Future-Proofing Your Business E-Book

Troy Hazard

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 298

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

After years as a consultant to some of the world's biggest brandsand having owned ten companies himself, Troy Hazard has learnedcrucial lessons on predicting potential business issues before youexperience them. Now Troy offers you the skills to prepare yourbusiness for a better future. Along with his stories of what works,he also shares his experiences of what doesn't work. With a mix ofentertaining real life extracts, client case studies, and personalexperiences, Future Proofing Your Business offers potent andrefined tools that have been road tested in real-world situationsand aren't taught in business school. * Learn how to turn obstacles into opportunities * Break down business barriers created by bad belief systems * Develop powerful leadership skills through stronger personalawareness * Know if you're driving your business into the future or intothe ground * Discover how to make change a consciousness not just anaction. * Understand your future through a greater understanding ofyourself All through the author's extensive experience in his own companiesand as a consultant for major world brands Troy's philosophy on how to future-proof your business isanchored in one core belief: "Business happens in cycles. Yourability to manage these cycles successfully lies in how youinterpret information from the past and deal with it in thepresent, to be more resilient through cycles of the future." Troy Hazard (San Diego CA.; www.troyhazard.com) has founded and nurturedten businesses over two decades, turned around businesses that wereexperiencing enormous losses, and consulted to countless successfulcompanies around the world. These business talents earned himinternational respect, so much so that he was elected by theworld's foremost business leaders for the role of Global Presidentof the Entrepreneurs' Organization. For over a decade Troy has beena host and regular guest on many national television and radioshows as a business commentator and a feature writer for magazines.More recently he has become a regular voice of authority on The BizTelevision Network, the CBS Talk Radio Network, and the BusinessTalk Radio Network, and is a regular writer in publications acrossthe country.

Leseprobe

FUTURE-PROOFING

YOUR BUSINESS

Copyright © 2011 by Troy Hazard International, LLC. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN 978-0-470-63897-2 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-470-91845-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-91846-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-91847-0 (ebk)

To my grandmother, thank you.

I know you still watch over my future.

Mizpah Mona Blunck

1913–2009

Preface

It's the late 1980s. I had just opened the doors of my new consulting business when I got a call from a young bloke who advised me that he had been referred to me by a friend of mine. A fast-talking, no-nonsense voice bellows over the telephone, “I've heard you can help me with some things I need done for my business.” I sheepishly respond, “Yeah, sure; what do you need?”

“Let's meet,” are the next words out of this man's mouth—and the only response I get. After a brief conversation, we decide that we'll get together at an airport lounge a few days later when he will be on his way through town.

Fast-forward several days. The meeting begins with him pulling out a mile-long list of the things he wants done in his business. He prefaces the conversation by claiming, “We've got five stores now, and we're going to have 100 more; so we've got a lot of marketing stuff to get done.” He finishes reading his list and poses the question, “And we're going to franchise; you've heard about franchising, right?” “Of course,” I answer, while thinking to myself, “I better go buy some books on this.” And after all, he didn't ask me if I had experience in franchising; he just wanted to know if I had heard of franchising.

Forty-five minutes later the meeting was coming to an end, and I had to ask the question. “So, tell me, since you need all of this stuff done and you need it all done now, can you give me an idea of what your budget is?” After a pause and some flicking of paper—as if he was looking for the magic number—he looked up and said confidently, “I've got $5,000. What do you reckon?”

At this point, I figured I had two choices. I could lie to him and say that it would all be all right, or I could tell him the truth and risk losing the business. And we really needed the business.

I chose the truth. I figured that if we were going to work together, then we might as well start the way we intended to finish—by being real and honest. So, after another short silence, I responded in a very matter-of-fact fashion: “I think we're screwed!” A slow, boyish grin came over his face as he said, “I like you. You don't speak crap.” And he leaned over the table to shake my hand.

And just like that, I had my first major client—even though he didn't seem so major at the time. His name was Tom Potter. His business was Eagle Boys Pizza, and he was about to become a good friend and long-time client, as he built not 100, but over 200 stores. And my business went on to add hundreds more companies like his to our client list.

All of these great brands became part of the journey I took on the way to building a leading business consultancy. We had incredible experiences, learned wonderful things—and heard, created, and became part of some amazing stories. Along the way and over two decades, I bought and sold 10 companies and then sat back and said to myself, “One day I should write a book about all this!”

