DAVE D'AOUST

Are you prepared for the next pandemic?

In Dec 2019, news reported that a previously unknown virus that was behind a number of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. What started as an epidemic quickly evolved to a global pandemic. At the time of my writing this article, The World Health Organization (WHO) https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019?fbclid=IwAR2NZq8_DUx4GlHrkWJrJfcy7Vw0FJ68Sr38Scc_12BUnIPJIQvd7R47EGo

reports that 190 countries, areas or territories have 332,935 confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 14,510 confirmed deaths.

The response from our governments have been varied and slow as solutions to either contain the spread of the disease or to slow it down have resulted in the closure of many businesses, the practices of social distancing and the implementation of self-quarantine. The results of which have led to the closures of businesses, the layoffs of non-essential workers and global panic.

Watch the YouTube Video here:

As crazy as...

As I get older, I have become more appreciative of the lessons that I have learned over the years.

Some are small and may appear insignificant at first but nonetheless they provide immeasurable value to my life in a way that only I can appreciate. I really enjoy going through life trying to uncover these little gems.

Others are big and have taken decades to learn. These are the lessons that I feel bring immeasurable value to others whose life is in a trajectory that is similar to mine.

As a lifelong entrepreneur, I have experienced more losses than I have victories and I have come to realize that had I learned certain lessons sooner or faster than others, my successes would have surely outnumbered my losses.

The lessons that I’m about to share with you are a combination of what I’ve learned through years of experience and altered versions of what I’ve learned in business school.

So here are my 5 biggest life lessons in entrepreneurship that I know will bring...

And that means you! It doesn’t matter what you have done in your past, it doesn’t matter where you are in life today, it doesn’t matter where your knowledge base is, or what level of technical know how you have. To generate money online, all you need is 5 things:

1. Accept that you can learn something new – it’s easy to fall into the mental loop that tells you that you don’t have what it takes to learn something new, therefore you never take the first step. To bypass this problem, tell yourself this; “I don’t have to understand 100% of everything the first time I try and learn something. I will simply start at the beginning and enjoy the fact that I have taken the first step and I have now accomplished more than what most people have ever done. That is my victory and I can do this!” Enjoying the process of learning will make the act of learning easier.
2. Create a learning environment – Take the time to create a quiet and...

If you have made the decision to start your first online business, then you're going to begin by doing research on Google and on YouTube. This is how everyone begins as everything we need to know is only a click away.

If you don’t have any previous knowledge in this area, you will quickly learn that it is not as simple as everyone online says it is. Let me rephrase that, it is easy to start an online business however it can have a high learning curve and will involve a lot of hard work to build a successful one that generates money.

If you are indeed new, then consider following my 4 tips that will help you to become organized and prevent you from abandoning your dream due to overwhelm.

1. Create a new folder on your desktop or in Dropbox. Give it a proper folder name, like your business name. Inside this folder, you should create sub-folders on new topics you come across such as the selected platform you have chosen to build your business on such as Shopify for...

Last Friday, my friend Grant lost his job.

Grant didn’t lose it because he was terrible in his role at work, he lost it because his place of business closed their doors due to “unforeseen economic circumstances”. In the span of 24 hours, he went from being one of the most joyful people you could ever want to be around to someone who seemed like a completely different person.

Grant went from planning a getaway with his girlfriend to Mexico on Thursday, to job hunting that Friday. He told me on the weekend that he wasn’t only stressed about having to look for a new job, he was stressed about having to compete against his previous co-workers, people he had built good professional relationships with.

He said that he had about 4 months of rent saved up in a savings account in case an emergency ever came up which would give him some time to find a new job, even if it was a temporary one until he found something in his field of expertise. We rarely saw him after...

Congratulations! You’ve decided that you want to start a small business. It’s so exciting the moment the decision is made because at this stage, you don’t quite know what to expect. All you have right now is the sudden adrenaline rush and a pair of big bright eyes looking into the future, unknowing, and looking for the right idea.

Being a Trep myself, I know what this stage feels like all too well. You start looking around like you’re at Disneyland, trying to see an opportunity that other people have yet to realise or notice. You begin fantasising about the journey you’re about to undertake, looking forward with anticipation to the struggles that you have heard other Treps talk about, knowing that people are going to intently listen to your tales of struggle and hardship, only knowing that the end will be one of sweet hard earned victory with you standing at the top of the mountain with your hands outstretched to the sky!

All you need is an idea.

Maybe...

Like you, I’ve always known that I wanted to start and own a business.

I have always fantasized about looking back from the future and being proud of my self-made achievements. It’s a guilty pleasure that I can afford today. I also imagine looking back and basking at the wonderful memories I have had with my kids, exposing them to the different sights, sounds and smells of different cultures in foreign lands (Big Mac in Egypt anyone?), and sharing with them the lessons I’ve learned in my life.

When it comes to knowing why I want to own my own business, I’m clear in my why. Are you?

Maybe you are fresh out of school and all you know is that you want to be stinking rich in as short amount of time as possible. There is nothing wrong with that so Godspeed.  But I promise you, if you can discover why sooner rather than later, you will experience a fulfillment that otherwise will leave you wondering what is missing. Knowing what your why...