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Want to Start a Business? – Don’t start until you Read this

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June 7, 2022

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Do you want to start a business? Don’t start a business until you read this.

Here is what I have learned from my personal experience of starting and running successful businesses.

You see people on social media, on Instagram, and on Facebook.

You see the lifestyle of a successful entrepreneur. You see the car that they drive, they are driving the Audi’s or they’re driving a Jaguar or you see the vacation spots, you see their home, you see their house and you see the life that they have and you say to yourself, I want that too, so what I am going to do, I am going to start a business just like them.

Well, are you ready, do you know if you’re ready to be an entrepreneur?

Here are five warning signs that you may not be ready to be in business for yourself just yet.

Want to Start a Business? – 5 Warning Signs

#1 Don’t start a business if you don’t have the stamina

You should not start a business if you don’t have stamina. Stamina I mean a mental toughness to endure pain.

Many years ago, I had this conversation with my mentor and he asked me the question, SK, what do you think is the number one quality of an entrepreneur?

And I said many, many things. I said –

Talent
Team
Good Idea
Money

I said many, many, many things and no, he said the number one quality of a successful entrepreneur is this, and that is the ability to endure pain for a long period.

Didn’t talk about the Audi, didn’t talk about the big house.

Pain for a long period.

Is that you?
What are you willing to give up?
What price are you willing to pay to accomplish success to build your business?

I could tell you any successful entrepreneurs that I know, almost all of them experience pain for a long period before they accomplish even just a little bit of success.

Everybody wants to talk about the glamorous side of entrepreneurship.

No one wants to talk about the dark side. Are you okay to be able to endure pain for a long period.

Where those nights you cannot sleep, the nights where you don’t know how you’re going to pay off that debt.

Are you okay with that?

Having that responsibility, heavy, heavy responsibility on your shoulder.

#2 Don’t start a business if you want more free time

That’s right. If you start a business, you think, oh, now I can quit my job, the nine to five, five days a week.

Now I’m going to be an entrepreneur, I’m going to be a business owner, and now I’m going to have freedom.

You are dreaming. You might have freedom after working so many years, maybe a decade, then you will have some freedom.

For the first five, or ten years, forget about everything.

First of all, you getting paid last. You pay everybody else before you pay yourself.

So if you think you’re going to get rich quick doing this, no.

When you’re running your own business, there’s no nine to five.

There’s no nine to nine.

It is on your mind 24 x7. When you take time off, you’re not off.

You know what I’m talking about.

You’re thinking about your business, you’re thinking about how to get more customers, you’re thinking about your team, you’re thinking about your employees, you’re thinking about the cash flow problems you have and you’re not gonna get more time cause in the beginning, if you don’t have those specific skills, the learning curve is deep.

It takes a few years just to get a sense, get a feeling and try to find out what works in your business, to crack the code, right, being profitable.

And from there to grow, there’s still a long, long way.

Forget the nine to five. Forget the five days a week. It’s seven days, 24×7. You eat, sleep and drink business.

That’s the life of an entrepreneur. And if you don’t love it and if that’s not in your blood and you want it so bad, you’re not going to do what it takes, you’re not going to make those sacrifices cause it’s too damn tough.

#3 Don’t start a business if you have no money

Don’t start a business if you have no money. If you need money coming in like you need blood in your veins, don’t start a business.

Why?

Because it takes time for a business to mature to generate profit.

If you think you’re gonna start a business and you’re gonna make money in the next two weeks, four weeks, a month, that’s an employee mentality.

As an employee, you get a check, every month. You get a check by the end of the month.

As an entrepreneur, that doesn’t happen.

It might take you six months, it might take you a year, it might take you two years.

Most business owners don’t make a profit until many, many, many years in.

In the meantime, what are you gonna do?

You still gotta eat, right?

You still have to pay the bills.

If you have no money right now, what do you do?

You get a job.

Don’t start a business because a business takes time and it takes effort and it does take money to grow.

Remember to take care of your cash flow needs first before you worry about building an empire.

Take care of your income first.

#4 Don’t start a business if you don’t understand the industry

Before you start any business ask yourself two questions.

Why you and why now?

If your answer is, I just want to make some money, you are going to fail.

