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BUSINESS 101

Businesses start and fail in the U. S. at an incredible rate.

Every year, over 500,000 people start a business. Within one year, 40% are out of business. Within five years, more than 80% will have failed.

What happened to the dream?

The key to business success is a process called "business development." Business development can be systematically applied by any business.

Businesses don't work by themselves; people work. And what makes people work is an idea worth working for.

The Entrepreneurial Seizure

The real reasons people start businesses have little to do with entrepreneurship.

The entrepreneurial myth echoes heroic efforts and self-sacrifice. However, the Entrepreneur exists for only a moment. What was the entrepreneur doing before starting the business? Working, doing technical work for someone else, most likely.

One day, suddenly, an Entrepreneurial Seizure strikes the Technician. Cut the cord! Be the boss!

The Fatal Assumption

The Entrepreneurial Seizure started the business. But the Technician went to work. When starting a business, Technicians make this fatal assumption:

If you're an expert in the technical work of a business,
you'll be an expert in a business that does the technical work.

Knowing the technical work of the business becomes the new Entrepreneur's biggest liability! É And the BIG IDEA, the entrepreneurial dream, turns into the Technician's nightmare!

Why? The technical work of a business and the business of doing the technical work are two different things!

The solution is to learn how to make the business work.

Making the Business Model Work

If the results in your business depend on extraordinary people, it's not duplicable. Sooner or later you'll have problems because your results depend on specific people.

Great businesses depend on great systems, not great people. You can duplicate systems, but not people. If your business can't duplicate salable results, it won't survive. Duplication is Nature's Law of Survival.

Extraordinary people don't build great businesses. Ordinary people build great businesses by producing extraordinary results using a duplicable system.

It's impossible to produce consistent results in a business that requires extraordinary people. (Typically, an "all-star" team produces mediocre results. Why? They're not using a proven system. Besides, everyone is too busy trying to be THE STAR!)

Instead, develop a result producing SYSTEM that amplifies ordinary skills into extraordinary results!

Therefore, don't waste your time looking for extraordinary widget makers. Develop a wiget making SYSTEM ordinary people can use to produce extraordinary widgets. Predictably. Affordably.

Don't look for the best accountant. Develop an accounting SYSTEM anyone can use. Predictably. Affordably.

Don't look for the best salesperson. Develop a sales SYSTEM anyone can use. Predictably. Affordably.

Here are some basic rules for building a duplicable business (called "model" below):

  • The model will stand out as a place of impeccable order.
  • All work on the model will be documented in Operations Manuals.
  • The model will provide a uniformly predictable service to the customer.
  • The model will use a consistent standard for color, facilities, and dress.

How Do I Know?

I've been through it, having either started or participated in several entrepreneurial ventures.

By 1984, I had worked for start-ups like Scientific Data Systems, Trans-A-File, and Credex. I had founded my own ventures: Documentation Express, Safari Studios, Talisman Party, and Senior Management Services. In every case, I made the Fatal Assumption. I turned my entrepreneurial dreams into technician's nightmares!

As a result, I immersed myself in business development. From '84 until '92, I spent thousands of hours developing and documenting my "franchise prototype."

Why a franchise prototype?

Because most franchises succeed, while most start-ups fail. Successful franchises have an idea worth working for. And, they have a documented management system É documented strategies and plans É documented business processes É etc.

During the development of my prototype, I paid many thousands of dollars to the Michael Thomas Corporation, a consulting firm. There, I was personally trained by Michael Gerber, Tom Travisano, Ilene Gerber, Jeanne Martin, Richard Chambers, Robert Vickery, Paul Anderson, Carolyn Martin, Paul Anderson and others.

This training was not fancy MBA theory. It was real-world application in real-world business. I studied, learned and applied. Day after day, month after month.

One day, I invited them to my office to see how I had computerized the franchise prototype. They were blown away! To summarize, my franchise prototype is worth a fortune!

Someday I may sell the whole package. Until then, I am prepared to tailor pieces of it to your business. This would save you a lot of time, trouble, and expense.

The upside is: business development works. The downside is: business development is never done. (The only constant is change.) By now, I think you've got the idea. I hope to assist your success, too.

To your health and wealth,

Mike Hayden


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