The Entrepreneur's Solution: Business Tips | Wealth | Lifestyle | Entrepreneur | Success

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham talks about communication. Your ability to communicate serves you across all aspects of your life. This first part of a two part series will show you how you can prepare for a difficult conversation.3 Stages of Conversation PlannerThe three stages are: before, during and after a conversation. Each stage has three elements to it.BeforeClarity: First, have clarity about the issues and challenges. Whoever it may be that you are communicating to, you need to become clear on the real issues and remove any judgment or bias before you know the facts.Objective: You need a direction or a defined outcome of a conversation. Have an objective so you are not swayed away from your ultimate goal.Environment: Choose the best environment to have a dialogue that is meaningful and you can take it towards an objective where everyone wins.DuringOpenness: The spirit of openness is required in a conversation. For others to be

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham talks about the life's blood or the oxygen that keeps a business alive and that is cash flow. This is about how you get cash into your business.Path to Cash BlueprintIt deals with three elements: Marketing, Sales and Path. There are three aspects of each of these: Purpose, Process and Payoff. The blueprint is all about how you can manage the upstream to generate traffic and create engagement effectively in order to make sure that you have buyer-ready prospects. You want to convert that into the sales process which builds ecstatic customers with whom you create a transformative relationship. Give them a strategic journey along the path and your cash isn't going to be a problem.The Path to Cash Blueprint in detail:MarketingPurpose: The idea behind marketing is literally to create traffic. It is about attracting and enrolling people in the process so that you can create a flow.Process: The proces

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham shares what it means to be a leader, and the differences between effective and ineffective leadership. The job of a leader is not to manage, it's to lead and develop more leaders and in doing so, productivity and results become the by-product.The Funnel of LeadershipAccording to this framework, the roles of a leader are as follows:Enroll: To enroll qualified candidates into a vision, mission and purpose.Engage: To get them to a point where they are truly engaged with what they do.Empower: To empower them at a level where they feel they have meaning, importance and appreciation for the things they do.Educate: To lead the people by educating them which allow them to grow their skills.Elevate: To elevate them to a higher level in terms of value, meaning and purpose.Effective vs. Ineffective LeadershipThis funnel of leadership can be divided into two sides—effective and ineffective. The stuff on the in

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham addresses a frequent question that is, “How do we know which is the right opportunity to go after?” When multiple opportunities come your way, you cannot serve each and every one of them. While filtering them, we need to make sure that we don't lack focus and resources to make the greatest impact.For that, we need to think about three key principles:Follow Core Strengths: To operate in the most effective and efficient way.Follow Profitability: Follow the opportunity that makes profit.Bet on Probability: Bet on the opportunities with greatest probabilities.Once you understand these three elements, we have the foundation to say which opportunities and ideas deserve further attention. During the initial analysis we create a quadrant model with our core strengths in the vertical axis and profitability in the horizontal axis. We rate and place opportunities (0 – 10) on one of the four quadrants based on

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham shares the importance of self-leadership and how it relates to entrepreneurship and your success. Before we start with personal development, we need to start with our "self" first. We have to be aware of the things that we are doing.Funnel of Self LeadershipThe funnel of self leadership allows you to shift your life and the things that you are doing. You create a path that moves you from being accidental to intentional.There are 6 stages:Awareness: Everything begins with awareness. We cannot shift things if we are not aware. So, the first stage is being self-aware about what you know, don't know and where you want to go. When we consciously work on self-awareness, we not only become aware of our surroundings but we also start focusing on building our ability.Ability: When you become aware, you now have the ability to start building core skills, knowledge and tactics to elevate the things t

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham goes in-depth about Business Systems. He talks about the characteristics of a good business system and the keys for its success. A good business system leverages your time so you can focus only on the core elements.The Anatomy of a Good Business SystemsCustomer Focused: Everything we do needs to be focused on customer experience. The system is no good if it creates friction. So we need to create a system that transcends customer experience.Best Practices: We should make it world class while avoiding the perfectionist syndrome which gets nothing done. Get the best practices that exist. Be flexible to improve on it regularly and build a system that grows with time.Single Outcome: The system should be focused on a single outcome because then we can measure it. Make sure it typically has a specific outcome focused on it.Single Ownership: It should have singular ownership where one person is responsible. At t

