Level Three Wealth

Last weekend someone showed me one of those fancy “Ipads” and how he had downloaded our newest book, Build a Business, Not a Job: How to Build Your Business to Sell, Scale, or Own Passively, onto it to read.Well whether you want to put it on your Ipad or print it out or read it on your computer, the ebook version is available now. And I would like to make you a gift of a free copy right now. Think of it as holiday / summer reading to make your business more successful.

Simply follow the link below and get your complimentary copy of the book. All we ask is that you read it, use the ideas to improve your business, and help us spread the word about the book.

——> Follow This Link To Get Your Free Copy of This 176-Page Book! <—–

Too many business owners get trapped inside the very businesses they work so hard to build. If they don’t show up each day, or something happens to them, their businesses die.

In this step-by-step business guide, you’ll get the concrete road map you need to build a business you can sell, scale, or own passively.

You’ll Learn:
• How to escape the Self-Employment Trap^TM.
• The 4 building blocks of all scalable businesses.
• 15 cash management secrets to guard your business’s cash flow.
• 12 power techniques to rapidly increase your sales.
• 35 business controls you’ll need to successfully scale your company.
• A 30-question audit to determine exactly where to focus.
• 6 time mastery strategies to free up a full day each week to build your business.
• A powerful 5-step action plan to take your business to the next level.

——> Follow This Link To Get Your Free Copy of This 176-Page Book! <—–

I hope you enjoy the book. I think it’s the best business book I’ve ever been part of writing. But you’ll have to judge for yourself.

 We’d love your help in spreading the word about the book and the Maui community of business owners. To that end, please forward this link to the 3-4 business owners you think would most benefit from it. Here is that link to the free book again: http://www.mauimastermind.com/page/custom/freebook

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 Today I want to share with you some concrete suggestions to save time, get more done, and improve your results by leveraging a personal assistant.

For too many people, hiring and working with a personal assistant is a scary or intimidating process, yet when you really understand it and implement it in a systematic way you’ll not only find your income will dramatically increase, but so will your free time.

“But I Don’t Know How to Find the Right Assistant”

First to dispel a common myth - “It’s hard to find a great assistant.” This simply is not true. If you know how to look and what you are doing it is not only a simple process to find a great assistant, but one that you can implement in 2-4 weeks!

Here is the outline for my system for hiring a great assistant is simple, and one that I’ve refined over the past 5 years:

Step One: Create a clear and winning “Assistant Wanted” ad for you to use on Craig’s List and your local newspaper’s online job listing. (We have the word-for-word ad in the course noted below.)

Step Two: Have all applicants email in their resume, cover letter, and salary history to your office (I suggest you set up an “assistant@…” email address for them to do this.

Step Three: Do a quick sort down to 8-12 “A” candidates.

Step Four: Do a phone sort down to 4-5 “A+” candidates.

Step Five: Select 3 for live, in person interviews.

Step Six: Select and hire your top choice.

Plus, it has never been easier to find a great assistant than now. The current state of the economy has really opened up the marketplace and made it easier than ever to affordably hire a full or part time assistant.

Here are what two of my Maui Mastermind® clients found when they implemented our system for finding, screening, and hiring their personal assistants:

Dear David,

Just a quick note of thanks- I knew I needed to hire a PA/EA to enable me to leverage my time to balance fulfilling my real estate obligations, earning income and launching Protégé Performance.

It was tremendously helpful to not have to create anything - rather I just leveraged your material fully, I used your Craig’s List ad as a starting point, adjusting it to meet my particular circumstances - rather than think through the right interview questions, I simply used your first and second round list and I even used your application, and contract form to further expedite and simplify the process.

In particular, I found asking for three pieces of information, cover letter resume and salary history, extremely helpful in screening the volume of responses I received - great tip and I sure did use it.

Ultimately, I narrowed the field down to 5 for first round interviews and then conducted the face to face interview with the leading candidate - she meets my needs, I extended an offer to her and she accepted.

Or listen to the experiences of Ryan:

David,

I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing your PA recruitment ad. With a few minor customizations it was ready to go for me and made all the difference. I got probably 70 resumes, a tenfold increase over the last time I tried to hire an employee in the Teton Valley area. Probably half those submitting applications commented on how drawn they were to the ad.

My new assistant just started last week and she is going to be awesome. She is a corporate refugee so to speak who moved out here from Philadelphia with her husband for lifestyle but is tremendously talented and is going to allow me to offload projects for her to manage beyond just doing assistant related tasks. In any case thank you 1) for inspiring me and encouraging me to commit to hiring an assistant and 2) giving me the hiring system (ad) to get it done with. I had 5 or 6 candidates that all would have been awesome and my greatest fear prior to running the ad was not finding anyone remotely qualified.

