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In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals the 8 traits of successful businesses.These traits increase the chances of growth and success immensely.The 8 traits of Successful BusinessesStrategic Plan: You must have a formalized plan to build a business, access and connect with your market. When you have thought about its strategic execution, you have already developed ways to find alternatives and take on challenges. Analyze and exercise based on this strategic plan.Market-driven refinements to increase value of your existing products and services: Have a mechanism to listen to your market and know what they are telling you. Continually adjust things to increase the value exchange with customers ultimately raising the price and profits.Committed vs. interested: Be committed to the outcomes and do everything that is necessary to make them a reality. Put the time and effort required to move forward. Challenges will come and in order to get t

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham reveals the 8 signs that your business may be in trouble."What are the things that I look for that might give me an indication that a business is in trouble?"There are 8 things to look forNo Growth or Margin Squeeze: A business is in trouble if it doesn't show trends in growth. The increase should not only be in revenue but also in profit. If it is lacking, the business can be considered to have a problem. We need to go back and evaluate what is causing it.Low Productivity: In business productivity is key either form an equipment, people or attitude perspective. We have to see how people treat customers, team members and each other. Challenges in having the right attitude means that we need to separate the people and understand the cause or dynamics at play.Loss of Market or Concentration: Profits will decline when there is erosion in market share and that is not a healthy sign. We need to

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham gives you a framework to make sure you know exactly what your customers want so they buy from you.This process is about taking and testing our products.For a product or service to be a commercial success, the market should believe in and buy the product. An entrepreneur might think that it is life changing and unique but the market might not have the same thoughts. Hence, before investing and going all in, we must give some serious effort to test our idea and listen to the market. Then depending upon the collected information, we go back and redesign things.Six Steps to Testing the Market1.     Create a Sample: Put your idea out there in a small way to get feedback from the market. The information should be used to make better choices and decisions.2.     Show it: Once the sample is ready, show it to some of the customers. Let them experience it so that they will give you valuable feedback.3.     What&ap

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham continues the journey and drill further into defining our customers. After we have an idea of who the CORE market is, we need to figure out the identity and persona of the specific customer we are trying to serve.Concept of and Defining the Customer ProfileAn intimate relationship with customers will help us gain their loyalty. It will make them come back for our products with great support. They will also refer us to others. For this, we will have to:Listen to customers: Focus on what they say and do. Learn what they are saying to others in different places. Follow their actions on places like social media. What we are trying to understand is their needs and frustrations. Participate in the conversation to get the insights to their actions.Discover what they are looking for: Examine the features that they want. Identify the changes that they are looking for by going out there, creating a dialogue and mixing with them. Know what is liked and disliked about y

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham digs further into understanding who the target market and customer is. Understanding it is vital because customers are the key to success. You have nothing if there aren't any customers that are willing to buy the things you sell.So, we need to develop a commercially viable product that is able to create a difference in people's lives. Those people aren't just your customers but everyone who is associated with your business.Concept of Market SelectionFor market selection, understand the six elements that we need to consider. It will help us to recognize our CORE market. CORE market is where you can have a Connection, Originality, Results and Excellence in.1.   Identity: We need to identify the people that we are trying to serve. Find their demographics like age, gender as well as their geography like where they live. It will take some direct research methods like interviews for getting this information.2.   Clarity: We need to solve three kind

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham answers a question asked by Cheryl about being a Thoughtpreneur. She asks about how I started and what was done first. She wants to know whether I did my courses or the book first, or whether I did them simultaneously. She also inquires about the time it took.When we talk about building an Expert or Thoughtpreneur Business, it's about taking experience, education and expertise to create a difference in people's lives. My journey in this business is a bit different as I came in as a CPA.·       The book is an offspring that came out of the 30+ years of business that I have done.·       The training course and live events were created to deliver my expertise, experience, background and wisdom. They were created separately to leverage my time consuming one-to-one consulting business.What I Did FirstI did was native and natural for me:I started with consulting.Then I started speaking and writing.Then the training programs were started.Then I did record

This episode #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham continues the discussion on the subject of value creation. We dive into these two frameworks: Value Sectoring Framework and Value Focus Framework.Value Sectoring ModelThink about where you are in the context of what you provide to your customers and clients. Place it on two axes with one of them being the connection you have with clients and the other one is the distinction that exists for you in the marketplace.There are four levels or quadrants in this model that we need to understand:1.     Commodity: It is the lowest in terms of connection and distinction so it is easily replaceable. Things like loyalty and relationships do not apply. The only things that have an influence are price and convenience.2.     Connected: There is a high connection with the customers but the distinction is low. There is a sense of loyalty but despite the good connected relationship with the customers, the product or service i

