It’s a list of all the things that could seriously damage our business.

I first heard about this from an employee of Twitter who’s job was to find flaws and faults that could cause disastrous consequences. She said that for Twitter a freak “1-in-a-million” occurrence can happen 100 times a day. For that reason, they have a team who’s job is to figure out the things that can go wrong; hopefully before they do.

My business doesn’t move at the speed Twitter does but we do have risks and there are things that could go wrong. So I thought we should take some time to explore some worst case scenarios.

I sent an email to our team and asked them what they thought could derail us and it was fascinating what came back. The activity was useful for several reasons:

1. It allows people the space to share their worst fears and have them addressed.

2. It gets people to tune into their awareness and look for anything that’s not quite right.

3. It allows you to stop mentally holding onto these fears; as soon as they are in a document, they can be addressed.

4. It allows you to get onto the front foot and proactively tackle things that might cause trouble.

After I compiled the lists from the team, I noticed that they all fit into 7 categories. I put them into a report, clearly outlined why these things could cause damage and how to address any of these problems early.

As a team, we’re now aware of major potential hazards we face, we have a way of dealing with it and that allows us to put more energy into moving forward. It frees up mental energy too.

As an activity, take some scheduled time to consider what is on your “catastrophe report”.

Read more:
The Catastrophe Report

Some people lamented that this wasn’t fair but it looks pretty tame in comparison to today where we see the top 8% of people in the economy earning 80% of the available income.

I’s happening like this because in every industry there are three groups of people:

Newbies: Just starting out and gaining their skills and talent. They are usually fuelled by enthusiasm to rise up and achieve big things in their industry although they lack the knowhow and training to deliver real value at this point.

Worker-bees: They are great at what they do but often go under-recognised and unrewarded despite having value to offer. Often their enthusiasm starts to diminish as they spend years doing more mundane tasks than they are capable of. Due to advances in technology and outsourcing, these people have become more replaceable and even though they offer value, there’s plenty in supply.
Key People of Influence: They earn more money, have more fun and attract more opportunity. They are seen as highly credible, visible and valuable in their niche. They have a renewed sense of vitality for their industry because they are involved in high-value activities like speaking, writing, creating new products and leading teams.

The key people of influence in every industry are earning more money, having more fun and attracting more opportunity than ever before. Social media and other technology is opening up bigger markets to these influencers. No longer are they local heroes, at a click of a button their message goes global.

At the same time, technology is also making the functional roles within any industry or business lose their value fast.

Until you are a “Key Person of Influence” your full-time job is to become one! People think it takes many years to become one, they think it’s about academic qualifications, pure luck, looks or charisma. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Becoming a key person of influence is about 5 core strengths that anyone can learn and develop.

Pitching: The ability to clearly communicate your message in a way that enrols and influences people into your projects.

Pitching is a vitally important skill. If you have something of great value to offer but none can understand it, you’re stuck.

Throughout history every great business, movement or cause began with a powerful pitch. People who have had the chance to talk to Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey or Lee Kuan Yu say that their words are almost hypnotic and they have the ability to convince anyone who will listen that their plan is worth pursuing despite all odds.

With that in mind, most people realise they need to work on their pitch. A pitch will often take place in a social setting, in a scheduled presentation, in the media, when recruiting, briefing suppliers and in every sale.

A pitch should be clear, credible, relevant and memorable. It is an act of leadership and yet everyone within an organisation should have some training on how to deliver a powerful pitch.

Publishing: The ability to write compelling blogs, articles, reports and books that people can read, relate to and share with others.

Publishing your ideas into reports, blogs, articles and books communicates some important and necessary messages about you. It says that you have insights into your subject matter that are worth documenting.

It also means that people can read your ideas and get to know your story and your take on things. In the age of Google search, your message can spread far and wide when you publish ideas.

Publishing says that you must be either an expert or have access to experts. We assume that in order to write a report, article, blog or book, you must have some expertise in this field or you must have been able to interview people with an expertise.

Beyond the benefits of having published materials, the process of writing is also extremely valuable. Microsoft founder Bill Gates says “The process of writing clarifies your thinking”.

Productising: The ability to turn valuable insights into products (or “productised service-offerings”) that can scale.

Most people trade time for money but to really make it as a Key Person of Influence you need to get paid for products.

These could be products that you develop yourself or you could sell other people’s products. The key is scale; time-for-money simply won’t scale because the more successful you become the more you will burn out.

The first step in breaking the “time-for-money” trap is acknowledging that it doesn’t work for anyone. Clients don’t want to buy time, they want a result. Businesses don’t want to sell time, they want to earn money as fast as they can fairly deliver value.

