#BYOB Episode 011 - Understanding how your lifestage impacts your start-up business

 

Over the last few weeks we have looked at values and personality as important aspects of creating a business that attracts people to you.  Today we look at the third component - Life Stages.

If you don't know where you are and where you want to go, how can you plan for the future?

You need to know what you want in order to set your business intentions. 

What age are you is the first thing to look at in Life Stages.  Age can often determine your current values and life priorities and these need to be understood when building and designing a business on your terms.  

Life stages is all about timing and what capacity you currently have in your life. Entrepreneurship is about understanding where we are and planning for what is coming up.

When do you want to retire? What do you want to do when you retire? Retirement is about being able to choose what you want to do. 

Once you know what you want retirement to look like, map out how long it is going to take you and what you need to do to get there.  Intention, time and lifestyle are all key factors.

It can take 5 to 10 years to make a remarkable business.  Five years to get a business that can create a lifestyle income and another 5 years to make an asset to sell.

What are your intentions for the next 5 to 10 years, map out what it is going to take to get there and then consider what you will need to get there. 

We will dig deeper next time into Resources, what you will need to have to get you to where you want to go.

Take action this week by visiting the Life Stage module at Social Star University.

Andrew Ford
Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.
http://www.andrewford.com.au/
Previous
Previous

#BYOB Episode 012 - Morry Morgan: How to transition between different businesses at different stages of life

Next
Next

#BYOB Episode 010 - Elphie Coyle: Creating a team around your personality is essential to start up success