by Ahmed Muzammil | Jul 4, 2017 | Business, Entrepreneurship, Startup |
The last article I taught you about the six human needs. The six needs can get categorized into two. The first four needs are the “needs of the personality” – you will meet these needs whether you know it or not.
The last two, “growth” and “contribution” are the spiritual needs – these are what bring us lasting fulfillment.
Your top 2 needs become your driving force. While we all have the same needs, we value them differently. Our priorities for these needs differ one from another, based on what we value the most.
Quickly, determine your top two needs. What do you value the most? To understand the top needs, you need to look at your needs, your beliefs, and the emotions that are controlling you. You need to be the CEO of your own self.
And that brings us to the end of today’s article. Keep a lookout for my next blog where I explain the #1 thing that I did in the Tony Robbins’ seminar that changed my entire life.
by Ahmed Muzammil | Jun 20, 2017 | Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing |
In my last blog, we spoke about Certainty and Variety. It’s the reason behind:
+Why some stick to a day job and some start their own company
+Why some pursue a normal life, and some pursue an adventurous life
+Why some people like to eat the same food and why some people like to try new food all the time.
Makes sense?
Now onward to the next two human needs:
3. Significance:
The need to be feeling unique, valuable, special or proud.
The need that motivates somebody to become a celebrity, or an attractive person.
Or for some to show off an expensive watch or an expensive handbag.
Or for some to buy a Lamborghini just because that makes them feel significant.
4. Connection/Love:
The feeling of closeness or affection with someone or something. It‘s the craving for love, sex, relationship.
People act differently for some people because they like them. A rogue fighter, or a terrorist, maybe a very caring father and a loving husband at home.
That brings us to another paradox. The paradox between love and significance.
Everybody knows that you need to make your partner feel significant and let your ego down to be successful in love, or in a relationship.
If you don’t let your significant self, relax for the sake of the relationship, you cannot have a great relationship. Thus you have to find a fine balance between significance and connection.
Have you ever given up on something for the sake of love? Reply and tell me. I would love to hear from you.
by Ahmed Muzammil | Jun 15, 2017 | Business, Entrepreneurship, Startup |
In 2015, I was in a room with over 2000 people.
At a Tony Robbins seminar in Singapore. If you don’t know about Tony, the best introduction that I can give you is his very popular TED talk: “Why We Do What We Do” (Check out the video below)
The first lesson Tony taught us is the 6 Human Needs.
As a human, our six human needs define why we do what we do and why our actions are the way as they are.
A person who’s satisfied with all the six human needs is usually happy and feels more accomplished. On the contrary, they would be depressed and can even be suicidal. Today I’m gonna speak about the first two needs:
1. Certainty:
An assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure today, tomorrow, and in the future.
We want to have the assurance that there will be food, water, and air so that we can breathe and live healthily.
So is the certainty of making money, that’s why most stick to a paycheck because of the certainty.
2. Uncertainty/Variety:
It’s the necessity of the unknown, the surprise, the change, new stimuli.
You always like a surprise gift from your girlfriend or spouse don’t you?
Both the needs Certainty and Uncertainty are a paradox. i.e. Some people like more certainty and fewer surprises and some vice versa.
Who are you? Comment and tell me whether you like more certainty or whether you like surprises more than certainty?
In my next blog, you will learn about the next two of the human needs. My emails are going to be short purposefully so that you can quickly consume them.
by Ahmed Muzammil | Dec 28, 2015 | Entrepreneurship, Startup |
If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves. – Thomas Edison
I attended Tony Robbins’ “Total Success” event in Singapore last May 2015.
Here are the three things I learned from the seminar:
- 6 Human Needs – Why we do what we do
- Pyramid of Mastery for Peak Performance
- Decisions Shape Your Destiny
6 Human Needs – Why we do what we do:
As a human, we are dependent on the six human needs on why we do things and why our actions are the way they are. We all want satisfaction on all six human needs to be happy and to feel accomplished.
- Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure
- Uncertainty/Variety: the necessity of the unknown, the surprise, the change, new stimuli.
- Significance: feeling unique, valuable, special or needed
- Connection/Love: a strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something
- Growth: an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding
- Contribution: a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others
Read more here about the six human needs on Tony Robbins’ website: https://training.tonyrobbins.com/the-6-human-needs-why-we-do-what-we-do/
It’s an interesting fact, that if the 6 human needs are not met, that’s when people become suicidal.
Pyramid of Mastery for Peak Performance
What Tony Robbins mostly talks about is about Peak Performance. He’s a master of this trade. It makes sense to me because I experienced it personally myself.
About two years back, I was down and was on the verge of losing all the confidence I had. My BMI was about 33. I was emotionally down because of my body and because of my business failure. I wasn’t spending enough time with my family as well.
It’s all because I attempted a business and things didn’t go well as I expected and I failed. My finances were not in a good state at that time. I wasn’t able to contribute to society. Altogether, I was a depressed person.