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham talks about habits, how they are created and how we can change our habits.Habit LoopIn his book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg talks about the concept of a habit loop. There are three factors in it:Cue: It is the initiator or driver of the habit. It is something that triggers a pattern for you without a lot of conscious thought.Routine: After the cue is triggered, what follows next is your habit or routine. It is the things that you repeatedly or automatically do when the hook is hooked.Reward: The benefit that we get when we run a pattern is called reward. It can be positive or negative.There is a critical point where we can shift things. It could be a slight or a lengthy moment. So, a fourth component can be added to the habit loop and it is:Reflect: The moment where we have the opportunity to reflect and ask ourselves whether the habits serves us. If it doesn't serve us, we can replace it wi

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham continues answering a question sent in by Marie from St. Lucia. Shifting focus from the outline of general business plans, he talks about the specific elements necessary for online businesses.Here are the 7 elements to consider in the planning process of online businesses:Content Creation: We need to create content or products on a regular basis to get to our consumers. Develop a content creation strategy that can be used to put products online on a regular basis.Traffic Cultivation: You can set up the best website or online system but it doesn't mean anything without traffic. People must view it, and interact with it. So, how are you going to bring in people?Conversion Optimization: Even before running traffic through it, we need to optimize the conversions first. Put a strategy in place to get your conversions as high as possible and then run the throughput.After Sale Magnification: After selling,

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals about the outline of business plans. The process of getting a business plan in place is the most important, not the ultimate document. Depending on the industry or business, you can always tweak it.What's in a Typical Business PlanExecutive: Executive summary is a high level summary and its idea is to arouse interest. It is your pitch to frame the problem, solution, market, competition, team, financials and milestones.Company: It is about what you are and the things you do. Share an emotionally compelling and aspirational vision to drive movement. Talk about the nuts and bolts of the business along with its structure, elements, backstory and history.Offering: This section is about what you do, and the details of products or services that you will offer. Describe who the product will serve and their uniqueness. Share proof of concepts, the benefits that customers will get and what its perceiv

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals  in-depth about what is needed to build a profitable business model. There are different elements of it and the things that need to be considered. He talks about one that is used to come up with an optimal business model.

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals in-depth about one of the most critical elements of business which is your business model. He talks about what business models are and their ingredients, where you might be in the business model ladder, the importance of having the right model and the indicators to tell if you are in the wrong place. Business successes and failures are directly related to business models.Business Model LadderBased upon where you are in this framework, it gives you an idea of what you need to focus on.No Model: Most starting entrepreneurs do not have any business model. Value is also not created. It simply is an idea and there is no cash flow. A decision is required to begin the transition and start making money.A Model: You have elevated the idea to a hobby. Now you know how to get your products out there to serve consumers. We need to define the things in our business model to cross the money line.Workable Model

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals in-depth about hiring and building a team, and their talents. The different things to consider in attracting talent, building a team and developing it are talked about. When it comes to scaling a business, an entrepreneur cannot do it alone. A skilled group is required to provide assistance to leverage a business.These are the things that we need to look for when building a team:Skills: Skillset is the minimum price of entry. It enables them to get the work done. It tells whether or not people have the proficiency to tackle the daily work and challenges. So, do they have the skillset?Values: It impacts the integrity and ethics of a business. There should be an alignment of values and it will allow you to keep the team members with the necessary skillset. If you have people with different values, it will destroy a business. So, figure out your as well as the individual values of team members and u

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals talk in-depth about the concept of mentorship, what to look for in a mentor, their types and whether all of them are equal. There are no self-made men or women. There are people around them that helped and believed in them. All success is a team work. With mentorship, you allow someone who has already experienced the journey and understood the perspective to shrink your learning curve and avoid the mistakes they made.What to look for in mentors?Vision: Do they understand your vision, your passion for it and its importance to you? They should be willing to travel the journey while providing the support when you are lost or confused.Values and Ideals: Mentors should have the same values as you and focus on the same things. So when your values are getting fulfilled they are getting rewarded as well. They fight for it with great passion, energy and commitment because at the same time, their values ar