What qualifies you to be in this space right now?

Not what you just saw on Facebook. Oh, that sounds like a good idea.

This person, this guy is making so much money doing this, I should jump into that too.

No.

Why you and why now?

To make money in any industry, you have to understand the industry.

If you don’t know the industry, first you have to learn the industry.

Let’s say you want to start your digital marketing agency.

I’m not saying that’s a good idea, but let’s say you want to open up a digital marketing business as I started – RRMediaNet – Digital Marketing Agency.

But before starting I answered both questions Why and Why Now?

Why – I know the digital marketing industry for the past 10 years. I started blogging & digital marketing when only a few people in India have heard about this term.

Why Now – Because we live in a digital era where every business required a digital presence. The whole world is digital. And most importantly I know How I can 5x your online business.

So the thing is you have to know your industry before entering the business.

#5 Don’t start a business if you don’t know how to sell

The number one skill for any entrepreneur is the ability to Sell.

You should know how to sell and how to close the deal.

If you can’t sell you cannot do business.

Sell = Business
Sell = Money
Sell = No #1 Business Skill

I don’t care what it is that you do. You need to get customers, you need to close.

If you want better terms for financing, you got to close.
You want better vendors, you got to close.
If you want partners to help you to promote your business, you got to close.

If you can’t close anyone anytime, if you don’t have that closing mentality and you don’t have that closing skill, you’re not qualified to be in business.

I don’t care what it is that you do, I don’t care what industry you’re in, I don’t care what product or services you sell, you need to be able to close.

So those are the five top warning signs.

So, after all, that, if you say, you know what, I still want it, I’m willing to pay the price, then start your business.

What is the Smith Manoeuvre and how to use it to pay less tax?

Incometax

Shitanshu Kapadia

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June 6, 2022

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If you’re thinking that the Smith Manoeuvre sounds like a sophisticated legal tax strategy that makes your mortgage interest payments tax-deductible, you’re absolutely right – always trust your hunch!

The Smith Manoeuvre is exclusively a Canadian tax strategy that is designed to help you cut your tax bill. It comes at a convenient time in talking about this, because whilst interest rates are still low in the grand scheme of things, Canada has risen its interest rates to 1% from 0.25% at the beginning of the year, meaning that those who are getting a new mortgage or are currently on a variable interest contract will be seeing rises in their monthly repayments.

At its core, the Smith Manoeuvre is about maximising the Return on Investment when buying a home. Many people do not see their home as being an investment, but that can be a costly mistake. Whilst it’s the place we live, it’s most people’s largest asset, meaning it’s the most significant investment in their portfolio – whether they treat it as such or not.

What exactly is the Smith Manoeuvre?

The Smith Manoeuvre allows you to treat your mortgage interest payments as being tax-deductible, meaning you could then pay off the mortgage even faster.

Treating your home as an investment isn’t just about having a financially literate mindset – it’s actually crucial to the inner workings of this tax strategy. Basically, the interest you pay on a loan that is for an investment is tax-deductible. So, if you took out a loan in order to invest in some stocks, these repayments would be tax-deductible – but only if the stock paid out dividends.

So what this manoeuvre is all about is turning your mortgage into an investment loan, so that the interest repayments can then be deducted from your tax bill.

How to do the Smith Manoeuvre?

In order to do the Smith Manoeuvre, you will need both a readvanceable mortgage and a home equity line of credit (HELOC). This can sound overwhelming, so let’s look at it piece by piece.

A readvanaceable mortgage is essentially a way to combine a mortgage with a line of credit. A HELOC is essentially a way to tap into the home equity in order to access credit at a low interest. This is an easy way to borrow and repay in a way that’s more affordable than an unsecured loan.

So, when combining these two together, you have a situation where you make more payments for your mortgage, the credit limit on the HELOC increases. So, the more you pay off your mortgage, the more money you can borrow. Of course, it’s the principal repayments that increase the credit limit, so an interest-only mortgage would not work. Banks tend to let you borrow up to 65% of your home’s value, but this can differ.

So, you can now borrow money from money that you have already repaid. It may sound pointless, but it actually opens you up to a lot of flexibility if you need money quickly. It also means you have access to your home equity, meaning you wouldn’t need to refinance your mortgage if you wanted to dip into some.

