Small Business: Smart Solutions – Mick Hawes

Franchise “style” businesses have a success rate of around 75%  Compared to 10% for your standard garden variety business! There’s is a simple reason. What does the Franchise business have that just about every other business doesn’t? I also revisit Mike Michalowicz and the most impactful and talked about “procedure” for smashing profit in your business! … Read more about this episode...

We all want more profit in our business. Trouble is, anytime money is the number one focus, productivity and pleasure often go out the window. I’ll be speaking with Michael Brecht CEO of doodle.com and he can save you an hour a day. Plus some very cool tech that will save you time and improve productivity! … Read more about this episode...

Knowing why and then how to implement this thinking into your business can simplify your business and increase your profits massively. … Read more about this episode...

Knowing why to measure is a start, Knowing what to measure is an improvement, Knowing how to measure is the secret. Your decisions and and actions change when you get the real picture. I speak to Linkedin expert Sarah Santacroce about how a small business finds it’s place on the interweb!   … Read more about this episode...

I can’t believe how prolific Profanity has become and it’s really messed up. You are losing sales and reducing customer loyalty because of it. Stay with me for this weeks show to make sure you plug this leak in your ship. Also You’ll hear from Derek Austin from Nuance.com about a time and money saving technology you should be using… Read more about this episode...

There is a much simpler easier way to build your business, increase productivity and profits, and reduce your workload. And there is common mindset and approach the majority of small business owners subscribe to that make everything I just talked about almost impossible! Listen in to Zoom.us Rep Corey Linberg about an awesome time and money saving product as well … Read more about this episode...

How much do you know about motivation? Do you have it? or do you need it? Is it always a good thing? This week I speak to Master motivator and global guru Professor Mark Moorehouse (Aka Leigh Farnell) … Read more about this episode...

Do you know which is the most important area of a small business? Do you have a planned and measurable approach to manage this area of your business. Get great marketing guidance from the king of “Content Marketing” Joe Pulizzi.   … Read more about this episode...

Some Business owners have lost their passion for their business, some never really had it! It’s an essential ingredient for a successful business. You can get it by following a few simple ideas. Download the episode here. … Read more about this episode...

There are vital actions and activity that must be measured for a business to become more profitable and successful. Measuring the wrong things can sometimes be worse than measuring nothing. I speak to Leigh Farnell to unpack what you can do to make more sales. … Read more about this episode...

Increase the speed of building your business whilst reducing your workload! Sounds nice doesn’t it! But is it even possible for your business? … Read more about this episode...

Knowing where you are headed is critical, it can speed up your journey to build the business of your dreams and avoid a ton of frustration and wasted time along the way! Meet Derek Austin From Nuance Communications, to learn about a very cool resource in “Time Saving Tech Talk”   … Read more about this episode...

“There are some people you can be with for an hour but not a day” Jim Rohn. Who you spend time with can be critical to your business success. You will find out how you can get the right people around you. I speak with CEO of Smartpen Mark Parker and show you how you can get the best out … Read more about this episode...

If you feel time pressure in your day, watch this episode of Small Business Smart Solutions for a number of ways you can get more done. Listen to Michael Brecht CEO of Doodle.com a very cool scheduling tool you need to be using. Link to download the show here. … Read more about this episode...

They’re not roles they are mindsets! One is focused on creating freedom, the other tends to create a prison make you a slave to your business – I also speak to two guys that will share some awesome resources for your business. David Barrett speaks on Expensify and I introduce you to Voiceover Pete. … Read more about this episode...

Building a successful small business is simple (I didn’t say easy) But there are some business models and strategies that work better than others. Watch this weeks show to see where your business might sit. … Read more about this episode...

Do you find it easy to see problems in other businesses?  If that’s the case, doesn’t it stand to reason that someone else might be able to spot deficiencies in your business – Listen to Performance Coach Jairek Robbins   … Read more about this episode...

Unless the purpose of going into business for you was to work extraordinary hours, worry a lot, have very few holidays and feel stressed  you might be doing something wrong. … Read more about this episode...

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO VERSION – There are business practices and philosophies that make running a business more difficult than it needs to be or easier if you prefer. Which practices and philosophies do you want to use in your business? This weeks Guest Chris Savage Founder of Wistia   … Read more about this episode...

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO VERSION - Most business owners spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the what and how of their business but… Why is the most important out of the how, what and why trilogy. You need to know where to most effectively use your why. Mike Michalowicz shows you how to get rid of debt and … Read more about this episode...

Not everything you need to do to make a small business successful is easy or enjoyable. In fact there’s plenty of activity that very few people enjoy, such as mastering new technology, creating and measuring a marketing strategy, selling and administration, But… What happens if you ignore it or do a poor job because you don’t like it or aren’t … Read more about this episode...

Whoever said knowledge is power wasn’t talking about how to build a successful small business. Because the secret isn’t in the knowledge it’s in the application of that knowledge. Listen to David Dutton marketing guru and master of getting it done! Click Here for the video of this show … Read more about this episode...

You must learn to walk before you can run. This applies to so many things including building a business, but vary rarely seems to be adhered to with small business owners. I speak with Ramon Ray, Small Business Evangelist – CLICK HERE to watch the video … Read more about this episode...

