Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article on the costs of starting a business. Citing Babson College, who have made a study of the costs of start ups who has estimated that on average it takes about $65,000 to start a business, a figure that can include everything from buying equipment and inventory to paying employees. Some industries come with even higher price tags, according to the Kauffman Foundation—$82,000 for construction, $98,000 for retail and $175,000 for manufacturing, to name just a few.

But the truth is to start a  small business, you don’t need anything like a large cash outlay. In fact, I’m a firm believer that you can start a business for less than a $1000 easily, because you don’t need anything like the things you think you need.

You don’t need:

• an office, you can work from home
• business cards
• fancy furniture
• Employees, you can rope in friends or famiy or outsource stuff you can’t do yourself
• A 99 page business plan (just a clear idea of what you’re going to do and how)
• qualifications
• Large capital

You don’t need any of these things, at least not at the begining.

All you need to do is this:

Meet a need and someone willing to buy

It’s as simple as that. It really is.  Many people starting out for the first time get hung up on the trappings of ‘being in business’ that they don’t actually get started and never actually get their business off the ground.

How to get started in two easy steps:

1. Do something: Meet a need

If you start out by meeting a need by having something to sell, then you’re half way there.   But don’t spend forever either trying to come up with something or over developing a product, adding features that aren’t necessary.  Start small and meet the need. You can always add extra features at a later date.

3. Have someone willing to buy

If you start out by meeting a need, then you’ll have people willing to buy. But you need to be able to identify people who are in a position to pay for your product or service.  Generally speaking when starting out (especially if you have a small budget) it’s best to target people or business who have a need that is currently not being met.   If people have a need, but they don’t know it then you’ll have to spend a tonne of time educating them in why they need your product. If you’re a good salesman you’ll probably pull this off. Maybe. If you’re not a good salesperson, then the chances of you pulling it off are remote.  So you’ll end up wasting time and money and not getting anywhere fast.

Where people recognise that they have a need, you don’t need to spend a lot of time selling your product – the product or service will sell itself.

For example, if you had a car that was dirty and someone offered to wash it for you for $10 you’d probably say yes.

But if someone offered to replace your car’s brake pads with ceramic ones,  you’d probably say no (especially if you knew the price).

So, the key question to ask for anyone starting out in business is this:

Who will buy my product or service?

If you can’t answer that,  then you don’t have a business.

Here’s some ideas of businesses you can start on a budget:

• A car washing or valeting business
• internet marketing
• cake baking
• become a personal assistant  to the busy homeowner (dog walker, gardener, collector of parcels from the post office)

So, if you were to start a business today, with less than $1000 what business would you start – could you manage on even less, say $100?

If you were looking at this being a permanent replacement to your current income, would the answer be different?

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1. How to Start a Business on a Budget
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This week is the first anniversary of The Big Red Tomato Company Blog. It’s the anniversary of when The Big Red Tomato Company static website and The Better Leader Blog came together here at www.bigredtomatocompany.co.uk.

A lot has happened in the last year, the blog has changed enormously thanks to great comments by fellow bloggers, hints and tips we’ve discovered from around the blogosphere.

We’ve launched two information products – How To Achieve Your Dreams The Tomato Way,  The Number 1 Product Launch Checklist and our one hour consulting and brainstorming service.

Not only that, The Big Red Tomato Company has moved up the blog rankings on Alexa and now stands 2m positions higher than it did this time last year.

So there’s  a lot to celebrate – check the blog later in the week to see how you can join in with the celebrations!

What do you think?

Now,  we don’t like to rest on our laurels so there’s a few things that we want to change on the blog to make it more interesting and exciting.

Here’s some of the things that we had in mind:

• The ability to tab to Previous post  at the bottom of the home page
• Swapping the Welcome text on the home page for a featured post
• Better access to archives relevant to the posts

But what I’d really like to know today is what you think. What would you like to see changed, added, blogged about or stopped over the next year?

How do you think bigredtomatocompay.co.uk can be improved?

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This is a response to a challenge set on Problogger.net. The idea of the challenge is to publish a post that is a list of 7 links to posts that you and others have written that in the following 7 categories.

Here’s the list, what do you think?

1. My first post - The first post I wrote on here in August 2009 was The Big Red Tomato Company – now featured on Alltop but at the same time 52 posts from my original blog Thebetterleader.blogspot.com were also imported.
2. A post I enjoyed writing the most was creating inspiration as it gave me lots of fond memories of going on holiday when I was a kid with my parents.
3. A post which had a great discussion - one of the posts which had one of the best discussion was a post called So, what’s your problem (part 2) where readers responded to business problem posed by one of our readers – had a lot of discussion.
4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written – How to get big results by small ideas a guest post on David Risley’s Blog by Ian  Nuttall – great post about small ideas giving you a competitive edge.
5. Your most helpful post – How a Tomato can help you get more done – the story of the promodoro tomato  – a more productive way of working by spliting working into 25 minute segments.
6. A post with a title that I am proud of – Spend Money on the things you love, so difficult to pick one post but I like this title because there’s nothing wrong with spending money as long as it’s the things that you really care about.
7. A post that I wish more people had read – Not so much a post, but a series of posts: March is Money – where I dedicated a whole month to improving personal finances – useful content for anyone looking to improve their finances. Whilst the posts did get a lot of traffic and comments it did surprise me more people didn’t visit.

This was a great challenge which I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed creating.

If you have time head over to Problogger.net to see the rest of the entries.

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Next week, 20th July, see’s the 41st Anniversary of the Apollo 11.  The Moon landings see the achievements of President Kennedy’s 1961 dream:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth,”

When President Kennedy made this statement he had no idea whether NASA could achieve it.  Yet just 8 years later Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong – made those small step for man but giant steps for mankind.

It was all about dreaming big and inspiring a nation.

Which is exactly what you should be doing with your own goals – dreaming big. The bigger and bolder the better.

