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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
A motivational smack in the face!
“Beneath the bluff exterior of the self-styled “fat bloke from Manchester” is a shrewd business brain.” The Times
“…a northern Anthony Robbins!” Theo Paphitis
Brad Burton, once a regular in the dole queue, burdened with unbearable levels of debt, is now the MD of a multi-million pound international business. If anyone knows about sorting your life out, it’s Brad. But this isn’t Brad’s story – this is about YOU. Brad is here to share practical, actionable steps – stuff you can actually do – to improve your life, both at home and in business. He’s learnt exactly how to motivate yourself, focus on your passion, face setbacks and keep on moving forward – and now Brad wants to share these lessons with as many people as possible. We all have it in us to improve our lives and succeed – we just need a friendly kick in the pants from Brad!
Chapters include:
- If your only motivation is money it’s not enough
- 2 year plan. Forget it. More like 2 week plan
- No passion. No point
- Buy my stuff
- Eject. Eject. Eject. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore
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Seitenzahl: 183
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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Table of Contents
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
Foreword
#Justgoteasierbook
1: The Day It All Changed
2: Leaders Make Decisions. Decisions Don't Make a Leader.
3: Two-Year Plan. Forget It.
4: No Passion. No Point.
5: The Day It All Changed for You
6: Win Some. Lose None.
7: Eject. Eject. Eject.
8: Jenga!
9: Buy My Stuff/Never Trust a Skint Telemarketer
10: It's Only an Ambush If You Don't Know It's There
11: We Lose So many Todays Worrying about Tomorrow
12: Build It and They Will Come. Sometimes.
13: Experience Is What You Win, When You Lose
14: Sun Will Shine
About Brad Burton
Business Blah Blah Blah
Acknowledgements
This edition first published in 2013
© 2013 Brad Burton
Registered office
Capstone Publishing Ltd. (A Wiley Company), John Wiley and Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com.
The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with the respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Burton, Brad, 1973–
Life. business. just got easier / Brad Burton.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-857-08483-5 (pbk.)
1. Small business—Management. 2. Decision making. 3. Leadership. 4. Burton, Brad, 1973– I. Title.
HD62.7.B847 2013
658.02'2—dc23
2013018238
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–857–08483–5 (paperback) ISBN 978–0–857–08476–7 (ebk)
ISBN 978–0–857–08481–1 (ebk)
Cover design: Mackerel Ltd
DEDICATED TO
Wifey. B.b.D.
All those, who never gave up on me,especially my mum and dad ‘Frank’.
@DetectiveDenise never forgotten kiddo. x
Help Many.
Hurt Few.
Live Life.
Braddism
Foreword
I've spent much of my career as a main board Director of PLCs. In that time I've seen some huge changes in the way business is conducted in the UK particularly concerning updates in technology, attitudes to dress, the constantly changing economy and people's feelings on work and authority.
I've known Brad for the last seven years, firstly as a member of 4Networking before becoming a Director in 2007 and now at 62, Chairman.
In recent years, Brad has been ahead of any curve and as such resisted by those who would prefer to keep business in the past and in their comfort zone. Brad's demise as a businessman has been predicted just as regularly as his achievements have been denounced and ridiculed.
But his achievements can no longer be claimed to be a fluke, as he has seemingly been in the right place at the right time, for the last eight years.
At his best, he brings energy and vision, a driver with a clear focus on problem solving, often seeing the solution to any situation well before others even recognise there is a situation. A gift very few possess.
Whilst others may go around the houses, Brad has gone through your front door and out the back. Without stealing your telly. But things may have been different; from his council estate upbringing, he has changed his future.
He made things happen.
The ridiculous thing is that had he approached me for a position during my “corporate” career, I would have turned him down.
I would have recognised immediately that he would not (and probably could not) have played the politics needed to get on within a traditional business and would have, at the earliest opportunity, wanted to break the mould and do it his way.
That's the reason he started his own business.
He's largely unemployable, true entrepreneurs often are.
He brings such a wide and varied experience of life. Some will say he appears to be at times an intimidating character. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is emotionally hooked up to the world and will go out of his way to take on what he sees to be injustices in life and business, and fight for the underdog.
I've seen top-class negotiators underestimate him. And sit there afterwards scratching their heads as to why it's not gone their way.
I've seen him at his most confident, I've supported him at his very lowest.
At worst he can get too impatient too quickly, switch off just a bit too soon. But he recognises he is as flawed as any human and understands the importance of team and has surrounded himself with people he likes, knows and trusts.
This book is a culmination of his unique thinking on life and business, and if you start by reading this book with an open mind, it may well change your direction, in the same way I've seen his words and teachings change so many.
Including me … he's taught this old dog some new tricks and helped steer the way I see today's business world.
Anyone want to buy 30 years of ties?
When things are good, you see what a person stands for, when things are really bad and they are up against the wall, that's when you see how much resolve and belief someone really has.
Is this a book that will change your life/business?
You will soon find out.
