American Entrepreneur and Author, Derek Sivers said — “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.”

I heard this a few years ago, I think through Tim Ferriss. And it’s something that has stuck with me. It’s really probed at the back of my mind to make me question everything that I do. In business, in makes perfect sense. It’s the perfect way to discern what to focus on and what to skip out on. …

If you’re anything like me, as an entrepreneur, you feel a deep connection with wanting to change the world. You feel pulled by something greater than you. But maybe, you can’t quite articulate what that “thing” is that pulls you.

Sound familiar? Well, you’re not alone.

I’ve had the great fortune of working closely with some amazing clients who have very big visions, & are very clear on what their mission in life & business is. This has been both a blessing & a curse to me. Whilst it’s amazing to work with people who are so on purpose, it’s also been frustrating to not be able to articulate my purpose in the same way they can. …

We all want success. It’s our human nature. Of course, on the spiritual journey, we realise that true success is not reaching our goals as we once thought. True success is falling in love with the process & having gratitude for what we have in each moment. Essentially, ascending beyond the “need” to achieve.

That can be a tough contrast to grasp. Especially when we’ve had it drilled into us to set goals & do whatever it takes to reach them. Let me dig into that a little -

It’s the paradoxical duality of existence. How to still strive for achieving our external goals, whilst being content in each moment with what we have. Man has been been pondering this for thousands of years. …

Welcome to 2018!

So whilst we are in January & everyone is pumped up & excited for the new year, I thought it would be a good way to kick off the new year with a discussion around why so many businesses fail to grow — Specifically to reach their first 5 then 12 staff.

So why 5 & 12? Why did I pick these numbers specifically?

If you look at the cycles of business, there are several predictable phases that entrepreneurs & their businesses go through.

As a solo operator, typically you’re doing everything. …

Something to ponder upon………..

As entrepreneurs, we might often look upon our journeys & goals as “Building An Empire”. Many of us use it as our catch phrases to remind ourselves & those around us of what we are up to in life. Each of one of us have a different view of what our empire looks like.

One huge business.

Multiple small businesses

Multiple streams of passive income

A portfolio of properties

A wallet full of bitcoin

Or, any combination or all of the above.

Nothing wrong or right with anyones definition. But very rarely is “the empire” looked at like a kingdom. As the quote states — “A true kings success is the success of his people.” We usually view building the empire as acquiring money or things. …

I have a long history as an entrepreneur, I had my first business when I was just eight years old. And I hate to admit it, I’ve got a terribly long history in not succeeding in growing businesses. It was only after I lost my business in 2009 following the “Global Financial Crisis” that I started to “get it”.

From that time, I have become obsessed with understanding the patterns of what makes businesses “tick”. I can 100%, definitively say, there are patterns in how businesses operate, & how entrepreneurs behave that will cause success & failure. I know this not just from my own experience (I have 3 companies, I’m an advisor & on the board for 3 more, & I run the Singapore branch of an international company), but from having worked with 600 companies at Ezy VA (the outsourcing company), I’ve seen the major differences between those who scale easily, & those who don’t. …

So over the past 4–5 years, we’ve worked with over 600 entrepreneurs & businesses, & we’ve had some clients who started with nothing & built a team of 15 offshore staff with us in Philippines, & we’ve had plenty who tried to put in a part-time staff & failed miserably to make it work. So what were differences in these businesses?

1. Defined roles — Those who fail to work with their offshore virtual staff are not clear on the tasks. They know they need help, but don’t have clarity on what tasks to give & how to delegate them, so they hire based on ambiguity rather than plugging staff into a set of defined tasks. …

There is no question, the nature of how we do business has evolved exponentially in the past decade. How we do our marketing, how we interact with our customers, how we manage our processes, & how we build all the infrastructure to run this way — has all changed with the evolution of the internet.

But at the core, businesses are grown through the interactions of business people with human customers or clients. Several years ago, that could be argued, where so many were seeking to automate EVERYTHING & do away with the human element. But in 2017 it’s a different playing field, people buy from people & expect &“exceptional delivery”. …