The Power of Leverage in Business and Life
Contributed By
Leverage is a general term for any technique to multiply gains and
losses. By applying the concept and power of leverage, you can achieve a
lot more in both business and life. Without the power of leverage, your
rewards are restricted to only the amount of work or energy you,
yourself can put into a task.
You may work tirelessly, but your rewards are limited to just that work and you would have to continue to expend that same amount of energy and time in order to produce the same (or similar) results moving into the future.
By properly utilizing leverage in a situation, you can work less and get greater rewards. Here are just a few ways to put leverage to work for you.
People.
One of the greatest examples in activating a large group of people to help you achieve your goals is Mary Kay and her business. She has built an empire around engaging the aspirations and energy of likeminded women.
“I would rather earn 1% off of 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.” - J. Paul Getty, American Industrialist.
This principle is the foundation of business. You can easily multiply your output (product, service) by adding more inputs (people). A company with 1,000 employees can achieve much more than a competitor in the same industry that has just 10 employees.
Education.
Why not learn from others? You can avoid learning from the “mistakes,” so affectionately called experience, if you are willing to learn from others who have already made those same mistakes before you.
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn, American Entrepreneur.
“If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.” - Robert Kiyosaki, Author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
As Warren Buffett put it, it’s better to hang out with people who are better than you. Pick out associates whose skills or behavior is better than yours, and you’ll drift in that direction.
Technology.
Make use of the technology that is at your disposal. Take the time to actively continue learning about new technologies and tools that can help make aspects of your life and work more efficient. For example, the advent of powerful mobile phones and tablets has meant that you’re able to take your office with you on-the-go.
One person today can do the work of a 10 a person team through the proper use of business automation processes. Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, salespeople can automatically and effortlessly track which stage of the sales pipeline their leads or customers are in, track important notes & details, and gather valuable insights that would not have been possible just 10 years ago.
Systems.
McDonalds is the ultimate example of using systems, together with franchising to create unstoppable leverage. One definition of leverage is to divide in order to multiply. Long ago, McDonalds began franchising their restaurant locations and were able to reach all corners of the world because they’ve put into place such an incredible infrastructure, supply chain network, and brand name.
Marketing.
Leopards only hunt for a meal when they’re hungry, and in fact not usually until they are nearly starving. Yet once they are fed, they will take their kill into a tree and rest on their gluttony. Leopards truly live a life of feast or famine.
Spiders, on the other hand put all of their effort into building their web (network), and once that’s done, they stand by and wait for their food to come to them.
Would you rather hunt like a leopard to hunt like a spider?
Financial.
Financial leverage refers to the use of debt to acquire additional assets.
The most recent financial crisis of 2007–2009, like many previous financial crises, was blamed in part on “excessive leverage.” However, the word is used in several different senses. Consumers in many developed countries borrowed large amounts of money. For most of this, “leverage” is a euphemism as the borrowing was used to support consumption, rather than to lever something that would provide a return on the investment. Only people who borrowed for investment, such as speculative house purchases or buying stocks, were using leverage in the financial sense.
Here are 7 forms of leverage in business with examples of each.
Where can you find leverage in your business? Want some ideas on how to get started, I would love to hear from you.
John Nieuwenburg is an award winning Business Coach who has worked
with hundreds of clients.
There are almost as many different ways of delivering business coaching
as there are business coaches. John coaches in 3 primary areas.
Transactional: getting things done using proven tools, strategies and
techniques. Transformational: working with you to make the shifts in
mindset needed to facilitate success. Accountability: helping you to
stay accountable for the results you have chosen that up until now may
have been just a dream.
In an earlier life John was the Managing Director of the BC Liquor
Stores that now does $2.8 Billion in revenue with a net income of $911
million. Before that he was an Executive with a national menswear
retailer. When not coaching John hangs out with his fiancée Jennifer!
John enjoys golf, skiing, running and reading.
Business Coach | Strategic Plan Facilitator | Business Workshop Leader | Keynote Speaker | Getting you Results!
