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Scaling

How To Manage Professionals In Ways That Unlock Their Full Potential

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We hate to break it to you, but if your business is falling apart, it’s probably not your team’s fault. It’s probably yours. That’s why you need to be sure of one thing – how to manage professionals better.

As a leader, you’re responsible for the talent you bring in. They might have the skills, but they could still lack training when it comes to scaling the business.

Most professionals know how to do their job. They do what they’re supposed to and then call it a day. 

Yet few of them are thinking about going the extra mile. When a team works hard together to help each other grow, everyone will get to reach their full potential.

You could scale your business faster, and your professionals will get recognized easier. That’s what a dream team is all about.

A lot of business owners are missing this big picture. They find ways to become less involved in team projects instead. 

If you don’t put enough work into your team, your team isn’t going to do the same with your business.

Without further ado, here are some ways you can learn how to manage professionals:

It All Starts With You

Your business is a reflection of you. Click To Tweet

Before you think about hiring more people, you have to be transparent with yourself first. 

Can you be a role model for them? Is there something you still need to develop so that you can share what you know? 

The chances are you don’t know everything yet. Nothing can be more powerful than a leader who is always learning. With that, others are likely to look up to you for guidance.

What makes a good leader is someone who can give support to their team. For that to be possible, you’ll need confidence and skills. Once you’re able to motivate others to do the same, their performance will speak for itself.

A good question to always ask yourself is, “How can I make this better?”

It’s rare for businesses to have a perfect anything in place. To optimize your operations and systems, you have to keep in mind there is room for improvement. Don’t settle for anything less.

When you’re learning how to manage professionals, they need to think the same way. It will challenge them to become better versions of themselves. This will get them to invest time in maximizing efforts.

Understanding Their “Why”

You have a “why” and other people have their own “why.” Do you know everyone’s “why” though?

Why do they do what they do? Why do they want to work with you? Or, why do they make certain decisions?

When you understand everyone’s “why,” you will learn how to manage professionals better. You will know their goals and what they’re trying to achieve when working with you.

If they want to work with you because they look up to you, then you should lead them to the path of success. If they want to grow within their skills, then you should challenge them. Give them new opportunities to level up faster. Everybody will win.

All it takes is for you to listen to their personal goals. Then you guide them in the right direction while they help you. That’s the bridge you need to build for them to close the gap.

Some business owners don’t challenge their team enough. They leave them with repetitive tasks and don’t end up feeling fulfilled in their position. This is why it could take years for employees to receive a promotion.

People have asked Dan Lok many times how he was able to become successful at a young age. His answer? His “why” was big enough. What that means is that he had no choice to give up and was that hungry for his success. 

When your “why” is big enough, you’ll go out of your way and do whatever you can to get what you want. That’s what Dan did, and it works for him. 

It’s no different for anyone else. Most people have a strong “why” but haven’t discovered how to achieve it. That’s why it’s your role to understand them and lead the right way.

Mind & Body Over Everything Else

This is what the Global Wellness Institute found in a survey:

When workers feel mentally unwell, it affects their work performance.

  • 62% of workers say it affects their ability to get work done
  • 63% of workers say it affects their engagement in work
  • 62% of workers say it affects their motivation to do the job well

This includes your team’s emotional well-being. When your mind and body aren’t in the right place, everything else won’t be either. 

The main cause of this can be because of stress, pressure, or the work environment itself. It’s important to keep the energy high within your team. 

You can relate this situation to batteries. Every new battery is packed with a lot of power until you start using it. Sometimes it can be overused for a short period of time. This will make the battery weak and not work anymore. 

In your case, your team is your power source for your business. Their performance will determine the short and long-term impacts. 

Once you get how to manage professionals at a high-level all the time, you’ll have a powerhouse team. The result of this will transform into a lot of accomplishments. 

To get your team to operate with good mental wellbeing all the time, they need to have the right mindset first. 

What differentiates entrepreneurs from each other is their mindset. A typical mindset is different from a millionaire mindset. If you or your team want to get to the next level faster, they need to be thinking at that level first.

One way to adapt the right mindset is by visualizing what you want to happen. Your team needs to do this too. You can remind everyone of their goals and what’s going to happen once they achieve it.

Be authentic, genuine, and interesting. It doesn’t have to always be about seriousness in the workplace. Also, encouragement is not a hard thing to do, and it will work in ways you can’t imagine. 

Mindset can give anyone the motivation to succeed. Once you have it, not even a rainy day will bring you down. 

The Training Never Stops

Once you learn something once, it doesn’t mean you’re done learning forever. 

The world keeps changing and people keep innovating. There’s no real stop to learning because you will fall behind in the market if you’re not up to date. 

You have to expect the same from your team. If they are open to keep learning and honing in on their skill set, it’ll give them more motivation. 

In fact, the training part of every new job is likely the most motivating. That’s because you’ll be eager to learn something new and get good at it. Once you gain a new skill, you’ll feel the job is worth it because you see improvement in yourself.

American Author Dr. Seuss said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

When you figure how to manage professionals and their attitudes, achievements are endless.

Training doesn’t have to come from you all the time. It can come from your top performers in your team. You can offer them a promotion when you feel they deserve it. Also, provide them with the necessary leadership skills to train someone else. 

The goal is to always keep everyone learning. Then, celebrate the outcomes together.

Avoid The Lone Wolf Mentality

The way you build your team environment is going to determine how you will build your success.

With that said, it’s not always better when individuals are too independent. When they’re used to working alone, they can fall into a lone-wolf mentality. 

Being a lone wolf will keep you from building strong connections. You can gain so much more valuable insights from other people. It makes a huge difference when everyone in the work environment is helping each other grow.

When you make time for the people you work with, they can inspire you to do better. You would be able to count on your team’s support when it comes to feedback.

Feedback is crucial for everyone’s performance. Without it, you wouldn’t know how to manage professionals and their weaknesses. It helps you understand where you and everyone else are at as well as what still needs improvement.

For example, there might be a skill you could improve on and learn from someone else on your team. If you’re a lone wolf, you might never have asked for feedback. You wouldn’t know whether you need to improve or not.

If you’re open about sharing your progress and ideas, you could receive value back. People on your team could provide you with better resources or teach you how to do things in a better way.

Even making simple conversations would still move the needle. So if you notice that someone hasn’t reached their full potential, first ask them if they tried to work in a team yet. Have they put the effort in collaborating to get the help they need from others?

Working together is always better than working alone. A team is when everyone combines all their unique talents together to make a strong outcome. 

John J. Murphy, CEO of Venture Management Consultants, said: “When we bring them to the table and share them for a common purpose, it can give companies a real competitive advantage.”

If you want the best for your business, you can do so by making sure the environment is suitable for everyone. Make it as easy as possible for them to collaborate and connect with each other. When everyone is helping each other, there will be fewer mistakes in the long-run.

Every Person is Part of The Bigger Picture

Does every member of your team know what success looks and feels like?

If so, they should be able to act the part in their role. If not, you’ll have to create expectations for them to do what they need. 

As a leader, it’s important for you to be clear on your expectations in everyone’s role. You might even need to show or to explain how they can become more successful. Once they know what it looks like, they’ll know how to deliver excellence. 

When people can predict what the outcome is going to be, they’ll develop the will to achieve it. That’s also when they’ll unlock their self-motivation and build on the confidence to succeed. 

For instance, Dan Lok has always envisioned his success when he was a teenager. Even though he hadn’t felt success at that point, he knew what it should look like because of the people he looked up to.

It was possible for Dan to follow the right path to success because he had mentors leading him the way. This isn’t an easy thing to do, but it sure is a faster way to get there when you can avoid mistakes. 

What does success mean to you? What motivates you to keep doing what you’re doing every day? Or what are you doing to work towards it?

When you create a vision for your company, your team can follow it. It’s a powerful thing when you all share a vision together.

Your vision will give everyone a sense of purpose and meaning in the role they’re in. As everyone’s role is as important, it’s fulfilling to know you’re responsible for the bigger picture. 

No one should have to feel they’re less than someone else. Even if they’re in a lower position, they can still bring value to the table in other ways. 

You can encourage your team to work smarter and challenge them to do better than the previous time. That’s how everyone will stay invested in a greater impact.

