What makes a millionaire?

The Director’s Centre, which aims to help businesses become more profitable and fun to run, ran a survey called the ‘Magic Million Survey’ to try to get to the bottom of what makes one person able to become a millionaire and another not.

High achievers had a strong sense of self belief and a tendency to take responsibility for themselves and the factors around them. Whereas, those who got stuck in a rut and failed to progress and grow their businesses tended to blame external factors and have self-limiting beliefs.

They identified attributes, traits and characteristics of successful business people and discovered that the biggest difference between achievers and wannabes was the approach to success.

Fear is often the main factor in a lack of success, as people are afraid to risk losing what they have, are afraid of failure or are afraid to relinquish control of any aspects of their business (critical for a truly scalable business).

On the other hand, successful entrepreneurs are usually more self-aware, and know that they are often the bottle neck, holding the business back from even more success.

The successful business owners who took part in the survey all presented the following traits in one combination or another: charismatic leadership, a ‘can do’ attitude, a fast-moving, exciting business environment, motivational rewards systems for staff, a good body of staff… and luck.

You can read the original article here.

For more information about Chelsea Singh as an business investor, visit his website.

Industries of the future

Entrepreneurs are constantly thinking about the future and modern society is moving and developing faster than our human ancestors of the past could have ever imagined.

So what are the industries that show the most promise for transforming how the future looks?

Bioengineered renewable fuels

 

Energy is the word on everyone’s lips. We all know that the fossil fuels aren’t going to last forever, and renewable sources such as wind solar and geo-thermal and being developed, but not yet fast enough. There have been some complications to bio-fuel development – notably the impact on the food market, but algae and other bioforms seem like a good alternative if and when they can be developed efficiently in the future.

Medical advances

Spray on artificial skin for burn victims is already a reality – now it just has to pass all the safety regulations and it will change the lives of those with fire and other skin damage. Personalisation is the keyword for the future of medicines, with our personal physical make-ups being closely analysed and noted and medicines and therapies being tailor-made to suit our specific individual requirements.

Robots

Humans have been obsessed with robots for many decades, even centuries, and we’re now bringing the field of robotics into a phase that we can recognise from sci-fi movies and novels. There are bionic arms that can be attached to people who have lost limbs and controlled solely by the mind, and there are humanoid robots that can complete obstacle courses – with serious impact for military strategy.

Click here to read about Chelsea Singh.

Doctor Xpress Launches!

CS Investments is pleased to announce the launch of Chelsea Singh’s latest business: Doctor Xpress, providing medical services to your home, hotel or place of work.

Doctor Xpress is a new concept in medical care, aimed at providing convenience and efficiency that matches the needs of today’s demanding modern society.

When you’re feeling poorly, the last thing you want to be doing is traipsing over to your GP, and it’s probably one of the worst things you could be doing. Not only are you putting yourself at risk of the elements and exertion, but if you’re contagious, you’re putting others at risk as well. And once you get to the surgery, you’re exposing yourself to all kinds of other illnesses – whilst in your weakened state!

Doctor Xpress addresses these problems and offers a unique new service, where medical services and experts are mobile, travelling to where they’re needed most.

Services include flu vaccinations, travel clinics, sexual health consultations and private GPs. All our staff are professionally trained and registered with the General Medical Council.

The service is available 24/7, every day of the year, so emergency medical help can be with you as soon as possible, when you need it most.

Check out our new website to find out more about the service and what it can offer you.

Chelsea Singh’s latest Business Quotes

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
Niccolo Machiavelli

A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it.
William Feather

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
Adam Smith

All lasting business is built on friendship.
Alfred A. Montapert

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
Steve Jobs

 

Click here to visit CS Investments.

Tips for getting investment for your new business – from Chelsea Singh

If you’re thinking of starting up a new business, there’s a good chance you’re going to need investment to get your venture off the ground – even if you are starting on a shoestring budget.

So how do you convince potential investors that you’ve got the goods?

Here are a few pointers to get you going in the right direction.

Do the sums

Any serious investor is going to start talking about numbers, and you’re not going to get anywhere if you’re afraid of them. It’s true that projections for start-ups are notoriously hard – and the real figures are often wildly different – but that doesn’t mean it’s not a worthwhile exercise that may highlight problem areas and determine whether the idea really has any merit to begin with.

Be realistic

You may think that everybody’s going to be beating down your door to purchase hundreds of Thingummywatsits from you, but until you’ve tested the market, you really can’t know. Yes, entrepreneurs need to believe in themselves and have passion and drive, but that doesn’t mean being blindly optimistic.