But the main point of all of this is that this line of credit can be turned into an investable loan. This “pointless” re-borrowing is actually how you can turn your mortgage repayments into being tax-deductible. The only way this can be tax-deductible is if we invest this line of credit money into an income-generating investment (remember, a non-dividend-paying stock wouldn’t count).

You can calculate the tax return on the interest paid regarding the investment loan if you multiply the total interest paid (that year) by the marginal tax rate. So, if you paid $2,000 in interest this year and you’re in the 40% marginal tax bracket, you would receive $800 back from the government. This could be used to further repay the mortgage faster.

Benefits and Risks of the Smith Manoeuvre

Of course, this is a powerful way to build a large investment portfolio without having to wait for your mortgage to be paid off. Investing more earlier on means having way more scope for compounded returns – arguably the most important phenomenon in wealth building.

Overpaying your non-deductible mortgage quickly also has its advantages of course, and this all becomes even more lucrative when you’re in a higher tax bracket.

But, there are some risks. This is essentially an aggressive form of leveraging, which many people are not comfortable with. You’re investing through debt, which obviously has its own risks that need to be closely assessed, and it can also be difficult mentally if your investments perform poorly.

Furthermore, this can become a sticky situation if you suddenly need to move house. If the home’s value is temporarily down, you need to ensure that the portfolio can cover the loan (at least). This means having a relatively conservative portfolio, or perhaps an existing portfolio before performing the Smith Manoeuvre.

Should I do the Smith Manoeuvre?

There are many factors that come into play here, particularly subjective factors like your personality and risk tolerance. However, the most important thing to consider is the investments you make and your time frame. If you’re at all expecting to need to liquidate some of your investments within the next 5-10 years, then this would be too risky.

The reason for this is that markets are constantly up and down. One crash could slice your index fund in half, taking 5+ years to recover. This isn’t so scary if you’re ultra-flexible in riding out the waves, because the 100+ year history of such markets tells us that they always do rebound eventually and continue to grow. It would also be very risky to hand-pick stocks or even industries, as this opens you up to the potential of underperforming the market average. Whilst the S&P 500 has proved to rebound after every major crash/recession, can Uber’s 13-year trading history claim the same?

3 Mandatory Sales Skills to Close the Deal

Skills & Productivity

Shitanshu Kapadia

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June 4, 2022

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Do you know which are the most important sales skills? Do you know what is required to close the deal?

Well, let me tell you, nothing is more frustrating when you spend all that time and effort talking to a prospect, and then, in the end, you don’t close the sale.

Today, I’m going to share the three most important sales skills with you that you must understand and master in if you want to be a successful entrepreneur or a successful salesperson. These skills I have learned from experience and by observing a lot of deal closures in the business.

I have seen that most people don’t know how to communicate. Very few people know how to sell, and almost no one knows how to close the deal.

If you are a business owner, if you are in sales, or marketing it is your duty, you must close the deal.

Now maybe, the kind of closing that happens –

Maybe it is after a presentation that you have given in the conference room.
Maybe it happens over the phone.
Maybe it happens in a shop.
Maybe it happens in a showroom, or
Maybe it happens after you do an online demo.

Whatever be the case but as a business person, it is your responsibility to close the deal.

Most salespeople do not get this, right?

They get very good at everything else.
They are very good at prospecting.
They get very good at cold calling.
They are doing very well in terms of giving sales speeches.
They are very good at giving presentations, or
They are very good at giving people demos online.

But unless you close that sale, nothing happens. You become a very, very good presentation giver.

You become a very good demo guy, and guess what? Those things don’t get you money.

Closing is the only thing that gets you money.

So today, let me share the three sales skills that you must know, three important sales skills you must master if you want to earn more money, and close almost every deal that you come across.

3 Mandatory Sales Skills to Close the Deal

#1 The ability to empathize with your customers.

If you are selling a low ticket item, or you are selling a commodity in a retail shop, people visit the store, they see the item and they easily purchase it. It is a transactional sale. Nothing great about it.

