Ready To Soar – by Naomi Simson

‘Turn your brilliants idea into a business you love.’

 

Naomi Simson is the founder of Red Balloon, a ‘shark’ on Shark Tank Australia, and Australia’s #1 LinkedIn profile with over 2.4 million followers. This book is all about getting started in the business, along with chapters such as ‘the dream’ ‘the first steps,’ ‘funding’ and ‘what you need to survive.’

 

 

Ready to Soar

 

Desires of a businessman:- Learn, Earn, Invest and earn more

Business is an encyclopedia of thoughts, ideas, implementation and growing with the team

 

   Why start a business?

• I want to do what I love
• I wish to make a fortune
• Want to live my dream
• To be my boss
• My idea is brilliant – everyone else will buy it

 

These are our thoughts, but converting them to reality is not that easy, yet it’s simple, but keep in mind that simple things are not always easy.

Therefore Going for a morning walk daily is very simple but not that easy to be persistent at it. Meditation is also a simple process, but we feel tired after a few minutes of sitting and keep rolling over it and saying that, we can do it any time so let it be and this way the things goes on delaying and we never do that simply

 

  “Ready To Soar – by Naomi Simson”               

 

 The book intends to help you on a journey to entrepreneurial freedom, of making your dreams come true – I want to help control your business rather than your business control you.

Recommendations are to read the book once if you are planning out for starting any business. Trust me, and this book is going to be super helpful for you and the business of yours.

 

We will be covering the whole book review in three parts followed by seven chapters, let us take a look

 

 

Part 1 – Possibility

• The Dream 

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough.”

From dream to step 1:– The harsh reality, though no matter how vivid your goal, it doesn’t necessarily make a good business idea

 

Naomi Simson read a list of what people were doing at age 25 

Donald Trump just took the reigns of his father’s company

Clinton only graduates Yale

Arianna Huffington was a reporter for BBC

Mark Cuban was a bartender

Janine Allis was on a boat in the Mediterranean

Naomi just got back to Aus after travelling three years

So Naomi, in her late 20’s was working for apple and saw her future as a businessperson climbing the corporate ladder. Having her own business didn’t occur to her

 

Random Quotes in chapter

“Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning” – Gloria Steinem, American activist

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams” – Opera Winfrey

“A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to sea and do new things.”

“When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given.”

 

Basic sub-steps included in starting a business and converting it into a leading gem

 

Timing 

It takes time to create something great, and it takes persistence and patience. For Example:- Google Adwords at the start would take about 5 cents to market what it takes for 50$ today

 

Urgency 

Naomi always had a sense of urgency about what she was up to. And many of the best business owners she knows had the inability to sit still and take the status quo as a given.

 

Possibility 

If you look at a baby, you see a being of infinite potential. What road will they take, whom will they meet, or what experiences may they have?

Anything is possible for that child. At what point do we start limiting what we can do? Is it because we get a big NO from a school teacher or parent? When do we become fearful of failure and stop taking risks?

 

If you are ready to soar you must ask yourself some questions and analyze what you can do the best out of it

 

Q.1:- Are you considering your business based on your passion or by the ways of opportunity?

 

Q.2:- What kind of life do you want?

 

Q.3:- What excites you?

 

Q.4:- What are you good at?

 

Q.5:- What are you prepared to sacrifice?

Family time, leisure time, fitness time, sleep time, travel time (at the start)

You can have it all, but not all at the same time. [Set your own priorities, trust your gut and follow your heart]

 

•  The First Steps

If you want an Employer’s full-time money, he needs your full-time focus. Some people have managed to start a side business while also giving their all to full time paid employment, but long term this is not sustainable, and ultimately not fair to your Employer. The point is to consider when is the right time to give up the security of a paycheque and the community connection that being part of business delivers

Take time to find the fundamentals of your business 

What is your value proposition (what customer problem are you solving)

Who are you going to sell it to?

The customers who have this problem?

Anyone else, already talking to these people?

What sort of relationship do you want with your customers?

 

Long before you give up your day job, you need to work out a budget

There may be a few lifestyle adjustments that need to be made, Naomi took ten years before she took a salary, It’s not for everyone. Many fail and many go back to their career – at least they gave it a crack I say For Naomi, the worst outcome was to lose a few years of life, a few years of salary, maybe the reputation as a marketer but in the scheme of things these were all recoverable “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great”

Ask yourself, what are you prepared to invest in? Success as an entrepreneur will not depend on how clever you are. There is no correlation between IQ and founder success. What had the most significant impact was taking responsibility for your actions as opposed to your IQ Henry Ford, Richard Branson, Kerry Packer, St

 

Naomi Simson leads us to chapter 3 here

Is the life of an entrepreneur for you?

