s actions impact each other. And also one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
What items are you discarding that could add real value to someone else? I’d be curious to hear.
by Julia Felton | Feb 17, 2016
I’m sending you this weeks Wednesday Wisdom from the heart of the African Bush where I am co-running some events for Entrepreneurs Institute. Apologies for the delay but internet signal here is limited. This week’s insight is all about Opportunities because Opportunities are everywhere if we are just present and open to them.
I’ve now been in Africa for three days and done four game drives. What I have realised is that as each day goes by I become more grounded, present and aware. On the first day my focus was so narrow that I could barely see any animals, but as each day passes my periphery vision improves and now I’m starting to see animals that the Ranger hasn’t seen yet. Also on the first game drive I could only see big animals but this morning I started to notice all the butterflies and birds flying around.
You see the animals (aka opportunities) are all around us you just have to open your eyes to see them. Sometimes we are so focused on the big win, or the thing right in front of our nose, that we fail to see other opportunities lurking in the background. That is exactly what happened last night. We were so excited to see a Waterbuck, as we hadn’t seen one before, that we nearly missed seeing this leopard that was lying down in the undergrowth.
I wonder what opportunities are surrounding you that you are failing to see? So for today just slow down and stop, and really look around you. You might be amazed at what you are missing that is right beside you.
by Julia Felton | Feb 3, 2016
In today’s Wednesday Wisdom I want to talk about decision making. I’m sure you made some pretty clear decisions at the end of last year about how you wanted 2016 to play out. I bet you probably reflected on these for many hours and days, but have you ever stopped to consider what impact the many trivial decisions we are making on a daily basis have on your success.
Did you know that in a 2011 study by K. Douglas reported in the New Scientist revealed that we make 10,000 trivial decisions every day. Often these decisions are so trivial that we don’t fully think about their consequences, but over time a number of these trivial decisions can magnify to have a great impact on our lives.
As a business owner it is easy to get sucked into the vortex of buying new pieces of software to help your business. I recently reviewed all the different pieces of software I had and was shocked to find it totaled close to £1,000 – a CRM subscription, Vimeo Plus, Amazon S3, Roboform, Google Apps for business, Echosign, Abobe pdf converter, web hosting fees to name but a few, and don’t get me started on the number of domain names I own. You see individually these were all trivial decisions – USD30-50 – but you see how over time they have accumulated and now have a dramatic impact on the profitability of my business.
And its the same in life too. It is the small decisions that really shape what happens our life. Should I work out today? Should I eat this bar of chocolate? Each decision in itself is not critical but over time they mount up and my poor decisions, over the last 18 months, around eating chocolate bars has resulted in me gaining a dress size. Ouch!
So my challenge to you today is to think more consciously about your decisions and reflect on what longer term impact they will have. You see everything in life is inter-connected so what happens is a ripple effect. Its the law of cause and effect.
As always I’d love to hear about your trivial decisions and the impact they have had. You can connect to me on my facebook page.
Have an inspired rest of the week.
by Julia Felton | Jan 2, 2016
Would you ever turn on a tap and then let the water run away and not capture it? What a waste of water that would be. And yet is what I see happening in business day in day out, however, its not water leaking but rather resources – particularly time, energy and money.
Yes, most businesses waste thousands and thousands of pounds very year because they are engaging in activities that are not joined up. In other words one activity does not lead to another because the systems are not Joined Up.
So how do you know if your systems are Joined Up? Well the best way is to ensure that you measure every aspect of the business. As Peter Drucker says “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
When you think about this quote, it should immediately become apparent how true it is. Because, if you can’t measure something, and know the results, you can’t possibly get better at it. For example, it’s nearly impossible to lose weight without stepping on a scale once in a while to measure your results – if you don’t, you have no idea if you are succeeding or not.
Now as some of you know I have recently taken up running and tracking my performance on a daily basis has become a habit. I now have a record of how far I have been running and how fast I have been going. Without this information I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to acknowledge the progress I have made.
Now, in business, Drucker’s quote is particularly true. If you can’t measure every part of your business, you can’t manage or grow it.
For example
- Do you know the number of new website visitors you received in the last 30 days?
- And do you know what percentage of them turned into new paying customers?
- And do you know how the level of satisfaction among your customers has fluctuated over time?
- And do you know the precise average lifetime value of your customers?
There are nearly 50 questions such as these that measure each aspect of your business and I list a selection of these in the resources section my book Unbridled Success.
And if you don’t know the answers, if you can’t measure them, then you can’t possibly manage or improve them and know if your systems are Joined Up. And unless you can identify where you are wasting resources you can never improve performance.
So I encourage you to look at your business and examine where you might be wasting resources. Putting in simple tracking systems (or business intelligence systems) is the best way i know to help keep you focused on what is a priority in your business. Without business metrics you might as well be driving (or riding) blind, with no visibility of what is really going on.
And if you need any help in putting business metrics in your business then please connect with me for an Unleash Your Business Potential Strategy Session, and I’ll help identify one action you can take right now to start you getting your systems Joined Up.
p 13 Chaos to Coheranec
by Julia Felton | Jan 1, 2016
I can’t believe that the end 2015 is nearly here. Wow how fast did the year go.
