Blog articles

Are you designing the business that you want to?

by Toby Acton

Are you designing the business that you want to? I recently had a call from a client which really hammered home to me that it is up to us to design our businesses in the way that we want to... He was being pushed in a certain direction by potential business partners who were promising to find him investment, media exposure and market access. Whilst it could be potentially extremely lucrative, it was very much going against his ethos of 'why' he ...

Don't get out of your comfort zone!

by Toby Acton

Don't get out of your comfort zone! What is the number one reason that people do not achieve their potential in life and in business? Why do people not achieve their goals? Why do many business owners not achieve the success they desire? Is it their attitude?? No, we can choose our attitude Is it a lack of belief?? No, belief can always come with time Is it their skills?? No, skills can be learnt No, it is this: “The greatest enemy to human potential is ...

Lessons from nature

by Toby Acton

Lessons from nature There are many lessons that we as business owners can learn from nature. Probably the most important among these is of course that of “Survival of the Fittest”. In nature, only the strong and the smart survive, and it is the same in business. As in nature, those who have evolved to master their environment and who are adaptable to make the most from it, will be the ones who succeed and win. Whilst normally in business we might be talking ...

How Cheese is the solution to resolving the issues with coronavirus

by Toby Acton

“How cheese is the solution to resolving the issues with coronavirus” “We are living in unprecedented times” – how many blogs and articles have you seen that start with that phrase? But it is very true. And more importantly we are living through times of unprecedented change. We are being forced to adapt and change how we do business and to embrace new ideas. For many of us it is a complete paradigm shift – and for that a total change of ...

When you donâ€™t know what you donâ€™t know about business

by Toby Acton

When you don’t know what you don’t know, who is going to show you that you need to know what you need to know?! Over the years that I have spent mentoring and working with business owners to help them accelerate their business, income and sales growth, one thing has really stood out to me as often being the primary challenge that they have: they simply don’t know what they don’t know… The Conscious-Competence Ladder This situation of not knowing what you don’t ...

Iâ€™m not just a business mentor

by Toby Acton

Sales Masters Guild Mentor, Toby Acton, explains why he’s not just a business mentor, but an architect too. At one of my weekly breakfast networking meetings there is an architect and also a structural engineer in the group. So, I recently stood up to present my 60 second pitch and stated at the offset that I would be stepping on their toes as I was now filling the role of being both an architect and a structural engineer! I have always loved ...

What do most people get wrong when networking?

by Toby Acton

Sales Masters Guild Mentor, Toby Acton, notes that most people get something wrong when networking. When out networking there is a question which is almost always asked, and which is almost always answered incorrectly. When meeting someone for the first time, after initial “name” introductions and trying to read their name badge whilst shaking their hand balancing a tea of coffee cup in the other hand, you will generally ask them “What do you do?”. That is pretty much the standard question. And ...

Why Do We Go Networking?

by Toby Acton

Sales Masters Guild Mentor, Toby Acton, asks “Why do we go networking?”.What is our purpose and our aim when we attend a networking event? Is it to meet up with people that we know and catch up with them and find out what has been happening in their lives and their businesses? Of course, it is good for there to be a social element to networking – humans are social animals – but this should not be the primary purpose. Is it ...

What Type of Business Owner Are You?

by Toby Acton

Sales Masters Guild Mentor, Toby Acton, asks “What type of business owner are you?”. In my experience, there are three types of business owner: There are those who do not have a clear vision of what they want their business to achieve for them Those who have a vision but do not have a structured plan to implement it Those who have a vision and a plan, but they do not have focus and they need someone to keep them on track towards achieving ...

Training Can Help Those Looking for Guidance

by Toby Acton

Sales Masters Guild Mentor, Toby Acton, believes that training can help those business owners looking for guidance. In a recent blog, I explored the reasons why some business owners fail to achieve success despite being really good at what they do and looked at what they can do, and what I can help them with, to achieve that success and the work-life balance that they want. But that got me thinking: knowing that the failure rate is so high, why do many ...