You just show them stuff, well, you don’t really need to have an understanding of the product, and you need not connect with customers that deeply because you are just providing a quick answer, a quick solution.

However, if you’re selling anything significant, if you’re selling something that’s a high valued item, you need to have deep empathy.

When you are selling something at a higher price, at a high transactional value, your customers need to know that you’ve got their back.

The thing which is extremely important in a sale is people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

In simple language give confidence to your customer.

Give damn confidence about the results.
Give damn confidence about product/service.

One more thing remains transparent if you feel your product or service has some shortcomings share it with your customer and tell them it is not a good fit for them.

If you know other people, that could provide a better service, better than you, don’t hesitate to recommend that to your prospect.

That is what I am talking about giving a damn.

You have to express with your words and body language that –

You care.
You have empathy
You are close to the customer (connected) and understand his/her pain

Remember what I shared with you in my previous post – Three Powerful Sales secrets that “People buy because of emotion and they justify it with logic”.

Great closers have the ability, to develop deep connections with their prospects and that’s the reason they can close most of the deals.

#2 Ability to Discover your prospect’s pain points

No pain means no sale.

The problem is, is not that you don’t know how to sell. The problem is, that you don’t know how to diagnose. Most salespeople, talk too much.

They don’t know how to ask questions. You’re losing sales, not because you don’t have product knowledge. You know your products or services very well.

You’re losing sales because you cannot diagnose the problem. You cannot identify and pinpoint your prospects’ problems and concerns.

Your product doesn’t drive sales – Problems drive sales.

To motivate, inspire and empower your prospects to buy right now, you need to understand and diagnose exactly what their problems are.

Does that make sense?

So think about this as where they are at, where your prospect is at.

This is where they want to go. From where they are to where they want to go, guess what? This is a gap.

There’s this gap, it is your job as closer to make the prospect understand how your product or service or solution can bridge that gap.

If you don’t understand what this gap is, you are not going to close the sale.

If all you do is keep pushing your features and benefits, they’re not going to buy.

That doesn’t motivate them to buy. Then you’re going to get objections like, “Yeah, you know what, “that sounds good, but I need to think about it.

“Let me get back to you.”

Or maybe, “Follow with me in 1 month.”

When you can help your prospects understand that you are the perfect company to help them bridge that gap, that’s when they buy.

See, sometimes the problem is not what it sounds like or what it looks like.

Prospects don’t even know exactly what their problems are.

They might say, Hey, I want XYZ, and they might think, XYZ, that’s what’s going to solve their problems.

But actually, they need something else. Maybe they need ABC, right? They need something completely different.

But they don’t know, it is your job to help them understand, it is also your job, just goes beyond just your products and services,

It’s your job to understand the big picture, and how your products or services best fit to help them solve their problem.

You cannot do that if you can’t uncover challenges and diagnose their problems.

How to Increase business by motivating your sales team?

#3 Ability to handle objections

The ability to handle your prospect’s objection is a mandatory skill to close the deal.

Mostly all salespeople create the plan they make a script that this is what I am going to share with prospects. If the prospect says this, I will say that.

Readymade script. But a readymade script does not work all the time. You cannot play defensive every time. You should learn to play offensive (aggressive) also.

I believe the best defense is good. I like to preempt objections.

You believe that you need to set the agenda so objections don’t even come up. But I have seen that in 99% of cases the readymade script does not work.

If you think that you can close the deal with the script you are wrong.

Sales meetings are completely unpredictable. You cannot close all deals with a readymade sales script.

Meeting the customer for closing the deal is like entering a boxing ring. And you cannot go to a boxing ring with a predetermined plan.

If you think that a readymade script works it’s stupidity.

You need to prepare for the meeting but you cannot pre-plan too much. You need to have flexibility. You need to be like water that can fit anywhere.

You should have the skills and ability to handle the objection.

Final Words

Closing the deal is not just selling, it is moving people from where they are to where they should be. Helping them to make the right choice and take action towards their peace of mind and legacy.

Remember – Every sale has five basic obstacles no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, and no trust. As a businessman or salesperson, you should develop skills to handle all these obstacles and to come out successfully closing the deals.

Do you think these sales skills will help you in closing business deal?