If you were listening last year you would have gotten the good oil on the best way to plan this year. So if you missed it, or didn’t follow up, or just chose to check out and start a fresh at the start of the year – Have you missed the boat? Is it already too late?  Click here to … Read more about this episode...

Whatever you focus on and practise you get good at. So it makes sense to have a ritual to keep you focused on the things that are going to take you where you want to go. The majority of the population focus on the things they don’t want and guess what, that’s what they end up with. Having a ”Personal … Read more about this episode...

The thing that will make the biggest difference to your business, your bank account, your health and your relationships in the next 12 months is your philosophy – Jim Rohn.  The most common mindset that business owners have is the most common reason for small business failure. We need to model what works not what doesn’t. Do you know what … Read more about this episode...

Business coaching is a rapidly growing industry, but is it actually helping businesses become more successful? If you take a peek at business success statistics they haven’t changed a whole lot so, it doesn’t seem so. … Read more about this episode...

There are so many great words of wisdom and words of advice that can take away your businesses “ugly bits” and help you accelerate your success. Wouldn’t it be great to have them all in one place. … Read more about this episode...

Ask most business owners which out of the owner themselves, their staff or their customers which are most important, they always choose the customer. But the customer is the least important! … Read more about this episode...

Coming into the Christmas holiday season do you traditionally experience additional stress trying to get everything done, then worry about things while your are meant to be enjoying a break, only to return to work wishing you were still on holidays? … Read more about this episode...

The paperless office, technology that makes our work life a dream, software, apps and gadgets that save us time and effort and relive us from the day to day grind, aren’t you glad this is now a reality. … Read more about this episode...

The definition of insanity is do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The same could be said for running your business the same as most others businesses around – It’s just insane … Read more about this episode...

“Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in the world”. Of course there are circumstances that can be pointed at as being responsible for a business failing or for that matter succeeding because they had a lucky break, but really it had much less to do with the circumstances than it did with what the business owner … Read more about this episode...

Do as I say not as I do, doesn’t cut it when it comes to being an effective leader! Where do you stand on the question, are leaders born or made? There would be no point in learning leadership skills if all leaders were born! … Read more about this episode...

Of course we are in business for profit! As well as freedom and enjoyment and to set up our future or perhaps leave a legacy, but we are in it for profit! … Read more about this episode...

There’s a lot of talk about leadership being essential for small business success. The trouble is it takes a lot of time and effort to create great leadership. … Read more about this episode...

It doesn’t matter how passionate or committed you are, sometimes you’re just too close to the action to see opportunities or solutions.  Check out the latest time-saving solution that I’ve found for calendar scheduling, it’s Doodle! … Read more about this episode...

A recent global study found that 94% of marketing does not work. For small business marketing can be a huge challenge. Getting it right without the huge corporate marketing budgets for testing and research can be often be an unsolvable puzzle. … Read more about this episode...

The old adage “ whatever gets measured gets managed” is a fairly common quote you hear getting bandied around the traps, but it rarely gets put into practice! … Read more about this episode...

You can’t build a great business on your own, you need a team, so your best focus is learning how build a team. Invest you time into mastering the art of building, maintaining and nurturing a team, and your business will be great. … Read more about this episode...

Being efficient isn’t always a good thing, in fact often it’s a bad thing! Being efficient is better than not being efficient but there is a much more worthwhile focus if you want business success! … Read more about this episode...

We are funny cattle! It’s amazing how often we continue to do things that just don’t work. Or we find things that do work and stop doing them! You might be thinking “that’s just ridiculous” but I bet you do it! … Read more about this episode...

We are mostly trying to get the best advice and guidance we can either for free or cheap. That advice tends to be very expensive more often than not because it’s just untested opinion … Read more about this episode...

Doing the opposite of what the majority of the population thinks is right is often a great place to start, if you want to be successful with just about anything. … Read more about this episode...

As they say “success leaves clues” and you don’t even have to be Sherlock Holmes to find them. They’re the habits that successful people perform daily. And guess what unsuccessful people have their habits too. … Read more about this episode...

The creator of Alice in Wonderland,  Lewis Carroll’s famous quote “if you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there”, really should be the small business mantra.   … Read more about this episode...

Traditional advertising on mainstream media is a waste of money for small business. Surely if you were going to invest money you would want to know what return you were getting. You need to know your customer to match the right message to the right media … Read more about this episode...

We all want to get the best results we can, as fast as we can with the least amount of effort right? So we need to know where to put our focus when building our business, so we can get the best return on our efforts. … Read more about this episode...

There’s some things in business that if you don’t get to straightaway, it doesn’t hurt too much, it can catch up. There are other things in business that will hurt you forever because there is no catching up … Read more about this episode...

The Jim Lovell quote mentions these 3 groups of people, I suspect if you’re even reading this you aren’t in the third group, but are you in the first or the second? … Read more about this episode...

You Can Kill Your Business With Your Mind, and I don’t mean like in the movie “Carrie”, but the way you think can seriously help or harm your business. … Read more about this episode...