A product is about delivering something in a replaceable and consistent way. A product could be delivered the same way in any number of cities across the world. Even services can be built like a product when it has a name, a method and standards of delivery that could be replicated by trained employees or contractors (I call this a productised service offering).

Profile: The ability to take ideas “above the noise” and to gain visibility for yourself and your cause.

If you are lacking a profile you will forever need to chase the things you need. If you need customers you must chase them, if you need an investor you must chase or if you need a new supplier once again you fund yourself on the hunt.

Key People of Influence have a profile in their industry and hence they attract opportunities. Rather than chasing after the things they need, you’ll see them curating the opportunities that have arrived.

They are able to look through inbound enquiries and select customers, suppliers, investors and contacts they want to pursue.

Beyond that, a profile can often be the deal maker or breaker. More often than not these days people Google their contacts before a first meeting or before negotiations are finalised. A person with a strong online presence will clinch the deal whereas a person with a poor profile or no profile may raise questions for the other people in the deal.

Partnerships: The ability to form strategic alliances with other valuable people who can make things happen faster.

Successful people are well connected people. They focus on their strengths and find strategic partnerships with others who compliment them. Richard Branson has 150 companies inside the Virgin Group and most of them are joint ventures and partnerships.

Often people who are struggling are trying to do everything on their own. They make the sales, deliver the work, do the accounts, update their own website and then wonder why they feel run-down.

The illogical idea is that after they become successful they will then recruit a team, however this would be as likely as football player who’s kicks a goal on his own then asks other players to join him on the field.

A Key Person of Influence is focused on constantly finding new people and organisations to help carry their vision forward. They find a core team as soon as they can, they partner with investors for their capital, they JV with distributors and forma alliances with other well known brands.

By leveraging the skills, talents and resources of others, a Key Person of Influence is able to become highly more valued through the connections they have around them.

Over the last 10 years the management Gurus have told people to “systemise”, “automate” and “stay behind the scenes”. They tell you NOT to raise your profile and show the world how special you are from fear of being in too much demand and having a business that relies upon you.

In a world of ubiquitous technology, the competitive advantage lies in your ability to become known, liked and trusted by people, not to hide behind the gadgets.

The reality is that the greatest entrepreneurs on earth spend most of their time positioning themselves as the most important person in their industry. Think of Richard Branson, Warren Buffett or Sheryl Sandberg; they all do their best to be known as the Key Person of Influence in their industries.

In truth, unimportant people don’t make millions. Unimportant people don’t need systems because they don’t win the business, they don’t attract the team and they don’t hear about the big-break opportunities. Your main job as an entrepreneur or leader is to become a Key Person of Influence within the industry you love and then to maintain it.

Article by Daniel Priestley:
Daniel is the best-selling author of the books “Key Person of Influence” and “Entrepreneur Revolution”. He is a successful entrepreneur who has grown a global business with offices in USA, UK, Singapore and Australia. Daniel heads up a world-leading entrepreneur growth accelerator for experienced business leaders over 35.

Read more:
Why you must become a “Key Person of Influence” in your industry

In all of history, great companies, great movements and great investments began with a brilliant pitch. Microsoft founder Bill Gates famously pitched “we’re putting a PC in every home and on every desk in America” when he recruited his first team members and early investors. Martin Luther King Jr pitched 17minutes of a “dream” he had and changed the way people thought about racial equality.

Warren Buffet invested into Gillet (razor blades) after he heard the pitch “the internet isn’t going to change the way people shave their face”.

So it’s fair to say that a powerful pitch is one of the top priorities for any entrepreneur. Here’s the 7 deadly sins that can turn your pitch bad.

1. Un-clear – No one really understands what you mean by a “cloud based, SaaS solution with a disruptive mobile interface” means. If a typical 12 year old can’t get a grasp of your pitch you’re unclear.

2. Un-credible – I’m not talking about “incredible” as in “awesome!”, I mean the literal sense of “lacking credibility”. This is about you and your team being the ones to execute. Yes we all understand that the world needs a giant solar farm in the desert but what makes me think you’re the one to get it done considering your background is running a coffee shop?

3. Un-insightful – Insight is about pinpointing a real problem and knowing all about why it’s happening and how it can be solved. A pitch that says “I like yoga and travel and I’d like to run yoga retreats” may be lacking enough insight to become anything more than a hobby that covers it’s costs (which might be OK if that’s all you want).