If you want to learn more send me an e-mail – contact@moneyexcel.com

Happy Selling, Happy Closing 🙂

5 Types of Buyers in Business – How to sell them?

Skills & Productivity

Shitanshu Kapadia

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May 31, 2022

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Buyers are extremely important for the business. Business is not possible without buyers.

Buyers buy products & services for their reasons. Different types of buyers have different mind-set. Every buyer requires different treatment, but one of the biggest mistakes is that most business owners and salespeople treat all of them in the same way.

If you are also doing the same mistake it is time to learn something. It is time to learn about the five most common types of buyers and how to sell them? How to do effective communication, when you sell to different types of buyers?

5 Types of Buyers – How to sell them?

#1 Cheap Buyers

One of the most common buyers that I come across in my business is Cheap Buyers.

Cheap buyers are buyers that make buying decisions based on price. They want a good price. They buy based on price & not so much on value.

They want a good deal, right? They want a discount, they want, a bundle of things for a low price.

Cheap buyers are always looking for –

Sale
Discount,
Coupons
Bundle Deal
Deal of the week or
Deal of the day

Sometimes these are the buyers who end up buying a bunch of stuff that they don’t need. Simply because it’s a good deal.

So, when you’re selling to these types of buyers you need to structure your offer in a manner that it seems like a good deal.

Let’s try to understand this by example –

During Diwali Days we see a lot of special sales and discount offers by retail shop owners. Not only that we also see Great Indian Festival and Diwali sales by Amazon and Flipkart during Diwali time.

Do you know why? It is to attract cheap buyers to purchase the things.

Before Diwali, they mark up the price. So, let’s say cloth worth INR 1000 they mark up the price to INR 1500 and then they do big discount they sell the same product with 20% discount means they sell the same cloth at INR 1200.

The actual price is INR 1000 but during Diwali after the discount product is sold at INR 1200.

And marketing gimmick or mouth publicity is it is INR 1500 worth cloth sold at INR 1200 due to Diwali.

So, cheap customers think – “Wow, that’s a very good price.” and they end up buying a bunch of stuff that they may not need.

But, they like the thrill, right? They enjoy chasing a good deal.

That’s how they get their satisfaction.

So when you are communicating with them, don’t just focus on, “Hey, this is so good,” or, “This product is far superior to everything else.”

Because if you’re talking to them that way, in their minds, “Well, then it must be overpriced,” or “this must be expensive.”

They want to know, “How is this a good deal?

Tell me why this is a great deal
What is the urgency of grabbing this deal?
Why do they need to get this right now, right?
You’ve only got so many of this product left.
Limited quantity, limited time right?

They are motivated by this, so when you’re dealing with a cheap buyer, that’s what you need to do.

And remember more than 50% of buyers you come across in the business are cheap buyers.

3 Powerful Negotiation Secrets – Get What You Want

#2 Difficult Buyers

Difficult buyers are most difficult to handle and that’s why I call them difficult buyers. I come across many difficult buyers in my business.

It is very, very difficult to please difficult buyers. You do whatever you want to do, you give them a lot of information, but they just don’t pull the trigger, they don’t buy.

Doesn’t matter if you go the extra mile, you visit them multiple times, but they still don’t buy, right?

And they’re always challenging you, right?

Whenever I handle difficult buyers I feel that I am playing boxing with them in the ring 🙂

Understand that difficult buyers, like a good fight.

They want to fight with you, they almost like to them, the whole buying thing, it doesn’t interest them that much.

They’re much more interested in making your life, like a living hell, right?

How many of you have customers like that? I think many.

You’ve dealt with buyers that are just extremely difficult.

They were very difficult to begin with, even after then they become a customer, they are still very difficult to maintain.

These the ones who are sucking up a lot of your time, a lot of the energy, they’re the energy drainers, right?

So be very, very careful. Are you spending a lot of time dealing with Difficult Buyers?

You have to be very careful in dealing with difficult buyers. Because as per my experience difficult buyers are sensitive and require a lot of care and soft speech.

In short, you need to do a lot of “Chamchagiri” or apply a lot of sugar to your words while talking with them.