It’ll be your part to provide them with the right tools they need to execute. If they’re working with incompetent resources, then you can’t expect spectacular results. 

You can think of it like this: the quality you put into your team will be the quality of work they put out. It’s worth any price you pay to have quality. The results could bring in the highest ROI for you.

Failure Equals Success

8 out of 10 businesses fail, and most of them don’t even know why they fail. 

What some businesses don’t understand is that failure is all part of the learning process. The same goes for people too. No matter how smart or skillful someone is, failures will still happen.

That’s because we humans make mistakes and have higher expectations. Not every experience will be perfect. 

It doesn’t mean you or your business are a complete failure. It means you’ll have to learn from the failures to find greater success. Those who accept more failures will succeed faster.

When you’re the leader, it’s crucial to not criticize your team for any of their mistakes. Great leaders will help build them back up as soon as possible.

Instead, you can leverage failures as more opportunities. To do this, you must see all failures as part of growth to strengthen innovation. 

Without feeling like mistakes will set you back, you can think from a better mindset. In reality, mistakes will only hold you back if you allow it to. But if you decide to take it as a lesson, you’ll be less likely to ever make the same mistake again. You might even find greater opportunities along the way. 

Like Dan Lok, he failed 13 businesses before he got to his first success. If he gave up the 13th time, do you think he’d get to where he’s at today? No.

You see, failure is necessary. If you don’t have enough of it, then you might not have reached your fullest potential yet. That’s why you have to stick with your vision. 

When you keep your end goals in mind, you’ll find ways to get there. It might not work the first way, but you’ll perfect it more as you go. Even if you get things right the first time, there’s always room for optimization. 

Discover How To Manage Professionals The Smarter Way

If you want your team to help you scale your business with fewer mistakes along the way, you’ll need to get this right. 

Learning how to manage professionals is easy when you can show your support to them. Only then will they feel you care for their continuous success.

The best way to do this is to think of your team as your backbone. Each role in your business is critical for your success. You have to treat everyone as if they bring in the same value as others. 

That way, nobody feels their role is too small. With your leadership skills, you can help your team achieve more for themselves. 

When you invest your effort in giving them feedback, your team will start to see potential and growth. After all, every person wants to feel fulfilled in what they do and become part of a bigger mission.

At Dragon 100™, that’s what Dan Lok can teach you. In this exclusive advisory board, you’ll surround yourself with the world’s best leaders. 

There’s no better place to be than a room full of successful A-level players. These industry leaders are on their way to scaling to an extra 6-7 figures in their business. 

You too can be a part of this private group and connect with some business insiders. You will be able to manage your professionals the smarter way to reach high-level success. But don’t wait until you’re ready because Dragon 100™ only accepts 100 members.

Click here to apply to become a member of Dragon 100™ today.

Creating A Positive Work Environment: How Your Corporate Culture Can Be Supportive, Harmonious and Flexible

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As a business owner, how do you create a positive work environment? Do you load up the kitchen with snacks? Give your employees a raise? Or give them more vacation than the competitors? These are all good methods to increase team morale. But when it comes to creating a positive work environment, they are not the best long-term solutions.

Successful business leaders know that creating this company culture at its core is important. In fact, having a positive work environment is the most important factor when it comes to building a good company. Business strategy, systems, and management all come secondary.

Reasons To Create a Positive Work Environment

  • When your employees are happy, they are more likely to perform at their best. Instead of cutting corners when the boss isn’t around, they take ownership of their work. This builds trust, which benefits all parties involved.
  • Trust gives you peace of mind. You can do other things knowing your team will produce results.
  • A poor work environment benefits no one. It means that your team members are conflicted with one another. As Abraham Lincoln said: “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” If your team members are not on the same page, nothing will get done. And if nothing gets done, your business will fail.

creating a positive work environment

 

How to Create A Positive Work Environment

1. Make company culture at your core

Company culture boils down to how employees perform, react, and respond to things when you are not there. Do they have the skills to handle things by themselves? Or do they panic and call you up when something goes wrong? These are indicators that show you what kind of culture you have.

If you want to grow a successful company, you need a good culture. When you have a large organization, you can’t always be there for your team. You have to let them do their job, and they have to let you do the same. You need to trust that they will do their best when you are not there. And trust is about knowing their values.

creating a positive work environment

Values are the beliefs someone has. Someone with strong values will not take shortcuts even though they can. They will be honest in everything they do. Other terms for values are integrity, ethics, or morals.

Creating a positive work environment requires people with the right values. Oftentimes, the people you hire will not have the same values you are looking for. As a result, you need to let them know what values are important to you.

A good culture will help people develop the right values. When they see everyone else acting in a certain way, it will influence them to do the same.

2. Reinforce the values of the company daily

Successful CEO’s know the importance of a positive work environment. In fact, the most successful companies today make work culture a priority. These are the companies that are at and beyond the billion dollar mark.

When you have the right culture, things will take care of itself. Your people will automatically perform and produce results. They will come up with the right strategies.

Here’s an example: if you’ve ever attended a networking event, you may have participated in an icebreaker. This is where people get divided into teams to solve a complex problem.

Oftentimes, the team with the best culture produces the best results. They are able to come up with the answer before anyone else. Or produce a solution that trumps all the other teams. This is because they have good culture. Everyone is on the same page, working towards the same goal. They work together instead of figuring things out by themselves. That allows them to produce results much faster than if they were alone.

This example shows why company culture is number one.  Even though these people do not know each other, they can produce results. They don’t need systems, management, or team leaders. They can figure things out by themselves. 

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Click To Tweet

3. Educate and Be Transparent

Creating a positive work environment is not easy. It requires a lot of patience and time. This is because people cannot instantly adapt to new changes. They need time to get used to how things are done.

New people that join your team do not understand your culture or values. Oftentimes, they come from a different background with different values and beliefs. As a result, it will take time for them to shift their mindset.

How can you create a positive work environment? Educate the team and be transparent, show them the values of the company and how it affects them. Once the team understands the culture, you don’t have to check up on them anymore. In fact, it becomes a benefit. Now, these people can breed the next generation of new team members. You can put them in charge of drilling the company’s values into the new hires.

So what about people that refuse to conform? What if your employees are aware of your company values but don’t do what you want them to? The only advice we have is to remove them from the team. One bad apple will ruin the whole lot. If even one member of your organization goes Rambo, it affects the entire company.

Understand that there is a difference between someone struggling to conform and someone who refuses to. If it has only been a few weeks, chances are they are still learning. But if it has been going on for months, you are better off finding people who understand your values.

4. Apply The 3 Values To Create A Positive Work Environment

There are 3 values you need to create good culture: loyalty, harmony, and results.

1. Loyalty

Loyalty is important for creating a positive work environment. Let’s say you have an A-player in your company. If they are not loyal to you, they are not useful. They may use their skills to mess up your organization or to stab you in the back.

creating a positive work environment

A loyal team member is a trustworthy one. These are people who are happy to grow alongside you instead of leaving you behind. These are people you want in your company. They understand that everyone prospers when they add value.

2. Harmony

  • Another value that’s important for creating a positive work environment is harmony.
  • Let’s say you had a superstar in your company but this person cannot work with others. They are a lone wolf who no one can get along with.
  • This is an example of someone who is arrogant. They believe their way of doing things is the right way. They are straying from the pack. To them, results are all that matters. They don’t have to buy into culture.
  • You will need people who can harmonize with others if you want to create a good team environment.

3. Results

  • A team that cannot get along cannot produce great results. Imagine your team members as an army. An army must work together to win. If they cannot work together, they will fight with one another and end up straying from the group.
  • Now, you have different groups trying to conquer different things. This is inefficient because most likely they do not have enough strength on their own. But if they focused their efforts as one to conquer a similar goal, their chance of success increases.
  • Creating a positive work environment allows team members to work in harmony. The efforts of many people get multiplied many times when focused.

5. Enforce Your Standards For Creating A Positive Work Environment 

How can you create a great company culture? What if you have conflict? You must be very strict about enforcing company harmony. This means not allowing conflicts or politics in the team. If anyone tries to create drama, they must be removed. Their negativity may create problems that affect other members. This results in a disruption of operations in the business.