In celebration of the this 41st Anniversary, we’ll be having two launches of our own:

1. The product launch checklist
2. Writing ebooks the tomato way

Exclusive discounts and launch offers will be posted on our Facebook Fan Page and our Mailing List – become a fan or join the mailing list to find out more!

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Post with a difference this one. As I’m asking your help to write it.

Summer is coming and many people will be thinking of going on thier summer holiday.

Summer is the time when most people read their average of 1 book a year. So, this summer what books will you be looking to read?

Let me know in the comments section below about what books you’ll be packing in your case and taking to the beach.

Related posts:

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Happy Independence Day to all our readers in the US. I hope that whatever you’re up to you’re having a fantastic time with friends or family.

As a UK based blog and business it’s exciting to see that so many visitors drop by from the US.

Thank you for all your comments and thank you for stopping by.

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Are you on Twitter? If you are you’ll be familiar with ‘Follow Friday’ where the Twitterarit share cool people worth following with the rest of us. In keeping with Follow Friday, we feature, on a Friday,  guest posts from cool people changing the world, one step at a time.

One such person is Murray Lunn over at www.murlu.com – Murray is a professional freelance writer, blogger and web desginer and is guest posting today on how to balance work and a running a business.  You can connect with Murray on Twitter or get updates from his blog by RSS.

So today, our Friday Follow is Murlu #FF

Over to you Murray:

Jump in the time machine with me for a second and let’s go back a few hundred years – before we begin, we need to understand how we’ve got to where we are today.

Imagine; just a few hundred years ago it would nearly be impossible for the average person (like you and me) to start their own business. It wasn’t that opportunity didn’t present itself; it was simply that people didn’t have the mindset, family opportunities and technology to push their ideas to the world.

What we have today is a platform that has given us the most powerful form of influence on the world: the web. Could you imagine having thousands of people listening to your opinions as you stood in front of them? No? Well, it’s a reality – just look at social media!

Okay, I had to set the stage, we’re good, you good? Good…

Matthew had been reading my blog (Murlu.com) and decided to contact me about a guest post. Matthew asked if I would like to write about balancing work, blogging and freelancing without going insane *cackles*. What did I say? Of course!

A little bit about me

By this time you’re most likely wondering who the heck I am; well, allow me to introduce myself.

Hello, my name is Murray Lunn and I am an entrepreneur with a side of insomnia.

For many years now I’ve been very busy learning (and failing miserably) the in’s and out’s about working online. That’s the trick to this entire thing; you must understand that along the way you may fail but if you learn from your mistakes, your next venture will be more fulfilling than the last.

Here’s something I’m not particularly proud of: I used to farm and sell gold when I played World of Warcraft. Yeah, seriously, but it wasn’t just some nerdy quest to sustain my gaming addiction – I was learning some of the core business ideas I still use today.

It’s through the web that I have found a great opportunity to work in web design, freelance writing, running a small (occasional) business and still hold a full time job.

How do you balance it all; what do you do?

The question Matthew presented to me was “how”. I sat at my desk contemplating this for a while and then it struck me.

If you want to get things done, just do it.

I can’t say I listen to motivation speakers all the time but there is one which you must watch:

Do you get it? Just do it.

Every morning I wake up at 6:30, get ready and head out the door to my job. For 9 hours I work away at what I love: web design, product launches and being within a small business environment.

Upon getting home, I take an hour to collect my thoughts, calm down and brainstorm. I believe brainstorming can be one of the most important activities. Within that one hour, I imagine myself doing each of my upcoming tasks, develop new ideas and set myself into the correct mindset.

Following my brainstorming session, I spend roughly 2 – 3 hours writing. This may seem like a stretch but you’ll be amazed at what’s possible when you don’t watch TV and shut down your instant messenger.

For these blocks of writing, I’m in total flow. I write prolifically, never editing myself because this is what will destroy your mindset and wrap you up in wasteful activities.

This writing period produces (generally) 3 freelance articles and 1 blog post. But it doesn’t end there.

Following my writing session, I take time to work on the business side of things.

Here’s the single greatest tip I can give you: create a business which you don’t have to run.

It may not be complete passive income but it allows you to earn a living with minimal input – during this time, you can do other activities such as writing, spending time with family/friends or even starting another business.

And that’s my secret. I sell a range of items online. Really, anything I can get my hands on from comics to electronics.

Building the empire

I break my business into two tiers:

Active
Passive

I told you it was simple.

My active work, as I mentioned earlier, revolves around work such as web design, freelance writing and working on my websites/blogs.

When I first began learning web design, I used great resources such as Smashing Magazine, Line25, CSS-Tricks and others. But web design was only a launching point you see – it was a means to an end.

A while ago I thought to myself: I know these web design skills which I use for others; why don’t I use them for myself? So I began creating my own websites.

Within the time, I’ve worked with local businesses while simultantiously launching small niche websites about the things I love. These websites are ever growing and bring in what I’m going to discuss next: passive income.

Do something once, get paid forever.

That’s what should run through your mind whenever you think of passive income.

For my (semi) passive business, I do a variety of things such as listing items on eBay, Amazon, Craigslist and other websites. Within a few minutes, I can list items which I’ve source or have people given me for commission.

This passive approach allows me to work on my active income while everything else runs on (essentially) autopilot. When an order is place, I spend a few minutes to get everything in check, box it, label it and set it aside for when I head off to work.

It’s really that simple.

At this point though, I want to turn the tables. I don’t want this post about me. Matthew and I agree that posts shouldn’t simply be about theory; it should include something you can take away and implement in your own life.

So here it goes…

Balancing life, the universe and everything

Believe me, to some extent I have to give credit to my insomnia. Staying up for days on end and barely sleeping has given me plenty of time to work on my projects but this isn’t what makes or break what I do: it’s time management and passion.