You see, I have this great job where I get to travel all over the world talking to people who run companies of all shapes and sizes. And the great gift I get from them are their stories about their businesses, lives, and the things they have done really well—and really poorly. The key thing I have learned from this experience is that at the end of the day the only way to achieve genuine success—in business and in life—is to be true and honest with yourself, when you are without the emperor's clothing, and when you really know who you are.

That is the way to look at your business today, if you are to lead your business into the future. In order to be a leader of the future, your vision and values must become part of your personal fabric of today.

Acknowledgments

My second grade teacher, Ms. Web, said in a report to my mother, “Troy could be Prime Minister of Australia if he only applied himself and stopped passing notes to girls in class.” My technical drawing teacher in junior high pulled me aside one day and asked, “Why do you let these other idiots in the class lead you on? You are a leader, when are you going to wake up to yourself and take control? Do you really want to be like them?” I didn't listen at the time, but those messages sure do resonate now. And for the simple fact that I remember those words so far down the track, I thank you both!

Now, so many years later I reflect and think of all of the people who have influenced my life.

On this most recent part of our journey, I have had so many wonderful people help my beautiful wife and I with our adventures across the world, in particular, the United States. We had one wonderful guide, without whose help, would have made elements of our life a little more challenging and I would not have had the tranquility and time to write this book. My wife's Aunty Stephanie has been a gem, opening up her home, her heart, and her knowledge to help us find our footing in a new country and, in turn, finding the time for me to sit around the pool with my laptop and tap out the final chapters of this manuscript.

To my good mate and bald brother Gomez, you too have been a wonderful asset to my life and a great support for me. When I needed anything you came, without question.

To my fellow Wiley author Kevin Daum. Without you helping me construct a better manuscript and, more importantly, a better marketing strategy for the manuscript, I'd still be trying to piece the puzzle together.

Many thanks to my mother, father, and sister. And a huge thanks to my “advisory board,” my inner sanctum, in particular Pete, Mick, Brad, James, John, and Tom—you have all lived the ride with me. Without your guidance and support, many of the stories in this book could not have been told, as so many of the positions I put myself in, I simply would not have dragged myself out of. Your words of wisdom helped guide me through. To my lifelong mates Steve and Bruce, I love coming home to Australia and having you remind me to keep it real.

And to our wonderful friends, John and Marita, thank you for the safe haven we have needed to rest and regroup in recent years. You give us the inspiration and energy to be better people and to find greater purpose to create a better future.

As a very good friend once taught me, people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. And with each book I write, I find that I have some of each of these individuals that have contributed to the story of my journey. Thank you all for being part of my life.

Introduction

The Universal Lesson of Business

Business today is no different than business 8 years ago, 80 years ago, or 800 years ago. It has a cycle, a flow, and a transaction process that does not change. The only thing that changes is what business represents to you, and how you let that representation affect your future. People are still people, and they transact with people as they did 8, 80, or 800 years ago. They will transact the same way in another 8, 80, or 800 years from now.

Obstacles in business are simply the manifestation of your fear-based reaction to what is going on around you at that time. And each and every one of those reactions you have today will, in some way, impact the way you choose to handle the future—as you are, in fact, creating the future by the way you deal with the present.

So, before you turn the next page of this book, I want you to consider that the things you may learn will not only help you turn any current business obstacle you may have into an opportunity; they will also help you in your business when times are not so tough and even when business is great.

I have learned what I consider to be the most valuable lessons in business amidst crises, economic downturns, and potential business failures. These are the times when I have stopped, stepped out of the business—if only for a moment—peeled back the layers of nonsense that brought me there to begin with, and considered what just happened to me. Then I gave some serious thought to how I could reinvent myself to overcome the obstacle, turn it into an opportunity, and continue to look to the future.

Sometimes that worked. Other times, it was just a lesson in pain I needed to learn to make me stronger for my next challenge or business obstacle—and to keep me real.

So, whatever your situation may be, I expect that many of the stories you read in the pages that follow will resonate with you. And if you stop and consider what impact you can make on your business with the information you take away from each of these stories, then I figure you may just be on a path to build a better, more resilient business for the future and a more purposeful life—one that will carry you through the tough, unusual, challenging, amazing, or uncharted times you may be currently experiencing or may experience in years to come.

No matter what space or place you are in right now, the key to surviving it is to get real, get honest, and get back to the true you.

FUTURE-PROOFING

YOUR BUSINESS

Part I

Take Responsibility

Chapter 1

The Lesson of Learning

“I used to think that in order to look like a successful businessperson you needed to sound like one. Now I know that in order to sound like one you need to first be one. And there is only one way to do that: Be open and show the humility to learn from any source you can.”