Greek Philosopher Archimedes once said, “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I can move the world.” This principle applies to you, the Business Owner as well. By learning the power of Leverage you will be ab le achieve vastly more than you could on your own.
Essentially there are Seven kinds of leverage you can develop.
- Others People’s energy
- Highly effective leaders & Business Owners are always looking for ways to delegate and outsource lower value activities so that they have more time to do the few activities that give them the highest payoff.
- Other People’s knowledge
- Successful people are like radar screens, constantly sweeping the horizons of their lives, seeking continually in books, magazines, tapes, Blogs, Podcasts, conferences for ideas / insights they can use to help them to achieve their goals in business faster. You can save an enormous amount of time, money and headache by leveraging other people’s knowledge.
- Other People’s money
- Your ability to borrow money or tap into financial resources of others can enable you to accomplish extraordinary things. Every entrepreneur, business owner should be looking for opportunities to borrow / invest money and achieve returns well in excess of the cost of that money. The trick here is to borrow money when you do NOT need it. This sounds trite, but it is true. Borrow a small sum of money, place it in a safe security such as a treasure bill and in a few months pay it back. Repeating this process will establish your business a strong credit rating, positive track record so when you need the big loan for growth, expansion, hiring, etc. it will be available.
- Other People’s success
- Learning the strategies, actions and plans of successful people eliminates the risks you face. Seek out success people and ask them questions to learn the how, when, what, etc. of their decisions, their Business their lives. This advice is priceless – Truly.
- Other People’s failures
- Benjamin Franklin once stated: “Man can either buy his wisdom or borrow it. By buying it he pays full price in personal time and treasure. But by borrowing it, he capitalizes on the lessons learned from the failures of others.” Learning the failures of others is often where the gold lies in Business.
- Other People’s ideas
- The more your read, learn, discuss and experiment, the more likely it is that you will come across an idea that combined with your own abilities and resources will make you a or your business a success! However once this idea is known you have to ACT on it as only success happens when action takes place.
- Other People’s Contacts
- The power of multiplication and networking is well known. There are many organizations in networking to be involved with. The secret here is not to get involved with many however to get involved with the Right people, who can open doors for you and your for them. Swim upstream in your networking. Continue to go higher in the groups where the people you want are!
Becoming skilled in these Seven forms of Leverage will have an enormously positive impact as you relentlessly work to become more productive. Study these Seven, Learn them, and most importantly apply them to you and your Business.
By Mark R. Steinke
Focal Point Business Coaching of Pennsylvania
1.610.768.7774