Take a moment to celebrate all the successes that you had. I know you had loads, but all too often we get to the end of the year and just reflect on what we didn’t achieve.
I know this happened to me recently. I looked at my goals and felt like I had failed but then I took a moment to review all my great accomplishments during 2015. These included launching my new book The Alchemy of Change, travelling to Norway, the Czech Republic, Germany and Bali to deliver workshops and speak at events, re-branding my business, participating in the Professional Speakers Association competition, delivering my first live stand up comedy performance in Leeds, as well as running a number of leadership days with horses.
So no, I didn’t achieve my BHAG goal of delivering a TED talk but that gives me something to strive for in 2016!
And thinking of 2016, what do you plan on achieving? Use the next few days to envision what you want to happen in 2016. Maybe even create a Vision Board – I’m doing mine tomorrow – so you can see what you desire. Remember you create your destiny so decide what you want 2016 to look like. Because only if you dream and vision what you want can then the Universe support you achieving these goals.
Remember:
Clarity + Certainty gives you Opportunity + Choice
so go ahead and plan for an amazing 2016.
I wish you all a very prosperous New Year and speak to you again next week.
by Julia Felton | Dec 28, 2015
I often talk about how viewing a situation from a different perspective yields different results and once again this has proved to be so true.
Earlier this year I became a mentor for Young Enterprise which is a charity dedicated to helping develop the entrepreneurial flair in young people. Every Thursday for the last three months I have been spending time at a local school helping a group of 20 teenagers set up their own business.
What has been inspiring to me if the fact that these young people have no fear. They are not constrained by rules but rather play full out assuming everything is possible and achievable. The business ideas they have come up with are innovative, challenging and just plan do-able. I often have to check myself before I speak just because I think the venture won’t work isn’t necessarily true.
These young people are ambitious, enthusiastic, hard working and see endless possibilities around them. It always makes me think about what opportunities I am missing by not having the foresight that they have. They are forcing me to re-think the way I see the world and the lenses I am using to filter information.
The relationship I have with these students is definitely a win-win. So my question today is are all your relationships win-win. If not then maybe it is time to release some of them and find relationships that truly serve you. Just email me or post it on the Facebook page.
by Julia Felton | Nov 27, 2015
Just because you have the title of leader doesn’t make you are a leader. And just because you don’t have the title of leader doesn’t mean you aren’t a leader. To my mind everyone in the organisation is a leader which is why in my new book The Alchemy Of Change: The Key To the Future Lies In The Past I explore the concept of Shared Leadership.
So what is Shared Leadership?
Shared Leadership is the concept that, given the rapidity of change, there is no way one person can know about everything in the business. For a business to be successful, leadership and decision making needs to be shared.
The old paradigm of command and control leadership simply won’t serve us in this The Big data era, where collaboration is a necessity. There is simply too much going on for one leader to be able to manage it all. This in itself creates blind spots for businesses, which is why a more flatter, more collaborative style of leadership, which is more responsive is required.
When Shared Leadership is adopted within the organisation then everyone looks out for the needs of the businesses, not in a self-serving ego way, but from a place of contribution to the community. Everyone is focused on the goal and works as a team to achieve this. It always surprises me that business has not taken a leaf from the world of sport. In a sports team there is no place for individual performance. Success only comes from the collective performance of the team.
The famous basketball player Michael Jordan knew this when he said: “Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins championships”. Michael understood the power of collaboration and how only by all team members working together could the team win the game.
Interestingly, herds of wild horses also understand the power of Shared Leadership. The herd is structured with two leaders – the lead mare and the stallion – and they work in collaboration to keep the herd safe. They seek out food, water and shelter for the herd but the herd members do not solely rely on the leaders to keep them safe. Every herd member has a responsibility to maintain the safety of the herd and so contribute to its survival.
The herd has a shared purpose and focus, which quite simply is to stay alive. As a prey animal the horses main challenge is how to avoid being someone else’s dinner! It is this shared purpose and vision which enables the herd to become self regulating. There is no space in the herd for self-serving members and in fact they are driven out of the herd. This is the worst punishment ever because being evicted from the herd means that you are all alone, and this is not a safe place to be because its challenging to protect yourself when you are isolated from others.
So when is business going to wake up to the need for Shared Leadership? I wonder how much more productive and profitable an organisation could be if everyone was working from the same page towards the same goals and where the result of the team was more important than that of the individual.
The 2010 Burston-Marsteller?IMD Corporate Purpose Study revealed that organisations that focused on having a strong well communicated corporate purpose that everyone in the business got behind delivered a 17% improvement in financial performance compared to those organisations that didn’t. Wow, what a load of resources are being wasted in business simply because of the self serving stance that many people are taking.
Imagine the possibilities if everyone in business worked more effectively together as a high performing team. I wonder what we all could achieve.
If you’d like to learn more about the principles of creating a high performance business with Shared Leadership then please connect with me for a complimentary consultation.