Not enforcing company harmony is the same as watching your business burn. This will result in workers getting lazy. Or finding ways to exploit the business. When morale is low, so are the results produced. Internal problems will negatively affect your business.

To avoid this, find people who associate with your company values. People who are loyal, can get along with others, and produce results are the people you want to look for. They will create a great team environment where everyone is happy. And the happier they are, the more efficiently they’ll perform.

6. Everyone Needs To Be On The Same Page

During 480 BC, the Greek city-state known as Sparta went to war against Persia. The Greek army had 7,000 men at it’s disposal; the Persian army had over a million. To delay the Persian army’s advance, the Greeks blocked off a small road known as Thermopylae.

The plan was to have the Persian’s fight in this narrow passageway. From the results of their first day’s battle, the plan seemed to be successful. The Greeks were able to hold off the Persian army with little casualties.

On the second day of battle, disaster struck. The Greeks were betrayed, and the Persians learned of another road they could take. As a result, the Greeks found themselves fighting a battle on two fronts – from the front and from behind. Their focus divided, they could not hold the enemy off, and after three days, they lost the fight.

This example shows how important teamwork is. On the first day of battle, the Greeks had no trouble fighting off the Persians. This is because everyone had the same goal in mind: to hold off the front.

When their focus was divided, suddenly they found themselves struggling. Half their force was occupied with the front. And half of the force was occupied with the rear. They no longer had the same goal in mind. Instead of being united as one, they were now split up.

Some soldiers followed orders and stuck together. Others broke rank and charged ahead by themselves. They were outnumbered and killed. Over the course of three days, these small mistakes added up costing the lives of 7,000 soldiers.

When their focus was one, they were successful. When it was divided, their defenses crumbled. The Greeks represent your business. You want everyone focused if you want to be successful.

Your Company Culture Determines Your Success

Team members who do not know company values need to learn them fast. If even one member strays from the goal, the entire formation becomes broken. This results in the whole team failing.

Like the Greeks, your team members are an army. If they move together as one, they will succeed. Their efforts become multiplied when they work together. They can look out for one another and cover each other’s weaknesses.

But what happens if one of them doesn’t work with the others? What if they go Rambo and do their own thing?

Here’s what happens: your team members start doing the wrong things. Let’s say your company culture values three things: open communication, following the group, and taking ownership for your actions.

Now let’s take these values and implement them into a battle scenario. 6,999 of your soldiers understand these values. 1 of them does not. If this army clashes with the enemy, guess what will happen? The one soldier will not communicate, follow the group, or take ownership for his or her actions.

They may abandon the fight and run off. Charge ahead by themselves. Or in the worst case scenario, do all of the above and influence others to do the same.

If one team member strays from the pack, it influences others to do the same, which then influences more people. And so on and so on. Now, instead of one cohesive unit, you have everyone doing their own thing. Chaos breaks out, and no one knows what to do. As a result, they all get slaughtered.

Business is war. One soldier who does not understand orders will jeopardize the entire group. Make sure your team members understand what they should do, or your company will fail.

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. - George Washington Click To Tweet

A Checklist Successful Organizations Use To Build A Thriving Company Culture

Creating a positive work environment is necessary for business success, how you create this positivity within the company is down to you as the CEO or Managing Director.

To achieve great things, you need a team of people. These people need to understand company culture if they want to succeed. When everyone is on the same page, they are able to work faster. They’ll be able to use their creativity to solve problems. And create results in your company.

This is why things like business strategy or management come second. When you have good company culture, you don’t need to spend time on those things.  Your team members will be able to come up with their own solutions. They will create the strategies, take ownership, and manage themselves.

You want to create an organization that is independent. They should be able to work without your supervision. If you always need to supervise them, you are not a business owner. You are a babysitter. And a babysitter does not get paid as well.

The most successful organizations in the world all have two things in common. They have a great culture, and they are super successful. If you are looking to achieve the same results, you need to create a positive work environment.

The Dragon 100™ checklist is a summation of these things and more. If you want one you can use in your business, get your copy now.

How to Sustain Organizational Culture During a Global Expansion

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Perhaps you plan on scaling your business: more clients, more sales, more profit?  If you’re trying to figure out how to sustain organizational culture during global expansion, there are a few things you should know. 

Organizational culture isn’t easy to maintain. When the work environment is changing, you can’t expect everything to stay the same. But the truth is – some employees will resist change.

That’s why it’s crucial for you to build a strong organizational culture from the start. When you have this, changes in your company won’t affect you as much.

You can think of this as getting gas for your car. If you put in premium gas, your car will be longer-lasting since it’s higher-quality fuel. If you don’t, your car problems can cost you a lot more in the future.

Here are 7 tips on how you can build and sustain organizational culture during global expansion:

1. Set Your Core Values Straight to Build and Sustain Organizational Culture

It is important to have a clear set of core values from the start. You should mention your values during every hiring process. This actually should take priority over talking about skills throughout the interview. 

Employees need to be clear about core values because it’ll help them make better decisions. If someone doesn’t agree with them, then they most likely aren’t a good fit for your company. They may have the right skill set, but if they don’t follow your core values they won’t align with the rest of your team.

You would be surprised how many companies don’t do this. In fact, 19% of employees either don’t understand their core values or simply don’t know them. How can these businesses achieve global expansion then? But if they are clear on values – the scenario in crisis is quite different. When something goes wrong, employees will take immediate action to protect core values.

There are many innovative and creative ways to remind your team of your core values to build and sustain strong organizational culture. 

The way Dan Lok chose core values for his company is by modeling off his top team members. He listed out the traits he liked the most in his superstars and sorted them by importance: 

  1. Loyalty
  2. Harmony
  3. Extreme Ownership
  4. High-Performance
  5. Client Success
  6. Constant Improvement

 Anyone who has worked with him or been his student understands this and knows these values. You can read more about Dan’s core values here and see why he’s able to create a high-performing global team. 

When every team member is on the same page, that team is unbeatable. Their workflow will be that much stronger too. There are fewer mistakes made, and more results produced. 

Isn’t that what every successful company hopes for? 

2. Open Up Communication Often

Are you confident in your company’s communication enough to grow globally? If you want to know how to sustain organizational culture during global expansion, then you must keep your team in mind. 

If you’re expanding globally, keep in mind that some employees will be in different timezones. Since they work as a team, deadlines will suffer if one doesn’t respond in time. This might cause some bottlenecks and workflow disruptions. 

The best way to handle this is to have everyone practice communicating in a transparent way. That means you should encourage daily updates and feedback. If one employee predicts a project delay, then they need to mention this early on. This will get the whole team up to speed and allow them to troubleshoot ahead of time.

If you want to figure out how to sustain organizational culture while growing globally, then you must use good communication and project management tools. These will allow everyone to stay in touch. When the team is informed, every project will keep a positive consistency.

One way to do this is to hold meetings or video calls often. These meetings are meant to make sure everyone is clear about priorities. They also allow more people to ask you direct questions. 

Not all meetings have to be serious – you could have fun too. People can share their wins of the week, or introduce a new team member. As long as everyone is in the loop, nobody will have to go through the process of reexplaining to anyone.

Your team will appreciate you for involving them more. This makes them feel important to your company and fulfilled by what they do.

3. Hiring Your Dream Team

When you take caution in hiring, you’re already setting yourself up for long-term success. This will ensure that you sustain a strong organizational culture.  Wouldn’t you want a hands-off high-performing team?

Whoever you hire should also be a good fit with your other employees. If that person can interact well with the rest of the team, you can count on team members to help each other out. That way, you’ll be less involved and have more time to focus on your goals.

People are the backbone of your whole company during global expansion. Hiring isn’t just looking at someone’s resume. It’s better if you get to know them on a deeper level. This will help you envision what’s possible in that given partnership. Look beyond the paper and think about this person as a whole. 

In fact, Dan Lok doesn’t look at resumes when he hires new employees. He looks at skills, performance, and if the person will fit well into the company culture. So far, the results have been working in his favor.

Skills can always be taught. Company culture cannot. Click To Tweet

Remember to take your time when hiring people. If you need to hire someone fast, you could give them the opportunity and keep a close eye on them. Set expectations and a time frame; let them know that their team performance has to meet your needs, or it won’t work. 

You wouldn’t want to keep bad apples, would you? This may negatively impact your organizational culture.