Actually, strike that first bit. Time management. I hate that term, don’t you?

The problem I see (and perhaps you do too) with time management is you’re trying to manipulate an outside force (time) when in reality it’s all about managing yourself.

It truly drills down to just one thing: passion.

Passion is what will take your ideas from a hobby into something which you’re able to sustain yourself. It just so happens that the web becomes that bridge between passion and business.

My advice is this: Find your true passion. Passion will create an environment in which every hour you place turns two fold for your business. Not only will it never feel like “job” but you’re going to have a lot of fun doing it.

You’re not on your own

The hardest part about entrepreneurship is the sense of loneliness as you’re out against the world coming up from the bootstraps to make a business for yourself.

This; is a myth.

One thing people overlook when reading or hearing about entrepreneurs is how they did it all by themselves. The truth is networking plays the single biggest influence of starting and running your own business.

Every time I think of how I got to where I am today, although I’d like to say I did most of it myself, I have to acknowledge that if it wasn’t for the support from friends and family I’d still be at point zero.

Make a mental note of all the people that influence and inspire you. These are the same people you should seek to build your business and these are the same people you can find through social networking.

We are no longer on our own. If you ever need help, send a message out to the people of the web – you’ll be surprised how helpful they can be.

Letting go of the “boss” mentality

Now is the part that where I get a little tough on you.

Ask yourself: why haven’t I started a business yet?

It’s certainly not the lack of resources. It’s you.

Don’t have the skill set? Outsource at Elance..
Trying to find products to sell? Look on Salehoo, Alibaba or Yellow Pages.
Can’t find employees? Get virtual assistants on oDesk.
Need to learn a new skill? Google it.

You get my point.

Don’t let small things such as money or time get in your way. If you’ve been mulling an idea in your mind, now is the time to implement it. The infinite resources available online are there for your taking – don’t let the “boss” mentality control your goals.

The “boss” mentality is a mindset that makes you feel compelled to control ever aspect of your business. This is the feeling that you must develop, implement, market, sell, service customers and handling shipping – this isn’t your job!

The addiction of entrepreneurship comes from developing and implementing ideas; this is why you’ve sat on an idea for so long, the work required to start your idea seems overwhelming but the actual development is what you enjoy the most.

Fear of work? Not any more.

If you have passion for what you want to do you can certainly find others that can handle the work that is beyond your reach. Instead of trying to build an eCommerce site yourself, outsource it to designers and coders – you see what I’m saying?

As an entrepreneur, your main involvement should be creating the ideas that will start and successfully run your business. Give all the daily tasks to your employees that are what you hire them for.

What you can do right this minute

You may not know it but you have unbelievable power at the tips of your fingers to set yourself free from industrial mindsets of the past. The information age is here; it’s your time to control your life now get out of my time machine and rock the web – widdlywaaaaaah!

Here is a 5 step (no BS) guide to doing exactly what I did:

1. Grab a sheet of paper and write your goals and business ideas at the top.

2. Underneath, write the skills you have. I don’t matter how little or well you know these skills because you can always learn or outsource these later.

3. Imagine and write down your ideal business and culture. Don’t be held back by limitations such as money, time and effort – write down exactly what you want to do. Write down exactly how you would run this business, how you’d interact with customers; how you’d handle employees – get this on paper and stick it to your forehead (a wall is fine too).

4. Find your sources. If you’re using your own skills, look deep in yourself and get everything you need ready. If you need products, find sources through websites like World Wide Brands, Salehoo and eBay.

5. Bite the bullet and begin the with your first step. Make some phone calls, shoot out emails, hire someone – do anything to get that first step rolling. Don’t worry if your idea isn’t “complete” yet, you can hash this out later.

6. Begin your active approach to developing your business. Find customers, market the hell out of your products and services, and begin building your brand now!

7. Start to perfect your business. With your current knowledge, you can run a successful business but it’s only after experiencing the real world that you can master it.

8. Make your business into something remarkable. As Seth Godin would put it, find the purple cow. Assess what makes your business great, focus on that and use it as your base.

9. Start the process of stepping away. As your business develops, keep a strategy which would allow you to transition from active to passive. Find employees to handle the daily activities.

10. Start it all over again. By this point, your brand has sprouted its wings. Your next projects will take off even easier. Keep the passion for everything you do but always keep building.

All this takes time but if you stick to what you love, what you’re passionate about, what you understand you can do and what you need to work toward, you will be on your path to success.

The challenge is upon you

Matthew contacted me about writing about balancing a full time job and working on my own projects but I hope I gave you so much more than what you were expecting.

I’m modest and can honestly say that I don’t do anything magical to accomplish my goals. Everything I do, you can too.

But it’s all going to take time and effort. You could pull strings and go after the “get rich quick” schemes but in the long run you’ll suffer. Avoid this path by controlling your own destiny through what you already know – you just needed that little push.

So now the challenge is upon you. Will you continue to toil around, failure to launch or will you take the charge and plunge head first into your passion?

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When people first visit your Facebook page they are shown your wall. Depending on the posts that you have on your site visitors will either ‘Like’ your page or move on.

If you could control the page that first time visitors see, via a landing page which describes your Facebook page, like the one above,  wouldn’t that be useful to you?

Before I had my landing page, first time visitors would see this when they visited my Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/thebigredtomatocompany)

Now they see this:

Anyway, as so many people have commented on it, I’m thinking of offering landing page production as additional service:

Can you please help me by answering the following questions in the comments section below:

1) How much do you think this service should be?

2) Would you want it full set up (which would require your facebook user details and password or DIY (with instructions)

Thank you for your help with this,

Matthew

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Imagine if you could get big results quickly. Well soon you’ll be able to:

Tomorrow, 21st June 2010 see’s the 2nd Pre-Launch of our workbook – How to Achieve Your Dreams The Tomato Way.

It’s a complete step by step guide for entrepreneurs looking for big results quickly.