@4NTerryCooper
Chairman/4Networking Limited
#Justgoteasierbook
At the time of writing I've tweeted over 150,000 times, amassed 100,000+ followers, so it's fair to say I'm a pretty active tweeter. When I'm on the road it keeps me focused, amused, busy; it's like having my friends in my pocket.
And as you read through this book, you can also join me on that journey. At the end of each chapter you will come across a # hashtag (think of them like filing cabinets for Twitter), as you read this ping me a relevant tweet, feedback, photo, whatever, I'll aim at responding to as many as I sensibly can. It's a bit of a novel idea or is that a modern self-help book idea?
Anyway do @BradBurton me with your thoughts, what is relevant to you, and any breakthroughs and feedback.
www.Twitter.com let's connect today.
1
The Day It All Changed
I was a seven-year-old boy, playing Space Lego in the front room of our terraced house in Salford, Manchester, whilst my stepdad watched the snooker finals. Suddenly the match went off and the BBC NEWS FLASH title appeared on screen. It switched the coverage over to the Iranian Embassy siege, where a hostage situation was coming to a dramatic and violent ending and for the first time in history the SAS were unveiled to the world's media.
That's when life first changed for me, and I realised that the world I'd been ushered through, the reality I lived in, wasn't in fact real.
Up until that point I was quite rightly led to believe it was all Tiswas, toys, Father Christmas and Beano comics.
Most good parents are masterful at creating a faux environment, to allow kids to hang onto childhood for as long as possible. This makes children feel safe and secure while they do their learning about the real world …
I'm about to bombshell you.
The grown-up world in which you currently exist is most likely also not the one you have been led to believe it is by government, society, magazines, the powers that be.
A job for lifeWork hard and you'll get yours.You'll retire when you're 65 with a comfortable pension.Trusty bank managerWe hang onto that because it feels safe.
Then we get to the end of our life, only to realise that the rules we've been playing by may have been the wrong ones.
Why wait a lifetime for that realisation?
The penny dropped for me a few years ago when I realised that the only guarantee in life …
… Was for its duration, is that you've got one.
What's stopping you living the life that you really want?
The truth is … It's probably you.
You may believe you don't have the skills, qualifications, the finance or simply what it takes, to have the life you want.
If you believe that, you are absolutely right.
So maybe the key to this is to start believing that you do have exactly what is needed to make the life you want happen.
Perhaps your goals seem so far over the horizon that they appear to be practically impossible and as a result what's the point, and so you don't get round to starting.
You just kind of … drift, with the days, months and years passing and before you know it, it's years of regret and what ifs.
But, before we move onto that, maybe I've got it wrong. Perhaps you've already got the life you do actually want.
Providing you're not in a public place, I want you to, without any hesitation, quickly answer this next question out loud:
What my life needs more of is ___________________(say it or think it <LOUD>)
What was the first thing you thought of?
Is what you said really lacking?
If what immediately springs to mind was addressed and fixed, is it fair to assume that this would indeed make your Life and Business that little bit easier?
What you'll discover throughout this book are lessons, words and stories, all written to show you a way through whatever is going on in your life/business.
These stories will stay with you and accompany you on your pathway towards YOUR goal.
None of this is about being mercenary or in any way needing to walk over people to get it. It's about finding within yourself that sweet spot, the balance between pace and progress while all the time retaining control and not unravelling.
This is a book that will change your thinking, change your direction, change your life.
Change YOU.
To a greater or lesser degree we all hide the truth to the world about who we really are and I see this heightened in a business capacity. We put on show, a version of ourselves to the world, because sometimes it's easier that way. It may be at first, but this can undermine your clarity and short circuit your own thinking as to who you are and what you stand for.
Right now there is just me and you, because no one else is reading this with you. So, throughout this book I want you to be really honest with yourself about your situation. Be honest about the little steps you are going to need to take (lots of them) in order to get yourself the life you want.
We are going to cover the lessons I've picked up and learnt along the way since I wrote my previous books Get Off Your Arse and Get Off Your Arse Too.
We'll be mixing business and pleasure, as I've checked with the publisher and we do have a laughing and smiling and AHA! licence in place.
You are going to enjoy this book.
Third book eh, so it's a bit like Return of the Jedi, but with no Ewoks (even though I rather like them …).
The first book was my Star Wars, something genuinely new that seemed to come out of nowhere. Although, if I'm honest, I didn't really know what it was. It's a mish-mash of networking, life and business all rolled into one, and in my business naivety I felt it would work and you know what? It did.
I'd accidentally carved out a niche. A unique approach within the personal development/business genre. It caused bookstore managers all manner of headaches as to which area it should be displayed in.
Self-help section or is it business? The lessons overlapped. Because I know from experience, if your head isn't right, your business isn't right.
Just because something doesn't have an existing label, doesn't mean it won't work.
Get Off Your Arse Too, like The Empire Strikes Back, was darker, as I shared the worst day of my life, not to be dramatic, but for two reasons. One for you the reader to understand that your past doesn't need to steal your future and secondly (which I didn't reveal at the time) as an insurance policy. As my profile is increasing I'd rather get that story out there so it can't be used against me when I become the next Dragon!
I'm joking.
