I Like To Think About Business Like A Cake. If You Don't Have The Right Ingredients - The Reality Is... The Cake Just Won't Rise.

I like to think about business is a like bit like a cake. You know with a cake you can put a whole bunch of stuff in, but if you don't have the right ingredients, the reality is the cake won't rise...

And business is a lot like that as well. There is four real, what I would call mandatory, 'Must Have' requirements. It's great to think about these with your business, as to whether or not you have them.

1. Abundance Mindset

The first one is an abundance mindset, and you might be thinking, why is he starting with mindset? Mindset can be as much as 80% of success in your business according to Tony Robbins, who is certainly an authority and one of my teachers in this space. What 'Abundance Mindset is about is that everything can be 100% right, supply and demand, customers, sales, everything. But  as the founder, as the CEO, as the leader of your organisation, you're actually bringing yourself to the deal so if you're not thinking positively, if you're not thinking bigger thoughts and dreaming bigger dreams, than you can actually sabotage a deal without even knowing it.

So having an Abundance Mindset as your default is just so important. The reality is millionaires think, act and behave in a different way and they even control their emotions in a different way to what the average person does. The other huge difference between the rich and the poor is that the poor and the middle class will do the work and then get paid afterwards. The mindset of the rich is they will get paid first and then they'll deliver on the product or the service. This is not something the read over lightly. What mindset do you carry?

2. Supply & Demand

The next real 'Must Have' requirement is Supply and Demand. I often tell this story of our Santa Clause suits business. There was demand for my Santa Clause suits, no doubt about it. I could of sold a heap of them, I'm a good marketer. I was getting sales. We ran out of stock and the supply was no more.

I remember having a conversation with my supplier, and he's like, "Yeah, sorry, we've got none in stock." And then he rings me back in February, saying, "We're good to go again." .... helpful right? Because everyone wants to by their Santa Clause suit in February... Not! So Supply and Demand was just a disaster in this example.

As you grow, you need to be able to make sure that you can keep up. There's a saying that one is the worst number in business. You don't want just one product, you don't want just one service, but you don't want just one supplier either. Make this a mandatory requirement in your business and don't make the same mistake as myself and thousands of others have.

3. Sound Maths

The next one is Sound Maths. So Sound Maths is talking about financial IQ. We had a business, propertybooks.com.au. We were actually doing really, really well if you were to look at it as far as the number of transactions go... But... We were selling a really small ticket item, a low-cost book around $30 and there just wasn't a high enough profit margin.

If you look at your business, you may be looking at sales but revenue is just one aspect. Profit is great as well but we really want cash. The fact is you could actually go broke but have profit on your books... Weird? So you want to figure out with your business if you're making sales and making profit, are you left with actual cash in the hand? That is just crucial.

4. Repeat Business

The last of our Mandatory Requirements for your business is Repeat Business. Perhaps you're thinking "why does he think repeat business is a mandatory must have?" Maybe you're doing okay at the moment selling just one item, but really if you just have one product or one service, you're really more of a promotion than you are a long term business.

The reality is the cost of traffic, the cost of getting eyeballs, the cost of getting people through your doors is going to continue to rise. And what is going to happen is over time (actually it's already happening) the less efficient businesses who only have one product or service are going to get pushed out.

If you think about it, it's really no different to when you were a kid, there was little convenience stores everywhere and then over the years they got pushed out by the bigger grocery stores or shopping malls. They couldn't compete anymore.

There's that saying of Love The One You're With which is true with your husband or wife or significant other. But it's also true with your customers. Genuinely love your customer. Genuinely care about him/her and don't just look at it as 'how can I sell them more stuff.' Think Lifetime Customer Value, think 'Ok, they bought this item from me, what else is of genuine benefit to them?' I'm really all about the win-wins.