What you’ll get:

- A complete 40 page workbook including lessons from Lady Gaga, Luke Skywalker and Simon Cowell
- Learn the 6 steps to success and how to apply them
- Next action worksheets so you can take what you’ve learnt and quickly apply it
- A goal tracker to keep you on track towards achieving your dreams

Available to buy from tomorrow…6AM GMT

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Where ever you are in the world, 20th June celebrates Father’s Day, the celebration of fatherhood in 55 countries. Father’s Day this year, for me, will be very special if our baby (due on 19th June) arrives on time.

In this post I feature five book ideas which will make your Father’s Day, especially if your Dad is an aspiring entrepreneur, leader or contemplating doing something different with their lives.

If you don’t want to share, treat yourself!

	The Saint, The Surfer and The CEO: A Remarkable Story About Living Your Heart’s Desires is a book by Robin Sharma, who wrote the best selling book the Monk who sold his Ferarri. In this book he follows the journey of a fictional CEO who is looking to live a happier, healthier and more beautiful life through a series of meetings with three remarkable teachers.
	The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich is one of my favourite books of the internet generation.With the aftermath of the fiancial crisis over the last couple of years, it occured to me that many retirees would benefit from having a second income to fund thier retirement. This is the perfect book to help them.
	Too Big to Fail: Inside the Battle to Save Wall Street If your wondering what’s happened to your inherritence with the financial crisis this book provides a facinating insight into what happened. Through unprecendented access to the players involved, Too Big to Fail recreates all the drama and turmoil, revealing never-disclosed details and elucidating how decisions made on Wall Street over the past decade sowed the seeds of the failures. This true story is not just a look at banks that were “too big to fail”, it is a real-life thriller about a cast of bold-faced names who themselves thought they were “too big to fail”.
	What the Dog Saw: And other adventures is the latest book by Malcolm Gladwell following on from his best sellers The Tipping Point, How Little Things Can Make a Difference ,Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and Outliers: The Story of Success. It’s a collection of short essays from Malcolm Gladwell’s years of writing in The New Yorker Magazine and features the insightful comment and humour he is famous for.
	Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Shou ld Buy Life Insurance Here at last is the long awaited sequel to the international bestselling phenomenon, Freakonomics. Steven Levitt, the original rogue economist, and Stephen Dubner, uncover the hidden side of even more controversial subjects, from charity to terrorism and prostitution. And with their inimitable style and wit, they take us on another even more gripping journey of discovery.

Oh yes, and don’t forget your card this Sunday!

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Tonight, the mighty England team, led by stand in captain Steven Gerrard, will commence their quest to win the World cup in South Africa.

Every 4 years the nation goes football mad in support of the national team.

Supermarkets do record sales in alcohol, pizzas and party food. The nation is united behind one common aim. Even the Prime Minister will fly the flag of St. George above No. 10 Downing Street during the tournament.

Just imagine if you could mobilise enough people behind your business?

Come on England!

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No related posts.

If you’re visiting here from my guest post on theinfopreneur.net welcome. Please feel free to look around, I’m sure you’ll find some great articles  which will help you grow your business. This site is for entrepreneurs. Whether you have your own business or you work for someone else, you’ll find information here to help you be a better leader, live a better life  and make more money.

If you’ve missed out on some great posts we’ve featured in Wednesday Wisdom  from around the blogosphere, you can catch up here.

Many websites publish links of the best blogs they’ve seen on a Friday. At the Big Red Tomato Company we like to see results, which is why we’d like to share the stuff we think is useful to you earlier, so it can be in place (should you choose to implement it) by the end of the week.

Blogging

A Guest Post by Paul Cunningham from Blogging Teacher on Problogger, featured a great post about how small victories can help you create big products for your blog.  A great source of inspiration if you’re looking to get income from your blog.

If you’re struggling to get an interview for your blog as you aren’t big enough yet, then 6aliens author Ben Lumley solves that problem with the amazingly simple idea of interviewing yourself. a great way to connect with your readers.

A shameless bit of self promotion here! Here’s my guest post on theinfopreneur.net about how thebigredtomatocompany.co.uk moved 1.5m places on Alexa.

I came across 10 Blogs for creative entrepreneurs on lateralaction.com – some good blogs on here and it’s always worth broadening your horizons.

I’m a big fan of Johnny B Truant,  he makes me laugh out loud on a regular basis.  So, what could be better than Johnny’s weeky round up at copyblogger (see I told you many blogs do a weekly round up!)

Business

You’ll have heard the term knowledge worker. But what does it mean? Over at Smart Planet – What’s a knowledge worker , attempts to answer this question and certainly makes you think about how the world has changed. You might be surprised who it identifies as a knowledge worker.

Maren Kate over at escapingthe9to5.com published a very useful short post on creating a social media CV – have you got one yet?

Personal Development

Last week I mentioned in the comments that I couldn’t find a post on  about linked in. Well, I’ve found it now: 5 Ways to use Linkedin to develop a professional network.

Productivity

Firstly, I apologise if you’ve seen Seth Godin’s guide to using email, as at the time of writing this, it had been reteweeted over 14o0 times! Seth recounts his 8 lessons that he wished everyone knew about using email.

So that’s what I’ve been reading this week, what have you found?

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Has personal outsourcing gone to far? As workers move to transfer their work to low cost countries. The Big Red Tomato Company asks if this has gone to far?

What do you think?

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Each year, at this time of the year, many people take time out to review what they’ve achieved this past year and look at setting goals for the following year.

The point of setting goals though, is that they should not be about creating a rigid work plan for yourself.

Nor should they be about creating resolutions (which are usually broken by the end of the first week of January anyway)

Or about setting aspirational objectives such as “make more money” or “exercise more”

Neither are they about  doing the things that you should do.

Setting goals  is about creating a road map of what you intend to achieve during the year. It’s also about doing the things you want to do. If you want to do something, then there’s a greater chance of it happening than if you  do something  others want you to do.