Kind of.
So in some respects it was there as an insurance – if something was to happen to me, it's documented. That chapter of my life is behind me.
I have complete conviction that this book will turn on lightbulbs within you.
Illuminating a way forward for you.
Here you will find the most recent stories I've amassed. I now know what I'm looking for – interesting characters I've met and lessons I've picked up through my now, veteran eyes, all weaved into business, business into life.
One thing that has come through loud and clear is that I'm not Superman and that even with the ra ra motivational stuff, I have my own hang-ups and fears.
You probably do too, but that's OK. Why? Because you are normal.
But I have learned something very valuable …
That nearly every negative can be turned into a genuine positive.
For people new to one of my books, I'm the MD/founder of a national business networking organisation, 4Networking (www.4networking.biz), which offers a unique approach to networking through the 5,000 events we run each year across the UK blah blah blah.
Sales pitch over and I won't mention it again. OK, that's not strictly true, but I'll aim to keep the references to a minimum.
No qualifications. £25k of personal debt when I started my first marketing biz. Ended up having to deliver pizzas to stay afloat.
Back then, I was skint, as in really skint. A friend of mine, Jay, who was relatively well off with his highly paid corporate job, would bung me a few quid to help me out every time he visited, and I always remember he wore this amazing watch, a Rado.
I'd ask him if I could wear it. On my wrist it just blinged. I could see me having one of those one day, when I had made it.
Ten years later, the day arrived when I actually had the money I needed to buy one, so I drove to the jewellers at shopping centre where I had window shopped so many times in previous years.
This jewellers was an Authorised Rado Stockist. So no cheap knock-offs at this place.
For the first time in my life I had the cash in my pocket to buy my dream watch. The shop assistant came over and asked me, “Which of the Rados do you most like?” Clever.
I couldn't make my mind up.
Was it the pure black one with the diamond at the 12 o'clock position or the black and silver one, or the black and gold?
Decisions, decisions.
Then I had this epiphany, a realisation …
I didn't actually want a friggin' Rado watch anymore!
It had been the thrill of the chase. Wanting what you can't have. The magic of that watch fell away right then and there in the shop. I told the bloke that I'd have a walk around and think about it.
I did walk around and think about it and my thoughts remained the same.
See, that car/handbag/desirable thing that you've been hankering after is just no longer as important or attractive when you can afford it.
Ever since being a young boy and having a Countach poster and seeing one on Smokey and the Bandit, I'd always conformed to being male and had wanted a Lamborghini.
But I'm reliably told that the only two days' enjoyment you get from a supercar are the day you buy it and the day you sell it.
When I first started my business, I saw a speaker at a seminar gush about the power of a “dream board” and all the start-up business attendees furiously scribbled down this idea.
That evening, cork boards, full of inspirational quotes and pictures from magazines of dream houses were hung up in home offices across the land.
If you've ever done that, sorry to be a bit harsh, but put away the scissors and pins and do something more constructive to move you towards your goal.
Having dreams is essential. But wasting time incessantly dreaming takes you further away from them becoming a reality.
In life, there are talkers and doers and I'm both.
What are you?
It's just you and me here, so you can be totally honest with yourself.
It ain't going to happen unless you, yes YOU, make it happen.
My outrageous goal was to create a national business network. We achieved that and are now moving on to actively change the entire UK SME business scene.
In some respects, having reached my seemingly impossible goal, what now?
It's a bit like a youngster, who looks at photos of Everest and spends their life dreaming about the moment when they scale it. Then, as an adult having spent seven years training and two weeks climbing to the summit and taking in the breathtaking vista …
And then the penny drops. It's just a friggin' mountain.
People like Mike Tyson, who became heavyweight champion of the world and then his world fell apart. No longer any goal, no longer any direction.
Once your seemingly insurmountable goals have been reached, then what?
I now head up a multi-million pound international business created within seven years.
Those are my credentials.
Over the last few years I've also become a major motivational business speaker. Speaking at major UK business shows and high fiving the MDs of the big companies I'm booked by. It's my sweary, brash, no-nonsense approach to business and my trademark jeans, trainers and T-shirt approach when presenting that they love. Probably.
And then I get involved with business journeys like this, which highlight just why I love doing this … I'll let Chrissie introduce the situation to you:
I then asked her the question, “How do you know if the way you are running your business is right?”
Chrissie said, “I'm knackered and I work ridiculous hours but love what I do”.
My reply was, “Have you read my book?”
“No.”
“Read my book, as it will help you to answer my question about the way you are running your business, and a lot more besides. Not everyone is cut out to be self-employed, but the best thing about it is that you get to choose which 18 hours a day you work! Just read my book.”
“OK yes, I will, thanks Brad.”
A few months later I received an email:
The second I'd finished the email I picked up the phone – “Hiya Chrissie, did you read my book after we spoke?”
“No.”
“For f*ck's sake C, if you'd bought the book we wouldn't be having this conversation now! This isn't about me making £1.27 out of the book – this is about you sorting your biz out. Read both books, then let's talk.”
*click
Chrissie has since described what happened next:
