In my book, The 7C’s Of Why, which is a cut-down version of this entire course and designed as a companion to this course material, I refer to the biggest lie in business and the worst kept secret. If you are reading this, you may also have bought the book and are familiar with the point I wanted to make. Either way, I think it is worth reminding you of this, as I believe it to be crucial in the adjustment to a winning or successful mindset; here is a short reminder:
I am sorry to say that some online business development resources and educational materials are complicit in the widely-accepted but misleading information they base some of their materials and strategies on. You will be pulled in multiple directions when you seek advice and support for yourself and your business. This program is different and is based on real-world experience that I have gained personally over the years of running my businesses and, more importantly, working with others on the development of their business projects; we add to this the knowledge and experience of some truly successful entrepreneurs and business people from the present and recent past.
You may feel your business needs something currently missing or in short supply, such as sales. If you seek support, you can take several roads, and the more you talk to people, the more comprehensive the range of options becomes. Those specialising in sales will pull you toward sales process and sales training, or perhaps lead generation or funnels. Those in marketing will want you to consider SEO, PPC, your ideal client and, more recently, your Value ladders’ construction. As you can imagine, the list can go on into a variety of other subjects relating to the development of your business.
Each specialist will want you to focus on their area of specialisation as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the silver bullet to answer all your questions. I advise you to pause and do your homework first; that is what this course is about.
The proper solution is somewhat different to what the focused subject expert wants you to take. Far too many of these experts have a misaligned agenda which is less about serving you and more about generating a client. I say this simply because if the agenda is to serve, they would first make sure you had all the information and all the foundations in place first, which in some cases would need them and you to accept that you may not be ready for their solution right now.
The delay in using them is, in reality, no delay. On the contrary, the delay will create greater value for them and you allowing both parties a far greater opportunity for success and longevity of the relationship. Before we look at the appropriate ultimate solution, I want you to understand the story behind the biggest lie and the worst secret in business.
Calling it ‘The biggest lie’ is possibly over-egging the cake, but I do that because I want to get your attention. The popular view is that many start-ups and small businesses, mainly micro-businesses, are destined to fail in the early years, and only a few will survive. When you dig a little deeper, you will find a list of popular reasons for this failure. This is where the lie starts. If we exclude ‘acts of god’, we are left with a list of causes that are not causes, but the symptoms of something more profound that is too uncomfortable to consider, so we choose not to. Too painful because it is a direct reflection of our abilities or, in fact, our inabilities, and nobody wants to consider that.
Therefore, in a nutshell, what I am saying is this; lack of planning, lack of cash flow, lack of understanding of business concepts, lack of market understanding, lack of data and the lack of knowledge of data, lack of disaster planning, lack of sales; these are all symptoms not causes. You are the cause, and that is the worst-kept secret that goes hand in glove with the biggest lie about business failure.
So rather than doing what everyone else does and ignoring the obvious, preferring to peddle solutions that will treat the symptoms, not cure the cause. I chose to design a new program delivered in a unique way that deals with the reason and, in so doing, gets rid of the symptoms. That is why we need another development program, and that is why The Rainmakers Club was launched and why at its centre lies the development program we call the 7C’s.
The program gives you all you need to avoid the symptoms and create an exceptional business. This is about understanding how to run a business before outsourcing it to others. If you don’t know what they are doing, how can you judge that they are doing it the right way for you?