Day 1: loads of emailing

If you are following my marketing blog, you would know that I have developed an information memorandum to expand Marketing Eye into the US market. It is incredibly exciting times for everyone at Marketing Eye and we are all 'on the same page' with pushing me out the door and into another country to set up shop. Fortunately, I am not taking this personally! But Julie Schoneveld does run a good show and she has everything running very efficiently and effectively. For the shortest month of the year, we have turned over more money than any other month since our inception and the profit has risen accordingly. Not bad going really!

We think we have it all - a good business, people who follow us and even some who say they are inspired by us, yet have we really got it all sorted?

Entrepreneurs are unique. They have drive that comes from an inner place that very few people understand. Instead of laying in front of the television every night, entrepreneurs usually pick up their ipads or a good book and learn about how other entrepreneur became successful. Coffee on the go is essential and sitting still for too long usually means that there is something going wrong - or at least entrepreneurs think this is the case.

A wake up call for me wasn't so dramatic. In fact it was something that I hold dear to my heart and appreciate more than the words that were written.

This morning I woke up to a good friend of mine who I had met 13 years prior through the Young Entrepeneurs Organisation sending me a text message. It actually woke me up which is highly unusual as normally I would have been up way before then.

Have you ever noticed that the most successful people don't talk about how good they are?

In business, I am constantly meeting people who tell me how great they are. Women that sprout, "I won this award and that" and men that tell you how much money they want you to think they make.

This may surprise many who read my blogs, but I am a firm believer that women should support their men.

Coming from a European family, where the men rule the roost and women play the pivotal role of supporting their man, I am an advocate of women doing what it takes to support their families and in particular, the men in their lives.

Yesterday, I wrote a blog on how women can help their man be more successful. As promised, today I am publishing how men can help their women be more successful (in business).

If you are a man and lucky enough to have a woman that is determined, ambitious, talented and intelligent - as well as owning their own business or having a high flying career - then count your lucky stars. You are in the minority,

Many entrepreneurs believe that if you embrace failure on your path to success, you will succeed. In fact, most successful entrepreneurs have failed many times, but the difference between them and the rest of the world is that they don't internalize failure - instead they embrace it.

"You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere". Lee Iacocca

Many entrepreneurs are 'ideas people' or 'thinkers'. They sit down for breakfast and think about what they can do to change the world, improve their companies and inspire their people. Great ideas are good, but are nothing without being 'seen through'. There are many great entrepreneurs in history who had somewhat peculiar habits, but when it comes to strategy and the workings of how they made wealth and kept it, they each had something in common.

The challenges of 2011/12 have been more worrying than ever before. There are some real reasons for this. Italy and Spain are in preparation to sell debt amid concerns that Europe's fiscal crisis is infecting bigger economies, debt levels are more than 25% higher than the Great Depression and the US - well, we are all aware what is going on there.

For many small business owners, we are now down to the business end of the year. To make a dollar or for some, to survive another year.

Most entrepreneurs know when they can 'turn it on' and become an inspirational leader, but for many, there are a select few employees that actually get to see you 'live' telling your story. Afterall, your entire team often do not accompany you to a public speaking events and usually only management get to know your new ideas when its raw and at its most exciting point - you know when haven't been battered down by reality like financials or ability to execute.