4. Feedback is Always Welcomed to Sustain Organizational Culture

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, said “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”

Feedback is a crucial element of any organizational culture. If you’re not receiving enough feedback, how can you expand globally? It’ll be hard for your company to last long if you don’t make constant improvements.

If your company is growing fast, you can expect difficulties in keeping up with feedback. That’s why it’s important to make sure feedback is a part of the workflow. Get your whole team to work with it. 

One way you can do this is by setting up a feedback channel. That way, you will be aware of any issues, as well as the good news. You can communicate through company meetings. If you want to hear feedback from customers, you can send out surveys.

Photo of two work colleagues working together

Here are some ways you can offer feedback to your team as a leader:

  • Focus on how each individual can change
  • Explain the specific behavior you expect
  • Stay factual and avoid being too directive
  • Point out opportunities for growth
  • Talk in private and praise in public
  • Prepare useful and honest feedback
  • Manage your emotions for a better outcome
  • Support and strengthen a person
  • Start by stating what is working
  • Get straight to the point
  • Don’t make broad-based claims
  • Encourage constructive criticism 
  • Discuss the impact and action
  • Use criticism without emotion
  • Show respect and maintain dignity

Whether it’s good or bad, you’ll need constructive feedback for you and your team. It will guide you to better company performance. If you know how to frame and deliver it right, your team will thank you for it. They will appreciate the time you take to show them you care about their growth.

5. No One’s Success Leaves Unnoticed

40% of employed Americans would put more energy into their work if they were recognized more often. It’s a continuous effort to measure success in every organizational culture. Every global company requires commitment from all employees to make a positive impact.

Aside from hitting sales goals, your company should celebrate other types of achievements. This includes accomplishments made by each individual. If you keep your employees happy, they’ll keep your company happy.

Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, said “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”

As your company expands globally, employee satisfaction is still as important. With more employees on board, having regular recognition will increase loyalty. When you recognize each individual for their accomplishments, it shows you care. You can also encourage everyone else to celebrate each other’s milestones. 

One easy way you can do this is to make a team announcement. There should be never-ending recognition to keep team encouragement strong. When you do this, employees will strive to go above and beyond for their next accomplishment. 

You could also recognize and celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, or pregnancies. It doesn’t matter how small or big the reward is – it feels good to show appreciation often.

Dan Lok congratulating his students and enforcing the company culture

Dan Lok is always finding ways to recognize his students’ success. You might’ve seen some announcements from his social media channels. 

He even hosts his annual Closers In Black™ event and invites students from all over the world to meet him. Upon shaking their hands, he tells them how proud he is as he hands out awards. 

Whenever a student reaches a milestone, Dan makes it public. He likes to keep rewarding people for their successes. This is the type of encouragement that gets them to stay confident and accomplish more.

Wouldn’t this be something you’d want for yourself too?

6. Create an Unstoppable Support System

Accountability can help you move the needle the most. When you have everyone on your side supporting you, you will easily achieve your goals. 

Working alone may not be as exciting, and it becomes harder to get things done. When you have support, you also have constant encouragement and feedback. When you’re accountable for your actions, you will increase your chance of success by up to 95%.

So, every global organization needs to develop an unstoppable support system. If every employee has someone to turn to for support, most problems will be resolved a lot faster.

As a leader, you can set employees up to help one another. There can be both supervision and peer support. For supervisor support, you could pair up mentors and mentees together. For peer support, you can group a whole department. 

Some employees might fall into the lone-wolf mentality. Having constant support will encourage members of your team to get out of their comfort zones. It’s a great opportunity to let your team build relationships within the company. Working for you would become even more enjoyable.

You should create and keep a work environment in which you’d like to be all the time. Make it as flexible as possible during global expansion. 

Don’t let your employees simply clock in and clock out. They should feel proud of their position. Instead, get them to contribute by sharing their thoughts for better growth.

In a global community, such as Dan Lok’s Facebook groups, you’ll never see a post left with no views. Every voice is heard and responded to with either a like, comment, or both. There’s constant support from people around the world and in all time zones. 

Because of this massive support, Dan’s students feel they have a safe place to express themselves. When you have people who understand your journey, it’s easy to share the steps that get you there.

You’ll see posts about questions, failures, and wins. All these are equally as important because people can learn from each other. If you have an issue, most likely someone else can relate. You might even look like a hero for bringing it up and helping others.

7. Traditions Must Live On

If something is working well for you, do more of it. Then, keep doing more – don’t stop.

Whether it’s the way you host your meetings or your company language – you must keep that tradition alive. These are unique characteristics of your company that you shouldn’t ignore.  These traditions will distinguish you from other companies. They give employees an inclusive experience.

For example, you could rent out a yacht every year and throw a Christmas party. It’s going to be something every employee looks forward to and talks about for weeks. Other people would wish they worked for you if they heard about this.

You can even develop smaller traditions if your company isn’t a big team. The goal is to maintain these traditions and not lose them. It might be easy to lose when there are fewer people; don’t let this happen to you. Keep maintaining tradition no matter how big it gets, too.

When you establish more company traditions, you create a fun and social environment. This will help increase engagement and make a positive impact on company culture. 

Even if you have many locations worldwide, you can get everyone to do something together. It can be something as simple as dressing casual on Fridays or catering for every holiday – whatever works for you.

Sustain Organizational Culture During Global Expansion The Right Way

Things might never be the same again once you’ve scaled your company globally. There is a lot to think about in order to make sure it is a success. 

One thing’s for sure – you must do whatever you can to sustain organizational culture. You should be confident in your team to be willing to make changes with you. If your team’s communication isn’t strong, your organizational culture may fall apart. That’s not a great way to start expanding your business globally.

It’s better to keep everyone on the same page during changes. Otherwise, some employees will have low performance or run into more mistakes. You need to keep in mind that several elements can make your company come together – feedback, support, and strong tradition will help make a better bond. 

Dan Lok always says, “Team culture is the backbone of Team Dan Lok.” Because Dan scaled his global community, it has had a great impact on all his businesses. He’s able to reach more partners, clients, and employees. 

Do you want to know what the best part is? Everyone is familiar with his company culture before even joining him. This is something that doesn’t need to be taught over and over again.

Since his employees all share the same core values, it’s a more enjoyable environment to work in. Wouldn’t it be great to be around like-minded people who only want to see you succeed?

If you’d like to get Dan Lok to guide your company through global expansion, Dragon 100™ might be the place for you.

Dragon 100™ is an advisory board meant for A-players who want to scale their business from 6-figures to 7-figures. This isn’t something for everyone, though. If you think you have what it takes, you can join the rest of the 100 dragons.

Click here to apply for a membership to Dragon 100™.

The System On How To Turn 6 Figures Into 7 In Revenue

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Have you seen the popular TV show ‘Shark Tank’? If you haven’t yet, there’s a lot you can learn from it. For example, how to turn 6 figures into 7 for your business. This business reality show will teach you about business, investing, growing your business and more. You can think of it like ‘America’s Got Talent’ for doing business: entrepreneurs pitch their ideas in hopes of winning big investments for their companies.

You’ll see many success stories, and you’ll also see some millionaire wannabes too. You’ll even see people come back on the show, having previously failed. 

Whether you’re a small or mid-to-large size business, you will walk away with loads of value. Since these are real deals, made in real life, you’ll know exactly what will work and what won’t in the market.

People will be willing to invest in your products or services if they buy into what you believe in. It takes a smart plan to convince a lot of people to open up their wallets. 

If you want to know how to scale your way to a 7 figure business, you can follow lessons from ‘Shark Tank’ winners. These lessons will save you from costly mistakes, and guide you towards the right track with your revenue.

What differentiates every entrepreneur is the system they follow in their business. Those who are likely to win have done diligent research beforehand. It is their system that enables them to get to where they are, all within an impressive timeframe.

You too can follow a similar system on how to turn 6 figures into 7 in revenue and grow your business:

1. Position Yourself as a 7 Figure Earner

What got you to 6 figures won’t get you to 7 figures. To reach that level, you’ll have to position yourself as who you want to become.

Here’s a secret: you don’t have to hustle your way to 7 figures to grow your business. 

What you need to do instead is to focus on your time better. Your time is more valuable. Since you only have 24 hours each day, it’s impossible to hustle harder to reach where you want to be. 

