Millionaire MBA Day 2: Millionaire Difference
by
Millionaire MBA
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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Copyright © Millionaire MBA 2011
First Published 2011 by ELW Publishing Bath, UK
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Contents
Introduction
A few years back, 50 leading UK entrepreneurs and business owners were interviewed in their homes, offices and hotels. The purpose of the interviews was to find out exactly what made them successful, and how other aspiring entrepreneurs could replicate their business success.
Those digitally recorded audio interviews were turned into a 'timeless' business mentoring programme called Millionaire MBA. Millionaire MBA is regarded as one of the best programmes in the world to teach entrepreneurial thinking and the 'millionaire mindset'.
Millionaire MBA is a rich, deep mentoring programme which existing and aspiring entrepreneurs listen to over 40 days. Literally tens of thousands of entrepreneurs (like you) around the world have benefited from this programme.
In this ebook, you’ll find the actual transcription from one whole day of the mentoring programme.
To find out more about the full business mentoring programme or to listen to the audio version, please visit http://www.millionairemba.com/
Day 2: Millionaire Difference
Welcome to Day 2 of the Millionaire MBA, "The Millionaire Difference."
Yesterday we looked at the core elements of the millionaire mindset as identified by our entrepreneurs and self-made millionaires.
It is a mindset of excellence, a mindset of successful people; it is the mindset you need to tune into and develop yourself if you truly want to achieve outstanding results.
Today we will examine the difference between our entrepreneurs and others who haven't achieved the same level of success in business.
Each entrepreneur featured in the course will be introduced one by one and will answer the following question:
What is the difference between you and others who haven't achieved your level of success in business?
You will hear that it is due to excelling at one or more elements of the millionaire mindset. Before we introduce the entrepreneurs, let's recap on what the millionaire mindset is.
Passion: to keep going when times are tough
Self-belief: to carry on against the naysayers and doubters
Desire: to become successful, and drive and determination to achieve your goals
Courage: to follow your instincts and to take the leap to become an entrepreneur
Vision: to have a dream and inspire others to achieve it
Focus: to achieve your goals and not get distracted
Persistence and tenacity: to keep going and never give up
Hard work and self-discipline: to get things done and a willingness to make the necessary sacrifices
Optimism: to keep yourself and those around you positive and avoid negativity
Wisdom: to learn from mistakes, and common sense: to think with a clear logical head
Opportunistic: to be alert to new deals and see opportunities that others do not see
Judgement: to make the right decisions and to take calculated risks
Let's now hear from each of our featured entrepreneurs, who I'll introduce in alphabetical order, starting with Angus Clacher.
Angus Clacher
Angus formed Iwantoneofthose.com in January 2000, having been fired from his job at Citibank. The company was created with several friends and a capital introduction of £15,000.
First year sales were £400,000; second year sales, £2 million; third year, £6.2 million; and the company was profitable from its first Christmas.
Angus has since sold his share of the company and walked away as a millionaire for his four years of hard work. Angus sees the key difference in achieving his success as his willingness to make sacrifices.
It's a willingness to give up basic security. When I left my job and I was on six figures with a big bank in the city, a lot of people asked me, "Well, why would you ever leave that?"
The life was quite cruisy despite the responsibilities, but I was more than prepared to give that up, and, in the end, my fellow founders and I lived on petty cash for nearly a year.
When we did start paying ourselves, it was only £50 a week, but the thing was that everything we did, whether it was packing a box or filling in an order or taking a phone call, was building our business rather than working for somebody else, and it's an amazing feeling.
And if you are, like we were, just halfway competent, you will get there.
Sir Christopher Evans
Sir Christopher Evans is a highly qualified scientist and investor in bio and life science companies. He is also one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs.
Sir Christopher has founded over 20 companies and floated four on the London Stock Exchange.
He explains his difference as having a blend of various entrepreneurial qualities and notes specifically his ability to push forward toward his goals whilst anticipating and dealing with problems that come along the way.
It's lots of things sometimes; there isn't one single thing. I have met lots of bravado, confident people, and they haven't done very well, and they say they are very determined as well.
Maybe it's a lack of streetwiseness, clarity, intellectual ability - any of these things could be deficient.
Sometimes it is on personality as well. You find a lot of entrepreneurs have the personality that fits what it is they were trying to do. I think I am reasonably quite good.
You know, I have the right personality for conveying science and medical science to people to raise money and invest money, do deals - it is a communication-type thing.
I have met some bright people who are very confident, very cocky, very determined and they keep failing, and I think there are lots of other personality traits that lead to that failure.
And also sometimes they can't seem to see what I think is obvious or maybe other entrepreneurs see as obvious pitfalls.
We see them on the horizon and, as we are hammering down our track and everyone thinks, "Look at these guys: completely focused, psychopathic," we have actually got one eye.
You know, peripheral vision - I can see the six or seven things coming my way that are going to try to ruin the party, but I have already spotted them.
But I am continuing as if I haven't because I am focused, and I will wait until they come very close, and then I pick them off one by one. And lots of people do that that I have talked to.
Chris Hughes
Chris Hughes started a company called Brand Events. His company specialises in hosting mass events in places such as Earls Court and Olympia in London.
Chris had spent many years doing the same thing he does now for other companies, as an employee, until he decided the time was right for him to do it for himself.