Do your research

Test the market and find your competitors. This might sound daunting if you’ve never done it before, but you will be in a much stronger position if you get it together enough to do this research. Search the internet on terms that you want people to search for your products on, and see what comes up. Then try a bunch more. You’ll be amazed how many ideas have already been thought of and implemented…

Chelsea Singh is always on the lookout for new investment ideas.

Find out more at CS Investments.

Could you run your own business? Part One: Discipline.

Chelsea Singh knew from when he was practically a child that he was going to run his own business one day, and that being employed was simply not an option.

For some people it’s simply something they know, something they feel from very early on, the way other people know they want to be a doctor, or a pilot.

For others, they may start in a more normal route of employment and then later in life decide they want to try their hand at striking out alone.

So what sort of traits and skills does it take to run your own business?

Arguably, the most important traits in someone who is going to start up and run their own business are discipline, a thick skin and determination.

In this article we will explore the first of these; discipline.

A business owner needs discipline

This is absolutely critical for people just starting up. It’s so easy to slump down to the home office in your pyjamas, then spend the morning making coffee, doing the laundry, tidying up – basically anything other than getting on with work. Then, as the days go by and there’s no one else there, punctuality slips and soon you’re rocking up at 10.30am and taking three hour lunch breaks.

This sort of behaviour a successful business will not make.

To get your business up and running and not vanishing into nothingness before you’ve even gotten started, you need to have discipline. Each of us has different levels of natural discipline, but there are a few habits and patterns you can train yourself into to help.

Here are a few tips for getting your habit of discipline into place:

·         Get dressed as if you were going to the office, even though the only person who’s going to see you is the cat. This has a huge mental impact and helps separate ‘work’ time from ‘home’ time.

·         Be strict about hours. Have a specific start time and – and this is much more important than you may think – finish time. And decide on a lunch hour, that you take at the same time every day. Don’t be late and don’t stay for hours of overtime every day. Doing overtime is fine if it’s necessary as a one off, but it shouldn’t be a habit.

·         Have monthly meetings with someone where you have to explain what you’ve achieved that month and what your targets are for the next month.

Read the next part of the article here. 

Click here to visit CS Investments

Sections of a business

Most businesses are split into a few common sections, here is a brief explanation of them:

Sales

The sales department should assess the sales environment, set out the sales pipeline and key performance indicators. There should be clear sales targets and sales staff should be trained in techniques and make regular contact with clients. The sales department will work closely with the marketing department.

Marketing

The marketing department is responsible for the public image of the company and ensuring the right people see the brand at the right time. They need to take advantage of a range of media, from traditional to modern technological in order to improve reach and reputation. The marketing staff will work closely with the sales department.

Human Resources

Human resources or personnel is responsible for the people in the business. This includes contracts, sick pay, pensions, benefits and boosting morale. If a member of staff has a complaint, the HR department should have a process in place for dealing with it, and if a member of staff is caught doing anything anymore the HR people must carry our disciplinary action.

Management

They may jokingly be called ‘manglement’ but in reality, management is absolutely critical. The management team need to make sure all the other departments work consistently and towards common goals. Without management tying everything together, the different areas will go off in random directions and the business can get pulled off course.

Operations

Operations is different to management in that it is preoccupied with processes and procedures and making them ever more efficient and standardised. The more standardised the operations, the more stable and resilient the company will be.

Finance

The finance department will include accountants and accounts assistants, whose job it is to number crunch and take care of all financial transactions, projections and recording of results. They need to be familiar with the complex rules governing accounting in whatever country their working in, to ensure they pay the right amount of tax and categorise everything correctly.

Click here to visit CS Investments website.

Business Basics – The Business Plan: Part Two

If you want to start a business and you’re looking for investment, either from  banks or from private investors, you’re going to need a business plan.

A business plan is a document that details various aspects of a proposed business, including the aims of the business, the background of the individuals starting the business, details of the products and services that are on offer, the market, competition, strengths and weaknesses, operations, pricing strategy and financial forecasts.

Click here to read part one.

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

The SWOT analysis is a really great way of getting a quick snapshot profile of a new business. Strengths may be people skills or a unique product, weaknesses may be a poor understanding of technology or lack of funds, opportunities could be new government legislation or globalisation, or those things could just as easily be threats.

Operations

Operations covers the logistics, the nitty gritty of how the business will run. It includes: production, delivery, payment, suppliers, premises, equipment, transport, legal; requirements, insurance requirements and management and staff.

Pricing strategy

Pricing strategy is absolutely key to the success and failure of any business, and is probably the aspect that has most entrepreneurs tearing their hair out. Price too high and you may drive customers away, but equally pricing too low can be a disaster as it gives the impression of poor quality and may mean margins are too tight.