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham digs a little deeper into the ideation stage of the think up phase of business life. We dig into the concept of value creation. The only way to sell and generate revenue from anything that is commercially viable is to create value in someone else's life. Only then will they be willing to pay for it and you will receive value in return.Let us drill down into the concept of Value Creation Piece. After generating an idea, evaluating and selecting it, we create value. We can create value in these different levels:1.     Utility Based Value: It can be anything that performs a function to serve a need or purpose. The need might or might not be of high value. This includes all the commodity based products and services.2.     Service Based Value: When we give something more than a product or commodity, there are services, connections and relationships attached to it. This is value creation at a different level because we have attached a product with some level

In this episode, #1 Bestselling Author and Highly Acclaimed business & Entrepreneur Expert, Mel Abraham deals with something that many of us struggle with and it is fear. We talk about what fear is, its causes and the ways to tackle it. As an entrepreneur, you will have a constant battle to tackle fear and anxiety. Fear causes paralysis and it blinds our mind's capacity to see the options in front of us. You focus on the wrong things.Sign up to join me on a private Zoom call and accelerate your way to financial freedom at melabraham.com/coffee Join me for a 3-part, free live training where I teach you the blueprint to becoming financially liberated so you can experience the freedom you deserve!Register at affluencelive.com

In this episode #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham walks you through his thoughts on wealth creation and the framework as well as how to get out of debt.  Sign up to join me on a private Zoom call and accelerate your way to financial freedom at melabraham.com/coffee Join me for a 3-part, free live training where I teach you the blueprint to becoming financially liberated so you can experience the freedom you deserve!Register at affluencelive.com

In this special live episode from under the Sydney Harbor Bridge, #1 Bestselling Author, Mel Abraham answers a question about the importance of mentors, what to look for and how to get a good mentor. Importance of MentorsMentors are tremendously important for the growth and success of your future. We have to get the right mentor if we want to reach our dreams. They are like bridges that navigate you from point A to point B quickly and easily without having to deal with hazards, pitfalls and problems along the way. Mentors already know about such hazards and their knowledge prevents you from having to deal with the same.What to Look For in MentorsMentors should have travelled the same journey that you are looking to travel. They should have the experience to share so you may be able to face the challenges. They should be able to clearly understand your values, visions and ideals. Their own values and visions should also be in alignment with yours. If it is not the case then they will bring in-congruency into y

In this session, Mel Abraham shares with you his framework for evaluating ideas and the questions you need to ask to make sure it is the right idea, for you, at the right time for your customers.   In this session, we talk about the second stage of the Think Up phase which happens to be one of the three phases of business life. The stage is Ideation and today we deal with creating ideas that resonate with the marketplace. We also learn a way to evaluate an idea with the help of a series of questions or checklist. Sign up to join me on a private Zoom call and accelerate your way to financial freedom at melabraham.com/coffee Join me for a 3-part, free live training where I teach you the blueprint to becoming financially liberated so you can experience the freedom you deserve!Register at affluencelive.com

This session is a bit different. Mel Abraham shares with you a tale of irresponsible marketing that I experienced recently. The goal is to understand what marketing should be really about, how we can set it for success and the ways to create connection with customers and your team. The Tale of Irresponsible MarketingI worked with a service provider that helped me to reach and connect with my customers. Within a week, the CEO makes a blog post which starts out as "Death of the business name". It reflects on how the company's creator looks back at his four year old business and realizes that he secretly despised it. This story spans to three posts over a week and it keeps the clients in suspense about the future of the company.The idea behind it was to create suspense, generate attention and then share their re-structuring plans. The post generated a lot of attention in a negative way. The way it was presented, abused the pristine client-provider relationship.  He should have started with the re-

In this episode, Mel Abraham talks about the concept of goal setting which is the last stage of the Think Up phase. We look at goals differently to fuel, energize and electrify them, bringing them to life.We know SMART goals = Specific, Measurable, Specific, Relevant and Time-driven.There are a couple of elements missing with SMART Goals and I change it to "A Smart Goal" where A denotes Aligned.Aligned: Goals need to be aligned with your higher mission, vision and purpose.Specific: The goal that you're creating should be specific and linked with your strategic plans.Measurable: We need to make sure that goals are measurable because if we can measure it, we can manage it.Attainable: It needs to be reachable and realistic.Relevant: The goals need to be relevant to our outcome and the tasks that we are doing.Time-driven: Goals need to have a deadline to draw us forward. All these are left-brain stuff that lack energy, movement and emotions. If there's no energy, electricity and vibrancy attac

