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Proft Module #1:

The Big Damn Secrets to


Being a Real Entrepreneur
that Almost Everyone Misses
2007 Strategic Profts Web: www.strategicprofts.com Page 2
Exercises and Resources

Table of Contents
Exercise 1: Your Business Beliefs 3
Exercise 2: Gaining Clarity 4
Exercise 3: Taking Your Entrepreneurial Trait Temperature 4
Resource 1: Creating a Sellable Business 6
Exercise 4: The Roles You Plan 7
Exercise 5: Foundation for Your Vision 8

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Exercise 1: Your Business Beliefs

Understanding yourself and how you think is a lifelong learning process. Because you are the source of your company,
the beliefs that you have about business in general, and about your own business in particular, can either help you or hold
you back. In many cases, the beliefs that hold you back are those that are unconscious or unexaminedand they might
surprise you.
This is a timed exercise meant to identify fundamental beliefs you hold about business. Get a timer of some kindstopwatch,
kitchen timer, a software time such as Xnote (http://www.stopwatch-timer.com/). Set it for the number of minutes noted by
each question below. Then get ready to write (or type).
Hit the timer button, and without thinking, immediately start answering the question. Dont worry about spelling, grammar,
or punctuationjust write.
When the time allotment is over, reset your timer for the next question and continue. Then, once you have moved through
all three questions, go back and review what you have written. Clean up any punctuation or grammar, fnish any incomplete
thoughts. Then consider the picture that this exercise has painted. What of your beliefs and background work? What will
hold you back? What needs to be modifed or unlearned to set you up to win?
Make notes about what you observe in this exercise and refer to them as you go forward into future sessions.

Question 1: What are your beliefs about business?
Time: 5 minutes
Start each sentence with I believe... For example:
I believe that it takes a long time to make a business proftable.
I believe that I will have to sacrifce other parts of my life in order to get my business off the ground.
I believe that the only way I will be able to be successful is to fnd a source for capital.
I believe that it will be diffcult to fnd the kind of support staff that I want and need to make things work.

Question 2: Where do these beliefs come from?
Time: 3 minutes
Before starting the timer, read through the list you just made. Start the timer, and quickly list the answers to this question.
For example:
My grandfather
My frst boss
My experience managing a team at XYZ Company

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Question 3: What does owning, running, and/or operating a business mean to you?
Time: 5 minutes
Having limbered up by answering the previous questions, list as many answers as come to you. For example:
Financial freedom for me and my family
A chance to create something of my own in the world
To leave a legacy to my children?
To ensure a comfortable old age

Exercise 2: Gaining Clarity
This is another timed writing exercise whose purpose is to get at issues that you may have been avoiding and that are
impacting your business growth. Again, you want to just write without a lot of thinking and record whatever comes to mind
frst, then second, and so on.
Take 3 minutes each to answer the following questions:
How have you been responsible for your businesss performance or lack there of?
What must you change in order to be successful?
How committed are you to building a successful business and what does that commitment look like?
What in your business have you been pretending not to notice?
What in your work habits have you been unwilling to address?
What is it that you know deep down is a problem in your business life that you havent acknowledged or that at
least you are avoiding?

Exercise 3: Taking Your Entrepreneurial Trait Temperature
There is a set of personality and skill traits that every successful entrepreneur exhibits. These traits, in fact, are critical
success factors for you and your business.
Review Entrepreneurial Traits to Cultivate in this sessions Powerpoint slide pack and score yourself for each trait using
the following scale:
1. This trait is absent or not well developed in my business approach.
2. Im learning but not really exhibiting this trait.
3. Ive started exhibiting this trait in the way I approach the business.
4. Im exhibiting this trait most of the time.
5. I consistently exhibit all aspects of this trait.

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The Score Sheet
After you have flled in the score sheet below, move to the next page and graph your results on the spider diagram. This will
graphically show where you are strongest and weakest in employing these traits.
Action Orientation 1 2 3 4 5
Resilience 1 2 3 4 5
Provide Value 1 2 3 4 5
Character & Competence 1 2 3 4 5
Seeing Things As They Really Are 1 2 3 4 5
Committed Yet Flexible 1 2 3 4 5
Always On The Prowl For Talent 1 2 3 4 5
Financial Discipline 1 2 3 4 5
Good Time Management 1 2 3 4 5
Make Tough Decisions 1 2 3 4 5
Autonomous 1 2 3 4 5

The Spider Diagram
Make a mark (an x or dot or whatever symbol you like) at the appropriate ring line for each of the traits. Then connect the
dots. This will give you a spider diagram of your entrepreneurial trait temperature.
Here is an example of how a fnished spider diagram might look:

2007 Strategic Profts Web: www.strategicprofts.com Page 6

Resource 1: Creating a Sellable Business
Like owning a house, one consideration in owning a business is its sellability. Whether you start out intending to sell at some
point or you have no thought of selling, growing the value of your business as a property should be part of your growth
strategy from the beginning.
The best way to create a sellable business is to learn from the experts. Your business advisory team can also be your
business selling advisory team, including your accountant, lawyer, tax expert, and banker or other fnancier.
BUSINESS BROKERS
Another advisor is a business broker; much like a real estate broker helps you sell your house, a business broker will assist in
the sale of your company. A business broker is a great source of all kinds of information. Here are just a few of the brokerage
entities with internet sites:
http://www.gwbs.com
http://www.woodbridgegrp.com
http://www.businessesforsale.com
http://www.sunbeltnetwork.com
http://www.vrbusinessbrokers.com
http://www.businessnation.com/Businesses_for_Sale
HOW TO SELL RESOURCES
http://www.businessbookpress.com/articles/business_articles.htm
http://www.business.gov/phases/getting_out/sell_business/
http://www.nolo.com (select Buying & Selling under the Business & Human Resources area)

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Exercise 4: The Roles You Play
This is a week long exercise, executed in three parts. It focuses on getting clarity about the way you are apportioning your
time across the four roles common to any business, both in terms of what is so today and where you want to be.
Part 1: Your Best Estimates
Mentally review a business as usual work week. How do you spend your time? Make a list of the things you do in your
standard week and then make a note of how much time you spend on each. Categorize your list according to the role each
item belongs to and add up the time to get a total for each role. Enter these times below.
ROLE ESTIMATED TIME/WEEK (hours)
Employee/Technician
Manager/Coordinator
President/Business Builder
Investor/Business Owner
Part 2: Actuals
Keep an activity journal for a week. Every day, keep track of what you do and how much time you spend on each task. At
the end of each day (or at the end of the week), categorize your entries in the same manner as Part 1 and enter the total time
below.
ROLE ACTUAL TIME/WEEK (hours)
Employee/Technician
Manager/Coordinator
President/Business Builder
Investor/Business Owner
How different are your estimates from the actual times? If they are similar, congratulations; you have a good handle on how
you are executing each role in your business.
If they are widely different, take some time to think through why there are differences.
What assumptions have you been operating under that might have caused the disparities?
How do these differences affect your business goals and growth?
Do you need to change how you operate on a day to day basis? If so, what changes are needed?

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Part 3: Your Target
Now that you know how you are actually spending your time in a work week, where do you want to be in six months? A
year? Enter those numbers below (refer to page 54 in the Powerpoint slide pack if you need some ideas).
TIME/WEEK TARGETS (hours)
ROLE 6 Months 1 Year
Employee/Technician
Manager/Coordinator
President/Business Builder
Investor/Business Owner
Brainstorm and make a list of what needs to happen in order to get to those time allotments. Use this list in your
business planning.

Exercise 5: Foundation for Your Vision
This exercise draws from the previous exercises and on fundamental aspects of your view of your business. Remember that
in order to craft a vision for a winning business, you must frst answer key questions that help defne what your companys
vision will be.
Schedule some time (at least an hour) in a location where and where you can work undisturbed. Write responses to the
following questions in as much detail as possible. As with previous exercises, write quickly and without thinking (to keep
the inner critic from speaking up), and dont worry about grammar and punctuation. Work for as long as you can; block out
other writing sessions if needed to get as complete with your answers as possible.
Review what you have written, polish your language, grammar and punctuation if needed, and make any additions or
modifcations needed to create your vision foundation document.
Questions
YOUR FOUNDATION
Why are you building a business?
What is it you wanted when you decided to go into business?
What are you looking to get out of your business?
Why is this business the perfect business for you to own?
BUSINESS PROFILE
Whats the business going to look like?
What is it going to sell?
What market is it going to target?
What elements will it compete on?
How is the business going to deliver on its promise?
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OPERATIONS
How are you going to run the business?
How are you going to break free from the business?
CUSTOMER
Who is your customer?
Why should customer choose my business over others or over doing nothing at all?
Why will they buy from you then your competitors?
Why will they buy from you instead of not buying at all?
Why will they recommend you to their friends and relatives?
What makes your business the logical choice for the customer?
How do you want customers to describe your business?
EMPLOYEES
Why should the best talent come to work for my company?
Fill in from an employees viewpoint:
I really want to work for_______, because..
Sure, I might be able to make more money somewhere else but I stay here because_____.
Why are your employees proud to work for your company?
What are they proud of your products or services?
Why are they proud of the way your company treats its customers?
Why will the most talented employees that could work anywhere choose to work with you?
MAKING IT SELLABLE
Why would any business owner want to own this business?
Why would your business sell for a higher multiple of earnings than your competitors?
What bigger companies may be interested in buying your company for its lead fow?

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