Getting Started

Therefore, the annual review process which I am covering here, is split into three posts. This first post will take a  look back on 2009, as a Year in Review, before I look to a separate post outlining the planning processes I go through, before finally detailing my objectives for the year.

To quote Chris Guillebeau:

we tend to overestimate what we can do in an average day but underestimate what can be done over the course of a year. Looking at a whole year in review, you may be surprised at everything you’ve accomplished.

So, starting with the Year In Review:

2009 Year in Review

My review starts by reviewing what went well and what didn’t go quite as well – with the objective of doing more of what worked well and less of what didn’t go so well.

If you didn’t have any specific goals this year or you want to take a more structured approach, I suggest asking yourself the following questions as a starting point:

1. What disappointed me?

2. What surprised me?

3. What did I do really well?

4. Where did I fall short?

For me, I’m starting with what went well:

So, What went well?

With the formation of The Big Red Tomato Company in May 2008 I had a static website and an existing blog . In the summer I took the decision to combine these two sites into the one site you see here which went live on 14 August.

Being such a new site/blog I was delighted that we were given the opportunity to undertake an online interview with new authors: Josh Leibner, Gershon Mader and Alan Weiss to discuss their new book The Power of Strategic Commitment

Despite the economy, we managed to secure a new client contract quickly in a sector we had no previous dealings with.

Popular Posts

Looking specifically at the blog / site we have over 65 posts over 33 categories. Ranging from Managing your email more effectively to making peanut butter cookies .

However, the Top 5 posts of the year were:

1. How to Get Rich
2. How to Get a Job In a Downturn
3. How to Think and Grow Rich
4. How to speak like a pro
5. Top 5 Mistakes In Setting Up a Business

The economic situation probably had a lot to do with these posts being so popular and I hope that those in most need of the advice in these articles have found benefit from them.

Interestingly enough, those starting a business in a recession tend to fare much better than ones starting in a better economic  climate.  Given that one of the most popular posts of the year is also one of the most recent, perhaps we could be looking forward to a number of new businesses starting in the next few months, as those affected by the economic climate look to control their own destiny by starting their own business.

What went not so well?

When the new site was created we had no clear expectations as to what we expected from the site other than to replace the two sites with a more professional site, which would promote the brand of The Big Red Tomato Company as well as attract more client work.  In retrospect more thought could have gone into identifying how the site would promote the brand and how the site would generate an independent income stream.

The one area that I’ve been most disappointed with is exercise. My dislocated knee injury from the middle of 2008 has continued to cause niggling problems but overall it’s the amount of time I’ve been able to devote to rehab / exercise.

I’ll be working on finalising my 2010 plan over the next couple of weeks.  But why don’t you start your Annual Review by reviewing your 2009?

Don’t just read this post!

You are more likely to succeed in your goals if you write them down or publicly share them with others. Why not start by sharing your achievements  here in the comments section below. If you have a blog  and you want to share your goals or your progress with others, put your website URL in the post.

Good Luck!

Related posts:

1. New Year, New You….what’s your plans for 2009?
2. How to get the job you want in 2010: The Best of The Big Red Tomato Company 2009
3. How to set up a business in 2010: Best of Big Red Company 2009

It’s getting to that time of year when our thoughts turn to the holiday season and what gifts to buy.

Often the most fun and (useful) gifts are ’stocking stuffers/fillers’ particularly those related to business.

I thought it a fun question to open up here on the blog – what business related stocking stuffers/fillers would you like to receive this Holiday season?

The definition of a stocking stuffer/filler for this purpose – “is something relatively small, and under $20 or so.”

There you have it – what would you like in your stocking this christmas?

No related posts.

This month I’m trying something new. I’m going to look back at what’s happened with The Big Red Tomato Company site in the previous month. If you’ve missed some articles, you can catch up here.

This month, we’ve done:

Writing

Leadership – we’ve written about The Rise of the New Leader,a guest post by Malcolm Follos, an Interview with the authors of the Power of Strategic Commitment and an article on How to achieve your dreams

Lifestyle – we’ve written about my stay at the Midland Hotel Morecambe , included my speech from a CIMA new members celebrations, introduced you to the books we love , uploaded a speech from Tim Ferriss on How to Outsource your Love LIfe and on;

Making a Difference – we’ve written about how to write a business plan on single page, actionable metrics, managing sickness absence and introduced Business mentoring by email

A busy month. Thanks to all who have taken the time out to ask questions or share experiences in the comments section. As a special thank you, we’ve installed the CommentLuv plugin which gives a link back to the commentators latest post.

Client work:

We’re currently working with the University of Lincoln to help improve achievement of it’s Value For Money targets.

What’s coming next:

Articles on:

Ways to increase your income

Creating a vision

Book reviews

Working for yourself

In particular we welcome reader participation!

Related posts:

1. Site Update: November Monthly Round Up
2. Challenge: Save £1000/$1000 in 30 days update
3. How Leaving Great Comments Adds To More Than Just The Conversation

The first step in gaining control of your finances is to set up a simple system for controlling your spending and identifying where the money goes. Robert Allen author of Multiple Streams of Income calls this measuring Streams and Leaks.

Most people have one main stream of income – their job. This income flows into their financial lake, but the lake has leaks from where the money flows out through them.

The key to taking control of your money is to increase the number of sources that flow into your financial lake and understand where the leaks are occuring, so you can do something about them.

If you use a personal finance system such as Quicken or Excel you can organise your expenses into these 10 categories.

1. Giving
2. Self
3. Taxes
4. Home
5. Household Expenses
6. Car and travel
7. Fun and entertainment
8. Insurance
9. Debt/other
10. Business expenses

1. Giving

This represents your contributions to charities or maintenance payments.

2. Self

In the classic book The Richest Man in Babylon – George Clayson tells that you should always ‘pay yourself’ first. Rather than as most people do and pay themselves from what’s left over. Frequently, if there’s nothing left over they don’t save. Wealthy people save first and live on what’s left over.

3. Taxes

Speaks for itself. It’s what you pay the taxman!

4. Home

This represents the costs of keeping the roof over your head. Being the rent or mortgage payments.

5. Household expenses

This covers the normal household expenses of living in your home and includes, food, electricity, gas, water etc.

6. Car and travel

This covers all aspects of transportation (rail, taxis, bus fares) and includes fuel, maintenance and car repayments.

7. Fun and entertainment

Covers all aspects of going out, renting a film, buying presents etc.

8. Insurance

This covers all insuranace, life, critical illness, pension plans etc.

9. Debt/Miscellaneous

This is the repayment of debts including loans and credit cards and any other costs which don’t fit above.

10. Business expenses

Costs associated with your business or employment. (Important to note as they may be recoverable from your business or your employer).

You only spend money a few times a day = so take a few moments each time you do to ask for a receipt then think about which category it belongs and write the number on the receipt.

That way, at the end of the day you can empty your purse or wallet and put each receipt into it’s appropriate file.

At the end of each week or month, simply total up all the receipts for each category.

Is there any opportunities to save money which immediately leaps out for ideas? – see 50 ways to save £50 per month

Money Management Steps

From now on, every time you spend some money, take a few minutes and do the following:

1. Plan your purchase (where are you going to get it from – is it the cheapest place)
2. Ask for a discount
3. Ask for a receipt
4. Check the reciept (and report errors immediately)
5. Categorise the receipt
6. Total the categories
7. Review the categories – what action steps do you take for next month?
8. file the receipts

For more information read Rich Dad Poor Dad.

Related posts:

1. Pay your self first and other money lessons
2. Spend money on the things you love
3. How to make money in 2010: Best of Big Red Tomato Company 2009

As some of you know I’ve rode for more years than I can remember and I’m paid to do so, which makes me an athlete.

Being good at anything, from sport to business takes talent, but, it’s more about the ability to perform physically and mentally at a high level which is something everyone should strive for in every aspect of their life. As previously mentioned in part one you need your health to do this.

Many athletes are unhealthy, they may have an amazing physique or perform well, the inside of their body could very well be in disastrous shape. Because of the burden that athletes (and business people) put on their body, they have even more of a need to follow healthy lifestyle habits than the average person, but very few of them do. The excessive amount of activity coupled with inadequate rest and nutrition amounts to a body that is being gradually destroyed from the inside out.

To maintain performance, a smart athlete/business person takes they’re health seriously and builds a foundation for their longevity. An athlete with a long successful career ahead of them gets plenty of rest instead of cheating with supplements, they eat real food instead of fast food and performance enhancing carb loaded energy bars, they avoid overtraining by respecting their physical limits, and they maintain a positive outlook no matter what the drama.

To be successful in anything, we must have energy, strength, resilience, skill, mental sharpness, determination, and self confidence, no matter whether its me jumping up a 20 ft wall on a motorbike or that crucial business deal. So, it’s in your best interest to train and eat like a professional athlete. (remember I don’t consider a lot of them pro because they don’t act like a pro)

Remember, no matter how talented, educated or trained you are its worthless without the energy required to use your skill.

I use a lot of weight-training in my clinic, anyone can get their clients lifting weight. Most programs fall down because of in adequate recovery. Eating and sleeping are two very important factors for developing strength. This is because a strength training workout causes a considerable amount of tissue breakdown. The food you eat provides the nutrients needed to repair the damaged tissue and make it stronger, and adequate sleep provides the optimal environment for this to happen. The physical demands of a sport are no different to the demands of a hard day at the office, and in fact, the harder you work the more you need quality food and recovery time.

Even though you may not be running around a football pitch, the physiological stress of a day in the office means you need recovery. Excellent diet and sleep habits are just as critical to sustaining your mental focus as they are to repairing tissue damage.

The average person spends most of their life sitting and gradually loses their ability to perform movements that are essential for daily life. Its not uncommon to see people with physical limitations, pain, that are hugely susceptibility to injury.

Every time you get out of your BMW, you’re squatting all of your body weight on one leg while rotating your spine. This is a massively complex function and few people realise it until they can no longer do it (check your parents). Although it’s easier than ever for people to live a sedentary lifestyle, daily life still requires a full and healthy range of physical function. Loss of physical function leads to pain and injury which is why I’m in business.

Lifting heavy objects and maintaining your balance during a fall are two other common situations in every day life that require healthy physical function. Unless you do something to maintain your full range of physical function, such as strength and mobility training, you will eventually become physically challenged and it will interfere with your life in one way or another.

Talent is a prerequisite for success, however determination, hard work, and perseverance are required to make something of it, that stands for health, diet changes, sport and your business.

Unless you want to live a life of mediocrity, you too need this type of determination reach your goals. As my mentor Paul Chek always states you need a clear understanding of what you want to achieve in life which will help build the desire to make it happen.

Some people have so much trouble handling pressure that it ruins their career. In fact, mental strength is such an important component of performance that the entire branch of sports psychology has been dedicated to it and it’s not uncommon for professional athletes to work with a sports psychologist on a regular basis.

Athletes do everything they can to build their confidence and keep a clear mind. Sports important but your life and health is even more so. Imagine living an unrewarding life because you don’t have the confidence to chase your ambitions. Just as an athlete needs the confidence to go for their best shot when the game is on the line, you need the confidence and courage to aggressively pursue the life you want.

Are you training smart enough for life on the pitch or in the office?