“Wanna fly? You got to give the stuff up that holds you down”

It may be a good idea to choose a variety of life experiences before starting your show

Learn to sell; Enthusiasm alone doesn’t attract customers. Some people assume because they are doing what they love and work hard, customers will flock to them

At the start, people will say, “that is such a good idea. But it does not mean they will buy something

 

Final checks to ensure you are not just compulsive

 

1. Double-check is it viable

· How will you earn revenue? Product sales, service fee, subscription, rent, licensing, agency fees, advertising

2. Look in the mirror

3. Get some savings behind you

4. Have you gathered a brains trust?

5. Backup plan

 

•  Preparation 

1. What you need to thrive

 Do not look at a leader and think they have it all sorted out. Their lives are not perfect. They might be going through financial crises, family problems, health issues. Comparing yourself to them, without the full story is not constructive.

Find your courage: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”

Here comes into play Courage and Bravery, let us understand the fundamental difference

1. Bravery is the ability to confront pain, danger or attempts of intimidation without any feeling of fear
2. Courage is the ability to undertake an overwhelming difficulty or face pain despite the eminent and unavoidable presence of fear

The business also asks for Creativity: – Creativity might come from doing something entirely different for the problem at hand. We are all inventors of our future. Creativity is at the heart of the invention

 

 Global Financial crisis/scarcity 

Scarcity may mean you need to innovate. If you don’t have the funds to get it done – you have to use your creativity rather than Cash to solve a problem. As times get lean, it is smart and innovative people who will see a way forward. If you have a strong and practical idea, you can find the investors for you and or even sell your ideas. In turn, you can share the parts

 

Could your hobby be a business? 

Your hobby is the window into what you love, value, and does most naturally, which could take you to a business idea. You don’t want to go from a tedious day job to another dreary day job. Have a clear reality check before you dive in.

 

•  What you need to survive

 The greatest loss is the biggest lesson. But also – if business lessons can get too expensive, then it is all over. Businesses are 1% idea and 99% execution. Old rules of work are being disrupted

 Old rule – Commute into work every day:- Work is 9-5, Full-time job, you work for money and have to bear many other things as well

 New rule – work can happen anywhere:- you are available at any time, You go from gig to gig, the project to project, several employers at a time, one works for passion. Becomes own boss

 Invest in yourself: – Continuously educating yourself is part of the entrepreneurial journey, and I suspect that reading “Ready to Soar” and doing the exercises in it are part of the investment for you. More you read in deep more, you learn, and you get speeded up.

 Writing it down – a shareholders’ agreement As you start your journey, you will rush in with many partnerships. You may agree on a handshake. As you start your trip, you will rush in with many companies. You may decide on a handshake.

But many end up crying wishing they had written it down. It is also worth formalizing the document by getting legal advice. Most family businesses don’t have a shareholders’ agreement – but it is crucial to have in those circumstances

 Coming to the way if you are eagerly Ready to fly or ready to soar, most essential things which come into play is Pitching

•  Funding

 Sometimes an investor may be the worst thing for your business. If you are not aligned or have different expectations, then difficulties and challenges may arise

An investor can bring the following: – Focus, Innovations, ideas and Connections, Responsibility, Reputation, The best people “people first, strategy second, Cash

One can have the following funding options:- Debt Funding, Suppliers (pay them after you have received the income), Factoring, Family or Friends, Grants, and government assistance

 

1. SEED FUNDING:- Seed funding in which investor invests and asks for equity stakes or shares.

 

1. Proof of concept funding:- Funding available upto $5 lacs.

 

1. Angel funding:- It is dealt upon by the high worth individual, they work as backups for small startups

 

1. Venture Capital: It is provided by the Large companies or firms to the low scale or emerging firms, having high growth potential

 

1. Private equity:- Its trade-related and has no connection with the public exchange; new technologies are funded in this niche.

 

•  THE PERFECT PITCH

 The book Ready to Soar is a complete package bundle for business entrepreneurs; here it depicts all about a perfect pitch

 If you want someone else’s money, research who you are pitching to

Discover everything possible about the industry 

Understand your numbers 

Deal with details 

Speak investor language 

Do not ever pitch on ‘hope’ 

Learn to tell a fantastic story, filled with facts and numbers 

 

“Ready to Soar” Book Summary or brief:- 

The unique book by Naomi Simson , ready to soar lets you know how to fly. The book gives you meaningful business advice. Also, the author in the book depicts the formula to turn a business idea to growing business in real. The book speaks about startup failures and the reasons for failure and then how to handle the circumstances and get rid of failures. Basically Ready to soar is an easy to read and valuable book to have in your bookshelf or the library