Peter Hickey | 9 Steps to Build Your Business

Tip 1: Take every Wednesday off.

• Have one day a week to focus on your business.
• Do not cram while working overtime. Avoid working overtime as much as possible.
• Develop a system and take every Wednesday off.
  • Do not come into your office.
  • Work from home.
  • Focus on all the big things that you put off.

• This will break the week up and you’ll have a day to focus and away from interruptions for the things that are most important to your business.
• Use simple management metrics to set your priority list up.
  • Distinguish the high-impact and high-priority ones.
  • List at least 10 things and solve them one by one, not all at the same time.
  • Set up a 90-day cycle and solve 1-2 things on your list.
  • This gives you more space and time to move, relax, and strategize.

Tip 2: Employee positivity clause.

• Establish a positive culture among your employees.
• Pick people who have a positive attitude.
  • Don’t hire people who think they are the best but hire people who want to be the best.

• Incorporate the positive culture of your business to your employees through your contracts with them.
  • It’s important to note that a positive mental attitude is part of your employment contract.

• As you grow, it is important to address and define the culture and image you want your customers to have and think.

Tip 3: One-on-one weekly meeting.

• Set up a system to have a one-on-one weekly meeting with each of your employees.
  • If your business has too many employees, set up a weekly meeting with your team leaders.

• Questions to ask in the meeting:
  • What did your employee achieve last week?
  • What are your employee’s plans next week that will move the company forward?

• It’s a reinforcement of the things your employees achieved, and it also sets a standard.
  • If you’ve set your priorities, be sure to deploy them to your employees and let them know about your plans. This helps them connect the dots.

Tip 4: What sank the titanic?

• Like an iceberg, there are many important things underneath that needs to be focused on to keep your business growing.
• Most businesses only monitor sales, profit and cash.
• If your people are not motivated, then you’ll have your revenue, profit and cash go down.
• Delegate the responsibility of putting the scorecards together.
  • Dig into the KPI and identify which ones need deeper attention.

Tip 5: Monthly business meeting.

• Perform formal meetings.
• Bring somebody from the outside of your business.
• Sit down with these people during your monthly meeting to have a look and discussion of your scorecards.
  • This helps you become more accountable.
  • When you take ownership, that’s when you start to drive your business.

Tip 6: Know the marketing numbers.

• Marketing should be prioritized to be systemized.
• It starts off by knowing the numbers.
  • Break down the numbers.
  • Count the number of your visitors.
  • Know how many campaigns or blog posts you have.
  • Make sure you have different campaigns for every type of customer you have.

Tip 7: 10 opportunities at any given time.

• 9 out of 10 things that you put in play will most probably not succeed.
  • Knowing this will change the way that you think.

• Always have opportunities up your sleeve.

Tip 8: Start with the end in mind.

• You can get phenomenal returns in your business if you’re building the value of the business and you’re looking at the endpoint.
• Have you got a plan to exit?
  • When is that plan?
  • What age will you be upon your exit?
  • What do you think would be the value of your business on your exit?

• This puts you in reality and it also gives you some ideas on what things you could do to accomplish it.
• It’s only when you visualize that you can see the things that can happen.
  • If you can’t visualize it, it’s unlikely to happen.

• Make sure you put something in place in case something happens.
  • Insurance
  • Contingency plans

Tip 9: Exercise and stress.

• Learn how to change your routine.
• Make sure you do an hour of exercise every day.
  • This helps you relax and provides you with a great feeling of well-being and health.

• Treat each day as a new game.