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Introduction to Little Black Business Books

Said it before, and here I am saying it again! Yes, wouldn’t it be nice if success in business came with a neatly set out instruction book that laid down a step-by-step route for you to follow the yellow brick road to the pot of business gold? Sorry, just not going to happen!

The truth is such a thing doesn’t really exist, although like happy ever after endings, the tooth fairy and anti-ageing creams we’d all rather like to believe it did. However, don’t let yourself be put off by that, all I’m doing is letting you know that success is a mixture of hard work, dogged determination, a small slice of luck and faith in yourself. And in case you think I’m heading for the spiritual, that ain’t going to happen either. When spirituality was handed out I was in the toilet. I also missed tall and willowy but we won’t go into that now.

I simply want to make it clear that nobody can tell you what to do when it comes to business, nor exactly how to do it – although if you’ve read my previous books you’ll know I do have a tendency to try! However that’s just congenital control freakiness and in the long run what counts is having the self-confidence in your own ideas. Once you’ve got that, trust me, you’ll find your own yellow brick road.

Of course it’s not necessarily always a smooth journey down that road, but in this book we’re going to talk about one of the most vital things you can do when putting your business together and this is – Get Your Business Message Right. Get it right and you’ll go far. Get it wrong and you won’t even make it out of the front door.

Will the LBBs help you and your business?

Well, all I can say with complete certainty is that like chicken soup they certainly won’t do you any harm. The fact of the matter is, I can tell you all the sorts of things you need to know, but in the long run it’s how you take that information and make it your own that counts.

And because this is real life, in the long run there are no guarantees. Sometimes we can be given all the ingredients for a superb cake together with an idiot-proof recipe and some efforts will turn out beautifully whilst others, it has to be said, won’t!

It also doesn’t hurt for you to bear in mind that as a general rule there is no right or wrong there are only opinions, and whilst the opinions of some business advisors and founts of wisdom will fit in well with yours, others will not. Don’t try to mould yourself to a way of working or approaching an issue that feels wrong. If it feels wrong to you, then it’s probably wrong for you.

Learn to trust your own instincts and gut feelings. They usually push you in the direction which will work for you and on the occasions that they don’t – well that’s just life isn’t it.

What you won’t find in LBBs

 A sat nav to Oz because, after more years than I care to remember starting and growing different businesses, the one thing I do know is that there’s no real set protocol; some of the time you just have to shut your eyes, fly by the seat of your pants and hope for the best.

What you will find

 Structures to put in place that will act as fairly solid and reliable foundations for what you need to do to make sure the message you’re putting together is the right one for your business and your clients.

 The sort of questions that you should be asking yourself and others to establish whether what you’re doing is bang on or way off course.

 Plenty of practical stuff that should make sense to you. If it doesn’t, ignore it!

 And last but certainly not least, a good dose of self-confidence. Trust yourself to know what’s best for you. So much of business is plain common sense and most of us have more than our fair share of that.

Your Business Message

Before you even think about your business and how you want to present it, think long and hard about who you are. Why? Because people buy into other people. Most of us have competition in what we do but the clincher – above and beyond of course, being good at what you do – is the importance of people liking and trusting you.

Would you buy a second-hand car from this man?

As we progress, in stately fashion, through this book, we’ll delve deeper into the ins and outs of why we take instantly to some people and run a mile from others. Naturally, what I’m talking about here is human nature and not the infallibility of its judgement, because as we all know, successful con artists are usually the most delightfully charming people.

But as, hopefully, none of you are out to do the dirty, I’ll reiterate my point: if you don’t let your personality show, in the voice and tone of your business, it’s equivalent to putting a paper bag over your head – your business is faceless!

And if you have a sense of humour, don’t be afraid of letting it show, although obviously this has to be tailored to your business or profession. Nobody really wants a completely off-the-wall solicitor, loads of fun to be with of course, but having everyone rolling in the aisles won’t necessarily cut it in a litigation case.

But you get my point – if you’re a naturally warm, friendly and sunny person don’t suddenly adopt a dry, formal and pompous approach, it won’t suit you and it won’t make anyone warm to you.