In this episode, Mel Abraham talk about how to create an elegant solution for your customers and your market. An elegant solution is the simplest way to get the greatest impact. It should be something that can withstand time and get the attention of the marketplace. It's the "Aha!" solution.An elegant solution will serve your market at three levels:Level 1: Dealing with the known and spoken problems.These are the things that are commonly known and talked about. Even though everyone is talking about it, we need to come up with a solution.Level 2: Dealing with the known and unspoken problems.These are the things that are not commonly talked about. It takes work, research and understanding to get to the bottom of this.Level 3: Dealing with the unknown and unspoken problems.These are the things that aren't even thought about. People aren't simply aware of these problems but they are coming at them.Concept of IDEA LoopsIDEA loops are used to constantly refine products and services. There a

In this episode, Mel Abraham continue our journey down the three phases of business life by digging further into Stage 1 of Phase 1 which is the Decide stage. We talk about the obstacles and challenges that may come up and the ways to navigate them:1. Are you in the right business?The right business is the one that is driven by your passion and vision. It serves at a greater level helping people shift their lives, and get solutions for their problems.2. Financing: "I don't have the money to start a business".There are different ways to access funds like debt, bootstrapping, crowdfunding and angel funding. We need to think about our capital requirements, costs as well as the legal costs.3. I have a hard time finding customers.To find the right customers you have to create loyalty, connection and relationships. Deliver customer promise by connecting with them at an emotional level. Know where your customers hang out, communicate and understand what they are looking for. 4. When do I quit my day j

In this Q&A session, we talk about the topic "Scaling a Expert Business" to answer the question sent in by Ron Reardon.The question is "If a person has a high-end one-on-one coaching business, which normally coaching is not scalable; what recommendations do you have to scale what can be scaled?"Scaling is one of the biggest challenges that service professionals have. For coaching business owners, there are four types of business models:Time Based: A model where you swap your limited hours for dollars.Sign up to join me on a private Zoom call and accelerate your way to financial freedom at melabraham.com/coffee Join me for a 3-part, free live training where I teach you the blueprint to becoming financially liberated so you can experience the freedom you deserve!Register at affluencelive.com

This is a Q&A session, where we answer the question sent in by Bill Parravano about “Angel Financing”.His question is: “What is your approach? How do you approach an angel investor? How do you find angel investors? What do you need to have prepared when speaking with them?”An angel investor is typically a past entrepreneur who has high net worth and wants to invest in ideas, management and things they believe in. The size of angel investment can be from $5,000 to $10,000 to up to $2 million. Know that, angel investment is not just a typical financing arrangement for getting returns on investment. It carries with it some mentoring, advice and control. Angel investors come together as groups to form angel investment groups. They make decisions as a group but the investment is done on an individual basis.Finding Angel InvestorsSearch for them online and you will come across different associations of angel investors.Go to AskMelNow.com to let me know how I can serve you and your financial journey

— Summary —In this episode, we continue our discussion of the key decisions you need to make as an entrepreneur. Specifically in this episode we explore how to gain market distinction through your core strengths.Of the three phases of business and product life framework, the first stage of the Think Up phase is the Decide stage and it comes before Idea. In this episode, we dive a bit deeper in the decisions you need to make as an entrepreneur.  We dig into the decide stage which relates to the concept of core strengths.This concept of core strengths deals with three factors:What are your Abilities?What are your Interests?How to connect these with the Market Needs that you're going to serve?If you look at these three as a circle or Venn diagram:The intersection between the abilities and the interests is where your passion lies.The intersection between the abilities and the needs is where the solution lies.The intersection between the needs and the interests is where your potential lies.The intersection be

— Summary —In this episode, we begin to dive into the three phases of business life or product life framework. This is the process that we use to take a product and business, and bring it to life. In a previous session, we talked about the concept that there are three phases that every product or business must go through: Think Up, Get Up and Reach Up phase.The first phase Think Up has three stages Decide, Ideation and Model. As opposed to popular belief idea doesn't come first and there are a whole lot of decisions and choices that come into play before an idea is generated and turned it into reality.When we decide on the correct choices, we're going to start to come up with ideas and because we're coming at it as an entrepreneur, we take on the identity of an entrepreneur first. After taking the identity of an entrepreneur, you can go through the most difficult path to reach the destination and this destination comes as the result of the "WHY".There may be more but these are the fou