In my first book on marketing one of my recommendations was to start a marketing ideas box. The aim of this was to collect samples of good marketing that had caught my eye. It contained copies of brochures, advertisements from newspapers, promotional giveaways or anything that I felt was good marketing. The aim was to give me inspiration for when I was planning my own marketing.

There is nothing in the rule book that says to be successful at what you do you need to work yourself to death. Unfortunately, many business owners are so busy working that they are stopping themselves from being successful. If you work too much you wear yourself out. You can’t think clearly, you make bad decisions, you stop having fun, people close to you start to keep away, you start aging quickly...

Many enormously successful entrepreneurs have got to where they are with just one initial opportunity. This is the one that made them and started their career. Interestingly, these opportunities were generally created by the foresight of the aspiring entrepreneur and their ability to put a proposal forward, regardless of who the person receiving it was.

It’s hard to build a winning business if you are not in control and many business owners will understand exactly what I mean by this statement. If your business is running you it’s time to make some changes. Many of the tips covered in this book address aspects of this concept but you need to make a very conscious decision that you are taking control of your business and it will be run on your...

Way, way back at the beginning of this book I wrote about the role that passion plays in building a winning business—and I sincerely believe it is the main ingredient. But while it is essential to be passionate about what you are doing it is also wise to learn the art of detachment. In real estate we are always told, ‘buy with your head not with your heart’.

Checklists can take many shapes and forms—you might like to make up a template on your computer or you might prefer using an exercise book so you can keep track of past lists. Finding your own technique is important.

Being organised is a significant step in the right direction when it comes to succeeding in business. Checklists are powerful tools to help get anyone focused. Personally I start every day with a checklist broken into three categories:

Expansion is considered the natural route for most businesses to take. As the business grows and becomes more successful it attracts more customers, and it needs more staff to service the customers and larger premises to house the staff. But expansion can be a real trap if you haven’t got the money behind you to fuel the expansion.

I know I am generalising here, but it is a broad subject with a multitude of varying scenarios, however, I found this general openness to getting good advice a sound idea. Getting the best professional advice is a smart move and one that will pay for itself many times over. I wrote earlier about getting a professional to write your Business Plan, mainly because they can look at your business with...

As I mentioned in the introduction to this book I am fortunate enough to spend a lot of time talking to many financially successful entrepreneurs in a multitude of different businesses from around the world on a regular basis.