Difficult buyers remind me of one song every time I deal with them – जो तुमको हो पसंद, वो ही बात कहेंगे जो तुमको हो पसंद, वो ही बात कहेंगे… 🙂

#3 Sophisticated Buyers

I also come across sophisticated buyers. Sophisticated buyers are my favorite.

They are very, very different. They buy based on value, but they’re also, they’re very smart, right?

They do the research, they are the type of buyers who would do a lot of research, maybe online, talk to different people, before they commit to a major purchase, right?

They know what they’re getting themselves into. So when you’re dealing with a Sophisticated Buyer, what you don’t want to do is, do a lot of telling.

You don’t want to tell them, “Hey, you need this, and you want this and you should get this.”

No, let them come to their conclusions. What you could do is provide information, right?

Providing information, being a professional, right?

Being a professional, provide information that they need and say, “hey, okay you’re looking for this”, and they love the fact that, when you tell them what your product won’t do.

Because that builds trust.

Tell them, “Hey, our product’s good, but just so you know, it won’t do these things”.

Or even better yet, what are some of the flaws of your product?

So, Sophisticated Buyers, know, no product is perfect.

So when you tell them what your product won’t do, it builds a lot of trust.

Also tell them, “Hey, you know what, this is a little bit more expensive than what you’re used to”, or, “we charge more than our competitors because of this”.

Also make sure that when you’re dealing with a Sophisticated Buyer, you stay away from the typical sales tactics, where you’re very pushy, you’re pushing them to buy, but they do not like that.

You need to give them some space, you need to give them some room so that they can make decisions on their own.

Does that make sense?

And then you have, what I call, Affluent Buyers.

Three Powerful Sales Secrets – Sell Anything to Anyone

#4 Affluent Buyers

Affluent Buyers mean wealthy buyers, they rarely buy based on functions. They are wealthy and they have the financial resources, to buy almost whatever they want.

Now, when you are dealing with Affluent Buyers, let me give you a perfect example, they buy feelings and emotions, and they also buy convenience.

They buy feelings and justify them with logic.

Chances are, with an Affluent Buyer, you need to think about how you can make his or her life a little bit easier.

So example, I buy clothes from Jade Blue, so the, Sales Rep, that works with me, that he does a lot of things that goes the extra mile, which helps me save time.

So example, when I go in there, he already, has a lot of the items that he has selected ahead of time.

So, I go in, I don’t need to waste time browsing through the entire store.

He already knows what are some of my preferences. So when I choose, a lot of things, okay great.

We measure, he has my measurement, I want these shirts, all that, it’s done, and when it’s done I pay.

He does whatever I need, to the concierge.

Sometimes I don’t even need to go to the store. He makes delivery at home. Now, that is going the extra mile, that is selling convenience.

Affluent Buyers, hate inconvenience, right?

They want luxury, they want status, and sometimes they buy things because of status, right?

So understand what motivates a Cheap Buyer, does not motivate an Affluent Buyer.

When you’re sitting down across the table, face to face, belly to belly, you’re talking to an Affluent Buyer, and you tell that buyer,

“Hey, this is a very good deal, this is very cheap, you’re going to save a whole bunch of money”, it’s an instant turn-off.

I don’t want something cheap, I want the best, right? It’s very different.

Do you want a good deal or do you want the best?

I want the best. Sometimes when you are talking to an Affluent Buyer, you want to communicate that “This is expensive, this is not for everyone, right?

This is what I learned while dealing with Affluent buyers. So, when you’re talking to them, understand that it’s a very, very different value proposition.

#5 Spendthrift Buyers

Another type of buyer I come across in business is spendthrift buyers.

The spendthrifts feel little or no pain in making a purchase. They love purchasing what catches their eye immediately. Spendthrifts are more likely to do impulsive buying.

They form the smallest percentage of the overall population.

You need not convince them for buying, they buy without any sales speech. But it is very difficult to get these types of buyers in your business.

So, let’s recap, we have Cheap Buyers, we have Difficult Buyers, we have Sophisticated Buyers, and we have Affluent Buyers and we have spendthrift buyers.

One of the most important decisions you have to make in business is, what type of buyers you want.

You want Sophisticated Buyers and the Affluent Buyers or Spendthrift for business. You don’t need cheap buyers or difficult buyers.