I hope you see that finding your assistant is actually the easiest part of the equation. We’ve made it a total “paint-by-numbers” system.

Which leads me to the next area I want to talk with you about…

How to Effectively Leverage Your Assistant

Once you’ve found the right assistant it becomes critical that you establish an effective pattern for how you work with him or her to hand off projects and “to do’s” for her to handle.

Here are a few quick tips on how to do that more efficiently and effectively:

One: Have them create and keep a “Master Project List” that keeps in one place every item you’ve handed over to them, its priority…status…and key notes.

Sandy (my assistant) updates her project list daily. So at any given moment I can pull up her spreadsheet and see where she stands on any given project. (We’ve created a template Excel spreadsheet that we use for this Master Project List.)

Two: Make sure EVERYTHING gets on that list! No matter how big or small, if I hand it off to Sandy, it needs to get on that list-immediately. Why? Because if it doesn’t get on the list it may get missed. That’s the real value of having a trusted system-as long as you follow your own system you’ll eliminate most “gaps” so you get the results you truly want.

Three: Meet regularly with your assistant to “hand off” multiple projects and tasks. I meet with Sandy about once a week in person (normally she works remotely from her own home office.) We spend about 40-60 minutes with me handing off a variety of projects and tasks to her.

Four: Record your handoff meetings so that your assistant can review your instructions as needed. I am a fairly detailed kind of person so when I hand off in one concentrated session that’s a lot of information for Sandy to take in. Because we record the conversation she can review the audio files (she records one task/project per file and keeps track of track number as she takes her written notes to faster reference) as needed.

Remember, your assistant may bill at $10-20 per hour while you may value your time at $50-500 or more per hour, so having your assistant take an extra hour for each hour you meet with them to review the recorded conversation is a GREAT way to get the most from your time.

I hope the idea of teaming up with a great assistant is becoming more real and less intimidating for you. It really will make a huge difference in helping you upgrade your use of time and quality of life… plus you’ll be able to reinvest that saved time to create many-fold more dollars than the small investment to get the right assistant.

Thank you for listening to the ideas I shared today on getting more accomplished with less time and effort.

I will talk with you later.

My very best to you,

David

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It’s finally back from the publisher! The new book, Build a Business, Not a Job: How to Build Your Business to Sell, Scale, or Own Passively, is done.

It will be in bookstores in about 12 weeks, but the ebook version is available now. And I would like to make you a gift of a free copy right now.

Simply follow the link below and get your complimentary copy of the book. All we ask is that you read it, use the ideas to improve your business, and help us spread the word about the book.

——> Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of This 176-Page Book! <—–

Too many business owners get trapped inside the very businesses they work so hard to build. If they don’t show up each day, or something happens to them, their businesses die.

In this step-by-step business guide, you’ll get the concrete road map you need to build a business you can sell, scale, or own passively.

You’ll Learn:

· The 4 building blocks of all scalable businesses.

· 15 cash management secrets to guard your business’s cash flow.

· 12 power techniques to rapidly increase your sales.

· 35 business controls you’ll need to successfully scale your company.

· A 30-question audit to determine exactly where to focus.

· 6 time mastery strategies to free up a full day each week to build your business.

· A powerful 5-step action plan to take your business to the next level.

I hope you enjoy the book. I think it’s the best business book I’ve ever been part of writing. But you’ll have to judge for yourself.

P.S. This is all part of a limited time special promotion so please make sure you take advantage of it now and get your copy right away. Just click here to get your free copy right now.

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Three weeks ago, 70 of your Maui Mastermind peers joined us in Orange County, CA for a 3 day workshop on business planning.

One of the things that really came clear for me was how important it is to focus in your business on the things that make the REAL difference, not just the sexy, glamorous things we want to focus on instead.

I’d like to take a stab at “bottom lining” your focus as a business owner—Level by Level—today.

Level One: 4 things you MUST do…

1. Clarify your business concept and do your market research.

2. Create your draft business plan.

3. Test market your offer so you get REAL feedback from people in your market.

4. LAUNCH!

Early Stage Level Two: Sell, sell, sell, sell. All kidding aside, if you’ve got an Early Stage Level Two business, no need doing fancy systems or planning 5 years down the road. You’ve got to make those early sales that ensure you have the cash flow to survive!

Middle Stage Level Two: Build out your core system(s) in four areas:

1. Lead generation (so you have a baseline system for reliably generating a minimum level of leads).

2. Lead conversion (so you have a baseline system for reliably converting your leads into paying customers.)

3. Fulfillment or production of your core product or service.

4. Your accounts receivable system to collect on the money you’re owed.

Advanced Stage Level Two: Finish fleshing out your systems, controls, and winning management team. This is the time you’re scaling your business and you need these building blocks to do it well.