Financial forecasts

There are two kinds of people in the world, - those who love financial forecasts, and those who hate them. Either way, your business needs them. If it’s a new business, especially with a new product, the numbers will largely be guesswork, but putting price of units against number sold against expenses should give you an idea of whether the business is in any way feasible. For example, if it turns out you have to shift 3000 units per week just to break even but you can only manufacture 1000 per week, you’ve got yourself a problem.

Click here to visit CS Investments

Business Basics – The Business Plan: Part One

If you want to start a business and you’re looking for investment, either from  banks or from private investors, you’re going to need a business plan.

A business plan is a document that details various aspects of a proposed business, including the aims of the business, the background of the individuals starting the business, details of the products and services that are on offer, the market, competition, strengths and weaknesses, operations, pricing strategy and financial forecasts.

Aims of the business

This will include a summary of the business, its aims and a brief financial summary. This section is called the executive summary, and although you have to spend hours, days, even weeks preparing your business plan, at the end of the day, this page may be the only part that the investors actually look at.

The background of the individuals starting the business

The business plan should set out why the individuals are the best people to start this business. They must demonstrate that they have the appropriate skills and experience required to make this business a success, including previous work experience, qualifications and education, hobbies and interests and anything else that’s relevant.

Details of the products and services that are on offer

Naturally a key part of the business plan is details of the products and or services that are going to be sold. There should be a single line description and also a more detailed description. Ideally there will be information about Unique Selling Points (USPs) that will give your company the edge over competitors.

The market,

A sign of a serious entrepreneur is one that knows the importance of knowing their market. It’s no good just assuming the market is there and will be beating down your door – you need market research and hard data to crunch. This should include a description of your typical customer, their profile (individuals or businesses, age, wealth levels etc), what their priorities are, whether you’ve sold them before, location and much more.

Competition

The better the devil you know, as they say. New businesses need to know exactly what they’re up against. That means how much competition there is and what it looks like. Who currently holds the market share, how big are they, how long have they been in business, how do they make a success of it? You can learn a lot from your competition, and you need to be very clear about exactly why your customers should buy from you and not them.

Click here to read part two.

Click here to visit CS Investments

How to reach success - more quotes from Chelsea Singh

 

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
Swami Vivekananda
 

Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.
Ross Perot
 

The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.
John Foster Dulles
 

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.
David Frost
 

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.
George S. Patton
 

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 

Set your sights high, the higher the better. Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now. Realize that nothing is too good. Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way.
Eileen Caddy

Business Advice - What is a Unique Selling Point?

Once you get into business and start meeting other business people, you'll quickly find that you're asked about what you USP is.

USP stands for Unique Selling Point, or in other words, what is different about your business that will make people buy from you instead of your competitors.

The best businesses will really have a completely unique USP that their competitors can't imitate, meaning they corner a section of the market that simply can't go anywhere else.

However, it's more common that businesses will portray a unique selling point that isn't actually unique at all - but is perceived as so. The key to this is to be the first to do it, and / or to do it more convincingly than your competitors.

A genuine unique selling point may be a unique patented design, which nobody is allowed to copy for some time, or it maybe a family secret recipe or simply a particular location.

More common unique selling points might be price (though competing on price can be a dangerous game), quality or customer service - though obviously these are harder to prove and arguably not unique.

Some businesses come up with something completely original such as being the only ethical player in the industry, the only one to make the product completely out of soap or the only one to deliver a bunch of flowers with every order.

Read more about what it takes to be an entrepreneur on Chelsea Singh's site.

Follow Your Dreams - inspirational quotes

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
Pamela Vaull Starr

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
Harriet Tubman

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Patrick Henry

All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.
T.E. Lawrence

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Lanston Hughes

The end of wisdom is to dream high enough not to lose the dream in the seeking of it.
William Faulkner

You cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself into one.
Henry D. Thoreau

Chelsea Singh is also on Wordpress.

Are you inspired by what you've read? Would you like to work with Chelsea on his latest projects? Then get in contact via the Chelsea Singh website. 

Motivational Quotes from Chelsea Singh

If you want to succeed in the world must make your own opportunities as you go on. The man who waits for some seventh wave to toss him on dry land will find that the seventh wave is a long time a coming. You can commit no greater folly than to sit by the roadside until some one comes along and invites you to ride with him to wealth or influence.
John B. Gough 

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take calculated risks.
That is quite different from being rash.
George S. Patton

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
Samuel Smiles 

  

If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.
St. Clement of Alexandra

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.
William B. Sprague

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.
Voltaire 

Get more words of wisdom from Chelsea Singh on the web, Chelsea Singh on Twitter and Chelsea on Facebook.