Teik Oh

How to implement lasting change in your business

Jun 09 2015

We know that death and taxes are constant. Well, when you are in business, change is also constant.

There’s an old saying – “if you do nothing, something terrible happens….nothing”.

In business change can be demanded by the market, by your customers changing, by new trends and technologies, by changing team members and by your own changing life goals. If you don’t change, one of these things will jump out an bite you and if you don’t respond, your business will inevitably suffer.

But if you’ve ever tried to change something in your business, have you found that it may have worked for a while, then after some time, people slip back into their old ways. Or, it has been impossible to put through a change because people just don’t want anything to do with it!

Why is that?

Because change has to be implemented by people, and people just hate change.

You know how it is. You get comfortable doing the same things over and over again. In fact you get really good at it that you can do it in your sleep, with your eyes closed! You get so good at it that you start to justify why you don’t need to change – it would cost too much, you would need retraining, it would take a long time to be as efficient as the way you have been doing it because you can do it in your sleep, with your eyes closed.

You even say this when the need for change is staring you in the face.

Your product is getting old. New entrants into the market are using mobile apps to deliver your product. Yet you say “they’re not as good, they don’t go into the detail like your hands on approach can provide”. While that may be true enough your customers are voting with your feet. Remember Kodak had the best film processing chain in the world. They stuck to what they knew because it was so good. Meanwhile customers started buying better and better digital cameras.

So, how do you implement change in your business that will “stick”?

Here’s those 8 steps again:-

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7 Pillars of entrepreneural success

Jun 08 2015

I intend to give the readers of my blog value – thousands of dollars of value – for free with each post.

In my consulting practice I can charge up to $5,000 a day for my advice and in consulting engagements on start-ups, business diagnoses, strategic planning and marketing. Honestly, the time it takes me to prepare the information in these posts, and the value of the 30 plus years of experience I bring to these tips and tools, make each post of around $2,000 in value.

And you get it for free!

But the value I can give you doesn’t just rest in my own head. Sometimes I come across great articles about business and entrepreneurs that I can’t resist sharing with you.

And hey, it means I get 3 or 4 hours off not having to write or film another post of my own!

This week I came across a great article by Macquarie Bank about the 7 Pillars of being a successful entrepreneurial business:-

Be patient
Grow expertise by building your business organically
Be disciplined with cost management
Hire industry experts where needed
Empower your people
Keep the essence of your business alive
Stay on top of new technologies and innovations.

Here’s the link to the article:-

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How to grow your business with no external capital

Jun 05 2015

You’ve started your business. You may have been running a few years and you are now at a stage where you need some capital to organically grow your business to its next stage.

We all want to see our businesses grow into something bigger, but finding external capital is difficult these days. Where are the angels when you need them, especially if you don’t want to go into debt?

Well there are things you can do to grow your business from within. Watch this week’s video to see what you can do.

Remember – there are always innovative ways to find capital from within your business. Sure, if you could get an injection of $250,000 to half a million, what you could do to your business! But when it’s not there, it’s not there and your growth will have to be organic and a little bit slower. But grow you can.

As always the fun starts after you watch the video – what do you think? What are your ideas or experiences in finding organic capital?

Get over to https://teikoh.com and leave a comment. Better still, sign up at here and be part of the Masterclass conversation!

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Starting in Business

Jun 01 2015

Are you thinking of starting your own business?

A 2014 survey showed that it is the dream of almost 60% of people in employment. I don’t know how many people not in employment wish to start a business, but either people in jobs really hate their jobs or it is built in to our genes that we want to be masters of our own destiny.

So if you want to start a business, what do you need to know?

In my opinion, having helped many successful start-ups over the last 30 years (and nursed a few failures!) I believe what you need to know is the answer to two basic questions.

Firstly, how will my business grow and prosper over many years? And secondly, what are the basic supports I need when I start?

Let’s deal with the first question first – how will your business grow and prosper over many years?

To answer this question you need information about the following:-

What kind of person am I?
What exactly is my business?
What skills do I need?
What money will I need?
What is my plan to grow and prosper?

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Starting a business involves sacrifices – what might they be?

May 29 2015

Well, the title says it all. Starting your own business involves making sacrifices. I’m sure you have been thinking of some of them already but I think it’s useful to be prepared for what might come.

Starting your own business can be incredibly rewarding. It’s usually about following a dream. Some of you are perhaps a little more down to earth. “Oh no'” you say, “it’s not a dream, I just want to work for myself!”

Well, that’s a dream isn’t it? Whatever the form, you have decided to start your own business to achieve something – your independence, a lifestyle, to make a difference, to be recognised, to create.

However the reality for most of us is that the startup phase is long and hard. Your dream is not going to be achieved in that first few months or even year. In that time you have to work hard, work smart, spend a lot of time on it, choose to invest in it instead of something else. This is when the sacrifices start to be asked of you.

So, it’s better to recognise that some of these sacrifices will have to be met now rather than be surprised by them. But remember your dream – that’s why you are making these sacrifices.

I’d love to hear about your journey. Get over to the website and leave a comment about what you have sacrificed and was it worth it.

At https://teikoh.com you will find more tools and resources to create strategies to grow your business. Sign up with your email and name and I’ll make sure you don’t miss a thing!

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