Source: https://www.popexpert.com/content/career-mentoring/john-nieuwenburg/the-power-of-leverage-in-business-life
You may work tirelessly, but your rewards are limited to just that work and you would have to continue to expend that same amount of energy and time in order to produce the same (or similar) results moving into the future.
By properly utilizing leverage in a situation, you can work less and get greater rewards. Here are just a few ways to put leverage to work for you.
People.
One of the greatest examples in activating a large group of people to help you achieve your goals is Mary Kay and her business. She has built an empire around engaging the aspirations and energy of likeminded women.
“I would rather earn 1% off of 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.” - J. Paul Getty, American Industrialist.
This principle is the foundation of business. You can easily multiply your output (product, service) by adding more inputs (people). A company with 1,000 employees can achieve much more than a competitor in the same industry that has just 10 employees.
Education.
Why not learn from others? You can avoid learning from the “mistakes,” so affectionately called experience, if you are willing to learn from others who have already made those same mistakes before you.
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn, American Entrepreneur.
“If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.” - Robert Kiyosaki, Author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
As Warren Buffett put it, it’s better to hang out with people who are better than you. Pick out associates whose skills or behavior is better than yours, and you’ll drift in that direction.
Technology.
Make use of the technology that is at your disposal. Take the time to actively continue learning about new technologies and tools that can help make aspects of your life and work more efficient. For example, the advent of powerful mobile phones and tablets has meant that you’re able to take your office with you on-the-go.
One person today can do the work of a 10 a person team through the proper use of business automation processes. Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, salespeople can automatically and effortlessly track which stage of the sales pipeline their leads or customers are in, track important notes & details, and gather valuable insights that would not have been possible just 10 years ago.
Systems.
McDonalds is the ultimate example of using systems, together with franchising to create unstoppable leverage. One definition of leverage is to divide in order to multiply. Long ago, McDonalds began franchising their restaurant locations and were able to reach all corners of the world because they’ve put into place such an incredible infrastructure, supply chain network, and brand name.
Marketing.
Leopards only hunt for a meal when they’re hungry, and in fact not usually until they are nearly starving. Yet once they are fed, they will take their kill into a tree and rest on their gluttony. Leopards truly live a life of feast or famine.
Spiders, on the other hand put all of their effort into building their web (network), and once that’s done, they stand by and wait for their food to come to them.
Would you rather hunt like a leopard to hunt like a spider?
Financial.
Financial leverage refers to the use of debt to acquire additional assets.
The most recent financial crisis of 2007–2009, like many previous financial crises, was blamed in part on “excessive leverage.” However, the word is used in several different senses. Consumers in many developed countries borrowed large amounts of money. For most of this, “leverage” is a euphemism as the borrowing was used to support consumption, rather than to lever something that would provide a return on the investment. Only people who borrowed for investment, such as speculative house purchases or buying stocks, were using leverage in the financial sense.
Here are 7 forms of leverage in business with examples of each.
- OPM (Other People’s Money): debt, the stock market.
- OPT (Other People’s Time): employees, hiring freelancers.
- OPW (Other People’s Work): franchising your business.
- OPE (Other People’s Experiences): getting a mentor or coach, reading books, blogs.
- OPI (Other People’s Ideas): venture capitalists use other people’s ideas to make their money grow.
- Scalable Production & Distribution: Amazon, Costco, and Walmart.
- Scalable Customer Base: iTunes, Evernote, Dropbox.
Where can you find leverage in your business? Want some ideas on how to get started, I would love to hear from you.
John Nieuwenburg
Marketing
Business Coach | Strategic Plan Facilitator | Business Workshop Leader | Keynote Speaker | Getting you Results!
Love this article? Get personalized advice from this expert and meet one-on-one over live video.
Meet for $295/hrSource: https://www.popexpert.com/content/career-mentoring/john-nieuwenburg/the-power-of-leverage-in-business-life
No comments:
Post a Comment