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals the considerations for getting your business name.Today I answer a frequent question—"Is the name of your business really that important?"The short answer is YES. Your name is the first piece of branding that you are going to do. It is your first message to the world.Here' are the 5 things that come about from your name:Precept: It creates a legal identity and introduces the company to the marketplace.Position: The business name can portray your position in an industry or marketplace. It creates a visual impression.Personality: Your name can signify the kind of personality traits or reputation the business portrays.Product: Your name can also be something that you offer as a product. Be careful and think broader to have a name that will not limit you down the road.Preferences: The name can be driven from the market that you are specifically focusing on. It can be influenced by the

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals the 8 traits of successful businesses.These traits increase the chances of growth and success immensely.The 8 traits of Successful BusinessesStrategic Plan: You must have a formalized plan to build a business, access and connect with your market. When you have thought about its strategic execution, you have already developed ways to find alternatives and take on challenges. Analyze and exercise based on this strategic plan.Market-driven refinements to increase value of your existing products and services: Have a mechanism to listen to your market and know what they are telling you. Continually adjust things to increase the value exchange with customers ultimately raising the price and profits.Committed vs. interested: Be committed to the outcomes and do everything that is necessary to make them a reality. Put the time and effort required to move forward. Challenges will come and in order to get t

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals the 8 signs that your business may be in trouble."What are the things that I look for that might give me an indication that a business is in trouble?"There are 8 things to look forNo Growth or Margin Squeeze: A business is in trouble if it doesn't show trends in growth. The increase should not only be in revenue but also in profit. If it is lacking, the business can be considered to have a problem. We need to go back and evaluate what is causing it.Low Productivity: In business productivity is key either form an equipment, people or attitude perspective. We have to see how people treat customers, team members and each other. Challenges in having the right attitude means that we need to separate the people and understand the cause or dynamics at play.Loss of Market or Concentration: Profits will decline when there is erosion in market share and that is not a healthy sign. We need to

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham gives you a framework to make sure you know exactly what your customers want so they buy from you.This process is about taking and testing our products.For a product or service to be a commercial success, the market should believe in and buy the product. An entrepreneur might think that it is life changing and unique but the market might not have the same thoughts. Hence, before investing and going all in, we must give some serious effort to test our idea and listen to the market. Then depending upon the collected information, we go back and redesign things.Six Steps to Testing the Market1.     Create a Sample: Put your idea out there in a small way to get feedback from the market. The information should be used to make better choices and decisions.2.     Show it: Once the sample is ready, show it to some of the customers. Let them experience it so that they will give you valuable feedback.3.     What&ap

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham continues the journey and drill further into defining our customers. After we have an idea of who the CORE market is, we need to figure out the identity and persona of the specific customer we are trying to serve.Concept of and Defining the Customer ProfileAn intimate relationship with customers will help us gain their loyalty. It will make them come back for our products with great support. They will also refer us to others. For this, we will have to:Listen to customers: Focus on what they say and do. Learn what they are saying to others in different places. Follow their actions on places like social media. What we are trying to understand is their needs and frustrations. Participate in the conversation to get the insights to their actions.Discover what they are looking for: Examine the features that they want. Identify the changes that they are looking for by going out there, creating a dialogue and mixing with them. Know what is liked and disliked about y

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham digs further into understanding who the target market and customer is. Understanding it is vital because customers are the key to success. You have nothing if there aren't any customers that are willing to buy the things you sell.So, we need to develop a commercially viable product that is able to create a difference in people's lives. Those people aren't just your customers but everyone who is associated with your business.Concept of Market SelectionFor market selection, understand the six elements that we need to consider. It will help us to recognize our CORE market. CORE market is where you can have a Connection, Originality, Results and Excellence in.1.   Identity: We need to identify the people that we are trying to serve. Find their demographics like age, gender as well as their geography like where they live. It will take some direct research methods like interviews for getting this information.2.   Clarity: We need to solve three kind

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham answers a question asked by Cheryl about being a Thoughtpreneur. She asks about how I started and what was done first. She wants to know whether I did my courses or the book first, or whether I did them simultaneously. She also inquires about the time it took.When we talk about building an Expert or Thoughtpreneur Business, it's about taking experience, education and expertise to create a difference in people's lives. My journey in this business is a bit different as I came in as a CPA.·       The book is an offspring that came out of the 30+ years of business that I have done.·       The training course and live events were created to deliver my expertise, experience, background and wisdom. They were created separately to leverage my time consuming one-to-one consulting business.What I Did FirstI did was native and natural for me:I started with consulting.Then I started speaking and writing.Then the training programs were started.Then I did record