That’s when I made a decision, which I should become the guy whom I used to be. I wanted to lose all the extra pounds that I put on and get back in shape. I went out and bought a Jawbone UP fitness band.
I hired a fitness coach. I worked with Andrei (my fitness coach and a good friend) for over a year now. I have lost 34 pounds now. My BMI is back to about 27.5. Slowly I started to gain confidence and became to perform at my peak state.
The day I attended Total Success was my transition time. Tony made me realize what I was going through systematically. (I like when someone lays down step by step on what it is and map it out).
The Pyramid of Mastery is about mastering seven different aspects of life. It all starts with the physical body. Does your body look as you want it to look? Do you have control over yourself and your body? Or at least, see some progress towards achieving that goal? That’s the start of Peak Performance.
Pyramid of Mastery from TonyRobbins.com
- Physical Body
Take control of your physical self. Be fit, be active, feed yourself with good healthy food. Fiber-rich sources are the best foods that your body can enjoy.
- Emotion & Meaning
Have meaning in your life. Are you doing what makes your emotional self-happy? Does it add meaning to your life?
- Relationships
Are you good with your relationships with your Family, your Friends, your Parents, Peers, Colleagues, and Employees?
- Time
Are you a master of your time? Or is it time that’s controlling you?
- Career / Work
Are you in a career that makes you feel satisfied?
- Finances
Are you managing your finances well? Do you have certainty?
- Celebrate / Contribute
Are you celebrating your successes, and contributing to society?
Nobody is perfect in all seven aspects of the pyramid. But we have to strive towards achieving the master over the seven elements. That’s when we are at our Peak Performance. I’m working towards improving each and every aspect in every way possible.
That’s when we are at our Peak Performance. I’m working towards improving each and every aspect in every way possible. For me, it all started with my physical self. That was an eye-opener for me.
Decisions Shape Your Destiny
During the Total Success seminar, Tony asked us to take a few decisions that we had been putting off for a long time. I made a few decisions that day, and that completely changed my life going forward.
I highly recommend you attending Tony Robbins’ seminars. They add a ton of value to your life and the people around you. Check out his website and find when his event is going to happen in your city and make a decision to attend it.
An enormous shout out to my Fitness Coach Andrei from www.programmerfitness.com. You took me a long way in my life, and I respect you for your coaching and advice. Check him out if you want to make your physical body under control.
Way to go for 2016, let’s make a decision to attain Peak Performance! Comment below, what you learned from this post?
by Ahmed Muzammil | Dec 27, 2015 | Business, Entrepreneurship, Management |
“Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea…Blood-eating leeches use their suckers to attach to the skin of various animals.” – Wikipedia
Wait, what? Why Leeches?
Yes, if you are building a selfish company like a leech that sucks the blood out of your employees, your customers, your partners, your peers, your competitors, and your family. And doesn’t deliver value to them.
And you want to build a $100 Million Business, Then don’t read this post. Yes. Don’t read it!
I read a few blog posts from Forbes, Business Insider, Entrepreneur.com, and some other popular articles on this. Also, I listened to a podcast from The School of Greatness on this topic.
I have distilled what I learned into a comprehensive list of 20 mindset changes to Take Your Business To A Hundred Million Dollars:
- Find a growing market – Market Research is key here.
- Keep your business Focused.
- Be the best – Dominate your niche.
- Promote Your Passion – Personal Branding – You are the face of your business, tell a compelling story why you are passionate.
- Disrupt the Market – Don’t follow. Dominate!
- Set Unreasonably High Expectations – Don’t be mediocre, Strive for Excellence.
- Client Referral / Viral Effect – Make your customers share – excellent customer experience and customer value can take you there.
- Create a Charitable Mission for your business.
- High Life Time Value (LTV) per customer – Go for High Ticket.
- Consume data – Market News, Ride the news, Growth Hack your way.
- Form Allies / Long Term Affiliates – Pay commission to affiliates for the lifetime of the customer to an affiliate.
- Over-Invest Early in Sales – Hire Salespeople to duplicate your customer acquisition.
- Stay Scrappy on Marketing Spend – use the free-ways to deliver value and build up your audience.
- Hire Wisely – Before you hire, give them a mini project to do that’s related to the job for which you are hiring.
- Build an Infrastructure at 20x of what you think you will need – Scale up your infrastructure early.
- Get out of the building – Talk to customers, understand the market, and their pains. Address them with the help of your business.
- Think monetization from the start. Freemium is dead.
- Hire all-star A players. Say no to mediocrity.
- Know Your Numbers / Metrics.
- Fire Yourself from your business – Systemize everything.
For a limited time, I’m available for a 30-minute strategy session. We can talk about how systemization, metrics, and processes can help your business to INCREASE YOUR PROFITS. You can schedule a 30-minute call for FREE at my profile here: https://calendly.com/mzee/30min
by Ahmed Muzammil | Dec 25, 2015 | Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing |
It’s the new year soon; you would be getting ready to set your goals and resolutions. Well, we all do. Are you someone who sets goals like:
- Make my company more profitable
- Get more customers
- Get more exposure
- Meet more partners
If you are, then you should read this post. I am going to give you a step by step formula to achieve these goals at the end of this post. Let’s rock 2016 together!