4. Un-exciting – Maybe your business is clear, credible and insightful but is it going to keep people up late at night? Tell me about the big vision or how you want this business to look in 100 years, give me something that makes me feel part of something special that’s happening.

5. Un-actionable – A lot of people have shared ideas with me that tick a lot of boxes but when I ask “what do you need next?” they don’t have much to ask for. People want to know what part they can play whether it be to invest, to buy the products, to become a marketing partner or to join as an employee.

6. Un-unique – Without a doubt any successful business will be copied. If you can’t say why your business will continue to be different from all the other “me too” businesses that will spring up behind you then I might wonder how long this is all going to last.

7. Un-prepared – You might have great answers to all these questions but if you can’t deliver a smooth, powerful response in that moment when you’re thrown on the spot, it’s all for nothing.

Creating a powerful pitch is something that happens to people who work on their pitch. A great pitch isn’t something that just happens, it’s something that happens when you get the right people in a room and you work, role-play, rehearse and improve it until it completely lights you up. When it lights you and your team up it’s time to see if you can have that effect on others!

Read more:
The seven Deadly Sins of Pitching

I’ve felt for a long time that from 2010 – 2015 is a transitional “grace period” whereby the market will let you figure out how to transform your business and your life to match these new trends. After that, I believe that a lot of people will be left behind while a small percentage of savvy entrepreneurs do extremely well. From 2015 onward, you better have your house in order as the new, enhanced, digital economy really starts to take flight.

What that means is you have this year (2014) to really shift the way you make money and live your life. Get it right and the next 10 years will feel like you’ve got super powers, get it wrong and the next decade will feel like you’ve been robbed.

Here’s my top 7 things to focus on for 2014:

1. Free stuff – every business is now expected to do a lot for free. In your industry, the business with the most free stuff will scoop the market. People want free apps, free video, free PDFs, free consultations, free advice, free samples and free bonuses. The good old days of saying “I’m £150 per hour, take it or leave it” are over … They will leave it.

2. Your business is ALSO a media business – this follows from the last point because the only way you’re going to cope with demand for free stuff is to pump out media content. You’re no longer a “widget business”, you’re also a “widget media business”. Dentists, Architects, Fitness Instructors, Management Consultants and everyone else need to master the art of constantly pumping out photos, videos, slides, podcasts, download and software.

3. Your business is an IT business too – “We’re not very techie” is the sound businesses make before they die in 2014. Maybe YOU aren’t particularly tech savvy but someone on your team better be. You need to be fast at building web sites, collecting meaningful data, powerfully using that data and generally optimising your business online.

You need to know what’s worth paying for, what’s worth doing in-house and what you can bolt together for free/almost free. It shocks me to discover how many entrepreneurs are completely unaware that they are still paying £2000+ for something that is now available for under £100. A step beyond that, it amazes me how many businesses have 7 staff when 5 would do if they had a simple piece of software (effectively they are paying £60,000 p.a. too much!)

4. Your business must engage people on a mobile device – This is the year that mobile disrupts everything. The mobile is 10x more disruptive than the PC could have dreamed to be and this will effect every industry. When was the last time you had a conversation with someone and neither of you looked at your phone? 2009?Most people are Googling, updating and surfing their way through conversations constantly. This means your business must be optimised for mobile. Your new clients are going to discover you on their mobile device first. They might hear about you in a conversation and search for you that minute; what comes up in that search determines your income.

5. Your business depends on your brand – not your businesses brand, your brand, as in you, the person reading this. Very few businesses are able to get away with being faceless entities anymore. Like it or not, you will be Googled before every big deal. If you aren’t seen to be credible, you’ll miss your big break. You will also lose out if you litter the internet with cheesie, pointless garb or you try to make yourself into an “expert” when you actually aren’t one.

6. Time for money is over – before the industrial age, most people were paid on results. If you brought a bag of potatoes to market, you got paid for the bag of potatoes and no one cared how long it took you to grow them. “Attendance based compensation” was an industrial revolution concept designed to standardise pay for workers on a factory line. If you’re not being paid for results or products sold, you’re going to be devalued. Track what you are really worth and get paid for it.

7. Selling information is over – selling information products is a thing of the past. People are drowning in high quality, instantly accessible information. Most people have eBooks and audio podcasts by Richard Branson that they haven’t gotten around to reading, what makes you think they want to buy your stuff for £39? I’m a huge fan of releasing books, articles, podcasts and membership programs, but forget trying to make money from them. Your money will come from implementing the ideas you’re giving away for people who don’t have the time.

Read more:
Seven urgent challenges for your business in 2014