By Billy Craig

Billy Craig is a CHEK Practitioner I and CHEK HLC III, NASM CPT, Cert. Neuromuscular Therapist, Advanced Metabolic Typing Advisor, BSc Sports Science/Psychology

Recommended reading Eat Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek

Related posts:

1. What’s the most important aspect of your business? – guest post by Billy Craig
2. How $350 identified customers
3. Guest Post: Lost in the Blocean? Survival Blogging – 16-Year Old “Sunderland” Style

Welcome to our new look, new home. Our new website brings together our popular blog www.thebetterleader.blogspot.com and our ‘corporate’ site. The purpose of bringing the two together is to share with clients, old and new, our latest findings, thoughts on articles or books we’ve read and tips and ideas to help you be a Better Leader, whether that’s running your own business or working as a manager in a large organisation.

Our vision for this site is where great ideas and action meet. We want our readers to take action from the posts that they read on the site (or on other sites) and tell others how things worked for them.

Please help us to help you, by commenting on posts, suggesting new ideas or recommending the site to others.

When commenting on posts or other’s comments, remember the Fonz – be cool. Critical is fine, but don’t be rude or spam as we’ll delete your comments.

Please stay in touch by subscribing to our RSS feed or subscribing to our newsletter.

As an incentive to subscribe, at the end of August a subscriber will be chosen at random and sent an Amazon gift voucher as a thank you for joining.

So join the conversation right now or even better; rate, retweet, email or text posts to five people you think it will help.

If you need help in implementing any of the ideas featured in the posts, please refer to the Services tab at the top of the page.

Thank you

The Big Red Tomato Company.

Related posts:

1. Times are changing, and so are we!

This video is great. When you see it you’ll think, why don’t I do that?

Related posts:

1. Video: Sometimes team work is not enough….
2. Video: Has personal oursourcing gone to far?
3. Video: Teamwork – Does it feel like herding cats?

The Big Red Tomato Company Blog has now been featured in Alltop in both the Leadership and Small Business listings.

Alltop listings are a collection of all the best Blogs on a particular subject.

The Leadership Listing features blogs from authors such as:

Forbes.com
Slacker Manager
Tom Peters
800 CEO Read
Seth Godin

The Small Business listings include:

Inc.com
Business Week: Small Business
Entrepeneur Magazine
Men With Pens

And many, many more.

What I like about Alltop is that it has all the best blogs in one place and lists the top 5 articles published by these blogs (automatically updated with the latest posts). Even better, you can create your own custom page called myAlltop and link to the Blogs for all the subjects you’re interested in. It’s a great place to get your daily fix articles on your chosen subject(s)!

See what we’re reading on Alltop.

Related posts:

1. How to be a better leader in 2010: The best of The Big Red Tomato Company 2009
2. How to get the job you want in 2010: The Best of The Big Red Tomato Company 2009
3. How to make money in 2010: Best of Big Red Tomato Company 2009

The Betterleader is the blog of The Big Red Tomato Company , however the sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed that these are two separate sites. In fact, there’s no link between The Better Leader and the main site. How mad is that?

Well all that is about to change.

By the end of July we will have a bright and shiny spangly new site which will comprise the best of TheBetterleader articles and amusing videos, but have more focus on entrepeneurship and lifestyle and how to guides.

We will also be featuring some great guest posts from our friends which all together will make for a more exciting site!

The new site will move to the home of The Big Red Tomato Company so please update your book marks and subscribe. This will help all of you who’se corporate firewalls block access to blogspot/blogger.

Now, at TheBetterleader/The Big Red Tomato Company we see entrepeneurs not just as people working for themseleves running small businesses, but also those individuals who work within a large business, but think as owners. Some people call these intrapeneurs. We call them cool people. Tom Peters calls them freaks (but that’s good!)

On launch day we will be running some offers and free draws for those who subscribe – so a good idea to come and pay a visit.

We’re moving and you’re invited to the party – see the invitation which will appear on Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Introduction & Win an Amazon Gift Card!
2. Managing in turbulent times
3. Guest post: 5 Secrets to Changing Any Habit

Being a leader is hard. Managing expectations, managing deliverables and ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction. Sometimes it feels like herding cats!

Related posts:

1. Video: Sometimes team work is not enough….
2. Video: Has personal oursourcing gone to far?
3. Video: Customer Service – The Southwest Way

Here’s a story about how working together is not always enough to reach objectives. Sometimes, you have to rely on outside help or partners to achieve your objectives.

Here’s what happened when two squirels on the campus at UCLA couldn’t get over a wall. Fortunately their were studetns to assist….

Related posts:

1. Video: The New World of Work
2. Video: Has personal oursourcing gone to far?
3. Video: How to peel a banana like a monkey

1. Assess Employees Better

In good times it’s easier for employees to look like stars, so appraisals tend to become less rigourous. In tough times it’s much easier to distinguish the true stars from the also rans. More importantly, with unemployment rising, employees are more likely to take evaluations seriously.

2. Mine employees for ideas

Potential improvements can hide in a million places, employees are more likely to know better than you are.

3. Manage for value

It more critical than ever to focus on what really matters, which is earning a return on investment. Aligning peoples goals to return on investment will ensure employees are all focused on the same thing and not a myriad of different measures.

4. Address risks

The most dangerous risks in any organisation are the ones no one wants to address. In a recession, it’s much easier as employees are used to bad news.

5. End guidance to the City

Telling investors what quarterly earnings are likely to be then taking that number up down as the quarter progresses and then contriving to beat it is a big stressor for managers which may force them into short term action, which is harmful to the long term health of the organisation.

To see more ideas and post your own suggestions for managing during the downturn see our site on Slinkset.

Adapted from an article on Fortune.com

Related posts:

1. How to manage sickness absence
2. Updated How to get a job in the recession
3. 7 top tips to manage e-mail more effectively

There are books out on that subject, classes that are headed by someone who can show you an easy way to get rich, rich people willing to drop advice on how to get rich, and many other schemes that guarantee you will get rich fast. Getting rich is one of the main goals of most people, and while it is never easy, there are some sensible techniques that will increase your chances of getting rich.

Steps

1. Define “rich”. It’s one of those subjective words that everyone uses but no one defines. What are your standards for being rich? In other words, what do you envision when you think about being rich? This can be different for everyone. Usually it whittles down to a few common goals:
   • Prestige. For many people, the idea of getting rich is tied to getting respect. It’s not so much about how much money you have, but about maintaining a luxurious standard of living–exotic vacations, nice cars, swimming pools, etc.
   • Retirement. Some people want to get rich so that they never have to work another day in their lives. In this case, the standard of life one wishes to maintain once retired is critical to understanding how much money is needed to get rich.
2. Keep your eyes and ears open. All the time interesting people and chances appear and disappear. Get a feeling when to step forward and when to wait.
3. Delay gratification. If you’re looking for information on how to get rich, then you’re probably not rich right now, and there’s a reason for that. Are you spending money on things that won’t get you rich? Are you sticking with a job that doesn’t make that much money to begin with? In order to get rich, you’re going to have to give up some of the things you enjoy doing now, so that you can enjoy those things without restriction later. For example, you might like having free time, so you give yourself a few hours a day to do nothing. But if you were to invest those few hours into getting rich, you could work towards having 20 years of free time (24 hours a day!) with early retirement. What can you give up now in exchange for being rich later?
   • Cut expenses
   • Get a job that pays more or get a promotion
   • Downgrade or give up your car
   • Downgrade your apartment or house
   • Reallocate your spare time
4. Invest. Once you’ve stockpiled your savings, start thinking of ways to invest it. This is where your definition of “rich” really comes in handy. If you’re looking for prestige, for example, a good investment would be education. Save up enough money to attend an Ivy League school and obtain a degree in something that will make decent money but, more importantly, earn great respect (doctor, lawyer, dentist, any kind of professional). If your goal is to retire early, on the other hand, invest that money in stocks, bonds, or other vehicles of investment that will give you an annual return on investment (ROI) that’s enough to maintain you in your retirement. For instance, if you have one million dollars invested and you get a reliable 7% ROI, that’s $70,000 per year! Invest in relatively stable assets – rental properties or potential development land in steadily growing areas is a good example. Put your money not in luxuries that will be worth nothing in a couple of years (a fancy car, for example), but in things that will increase in value over time, and that will earn you supplementary income in the interim.
5. Stay rich. It’s hard to get rich, but it’s even harder to stay rich. Your wealth is always going to be affected by the market, and the market has its ups and downs. If you get too comfortable when times are good, you’ll quickly drop back to square one when the market hits a slump. If you get a promotion or a raise, or if your ROI goes up a percentage point, don’t spend the extra–save it for when business is slow and your ROI goes down two percentage points.

At the Big Red Tomato Company, we recommend to all our clients the ebook Think and Grow Rich which gives an excellent insight into how millionaires think and what you can do to change your mindset to think like a millionaire. You can purchase the eboook Think and Grow Rich for only $10 which is downloaded instantly as a PDF.

Actions to take now!

• Surround yourself with self-made millionaires. Learn from them. It’s been said that “like attracts like”. Get all the information you can about how rich people started making big money and what they are doing now. You can learn the secrets of millionaires in Think and Grow Rich.
• Every night before you go to bed, empty all of your spare change (coins in particular) into a jar. This takes time but after about one year you may have at least $150 saved up in coins.
• If money is burning a hole in your pocket for something specific (a new car, for instance, when your current model works fine), force yourself to wait a month before buying. Ask a family member or very trusted friend to hold your money for you if it’s that much of a temptation. Spend time considering the real cost of what you want to buy, the pro’s and con’s, how much it will set you back in your aspirations versus the immediate satisfaction, and how that money might be put to better use. If you still can’t live without it after a waiting period, it’s yours, but often you will find that an immediate desire looks less and less attractive once you stop and think about it.
• If you find yourself wanting something big to gratify you immediately, divert yourself with a small indulgence rather than giving in to the large one. Walk away from the designer suit or purse, but on your way home, buy an ice cream cone or catch a movie instead. The $8 movie ticket is a lot less expensive than the $800 purse, but gives you the same feeling of doing something “just for you.”

  Warnings

  • Get rich quick schemes are invariably scams. Avoid them. There is no such thing as free money unless you inherit it. Then you must handle it wisely, or you will lose that as well.As there is no free lunch, nothing can be obtained without struggling for it.The best way to get rich quickly is having a plan and able to implement the plan successfully, if possible with a team that is well experienced and interested in helping you.

  Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual and edited by The Big Red Tomato Company. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Get Rich. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Related posts:

1. How to get rich – What does it all mean?
2. How to get rich the boring way
3. Do you want to retire rich or do you want to retire dead?

When you enter a room you want people to look your way and feel something special. Many people will have heard of someone having a great presence. It is all about attitude. The way you feel about yourself and the way you carry yourself.

The secret to having presence lies in the word itself – you need to be present in the room. If you are distracted by work or a personal problem then you aren't present and people will know.

I have heard it said that when meeting the Queen or Former President Clinton, people are surprised that they make them feel that they are the only person in the room, even if the room is crowded. that's presence.

There is a story about when meeting the Queen a lady's mobile phone started to ring. As it rang out the lady ignored it. after a few moments the Queen said to the lady that she should probably answer it might be someone important.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Related posts:

1. Guest Post: How to brand your online presence
2. Video: Has personal oursourcing gone to far?
3. Do we need presentations?

Talking of Tom Peters, and I’m a big fan, here’s another clip, which is about doing things. Without doing things we can’t progress. Without progress we die.

Related posts:

1. If not Excellence – What?
2. The Bus – Getting the right people on it.

Here’s a message from Tom Peters on “if not excellence, what?” Hope you enjoy….

Tom Peters 3 Minute Clip

Related posts:

1. Too much talk, too little do….