Level Three: Deciding, planning, and executing on your exit strategy… whether that be to sell, to own your business passively, or to scale it much larger.

These are the bottom lines by Level and Stage. Don’t make things overly complicated. Building a business is a known equation. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

I hope these ideas sparked you today.

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At our San Diego Business Owners Success Conference we spent part of the workshop focused on how to increase your business’s cash flow.

One of the subjects we went over was specific strategies to collect on more of the money you are owed from your customers (i.e. receivables).

At that workshop were over 150 business owners from north America and even a few from overseas. Here is what Niraj, who owns a personal services firm, shared with me by email 14 days after the event:

“My belief in life is that if I put the hard work in, then God will help.  In my case for business, last year it came in the form of Maui Mastermind or you.  I took many of strategies you taught and applied it and things changed.  Similarly, this years in San Diego, I felt that it would be a good review from last year.  However, I was amazed that you changed your presentation and it fit my current needs.  After coming back, the first thing I looked at was my A/R and found $20,170 that I did not bill for.  I want to thank you for opening my eyes on these subjects.”

Imagine this, $20,170 of pure profit he now gets to enjoy. Remember, it’s not the sales you make that power your business, it’s the cash you collect on the sales you make that powers your business!

Here are 6 tips to collect more of the receivables you are owed. Enjoy!

1. Consider the timing of your bill. Collect up front. If you can get paid before you fulfill your product or service you can eliminate a whole lot of hassle and additional cost chasing down payment later.

2. Don’t wait to bill. If you can’t bill before you fulfill, at the very least, give your customers a bill at the time the services are rendered. Remember, the longer you wait to bill, not only the longer before you get paid, but the more likely you are to have collection problems.

3. Get your clients to prepay an entire year by providing a terrific incentive to do so. This will help your cash flow plus eliminate the need for the entire accounts receivable collection process. Incentives might include a special add-on bonus or a discount.

4. If your business model must have accounts receivable, front load the collection process. Send statements out right away and start your follow-up procedures right away, not after 60–90 days have passed. Put that energy in upfront when your odds of collection are highest and payment means more to you.

5. When you ask for money, make it easy for your clients to pay you. Include a self-addressed envelope. Make sure the invoice clearly says who to make the check out to and for how much.

6. Build a “cost” for your clients into your standard contracts. If you are going to be financing your clients’ purchases then you should get paid for your trouble. Make sure your contract includes a monthly financing charge for all accruing bills. Make sure it also states that they are responsible for all reasonable costs of collection. Finally, where possible, get the business owners of your clients to sign individually and not just use the name of their business.

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Once or twice a week I do a special workshop I created called my “Quarter Hour of Power.”
Part of it is me asking a specific power question and brainstorming 20 potential answers (I must get to 20 and not just stop at 11 or 18… sometimes the best answers come at the end as items 19 and 20.)

Today my power question was, “What are 20 ways I can upgrade my use of time?”

I generally only take 1 idea to immediately put into use, but today I took 11!

Here is a sampling:

• “only scan email on my focus days (tue/thurs) 1x and do this via phone so I don’t get sucked in to answer.”
• “turn off auto connected to email server and manually reconnect 2-4x / day max on m-w-f”
• post my stop doing list where I can see it in my office

And 8 more items.

What do you see you can do to upgrade your use of time?

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The most important question you can ask yourself is this: “What can I do today to prepare to sell my business two to three years from now?”

Here are three concrete steps to follow as you prepare now to sell later.

Step 1: Determine what your business is currently worth.

How do you find out what your business is currently worth?

You can look to industry or association sources for the most common valuation methods for your type of business.

You can hire a valuation firm, work with an investment banker, or even hire a CPA experienced in your industry and type of business.

Even more important is understanding how companies in your industry and business category are valued by the market. What formula is most commonly used? What is the current range of business multipliers and how can you command the top end of that range? Find out!

Step 2: Do a “buyer’s audit.”

Put yourself in the shoes of a potential buyer and take a hard, long look at your business.

Which elements give it value in an outsider’s eyes?

What major risks do you see that scare you?

What are the most attractive parts of buying this specific business versus one of its competitors?

What are the least attractive parts of buying it?

If you could change only three things to make it more attractive as an acquisition, what three specific things would you change over the coming 12 months?

Step 3: Mitigate risks and enhance value.

Once you’ve identified key risks and specific elements that create value, take preemptive action to lessen the buyer’s risks and enhance your business’s value.

The more you mitigate risks and enhance value in the eyes of a future buyer, the more your company will be worth when you sell it.

I’ll share with you in a later post the six major risks from a potential buyer of your business’s perspective. My goal today was to get you focusing on the concrete things you can and must do today to sell your business in the next 12-36 months.

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