Work, Home, You

Over the years we've participated in many, many business coaching classes and seminars in order to take Bondi Chai from strength to strength. Recently we were asked what our top takeaways were from everything we have learned, so we took a moment to reflect...

SERVICE vs PRODUCT

The first formal coaching we were ever involved with was with the Amway Corporation in 1999, and it pretty much shaped our thoughts on what sort of business we wanted to grow.

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The Amway mantra was that if you sold a SERVICE that was dependent on your time, then you didn’t have a business you had a job and your income/lifestyle would always be limited by the number of hours you could work. Far better to sell a PRODUCT that would give you leverage, scalability, and a chance to make money while you sleep!

MINDSET

When we look back at all the training and coaching we have done since then the next most important thing is MINDSET, and this comes down to how you feel about yourself and your worthiness to be successful. Your business will only grow to the level that your subconscious feels you DESERVE.

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We've spent a lot of time and money doing personal development work to get this right – and it's definitely an ongoing process.

REST

This one is a bit odd, but the next thing is REST. Alex Soojung-Kim Pang wrote a great book that explains this concept: if you spend all your time being BUSY then you are not allowing your mind the time and space it needs to do its thing.

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Try it, you’ll be amazed at what your mind comes up with when you just “relax and swing”. So many businesses are created from ideas that hit the founder(s) while they were on holiday. We found chai latte while on holiday in the US.

Dale Beaumont runs a business coaching business called Business Blueprint where we learned another mantra: “Progress not Perfection!”. Although it is important to REST and be open to what your mind comes up with, that doesn’t mean you should PROCRASTINATE. Do something, then review and adjust as necessary.

Get into the habit of ‘doing stuff' rather than endlessly getting ready to get ready – you can’t steer a parked car!

GRATITUDE

And finally... GRATITUDE. We went through Siimon Reynolds’ program at The Fortune Institute back in 2015 where Melissa was inspired to start a gratitude journal. She spends time every morning sitting with a cup of tea and thinking about something for which she is grateful. 

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Sometimes it takes a long time, but normally that’s if she is trying to come up with something BIG. It doesn't always have to be a list of big things; you can be grateful for something as simple as being able to watch the sun rise.

WHY: Work, Home, You

You can wrap all these together in a single word: WHY. Why are you doing what you are doing?

What is your end goal? What makes you happy in your WORK life, HOME life, and in your LIFE?

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We don’t like the idea of aiming for a work/life balance; sometimes you need to be totally out of balance just to make things happen. It is very important to make sure that you dedicate time to all parts of your life.

Revisit your WHY regularly, especially if you feel you are stuck. We found ourselves stuck at one point and with the help of a coach worked out that we had, in fact, achieved virtually all of our 'WHY's and needed to reset our goals.

SCHOOL FEES

During our business careers, there have been many ‘aha' moments, phrases and concepts that have turned the lights on. The one that has had the BIGGEST impact and saved us the most heartache was something that Mel Gibson said during a TV interview on Parkinson. 

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Michael was questioning Mel Gibson on how he felt about the learning curve of Hollywood and the fact that the movie he had just produced had lost MILLIONS of dollars at the box office.

Mel said two words – SCHOOL FEES.

What he meant was as long as you learnt a lesson (and didn’t make the same mistake again) then you can put the $ you spent/lost down as “school fees”, an education in what not to do again. However, if you don’t take away the lesson and learn from it, then it was a waste of money.

This saved us from beating ourselves up a lot in the early days when we spent a lot of money with no other return on investment than to learn a valuable lesson.

ALWAYS LEARNING

Some other standout lessons were:

 >> Be a 'human doing', not just a human being.
 >> Everything was first a thought.
 >> Look back just long enough to learn a lesson that will carry you forward.
 >> If you can’t afford it… YOU DON’T DESERVE IT! (The surprising extension of which is that once you can afford it, it’s likely you’ll find that you no longer want it).
 >> Read, Read, READ! Challenge yourself: Read a book a week for a year – it will completely transform your life. What should you read? Mostly non-fiction: biographies, how-to books and books that feed your mind and your soul with the worthwhile thoughts of others.

What's the best business advice you've received that you still use today?