You should spend your time bringing more value and impact to your audience; then you will position yourself as a go-to expert in your industry. 

If you can position yourself, sales will happen a lot faster. This will also help you stand out from your competition. 

While on your way to 6 figures, you were testing out the waters of your new business. Now that you know what’s been working, it’s time to share your growth. 

This means that, by now, you should have more credibility and social proof. That’s enough to know that people enjoy your products or services. The next step, then, is reaching new customers. 

Positioning helps with doing this. Even if you’re doing social media marketing, your positioning will expand your reach a lot faster. You’ll even get more people referring to you, as well as more recurring customers.

The biggest benefit is that people start coming to you, instead of you having to chase them in a cold market. You’ll be able to see the difference in opportunities. 

Dan Lok giving a talk about growing your business

There are a few ways you can position yourself:

  • Credibility: Develop authority and provide your expertise to your audience.
  • Messaging: A compelling message on why your audience should care about your ‘why’.
  • Platform: Make sure your message and everything else aligns in all your platforms. (Website, social media, publications, etc.)
  • Social Proof: Have people sell for you through endorsements, reviews, media features, etc.
  • Tagline: Keep a clear, simple tagline that shows who you are, what you do, and how you’re helping.
  • Story: This is what’s going to distinguish you from any other business. Your story is a unique and powerful element you need to share, and have others resonate with. 

Once you change your positioning, you’ll at least 2X your business. The best part? You won’t need to work as hard. That’s because your company will become more superior and produce better results.

You don’t even have to compete on prices to scale – you can charge more without losing customers. All it takes is for you to show that your products and services are of the best quality.

2. Improve Your Marketing to Grow Your Business

If you’re a good marketer, you can pretty much get anything you want for your business. You can find out how to turn 6 figures into 7 by getting more exposure.

Even though some entrepreneurs didn’t win on ‘Shark Tank,’ they still got a lot of exposure from being on the show. They might not have won a deal, but those who like their ideas end up becoming customers. They might even have deals coming in from other companies.

People are often willing to get on ‘Shark Tank’ for the exposure, and not even expect to win. Once you’ve made an appearance, your business will have more online searches.

That’s how marketing works – it means getting in front of people who want what you have. Now, you don’t have to appear on a hit TV show to gain exposure. You can rely on word-of-mouth and visibility through other channels.

Man reading his laptop looking for help to grow his business

Social networking plays a big role in this. Since everyone is using a smartphone nowadays, it’s hard to stay off social media apps. This is how many people stay informed, share news, and connect.

As social media is only growing stronger, it’s getting more difficult to get people’s attention. Your business has to compete with all the other distractions on a daily basis. 

The best way to get people’s attention is by being a little disruptive. What does that mean? It means you have to be creative. That’s how you can make your business famous.

Most people think you have to spend a fortune on marketing. In reality, it’s the content you put out that makes a fortune. 

If you can produce valuable, eye-catching content, you won’t have to rely so much on spending money to make money. Imagine if every post or video you make goes viral – what will that do for your business?

You have to keep in mind that more than 2 billion people are using social media worldwide. To reach more people, you’ll have to ask yourself: “What will get them to stop scrolling when they see my post?”

Another way to get more attention fast is to partner up with more reputable people. You can become a guest on someone’s podcast, or have influencers feature you on their posts. Anything that helps spread the word about your business is effective marketing.

3. It’s Not Better Alone to Grow Your Business

There’s an African proverb that says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

With that said, it’s wise to build business partnerships. 

There are many successful companies that rely on partnerships: for example, companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Apple. 

Airbnb partners with homeowners; Uber partners with drivers, and Apple partners with app developers. Without these partnerships, their presence in the marketplace wouldn’t exist. Partnerships are what make them who they are. 

The reason why these companies are successful is that they offer a solution to people’s problems. Not only that: they offer job opportunities too. It’s a definite win-win situation. 

2 people shaking hands in front of a contract

The truth is, not every idea you have will turn out great – no matter how exciting it sounds. To test it out, you’ll need other people’s input.

Even if you plan on executing an idea, it’s better to have people working with you. There might be one skill you’re good at, and another you’re not. 

Some entrepreneurs find it hard to trust other people with handling their businesses. But managing all the work on your own is not ideal. The best thing to do is to bring world-class talent into the picture: that way, you’ll have a powerful team to produce only the best.

How to turn 6 figures into 7 by doing this?

Keep in mind it’s not the tools, sales, or products: it’s the people. If you want to scale your business faster, you’re going to have to upgrade your team. Surrounding yourself with like-mind 7-figure earners will do the job. 

Your network is your net worth. Click To Tweet

Since these talented people are more skilled, you don’t have to be present all the time. They should be capable of coming up with solutions without your guidance.

If you stick to a 6 figure team, you’ll still catch yourself getting involved in most projects. They are capable of performing tasks, but theirs might not be the best work you’ve seen. There could be more revisions that push the deadlines back. 

Once you stop micromanaging, you’ll have more time to focus on your business instead – turn to the things that matter more.

Partnerships don’t have to be about hiring new people; you can also focus on your connections. Your business flourishes and will grow when you find the right mentors, industry leaders, and masterminds.

4. The Powerful Thing About Leveraging

There are two main ways you can leverage. 

As we mentioned earlier, you can hire a team. You don’t have to have a big team or spend a lot of money on overhead expenses. If you find the right people to work with, they’ll be able to help you sustain more revenue. 

What helps your team scale faster are successful strategies and execution. When everyone is equipped with the right skills, all your systems will be effective and this will help grow your business.

These systems are built on action steps and learning. They help your team avoid having to repeat the same mistakes again. Your workflow will then become faster.

Two men looking at graphs and discussing growing their business

Another way to leverage is through technology, specifically automation. If you’re wondering how to turn 6 figures into 7 without getting too involved, then leveraging automation is what you need to do.

You can simplify a lot of your tasks by letting technology do the work. Perhaps your sales funnel could be automated, and you’ll be making money in your sleep. 

Whatever it is that’s taking most of your time, try automating it. If there’s a way to do certain things faster, automate it. When you use automation in most of your processes, you and your team will have time to focus on other strengths and that is one way to grow your business .

5. Do You Know Your Numbers – Sales and Profit?

Having an idea is amazing, but knowing the numbers will get you to success. Your idea is useless if the numbers don’t look good. 

Imagine you launch a new product, and then find out that there’s not much of an audience for it. You also have to make sure you’re capable of funding it. These factors will reflect on how responsible you are.

Group of co-workers in a workshop or seminar

You’ll have to prove that your product is well-researched and suitable for serving a great market demand. Also, you’ll need to know about market analyses and sales growth projections.

Here are some helpful questions you can ask yourself:

  • What are my past annual sales?
  • How many customers do I have?
  • What are my next year’s sales goals?
  • My marketing plan?
  • What are my costs that’ll affect my net revenue?

If you can’t answer these basic questions right away, it’s time you go back and do the math. 

Especially if you pitch to an investor to fund your business, you need to be able to answer questions. They want to know how much cash will go in and out of your business. If you’re not confident in your numbers, they might not be as confident in you.

You’re going to need capital. Even if you’re starting out with no money in the bank, your goal is to find capital as a safety net in case of plans failing.

6. Fail Forward as Much as Possible to Grown Your Business

According to INC., 96% of businesses fail within 10 years.

You can still achieve learning how to turn 6 figures into 7 figures – while being the 4% that succeeds. But, you’ll need to be comfortable with failing business first. 

Inventor Alexander Graham Bell said: “When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

Sometimes your ideas aren’t meant to work in the first place, and that’s acceptable. It’s better to stay humble and move on. You must fail forward more to get to your success faster. 

Running a business is an incredible learning process and a journey. You have to expect some failures, mistakes, and rejections along the way. You will get closer to your goals if you’re able to accept these flaws. Instead of trying to make a failed plan work over and over again, you have to learn from mistakes and move on. 

If something goes wrong, take it as a lesson. It might’ve been your performance that needs improvement or failure to communicate. You will do much better the next time around. This will also make you a wiser entrepreneur. Other people will look up to you for knowledge and experience. 