Subjectivity vs. Objectivity
Can you hope to lose weight next year and lose 10 pounds? Can you hope to get more customers and make sales? Does it even make sense to hope for the best next year? Hoping is high-level thinking feeling.
“I hope I can have a million dollars in my bank account” will not magically bring in a million dollars to your bank account. You need to work for that.!
Ok, maybe if you win a lottery then there is a chance of getting the million dollars in your bank account. A sidebar fact about Lotteries, there is a higher probability for a human in this world to get killed in a terrorist attack than for her to win a lottery!
Sidebar aside, and back to “Hope”. As you can already make out what I am going to say, “Hope is not a strategy!”. Setting subjective goals like the ones I mentioned above is like hoping for the best.
Subjective goals are broad goals that you will not be able to measure by the numbers. You can’t measure progress for a subjective goal as well.
To have clarity, to achieve, to drive your team, to reach the goal, you need to see progress. To have the motivation to achieve your objectives, you need to measure progress!
If you can’t measure it, you can’t see the progress. Not seeing progress will affect your motivation as well as the team’s motivation towards the goal.
Cut subjectivity and bring objectivity to your business. When you bring objectivity, you bring organization, you bring seriousness, you bring progress, you will produce results.
So, “how can I set objectivity?”, Is that what’s running through your mind? Let’s see that in detail:
Bringing objectivity means bringing three things to the table:
- Measurable Goals
- Measurable Progress
- Measurable Results
Measurable Goals:
When you decide your goals. Make sure your goals are measurable. There’s a saying by someone, that “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.”, Same way if you overwhelm with plans (Goals) then you are setting yourself for failure. Goal setting can fail you let me show you some examples of subjective vs. objective goals.
I’d advise you to pick one big goal for your business for the next year. And three other Key Three goals for making the Big goal possible. Let me show you some examples of subjective vs. objective goals.
#1 The Big Goal
Subjective: Make my company more profitable
Objective: Increase my company’s profits by 50% (From $63,000 to $137,000)
#2 Key Three #1
Subjective: Get more customers for my business
Objective: Add 1200 new customers by 2016
#3 Key Three #2
Subjective: Get more exposure
Objective: Add 12,000 subscribers to my email list
#4 Key Three #3
Subjective: Meet more partners
Objective: Sign 12 strategic partnerships
Measurable Progress
If you thought through your goals and set it as a measurable goal already, it’s easier to track progress.
When you track progress, it’s best to adopt the model of sprints. Usually, large companies go for a three month (12 weeks) sprint. It’s a short and sweet time period to make some progress. And to review your goals.
It goes like this, divide your goal measure into twelve and set targets for each month, where you should be. Note that, during a few months your sales may surge due to external factors like climate, or political conditions. That’s the reason the 12-week sprint is going to make more sense to you.
The point is that, even if you fail to make the goal for a month, you can catch up the next month, however, your hard goal is to achieve the Quarter’s goals.
There is a book on how to make this 12-week plan work out. Disclaimer: I haven’t read the book yet. But a respectable person recommended me the book. So, it should be good.
Here’s the link to the Amazon page, if you’d like to buy that and read more about this topic: The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months
Book aside, I’ve prepared a spreadsheet dashboard with the Big Goal and Key Threes and charts for the same to track progress. Read on now.
Measurable Results
In order to measure your results, you need to have the proper systems and processes in place to report the numbers in real-time.
The best way to do something related to sales and marketing is using a reporting tool such as Google Analytics, Kissmetrics, Hubspot CRM, Salesforce CRM, or others.
For finance, your existing financial reporting software can already do a good job. The free and easy way to get your finances together would be to sign-up for an online Finance software. The one I recommend is WaveApps, it’s free and also reporting is really good and user-friendly.
For other custom workflows and solutions, you can implement using manual process documents as I outlined it here. But the problem about manual process documents is that measuring requires manual effort and it will be error-prone.
Another option to have custom workflows could be by using google docs and forms. I’ll explain this in one of the upcoming posts on how you can use google docs to set up a workflow.
Even there, the measurement will be error-prone. Google docs are not the best way for you to build a custom workflow.
The best way is to use a Business Process Management software to build the workflows and also generate the relevant metrics for you automatically. You can go for custom software, but for building your business processes they are not the best way to go about.
Here’s the giveaway I promised: Google Sheet to define the Big Goal, Key Threes, and Track Progress For 2016
For a limited time, I’m available for a 30-minute strategy session. We can talk about how systemization can help your business to INCREASE YOUR PROFITS. You can schedule a 30-minute call for free at my profile here: https://calendly.com/mzee/30min
GET THE GOALS AND PROGRESS SPREADSHEET