Chris speaks of his wisdom to learn from his mistakes, courage to take the leap and follow his instincts, having a vision for his company and having the self-belief and conviction to follow his own ideas.
Chris speaks of luck, something that all entrepreneurs relate to, but recognises that luck only comes to those who are seeking it.
I was very lucky that for circumstantial reasons I was forced to go and borrow quite a lot of money. I'd lost quite a lot of other people's money launching exhibitions and events before I launched Brand Events, and what I'd learnt was you needed to have enough money to fail.
I was actually made to serve my notice by my previous employer for six months, and I'd got my business plan and I was going to have a hundred grand's worth of capital [£100,000] to launch our business.
And I sat there for six months, knowing I was tied up for six months, and I couldn't launch for six months.
So the only thing I could do usefully was plan and revisit my financial base, so I went and revisited my potential investors and actually raised another quarter, another 150 grand.
And as the first year proved, we lost, or "spent," as we now call it, all of our capital in the first six months. If I'd not gone back and raised more cash, we wouldn't certainly be sitting here today.
I see lots of people in our industry, which is quite an easy business - quite an easy world in which to launch businesses - but be under capitalised.
It was by sheer luck and fortune that I went and raised more money, and the difference between success or failure is based on whether you could keep going in the early days.
Now, fortunately, I had enough friends who said, "Watch the cash." Cash is everything. It's not about profit, it's not about anything else, but it's about cash. And fortunately I was forced to go and raise enough capital.
And, you know, there's a very practical answer there: The difference between our business getting off, clearing the house at the end of the runway, and other people's, is that we had enough cash to fail.
And we failed quite badly in year one, but it's all called "investment" if you get to chapter two.
Other differences between... So the courage to do it is a difference, the money to do it is a difference.
And we've had - partly by vision and partly by accident - we've had a conviction that we can do something slightly different to the rest of our industry.
And I certainly started our business believing that our industry was missing one of the key points about understanding brands.
So I do genuinely think we've got a difference in mindset, and that's helped us to be taken more seriously for a small business than we might have been.
Chris Rucker
Chris Rucker started a business called The White Company. Her business specialises in selling a wide range of stylish home accessories and clothing with the unique proposition of being principally in white.
Chris started her company when she was in her early 20s from an attic room. It is now a mature mail order, web order and shop-based company turning over tens of millions of pounds each year.
Chris talks about focus, self-belief and the courage to make her own decisions.
I am very, very single-minded. I know precisely what I do and don't like, and I make decisions very quickly; sometimes I make the wrong decisions, but I am a very quick decision-maker, so everything I do is totally instinctive.
I always go with my gut feeling.
That is the other thing - I'm a great believer in going with my gut feeling, and the times when I haven't gone with my gut feeling and I've stopped and thought about it, I have often made the wrong decision and wished that I had stuck with the original gut thought.
Debbie Burke
Debbie Burke started ROC Recruitment in 1991, having been made redundant from her position as a recruitment consultant.
Armed only with a credit card and a £10,000 overdraft, she built her business into a multimillion-pound recruitment company employing over 50 staff. Debbie sees her difference as the ability to focus on the goals that she sets for herself.
We will examine the benefit of goals later on in the course.
I think I am very, very organised and very focused, and I have a certain number of things that I set out to achieve every day, and to me the day is not over until I have achieved them.
If you translate that to the bigger picture - you know, the week to the month to the year - it is all about if you achieve the small goals, the big goals will actually fall into place.
If, for example, we moved into this office a year ago and we needed to recruit another 10 or 12 staff to achieve a certain turnover of certain revenue at the end of the year, it starts by identifying who the people are that we need to interview next week and the week after - which actually then translates into the 10 or 12 extra people you need to bring in another £2 or £3 million a year.
Duncan Bannatyne
Duncan Bannatyne is a serial entrepreneur. Originally he built an ice cream business after buying an ice cream van with a view to selling it on for a profit.
Having tasted success with ice cream, he saw an opportunity in 1985 with nursing homes and later again with children's day care nurseries. All three businesses he either sold on or floated on the stock market.
Duncan then saw another opportunity when he broke his leg skiing and went on to build himself a chain of 40 fitness clubs. He sees his difference as self-belief and determination.
I've got four brothers who still drive lorries and work as night porters and things like that, and they have no ambition, no self-belief, no determination, and they can't understand how I can do it and they can't.
I think it is a belief that there are better things out there that can be done.
Actually, anybody can do it - anybody can make a million - and once you know that, once you really believe it, you can do it.
Eleanor Souto
Eleanor Souto recently started her own business. She's at the beginning of her journey and is already making tremendous progress, having won awards for entrepreneurship.
Her business is selling lingerie to bigger breasted women.
Eleanor, as she puts it, has "no taboos about boobs." Eleanor's difference is that she wants to be different; she has the desire, drive and determination to become successful, as well as a self-belief that she will make it.
I think what is different about me is that I do want to be different. I do have to admit that I don't like conforming to what everyone says I have to do: go to university, get a good job and stay there for the rest of my life; that is not what I want to do.
You are only here once, and you have to make the most of it and do things that you believe in, so the reason I'm different is because I do want to be successful.
It is very, very important for me to achieve and get somewhere in life, and at the moment it is with my business.