Once you’ve reached perfecting your ideas, you will discover major breakthroughs – some of which many entrepreneurs haven’t experienced for themselves yet.

How to Turn 6 Figures Into 7 Figures Fast

Taking your business to the next level requires you to act a certain way. If you want to earn more than 6 figures, you have to act like you already do.

This will help shift your mindset and make better decisions. Some of these decisions include changing the people in your circle. When you surround yourself with better people, you do better.

Not only that, but you need to know how to work smarter instead of hustling harder. Working smarter involves partnering up with people who can help your business grow. Instead of chasing people, focus on inspiring them to come to you.

If you want to know how to turn 6 figures into 7 figures in revenue fast, High Ticket Influencer™ might be for you. It’s everything you’ll need in one place.

High Ticket Influencer™ (HTI) is where you’ll get Dan Lok to coach you in scaling your business to 7 figures. He will walk you through the same method he uses to scale all his businesses. You’re going to discover how he went from making zero dollars to a million in less than a year. 

It’s not something you’d expect and can find anywhere else. You will have the right resources to start right away, as well as other entrepreneurs to connect with. 

If you’re ready to scale your business while avoiding years of mistakes, click here to find out more about High Ticket Influencer™.

Strategic Scaling and High-Stakes Acquisitions: How To Make The Best Decisions In Competitive Transactions

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If you’ve been in business for some time, you most likely know about strategic scaling. By way of deals and acquisitions, it allows you to add valuable businesses to your portfolio. This is a very effective business strategy, and one of the best ways to generate wealth. 

Most people have a firm perspective on business. They think it’s about dressing up in suits, holding meetings in cushy conference rooms, or shaking hands after months of harsh negotiations. All of this is true. However, most people do not realize that not all business is done this way. 

In reality, only a few people in the business world know what it’s really like. Most have  never found themselves analyzed from head to toe by another business person, or at a meeting aimed at exploiting their weaknesses. The old saying “business is war” is very true in these scenarios. If you’re looking to use strategic scaling to acquire businesses, you better get used to it.

strategic scaling

Not all business deals are smooth. Many business people understand that sometimes they have to be mean. If you’re looking to get the best deal possible, there are many factors that come into play. These include intimidation, leverage, debating, and psychological warfare – all of which are not for the faint of heart. If you’re looking to build an empire, you’ll need to know how to use every tool at your disposal.

Here’s an in-depth look at strategic scaling, and what occurs behind the scenes during high stakes acquisitions.

Creating A Business vs. Buying A Business

Most young entrepreneurs dream of starting their own business and imagine themselves as a one-man team. Over time, that one man team grows into a 10-men organization and, eventually, into a worldwide corporation. 

Many people believe starting a business is the key to becoming rich.  But not many people realize there is another way to create wealth: one without the negatives that come with starting a business. These negatives include factors such as a high failure rate, low starting capital, and time constraints.

Many experienced business people prefer to buy pre-established businesses. In fact, this is the primary goal behind DanLokAcquisitions.com. It’s one of the many organizations in the Dan Lok brand that focuses solely on acquiring existing businesses.

Acquisitions is one principle behind strategic scaling. It shelters you from the risks of building a business from scratch. By buying businesses already proven to succeed, you can generate wealth much faster.

Let’s say you notice tons of customers every time you pass by your local bubble tea shop. Over the last 3 years, the business has only gotten better. 

strategic scaling

A passionate entrepreneur would see this and think of opening their own bubble tea shop. They realize there is a high demand for bubble tea and aim to compete with their local bubble tea shop for market share. 

A smart entrepreneur, however, would not go through that hassle. They would simply buy over the shop.

The Shortcut To Wealth Few People Know About

Buying a business is much more efficient than starting one. A well-established bubble tea shop already has a customer base and a team of well-trained employees. Their bubble tea drinks have already been proven to be popular with the market, and there is solid evidence of positive cash flow every single month.

This is why acquiring already established businesses is the core foundation of strategic scaling. Buying a business means acquiring a source of cash flow. You are using money to take over an asset that will continually generate more money for you; the more businesses you acquire, the higher the cash flow.

If you had  heard the phrase “the rich get richer”, you now understand why. Rich people use their assets to create more wealth. They also understand that time is the most valuable asset, and know it is more efficient to buy a business rather than to spend years building one.  

Take, for example, billionaire Richard Branson. He owns over 400 companies and is valued at over $4.84 billion. Despite the massive net worth, he still acquires businesses to this day.

How To Buy Businesses With No Money Down

Here’s a question: what do most people do when they cannot afford something? They make excuses and complain that they “can’t afford it”. They have a poor mindset that prevents them from seeing other ways. Instead of finding those ways, they allow money to hinder their goals and dreams.

You don’t have to be rich in order to generate wealth. In fact, it’s possible to buy a business with no money down. This is possible by using a debt-driven model. Instead of buying a business with cash, you do so through debt.

For example, let’s say you know the CEO of a company. He is 80 years old, has no children, and is interested in selling his business. He wants $300,000 for the business.  The business generates $50,000 a year. 

One way to acquire this business is to use $300,000 of your own money. Another method is through debt. It is likely you will not have enough cash, and this is where your ability to make deals comes into play. Here’s one way you can do so:

  1. Talk with the business owner and come to an agreement
  2. Get the business owner to show you their accounting books – this includes assets, expenses, accounts receivable etc.
  3. Bring this information to a bank
  4. The bank will look at the paperwork and tell you how much money they can loan you
  5. Go back to the business owner and work out a deal

How To Use Your Brain To Make Money

Now let’s assume the bank is willing to loan you $200,000, and you need to come up with another $100,000 to make the deal happen. There are many ways to do this. One way is to use what is called a leveraged buyout.

Speak with the business owner and draw up a contract. The contract states that they will transfer ownership of the business to you. In exchange, you will use the profits from the business to pay them back. This payment can be made over 1, 5 or even 10 years.

strategic scaling

If the business owner agrees to these terms, then congratulations. You have acquired a business using no money down. Instead, you leveraged the bank’s money and the profits from the business. You acquired a business that generates $50,000 for $0. Most importantly, you used none of your own money to make this happen.

In this example, you leveraged the assets and cash flow of the business to buy out the business. Other methods of acquiring a business with no money down are notes of interest, percentage of revenue, and using equity from other assets that you own. There are many ways to make deals happen. Use your creativity to come up with solutions that work for you.

A Poor Mindset vs. A Rich Mindset

Having a poor mindset is dangerous. People with a poor mindset would read this article, say “$300,000 for a business?! I can’t afford that!” and leave it there. They would not think of other possible ways to seal the deal.

Rich people understand that it is not about having money, but about being resourceful. Some of the most successful people today started with no money in their pocket, yet they managed to become multi-millionaires and billionaires. This is because they are resourceful. They used their brains to put assets together and make things happen.

Having a lot of money does not make you rich. Having the skills to create a lot of money is what makes you rich. This is because you can lose your wealth, but not your skills. As long as you know how to make more money, you will never be poor.

Therefore, if you want to use strategic scaling in your business, you need to know how to put together deals. You need to train your resourcefulness skill to create opportunities.

 

The Art of Closing, Negotiation And Deal Making

What is the most important trait when it comes to strategic scaling? It’s not who you know, and it’s not how much money you have. Strategic scaling is about how well you can close, negotiate, and create deals.

In theory, strategic scaling using a debt-driven model looks easy. In practice, it is very difficult. This is because human beings are complex creatures. In order to make deals happen, you need to know how to communicate with business owners.

For example, let’s say you are negotiating with a business owner and the price they had set is too high for your liking. What can you do to convince them to lower their price? How can you use leverage to shift the deal in your favor? If you are a High Ticket Closer, you may have some ideas.

strategic scaling

You always want the best business deal for yourself. Strategic scaling is about effectively scaling your business and net worth. This involves using influence to ensure business terms are to your advantage. The most efficient way to ensure this is to use leverage.

People with leverage have dominance over people with less leverage. In other words, just as humans gained advantages over animals by creating leveraged tools, similarly, humans who use these tools of leverage have more power over humans… Click To Tweet

How To Use Leverage To Create Favorable Terms of Agreement

Leverage is about taking advantage of opportunities to create favorable conditions for yourself. Here’s an example of how to use leverage.

Let’s say you approach a business owner and ask if they are selling. You spend the next few weeks negotiating and talking about the deal. At the end of the month, both of you are unsatisfied with the terms. The business owner wants $100,000 for their business. However, you aren’t willing to go above $60,000. 

How would you use leverage in this example? How could you shift the deal in your favor? The key is to observe the situation from every perspective. Having awareness of your environment is one of the most important factors when it comes to winning a war. This also holds true in business.

One of the biggest reasons business owner’s sell out is because they are tired. They have been running their business for years, and cannot do it for much longer. Unless they sell the business, they are stuck with it.

In most cases, there are not a lot of buyers on the market. Business owners do not publicize their willingness  to sell; they don’t run ads or do marketing. This gives you the chance to present yourself as the only serious investor, and assert your terms. Are they willing to say no, and risk losing their one and only potential buyer?

A Strategic Scaling ‘Hack’ To Making Deals Happen Smoothly

One way to use leverage in business is by using time and appealing to logic. But, if you’re looking to use strategic scaling in your business, you’ll want to appeal to emotions.

A business owner choosing to sell their business tells you a few things. Firstly, their children are not interested in taking over, for whatever reason:  they may be spoiled, may not have the acumen to run the business, or simply want to pursue another path. Whatever the reason may be, these are all things you can use as leverage.

However, going up to a business owner and being direct is not going to work. If you say “you should sell your business to me because I know your kids are deadbeats who don’t know how to run a company,” you are going to meet heavy resistance. Instead, put yourself in their shoes.

You’re a business owner close to retirement. Your kids don’t want to take over the business that took years, energy, and money to build. You want to pass down your legacy, but your children do not want anything to do with it. 

strategic scaling

Suddenly a young, passionate entrepreneur comes up to you and says that they are interested in taking over your business. They want to take on your legacy, embrace what you’ve built and improved upon it. How would you feel in that moment? You would most likely be touched.

This is one method to appeal to a business owner’s emotions: show them that you are a younger version of themselves. Show them that you are similar. Appeal to their emotions, and they will be much more open to your advances.

Change how your prospect perceives you, and it will make all the difference. Click To Tweet

Why Smaller Fish Win In The World of Acquisitions

When it comes to strategic scaling, smaller is better. The smaller your team is, the fitter you are for acquisitions. This is because larger corporations have a bad reputation.

A lot of big companies are public companies, which means that shareholders influence their decisions. As a result, big companies only have one goal in mind: to maximize revenue at any cost.

Some corporations buy smaller companies and end up destroying them. They don’t care who built the business, about the employees or about nostalgia. Their only goal is to generate more money. As a result, many businesses they buy over lose their identity. 

Employees get laid off and replaced. They cut costs and lower the quality of the products or services. The name of the business gets changed and absorbed by the brand. 

The business owner spends decades building their legacy. But in less than a week, everything gets destroyed. One reason why many business owners do not like to sell out to big corporations is because of these reasons. They know what would happen if they did, and they do not like it.

Compare that to a smaller organization that isn’t interested in maximizing revenue. Someone willing to take over what exists and build on it isn’t going to turn a legacy into another cash cow. They’re going to treat it with respect.

If you were a business owner, who are you more likely to sell out to –  someone who reminds you of yourself at a young age, or a group of money-hungry executives looking for the next opportunity?

Bigger is not always better; a small fish can swim much faster than a larger one. Click To Tweet

Are You On The Path To 7, 8 or 9 Figures?

Strategic scaling is one of the best ways to increase wealth. Acquiring existing businesses allows you to avoid many pitfalls. You don’t need to spend resources growing a business from scratch; you can buy over an already established business. This allows you to leverage existing businesses and create additional sources of cash flow.

Acquiring many businesses is one way to create a successful portfolio. However, most entrepreneurs struggle to get past a certain mark. They know they need to strategically scale their business, but lack the knowledge to do so. They might not know how to close. Or they may be terrible at negotiating. This prevents them from becoming successful.

This is why having a plan is important. A plan allows you to measure your performance and make sure you are on the right track. When you can see your weaknesses, you can overcome them. A business leader with no weaknesses is a force to be reckoned with. If you want a checklist that 8-figure companies use to keep themselves on track, get your copy of the Dragon 100™ checklist here.

Dos and Don’ts When Approaching A Possible Joint Venture Partner

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Did you know that you could take your business to the next level if you find a joint venture partner? A joint venture is a mutually-beneficial partnership agreement between two or more individuals. In a joint venture, two or more parties will start a business together, collaborate on a project, or do business together. This type of partnership typically involves shared ownership and shared profits, as the joint venture partners will pool their resources, share the expenses, and share the risks.

If approached the right way, a joint venture can be a very smart business decision. In fact, businesses who are in competition with each other often join forces and start a joint venture. Entrepreneurs don’t always need to have the mentality that they should crush their competition. Why? Because many of you could actually profit from your competition by forming an alliance and collaborating on a joint venture.

You can profit from your competition if you pool your resources and start a successful joint venture. Click To Tweet

Competitors often join up with each other if they lack certain resources or skills that their competitor has. For example, imagine that one business has a strong distribution capacity, which a similar business lacks. The other similar business, however, has a much stronger social media following and more connections to influencers. If they work together, they could both profit more than they would working alone. 

A joint venture doesn’t have to be with a competitor, however. In general, joint ventures are wise to consider, as you can acquire valuable shared resources without the risk of excessive capital being required. In this article, we’ll go over a few examples of joint venture partnerships before we discuss the “dos” and “don’ts” to remember when approaching a possible joint venture partner.

Joint venture partners shaking hands

Examples of Joint Venture Partnerships

Were you aware of the fact that the popular streaming application “HULU” was the result of a joint venture? NBC Universal Television Group (Comcast) and Disney ABC Television Group (The Walt Disney Company) joined forces to create “HULU”. It turned out to be a major success.

Doritos chips collaborated in a joint venture with Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment when the film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was released. In a brilliant marketing collaboration, Doritos created the world’s largest Dorito (“dinosaur-sized”) and fans could bid in an auction to win it, or enter to win online. For equal media exposure for both partners, fans had to tweet #JurassicDoritos to be eligible to enter for a chance to win. The winning bid’s proceeds went to the American Red Cross to help those affected by volcanic disasters in Hawaii, where many scenes of Jurassic World were filmed. In this joint venture, specially marked bags of Doritos chips had the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom packaging which came with special codes to win prizes.

Those are just a couple of examples of big joint ventures that were very successful.

As far as small businesses go, there are many types of joint ventures. Two struggling small businesses could pool their resources in a joint venture and both make a nice profit from the venture. It’s crucial, however, to understand the “dos” and “don’ts” first.

The “Don’ts” When Approaching a Joint Venture Partner

If you’re thinking of approaching a possible joint venture partner with an idea, what should you avoid doing? There are certain things you should never do. Below is a list of “don’ts” to remember when you’re approaching a joint venture partner.

Don’t Approach Someone Prior To Establishing Your Relationship With Them

Never approach a possible joint venture partner prior to establishing a relationship with them. It’s not wise to suggest that someone do something for you (or with you) if you haven’t yet built a relationship with that person. Even if a joint venture could potentially make them a lot of money, you should still form a relationship with them before you approach them with your idea.

If this person doesn’t know you, why should they trust you, or do a deal with you? Why should they even read your email? 

This is why you should never approach a joint venture partner with your idea on your first meeting, or upon first contact with them. You haven’t done anything yet to earn their trust or respect. You don’t yet deserve their attention or consideration. 

Woman approaching a joint venture partner

For example, imagine that a public speaker who is a successful businessman gets approached by a random member of the audience after their presentation. Keep in mind, the speaker doesn’t know this audience member at all. The stranger asks them, “Would you be interested in a joint venture?”

The stranger may as well have said, “I know you don’t know me at all, but how about you just trust me and do a deal with me?”

That sounds ridiculous, right? Well it is ridiculous, as well as inappropriate.

An appropriate question the stranger could have instead asked, is “Could I possibly take you out for lunch?” The better approach is to start with lunch, and maybe even have a few lunches with them before bringing up your idea of a joint venture. Build the relationship first, and earn their trust. Be patient, and propose the joint venture when the time is right.

business meeting going badly

Don’t Overshare Details of How the Partnership Benefits You

When you’re discussing a possible joint venture with someone, don’t overshare details regarding how the partnership will benefit you. 

It’s better to focus the conversation on the mutual benefits of the joint venture. 

If you speak too much about the personal benefits for you, it’s possible your potential joint venture partner will feel used, or be turned off from doing the deal.

Don’t Approach Them With a Distrusting Attitude

Never approach a possible joint venture partner with a negative or distrusting attitude. This type of attitude is an instant repellent, as nobody wants to do business or collaborate with someone negative. And, people are more likely to trust someone that gives them their trust. So if you don’t seem to be very trusting, they probably won’t trust you, either.

Don’t Expect an Immediate Answer

Let’s say you’ve met with your potential joint venture partner a few times, and during your last meeting, you finally approached them with your partnership idea. It’s important that you don’t expect an immediate answer.

If you follow up with them a mere 24 hours later, asking them if they’ve made a decision, this will only turn them off and make them not want to partner with you.

Man impatiently checking his watch

It’s best to give them space, and allow them some time to think it over. It’s inappropriate to rush them, as it’s in bad form to expect or demand an immediate answer.

After approaching a possible joint venture partner with a proposal, you should not follow up for at least one week. Even if you don’t hear from them after a couple of days, don’t get tempted to reach out. If you don’t hear from them for one week, at that point it’s reasonable to reach out to them. 

This requires patience, but that patience is the respectful and professional way to go about this.

The “Dos” When Approaching a Joint Venture Partner

Now that you know what not to do when approaching a possible partner, what are some things you should do? When you’re considering a joint venture, there are some things you should remember to do, to ensure your venture is successful. Below is a list of “dos” to keep in mind when you’re approaching a possible joint venture partner.

Do Your Research

It’s crucial to do your research before approaching someone about a joint venture, for many reasons. For one thing, your research will help you figure out where their business is falling short, and how a partnership with you could benefit them. Since a joint venture should be mutually beneficial, you’ll have to figure out which assets you bring to the table that they don’t currently have. 

Research also helps ensure you’re prepared for your meeting with them. The goal is to impress them, and earn their trust. Being familiar with them and their company helps you accomplish this goal.

Get Their Attention Before You Approach Them 

Have a possible joint venture partner in mind? Target acquired? A clever approach is to get their attention before you approach them. You can do this in many different ways. For example, you could become their client, first, or attend a few of their workshops. If you’ve been buying tickets to attend their seminars or workshops, they’ll respect this. This strategy is also a great way to build the relationship, which as you recall, you must do before you approach them with a joint venture proposal.

Woman taking selfie with celebrity entrepreneur

You can also get their attention by showing them that you’re a fan, by buying their product, taking a photo with it, and posting a positive review online. Imagine the person you want to partner with has an upcoming book signing for their new book. You can buy their book, get a photo with their product, post the photo on social media, and tag them. Now, you’ll have their attention, and you won’t be a complete stranger in their eyes.

Approach Someone With Complementary Resources

A strategic approach includes approaching someone with complementary resources to yours. The parties involved in a joint venture ideally should have complementary resources.

Resources can range from services, skills, and products to business assets, social media followers and customer lists. All of these resources can be leveraged to reduce costs. 

As long as you trust each other and you have an appropriate contract drawn up, you’ll feel comfortable sharing these resources with each other. Do you have access to certain valuable resources that your potential partner doesn’t have, and vice versa? If so, pooling your resources cuts costs and increases the likelihood that your venture will be successful.

Complementary resources are resources that enhance each other, and are stronger together than they are apart. 

Business partners fist bumping each other

Choose Someone You Connect Well With

It’s important to choose a potential joint venture partner carefully. Choose someone you vibe well with, who has similar core values. It’s best if your joint venture partner is someone you get along with, so it’s important that the two of you have compatible personalities. 

You’ll want to choose someone you vibe well with and connect with. When you go out for lunch, do you smile, laugh, and get along well? Do you listen to each other? Some people aren’t compatible with each other, and that’s another reason it’s so important to build a relationship with them prior to pitching them. You need to see if you work well together. 

Joint venture partners out for lunch

Build Rapport and Earn Their Trust

The most ideal scenario is that your possible joint venture partner trusts you before you approach them with your proposal. Their business and their reputation matters to them, so they can’t risk their business or reputation on someone they don’t know and don’t trust.

Earning their trust is especially important if sharing valuable resources is required for the joint venture. For example, if sharing customer lists is required, trust is pertinent, since a customer list is the most valuable asset a business has. 

Interact With Them on Social Media

While you’re building a relationship with your potential joint venture partner, you should try to regularly engage with them on social media. The key is to interact with them on social media often enough to maintain your relationship, but not so frequently that you look like a stalker.

This means that perhaps every couple of days, you’ll like and comment on one of their social media posts. You’ll regularly comment something supportive and positive, while you build your relationship with them. This will help your possible joint venture partner feel more familiar with you, and more comfortable with you.

Leverage Your Most Valuable Assets

Earlier, we mentioned how a customer list is the most valuable asset a business has, but there are many other valuable assets you can leverage to entice a possible joint venture partner. 

If you’ve done your research, you’ll know which assets they don’t have, and which resources are lacking. If you have assets or resources that they can benefit from, make sure to leverage those assets to make your proposal more enticing.

Woman emailing joint venture partner

Personalize Your Pitch

When it’s time to propose a joint venture, you should always personalize your pitch. Perhaps you’re pitching your joint venture proposal via email, after a few lunches and dinners and after establishing a relationship with them. Or, perhaps you’re pitching in person, once you feel you’ve earned their trust and have a good rapport going.

If you customize your pitch to suit the person you're pitching, you'll have a better chance of closing them. Click To Tweet

Whether you’re pitching via email or in person, always personalize your approach. In emails, keep it personal. Do not use a template. Template emails that are clearly copy-and-pasted with a name switched out, will not work, as it will be obvious it’s a template email. It’s better to write a personalized email, as it demonstrates effort, thought, and care. In person, your pitch will be better if you incorporate personal details about them and their business into your pitch.

If you customize your pitch to the person you’re pitching to, you have a better chance of closing the deal.

Ask For References or Testimonials

Remember that you’re not the only one trying to impress your possible joint venture partner. They should be able to impress you, as well, and make you feel comfortable about the idea of working together. In other words, they need to earn your trust as well. It goes both ways.

So, don’t neglect to ask them for references or testimonials before you sign any sort of agreement with them. 

Set Expectations

When a joint venture is being discussed, before contracts are signed, you should set expectations with each other. This includes the investment required (the expense) and the potential upside (the return), as well as the potential downside (the risk). 

It’s possible that compromises will need to be made, before both parties feel comfortable signing a deal. It’s best to get this part of the process over with before the venture begins, to avoid running into misunderstandings or problems later on.

Two businessmen shaking hands

 

Who Should You Do a Joint Venture With?

At this point, you’ve learned what you should and shouldn’t do when approaching a possible joint venture partner. You’ve probably also gained some insight as to what type of person you should partner with.

To summarize, you should partner with someone who has complementary resources and has assets they bring to the table that you’re lacking. You should also make sure to partner with someone you’re compatible with, and get along well with. Always partner with someone you trust, and remember to do your research on this person and check their references. 

You now know what type of partner is ideal, but what if you lack the connections to meet a potential joint venture partner? What if you want to find someone to collaborate with, but you don’t know how to meet them?

Need Help Finding The Right Joint Venture Partner?

Do you need help meeting a potential joint venture partner? And do you need trusted and strategic advisers to help you figure out the best way to approach a joint venture partnership? Perhaps you’re ready to take your business to the next level, and you know a joint venture will help you succeed, but you lack the connections to find the right partner.

Dan Lok has now formed the world’s most exclusive advisory board for ambitious and distinguished entrepreneurs who are committed to reaching next-level success. 

Dragon 100™ is an exclusive group of 100 A-players who are serious about their success. If you’re accepted as a member of Dragon 100™, you will get a rare opportunity to network with other elite entrepreneurs and learn from Dan Lok himself. This is a great way to network with other A-players who could potentially be your next joint venture partner.

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level and join an elite group of A-players, click here to apply to be a Dragon 100™ member.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

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